Vincent Bertrand was conscripted into the 7th Light Infantry Regiment in November 1805 and remained with that regiment until 1815, by which time he had attained the rank of adjutant sous-officier. He served at Jena, Eylau, Friedland, Wagram, throughout the Russian campaign and at Dresden. He was wounded and taken prisoner when his battalion was destroyed in a rearguard action at Peterswald on 14th September 1813 and did not return to France until August 1814. During the Waterloo campaign, the 7th formed part of the Army of the Rhine.

Bertrand joined the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Royal Guard as a fusilier in March 1816, regained his old rank of sous-lieutenant in 1825, was promoted lieutenant in 1830, transferred to the 43rd Infantry Regiment where he became a captain in 1836, and retired in 1839. His service in the Royal Army is not described in this memoir, published by his grandson in 1909, which has been translated into English for the first time.

Ten plates – all but one in colour – are bound into the centre of the book. The battle scenes by Edouard Detaille, Antoine Jean Gros and Adolphe Yvon will be familiar already to Napoleonic wargamers; there are also depictions of French Light Infantry uniforms by Aaron Martinet and Carl Vernet. There are, regrettably, no maps nor battle diagrams to enable readers to follow Bertrand’s military career.

The contemporary aquatints that form the background to the dustjacket, whilst depicting French troops attacking, are actually illustrations of Peninsular War battles from Jenkins’ Martial Achievements &c. at which neither the 7th Light Infantry nor Bertrand were present.

Twenty-seven pages of informative explanatory endnotes and an index complete the book.

A most interesting memoir by a brave soldier that will appeal to collectors of personal accounts of the Napoleonic Wars.

Miniature Wargames, Arthur Harman