GRANDE TACTIQUE

Good Books

First-person accounts of the Napoleonic Wars

• Memoirs of Marbot, in English

• Marshal Marmont's memoirs, in French

• Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, by John Kincaid

• The Narrative of Captain Coignet, who served in Bonaparte's armies from Marengo to Waterloo, mostly in the Old Guard.

 

Fictional Memoirs

• The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard (fictional), by Arthur Conan Doyle; basically a parody of Coignet, very enjoyable.

• The Adventures of Gerard (fictional), by Arthur Conan Doyle; continuation of above.

 

Anthologies of first-person accounts

• Three terrific anthologies pertaining to three campaigns, all the work of Anthony James-Brett:

  • 1812: Eyewitness Accounts of Napoleon's Defeat in Russia (1967)

  • Europe Against Napoleon: Leipzig Campaign, 1813, from Eyewitness Accounts (1970)

  • The Hundred Days: Napoleon's Last Campaign from Eye-Witness Accounts (1964)