Rifleman dodd free download

Well-written, historically informed and good fun. Similar to Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe, but more literate and less melodramatic. I can see where Bernard Cornwall Sharpe got his idea for Sharpe.

This is a good story written by the author of Hornblower fame. This time instead of naval battles on the high sea, this is set on land in Portugal with a member of the British Rifles separated from his Regiment and forced to work with Portuguese bushwackers against the French insurgents.

Oct 03, Stuart Dean rated it it was amazing. In the Peninsular Campaign a British soldier is cut off from his regiment and has to survive behind enemy lines. What follows is the story of a fighting man determined to return to his group, using all the knowledge and skill taught him by the Army to make his way home while avoiding capture and discomfiting the enemy whenever possible.

This book is required reading in many military academies. Dodd uses sound tactics In the Peninsular Campaign a British soldier is cut off from his regiment and has to survive behind enemy lines. Dodd uses sound tactics and judgement in a difficult situation. He uses the material available to him, including civilians, to accomplish his aims. He does not overstep, he does not give up. He is the perfect fighting soldier, dedicated to his duty and nothing else, Command's ideal automaton.

Dodd really is an automaton. Anything else is unthinkable. Exactly like Kurt Russell in "Soldier". The French soldiers, on the other hand, are humans. They have friends, they make jokes, they are angry or sad when someone dies, they worry about what they are going to say to the dead men's families when they go home, they doubt their superiors.

It's both a textbook on dedication to duty above all else and pejorative critique of war in general.

From the military standpoint Dodd is the epitome of a proper infantryman, able to improvise, adapt, overcome. From the civilian outlook he is an indoctrinated killing machine, while the poor French are starving and just want to go home. The Portuguese might as well be some aboriginal tribe of the African jungle.

They speak no discernable language, they practice unspeakable acts on prisoners, they prance about like children. When they die nobody much cares. Forester's message: In the end War makes animals of everybody involved. A name that is probably more familiar - perhaps even all but synonymous - with his most famous literary creation, Horatio Hornblower. Hornblower, however, is not the only of his creations that has their adventures set during the Napoleonic Wars: Rifleman Dodd is another.

He's also one that I was totally unfamiliar with, or with the fact that this creation and story inspired Bernard Cornwell 's still-ongoing 'Sharpe' series - it's very easy, reading this, to see the similarities betw C. He's also one that I was totally unfamiliar with, or with the fact that this creation and story inspired Bernard Cornwell 's still-ongoing 'Sharpe' series - it's very easy, reading this, to see the similarities between the two creations!

This is set in Spain, round about the times of the Lines of Torres Vedras or thereabouts, I think , with Rifleman Dodd cut off from his company during a retreat and forced to spend several months behind enemy French lines as he tries to make his was back to his own company, sometimes with the dubious aid of Spanish or was it Portuguese? Guerilla's and other times entirely on his own. This also doesn't shy away from the full horrors of the war, with several of the passages and chapters told from the French point of view.

Nov 28, Christopher Taylor rated it liked it. I've read a lot of Forester's non-Hornblower work and it varies from the superb to the okay, which unfortunately is where this book ends up.

It could have been a lot better, but the main character Dodd is almost a nonentity, you know virtually nothing of what he thinks and he says almost nothing through the whole book.

Everything about him is written as a distant outsider would view events, rather than from his perspective or even someone close to him. It feels more like a dry documentary than a I've read a lot of Forester's non-Hornblower work and it varies from the superb to the okay, which unfortunately is where this book ends up. It feels more like a dry documentary than a story. Oddly, the scene shifts to the French or the British troops feel more personal and involved, with characters you come to appreciate and like, but it goes back to the detached, distant POV again when you go back to Dodd.

Other than that, its a wonderful overview of the British retreat to Portugal and how it was fortified, and what the French went through in attempting to break through to attack. In fact, as a reader I got the impression that rather than being the main character, Dodd was a device to show what the French were doing, and they were the main character.

This was, supposedly, one of the inspirations for Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe books, and I can see how. A cracking story that rattles along from start to finish. What would your priorities be if you were in his position?

