While the Napoleonic Wars enthusiast may have read dozens of accounts and histories of the frozen retreat to the Berezina, this book uniquely brings us to the high water mark of the Empire. I would greatly recommend for any library.

The Napoleon Series - May 2013 - reviewed by Greg Gorsuch

This account of the 1812 campaign is like no other in the English language. Austin has combined descriptive prose with quotes from primary sources to produce a readable account... By using present tense he brilliantly combines his own prose with extracts from memoirs and letters into a story-like telling of the history that transports the reader back two hundred years.

This study is a must. Whether the single-volume version or the more desirable three separate books, these are 'keepers' that belong in the personal library of any Napoleonic enthusiast.

http://avonnapoleonicfellowship.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/an-account-like-no-other-in-english.html

Avon Napoleonic Fellowship

Britten Austin spent decades reading memoirs, letters and diaries written by those who took part in Napoleon's most fatal adventure. He presents these extracts from within a narrative of the campaign as the soldier saw it. The heat of the summer, the vast distances, the elusive foe and the bloody battle of Borodino. Then the awe of Moscow, the horror of the fire and the onset of cold weather...This is a moving story that captures the spirit and drama of the times and makes for an unforgettable and haunting trilogy.

The Good Book Guide

Britten Austin spent more than twenty years studying this campaign, and thus had a vast range of eyewitness accounts at his disposal. Some of our witnesses appear throughout the book, providing a continuous threat to the narrative, others are used only once or twice, where their letters, diaries or memoirs provide information on a particular topic. We also get several different views of many key events, author's text, a mix of a narrative of the campaign (where needed) and comments on the reliability or otherwise of his sources.

History of War Website

The fruit of more than twenty years of research, this superbly crafted work skilfully blends the memoirs and diaries of more than a hundred eyewitnesses, all of whom took part in the Grand Army's doomed march into Moscow, to reveal the inside story of this landmark military campaign. The result is a uniquely authentic account in which the reader sees and experiences the campaign through the eyes of participants at each stage of the advance in enthralling day-by-day, sometimes hour-by-hour, detail.

Books Monthly

A closely-knit and totally compelling account of this huge endeavour as seen by the French and their allied participants from Napoleon to the private soldier.

The British Army Review

This trio is built up of interwoven excerpts from original accounts of this campaign . . . the total effect is compelling.

Colonel John R. Elting

What a vivid account this is! . . . Thoroughly enjoyable.

Military Illustrated

The 1812 campaign was the single most important cause of Napoleon’s downfall. Austin’s volumes are a magnificent contribution to the history of that mighty enterprise.

Andrew Uffindell

A brilliant insight into men at war. The book is almost as epic as the campaign.

David G. Chandler

Heralded as a classic . . . The text is enriched with first-hand accounts which bring the whole narrative to life with an air of stark realism . . . Britten Austin’s trilogy truly ranks as a masterpiece.

Waterloo Journal