Light Cavalry Action

by Max Hennessy Book 2 in the The By Air, By Land, By Sea Collection series.

First published 1967

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4.2(243)

A military hero? Or a traitor to his comrades and his country? A gripping thriller full of suspense and intrigue, from master author Max Hennessy. When, in 1939, a letter cast doubts on the military reputation of a man likely to become Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force if war with Germany should be declared, he had no alternative but to bring the matter to court. The case took the judge, the jury and a fascinated public back to a day in the winter of 1919 when British troops, in action against Bolshevik forces in South Russia, made the last charge of British horsed cavalry. Their commander was Lieutenant General Henry Prideaux: for this, 'the Balaclava of the Russian Civil War', he won the D.S.O. and made his name. But justifiably? 'The truth,' one of his subordinates in the action had written, 'is that before and after the action at Dankoi, when it came to leading and giving orders, Colonel Prideaux was noticeably not among those present.' A scintillating story of deceit, conflict and the final days of British cavalry might, this is Max Hennessy at his very best,

The courtroom framework reconstructs British intervention in southern Russia in 1919 and questions the official manufacture of military heroism. By comparing testimony with reputation, the novel examines the final symbolic charge of British cavalry as both historical event and public myth.