The Norfolk Regiment (9th Foot) entered the war with two regular, one reserve and three TF battalions (one of the latter, the 6th, was a cyclist battalion); by the end the number had grown to nineteen of which eight went on active service whose losses in dead numbered 5,576. The total number of men raised during the war amounted to 32,375. Seventy battle honours and one VC were awarded, the VC going to Lt Col Sherwood-Kelly while commanding 1st R Inniskilling Fusiliers. The 1st Battalion (apart from a short spell in Italy with the 5th Division), 7th, 8th, 9th served on the Western Front; the...

The fall of an empire-by a great historian
Every history book offers-inevitably-a perspective. Some historians are rightly judged to offer more considered analysis and skill in its explanation than others, and so their names endure. One such was F. Loraine Petre whose work on the history of the Napoleonic Wars has endured and is regarded by scholars and students of the period alike, as being of the highest order. This book is no exception. Here the author has taken as his subject the campaign that led to the abdication of the Emperor, a campaign that Napoleon fought with his back to wall,...

The fall of an empire-by a great historian
Every history book offers-inevitably-a perspective. Some historians are rightly judged to offer more considered analysis and skill in its explanation than others, and so their names endure. One such was F. Loraine Petre whose work on the history of the Napoleonic Wars has endured and is regarded by scholars and students of the period alike, as being of the highest order. This book is no exception. Here the author has taken as his subject the campaign that led to the abdication of the Emperor, a campaign that Napoleon fought with his back to wall,...

The War of the Sixth Coalition
There are of course, many histories available on the Napoleonic era but the first distinction offered by this one must be the widely acknowledged regard with which its author, F. Loraine Petre is still held. Petre wrote several histories of the period and all are recognised as scholarship of the highest order and his contribution to the subject has rarely been surpassed in the years since their original publication. Napoleon's German campaign was decisive for the aspirations of the Emperor, France and the imperial allies that were resolved to bring him to...

The War of the Sixth Coalition
There are of course, many histories available on the Napoleonic era but the first distinction offered by this one must be the widely acknowledged regard with which its author, F. Loraine Petre is still held. Petre wrote several histories of the period and all are recognised as scholarship of the highest order and his contribution to the subject has rarely been surpassed in the years since their original publication. Napoleon's German campaign was decisive for the aspirations of the Emperor, France and the imperial allies that were resolved to bring him to...