Sharpe's Havoc: The Northern Portugal Campaign, Spring 1809

Can’t believe the messes our hero gets into: always a fight, a challenge, a beautiful girl and. Twist of fate. Love these stories!

Richard Sharpe is at it again. It is 1803. Marshall Soult and his French army have barreled into Portugal and are temporarily stymied on the north shore of the Douro River. Citizens of Oporto on the south side are anxiously awaiting the assault to come, if and when the attackers can figure out a way to cross the river. The situation is made to order for Lt. Richard Sharpe of his Britannic Majesty's 95th Rifles.Fortunately, Sharpe will have help. Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, has landed at Lisbon and is bringing a British army north to save the day. Any readers who have read "Sharpe's Rifles," the initial book in this series, will know that one British army has already been run out of the Iberian Peninsula. Spain has fallen to the French invasion. Portugal is next on Napoleon's schedule.Wellesley's small force will be hard pressed to hold the south bank. To push the French out is beyond credulity. Even rescuing Sharpe's stranded riflemen on the north shore may be impossible.We must stop here with a broader explanation regarding the author Bernard Cornwell and his invention of the London guttersnipe Richard Sharpe turned British officer. There are 22 books in the Sharpe saga, two or three short stories and, I believe, 22 movies. There are a couple of web sites and a fan club. How's that for a niche product?I refer to it as a niche because not everyone, especially these days, is interested in the 300-year-old Peninsular Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. Not everyone is interested in a soldier from way back when, regardless of how brave and competent. He is an officer from the ranks whom men either follow gladly or mark for death. The women in his life are more single minded. They can hardly wait for Sharpe to claim them.As for me, I have read about Sharp off and on almost since the first book came out in 1980. It has been hit or miss at the library. The books kept me confused. I might find Sharpe in India, or perhaps Denmark. He somehow found himself in a naval battle at Cape Trafalgar with Nelson and he bounced all over Spain. Finally, I decided to make sense of the nine books covering the Peninsular Campaigns in Portugal and Spain by buying them and reading them in chronological order. "Havoc" is the second book of this particular series, which ends in the south of France with Napoleon's first exile.Now, we can go back to the plot. Sharpe is dodging the French on the north shore, when he sees a lone British soldier across the river. It turns out Wellesley has arrived with his troops but is not interested in just saving the city. He wants to cross over the river and drive the French out of Portugal. Does he succeed? Is Sharpe much help or do his romantic inclinations and feud with another officer take precedence?You won't find out here. Get the book. It's quite readable.

good value as a used bookgood readhighly recommend as used.fantastic tv show based on it.

If you are interested in good military history and like fictional characters in real battles, the Sharpe's series by Bernard Cornwell is outstanding. There are about 15 or 18 books in the series, starting when Private Richard Sharpe is an 17 year old private in the British Army in India in the late 1700, and follows him through battles in India, Trafalgar, Denmark, Portugal, Spain and eventually to the battle of Waterloo. Cornwell has done his research and us sticklers for realism can see he has the correct history of the battles, description of same, proper equipment, tactics, and armament. BBC did a 15 part mini-series which is available on DVD and well worth the watch. But be warned that the DVD series starts in Portugal and leaves out the first books on India where Sharpe is a private, makes sergeant, and finally makes ensign. In the series he is a lieutenant who, because he rose from the ranks and is disliked by the "proper" officers of aristocratic families who bought their commissiions, gets assigned to the 90th Rifles (Green Jackets) as no other snooty officer wants to be there (they don't like how slow the rifles load compared to muskets even though the Baker rifles have longer ranges and are more accurate than the Brown Bess muskets). But Sharpe drills his men until they are very combat effective. As a retired US Army infantry officer, and US Marine Vietnam vet, I really like this series. Only 10 more books to go! Cornwell, a former BBC producer, took his motivation for writing this series after reading the Hornblower series as a lad.

This book was, perhaps, inspired by Forester's "Rifleman Dodd."In this case, a large group of riflemen are cut off behind French Lines instead of a single rifleman. As in Forester's novel, they take decisive action to turn the tide.Like other novels in the series, it is based on real events.After having Sharpe settle in France with his mistress, the author steps back in time to fill in a part of Sharpe's career, in this case in northern Portugal in 1809. It is based on the French capture of Oporto, and Marshal Soult's defeat by General Wellesley and his retreat back out of Portugal.The novel has a significant amount of blood and gore, including details of pillage, rape, and murder of civilians (based on content, I would give it a PG-13 rating). It illustrates the pig-headed type of military commander who expends men by assaulting enemy strongpoints rather than relying on strategy, bypassing strongpoints, and cutting off enemy supply lines. Perhaps it illustrates the historic problem of officers rising to general through influence rather than ability. There is also the double dealing Christopher from the Foreign Office, who tries to play both sides of the game.Sharpe again meets Lord Pumphrey of the Foreign Office, a somewhat shady individual who eliminates people who might know too much. Lord Pumphrey considers Christoper a problem, and sends Sharpe to deal with the problem. As in Denmark, it is convenient for the Foreign Office to have a murderous rogue like Sharpe available. There are some tasks that could not be assigned to a well-bred gentleman.

