Tag: Retreat

• The experiences of Dragoon Auguste de Maupas in Spain and Portugal, 1808-1812 (II)

  

  Valladolid, 5 December 1809. – I only have time to send you an embrace and inform you that I am in good health. We have arrived at Valladolid, where we will stay with General Kellerman until further notice. We engaged in a number of affairs which I am sure you will be able to find…

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  May 6, 2024

  Anecdotes, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, General staff, Generals, Letters – Correspondence, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Marshals, Memoirs, Officer, Peninsular War, Soldier

  Abrantes, Accomodation, Administration, Alba de Tormes, Alcanizas, Alenquer, Almeida, Ammunition, Army of Portugal, Avila, Battle of Bussaco, Billet, Bivouac, Brigands, British, Burgos, Cadre, Captain, Coimbra, Daily life, Depot, Desertion, Dragoons, Duke of Wellington, Equipment, Extremadura, Fatigue, Foodstuffs, Fortifications, France, General Brenier, General Kellerman, General Montbrun, Guerilla, Lancers, Leiria, Lieutenant, Limoges, Lisbon, Madrid, Marshal Masséna, Marshal Ney, Ourém, Outpost, Placencia, Pombal, Portugal, Prisoner of war, Promotion, Punhete, Rain, Rearguard, Reconnaissance, Redinha, Retirement, Retreat, River, Rodrigo, Salamanca, Spain, Supplies, Tagus, Valladolid, Viseu, Zamora, Zêzere

• 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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  April 8, 2024

  1813 Campaign, Allied (Coalition) forces, Anecdotes, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, General staff, Generals, Imperial Guard, Infantry, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Marshals, Medicine – Surgery, Memoirs, Officer, Soldier

  Accomodation, Aide-de-camp, Ambulance, Austria, Baden, Baggage, Battle of Bautzen, Battle of Lützen, Bautzen, Bischofswerda, Bivouac, Blücher, Brandy, Bread, Captain, Conscript, Cossacks, Crime, Daily life, Dresden, Elbe, Elster, Emperor, Espionage, Fatigue, Foodstuffs, Görlitz, General Bertrand, General Bonnet, General Brenier, General Charpentier, General Compans, General Gérard, General Kirgener, General Marchand, General Morand, General Ricard, General Roguet, General Souham, General Wittgenstein, Grand Marshal Duroc, Grenadiers, Hessians, Hunger, Hussars, Imperial Guard, Kaya, Lancers, Lützen, Leipzig, Locals, Marshal Berthier, Marshal Macdonald, Marshal Marmont, Marshal Ney, Marshal Oudinot, Medical Officer, Money, Napoleon, Old Guard, Peasants, Pegau, Pillage, Poland, Prussia, Quartermaster, Reconnaissance, Retreat, River, Russia, Saxony, Sergeant-major, Silesia, Spree, Supplies, Te Deum, Theft, Transport, Tsar Alexander, Weisig, Weissenfels, Woods, Young Guard

• Captain Puffeney’s recollections of the 1806-1807 Campaigns …

  

  The son of humble farmers from the Franche-Comté region, Captain Pierre-François Puffeney was born in Les Planches, near Arbois, on 5 December 1772. He was not yet twenty when he enlisted as a volunteer in the 2nd Battalion of the Jura, to fly, as it was then called, to the defence of the Fatherland. A…

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  April 4, 2024

  1806 Campaign, 1807 Campaign, Anecdotes, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, General staff, Generals, Infantry, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Marshals, Memoirs, Officer, Soldier

  Accomodation, Arbois, Baggage, Battle of Eylau, Battle of Friedland, Battle of Ostrołęka, Billet, Bivouac, Captain, Chief of Staff, Contusion, Corporal, Czarnowo, Daily life, Danzig, Decorations, Discipline, Duchy, Emperor, Erlangen, Eylau, Family, Fatigue, France, Franche-Comté, General Bennigsen, General Campana, General Essen, General Gazan, General Reille, General Savary, Glogau, Grenadiers, Grodno, Host, Hussars, Injuries, Jura, Königsberg, Legion of Honour, Lieutenant, Light Infantry, Line infantry, Lissa, Locals, Marshal Davout, Marshal Lannes, Marshal Masséna, Marshal Oudinot, Marshal Suchet, Mittellangdorff, Mud, Napoleon, Ostrolenka, Poland, Pregel, Prussia, Pultusk, Retreat, Rhine, River, Russia, Second Lieutenant, Sergeant-major, Siege of Danzig (1807), Silesia, Spain, Supplies, Tilsit, Town, Transport, Tsar Alexander, Village, Warsaw, Wartenberg, Winter, Woods

