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Victory in Europe (World War II)

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Bonaparte's Warriors is the fourth book in the "Bonaparte" series, the previous volumes being Bonaparte's Sons, set in the Italian Campaign, Bonaparte's Invaders, taking place during the Egyptian Campaign, and Bonaparte's Conquerors, in the Marengo campaign. Each of these chronicles the adventures of Alain Lausard, a sergeant in the French dragoons. In a conscious reversal of the formula followed in Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe" series, Lausard is a former aristocrat who had turned thief in order to survive the ravages of the Revolution. "Dragooned" out of prison with a rag-tag group of fellow inmates -thieves, murderers and rapists-Lausard and company are trained as cavalrymen and sent to reinforce Napoleon's army in Italy. Lausard's squadron includes a motley gang of former prisoners and outcasts: Bonet, the former schoolteacher; Giresse, the horse thief and ladies man; Delacor, the rapist; Roussard, the forger; Rostov, the Russian; Karim, the former Mameluke slave; the religious fanatic, Moreau; and others. This cast of characters has remained fairly constant throughout the series.

Bonaparte's Warriors opens with the dragoons enjoying an uneasy peace and Lausard chafing from inactivity in the camp at Boulogne. He and his hard-bitten band of former prisoners are given, by Napoleon himself, a special assignment: penetrate neutral territory and kidnap the ci-devant Bourbon prince, the duc d'Enghien. Completing their task our merry band of what Wellington would have called the "scum of the earth" kick their heels in Paris until war inevitably breaks out. Lausard and the French army march against Austria and Russia and the book culminates with the battle of Austerlitz.

Richard Howard manages to work many military details into his stories, from the number of paces per minute the infantry marches to a detailed description of a cavalryman's tack. The artillery doesn't just fire canister shot, it fires "four-and-a-half-ounce balls." This exposition of military detail is, however, not always accomplished seamlessly. The author emphasizes the hardships and brutality of war, but perhaps to too great a degree. No one just dies in one of Howard's novels, they are ground under horses' hooves, smashed in the mouth with teeth flying by heavy cavalry swords, or turned into pulp by grape and canister. By over-emphasizing the violence and brutality, yet having the brutality occur to the novel's anonymous cannon fodder, Howard dehumanizes the suffering more than he shines a spotlight on it. One of Howard's weaknesses is that he seems so enamored of his cast of characters that he is loath to kill any of them off. This immortality amid the horrors of war lessens the impact of the battle scenes. We know Lausard will survive to fight another battle, but by making all the characters seemingly invulnerable there is little tension as to who will survive by the novel's end.

In fact the lack of fully delineated secondary characters such as those with which Cornwell peopled his "Sharpe" series is a definite weakness. There is no Harper. Lausard has no love interests. There is no villain running through the series or even for each individual volume. The only other fully developed character in these books is Napoleon himself. Howard does a creditable job reflecting the ambiguities of Napoleon's soldiers toward their emperor. Grumbling on campaign and at peace, yet awed in his presence. Even the cynical Lausard can't help crying "Vive l'Empereur!" when Napoleon rallies his troops. Howard's Napoleon is a flesh and blood creature, not a "marble man." Yet I can't help thinking that the many episodes in the book with Napoleon would be better spent developing Lausard. The frequent scenes with Napoleon explaining his actions to his staff may be a short-handed way of filling in historical background, but ultimately Howard would be better of having this background revealed through the thoughts and actions of his protagonist.

Lausard has none of the motivations to rise through the ranks as Sharpe had and I wouldn't be surprised if Lausard remains a sergeant to the bitter end. Cornwell always managed to set a goal for Sharpe in each of his stories; Howard is content to just let his hero be pulled along on Napoleon's coattails, going from historic event to historic event like a tourist. Lausard's sole motivation is to expiate his supposed sin of letting his family die on the guillotine, not having taken action to save them or dying himself. But Howard doesn't dwell much on the psychology of his hero; he seems content telling a fast-paced tale of adventure.

These criticisms aside, Howard has produced a series which affords the reader a quick, night or two read, but with little substance. These books are perfect to take to the beach or to read on a plane trip. Even the knowledgeable reader can more than likely enjoy the rousing action if he can refrain from nit-picking the military details. While the Alain Lausard books are not up to the level of Fraser's "Flashman" series (the ne plus ultra of these types of novels) or even of the "Sharpe" series, they do make for a quick, entertaining read.

