|
We received the following press release.--RL
The Napoleonic Wars letters and campaign diaries of Lieutenant
Franz Joseph Hausmann have never been published before, and are a
unique primary source describing the daily life and duties of an
officer in the wars.
Now Greenhill are to publish them as:-
A SOLDIER FOR NAPOLEON
The Campaigns of Lieutenant Franz Joseph Hausmann, 7th Bavarian Infantry
Translated by Cynthia Joy Hausmann Edited by John H. Gill
Written by Franz Hausmann for his father, himself a former
infantry officer in the Bavarian forces, A Soldier for Napoleon
constitutes a remarkable soldier's-eye-view of military life.
His contemporary writing has considerable impact and immediacy,
unclouded by hindsight or later judgement.
The recently discovered letters and diaries, here placed in the
context of the military events of the period by John Gill, cover
the pivotal campaigns and convey the nature of the conflict from
the point of view of a junior officer. Hausmann's first campaign
was the 1805 war against Austria, followed by the 1806 and 1807
campaigns in Prussia and Poland. In 1809 he was in action
against the Tyrolian insurrection and he also fought at
Abensberg, and Znaim. He was only twenty-three when he embarked
on the ill-fated 1812 invasion of Russia and served as part of
the Bavarian corps that was shattered in this cataclysmic
campaign. He survived to describe the 1813 campaign and the
1814 campaign in France when the Bavarians switched sides and
fought against Napoleon.
This is a unique, intimate picture of a young soldier going to
war. With background material by John Gill, this book is not
only entertaining, but also an important, authoritative addition
to key works on the Napoleonic Wars.
Cynthia Hausmann is the great-granddaughter of Franz Hausmann and
painstakingly translated and deciphered the original letters and
diaries. John H. Gill is a serving officer in the United States
Army and the author of With Eagles to Glory.
Extract from letter of 18 August 1812 from Franz Hausmann to his
parents:
"At about 6 o'clock (on the 17th) a few six-pounders were
directed at a Russian picket, and towards 8 o'clock the affair
began. It was our task to cover two batteries behind the Polota.
Now it is easy to imagine that all the enemy artillery, of which
to be sure they had only about 20 pieces, was concentrated upon
these two batteries, which caused very much damage in the Russian
army because of their excellent location, and we therefore
endured a stiff cannonading that lasted until 4 o'clock. The
brigade had extraordinarily good luck in this place, for we
counted only six wounded, while the Sixth Regiment had 17
officers and over 200 men wounded, and the Second Regiment about
five officers and 190 men."
Extract from Franz Hausmann's diary, 18 August 1812:
"In the morning before it was daylight we were relieved at the
outposts by the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division, and we marched
back almost as far as the city into bivouac. At 2 o'clock in the
afternoon we received the order to break camp, crossed the
Polota, and at about 3 o'clock arrived behind the Spas monastery.
Now the enemy was to be turned by the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd
Division advancing through defiles, while the 1st Brigade with
the 3rd Brigade and II Corps attacked the enemy from the front.
Four battalions of our brigade successfully crossed through the
defile, which could be traversed only one by one, but we as the
fifth [battalion in sequence] were prevented from following them
by Russians who had gained a nearby hill. Therefore, in order to
make place for ourselves on the plain, we were forced to take
this hill by storm, and this was also accomplished by the 2nd
Battalion of the 7th Regiment, just at the moment that one
regiment on our left was in full retreat. The latter was
reinspired by the arrival on the hill of our battalion, and we
now joined forces to drive the enemy toward the woods. Here we
remained still for a time, until suddenly the Swiss and French
positioned on our left were thrown back behind us almost to the
city of Polotsk, and the 1st Brigade of the 1st Bavarian
Division, which was still standing in reserve, forced the enemy
back into his first position 2 hours' distance from Polotsk.
Thereupon we bivouacked on the battlefield, and the fusillade
lasted the whole night."
October 1998: ISBN 1-85367-336-6. Price: £ 19.50
Format: 240 x 159mm. Hardback. Pages 288.
Features: 7 maps, 22 illustrations.
Greenhill Books/Lionel Leventhal Limited
Park House
1 Russell Gardens
London NW11 9NN
Tel: 0181 458 6314
Fax: 0181 905 5245
E-mail: LionelLeventhal@compuserve.com
Distributed in America (available November, $34.95):
Stackpole Books
5067 Ritter Road
Mechanicsburg PA 17055
Tel: 717 796 0411
Fax: 717 796 0412
E-mail: sales@stackpolebooks.com
Back to 3rd Quarter 98 List of News Items
Back to Master List of News Items
Back to Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1998 by Coalition Web, Inc.
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
|