Tag: Old Guard
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The Military Life of Bruno d’Ast … (III)
In the meantime, Bruno d’Ast’s family was delighted to receive the news that he had been promoted to the Legion of Honour: they knew that this was the award that their son sought above all else, and we will see in one of the following letters the emotion with which he received this distinction, the…
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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 report on the battle of Craonne, March 1814 …
On 7 March, the general received the order to proceed to Craonne; he was far from expecting to enter the line with troops comprising conscripts who only had been assembled for twenty days, during which time they had travelled more than a hundred leagues and had barely had time to learn how to load a…
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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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Correspondence of grognard Jean-Henry Rattier (III) …
Puente la Reina, 13 November 1810. The regiments of our division are gathering at this moment to move from Navarre to Castile. Our (supply) wagons leave at noon for Pamplona, in order to follow the main road to Vitoria, as well as the artillery. The troops will travel via the secondary roads; the main roads…
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Reminiscences on the defence of Paris, 1814 …
… Paris took on an increasingly bellicose appearance. The mobile National Guard arrived from all sides; I even remember that, while the army only expressed its patriotism by its acclamations in favour of the Emperor, the National Guard added the longstanding manifestations of the days of republican glory. One day, in front of the café…
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An Imperial Guard commander and the 1813 Campaign (III) …
… We camped on the plain in close columns by division and by battalion mass. We were standing in mud and water up to half our legs, and I could never understand what was the reason for choosing such an uncomfortable and unhealthy position. On 22 August 1813 we remained in the same order. A…
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An Imperial Guard commander and the 1813 Campaign (II) …
… On 20 May (the battle of Bautzen), the guns sounded at about nine o’clock in the morning and was accompanied very shortly thereafter by a sharp fusillade. The division started to march towards the left of the city. The Emperor, on a knoll, was surrounded by the Old Guard which formed a square. The…
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Bessières, the Imperial Guard and the aftermath of 1812 …
The first document meant for the French emperor states Bessières’ concerns and criticism concerning Napoleon’s elites; not as much the cavalry forces he led, but mostly the infantry which he deemed to be reformed in its entirety. The second letter is related to the marshal’s demand to return to France, and is more indulgent compared…
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An excerpt of a Dutch officer’s journal from the year 1811 …
Introduction by J. W. des Tombe The author of the following journal is Andreas Jan Jacob des Tombe, son of Lieutenant-Colonel of Carabiniers of His Highness the Prince of Orange, Arnoldus des Tombe, and Henriette Anna de Bons, daughter of the well-known Major-General Andreas de Bons, the heroic, grey haired defender of the fortress of…
Jonas De Neef's Napoleon Chronicles 