Memoirs of Baron Lejeune, Aide-de-Camp to Marshals Berthier, Davout and Oudi

This ebook is purpose built and is proof-read and re-type set from the original to provide an outstanding experience of reflowing text for an ebook reader. Amongst the many memoirs of the Napoleonic period, there are a number that stand out not just for their historical value, but also for their actual written style; however, in this sense Lejeune stands alone. He was by nature an artist and is still famous as a noted painter of scenes of battles, most of which he witnessed. As such his scenes are like his paintings, filled with evocative detail. The narrative in Vol. I runs from his earliest recollections of a chance encounter with Marie Antoinette to his joining the republican movement and a battalion of national volunteers. As the consulate dawns, we find him as an aide-de-camp with the army of reserve in 1800 and fought at the battle of Marengo. He was present at the battles of Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau, Friedland, Landshut, Eckmühl, Aspern-Essling and Wagram. A substantial part of this volume revolves around the vicious and protracted second siege of Saragossa, which even in the Peninsular War stands out for the courage and fierceness of both sides. His treatment of the siege and the forces engaged is the best of its genre by some distance. Lejeune was witness to some of the great events of the Napoleonic period, and moved with the grace of a courtier through them, his eye catches the human actors in his pen portraits beautifully. Highly Recommended.

This ebook is purpose built and is proof-read and re-type set from the original to provide an outstanding experience of reflowing text for an ebook reader. Amongst the many memoirs of the Napoleonic period, there are a number that stand out not just for their historical value, but also for their actual written style, however in this sense Lejeune stands alone. Lejeune was by nature an artist and is still a famous as a noted painter of scenes of battles, most of which he witnessed. As such his scenes are like his painting filled with evocative detail. The narrative in Vol. II runs from the Napoleon's divorce of the Empress Josephine and his subsequent marriage to Marie-Louise of Austria with the attendant balls and festivities. As the war in Spain drags on, he is sent on an important mission to collect information for the Emperor, during which he is ambushed and captured by partisans. His subsequent imprisonment and transfer to Britain are painted in vivid colours and are surpassed only by his subsequent escape to France and evasion of the dread smuggler "Brick". Lejeune was on the staff of Marshal Berthier and, thereafter Marshal Davout, during the Russian campaign of 1812, and was witness to the bloody struggle to Moscow and the disastrous retreat back to Prussia. His numerous vignettes of the retreat are often quoted due to their detail and incisive nature, his description of his purchase of a bearskin from its unwilling seller, a colonel swaddled in furs, on the retreat is priceless. Lejeune also served on in the twilight of the Empire, at the battles of Lützen, Bautzen, and Leipzig. His military career was ended by wounds from a shell fragment the day after the battle of Hanau in 1813. Lejeune was witness to some of the great events of the Napoleonic period, and moved with the grace of a courtier through them, his eye catches the human actors in his pen portraits beautifully. Highly Recommended.