Service in Chasseurs a Cheval regiments follow before he once again joins the heavy cavalry of the Imperial Guard for the campaigns that closed the epoch of the First Empire. Gazzola wins his first award as a member of the 'forlorn hope' at Mantua and then-donning the spurs of the horse soldier-he becomes a mounted grenadier of the Consular Guard. This Italian centaur joined the Revolutionary French Army in the early days of Napoleon's career, for engagements in his home country before departing for Egypt-and thereafter many of the pivotal battles of the age culminating in the retreat from Moscow, where, left behind, wounded and frost-bitten, he ends his military career when taken into captivity by the Russians. He tells his story vividly-almost certainly with advantages-for it is one of passionate love affairs, attempted murder, duels, flight from retribution, hard campaigning and violent battles. Jean Baptiste Gazzola's memoir of his life in Napoleon's cavalry regiments is a remarkable and exhilarating one. Galloping into danger-on and off the battlefield
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