"My task was not at all to write another history of the Russian campaign. My book is my personal diary, a true story about what I witnessed - both those events of which I myself was a participant, and my notes on the movements and operations of the Great Army. What I saw with my own eyes is too remarkable not to attract the interest and attention of readers who may not even have lived at the time. However, these pages were originally only for the eyes of my family and my friends. The flattering reception they met subsequently prompted me to publish them."