_Literature._--"Ségur tells the story of the disastrous retreat from the officer's point of view. Now we have the narrative of the soldier in the ranks. Ségur was a man of culture. Bourgogne was not always sure of his spelling. Yet the sergeant's story is the more vivid of the two. He was no _littérateur_, yet his book, for intensity of feeling, minuteness of description, even lucidity of style, will vie with any romance of war." _The Illustrated London News._--"No adventure-story ever written approaches in interest the appalling account of the retreat from Moscow given by Sergeant Bourgogne in his Memoirs. Poe himself could not invent horrors more ghastly, nor describe them more graphically." _The Daily Chronicle._--"Verily this is a human document of the most terrible and engrossing kind we ever remember to have come across. The annals of war are rich in tales of disaster and suffering, but in none so dreadful as this story of the retreat of Napoleon's Grand Army from Moscow. Sergeant Bourgogne has left us a record, of the campaign from the point of view of the common soldier which must rank as an unconscious masterpiece of naïve and touching war-chronicling and characterisation. His narrative bears the hall-mark of veracity and vivid realism. No romancer could possibly have served up such a gruesome dish of military horrors as has now been placed before us by Sergeant Bourgogne. Even Nansen in his 'Farthest North' pales in interest before the frosts, the snows, and the cruel winds of this non-commissioned Xenophon of the Imperial Guard. We can heartily recommend this book as one of the most appalling, and at times pathetic, pictures of the horrors of war that was ever penned." LONDON: WM. HEINEMANN, 21 BEDFORD ST., W.C. Transcriber's Notes Obvious errors of punctuation and diacritics repaired. Hyphen added: head-gear (p. 49). Hyphen removed: headquarters (p. 31). P. 17: "de" changed to "des" (Maréchal des Logis Chef). P. 37: "to" added (told us to go to the Paymaster's). P. 47: "arn't" changed to "aren't" (socks aren't regulation). P. 89: "be" changed to "he" ("Now look here, old man," said he). P. 110: "talking" changed to "taking" (taking off his hat). P. 144-5: duplicate syllable at page boundary removed (hollering). P. 171: "your're" changed to "you're" (you're holding there). P. 202: duplicate "that" deleted (tell me that you have come here). Ad for "The Queen's Service": "olium meminisse" changed to "olim meminisse". End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Trooper 3809, by Lionel Decle