Fighting for Napoleon
Posted on Wednesday 13th January 2016My very dear father
[…] Since the last time I wrote to
you, I left Calais to join the army of the Rhine. We did not give a
moment of rest to the Austrian army, which we chased from all of its
strongholds and even from its capital. We have fought hard since the
crossing of the Danud [Danube] where twenty thousand people died and
at Oumes [Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany] where another thirty to
thirty-five thousand soldiers were killed. I will not give you
details about the battles of Bath, Bille, Branaux and Passeaux and
also Linzes, Lixze, which were all very hard. They did not want to
leave their capital and as a result forty-five to fifty thousand men
died on both sides. At the battle of Bonne, we lost so many people
because of the river. But I want to talk about the battle of
Desterlix [Austerlitz], the biggest fight ever heard of. The three
Emperors were there: the Emperor of Russia, the Emperor of Vienna
[Austria] and the Emperor of the French. We began firing at six in
the morning. The Russians and the Austrians answered five minutes
after. The fire was so intense that it was impossible to see anything
six feet in front of you. We retreated three times but the fourth
time we managed to route the Russians and the Austrians. We fought
against the Imperial Guard of Russia; they were very strong but we
beat them. My horse was killed during the battle of Desterlix
[Austerlitz] and I almost died but I fortunately took the horse of
another dragoon who had just been cut in two by a cannonball. Forty
thousand French, seventy thousand Russian and thirty-five thousand
Austrians were killed at Desterlix [Austerlitz]. For Bresse, I do not
know the losses. Dead bodies were buried for fifteen days but it is
such a glory for me to have fought in so many battles and to have my
horse killed without being killed. I have not received the postal
order of 12 frans [francs] but I hope to have it soon so we do not
worry. I end this letter by kissing you one thousand times with all
my heart. I am forever your son Toussain Waltery.
My dear father and mother
[…] I am sorry for not giving news
for such a long time but we were constantly on the move. We left
Nimegue [Nijmegen, Netherlands] and embarked on a boat. We stayed a
month on the boat when we heard that war had been declared against
Austria. We left immediately for the army of the Rhine. When we faced
the enemy we fought different important battles. God has always
preserved me and I thank him. So, we fought several important
battles, as you must have heard. Our first battle was the blockade of
Houlme [Ulm]. We did good as we captured 25 thousand men and killed
another five thousand. The weather was not in our favour because it
was raining a lot. We stayed for six days in the field without being
able to shelter from the rain. After we had defeated the Austrian
armies, we carried our march to Vienna. We fought different battles
but it is not useful to write how many men we killed or captured. Let
us just say that when we took Vienna, there were one hundred sixty
thousand men either killed or taken prisoners. After Vienna, we
continued toward Moravia, where we fought the biggest battle of the
campaign [Austerlitz], and where the war finished. I cannot exactly
tell how many men were killed on the battlefield but it looks like we
put out of action more than fifty thousand men, killed, wounded, or
captured. I cannot tell you how many canons and how much ammunition
we took but there were convoys leaving for France for two months.
Believe me when I tell you that the battle was cruel. Three Emperors
were commanding; there was the French one, the Austrian one and the
one from Russia. The Emperors of Russia and Austria were almost
captured but they took opportunity of the night to flee. After these
events, we stayed for a month in Stirie [Styria, southeast Austria]
where we rested. Then we left for Venisse [Venice] where it was
excessively hot. There are mountains and therefore snow in all
weathers. We walked on a mountain where we saw clouds below us and we
walked 560 leagues without stopping.




Further Reading
Fighting For Napoleon
(Hardback - 184 pages)
ISBN: 9781473833739
by Bernard Wilkin
Only £19.99
The French side of the Napoleonic Wars is often seen from a strategic point of view, or in terms of military organization and battlefield tactics, or through officers' memoirs. It is rarely seen from the perspective of the lowest ranks of the army, and the experience of the ordinary soldiers is less well known and is often misunderstood. That is why this account, based on more than 1,600 letters written by French soldiers of the Napoleonic armies, is of such value. It adds to the existing literature by exploring every…
Read more at Pen & Sword Books...
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