Tag: Swiss
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Correspondence of grognard Jean-Henry Rattier (IV) …
Bayonne, 15 March 1812. We arrived here the day before yesterday, and we are leaving tomorrow for Paris, where we will arrive on 16 April. I would have obtained permission to go to Ardèche, but I had to be in the capital by 15 April, which prevented me from obtaining it. I could only have…
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The first years of service of a Swiss surgeon, Italy & Spain (1808-1809)
The following paragraphs are derived from the notebooks of Antoine Kaempfen, a native from Switzerland (Canton of Valais) who would pursue a career in the medical services of the French army. He also wrote recollections on the 1812 campaign in Russia (read an excerpt here). … The arrival of my brevet, by which I was…
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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…
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The death of a Swiss artillery officer, Russia 1812 …
The year eighteen hundred and fifteen, 18th of May. At the hearing of the Peace Magistrate of the District of Moudon, on the requisition of Lieutenant-Colonel François-Louis-Benjamin Burnand of this municipality, for the purpose of summoning to this hearing Mr. Jaques Voruz, attached to the artillery corps of the 1st Swiss Regiment, for the purpose…
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The recollections of a Swiss soldier on the 1813 campaign …
On 26 August the cannonade was heard on all sides, but we did not move all morning. The Emperor himself passed through our ranks and stopped from time to time to speak to the corps commanders and encourage the soldiers. It was only towards the evening that our columns moved to drive back the Russians…
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Recollections of a surgeon major of the Valais Battalion in Russia …
The physician who recounts the following events served in the 4th Battalion of the 11th Light Infantry Regiment … On 16 October, the regiment was reinforced with about 300 recruits, most of whom came from the Roman states. It was Mr. R… , father of my first wife, who commanded them and led them to…