About the book: 2017 / Memoirs of Captain Jean-Roch Coignier (1776–1865), without a doubt, the most legendary and famous a story about an illiterate village youth who, having started as a simple private in the army of the then First Consul Bonaparte and showing exceptional courage in the Battle of Montebello, became part of the battalion of the Imperial “Old Guard” and, subsequently making incredible efforts in learning to write and read, rose to the rank of captain, that is, he became an officer, which at that time not everyone could do. He was the first of the soldiers to be awarded the Legion of Honor at the famous ceremony held at the Invalides in Paris. Many studies have been written about him, and in 1969 they even filmed a seven-hour series. He participated in all the campaigns of Emperor Napoleon - from Spain and Brittany to Russia and was never - which is simply amazing - wounded. His life after Napoleon’s exile to the island of St. Helena cannot be called boring and inconspicuous... He tells us, now living, about all this, starting from childhood. Despite being illiterate until adulthood (he learned to write and read at 33) and a very difficult childhood, he talks about all the famous personalities of the First Empire honestly and in a soldierly straightforward manner, although he somewhat embellishes some facts - but this is not surprising, because the author was he was already over 70 when he picked up a pen. The notes of Jean-Roch Coignet are a unique source for understanding what a grenadier and “old grumbler” - a veteran of the Napoleonic Guard - was like. Anyone interested in the Napoleonic era, as well as military history and adventure literature, should certainly read the memoirs of this extraordinary man.