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The Great White Army By: Max Pemberton (1863-1950) |
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By Max Pemberton
CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD London, New York, Toronto & Melbourne 1916
Works by the same Author MILLIONAIRE'S ISLAND
THE IRON PIRATE
WHITE MOTLEY
THE VIRGIN FORTRESS
WAR AND THE WOMAN
CAPTAIN BLACK. A sequel to "The Iron Pirate"
THE GIRL WITH THE RED HAIR
THE SHOW GIRL
THE HOUSE UNDER THE SEA
THE SEA WOLVES
THE IMPREGNABLE CITY
THE GIANT'S GATE
A PURITAN'S WIFE
THE GARDEN OF SWORDS
KRONSTADT. A Novel
THE LITTLE HUGUENOT
RED MORN
THE HUNDRED DAYS
THE DIAMOND SHIP
WHEELS OF ANARCHY
SIR RICHARD ESCOMBE CASSELL AND CO., LTD., LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MELBOURNE.
AUTHOR'S NOTE The greatest military tragedy in history is the retreat of Napoleon's
Grand Army from Moscow. Napoleon set out to invade Russia in the
spring of the year 1812. In the month of June 600,000 men crossed the
River Niemen. Of this vast army, but 20,000 "famished, frost bitten
spectres" staggered across the Bridge of Kovno in the month of
December. Many pens have described, with more or less fidelity, the details of
this unsurpassable tragedy. The story which we are now about to
represent to our readers is that of Surgeon Major Constant, a veteran
who accompanied Napoleon to Moscow, and was one of the survivors who
returned ultimately to Paris. Constant had fled from Paris at the
beginning of the French Revolution in the year 1792. He lived for a
while at Leipsic, where he gave lessons in French and studied medicine.
His nephew, Captain Léon de Courcelles, was one of the famous Vélites
of the Guard. It is with the exploits of this young and daring soldier
that the veteran's narrative is often concerned.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1. THE WOMAN ON THE STAIRS
2. THE GUILLOTINE
3. THE TREASURE IN THE WOODS
4. PHANTOM MUSIC
5. THE CAMP BY THE RIVER
6. THE WITCH IN ERMINE
7. LITTLE PETROVKA
8. THE AFFAIR AT THE POST HOUSE
9. WE CROSS THE BÉRÉZINA
10. THE LAST REVIEW THE GREAT WHITE ARMY
CHAPTER I THE WOMAN ON THE STAIRS I I, Janil de Constant, remember very well the moment when we first
beheld the glorious city of Moscow, which we had marched twelve
thousand leagues to take. It would have been the fourteenth day of September. The sun shone
fiercely upon our splendid cavalcade, and even in the forests, which we
now quitted very willingly, there were oases of light like golden lakes
in a wonderland. It was half past three o'clock when I myself reached the Mont du Salut,
a hill from whose summit the traveller first looks down upon the city. And what a spectacle to see! What domes and minarets and mighty
towers! What a mingling of East and West, of Oriental beauty and the
stately splendour of a European capital! You will not wonder that our
men drew rein to gaze with awe upon so transcendent a spectacle. This
was Mecca truly. Here they would end their labours and here lay their
reward. We thought, with reason surely, that there would be no more talk of
war. The Russians had learned their lesson at Borodino, and all that
remained for the Russian Tsar to do was to make peace with our Emperor.
Meanwhile there would be many days of holiday such as we had not known
since we left France. The riches of this city passed the fables, they
told us. You will imagine with what feelings the advance posts of the
Guard set out to descend the hill and take up their quarters in the
governor's palace. I had hoped to enter Moscow with my nephew Léon, who is one of the
Vélites of the Guard. I wished to be near that young man at so
critical a moment. Even old soldiers lose their heads when they enter
an enemy's city, and what could one expect of the young ones? Léon,
however, had ridden on with Major Pavart, of the chasseurs à cheval ,
and so it was with old Sergeant Bourgogne, of the Vélites, that I
entered Moscow and began to think of quarters. We heard some shots as we went down into the town, and when we came to
that broad street which leads to the Place du Gouvernement, a soldier
of the line told us that the governor had released the convicts and
that they were holding the palace against our outposts... Continue reading book >>
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