Being a great fan of Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series, it was with great enthusiasm that I started with Howard's stories of Alain Lausard, a French Dragoon. Alas, while interesting, the novels just are not as good as Cornwell's. The main character, a nobleman disguised as a commoner (the opposite of Cornwell's Richard Sharpe)is difficult to identify with. Of the four novels there is less action in this one than the others. The Battle of Austerlitz forms the background of the story with most of the combat taking place in the last 3rd of the story. All of his companions from the 1st novel are amazingly still with him. A passable read till the next Sharpe novel arrives.

This page is quite confused. The description - Time-Life and pages refers to the World War II set; not the novel that is also described and reviewed (unless Amazon has fixed the page.)

This volume concludes the battle for Europe and includes last battles, the death of Hitler, Russian army actions and relations to other allies and postwar effects. It is quite a good book and available for a very reasonable price (less than $5 at times and in other locations.)

It would be an exellent, informative book, except for some, to me misleading informations. I am referring to page #182:the text under photo:" ....: in the course of three days,besides routing the few German troops and police left in the city, they (Czechs*) killed 30,000 German civilian residents, mostly women and childern." The page#185 " German childern were thrown from windows and drowned in horse troughs. Several hunderd boys were taken out of their school and shot. "German man, women and childern were bound together with barbed wire and rolled into Vltava river. In twos and threes, the dead floated downstream into the Elbe. Two weeks later- after the last of 30,000 German civilians had been killed in Prague-thousands of bodies were still being pulled out of the river." The page #186: ".... K.H.Frank. He was pick up by Americans on May 9 and turned over to Czechs, who quickly executed him." In my opinion : 1. To kill 30,000 in the few days is not possible. 2. Where would be the graves so many people? 3. Who were the witnesses? 4. As a little boy I grew up 10 Km from Elbe river ( District Melnik ), never heard about thousands dead bodies in the Elbe river. 5. The response from the Military History Museum Prague, Czech Republic is stating: There is no record such mass killing. 6. Karl Hermann Frank was executed after standing his public trial, and if I remember right it was broadcasted over radio.

Having just finished reading my second Richard Howard novel(Bonaparte's Sons), I was once again struck by the authors sheer audacity in transposing whole scenes from Willi Heinrich's Cross of Iron. I can also identify shades of Sven Hassel, in so much as the narrative largely focuses on a cavalry unit made up of convicted criminals. All in all, a poor attempt to cash in on this ever popular genre.

This is the fourth in the series of six Lausard novels. The book contains seasoned characters, and tells parts of the Austerlitz story not detailed elsewhere. The book is worthwhile and recommended as a competent work of historical fiction, dealing with events of interest to the reader of the Napoleonic Era.

The plot develops from the camps at Boulogne through the Battle of Austerlitz. The major events are the encampment and training at Boulogne, the capture and execution of the Duke of Engheim, the march through the Rhine Valley, the crossing of the Black Forest, the maneuver sur derriere at Ulm, the battle of Elchingen, and the battle of Austerlitz.

Any author of fiction who undertakes the story of Grand Armee and the Battle of Austerlitz must operate in the shadow of Leo Tolstoy. The first half of War and Peace provides a detailed recounting of the events leading up to and including the battle of Austerlitz. Tolstoy focuses most on the events starting with the capitulation of Mack at Ulm, and continues in detail about the Russian operations under Kutuzov along the Danube, and ultimately to the showdown on the Pratzen Heights.

In terms of plot and storyline, this book is additive to the literature of historical fiction because Howard minimizes the overlap with the telling of Tolstoy, and focuses on the other events leading up to the battle of Austerlitz. The first one-third of the story focuses on the camp life at Boulogne, and considers the decision not to invade Great Britain. Before the march through the Rhine Valley and across the Black Forest, Lausard is part of the troop accompanying Orderer to capture and execute the Duke of Engheim.

The balance of the story tells about the rapid march through the Rhine, and the taking of the Austrians at Ulm. Lausard is part of the force fighting across the Bridge at Elchigen and the assault on the hilltop fortress at the Benedictine Monastery above the Danube River valley. Only the last twenty percent of the book retells the events of Austeriltz. Much of this part of the story focuses on the personal and warm relationship between Napoleon and the common soldiers.

The Lausard character begins as the dedicated and competent man of war that emerged from the battle of Marengo in the first book, Bonaparte's Conquerors. By the end of the story Lausard has wrestled with the question of loyalty to France and the Emperor. On the eve of Austerlitz, Lausard is overcome with emotion and becomes a part of the devoted soldiers who are absorbed in the fortunes of the Empire and the personal charisma of the Emperor.