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War Ministry report dated April 3, 1812, signed by Henri Clarke, duc de Feltre, with Napoleon’s marginal endorsement dated Saint-Cloud, April 4, 1812, and signed “N.” Three manuscript pages in French.
Marked “Objet urgent,” this detailed report concerns the movement and equipment of the Vistula Legion during preparations for the 1812 campaign. Clarke discusses the scheduled departure of the first three Vistula regiments from Sedan toward Mainz and the onward movement of battalion cadres intended to receive 2,700 recruits in the Duchy of Warsaw.
The immediate obstacle was supply. Earlier arrangements called for 800 sets of clothing and equipment per battalion, while the revised establishment required 900. The report describes efforts to obtain cloth, headgear, equipment, buttons, and other necessities, and asks whether the cadres should wait at Sedan or proceed before their supplies were ready.
Napoleon’s marginal response includes the decisive instruction, “Il faut toujours les faire partir”—“They must be sent off in any event.”
The document brings together the Emperor’s insistence on movement, his minister’s logistical concerns, and the organization of Polish troops before the Russian campaign. Its detailed treatment of recruiting and equipment provides a particularly tangible view of the preparations behind Napoleon’s military operations.
The report is written in a formal secretarial hand beneath the heading “Rapport à Sa Majesté l’Empereur et Roi.” Clarke signs “Duc de Feltre” at the conclusion; Napoleon’s endorsement and large initial appear in the first-page margin.
Condition: Age toning, intersecting folds, creasing, minor spots, and edge wear. Old mounting material and adhesive discoloration remain along portions of the inner margins, with a small marginal loss visible on the final page. The manuscript text and signatures remain clearly legible.