Wellington would hang a dozen mistreatments before breakfast without batting an eyelid. Great story simply and honestly told. Inspiring tale of a brave, resourceful soldier The author is better known for his tales of naval warfare, but Forester here shows his appreciation for the common soldier.

Most Americans would be unfamiliar with the Napoleonic Peninsular Campaign, but the setting is a good one for showing both the barbarity of war as well as the deprivations it brings on the surrounding area. Dodd is an English scout, cut off from his retreating army, trying to find a way around the French troops blocking him.

He Inspiring tale of a brave, resourceful soldier The author is better known for his tales of naval warfare, but Forester here shows his appreciation for the common soldier. He then finds himself alone and has to discover how to continue the fight while looking for scarce food, shelter, etc. This fictional account is an enjoyable read.

Aug 04, Anna rated it it was ok. I read this while I was at 29 Palms in I wrote a review that may still be on Facebook somewhere, perhaps I'll copy it over. I think it was humorously bad, and it's perhaps more modern than one might expect based on its tone. I think the xenophobia was particularly off-putting or hilarious, depending on mood , which is nowhere better seen than the last scene of the book.

The fact that I still remember that scene 7 years later is telling. Also, I like to say: any book that uses the word 'h I read this while I was at 29 Palms in I wrote a review that may still be on Facebook somewhere, perhaps I'll copy it over.

Also, I like to say: any book that uses the word 'highfalutin' unselfconsciously is itself highfalutin. The story is well enough written that I would have finished it regardless, but the reason for three stars is that it is very heavily subtexted with commitment dogma.

Chapters will go by quite enjoyably, and then the author waxes eloquent on the virtues of blind commitment, duty, and how good soldiers focus solely on their mission regardless of scenario.

This could have been easily addressed through discussing Dodd's actions or thoughts, rather than by pounding the reader on the head with deus ex The story is well enough written that I would have finished it regardless, but the reason for three stars is that it is very heavily subtexted with commitment dogma. This could have been easily addressed through discussing Dodd's actions or thoughts, rather than by pounding the reader on the head with deus ex machina.

The novel is an absorbing and candid account of the adventures of an English soldier fighting in the Peninsular War. He becomes detached from his regiment and has to somehow survive a bleak Portuguese winter whilst under threat of attack from the French. Dodd rises to the challenge and succeeds in harassing the occupying forces despite the dangers involved. The story is also told from the perspective of the French side.

The style is eminently readable and engrossing. The basic struggle to simply The novel is an absorbing and candid account of the adventures of an English soldier fighting in the Peninsular War. The basic struggle to simply survive is a major theme and is vividly portrayed, as is the horror of war.

Jan 10, Richard Berggreen rated it it was ok. Having read the Hornblower series, I had high hopes for this new character.

I was left disappointed as the character was unrelatable and racist. I understand that was the prevailing sentiment at the time, but I was not interested in living through that. I much preferred Hornblower who understood that the enemy was not inferior, simply on the opposing side with their own hopes and dreams.

In the end, go read the Hornblower series not this. Leadership, endurance, and wits. Engaging and thoughtful; the book is a good choice for a reader looking for adventure with a helping of historical realism.

Effectively communicates the hunger and helplessness of those who are swept up in the tides of war, while simultaneously describing the frightening endurance of an everyman against all odds.

Quite good on both the phlegmatic nature of the common English soldier and the savagery of the Iberian campaign. Well written with little or no emotion, but occasionally sardonic about the costs of war.

This is C. You expect a five star read when you look at the first page and I wasn't disappointed. Horatio Hornblower was my introduction to C. Forester and I probably read that series four or five times. So finding another book of his has always been a pleasure - as was the case with Rifle man Dodd.

I'd highly recommend this book if you've not already read it. Mar 28, C. A green jacket is cut off from the British army as it retreats west through Spain and into Portugal. Napoleon's French army is hot on the heels of the British army. The Rifleman Green Jacket must survive with a group of guerillas while awaiting his British army to counter-attack.

It is a very good story, though I read it some time ago. I remember thinking Sharpe stories might have been inspired by this when I read Sharpe's Gold story, many years later. If you like a good bit of war fiction or li A green jacket is cut off from the British army as it retreats west through Spain and into Portugal.

