Sharpe's Battle
First edition
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| Author | Bernard Cornwell |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Richard Sharpe stories |
| Genre | Historical novels |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
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Publication date
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8 May 1995 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) and audio-CD |
| Pages | 288 pp (hardcover edition) 368 pp (paperback edition) |
| ISBN | (hardcover edition) (paperback edition) |
| OCLC | 32390780 |
| Preceded by | Sharpe's Fury |
| Followed by | Sharpe's Company |
Sharpe's Battle is the twelfth historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1995. The story is set during the Peninsular War in Spain in 1811.
Near the Spanish-Portuguese border, Sharpe and his company meet a group of French soldiers in grey uniforms, caught in the act of raping a young Spanish villager. Their leader Brigadier-General Guy Loup arranges a parlay to retrieve his men, but Sharpe, appalled by the rape and massacre of all the other villagers, including children, orders the French prisoners shot. Loup swears revenge against Sharpe.
Back at headquarters, Sharpe is informed by Major Michael Hogan that the Real Compania Irlandesa, the royal bodyguard of the captive King of Spain have escaped from Madrid to enlist with the native Spanish armies. As the British wish for Wellesley to be made Generalissimo of the Spanish Armies, it is imperative that the Compania be treated with honour, but as the Royal Guard are drawn entirely from Irish exiles bitterly opposed to the British occupation of their homeland, they pose a risk to the security of the British army. Sharpe is ordered to take them to a far away fort and drill them mercilessly in order to encourage desertion, while the Wagon Master-General Colonel Claude Runciman, a monstrously fat and idolent man, is appointed to soothe the pride of the Compania's Spanish and Irish officers.
Unfortunately Pierre Ducos, a French intelligence officer, has placed an agent within the Compania Irlandesa, Dona Juanita de Elia, a Spanish noblewoman, the mistress both of the Compania's commander, Lord Kiely, and of Loup. Rumours of British atrocities in Ireland, backed up by forged American newspapers, seem to ensure the Compania will desert, as planned, but Sharpe finds it hard to resist his instincts to turn the demoralised exiles into real soldiers. He persuades Runciman to divert arms and ammunition to the Compania, and conspires with a local partisan, El Castrador, to kill and mutilate a party of deserters to deter the rest.
The Compania are joined at the fort by a Portuguese infantry battalion. Sharpe, concerned by the threat posed by Loup's personal vendetta against him, is forced to confess to the illegal execution of Loup's men. That night, Loup attacks the fort, massacres the Portuguese, and is only driven off by the explosion of the ammunition wagons, set alight by Sharpe's friend, Tom Garrard who sacrifices himself in the process.
Sharpe's earlier confession and the imminent enquiry into the disaster threaten to end Sharpe's career. To avoid this, Sharpe attacks Loup's hideout but finds it deserted, except for the Dona Juanita, who is exposed as the enemy agent, and courier of the forged newspapers. Sharpe sleeps with Juanita, and lets her go the following morning, thus frustrating Hogan's hopes of uncovering her accomplice in the Compania.
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