by Iain Gale
The story of the blockade and the flooding of northern Flanders is wholly factual as is the use of barges by both sides in water-borne warfare. Leffinghe is another of those battles consigned to the margins of the history books, which played an important part in securing the allied lines. It lay in what Churchill terms ‘an archipelago of villages and unsubmerged hillocks’, of which it was the key. Following the relief of the garrison by Marlborough on 24th October, the relieving troops celebrated so well that they were surprised quite drunk by a French night assault and the village retaken. By that time though the precious convoy had been secured.
Steel of course had also left the village behind him and was en route to Lille.
Now, shaken by the deaths of his wife and his friend, he stands on the brink of Marlborough’s greatest and bloodiest campaign. Promised command of a full battalion, he is an independent man once more, all the more determined to further his career, having learnt that, while the life of a spy might hold its own dangers and rewards, he is better suited to that of a soldier, leading his men as he has always done, into the very heart of battle.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As always, I have relied where possible upon first hand accounts and this time I particular in the memoirs of the Duc de St Simon. My chief secondary sources once again were Trevelyan’s history of England in the reign of Queen Anne and Sir Winston Churchill’s history of his ancestor the Duke of Marlborough. Of more recent works, apart from the ubiquitous David Chandler, James Faulkner’s recent book on Marlborough’s sieges was very useful, as were Andrew Trout’s masterly ‘City on the Seine’ and Andrew Hussey’s history of Paris. Charles S Grant’s two volumes on uniforms of the wars were, as usual, invaluable.
Lille, like much of Flanders is much changed today, although it is still possible to discern important elements of the fortifications. Vauban’s astonishing models of his forts are on view in Lille and in Paris at the Musée de l’Armée. Steel’s Paris is now mostly gone, a victim of the great Haussman rebuilding of the 19th century. However, the Place Royale, now the Place des Vosges still exists and it is possible to find the historic house where Steel attended the soiree with Simpson.
This book was written during a very difficult period and countless people were extraordinarily kind and generous with their time and tangible help. Of these I would like in particular to thank Caroline Barty for her unstinting hospitality at Nerac (Puy Fort Eguile) and also in France, David and Kate November and Carly-Ann Montariol. A huge thank-you is due to those in Edinburgh who rallied round when the going got tough, in particular Susie Usher, Kate and David Oram, Polly Lambert, Catriona and Henry MacDermot, Tom and Kitty Bruce-Gardyne, Robin Gaze, Liza Stewart, Richard and Florence Ingleby and Patrick Barty. And last but not least an enormous thank you to my indefatigable editor Susan Watt at Harper Collins who understands only too well just how hard such times can be.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BROTHERS IN ARMS
Iain Gale has always had a life-long passion for military history. He is the Editor of the National Trust for Scotland magazine and Art critic for Scotland on Sunday. He lives outside Edinburgh with his wife and children.
PRAISE
‘A powerful novel of men at war. A triumph.’
BERNARD CORNWELL
‘Gale handles the military material superbly,
recreating the battle…very exciting’
DAILY TELEGRAPH
OTHER WORKS
Also by the Author
Four Days in June
Alamein
JACK STEEL SERIES
Man of Honour
Rules of War
COPYRIGHT
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Harper
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
77–85 Fulham Palace Road,
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
www.harpercollins.co.uk
This paperback edition 2010
1
First published in Great Britain by
HarperCollins 2009
Copyright © Iain Gale 2009
Iain Gale asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © MAY 2012 ISBN 9780007322671
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East – 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77–85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com
