Category: Battle
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Eyewitness accounts of the campaign in Russia, 1812 …
This letter was written by François Bondu, soldier in the 1st Company of the Engineer Train of the 1st Corps, to his mother in Morvan [Montevrault], Maine-et-Loire. The author was born in 1782, at Saint-Pierre-Montlimard (Maine-et-Loire). He entered the Engineer Train in 1807. Bondu was taken prisoner on 22 November 1812. Moscow, 28 September 1812.…
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Recollections of the battle of Waterloo, by General Christiani …
The following letter was written by General Christiani and was intended for General Pelet. The document was published in the Carnet de la Sabretache in 1905, as an appendix to an article devoted to the Guard infantry at Waterloo. This letter bore the inscription: ‘Letter from General Christiani, commander in 1815 of the 2nd Grenadiers…
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1809 experiences of a French sergeant (84th Line Regiment) …
This document was first published in the Carnet de la Sabretache of March 1902. The spelling has been revised for easier reading, as many of these soldiers wrote phonetically to their relatives. French Sergeant Humblot was born in 1780 in Savonnières-devant-Bar (Meuse). He served in the 84th Line Regiment. Written in the camp of Groetz,…
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Letters of Corporal Vanesse (8th Line Regiment) …
Muninchen [München, Münich], 16 October 1805. My dear parents, I have the honour of writing you this letter hoping that it will find you in as perfect health as I am. I inform you, by this letter, that we have travelled two hundred leagues. We have crossed all of Hanover, the principality of the Prince…
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The battle of Lützen, by Narcisse Faucheur (26th Line Regiment)
Narcisse Faucheur (1794-1875, serving in the 26th Line Regiment) and the battle of Lützen … … I leave the broad outlines behind me and begin to tell the narrative of events that I have witnessed with my own eyes. At the end of the previous chapter I explained to you how we left Naumberg. We…
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The Austerlitz campaign, by Lieutenant Jean-Pierre Sibelet …
… At Amstetten, on 6 November, the army had its first encounter with the Russians who had come to the aid of the Austrians. They were well received: about 7,000 of them were taken prisoner. More than 3,000 wounded, both Austrians and Russians, were in the town. We continued from there on to Mœlk where…
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In the wake of VII Corps, 1806 …
Extracts of reports written by Marshal Augereau and General Senarmont on the actions of 7th Corps and its artillery at the end of 1806 … On 24 December, 7th Corps set off at daybreak to cross the Wkra, a fairly sizeable river between Plonsk and Novomiasto, on the two bridges of Kursomb and Sochoezyn. The…
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Infantry officer Dominique Ravy in Prussia, 1806 …
Some recollections of a French officer who fought in the 1806 campaign in Prussia. Dominique Ravy was born in Paris on 9 April 1784. Enrolled as a volunteer on 25 April 1802, second lieutenant on 24 June 1807, battalion commander on 16 December 1815. Served in the 32nd Line Infantry Regiment. Mainz, 27 September 1806.…
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A letter of d’Audebard de Férussac on the siege of Saragossa, 1808
D’Audebard de Férussac was an aide de camp of French general Darricau. The officer later on became a baron and future encyclopaedist, geographer and naturalist … From the camp in front of Saragossa, 26 December 1808. I have just woken up, my bivouac companions are still sleeping. Yesterday I took notes, the accuracy of which…
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Impressions on the battle of Wagram and its casualties …
Vienna, 17 July 1809. To Maret, the Duke of Bassano (Napoleon’s Secretary of State). My Lord, I have been fortunate enough to witness the French fighting in several campaigns, and I have often thought that only in the army, one can judge the noble character of our nation; that there can be no spirit of…