This book is a history of the British 95th Rifles during the Napoleonic wars.  By Mark Urban, it has attracted my attention for sometime largely due to the excellent cover artwork (a Napoleonic British 95th rifleman charging fiercely towards the viewer.  The artist is Christa Hook; a regular contributor to the various Osprey Publishing series of military books).  However it took until the selection of my Holiday reading for me to finally take the plunge and buy it!  Normally I aim to take a Tom Clancy (or similar - this year it was his Dead or Alive), something Sci Fi (this year the excellent Matter by Iain M. Banks) and finally something connected to military history; normally a subject I am not familiar with.

Now although I have wargamed with the 95th Rifles in years gone by, the whole Sharpe thing (ie Bernard Cornwall's much acclaimed novels chronicling the exploits in the Spanish Peninsular and elsewhere of a Rifleman who rises through the ranks and has adventures galore) has never grabbed me!  So other than Baker Rifles, Green Jackets and defending the Sandpit at Waterloo my knowledge of this famous Elite unit is somewhat limited.

However this book confirms what I thought.  The 95th were very much the most advanced (in terms of tactics etc) infantry unit of their day.  Not so much the equivalent of Special Forces such as the SAS or US Navy SEALs but more like US Rangers or the British Parachute Regiment.  As well as being equipped with a special weapon (the Baker Rifle, a very accurate type of flintlock), they were trained to act on their own initiative and fight in open order - although it should be noted that this was still a very structured process and not a free for all!  They were also dressed in a dark green uniform in order to blend in with terrain; as opposed to the regular British Infantry in their scarlet coats fighting shoulder to shoulder.

Mr. Urban has not taken a straightforward unit history approach to the subject but has taken a slice of the operational history of one battalion of the 95th over the Wellingtonian period of the Peninsular War in Portugal and Spain - 1809 to 1814 and then onto the 1815 Hundred Days Campaign culminating in the Battle of Waterloo.  Indeed he goes deeper than just the battalion's exploits but chooses several individuals and follows their careers during this period.  I was very much reminded of Stephen Ambrose's World War Two classic Band of Brothers in the way the story of the individual (or individuals) is used to help us follow the battles and campaigns of a single unit.  We get to see these soldiers (and their comrades) at work, rest and play.  And of course because of their special training and equipment they were always in the thick of it; either on outpost duty or in battle.  And one of the recurring themes of the book is how the Rifles became the very embodiment of the "modern" soldier.  And that the way soldiers fight today can be traced directly back to how they operated.

One of the most interesting things that comes out of the book is that in the Peninsula Campaign with its numerous small scale skirmishes, small scale battles and outpost duties the impact of the 95th was greater than in the large scale battle of Waterloo (where they were proportionally a much smaller part of the total units employed).  For example in Portugal and Spain the Rifles very effectively took out French officers who were a necessary part of the French combat system - encouraging and cajoling their men in a more direct and visible way than, for example, British units.  Officer losses therefore had a disproportionate impact on French units.  Also in sieges they were very useful for subduing French defensive gunnery with their accurate fire.  I wonder whether without the Peninsular campaign for their star to shine so brightly in the Rifles would have remained a useful but somewhat obscure part of the British army.

Mark Urban’s writing style is really excellent with all the grip you would normally want out of top ten thriller.  To say this is a page turner is an understatement.  Military history can by default tend towards the dry (which I often find a fascinating phenomena for a subject so full of life and death!) but this book is a heady mixture of high drama and scholarly research.  This is the best book I have read this year by a mile and should appeal to anyone with an interest in soldiers and warfare whether they are a Napoleonic buff or not!  It only struck me when preparing this review that it should be no surprise that this book should have such a cross sectional appeal. The Rifles fought in a very modern way (as mentioned earlier) and therefore a modern audience can empathise with them more than perhaps with soldiers fighting in a pike phalanx or a regiment fighting shoulder to shoulder.

Finally the book is well supported by two sections of glossy images showing portraits of some of the characters, maps showing areas of operations and artwork showing riflemen in action.  These are really helpful for anyone not familiar with the uniforms and equipment of the period.

Available now in paperback, published by Faber & Faber, normal price £8.99 (ISBN 0571216811)

Review written by: Paul Robinson, Staff Writer