Category: Officer
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A war commissioner and General Partouneaux in Russia, 1812 …
Marie-Joseph-Quentin Playoult de Bryas was a war commissioner, acting as an ordonnateur in the 12th Infantry Division. He passed away as (military) second intendant on 24 March 1829. This letter is addressed to his wife. At the headquarters of Voniskoe-Gorodistche, 7 November 1812. Just as we were about to mount the carriage, General Partouneaux and…
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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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A report of Major Brosset meant for Marshal Berthier, Russia 1812 …
Jacques Brosset, born in 1775 at Mamers (Sarthe), sergeant-major in the 4th Battalion of the same department in 1792, second lieutenant (1793), lieutenant (1794), captain (1799), battalion commander in the 57th Line Regiment (1807), major and aide-de-camp to Marshal Davout (1811), titular major in the 29th Line Regiment (1814), commander of arms at Metz, retired…
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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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A Dutch officer of the 33rd Light Infantry Regiment, Russia 1812 …
The author of these letters is Theodorus Coenradus Casparus Veeren, a Dutch junior officer, and the addressee is his wife, Anna Cornelia van Orsoy. Theodorus Veeren, born in Borculo (Gelderland) 24 March 1790, was the son of Johan Frederik Wilhelm Veeren, who passed away as a lieutenant-colonel titular, and Maria Petronella Ramdohr. He belonged to…
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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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Chef d’escadron Mathieu and the 1813 campaign …
The author of the following account was a French squadron commander in the horse artillery. Here is an extract from his recollections, set during the 1813 campaign … An order of the Minister of War stated to form four companies with 78 men [remnants of the seven companies remaining at the end of the Russian…