Tag: Cold
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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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A dragoon under Marshal Murat – Letters of the 1806-1807 Campaigns (III)
The troops were beginning to grow, if not discouraged, at least weary of being beset day and night by Cossacks. Therefore the cavalry, charged with chasing down this troublesome and devious enemy, hardly rested. Until 15 March, Murat covered the line of the outposts: Luiduwo, near Gigenburg, 17 March 1807. Looking at the date of…
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Correspondence of an artillery officer during the Russian campaign …
On 15 June 1810, young Delaval, the eldest son of a family living in the small town of Tournus in the Department of Saône-et-Loire, received an order to enter the School of Saint-Cyr on 20 July. After completing his studies at the military school on 2 April 1812 with the rank of lieutenant second class…
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A letter on the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Guard, after Friedland …
Here we present an unpublished letter from Colonel Claude-Étienne Guyot (1768-1837) to Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais about the plight of the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Imperial Guard after the battle of Friedland. We learn that Guyot regularly kept Eugène informed about the state of the regiment (Eugène having served in the prestigious unit) and…
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A letter on the retreat from Russia, by an artillery officer …
The author of the following letter, Jean-Michel-Marie Prévost, son of Henri-François, councillor to the King, judge, magistrate in the seneschal and presiding court of Clermont-Ferrand, and Marguerite Monestier, was born in Clermont-Ferrand on 26 July 1782. Prévost entered the École Polytechnique on 1 Frimaire Year 10, became a student second lieutenant on 1 Vendémiaire Year…
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Letters of a battalion commander, Russia 1812 …
The military operations of 1812 commenced in June. On the 15th, the 33rd Infantry Regiment numbered 4,252 men divided into five battalions. This is the unit of our officer, whose letters we reproduce. On the 18th, Napoleon, who was at Gumbinnen (Prussia), inspected the 33rd Regiment, part of the 2nd Division (led by General Friant)…
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A Belgian cavalryman in Moscow, 1812 …
A relative of our Belgian soldier here, Constant de Limon (officer in the 1st Regiment of Chasseurs à Cheval, General Bordessoule’s Brigade, part of Davout’s I Corps), forwarded the latter’s letter to a younger brother of our protagonist: Mister Delimon (sic, De Limon), place du Carrefour de Lodeau n° 4, in Paris. Ypres, 6 November…