On the Fields of Glory provides a new, stimulating history and unique portrait of Waterloo, and an excellent guide to the battlefield and its associated sites. The authors have divided the battlefield of Waterloo into three sectors: one for each of the three armies. This allows the reader to follow the fighting from three different perspectives and gain an objective understanding of the course of the battle. Vivid eyewitness testimony is used to describe events in each particular location.
The authors make use of many remarkable first-hand sources, including previously unpublished letters from William Siborne's vast collection, hitherto inaccessible to the general reader. Other material, taken from the testimony of the Netherlands chief-of-staff Constant-Rebecque, conclusively ends the long debate about the conduct of Wellington's Dutch-Belgian troops.
As well as Waterloo itself the authors examine the battle of Wavre, the French retreat, Marshal Grouchy's rearguard stand at Namur, and many neglected topics, including the tense situation in Brussels during the campaign. They also uncover the little known story of how the English coastal village of Bexhill became the main base and adopted home of the King's German Legion, famous for its defence of the Waterloo farmstead of La Haie Sainte.