Customer Reviews

Borodino, The Moscova: The Battle for the Redoubts

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I always like to respect the ideas of all the pleople that share their ideas with the public but this time I think I disagreed with one of the writers, I do not see this book as a introduction to the battle of Borodino if you are looking for a book that gave you a good introduction may be the one of Digy Smith would help(Is not that good but it would gave you the idea) This book is more for the people that are enteresting in Uniformology of the Grande Armee, the confederation of the Rhine and the Russian Army,it also gave you names of who was in command at time of the battles. There is a good introduction that tell you why this nations confront on this date but is really small,maps are really hard to follow but they gave you the idea of what was happening. This Translation from the original french version have alot of mistakes in Uniforms,the plates which are made by Andre Jouineau show you everything the equipment,weapons, calvary items etc..

The great thing about this book is that is fully illustrated with russian and french paintings this is not that common on books of the Napoleonic wars and specially the ones on uniforms.

Mr Hourtoulle made a great work with the Jena Auertaedt Book but in this new book about the Moskova the uniforms plates are made much more better(remenber there is some mistakes on the plates) I was looking for a book that show me the uniforms of the Russian army, there is plates from the Pavlovski Grenadier to the Platov Cossacks and from the french side almost all the allied and La Garde Imperiale and I can tell you that I find it, you would enjoy reading this book but if you are looking for a great work I recommend The books from the late John Elting Napoleonic Uniforms.Vol III & IV

Those who loved F.G. Hourtoulle's "Jena, Auerstaedt : The Triumph of the Eagle" will also like his new book on Borodino. As in "Jena, Auerstaedt" the chief attractions are the illustrations of battle scenes and lavish uniform guides. Most of "Borodino's" battle illustrations are from Russian works on the subject and include several sections from the grand panorama of the battle in Moscow. These include a wonderful picture of the two Russian Guard Cuirassier regiments charging the two Saxon Guard heavy cavalry regiments. The book is profusely illustrated with uniform plates organized around the author's corps by corps, division by division review of the combatants and their commanders.

The downside of this is that the text is poorly written and translated with numerous typos. As with "Jena" you will have a difficult time following the action using only this book even with the nice tactical maps which are included. If you want a good clear discussion of the battle, try Christpher Duffy's book or the West Point Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars. You also need to be a bit careful of the uniform plates as an error or two has crept in such as showing a blackened cuirass for a Russian regiment distinguished by its French style armor or not identifying a plate as being of an NCO trooper. However, that said, for sheer color and basic information this is a great book to begin a collection on the era or for a veteran enthusiast to have around just to enjoy now and then. I know that despite the quibbles, I will buy all the books like this that M. Hourtoulle can write---as long as he continues to illustrate them like this.

I have only browsed this book, but as the owner of many Napoleonic pictorial books this is a wonderful deal. I would expect to pay at least $[PRICE] for a volume of this type, most of which are only available with French text. This is NOT a narrative, it is meant to be a adjunct to books that are. If one were interested in starting a collection of illustrated books of the Napoleonic period this is a wondeful place to start. The same goes for the authors book on the Prussian campaign.

For those who are not familiar with this Napoleonic series by Hourtoulle, it should be noted that although the different books are titled by the name of the battle/campaign (Wagram, Borodino, Jena, Austerlitz, etc.), these books primarily focus on the individual units which were present and engaged at the battle. There are also numerous pictures of most of the generals present as well as pictures of some of the junior officers. There is decent information regarding the battle itself with some detail and there are plenty of maps and pictures of the battle........As I mentioned though, these books mainly focus on the individual forces that were present. The listed troop formations are broken-down from Corps, to Division, Brigade and finally Regiment. SOME info regarding the history and participation of each regiment is provided as well as SOME of the officers within the regiment and SHORT descriptions as to their fate. Although the info about each regiment is limited, I still found it interesting and helpful. As it was originally translated from French to English, there are some mistakes within the content and usage of words; but nothing too frequent.....It should also be noted that the unit descriptions are far more detailed regarding the French Forces than the Russian.......There are TONS of uniform plates which are all in color. This book provides a very good look at the uniforms worn by the different units present at the battle. All in all, it is a VERY, VERY COLORFUL work and I found it pleasing to read. It is not a complicated book at all and much of the info within is fairly basic. This book should be used primarily as a REFERENCE SOURCE for uniforms and orders of battle.

I have all the books in this series (Four to date) plus a few others by H&C. The color plates are one of the stronger reasons why I collect the books, but there is some information about the topic the book covers as well. These books are translated from the original French versions, so the writing portion is not perfect. These books are of very nice quality and value though with colorful uniform plates.

The Drawings and colors are exceptional; however, the translation from French by Alan McCay is horrendous. It looks as though a 10th Grade High School student wrote it for his D- grade. There doesn't appear to be any editor for this book. Please note, the other books on this series are equally poor. If you want a visual text on the Napoleonic Battle, this could still be a good book to have in your library. Perhaps one day, Histoire & Collections will do a Vol. 2 and edit out all the writing mistakes.