• The battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, recounted by a staff officer …

  

  Here follows an excerpt from Emmanuel-Frédéric Sprünglin’s (1773-1844) exceptional memoirs, which he wrote based on his detailed journal he kept during his service in the Peninsular War. On 3 October 1810, our Swiss-born officer was appointed deputy (adjoint) battalion commander in the general staff of the Army of Portugal. When the decision was made for…

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  February 28, 2024

  Aide-de-camp, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, General staff, Generals, Imperial Guard, Infantry, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Marshals, Memoirs, Officer, Peninsular War

  Agueda, Alameda, Almeida, Army of Portugal, Azava, Battalion Commander, Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, Cantonments, Carpio, Castelo Bom, Castile, Ciudad Rodrigo, Coa, Duke of Wellington, Entrenchments, Equipment, Espeja, Fatigue, Fortifications, Gallegos, General Brenier, General Drouet d'Erlon, General Ferrey, General Heudelet, General Loison, General Marchand, General Maucune, General Montbrun, General Reynier, Horse Artillery, Leon, Light Artillery, Light Infantry, Marialva, Marshal Bessières, Marshal Masséna, Marshal Ney, Peninsular War, Portugal, Pozobello, Rearguard, Retreat, River, Skirmishers, Spain, Vanguard, Vilar Formoso, Voltigeurs

• Correspondence from Charleroi conscripts under Napoleon (I) …

  

  Introduction by Pierre-Jean Niebes, archivist at the Belgian State Archives of Mons Many of the prominent figures of the Napoleonic period have written their memoirs, both civilian and military, and these have been published in numerous editions since the 19th century. The testimonies of ordinary soldiers shed a different light, perhaps more concise but just…

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  February 14, 2024

  1805 Campaign, 1806 Campaign, Anecdotes, Battle, Infantry, Letters – Correspondence, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Marshals, Medicine – Surgery, Soldier

  Accomodation, Administration, Austria, Battle of Austerlitz, Bavaria, Billet, Bivouac, Bohemia, Camp of Boulogne, Capitulation, Captivity, Certificate, Charleroi, Chasseur, Clothing, Cold, Conscript, Conscription, Daily life, Depot, Draft, Draft evasion, Dragoons, Emperor Francis of Austria, Equipment, Family, France, General Laplanche, Gosselies, Grenadiers, Gunboat, Hanover, Hunger, Injuries, Jemappes, Lancers, Line infantry, Linz, Maastricht, Marching, Marengo, Marshal Bernadotte, Money, Mons, Montignies-sur-Sambre, Mounts, Munich, Music, Musician, Napoleon, Newspapers, Nuremberg, Paris, Peace, Picardy, prefecture, Prisoner of war, Prussia, Religion, Retreat, Russia, Sergeant, Somme, Supplies, Tailor, Uhlans, Ulm, Vienna, Wissembourg

• A doctor’s recounting of the battle of Ostrovno, July 1812 …

  

  Raymond Faure (1786-1850), a doctor in I Cavalry Corps of the Grande Armée, provides the following account of this engagement in his memoirs: Our corps (I Corps) was the vanguard of the army, and we had been in sight of the enemy for two or three days; a few cannon shots had been exchanged. On…

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  January 24, 2024

  1812 Campaign, Aide-de-camp, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, General staff, Imperial Guard, Infantry, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Marshals, Medicine – Surgery, Memoirs, Officer

  1812, Army of Italy, Arson, Bivouac, Crews, Cuirassier, Emperor, Equipment, Fatigue, Fire, Gunner, Guns, Heavy Cavalry, Horse Artillery, Hussars, Imperial Guard, Light Cavalry, Marshal Murat, Mounts, Napoleon, Ostrovno, Outpost, Picket, Pillage, Polish Lancers, Retreat, Russia, Scorched earth, Supplies, Vanguard, Village, Vilna, Vitebsk

• Marshal Poniatowski on the defence of the Vistula and the Duchy of Warsaw, January 1813 …

  

  To Marshal Davout. Warsaw, 20 January 1813. My Lord, I have just received the letter which Your Highness did me the honour of addressing to me on the 18th of this month. I only learned from its contents that His Majesty the King of Naples [Murat] has departed and that His Serene Highness the Prince…

