Born on 20 February 1770 in Pontarlier (Doubs), Antoine Flavien Augustin Pion (Pion des Loches) was the son of Jean Nicolas Pion (1744-1799) and his five Claudine Gagelin from Besancon (Doubs). The young Pion was initially destined for priesthood and studied at the seminary in Besancon. But the Revolution changed the course of his life. He avoided conscription three times before finally the levée en masse forced him into service. Enlisted in the Army of the Rhine, he participated in the War of the First Coalition, gradually acquiring a taste for the military life. "I began to adopt military attitudes and saw the possibility to make my way in the profession of arms," he later recalled. His superiors also noticed his skills and assigned him to the School of Artillery in Chalons. After completing his studies he joined the 5th Artillery Regiment and took part in campaigns in the Southern Germany and Italy in 1796-1800. In 1805-1806, he participated in the Wars of the Third and Fourth Coalitions before being dispatched to Spain where he remained until 1808. After serving as commandant of an artillery depot, Pion was called up to serve in Russia in 1812 and barely survived the brutal winter campaign. In 1813, he was once again given task to command an artillery depot where he remained until the fall of the First Empire. He was never an ardent supporter of Napoleon and actively resisted Bonapartists' efforts during the Hundred Days, for which he was promoted to a colonel during the Second Bourbon Restoration.
Later in his life Pion des Loches wrote a fascinating memoir - Mes Campagnes, 1792-1815 (Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1889) - that describes his experiences during the Napoleonic Wars. Pion des Loches maintained a diary during the campaigns and used it as the basis for his memoir, where the text from his diary is placed in quotation marks.
The Russian Campaign of 1812 - Part 1: Marching across Germany and Poland.
We left La Fère on 2 March 1812. I commanded my own [3rd] and the 4th companies [of the Foot Artillery Regiment of the Imperial Guard], which were to be under the orders of Major Boulart. Our equipages were fine, the material left nothing to be desired. But according to general hearsay the horses were too tall and too bulky, little able to undergo fatigues or dispense with abundant nourishment. This concern was realized and our acting colonel, General Sorbier, did not justify in this selection of horses the high opinion which was entertained of his experience and judgment. On 8 March we sojourned at Sainte-Menehould. The sub-prefect of this city was [Jean-Baptiste] Drouot, the postmaster of Varennes, who had caused the arrest of [King] Louis XVI [in June 1791]. I persuaded myself that this man had the appearance of a very great scoundrel so I was curious to see him. I visited him therefore under the pretext of informing him officially in regard to the batteries that should arrived some days after mine, and of providing him with the data concerning the supplies to be collected for forage. Did this man guess what was in my mind? I do not know, but Foulcroy, my lieutenant, remarked as I did that he did not dare to look me in the face. My presentiment had not deceived me for I have never seen a more horrible physiognomy. He wore the decoration of the Legion d'Honneur and more than once I had blushed to see it on the breast of men without honor. Here was I indignant and I do not know how I refrained from tearing it from the bosom of the sub-prefect.
"17 March 1812, Metz
The greater part of the troops of the [Imperial] Guard marches before us. At the back we have only the Grenadiers à Cheval [Mounted Grenadiers]. Here they never say anything about the war that we are about to wage. Everyone asks us where we are going and against whom are directed the troops that were seen passing through Metz. As for our destination, we are no wiser now than we were at our departure. However, it is agreed so far as to say that all the troops are proceeding from Mayence to Magdebourg."
We arrived at Mayence on 27 March.
"28 March 1812, Mayence.
At Metz they told us that we were going to fight against the allied Prussians and Russians; that the King of Prussia had made innumerable levies, that he had evacuated all the part of his state beyond the Vistula River, and that he had crossed this river in order to unite with the Russians. This was a very unfortunate news, but happily it soon proved to be absolutely false. The King of Prussia [in fact] became our ally... Some claim that the Emperor of Russia still remains on good terms with us, but that his people, and above all his Senate, are tired of a condition equivalent to actual war, that they are calling on the English and want to negotiate with them. [It was said that] the authority of the Senate counterbalancing in Russia that of the Sovereign, Emperor Alexander, being threatened, calls on us in order that we might frighten [epouvanteur] his people... [Some] politicians pretend that we are going to fight Sweden... There are [even] people foolish enough to say that we are going to India to fight against English commerce."
