Rifles

As part of the Light Division created to act as the advance guard of Wellington's army, the 95th Rifles are the first into battle and the last out. Fighting and thieving their way across Europe, they are clearly no ordinary troops. The 95th are in fact the first British soldiers to take aim at their targets, to take cover when being shot at, to move tactically by fire and manoeuvre. And by the end of the six-year campaign they have not only proved themselves the toughest fighters in the army, they have also - at huge personal cost - created the modern notion of the infantryman.



In an exhilarating work of narrative military history, Mark Urban traces the story of the 95th Rifles, the toughest and deadliest sharpshooters of Wellington's Army.



'If you like Sharpe, then this book is a must, your Christmas present solved.' Bernard Cornwell, Daily Mail



'Urban writes history the way it should be written, alive and exciting.' Andy McNab



Mark Urban is the Diplomatic Editor of the BBC's Newsnight and was formerly Defence Correspondent for the Independent. He is the author of several books, including Big Boys' Rules: The SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA, The Men Who Broke Napoleon's Codes and Rifles: Six Years with Wellington's Legendary Sharpshooters.His Generals: Ten British Commanders Who Shaped the World was described by Tim Collins as 'entertaining, informative and insightful', and by Allan Mallinson as 'one of the most intelligent books on the British Army I have ever read'. Fusiliers: How the British Army Lost America But Learned to Fight was described by Simon Sebag Montefiore as 'a vivid, gritty, poignant and well-researched charge-by-charge, barrage-by-barrage march of one regiment of Redcoats through the battles of the American War of Independence.'