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  January 23, 2024

  1812 Campaign, 1813 Campaign, Aide-de-camp, Allied (Coalition) forces, Cavalry, General staff, Generals, Infantry, Letters – Correspondence, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Marshals, Officer, Reports, Soldier

  Austria, Bavaria, Cadre, Cracow, Duchy of Warsaw, Eugène de Beauharnais, Foodstuffs, General Reynier, Heavy Cavalry, Light Cavalry, Line infantry, Marshal Davout, Marshal Murat, Marshal Poniatowski, Modlin, Plock, Poland, Posen, Prussia, Retreat, Russia, Schwarzenberg, Supplies, Vistula, Vistula Legion, Warsaw, Zamosc

• Correspondence of an artillery officer during the Russian campaign …

  

  On 15 June 1810, young Delaval, the eldest son of a family living in the small town of Tournus in the Department of Saône-et-Loire, received an order to enter the School of Saint-Cyr on 20 July. After completing his studies at the military school on 2 April 1812 with the rank of lieutenant second class…

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  January 2, 2024

  1812 Campaign, Anecdotes, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, Engineers, General staff, Letters – Correspondence, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Officer

  1812, Accomodation, Ammunition, Billet, Bivouac, Brandenburg, Bug, Captain, Clothing, Cold, Daily life, Danzig, Doctor, Dresden, Drill, Earthworks, Elbe, Emperor, Equipment, Family, Fever, Foodstuffs, Foot Artillery, Frankfurt, Fulda, Garrison, General Durutte, Germany, Grants, Grenoble, Illness, Jena, Legion of Honour, Liège, Lieutenant, Magdeburg, Medical Officer, Military School, Minden, Money, Mounts, Napoleon, Paris, Pay, Paymaster, Postal service, Prussia, Retreat, Russia, Saône-et-Loire, Saxony, Second Lieutenant, Smolensk, Spandau, St Petersburg, Stages, Supplies, Transport, Vistula, Warsaw, Wesel

• 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…

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  December 8, 2023

  1813 Campaign, Allied (Coalition) forces, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, Letters – Correspondence, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Marshals, Officer

  Accomodation, Austria, Battle of Lützen, Battle of Leipzig, Bavaria, Berlin, Billet, Bivouac, Brunswick, Captain, Conscript, Cossacks, Cuirassier, Daily life, Dresden, Elbe, Elster, Emperor, Equipment, Eugène de Beauharnais, Family, General Lauriston, Germany, King Frederick William III of Prussia, Kirchberg, Kreuznach, Magdeburg, Mainz, Marshal Bessières, Marshal Davout, Marshal Macdonald, Marshal Ney, Money, Mounts, Napoleon, Oder, Pegau, Prussia, Retreat, Russia, Saale, Saxony, Silesia, Sweden, Thionville, Tsar Alexander, Wittenberg

• Remarks on the battle of Wagram, by General Édouard Colbert …

  

  General Pierre David Édouard de Colbert-Chabanais (1774-1853), in his ‘Unpublished Remarks’, wrote a concise account of the battle of Wagram. Its simplicity and modesty enhance its interest. We reproduce it here verbatim, together with some other manuscripts that he drew up. According to the orders given the day before by Napoleon, the French light cavalry…

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  December 6, 2023

  1809 Campaign, Aide-de-camp, Allied (Coalition) forces, Anecdotes, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, French-Allied forces, General staff, Generals, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Marshals, Memoirs, Officer

  Accomodation, Aide-de-camp, Ammunition, Archduke Charles, Austria, Batteries, Battle of Aspern-Essling, Battle of Wagram, Bivouac, Brigadier, Chasseur à Cheval, Count Daru, Danube, Emperor, Empress Marie-Louise, Eugène de Beauharnais, General Auguste Colbert, General Bruyère, General Dupas, General Edouard Colbert, General Jacquinot, General Lasalle, General Lauriston, General Marulaz, General Montbrun, General Morand, General Pajol, General Piré, Guns, Hungary, Imperial Guard, Injuries, Italy, Light Cavalry, Lobau, Marshal Bernadotte, Marshal Berthier, Marshal Davout, Marshal Masséna, Marshal Oudinot, Moravia, Napoleon, Outpost, Pontoon, Prisoner of war, Recovery, Redoubts, Retreat, River, Rosenberg, Saxony, Vanguard, Vienna, Znaïm