Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier Hardcover – August 1, 1991 by Jakob Walter 
 
The only known memoir of the Napoleonic Wars written by a common foot soldier relates the hardships of campaigns against Prussia and Poland and the disaster of the Russian campaign of 1812
 
From Library Journal
More memoir than diary, this slim volume contains the reminiscences of a young German conscript into the army of Napoleon in the campaigns of 1806, 1807, 1809, and 1812-13. As such, it represents one of the few historical documents that portray the life and death of common soldiers of the period. As the army fought its way back and forth across Eastern Europe, young Walter encountered Poles, Russians, Jews, and other groups, and his descriptions of his interactions with these "others" illuminates attitudes and prejudices of German troops of the period. The firsthand description of the retreat of a starving army from Moscow and the attendant breakdown of discipline and morale will interest military historians as well. Walter's book is reminiscent of Guy Sajer's World War II memoir The Forgotten Soldier ( LJ 12/15/70) and should be popular with a similar audience; it belongs in libraries with Napoleonic history or fiction collections.-- Stanley Planton, Ohio Univ.Chillicothe Lib.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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