Pococke, Thomas Als Soldat im 71st Highland Regiment. Das Journal eines Soldaten im Kampf gegen Napoleon

For the first time, a translation of the memoirs of a young Scotsman from Edinburgh is available to an interested German-speaking audience. The author of the diary, known only as Thomas, enlisted for seven years in 1806 and was not motivated by the thought of achieving glory in the wars against France; his motive for enlisting was his lost honour and the shame of having wronged his parents after a failed attempt at a stage career. As an educated man, he wrote very well but, haunted by the shame of his actions, accepted the king's shilling from the first advertising sergeant he met. Unbeknown to him, the regiment in which he was to serve was the 71st, later Highland Light Infantry, a unit of great fame and vigour that was and would be at the forefront of the fighting. Thomas saw his redemption in a journey through the purgatory of service as a common soldier in the British Army. His labours would be hard and the hardships many, but bound by his word, he stuck to his decision once made. He was to see action far and wide: from the expedition to Buenos Aires, where he was taken prisoner, to the miserable conditions of the retreat to Coruna, the fever-ridden Walcheren, battles, engagements and skirmishes on the Iberian Peninsula, including Roleia, Vimiero, Fuentes d'Onoro, Vittoria, Bayonne and Nivelle, and finally the Battle of Waterloo. His discharge followed shortly afterwards and although he was back in his native Scotland, the poverty of a former soldier was his only reward. A vivid and unsparing story of hard fighting, deprivation and the reality of war.