Hello Mr. Cornwell, I just finished Sharpe’s Fury and had a couple things I was hoping you could clear up. I was wondering why Sharpe let Lord Pumphrey go so easily after finding out about Astrid? I was expecting Sharpe to unleash his fury on Pumphrey and it didn’t happen.

Secondly, I’m trying to figure out how the French dominated all of Europe and then got destroyed every time they faced the British. In this battle the British were out numbered 2 to 1 and the French had the better ground. But once again the British won. Up to this point I was under the impression that this was because of Wellesley’s leadership, but Wellesley was not at the battle of Barossa. Don’t get me wrong you do a great job painting the picture of how it happens. The British are better trained, more ferocious and the two deep line poured more firepower into the 9 deep French columns. What I can’t figure out what made the French unbeatable against everyone else. Why didn’t they adapt out of their columns? What was the benefit of their formation? Thank you, Joe