Sir Charles Oman (1860-1946), the great historian of the Peninsular War, called George Robert Gleig's account 'charming...pleasant' and 'life-like'. Gleig avoids 'second hand stories'; his are 'statements of fact' which `may be relied on' (Wellington's Army). Written in 1825, only ten years after Waterloo, the Subaltern is one of the superior memoirs of the Peninsular War. Seventeen year old Lieutenant Gleig only landed during the tail-end of the conflict, precisely during the siege of San Sebastian (1813), but his account of these often overlooked few months of bloody fighting is breathtaking. He is a vital source for understanding Wellington's invasion of France which included the crossing of the Bidasoa, the Battles Nivelle and Nive and the investment of Bayonne.
