This is an amazing book. Written by a British Army Captain and WW2 veteran. I used this book when I was studying in Valley Forge Military College, to make a research history paper comparing Adolf Hitler's russian campaign with that of Napoleon Bonaparte. I ended up using this book a lot during those years. And eventually, I decided to buy this book (12 years later) so that I could read it fully, for my own pleasure.

This book is a compilation of the accounts of several eyewitnesses relating the 1812 Russian campaign. The accounts are all placed in chronological order. Some accounts are from the Imperial Soldiers themselves, while others are from the Imperial Officers and the Chain of Command. Other accounts are from Russian Residents who describe the events of the Grande Armée's Invasion of Russia.

One account is the personal story of one of the Emperor's Aide's de Camp; Louis the Count of Narbonne who had been Minister of War for King Louis XVI who was sent by Napoleon Bonaparte himself to speak with the Tsar Alexander I in the Tsar's Headquarters in Vilna. This account depicts the personal experience of that messenger and his short conversation with the Tsar.

Of course, several pages are written by the author himself as complementary information at the begining of each chapter. - Jose David