Ilya Radozhitskii'S Campaign Memoirs

The second installment in this series is the memoirs of Ilya Timofeyevich Radozhitskii, who served with distinction during the Napoleonic Wars and wrote his memoirs shortly after the wars ended, with excerpts appearing in press in the early 1820s. In 1812, he served in the 3rd Light Company of the 11th Artillery Brigade of the 6th Infantry Corps, and distinguished himself during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. He was wounded at Ostrovno, and witnessed the battles of Smolensk, Lubino (Valutina Gora) and Borodino, lamented the surrender of Moscow and distinguished himself at Vyazma. From October to December 1812, he was an eyewitness to the catastrophe that engulfed the Grande ArmÈe. The memoirs, which Leo Tolstoy consulted extensively while writing his famous "War and Peace," are fascinating for their vivid descriptions and insights into Russian army life and wartime experiences.