Tag: Minister of War
-
Louis Jacques Romand and the turmoil of 1813 … (II)
On the 30th, General Vandamme, commanding I Corps, entered the defiles of the Bohemian mountains, where he was soundly beaten by the [Allied] combined army. He lost most of his men and he himself was captured by the enemy. Our baggage having, ill-advisedly, followed that of this corps and finding itself on the road was…
-
The Military Life of Bruno d’Ast … (I)
Dominique-Louis-Guillaume-Bruno d’Ast was born on 9 August 1790, in Brignemont. (1) He was the eldest son of Mr. Guillaume d’Ast and Madame Marie-Germaine-Sophie de Pérignon. (2) His godfather was Dominique Catherine de Pérignon, his uncle, an officer in the royal grenadiers in the Quercy Regiment, the future victor of Rosas and Figueras, ambassador of the…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Cossacks at Borodino, an unpublished report by General Pajol …
In 1841, Marshal Soult, Minister of War, dispatched Staff Captain Ch. Pajol, son of the illustrious cavalry general of the First Empire, to the camp of Krasnoye Selo under the command of the Russian Emperor Nicholas himself, with a mission to travel through Russia, Poland, Prussia, Saxony and Germany. This mission was not merely of…
-
General Rapp at the outset of the siege of Danzig (1813) …
From Smorgoni (Smarhonʹ – Smorgonʹ) in late 1812, Napoleon, at the time of his departure for France after the debacle in Russia, assessing with an experienced eye the precise extent of his reverses, had foreseen the siege of the Vistula places and had sent his intrepid aide-de-camp, General Rapp, to take over the government of…
-
Correspondence of General Foy in Spain, 1814 (V) …
LETTER FROM GENERAL BERLIER Barvas, 17 January 1814. MR. MAJOR, I have the honour to send you your nomination to the rank of major. I am delighted to see that justice has been rendered to you and that your services are appreciated. I would have wished that you had been granted this rank in the…
-
Correspondence of a hussar officer, 1807-1809 …
Here we have the correspondence of Second Lieutenant Auguste Des Graviers. He first served in the 11th Infantry Regiment, but later on had himself transferred to the 7th Hussar Regiment. We follow him on his encounters and campaigns from 1807 to 1809 … First a few letter extracts, meant for his mother, Madame Des Graviers,…