Tag: Cossacks
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1813-14 letters from Cuirassier Brigadier Pilloy
The following letters are drawn from a voluminous register which also contains copies of the Emperor’s proclamations, accounts of our narrator’s travels and more or less unusual recipes. The author in question is Étienne-Nicolas Pilloy, born in Santeau, canton of Pithiviers (Loiret), a farmer by trade. Here are his service records: 13th Cuirassier Regiment. Entered…
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Guard Grenadier Philippe Ballut at Lützen and Bautzen, 1813 …
In the evening, with the 2nd Grenadier Regiment occupying the ground on a plateau, the soldiers sighted the town of Lützen, with its round bell tower and a tall belfry tower dominating the large tile roofed buildings. The French cavalry had already entered the town to capture a few stragglers. It was known that Blücher…
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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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Some notes of a grenadier of the Imperial Guard, 1813 …
A couple of passages of a journal kept by Philippe Ballut, a soldier serving in the 2nd Grenadier Regiment of the Guard, related to the early stages of the 1813 Campaign … Thursday, 29 April. – The Old Guard arrived at Naumburg before noon and we lit our fires at the foot of the tower,…
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A dragoon under Marshal Murat – Letters of the 1806-1807 Campaigns (II)
Poland was a completely different country for the French soldiers. The miserable and often desolate appearance of certain areas surprised them by the contrast with the bountiful regions where they had long resided. However, they were cheerful and confident, and the change of regime gave them more cause for jest than complaint. Moreover, the cordial…
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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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Dedicated to the Imperial Cause – Letters of the Dandalle Family (I) …
Introductions by the authors The reader is in for a unique experience from the outset, as the authenticity of the study’s content is striking. The sense of duty, the boundless admiration for their Emperor, Napoleon I, made these officers from the ranks perform nearly astonishing feats. They travelled the length and breadth of Europe, as…
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Cuirassier officer Jean de Gouttes and his 1813 correspondence …
These documents relate our cavalry officer’s thoughts and experiences during the 1813 Campaign. De Gouttes served in the 11th Cuirassier Regiment … Kemberg (near Wittenberg), 19 March 1813. I left Braunschweig (Brunswick), where the cavalry was being reorganised, on 25 February with a company which I was honoured to be given command of, to join…