The Ordeal of Captain Roeder: From the Diary of an Officer in the First Battalion of Hessian Lifeguards During the Moscow Campaign of 1812-13

 

The Ordeal of Captain Roeder: From the Diary of an Officer in the First Battalion of Hessian Lifeguards During the Moscow Campaign of 1812-13

The Ordeal of Captain Roeder: From the Diary of an Officer in the First Battalion of Hessian Lifeguards During the Moscow Campaign of 1812-13 is a personal narrative and translated diary of Captain Franz Roeder (1774–1840) edited and translated into English by Helen Roeder. Originally published in 1960 in London and New York by Methuen and St. Martin’s Press and later reprinted by Routledge (including a 2015/2016 edition of 258 pages in the Routledge Library Editions: Military and Naval History series), this work presents Roeder’s first-hand account of the First Battalion of Hessian Lifeguards during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812–1813.

The book combines Roeder’s original diary with narrative framing by Helen Roeder to bring to life the grueling march to Moscow, the brutal Russian winter, the hardships of combat and retreat, and the heavy toll these events took on the Napoleonic Army, particularly the Hessian contingent. It includes chapters detailing the march, encampments, engagements, captures, imprisonment, and eventual return, making it both a compelling personal story and an important historical document on one of the most infamous campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars.