Main Site
Book Home
Bernard Cornwell
Home
 |
 |
 |
Sharpe's Battle
Storyline
Sharpe is worried. Sharpe has his Captaincy, but it has not been confirmed. To top it all he becomes involved in the politics of war, and becomes a porn in the battle for the command of the Spanish Army.Sharpe has also created his own personal enemy. Brigadier Loup. Whilst travelling to his next destination Sharpe comes across Loups men in the process of raping the villager of a small hamlet. However what angers Sharpe, is the massacre of the children of the village, and against the rules, summarily executes the two French soldiers that he has caught. Loup threatens revenge.
Sharpe is given command of a 'crack' Spanish regiment, made up of Irish soldiers. The crack troops turn out to be anything but, and Sharpe tries to turn them into fighting soldiers. Matters are made worse by discontent in the ranks. Newspapers turn up telling stories of British atrocities back home in Ireland. In an attempt to pacify them he sends the Regiments Captain to the main British camp to seek new recruits from Ireland, that confirm no atrocities have taken place. Pacified the troops take to learning there trade, however the rate of desertion is alarming Sharpe. He puts an end to it in a brutal way.
A small regiment of Portuguese troops arrives at the small fort that Sharpe is guarding. In an attempt to make the senior officers accept the threat of attack he admits to the execution of the prisoners. Before matters can be fully sorted Loup makes his attack. It is only the fortitude and sacrifice of Tom Garrard that the garrison is saved. With the dawn comes the realization that a traitor lies within the camp.
After the disaster at the Fort, Sharpe is ordered to Administrative duties, until such time as a board of enquiry can decide his fate. However Sharpe being Sharpe he realizes that only a great act of bravery will save him and Colonel Runciman from ruin and disgrace. He sets about his task with wilful glee.
Will Sharpe save his honour, and finish off his private battle with Loup?
Review
This book is a bit different from the other Sharpe novels, in that it was designed and written specifically for the TV company making the Sharpe series. The book was not completed before filming began, so the TV version ends in a totally different way to the book. The books ending is far better, grittier.
The early part of the story is a typical story of turning a pretty, but useless regiment of men into a real fighting unit, and using that unit to save the day. It is also a brief look at the strange situation to be found in the army of Wellington. The Irish loathed the King and hated the English, but the army was the only way to save themselves from the grinding poverty back home in Ireland. The threat of mass desertion was very real, and had the French managed to achieve this feet, may well have one the Peninsular war.
The latter part of the book describes the fearsome battle of Fuentes de Oñoro. A battle which Wellington very nearly lost after sending his Seventh Division to far from the main battle line. The early part of the battle describes the retreat of the Light Division under fire and threat from cavalry, with only very minor losses. Masséna so near victory ultimately loses the battle and chance to save the mighty fort of Alemeida.
The book is very well written (as you would expect), and it is obvious that Cornwell is now comfortable writing about Richard Sharpe and his small group of riflemen, with such a major battle to base his story around, and one which is not (at the start) about British troops winning by crushing the enemy, but rather by wining by retreating give the early stages of battle a new twist. The book also benefits from not being a siege story, as it gives the whole book a fluidity that is not always possible when dealing with a siege.
To sum up an excellent story, with some interesting commentary on the Irish situation of the time. Well worth reading again and again.
 |
 |
 |
| Previous | Index | Next |
