Tag: Cossacks
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Recollections on the battle of Austerlitz, by Captain Ballue …
Pierre Ballue, from whose memoirs we are reproducing an extract, was born in Bergerac in the Dordogne on 20 February 1778. His father, Jean-Baptiste, was a postmaster in the town. In 1799 (14 Vendémiaire, Year VII of the Republic), Ballue was drafted into the army through conscription. ‘This law’, he said, ‘summoned me to serve…
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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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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…
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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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An Italian, the Grande Armée and the campaign of 1812 …
The Biblioteca Estense in Modena preserves the original copies of a substantial set of letters written by an unsung soldier of the Army of the Kingdom of Italy, Paolo Magelli, born at Pavullo in 1785. These were addressed to his elder brother Giustiniano. In contrast, the correspondence does not contain the letters written by Giustiniano…
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Eyewitness accounts of the campaign in Russia, 1812 (V) …
General Georg von Scheler (1770-1826, from Württemberg) wrote the following: Moscow, 8 and 9 October 1812. Everyone found shelter, albeit packed and cramped, in the suburb on the road to Kazan. The horses of the artillery, the two regiments of chevau-légers and the regiment of the King’s Chasseurs No. 4 were accommodated in stables or…
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Excerpts of a campaign journal, Russia 1812 …
Details drawn from the Journal of General Friant’s Division … On the 9th, the division fought with the Russian troops who were defending the town of Mozhaysk and who were forced to evacuate it, after having torched it and caused some losses to the 48th Regiment. The division crossed Mozhaysk and found itself in the…
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Letters of an artillery officer, 1813 …
The following is an interesting letter written the day after the battle of Lützen by Nicolas Louis Planat de la Faye, meant for Honoré de Lariboisière (son of General Lariboisière). He also wrote to his wife on the same day. Pegau, 4 May 1813. My dear Honoré, We have just won the most extraordinary battle…
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Doctor Wilhelm Meier and Baden’s war efforts during the Russian campaign …
This excerpt represents one complete chapter of Meier’s recollections. Relations between France and the rest of Europe, with Russia in particular – Causes and preparations for war Through the Peace of Vienna of 1809 and its consequences, the family bond established with the Imperial House of Austria, Napoleon had reached the summit of his fortune…
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Eyewitness accounts of the campaign in Russia, 1812 (III) …
A letter from Baptiste Massicoir to his father: From Rostenbourg, (this) 20 August 1812. My dear father, This letter is to inform me of the state of your health and that of my brother and sisters. I am doing well. I hope with all my heart that this letter finds you all well. My dear…