Tag: Captivity
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A captain’s memoirs on the 1809 Campaign …
Our narrator, Jérôme-Etienne Besse, was born on 5 May 1774 at Aubiac, in the Lot-et-Garonne Department. He recounts his experiences of the war against Austria. Besse served in the 84th Line Infantry Regiment. He eventually also saw action in Russia, was sent to Siberia as a prisoner, and returned in time to fight at the…
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Recollections on the battle of Salamanca, 1812 …
Alphonse d’Hautpoul was born at Versailles on 4 January 1789. He was a cousin of the cavalry general of the same name, who lost his life at the battle at Eylau. Alphonse’s brother, Amand, served in the horse artillery of the Imperial Guard. Attending the Military School at Fontainebleau, Alphonse departed there as a second…
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The Military Life of Bruno d’Ast … (II)
Moscow, 20 September 1812. My dear father, you must have received my letter from Smolensk by now. I hope that it finds you in as good health as I am at the moment, despite the fatigue and hardship we had to endure before arriving in this city. I spoke to you in my last letter…
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Correspondence from Charleroi conscripts under Napoleon (I) …
Introduction by Pierre-Jean Niebes, archivist at the Belgian State Archives of Mons Many of the prominent figures of the Napoleonic period have written their memoirs, both civilian and military, and these have been published in numerous editions since the 19th century. The testimonies of ordinary soldiers shed a different light, perhaps more concise but just…
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Correspondence of grognard Jean-Henry Rattier (IV) …
Bayonne, 15 March 1812. We arrived here the day before yesterday, and we are leaving tomorrow for Paris, where we will arrive on 16 April. I would have obtained permission to go to Ardèche, but I had to be in the capital by 15 April, which prevented me from obtaining it. I could only have…
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Launch new e-book – The Military Recollections of Conscript Grenadier Guitard
I’m happy to announce the first e-book in a series of smaller accounts that deserve publications and more attention. It was in 1934 that Joseph Guitard’s ‘Souvenirs’ were published in Paris for the first time. The publisher, perhaps a distant relative (his name is Eugène Humbert Guitard), explains in his preface that our grenadier was…
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Report of a cavalry NCO, 1809 …
The document we are publishing was written by a non-commissioned officer in the chasseurs of General Montbrun’s Cavalry Division. On the eve of the battle of Essling, this NCO was sent with a safeguard in the direction of Raab (in reality to reconnoitre the enemy assemblies on that side) and was taken prisoner by the…
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Imperial decrees related to POWs, desertion and call to arms, 1806-1814
Year 1806 (N° 1,167) – IMPERIAL DECREE relating to the prosecution of offences committed by prisoners of war. At the Imperial headquarters at Brünn, 17 Frimaire. NAPOLEON, EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH, KING OF ITALY, HAS DECREED and HEREBY DECREES the following: Art. 1. Offences committed by prisoners of war throughout our Empire are under the…
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The broken eagle, at the battle of Eylau (II) …
Grande ArméeVII Corps1st Division14th Line Regiment Report on the particulars of the 14th Line Infantry Regiment, at the battle of Eylau, 8 February 1807. The action began with a lively cannonade between the enemy artillery and that of His Imperial and Royal Majesty, positioned to the right of the church of Eylau. The 14th Regiment…
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Letters of Marshal Berthier from the 1814 Campaign …
In the following four letters (dated 8 to 15 March 1814), Berthier seems to share the Emperor’s hopes and illusions; he reports the battle of Craonne which, Napoleon said, was glorious. He heralded the recapture of Soissons and Rheims; he even suggested that the enemy was troubled, threatened on all sides by the levée en…