Jonas De Neef – författare

The Peninsular War marked a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars, showcasing the resilience of the Allied forces against the might of the French Empire. Yet, beyond the grand strategies and tactical manoeuvres that shaped the war’s course, lies a wealth of personal narratives, offering unique perspectives on this tumultuous era.This book delves into the eyewitness accounts of French and French-Allied soldiers who participated in the conflict. By examining these firsthand experiences, we gain a deeper understanding of the hardships, triumphs and complexities of this war. These memoirs, journals and letters, often poignant and unfiltered, provide a stark contrast to the polished official histories and diplomatic dispatches of the time.The war that raged in the Iberian Peninsula was a brutal conflict, characterised by intense fighting, harsh conditions and significant casualties. The soldiers who fought in this war endured severe physical and psychological suffering. Their accounts offer a glimpse into the realities of warfare in the early 19th century, revealing the human cost of military campaigns.‘Tomorrow, we leave for Pamplona to be directed to Saragossa and lay siege to it. The city is powerful in itself and will be defended with all the more fury, because the inhabitants know that there will be no quarter given to them.’ - Second-Lieutenant Louis Jallasson, 25th Light Infantry Regiment.

Sigismond du Pouget, Marquis of Nadaillac, was born in La Ferrière, near Tours, on 7 January 1787. His father, an officer in the Royal-Champagne Cavalry Regiment, emigrated and passed away in England in 1794. His mother sent her son and daughter back to France to their grandmother, who had not left France and who brought the children up until their mother''s return, sometime in 1800, when she remarried the Baron d''Escars.In 1806, the future General du Pouget de Nadaillac voluntarily joined the emperor Napoleon''s gendarmes d''ordonnance, at that time treated like the Imperial Guard. Appointed officer of dragoons, he became aide-de-camp to General de Latour-Maubourg, whom he followed to Spain and then Russia, as far as Moscow. Promoted to squadron commander in the 5th Regiment of Hussars, our officer led his squadron during the 1813 Campaign, remaining stranded with his men at Wesel until Napoleon''s abdication in 1814.Here we present the letters and campaign notes of Squadron Commander de Nadaillac as compiled by his grandson in 1911. They reveal the life of a young cavalry officer serving for the grandeur of his country, whose noble origins and support in no way prevented him from experiencing the tribulations and perils of the profession of arms.

The Russian campaign is the theatre of war for the third volume of this series of compiled French eyewitness accounts from the Napoleonic Wars. Compared to the previously published books, we will follow the story of an Italian officer in the Grande Armée’s fatal expedition to the East. Whilst the French perspective for the 1812 campaign is well represented, testimonies by French allies are often overlooked and, most of the time, have not found the authors to translate them either to French or English. Of the many non-French contingents that marched to the Russian plains, the fate of the Italian IV Corps, led by Napoleon’s stepson, Eugène de Beauharnais, has been described before in the memoirs of engineer officer Eugène Labaume. Now, we have the opportunity to expand our knowledge of the exploits and suffering of this corps through the words of Adjutant-Major Césare de Laugier. This officer’s account has featured before in the brilliant Russia 1812 trilogy written by Paul Britten Austin, however not in full. The following pages will fill in the gap and the text has been expanded with useful notes, where de Laugier’s testimony is compared to those of compatriots and recollections of French soldiers and officers. While the famous military clashes of the campaign are featured, de Laugier pays great attention to the life of the soldiers and their attempts to not only take on their enemies, but also the plethora of illnesses, supply issues, weather conditions, … Topographic descriptions enliven the account as well. The latter however does not negate the narration of the general hardship the men were subjected to. The Russian campaign of 1812 certainly made its mark in history, as it most certainly did on the life of de Laugier.