If you like a good bit of war fiction or like Napoleonic history, then I believe you will enjoy this. A very good novel by a Master of historical military and naval writing.

This one details the Peninsular Campaign during the time of Napoleon. It gains you some insight into the nature of guerilla warfare and the lot of ordinary soldiers in the Nineteenth Century. If you like this kind of subject, you should read every one of his other books, including the Hornblower series and HMS Ulysses. Oliver Harris.

Smooth and readable Totally believable action story about the turning point of Wellington s peninsular campaign following the actions of one soldier who was cutoff behind the French lines. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one ». Readers also enjoyed.

About C. Cecil Scott Forester was the pen name of Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, an English novelist who rose to fame with tales of adventure and military crusades.

His most notable works were the book Horatio Hornblower series, about naval warfare during the Napoleonic era, and The African Queen ; filmed in by John Huston. Supported by two powerful batteries, the knights of the Castilian langue emerge from a sally port in the wall, routing.

Located in the heart of the city of Lucknow, the Residency was a collection of buildings covering some 60 acres and assigned to the British commissioner. It became the focal point of the defence of Lucknow in , where almost 1, European and loy. They would accompany the columns into battle as nurses and canteen managers, often doing both jobs at once. Like the men, they suffered depravations and never f. As a member of the U. He had just received news that the King of France had died from an illness, but his bigger concern was the 18, Spanish infantry and 8, cavalrymen that stood between him an.

These exercises have been a regular feature for several years. The formations deploy light tanks and self-propelled artillery and, amo. A pair of historians are working to trace the descendants of the cyclists who served in a secret First World War surveillance unit.

It was first formed in Brigadier General Simon Fraser commands the strongest of the three British columns, made up of redcoats, Native Americans, Loyalists and French Canadians, and numbering around 2, in total. He is backed up by more than German troops.

Anglo-Saxons, possibly up to 8,; Normans, probably more than 8, Little is known about James H. Born in to illiterate Irish parents, he attended elementary school in Cutler, Maine. He stayed behind when his neighbors organized a company in the fall of and marched off to war as Company B, 11th Mai.

Not for me are the superficial delights of Battlefield-style shooters though. I need huge, sweepin. For centuries, women have accompanied their soldier husbands and fathers during times of war and conquest. All over the south of England, on the night of June 5, , people awoke and went outside to listen. They had become used to noisy nights. The noise had changed through the past four years, from the distinctive beat of German bombers and the din of.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except in the case of excerpts by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. The leader of them was most conspicuous by the excellence of his mount, for his saddle fittings were severely plain and he wore a plain blue cape and coat and an unglazed cocked hat in sharp contrast with the scarlet coats and plumes of several of his followers.

But when he pulled up at the brow of the hill and peered keenly forward across the tangled countryside some hint might be gained of the qualities which constituted him the leader. He had an air of authority and of composed self-reliance, and his blue eyes swept across the valley in a glance which noted its features instantly. The big, arrogant nose told the reason why the men in the ranks called him 'Conky' and 'The long-nosed beggar that beats the French,' just as the hauteur of his expression explained why his subordinates alluded to him half ruefully, half deferentially, as 'The Peer.

An occasional puff of smoke told that beyond the skirmishing line was the enemy. Lieutenant-General Lord Wellington hitched his sabretache on to his saddlebow, opened a notebook on it, and scribbled a few words on one of its pages, which he tore out. A scarlet-coated dragoon officer walked up his horse alongside as he did so, and took the folded sheet.

The dragoon mechanically repeated 'For General Craufurd' and set his horse at the steep slope before them. The dragoon officer would have a busy time trying to find his way back to his post of duty after delivering the order which sets this tale in motion. A bugle was sounding out to the left.

Where's that picket? To the conservative military eye his uniform was a ludicrous mixture. It was dark green instead of the scarlet which had won honour for itself on fifty battlefields; the black braid on it, the busby, the pelisse hung across the shoulders, all indicated, absurdly in an infantryman, an aping of Hussar equipment accentuated by the crooked sword.

