Summary

Medal Retraite de L'Armee, Retreat of the Armies, Issued by France, 1812
Artist: Bertrand Andrieu and Andre Galle
Minted by Paris Mint

Obverse Description

Laureate head facing right; around, NAPOLEON EMP. ET ROI.; on neck truncation, ANDRIEU F.

Reverse Description

Helmeted warrior in rapid flight to right, he wears a shaggy lion-skin which is nearly blown from his shoulders by the god Boreas flying in the air following close behind and carring an inflated bag from which wind and hail beat the fleeing soldier; below, a dead horse, cannon dismounted with and the wheels on fire; on left, one solitary bare tree; in the background, a tumbril in flames; in exergue, RETRAITE DE L'ARMEE. / NOVEMBRE . MDCCCXII

Edge Description

Plain

Significance

"However severe the French array, it is universally allowed, must have suffered, we hope there is a probability, for the sake of humanity, that the above accounts, though derived from the most credible sources, have been greatly exaggerated. So great was the degree of cold this season, we are informed, that at Copenhagen, on the 19th December, Reaumer's thermometer was thirteen degrees below zero; and at Wilna, twenty-five degrees below the same point." Laskey p. 216 (the end of an eight page description of the retreat of the French army)

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