Customer Reviews

Random Shots from a Rifleman (The Spellmount library of military history)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Kincaid, laconic officer and sharp observer of life in the 95th Rifle Brigade, wrote two memoirs. 'Adventures in the Rifle Brigade' was his first. This was a generally chronological account of life in the British Army during the Peninsular campaign 1809-1825. This is the follow up volume to that - and it is a little gem.

Random Shots is a collection of equally amusing, but incisive anecdotes about people, places and events during the same period - the Peninsular War. I suspect that it is probably bits and pieces he forgot to put in the first volume. With the wealth of memoirs being printed following the Peninsular War - especially from his fellow officers of the 95th he may well have been reminded of events after the first book was published.

In case you are wondering these two volumes are quite independent of one another so you can read each separately without any loss of understanding. But both books are definitely worth buying.

This is because Kincaid has a real eye for detail, and writes with a confiding but self-deprecating tone which I find irrestible. His descriptions are crisp and he is able to bring to life the harshness of campaign life but temper this with a very human and ironic tone.

He manages to encapsulate precisely not only the official status, but the unofficial feeling about various elements. For instance his concise description of volunteers in the Peninsular Army; "A volunteer ..... is generally a young man with some pretensions to gentility, and while, with some, those pretensions are so admirably disguised as to be scarcely visible to the naked eye, in others they are conspicuous; But in either case, they are persons who, being without the necessary influence to obtaina commission at home, get a letter of introduction to the commander of the forces in the field..."

Kincaid takes us effortlessly with him through sieges and stormings, to hoar-frost laden nights where he is wrapped in just his boat cloak on the cold clay ground. He introduces us to a wealth of characters both well-known and best-forgotten, and he does it all with wonderful charm.

If you buy this book and enjoy it, you will also enjoy his first volume of memoirs. You might also enjoy his fellow officer of the 95th, Harry Smith whose autobiography has recently been reprinted and is also on sale on Amazon.