Yet it was only natural, because the Ninety Fifth Foot were supposed to inherit some of the traditions set up by the Hussars when they were the most irregular of irregular horse.

On the other hand the colour of the tunic, and the bugle horn badge, were no legacy from the Hussars-they recalled to the memory the fact that the first rifle regiments employed by the British Government had been recruited from the huntsmen of German princelings. Nevertheless no one now dreamed of sneering at this fantastic attire; the Ninety Fifth Foot- the Rifle Brigade-had in the short ten years of its existence won itself a reputation worthy of the envy of any older unit. There was a scattering rifle fire out to the left now, to endorse the urgency of the call.

The dozen riflemen standing awaiting the lieutenant's decision on the top of the hill showed no signs of agitation. They knew their officer and trusted him, despite the fact that he was not yet nineteen years old. They had twice followed him across Spain, to Corunna and Talavera-to say nothing of the dreary marshes of Walcheren-and they knew they could rely on him.

The lieutenant shaded his eyes with his hand, but as he did so there was a clatter of equipment down in the valley and the missing picket came running up the hill. We was nearly cut off and had to get round them,' explained the sergeant, and then, apologetically, 'Dodd's missing, sir.

Fall in, there. Left in file. Quick march. The Ninety Fifth were part of Craufurd's famous Light Division, whose boast was that they were always first into action and last out.

Now they were covering the last stages of Wellington's retreat to the lines of Torres Vedras-the retreat during which they captured more prisoners than they left behind. But to-day they would have to report at least one 'missing'-Rifleman Matthew Dodd, cut off from his unit by the fortune of war.

He had been making his way back through the olive groves to his picket when he had heard strange voices ahead and had glimpsed strange uniforms. Bent double, and sweating under his pack, he had scurried through the undergrowth in the valley trying to make his way round the enemies who had interposed across his line of retreat. Half an hour of violent exertion had, he thought, brought him clear, when at that very moment a shout told him that he was observed by some other detachment.

A musket rang out not far away from him and a bullet smacked into a tree-trunk a dozen yards away. He turned and ran again, uphill this time, in a direction which he knew took him away from his friends but which alone, as far as his skirmisher's instinct told him, was still not barred by the French advance guard. There were more shouts behind him and a crashing among the undergrowth which told him that he was closely pursued by a dozen men. He dashed along up the steep slope, his pack leaping on his back, and his ammunition pouches pounding on his ribs.

Soon he emerged from the olive grove on to an open, heather-covered hillside. There was nothing for it but to continue his flight without the protection of the friendly trees-either that, at least, or to turn back and surrender, and Dodd was not of the type which surrenders too easily.

He ran heavily up the hill. Twenty seconds later the first of his pursuers reached the edge of the grove, and had him in clear view. They raised their muskets and fired at him, one after the other as they came up, but Dodd was a hundred yards away by now, and no one could hope to hit a man a hundred yards away with a musket, especially when panting from heavy exertion.

Dodd heard the shots, but hardly one of the bullets came near enough for him to hear it. He climbed on up the steep slope until, when the last shot had been fired, he deemed it safe to spare a moment to glance back. Half a dozen Frenchmen were reloading their muskets; half a dozen more were starting up the hill after him.

Dodd plunged forward again through the clinging heather. The hill, like all the hills in Portugal, was steep and rocky and seemingly interminable, rising bleakly up from between two wooded valleys. He laboured up it, his steps growing slower and slower as the slope increased. Half-way up he stopped and looked back again.

The Frenchmen had ceased their pursuit and had drawn together to go back down to the road. Dodd's jaws clenched hard together. He threw himself down among the heather and pushed his, rifle forward; an outcrop of rock provided a convenient rest. Boston: Little Brown A fine copy in very good jacket. Marshall The Ugly American by W. Burdick Enders Game by O. View PDF! Forester, C. Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart.

The book is neatly divided into two parts, first the upbringing of View PDF "rifleman dodd" by c forester "the last stand of fox company" by b drury and t clavin "the marines of montford point, americas first black marines" by m mclaurin.

Swinton, E.