The Waterloo Archive Volume II German Sources

The Waterloo Archive Volume II German Sources Synopsis

German troops formed the majority of Wellington?s forces present at the Battle of Waterloo including those of Nassau, Brunswick, Hanover and the King?s German Legion, and they have left a large number of first-hand accounts of their role in the battle in their own words. The actions of the King's German Legion, which was an integral part of the British Army and partly officered by British soldiers, has been published in English, but to a very limited degree:

• Herbert Siborne published two letters written to his father
• Ompteda and Wheatley have had their memoirs published
• and in History of the King?s German Legion, Ludlow Beamish included a small number of letters, including the oft-misquoted account of the defence of La Haye Sainte by Major Baring. However this still forms a tiny proportion of the German material available, which remains unavailable to those who do not possess a high level of German-language skills. It is therefore not surprising that early British histories of the battle have largely sidelined the achievements of the German troops and has been lazily regurgitated by most that have followed. This situation did not change until the 1990s when Peter Hofschroer published his two-volume version of the Waterloo campaign from the German perspective, which included numerous snippets of German documents published for the first time in English to support his view of the campaign. But even this proved not totally satisfactory, as it did not provide the whole document to allow full interpretation. There is, therefore, a great need to provide an English version of much of the original German source material to aid historians redress the imbalance
• this volume is intended to correct that situation by publishing sixty of these fascinating reports and letters fully translated into English for the first time, giving a much clearer insight into the very significant role these troops played in Wellington?s victory