Ambushes and Surprises

Ambushes and surprise attacks are tactics as old as warfare itself. This instructive and interesting book, written by a distinguished Victorian soldier and military historian, describes and analyses some of history s most famous military ambushes - including Hannibal s waylaying of the Romans on the shores of Lake Trasimene; the other great disaster to Roman arms when the Legions were lured to their doom by the Teutonic tribes of Germanicus in the Teutoburg Forest; from the Age of Charlemagne Malleson tells the story of Roland and Oliver s doomed stand against the Moors at Roncesvalles in the Pyrenees. Other surprises and ambushes recounted in the book include Marshal Massena s campaign of 1799 around the St Gothard Pass in the Swiss Alps, and France s successful ambush of Braddock s British force iun the North American wilderness at Fort Duquesne. Each account is illustrated by a map, making this a most illuminating as well and an highly entertaining, read.