An ordinary young soldier's view of both sides of a great conflict
This a companion book the Leonaur title 'A conscript for Empire'. Like young Philippe Schwein the author of that book, Johan Christian Maempel was a Rhinelander who found himself in the service of Napoleon's French Empire. Maempel joined the Light Infantry and began a tough life of campaigning that took him to Spain where he fought and suffered at Cuidad Rodrigo, before the lines at Torres Vedras and ultimately as one of those besieged behind the walls of Almeida before it finally succumbed to attacking British forces. Good fortune spared his life and where many of his comrades fell he was taken prisoner. As a German he was offered freedom upon joining the King's German Legion and carrying its rifle. He accepted and found himself once more despatched to the Iberian Peninsula to oppose Suchet and his former comrades in the campaign for the eastern flank. This is a highly entertaining and readable account of army life on both sides of the same conflict and will be certain to please all those interested in the Napoleonic Wars.