"Actor: Andew Duff"

• The Peninsula Series: Salamanca | DVD | (21/06/2012) from £13.26   |  Saving you £3.73 (28.13%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Since his return to the Iberian Peninsular in 1809, General Arthur Wellesley (later The Duke of Wellington) had with his small army been a constant thorn in the side of a series of Napoleon's Marshals in Spain, studiously avoiding battles that he could not win and falling back before superior forces to the Lines of Tores Vedras in 1810. By 1812 had forged a successful Anglo Portuguese Army with, however, a string of victories to their credit that included Talevera, Busaco and Funtes de Onoroe. Now Wellesley was ready to take the battle to the French and with the capture of the border fortresses of Cuidad Rodrigo and Badajoz in the winter and early spring he had two routes open for him into the heart of Spain. Supported by Hill's Corps guarding the Tagus crossings and a policy of distraction, which kept the other French Army's in Spain fixed in their areas, the target was Marshall Marmont's Army of Portugal. This army was concentrated around the city of Salamanca but fell back as the Allies approached In a series of manoeuvres, almost like a throw back to the wars of the Ancien Regime Wellesley waited for Marmont to make a mistake. Finally that moment came when Marmont, convinced that Wellesley 'a defensive general', was falling back to Portugal and in his eagerness to cut him off, his line of march became over extended.