Napoleon's troops: a proper burial at last

The remains of 120 French soldiers from the Napoleonic era were finally laid to rest with military honours Wednesday in eastern Germany almost two centuries after their deaths.

The troops, who died between 1806 and 1813, were interred in Erfurt cemetery in an area reserved for prisoners of war who died in the 1870-71 war and World Wars I and II. . .

Napoleon Bonaparte's army occupied the area between 1806 and 1813 until a coalition of countries allied against him defeated his army in Leipzig, in the so-called Battle of Nations, that led to the liberation of Germany.

Extracts of a diary kept by then town councillor Constantin Beyer, given to AFP by a Thuringia state official, described in sympathetic tones the heinous conditions the French soldiers lived in at the time, despite being invaders.

"The misery of the sick and wounded French is beyond any imagination. They are treated no better than dogs," Beyer wrote.

Posted by David on June 18, 2004 9:04 AM