On the 29th we crossed the Rhine River and came to spend the night in Frankfurt am Main. I stopped at the abutment of the bridge to watch the troops and the park cross over. After they had moved by, I pondered to myself, "How many of these artillerymen will return back across the Rhine?" In ordinary wars one might have wagered for the three-quarters. But alas [this was no ordinary war] and more than seven-eighths actually perished.
"31 March 1812, Obernburg.
Among the Germans we experience the same treatment as ten years ago. These poor people, although ruined by such a long war, continue to exercise hospitality towards us in the most generous manner. They treat us as if they saw us for the first time."
There was something admirable in the conduct of the French troops. On 4 April, we presented ourselves at the gate of Wurzburg, and after waiting for an hour on the glacis, under a gold rain, an officer of the Grand Duke [Ferdinand] came to tell us in bad French that the artillery could not pass through the city, that we should cross the Mein and go and pass the night at Rottendorf. In this village, which we had to find without a guide, the locals refused to lodge us and the kept the park only, while the troop marched two leagues [~7-8 km] farther to reach another village, where it arrived at night. On 6 April, after having made four or five leagues [15-20 km] and being near to our resting place, we met an office, of I know not what staff, who gave us the order to retrace our steps in another direction because a certain boat bridge [pont de bateaux] could not be thrown across, I know not what river that inundated. On our return we encountered a considerable park commanded by Colonel Caron, who followed us but as no one had appointed a resting place for him, as had been done for us, he found himself very much embarrassed, and I do not know where he established himself.
On 16 April, I lodged at Reusa, near Plauen, in the castle of M.Metz, the proprietor of a very beautiful estate. This M. Metz was well educated, respectable for the qualities of his mind as for those of his heart. He had a superb factory for spinning cotton which employed nearly all the inhabitants of the village. We soent with him the anniversary of the buirth of one of his daughters, who was seven years old. During the supper, a servant entered carrying a cake garnbished with seven lighted candles, six little ones around the edge and a seventh big one in the middle. The child guessed that it was for her and threw herself with feeling into the arms of her mother, who gave her some beautiful dress material. He father gave her some gold pieces. Charmed by this ceremony, Fourcroy and myself toasted this fortunate family and offered up prayers for its happiness.
On 20 April, at Bornichen, near Oederan, we were very well received by a great Saxon lord. There was good company at his house, including a chamberlain of the king who appeared to us to be a man of a great merit.
On the 21st, we slept at Grumbach, and there we prepared to enter Dresden. This sojourn was spent not only attending to the cannoneers' uniform but also to maintaining cannon. The artillery pieces were successively brought to the edge of a stream and cleaned and the same was done with their carriages. This was the first and it has been the only time, that I have seen a like attempt at cleaning up. About a league [~4 km] from Dresden, in the middle of the fields, cannoneers and the soldiers of the train stripped themselves to change from undress to full dress uniform. The artillery of the [Imperial] Guard was a corps in which one lived economically; it was important for many that the clothing should last a long time - the plumes [les plumets], cap ornaments [garnitures de bonnets], etc. could not be too well cared for. So one did not put them on but at the last moment before making a review. Our brilliant appearance was quite in vain - the King of Saxony [Frederick Augustus I], like the Grand Duke of Wurzburg, was afraid to let the artillery pass through his capital. We had to go around the walls and enter at the gate nearest to the quarter where we were to lodge.
