Just Finished Reading: Sharpe’s Battle by Bernard Cornwell (FP: 1995) [387pp]

Spanish-Portuguese border, 1811. Lost in the hills Sharpe and his men stumble upon a duo of French cavalrymen in the act of raping a young Spanish women. Disgusted by this all too common behaviour and the fact that the men’s unit had killed old men, women and children in the local village Sharpe orders that the men be shot. Despite being outside his authority to do so Sharpe’s men eagerly move to comply. When the enemy’s commanding officer appears to bargain for his men’s return Sharpe ignores him and orders the firing squad to proceed. Vowing revenge the French officer, Brigadier-General Guy Loup, determines to humiliate Sharpe in front of his men before he kills him. Sharpe has made a formidable enemy. Sent to command a dilapidated Portuguese fort it presents Loup with an ideal opportunity for revenge. Suffering heavy losses Sharpe is reprimanded and is told that he will be court-martialled for political reasons to save important Anglo-Spanish relations and that being demoted is nothing personal. The only way out is to perform an act of such spectacular bravery that any trial would either be a formality or dropped all together. The only problem Sharpe can see is doing something brave enough to be noticed and surviving to tell the tale. Luckily for Sharpe an opportunity is about to be presented to him. Wellington’s army is in a precarious position and if they lose the upcoming battle they lose the war – and probably their lives.

This is the 12^th book in the Sharpe series and my 18^th Sharpe book (I think!). Obviously I’ve not been reading them in 100% order but that’s not totally required. Following the usual pattern of opening incident, small battle followed by major battle (not all Sharpe novels are like this but the pattern is repeated more often than not I think) this is a great romp showing all of Sharpe’s – and Cornwell’s – strengths and few of his, admittedly few, faults. The opening incident in the massacred village is suitable gruesome and the baddie, Loup, is suitably nasty enough to elicit a cacophony of ‘boo’s’ off-page every time he enters the frame. Supported by a group of elite cavalry dedicated to hunting partisans they make a suitably tough nemesis to throw at Sharpe. Again as usual there’s a strong female character, the beautiful but traitorous Dona Juanita, who likes to dress in the uniforms of the men she’s slept with. Apparently she has a very large wardrobe. She’s definitely an interesting character if rather distasteful. The small battle, at the old fort, is both intense and fraught but the larger battle at the end of the novel is quite something – as well as being largely based on fact. A mixture of street fighting and a slow tactical retreat on the battlefield (which was wonderful to ‘watch’ and must have been very annoying to the French) was very exciting to experience – although probably not that enjoyable to take part in. Also, as usual, the dialogue is sparkling. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if conversations in the novel actually took place on the battlefield. They have a ‘feel’ of the authentically laconic.

As always these books make me want to know more about the actual conflict – both the wider Napoleonic War and the Peninsula campaigns in particular – so I’m looking towards that. This leaves four more books to read plus another one to be published this year in hardback. I’ll be waiting for it in paperback though. There’s no hurry really with others in the ‘to read’ pile. Definitely a fun read and recommended for all 19^th century war fans.