I finished reading The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier by Jakob Walter (edited and with an introduction by Marc Raeff). This was an amazing read. The author was a German stonemason who was conscripted into Napoleon’s Grande Armée and served in multiple campaigns during the Napoleonic Wars, including the ill-fated 1812 Russian campaign.

At some point after his military service, Walter hand-wrote his memoir, stitched the pages together, and eventually passed it on to one of his sons in 1856 (the edition I read was published in 1991). He wrote with great facility, producing a work that is descriptive, moving, and often terrifying. Although some works written by educated officers exist, Walter’s book seems to be the only example of a memoir detailing the disastrous retreat from Moscow penned by a common soldier.

In the face of slaughter, starvation, and extreme cold, the will to survive felt and acted out by ordinary people is profoundly illustrated. This was a most memorable read and several of the haunting scenes will stay long in my memory.