Colonel Baron Christian Ompteda, 1765-1815, was one of the most distinguished Hanoverian officers of the Napoleonic period. He served in the Netherlands in 1793-5 and was orderly to the Duke of York, but he was wounded and suffered the first of his mental breakdowns. One of the early members of the King’s German Legion, he commanded the 1st Line Battalion and was exchanged after being shipwrecked on the Dutch coast in 1807. He sailed for the Peninsula in 1808 but a further bout of mental instability led to his retirement. His friend Scharnhorst helped his recovery, Ompteda rejoined the Legion as commander of the 1st Light Battalion in 1812, serving through the remainder of the Peninsular War which included the Battle of Vittoria, the storm of Tolosa, the siege of San Sebastian, fighting on the Nive, and the siege of Bayonne, 1814. In the Hundred Days campaign, he commanded the 2nd K. G. L. Brigade, which included his own 5th Line Battalion. At Waterloo, ordered by the Prince of Orange and Alten to make a suicidal attack, he calmly drew his sword, asked a friend to try to save his nephews, and rode off at the head of his men. As he had realised, the order resulted in the near destruction of his battalion but he carried it out without hesitation and was last seen surrounded by French troops. Shot through the neck, his body was recovered and buried near the gate of La Haye Sainte.

Published between 1832 and 1837, this two-volume work covers the history of a famous military unit between 1803 and 1816.

“Ludlow Beamish’s famous history of the K.G.L. is undoubtedly one of the rarest and most sought-after contemporary studies of the Napoleonic Wars. Much praised by Sir Charles Oman as ‘a valuable and conscientious’ history, it was largely compiled from eye-witness accounts of serving soldiers. The Legion played a major part in the British Army in the Peninsula and this special edition is a vital addition to the library of all serious students of the Napoleonic Wars. One of the most unusual, as well as the most heroic and distinguished Allied units in the Napoleonic Wars was the King’s German Legion (KGL). Originally composed of German volunteers from King George III’s Hanoverian domain, and founded out of Royal outrage at France’s occupation of Hanover in 1803, the KGL, according to David Chandler, doyen of Napoleonic military historians ‘was without a doubt amongst the very best troops commanded by Wellington in the Peninsula and at Waterloo’. The KGL was a mini-army in its own right, comprising infantry, cavalry and artillery... Volume 2 opens with the sieges of Badajoz and Cieudad Roderigo and the great battle of Salamanca which broke the back of the French in Spain. As Wellington rolled the enemy up to the Pyrenees, the KGL wewre also present at the battle of Vittoria. Meanwhile the KGL were also operating against Marshal Davout in the noirth of their native Germany. The Allied pressure caused Napoelon to abdicate and retire to Elba in 1814. The book's final chapter deals with the Waterloo campaign in which the KGL played a heroic part in holding the strategically vital La Haye Sainte Farm in front of the British line, against furious French assaults..”-N&M Print version

The King's German Legion was the largest and most respected of the foreign corps which fought as integrated elements of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. The light and heavy cavalry, light and line infantry, and horse and foot artillery of the KGL made major contributions to Wellington's victories during the Peninsular War, and several units covered themselves with glory at Waterloo. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the KGL from its origins to its disbandment, including its uniforms, weapons, flags and standards. Meticulous illustrations offer unprecedented details of this impressive fighting force.

This title is the completion of a two-part study of the King's German Legion – the largest and most respected of the foreign corps which fought as integrated elements of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). The light and heavy cavalry, light and line infantry, and horse and foot artillery of the KGL made major contributions to Wellington's victories in the latter part of the Peninsular War (1808-1814), and several units covered themselves with glory at Waterloo. Drawing upon new research in British and Hanoverian archival sources, Mike Chappell's detailed text and meticulous illustrations offer unprecedented details of this impressive fighting organisation.

Wellington's Men Remembered is a reference work which has been compiled on behalf of the Association of Friends of the Waterloo Committee and contains over 3,000 memorials to soldiers who fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo between 1808 and 1815, together with 150 battlefield and regimental memorials in 24 countries worldwide.?