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Ambushes and surprise attacks are tactics as old as warfare itself. This instructive and interesting book, written by a distinguished Victorian soldier and military historian, describes and analyses some of history's most famous military ambushes - including Hannibal's waylaying of the Romans on the shores of Lake Trasimene; the other great disaster to Roman arms when the Legions were lured to their doom by the Teutonic tribes of Germanicus in the Teutoburg Forest; from the Age of Charlemagne Malleson tells the story of Roland and Oliver’s doomed stand against the Moors at Roncesvalles in the Pyrenees. Other surprises and ambushes recounted in the book include Marshal Massena’s campaign of 1799 around the St Gothard Pass in the Swiss Alps, and France’s successful ambush of Braddock’s British force iun the North American wilderness at Fort Duquesne. Each account is illustrated by a map, making this a most illuminating as well and an highly entertaining, read.
Excerpt from Ambushes and Surprises: Being a Description of Some of the Most Famous Instances of the Leading Into Ambush and the Surprise of Armies, From the Time of Hannibal to the Period of the Indian MutinyThe surprises recorded in the last two chapters occurred in our own time. Their right to a. Place in this volume will be denied by no one. I will add that the subjects of both have been studied by me with the greatest care. If I have not, as I am conscious I have not, brought into the prominence they deserved the names Of many gallant soldiers, it is because in so short a sketch it has been im possible to individualise the actions of all. I hope, how ever, I may be allowed to cherish th...
A history and analysis of the most devastating tactic Most students of military history will be familiar with the works of George Bruce Malleson; he was a prodigious author on the subject and his scholarship has always been regarded as of the highest standard. This excellent book will be of much interest to those concerned with the practice of military craft. It examines critically and in detail that most desired of circumstances, which is when a battle is won, where the victorious outcome is all but certain instead of fought, where the potential for defeat is always possible. The unseen attack to the flank, the ambuscade and the sudden appearance of the enemy whose presence was unknown is n...
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