"Napoleon's Infantry Handbook" Topic

"If not a field marshal's baton, what did Napoleon's soldiers really carry in their backpacks? Napoleon's Infantry Handbook is an essential reference guide, filled with fascinating detail on the training, tactics, equipment, service and administration of Napoleon's infantry regiments. Based on contemporary training manuals, regulations and orders, Napoleon's Infantry Handbook details the everyday routines and practises which governed the imperial army up to the Battle of Waterloo and made it one of history's most formidable military machines. Through years of research, Terry Crowdy has amassed a huge wealth of information on every aspect of the infantryman's existence, from weapons drill and maintenance, uniform regulations, pay, diet, cooking regulations, hygiene and latrine digging, medical care, burial of the dead, how to apply for leave and so on. This remarkable book fills in the gaps left by campaign histories and even eyewitness memoirs, which often omit such details. This book doesn't merely recount what Napoleon's armies did, it explains how they did it. The result is a unique guide to the everyday life of Napoleon's infantry soldiers."
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I just finished this – it was ok.

Agree. It's OK. Some of the terms are a little ambiguous in the volume, but that is a minor fault.

The same information can be found in Elzear Blaze's memoirs, Le Soldat Imperial by Jean Morvan, and Swords Around A Throne by John Elting. Further information on the French infantry arm can also be found in JB Avril's Les Avantages d'une Bonne Discipline which includes the results of the different amalgamations and reorganization from ca 1790 to the second restoration.

The book is very useful for those who don't speak French, as it also gives a lot of info taken from Bardin's Manuel d'Infanterie (four, ever enlarged editions from 1807 to 1813).

Just finished it,I have been a serios Napoleoic era reader and learned many things a soldier went though on a daily basis. Even something I thought was so simple as pipe claying cross belts or keeping uniforms clean isn't that easy.
Would highly recommend it.

I imagine most Napoleonic enthusiasts will already be aware of quite a lot of what the title contains, such as what a Grenadier, Voltigeur, eagle-bearer or drummer is. They will also be aware of what breeches and epaulettes are.

However, even so, the title is ideal as a quick reference work and contains some interesting areas, such as tattoos and jewellery. In this section, the author recalls one prisoner who tattooed an imperial eagle on his left arm but was advised after he was released in 1814 to get a fleur-de-lis tattooed on his right arm so he could be admitted to the Hotel des Invalides.

Not a great book and not a bad one, but certainly a handy one. And you can still obtain a hardback copy for around £18.00 GBP, including the postage.

One selling price was the Kindle addition price under 2$,

As a relative newbie in the period, I found it quite interesting.

Not really a front-to-back read, but you can find all sorts of interesting trivia here about the day-to-day runnings of the French army.