Product details
- ISBN 9781841763118
- Weight: 340g
- Dimensions: 178 x 244mm
- Publication Date: 25 Feb 2002
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Packed with illustrations and maps, this slim volume examines Wellington's comeback in Portugal, which ultimately led to the end of its French occupation.
In October 1810 the Allied position in Portugal appeared precarious. Despite defeating Marshal Masséna's French army at Bussaco, Wellington had been forced to retreat to within a few miles of Lisbon. Here the French encountered a massive line of fortifications stretching from the River Tagus to the sea. Built amid great secrecy and on Wellington's specific orders, these Lines of Torres Vedras were the French high-water mark.
In February, with his army on the point of starvation, Masséna was forced to retreat. The scene was set for the climactic action of Fuentes de Oñoro, expertly examined by prolific military history author René Chartrand.
René Chartrand was born in Montreal and educated in Canada, the United States and the Bahamas. A senior curator with Canada's National Historic Sites for nearly three decades, he is now a freelance writer and historical consultant. He has written numerous articles and books including almost 20 Osprey titles and the first two volumes of Canadian Military Heritage. He lives in Hull, Quebec, with his wife and two sons.
Patrice Courcelle, born in northern France in 1950, has been a professional illustrator for some 20 years. His previous work for Osprey includes Men-at-Arms 328 and 335, Emigre & Foreign Troops in British Service Vols. 1 and 2, Campaign 76: Ticonderoga 1758 and Campaign 79: Louisbourg 1758.
