Tag: Imperial Guard
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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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A perspective from the French Imperial household on the battle of Bautzen, 1813 …
The following extract is drawn from the excellent recollections of treasurer Guillaume Peyrusse (1776-1860) … 20 May (1813). – The entire (Imperial) headquarters was on its feet very early. One staff officer succeeded another. The corps of the dukes of Reggio (Oudinot), Taranto (Macdonald), Ragusa (Marmont) and General Bertrand made their arrangements to cross 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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The early stages of the Russian campaign, recounted by an officer …
… On my arrival at Berlin, I received the order to proceed to Warsaw, carrying dispatches to Prince Jérôme; my instructions required me to follow the operations of this army corps until further notice. On the departure of King Jérôme, who was displeased to see himself placed under the command of Marshal Davout, I left…
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Colonel Raymond Guiraud’s war journal (I) …
Introduction Raymond Marc Antoine Guiraud, the author of the memoirs from which we are publishing extracts, was born at Limoux, a small town in Languedoc, on 20 January 1780. The Guiraud family were cloth merchants whose fortunes had improved at the same time as factories, which were flourishing in the region, had expanded their trade.…
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Letters of a Grenadier of the Guard, France 1814 …
The author of these letters, François Franconin (1788-1857), was sergeant-major in the 1st Regiment of the Grenadiers of the Guard. Nogent-sur-Seine, 22 February 1814. I make use of the opportunity of an officer lodged in the same building as myself, who is heading for Paris with dispatches, to inform you that my health is as…
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The plight of a Belgian Guard of Honour, 1813 …
Here we have a lengthy letter of a Belgian Garde d’Honneur, Ferdinand de Caigny (1794-1848), recounting in detail the events he and his fellow soldiers of the 1st Regiment experienced in the autumn months of the year 1813 … Gruinestadt, 19 November 1813, three leagues from Worms and Frankenthal. My dear Parents, We left Frankenthal…
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From Boulogne to the aftermath of Austerlitz, 1805 …
Two soldier accounts describing the events during and after the 1805 campaign … Letter of soldier B. Mondey, 11th Dragoon Regiment, dispatched to Boulogne sur Mer, to his brother and sister, on board the gunboat n° 324 in the harbour of Boulogne, dated 4 Germinal Year 13 (25 March 1805). Letter with military postal marking…