by Gabriele Esposito.
Hardback (7.0×10.0 inches). 230 pages. 2025.
Subtitle: Organization, Uniforms & Equipment
I’m not sure how many of these in-depth looks at the Organization, Uniforms & Equipment of various armies that Esposito has written, but the unit examinations remain the same high quality in this volume. Some of the illustrations are a little less attractive than others, but all the color details you need to paint up the various units of Queen Victoria’s armies are clear.
At one point, 426 battalions of the Canadian Sedenatary Militia (p32) were raised in 1840, but these were more paper exercises in conscription than actual unit. The battalions only served for a day per year. At least one unit was a bit of a surprise: The Sarawak Rangers (p187) recruited in Borneo do not match the red-clad British line.
The US Fenians (including former ACW Irish Brigade soldiers) invaded Canada twice, in 1866 and 1870 (p37) to pressure Britain to spin off Ireland as a separate country. They didn’t do much and both invasions were repulsed by Canadian militia.
The book contains 203 color infantry and artillery uniform illustrations, 49 color cavalry uniform illustrations, and seven black and white illustrations. A lot of Osprey booklets are listed in the bibliography.
The text covers units’ creation, TO&E, merging, disbanding, and so on. As you might expect, it does get a bit repetitious when reading cover to cover, but the information within is golden.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
