A mock-up of With Napoleon in Russia being shown at the London Book Fair to Philip Sidnell, new Editor of the Military Book Club, by Greenhill editor Jonathan North (left) who translated the original text. A unique depiction of Napoleon’s terrible campaign in Russia in 1812 is to be published by Greenhill. The handsome, large-format book, entitled With Napoleon in Russia, is a fascinating, illustrated record of Napoleon’s invasion by Faber du Faur, a talented artist and front-line soldier. Faber du Faur was one of the fortunate few to survive the disaster and he returned from Moscow with a priceless souvenir - his sketchbook. Despite the demands of military life, he had sketched and drawn throughout the hellish campaign - capturing images of cities burning, the aftermath of battle and even the horrors of the epic retreat through the snow and ice of that bitter Russian winter. With Napoleon in Russia combines Faber du Faur’s sketches, which have never been published before, with the ninety-three dramatic paintings he subsequently produced from the initial drawings. These plates - of immense historical value - are now presented complete, in full colour and in an attractive and lavish format. Faber du Faur’s moving and frank memoirs, edited and translated by Jonathan North, accompany the plates, describe the scenes depicted and act as a commentary upon the sweeping tide of events. The result is a penetrating insight into life for Napoleon’s soldiers and what Napoleonic warfare actually looked like; and the book is a remarkably complete evocation of the 1812 disaster, a subject which has captured the imagination of a thousand artists and writers. For Napoleon’s invasion of Russia was a legendary campaign and is a captivating story of endurance, survival and the rigours of total war. Few of the 500,000 men who crossed the Niemen in July 1812 were to survive - the French army was decimated by the advance into the heart of Russia, and almost completely destroyed in the infamous retreat from Moscow. With Napoleon in Russia presents the visual history of this famous campaign and forms an exceptional record of the trials and tribulations wrought by one of military history’s greatest catastrophes. Faber du Faur, in the original Preface to his memoirs, says it all: “Those who took part in the campaign will find in these pages a reminder of both the glorious and the terrible days of 1812; those who only know of the campaign from what they have read will now find all their reading brought to life. To some, this book will call to mind the events of the campaign and glorious feats of arms; to others it will reveal the terrible consequences of a disaster - one that, perhaps, they had the good fortune to escape. This book places before you something which no one could describe in words alone; looking through it, you will accompany the Grande Armée to the Niemen; you will see our marches and camps; you will pass through such towns as Polotsk, Vitebsk, Smolensk, Viasma and Gjatsk; you will find yourself on the battlefields of Ostrovno, Krasnoi, Smolensk, Valutina-Gora and Borodino; you will gaze at the gilded domes and roofs of Moscow and watch the fire take hold; you will abandon Moscow with the army and head in the direction of Kaluga; then you will turn back to the old Moscow-Smolensk road and, witness to endless sacrifice, you will cross the snowy plains of Russia, pass through Krasnoi and Smolensk and arrive at the Beresina; you will cross the river and, passing through Vilna and Ponari, will finally regain the banks of the Niemen at Kovno.” With Napoleon in Russia will be available in September, priced £40. It has 208 pages and includes 93 colour plates and 35 sketches in colour and black and white. The book is landscape format (10.5 x 13.5 inches, 266 x 336mm) and has coloured endpapers and head-and-tail bands. Greenhill will be producing a full-colour brochure about the book for distribution over the summer. For an example of the colour plates, see the accompanying colour sheet inside this edition of Greenhill Military Book News. This is the second very special volume published by Greenhill on the Napoleonic Wars; the first was the bestselling Napoleon’s Elite Cavalry. Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 107 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com