Warriors: Extraordinary Tales from the Battlefield. Max Hastings

      Warriors

      Max Hastings

      

Copyright

      William Collins

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      This edition published by Harper Perennial 2006

      First published by HarperCollins Publishers 2005

      Copyright © Max Hastings 2005

      Max Hastings 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

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      This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

      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

      Source ISBN: 9780007198856

       Ebook Edition © MAY 2010 ISBN: 9780007344109

      Version: 2018-08-13

       Praise

      From the reviews of Warriors:

      ‘Brimming with great anecdotes…Hastings’s wonderfully readable book is going to make a lot of armchair soldiers very, very, happy. A damn good war story is always worth repeating, and few tell them better than Hastings’

       Daily Mail

      ‘Hastings combines his consummate skill as a writer with passages of descriptive brilliance to provide a book for the ordinary citizen. His warriors are a mixed bag of unlikely combat survivors, their deeds graphically portrayed and their character flaws vividly described. He captures the commitment of the fighting servicemen and women, loyally executing the policy of the government of the day, in language that is powerful yet eminently comprehensible. This is a book to entertain’

       Sunday Times

      ‘A marvellous book. Wry, perceptive and engaging, it lays bare the curious mix of character traits – good and bad – that a successful warrior requires’

       Sunday Telegraph

      ‘Hastings has distilled more than 40 years of study and personal observation into 15 illustrative portraits…This is an “entertaining rather than academic story”; the aim is to “amuse as much as to inform”. As ever, Hastings does both’

       Guardian

      ‘Clear, decisive, forceful…Bristling with action and laconic dialogue, Warriors…will enthral’

       Daily Telegraph

      ‘With this collection, Hastings is back on home territory, where he can bring his unique blend of skills as war reporter, and social as well as military historian to bear…This is one of the best and most diverting of his shorter pieces’

       Evening Standard

      ‘All [of the stories] are corking…Opinions are stated firmly and with big bold swings of the pendulum. His virtues are clarity and decisiveness – greatly to be admired when it comes to making clear, for the lay reader, roughly what is going on in the fiendishly complex and bloody engagements he describes’

       Spectator

      ‘Warriors is a timely reminder of how magnificently people can behave in war. I hope that not only will it become required reading in our military academies but that it will be found by our bedsides for many years to come’

       The Field

       Dedication

      For Professor Sir Michael Howard, CH, MC,

      sometime warrior, evergreen teacher.

      With affection and admiration, as always

      Table of Contents

       Title Page

Copyright

Praise

Dedication

Introduction

1 Bonaparte’s Blessed Fool

2 Harry and Juana

3 Professor of Arms

4 The Lazy Engineer

       5 Colonel Fred

       6 Gentleman-of-War

       7 Most Private Soldier

       8 The Killer

       9 An Indian Odyssey

       10 The Dam Buster

       11 Hollywood Hero

       12