Discover the stories or letters of French soldiers and officers, (weekly) translated by Jonas De Neef.
1812 (65) Accomodation (133) Austria (109) Billet (65) Bivouac (209) Captain (86) Clothing (47) Colonel (83) Conscript (45) Cossacks (77) Daily life (248) Depot (45) Dragoons (51) Emperor (145) Equipment (68) Family (64) Fatigue (73) Foodstuffs (130) Germany (55) Grants (53) Illness (81) Imperial Guard (58) Injuries (95) Insurgency (43) Legion of Honour (68) Lieutenant (55) Light Infantry (62) Line infantry (47) Locals (57) Marshal Davout (56) Marshal Murat (55) Marshal Ney (67) Money (88) Moral (46) Napoleon (161) Paris (67) Pillage (44) Poland (71) Prisoner of war (66) Promotion (50) Prussia (124) Retreat (60) River (60) Russia (188) Saxony (53) Second Lieutenant (44) Spain (77) Supplies (133) Tsar Alexander (44) Voltigeurs (46)
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When a first bridge was built, it was decided to send across Marshal Oudinot’s Corps, the part of the army that had suffered the least, having been employed in the siege of Riga. It had marched considerably less, had not been short of provisions, and had only experienced hardship for a few days since joining…
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Born on 19 July 1772 in Tomice (Polish Galicia), Wincenty Płaczkowski led a storied military life that began on 14 June 1807 when he joined the famed 1st Regiment of Polish Lancers of the Imperial Guard. His service took him across the continent, from the 1808 campaign in Spain to the 1809 war against Austria,…
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Jean Pierre Anciaume was born on 6 May 1785 in Mirecourt (Vosges). The following extract from his voluminous correspondence is related to his early steps as an Imperial Guardsman, more specifically alongside the Chasseurs à Pied. Sustaining an injury on the left foot during the Peninsular War, Anciaume would eventually attain the rank of lieutenant…
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On 5 September, during the day, we caught sight of the Russian army arrayed in battle formation in positions they had chosen in advance, and we could tell that the ground had been freshly dug up; these were redoubts. During that day, our army advanced, but as we were all following the same route, it…
Jonas De Neef's Napoleon Chronicles 