This is a rather short book but very well written, focusing on the defenders of the La Haie Sainte at the battle of Waterloo. Very enjoyable. ( )

Probably like many Americans my understanding of the importance of the Battle of Waterloo probably came from a passing tidbit about the Duke of Wellington, the 1970 movie starring Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer, and of course the ABBA song. We all know that Napoleon’s fate, and attempt to rise again to power in Europe was determined by the battle. But unless you have a deep interest in the battle, or the Napoleonic era, most people’s understanding of the battle is limited to what I mentioned above. In The Longest Afternoon: The 400 Men Who Decided the Battle of Waterloo by Brendan Simms we are given a detailed look at the battle from the perspective of a single group of soldiers, the men of the Kings German Legion (KGL), who held the critical part of the battlefield in the very center of Wellington’s line. The 400 men of this regiment managed to check the mighty French army for most of the day, blunting Napoleon’s attack and allowing the Prussians to enter the battle and “save the day” for Wellington.

Simms does an excellent job of presenting not only the importance of the battle, but detailing the lives of the ordinary German soldiers who fought on the side of England to defeat Napoleon. We get a very personal and intimate understanding of the ordinary soldiers and officers who fought in the KGL, pulled from many memoirs and recollections recorded well after the battle. Simms explains why these Germans chose to fight for England, and how their experience in England, and fighting in the British army against France, helped to shape a Anglophile culture in the area around Hanover (where most of the KGL was from) for years after Napoleon was defeated. The Longest Afternoon shows us the battle told from the individual soldier’s perspective, giving us a better understanding of how honor and duty can overcome the horrors of battle. I was amazed at the personal heroism described in the book, and how the battle ebbed and flowed around the stone farmhouse where the KGL made its defense. Simms also discusses the importance of the arrival of the Prussians, and takes a hard look at the many histories and analysis written in the past 200 years about the battle, showing how mistakes on both sides affected the battle and how the men of the Kings German Legion held out under overwhelming odds, and under conditions that would cause ordinary people to flee in panic.

I recommend The Longest Afternoon for anybody with an interest in military history, European history, or wanting a detailed examination of one of the most critical battles in history. Simms makes the actions of the soldiers relatable for the reader, giving you a personal perspective for the battle.

I listened to the audio edition of the book read by Michael Page. Page does a great job of conveying information in a clear and understandable manner. His style made listening to Simms narrative quite enjoyable. ( )

I'm not usually interested in military history but this short book sounded intriguing - and it is. Brendan Simms has uncovered a wealth of detailed information (some of it recently discovered in German archives). This enables him to construct a seemingly impossibly detailed account of this vital section of the battle. For those who don't know much about Waterloo, it points out how the forces fighting Napoleon were truly pan-European (a fore-runner of NATO) and this particular division were more German than British. Some of the details of military tactics, deployment and the sheer weight of names and information about individuals can become overwhelming at times.
However, it gives us a visceral, at times stomach-churning description of often hand-to-hand combat and the extraordinary bravery of men who fought on despite receiving horrific injuries. Other positives are the sympathetic portrayal of the French soldiers as not merely an anonymous enemy to be mown down (as the Zulus often are in accounts of the battle of Rork'e Drift) and the difficult decisions commanders had to make as to whether to order their men to launch suicidal attacks or take decisions to save their lives by ordering sensible retreats. ( )

Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte were the compounds in the Belgian landscape that broke up Napoleon's attacks against Wellington's line at Waterloo. While the defense of Hougoumont has been told many times, the smaller but more important fight for La Haye Sainte has not received as much attention, probably because it was defended by the British King's German Legion (KGL). It was a close run thing and after a heroic defense during the whole afternoon, the German soldiers had to abandon their defense due to a lack of ammunition (even though neighboring units had plenty of ammunition left and could have given them to the KGL men). Their heroic defense all afternoon had already disrupted the French attacks so that the short possession of La Haye Sainte by the French in the evening proved short-lived.

Brendan Simms' short micro history account of the unit and the event is well written and covers the action in detail. An ideal quick read for the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Waterloo. ( )

The book describes the action at the farmhouse in front of Wellington's centre, where some battalions from the King's German Legion delayed the French long enough to allow Blücher to bring up his men.

Simms dives straight into the action, there's little exposition or explanation, so a little knowledge about the campaign and the British Army is required. As befits an academic historian, he provides copious footnotes and a voluminous bibliography full of personal papers used for the first time. I wish he had also let us know the source of his numerous quotes from Victor Hugo! There's also one strange quote which purports to be from Goethe, but the title that follows is something else entirely.
In fact, the book looks a little rushed in places, there are obvious typos, and I think he gets the name of one of his eye witnesses wrong repeatedly. There could have been two separate people, of course, Lindau and Lindenau, but towards the end, when only a handful of effectives remained, it must have been Lindau only. But this was a minor irritation for me.

ETC ( )