For Valour: Victoria Cross and Medal of Honour Battles

For Valour: Victoria Cross and Medal of Honour Battles
Bryan Perrett
Weidenfeld and Nicolson
378 pages $55

But for the bravery and stoicism of the British troops who suffered appalling weather, incredible incompetence at the hands of their commanders and the strong likelihood of death from disease or wounds in the Crimean War, the Victoria Cross would not exist.

Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, were so impressed by their loyal subjects who fought in the war that they created the cross, now regarded as the highest military decoration for valour above and beyond the call of duty in the Commonwealth, to acknowledge their heroism.

In this lively retelling of some of the battles and actions in which VCs were won, Bryan Perrett has had to focus on only a few of the 1354 awarded, otherwise it would be a very large collection of volumes. He has also included some chapters on the Congressional Medal of Honour, the US equivalent of the VC .

In tracing the history and evolution of how VCs were awarded, Perrett also looks at the controversy of the posthumous VCs awarded, many years after the Battle of Isandlhwana, to Lts Coghill and Melville killed trying to save the Queen’s Colour from the victorious Zulus.

– David Sibley

.