In 1373, during the Hundred Years War, John of Gaunt launched a march across France from Calais to Bordeaux that wrecked a lot of French countryside (hence its name chevauchée) but also the English army. The French forces refused to give battle, the English lacked the necessary siege equipment and supply to conquer a city. As the French controlled the belt of fortresses around Paris, John of Gaunt faced the uninviting prospect of either withdrawing through the already devastated territory, invade Germany or return via the massif central to Bordeaux. It is an interesting what-if question whether an enterprising French army could have intercepted the English army as it came out of the mountains and whether this would have resulted in an anticipation of the battle of Agincourt. In 1415, the French command faced a similar choice. Henry V had marched across Northern France from Normandy to Flanders. His army was sick and demotivated. The French could just have let him escape to Calais. Instead they gave battle and rode to their death.

This Osprey Raid volume by the competent David Nicolle suffers from the usual Osprey inattention to quality control, e.g. on the map on page 9, Osprey misspells Baesweiler as Bausweiler, something an attentive reader should catch as that battle is the topic of one paragraph on page 10. Otherwise, it is a fine account with good photography. Given that the campaign only features skirmishes and medieval sources are notoriously unreliable, the painted maps feel a bit constrained. A diagram of a medieval army on the march might have been more helpful. Overall, a welcome addition about this often overlooked campaign of the Hundred Years War. ( )

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