Customer Reviews

1812: The Great Retreat

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In this final volume of the trilogy horror is piled on horror as the remnants of the Grand Armee, of its camp followers, and of the pathetic survivors of the pre-war French colony in Moscow struggle westwards through snow and ice, dogged at every step by swarms of Cossacks and the focus of converging Russian armies. Almost every page finds heights of human heroism and sacrifice contrasted with extreme examples of cowardice, selfishness and cruelty. One always knew that the Retreat from Moscow was an unparalleled disaster, but until one reads this fusing of so many first-hand accounts once never realised just how bad it was. The collapse of discipline, hope and decency is graphically depicted yet in the midst of it perhaps the greatest surprise is how effectively some units, not always necessarily elite ones, still managed to stage effective defensive and rearguard actions, without which the disaster would have even more total. (Readers will inevitably find close and indeed uncanny echoes of Anthony Beevor's recent "Stalingrad"). The story is inevitably dominated by Marshal Ney, who comes across as an even more magnificent battlefield-commander than even his "Bravest of the Brave" title suggests, but Prince Eugene Beauharnais, runs him a close second as a splendid, resourceful and indomitable leader in adversity. The pace of the narrative never lets up and indeed the chapters surrounding the loss of the Berezina bridge to the Russians and the subsequent efforts to get the survivors across by improvised field bridging, in appalling conditions, achieve an almost unbearable level of suspense. It is a measure of the writing that, though one knows the outcome, one still hopes page by page that some miracle will still happen. Many of the personalities whose accounts feature in the earlier volumes appear here again, adding to the reader's sense of familiarity. Like its predecessors, this volume cannot be too highly recommended - it is a magnificent achievement and must surely assume classic status.

This excellent volume, superbly documented, paints a realistic, grim, and completely readable picture of the Grande Armee's retreat from Moscow. Much new information has been uncovered and used, and this is one of the best books on the subject available today in English. The third of three books by the same author on the Russian campaign, it tells the tale of one of the most tragic and gripping events of the Napoleonic Wars.

The retreat was gruesome. During it, Napoleon reached his nadir as a soldier, but somewhere, possibly during one of the running fights with Cossacks or other Russian irregulars, he regained his identity and courage, and got the remnants of his army out of Russia, the survivors he later proudly nicknamed his 'men of bronze.'

Without a doubt, the French and allied survivors were the toughest men in the Grande Armee by virtue of their getting out of Russia. The best and proudest moment for all concerned, except the Russians of course, was the assault crossing of the Berezina River, the last obstacle facing the Grande Armee on its way home.

Chased by two, and the river line held by another Russian army, the professionalism and stark fighting qualities of Napoleon's soldiers sorted themselves out and they executed a flawless operation, defeating two Russian armies and outrunning a third. Building the bridges they needed as they went, they fought their way across against almost overwhelming numbers of men and guns, the French and their trusted allies, Swiss, Germans, and Poles, outfighting their Muscovite opponents and leaving Russia as victors.

This story has many eyewitnesses, doctors, privates, generals, colonels, and one French actress. They tell of the horror and suffering, of high deeds, and the hopelessness of the snow covered vastness that is Russia in the winter.

This book is excellent, and along with its two partners, deserves wider reading. It is a superb reference for study or fun, and all three have now been produced in one volume.

I bought this book on the basis of the above review and was looking forward to a gripping tale of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. Instead, I found a book bogged down with with the author's attempt to document too many minute details. The writing style is choppy and confusing. I'm sure as a reference book it is very well researched, but it is not at all what I would call a "good read". I gave up after several chapters.