I took advantage of our short stay in seeing the curiosities of the city. I admired the picture gallery, the cabinet of antiques and the immense depot of porcelains of Saxony and Sévres as well as from China and Japan. But I admired even more the modesty and simplicity of the [royal] court. The carriages, on account of their old fashion, would have been in bad taste in France; the hunting equipages were less brilliant than those of one of our marshals. Isaw the [Saxon] king and the royal family at mass. Their piety impressed me and I asked myself how a wise prince, modest and religious, could be so closely bound to Emperor Napoleon; or could even love him as his subjects assured us he did.
Having left Dresden on 27 April, we reached on 6 May the environs of Glogau [in Silesia] where the Guard was cantoned. For the next three weeks I rested at the little castle of Baron Jordan at Klein-Logisch. The baron's brother was in diplomatic service and very well informed on the affairs of the northern courts. Together we predicted the fatal results of the campaign, and it was not difficult to calculate them. Already we lacked fodder; we received the order o collect supplies on our artillery wagons sufficient for three weeks, whike waiting till we could reap the green harvests. As usual there was neither order nor administration. The armies would have to live in Russia as they had lived everywhere else, at the point of the sword.
"9 May, Klein-Logisch. My company is deployed in five different villages, near enough to each other, but all small and poor. They can hardly lodge a man in each house... Forage is very scarce and I am obliged to send to Glogau for hay which my horses will not eat unless they are very hungry. The minor landlords [les petits seigneurs] of this country, who are actively involved in politics and who are very tired of seeing us, pretend that there will be no campaign, that the Emperor of Russia, always at war with the Turks and even the Persians, will not dare to risk a single action against us..."
Since my departure from Metz I had not received a single letter from my wife. The Emperor supposed all his soldiers o be conquerors to whom the dearest affections were as nothing. At Glogau only, I found a great number of letters which les us to suppose that the postal system had began to get itself organized.
On 24 May, we left Klein-Logisch and, by nightfall, we reached Deutsch-Iseritz near Fraustadt. Fortunately a Polish lord, proprietor of a neighboring chateau, sent us some supper, for without him we would have died of hunger from the first day of our passage in Poland. Two days later we arrived at the estate of the Palatine Dzialynski, one of the members of the Government Commission of 1807 at Konaserwo. At the same time arrived General Michel of the Guard Infantry. He had with him five or six officers. As we numbered as many already, our host had a large party for us. His hearty welcome caused him to find grace in our eyes for the perpetual comparisons which he hazarded between his nation and ours. Hardly could he recognize the least difference between a Pole and a Frenchman. [For him,] it was the same vivacity of mind, the same urbanity, the same frankness of mind, to the point (and here I cite his expressions) that everywhere a Pole passed for a Frenchman. Let it not displease the Palatine: I saw no similarity except in the national pride and the superficiality of character. But he gave us much too good a dinner to be contradicted, so we let him talk at his ease, then we went to walk in his gardens and to laugh at his expense.
It was from the time of our entry into Poland that the lack of order led to the most fearful brigandage. Not knowing whether they would find anything to eat the next day the soldiers collected provisions everywhere. Each regiment was followed by a heard, which very often did not arrive till day break at the place where the regiment had passed the night. This throng was also accompanied by an infinite number of little transports loaded with bread and flour. Half of the regiment was employed in conducting animals and provisions. Even the lowest sous-lieutenant had a servant, that is to say a soldier, who drove his wagon. The whole had been taken in the villages passed through and marched at the tail of the army in the greatest disorder.
On 5 June, we sojourned at Thorn where we were supposed to be reviewed by His Majesty [Napoleon], and received a ration of biscuits for four days. The next day when I tried to distribute these biscuits among my cannoneers but they refused them so badly were they spoiled. During our new deployment, at Reuchenberg near Heilsberg, we pillaged for hay in every house, and made bundles of it which were loaded on our transports. Some days later in passing from there to Insterburg we saw an army corps - I no longer know which army corps but the Emperor had just held a review of it - that entered helter-skelter into the city in the evening and treated its inhabitants as though it had been in the enemy's land, seizing everything that was necessary to furnish shelter during the bivouac.
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