James Arnold's 'Napoleon on the Danube'

Wading my way through James Arnold's 'Napoleon on the Danube' in preparation for The Cultural Experience's tour of the same name - see http://www.theculturalexperience.com/battlefield_tours/vienna.php.
I read his 'Crisis on the Danube' many years ago, which I remember enjoying. The latter dealt with the opening battles of the 1809 campaign in Germany - Ratisbonne, Eckmuhl, etc, whereas this one deals with Aspern-Essling and Wagram.
Arnold writes really well - an easy author to get to grips with. His description of Aspern-Essling is very good as his round up of other worldwide events concurrently taking place in 1809. The book lacks a bit of balance because its light on Austrian sources. However he needs to understand that river banks are defined as left and right when one faces the direction of flow of a river. Either he has got that wrong or he erroneously believes that  the Danube flows from east to west. These are errors that he repeats throughout, and given that much of this book is about the crossing of the Danube, they can very much confuse the reader. Also the maps (in my 1990's edition) are appalling - I suspect that he or his 'cartographer' where trying to get to grips with the latest 'drawing' software, which in the early 1990s was pretty bad compared to what it available today. If this book has been reprinted, I hope that the publishers have the good sense to have the maps redrawn. Failing that, you will need to get hold of other maps to facilitate your understanding - especially with the manoeuvring of 5/6 July.
Overall though, a good read so far and despite my criticisms (and anyhow you have been forewarned) I would recommend this book. I'll update this review when I've finished it.
Really looking forward to Vienna though.

Salamanca and Corunna battlefield tours

No doubt keenness to avoid the Olympics has been a reason why our Salamanca Anniversary and Retreat to Corunna battlefield tours have proved so popular. Or it could be that the inimitable Major Gordon Corrigan is our expert?

The Keep Military Museum, Dorchester

I took some holiday last week and found myself in Dorchester where I spent an enjoyable couple of hours in the Keep Military Museum.  Whilst the museum has been partly seduced by the modern methods of presentation, it is pleasing to see that traditional presentation has not been abandoned either.  Some of the exhibits which took my attention were a 25 pdr, a map plotting all the bombs, by device, dropped in Dorset during WW2, and a magnificent diorama of the battle of Plassey.  And do you know where the last British mounted charge took place?  Well if you have been on our War in the Desert tour to Egypt, the chances are that you drove right past the site en-route to Sidi Barrani.  On 26 February 1916, three squadrons of the Dorset Yeomanry and one of the Bucks Yeomanry charged a Turkish rearguard (armed with Maxim machine guns).  At a cost of only 32 killed and 26 wounded, they inflicted nearly a thousand casualties and captured the enemy general. Find out more about the battle of Agagia at http://www.keepmilitarymuseum.org/middleeast/outline.php? . Better still, why not visit this superb museum. I think that future tours to Egypt might incorporate an additional stop, once we have figured out exactly where the battle took place.

War and Peace

Just finished Dominic Leiven's superb 'Russia vs Napoleon'. It is a truly seminal work with much original research. And concurently I watched the 20 episodes of BBC's 1972 adaption of Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' with Anthony Hopkins. Its very dated and probably percevied as 'slow' by today's standards, but the Austerlitz, Borodino and Retreat episodes are particularly worthwhile - real snow and frozen breath - no Snowworks in those days.
Its all good prep for The Cultural Experience's bicentenneray battlefield tour to Russia in September 2012 - see http://www.theculturalexperience.com/battlefield_tours/napoleon_1812.php and www.theculturalexperience.com

Setting up the 2012 battlefield tour programme

After what seems to have been months of hard work; historical research, creating itineraries, checking practicalities and availability, liaising with guides and tour managers, writing the copy, sourcing suitable images and helping with the overall design – I am pleased to announce that  I signed off the final proofs for the 2012 tour brochure. And I can tell you that my shoulders feel considerably lighter.

We have got plenty of new tours to whet your appetite as well as many familiar ones. And some new guides too. We have Mick Holtby taking us on a battlefield tour to India in search of Wellington but also to Plassey and Kohima. Gordon Corrigan will be traipsing over the battlefield of Salamanca on its 200th anniversary and following Sir John Moore to Corunna. I’ve got a couple of new Napoleonic trips lined up: the 1809 battles around Vienna and Napoleon’s 1812 campaign from Smolensk to Moscow. Fred Hawthorne will be leading a new Western Theater American Civil War battlefield tour and John Drewienkiewicz will be taking us around the 1866 Austro-Prussian Warbattlefields. Gary Sheffield has a new General Haig tour on the Western Front and I am pleased that Robert Kershaw has agreed to lend his expertise to our Great Patriotic War and Berlinb attlefield tours. Patrick Mercer has devised a really in-depth battlefield tour around Monte Cassino, whilst we welcome Chris Pugsley who has created his own Operation Mercury battlefield tourto Crete. And a final mention to Tony Smith who will be guiding our Falkland Islands battlefield tour.