Were the French actually that brutal or is literary license? They sound like the Russians today, terrorize the civilians into submission. So wrong and sad.

If you like historical tales and a good yarn with plenty of adventure, verve and vivacity, read Cornwell. He knows how to keep you hooked.

シャープ・シリーズ７番目の冒険です。前作で親部隊にはぐれつつも何とか部下を束ねてスペインを脱出したシャープ少尉（ライフル大隊のlieutenantはO1。少尉）ですが、本作の舞台はポルトガル北部です。英軍のオポルト市退却の混乱の中、シャープ率いるライフル兵たちは、またしても友軍から分断され、スール元帥率いるフランス侵攻軍の真っ只中に孤立してしまいます。怒涛のように押し寄せる敵の大部隊を前に、シャープたちはまたしても不利な戦いを強いられます。今回はどうやってこの窮地を脱するのでしょうか。　本作も数々の魅力的なキャラクターが脇を固めています。去就定かでない友軍高級将校クリストファー、魅力的なその妻ケイト、部隊のトラブルメイカーであるウィリアムソンなどなど。そして本作では、久しぶりにアーサー・ウェルズリー（後のウェリントン公）が登場します。こうした多彩な顔ぶれに囲まれながら、シャープと兵隊たちは自らの生き残りをかけて激しい戦いを繰り広げていきます。本作も、読者は相当の緊張を強いられることでしょう。　軍事史的な観点からは、マスケット兵とライフル兵の運用上の相違、榴弾の威力、当時における拠点防御の実態、そして渡河の難しさなどに興味を覚えました。

Loved every minute of it

I read this book recently before a visit to Oporto, where much of the story is set, immediately after Sharpe's Rifles, which is set in the aftermath of Sir John Moore's retreat to Corunna and Vigo, and just before Sharpe's Eagle takes us to Talavera - which was in fact the first of the Sharpe books that Cornwell wrote.Oporto - its fall to Marshall Soult in 1809 and its recapture by Sir Arthur Wellesley later that year - forms only a part of the narrative, of course. The main plot is about a feud with a senior officer in the British Army, and the rescuing of a damsel in distress. Sharpe makes a new ally in a Portuguese lawyer turned militia officer. As ever he fights the French (and anyone else who gets in his way) with characteristic tactical aplomb and cool ferocity, but in accordance with his own sense of honour.Sharpe and his sidekick Serjeant Harper never become more than two-dimensional, in some respects, but after 20 years of writing Cornwell was very well practised in his art. In my opinion the later written novels like this one read even better than the earlier ones, and (because the action is focussed on small actions rather than the major battles, where the real history takes over) there is more scope for the development of the gripping fictional storyline. On the other hand, the established reader of the series is conscious of occasional comments to bring newcomers up to speed with the key elements of the Sharpe "legend", most importantly, of course, why he and his band from the 95th are stuck in Spain on "detached duty".As Cornwell filled in the spaces in Sharpe's already full CV then it was inevitable that some of the facts stated in earlier books on would get in the way of the narrative in the later ones, and if you read them in chronological order, starting in India, you will become quite aware of "continuity errors". Nevertheless, if you enjoy military fiction, I would recommend reading the books chronologically - if only to have a better feel for the tempo of the Napoleonic Wars as they affected the British Army. Sharpe's Havoc demonstrates, however, that there is no reason why you cannot dip in and out of the series, and makes a great read in its own right.

Read this book in 2005, and its the 7th volume, in chronological order of the Richard Sharpe series.This tale set in AD 1809, and now Lieutenant Sharpe, his reliable Sergeant Patrick Harper, Captain Hogan and the rest of his beloved Greenjackets are finding themselves in Portugal.While looking for the missing wine merchant's daughter, Kate Savage, Sharpe and his men are stranded behind enemy lines when the French begin their onslaught on Portugal, and soon Oporto falls to the French.Finding an ally in the Portuguese officer, Colonel Christopher, and his men they will try to find the missing girl, but events don't turn out as Sharpe would have liked.When his old commander from India come into the equation, Sir Arthur Wellesley, his ferocious counter-attack will put the French back to the northern mountains, and for Sharpe instead of being hunted now becomes the hunter in his quest to free the missing girl.Very much recommended, for this a thrilling historical tale about one of the many battles in the Peninsula, and one that will set Portugal afire with blood and death, and that's why I call this episode: " The Portugal Campaign In Full Flow"!