flour mixed with muddy water and roasted in a fire; for almost a week he lived on a jar of honey he dug up from where a peasant had hidden it. As both a German and a conscript, Walter had no particular loyalty to Napoleon. He rarely mentions him, and when he does he generally refers to him simply as "Bonaparte." He had no knowledge of the larger strategy of the campaign; his descriptions of combat are chaotic, as in his description of the assault on the city of Smolensk on August 17, 1812: So, as soon as day broke —we marched against the city. The river was crossed below the city. The suburbs on the northern side were stormed, set on fire, and burned up. My company's doctor, named Staüble, had his arm shot away in crossing the stream, and he died afterward. No longer could I pay any attention to my comrades and, therefore, knew not in what way they perished or were lost. Everyone fired and struck at the enemy in wild madness, and no one could tell whether he was in front, in the middle, or behind the center of the army. Retreat from Moscow Walter records that after the fall of Moscow and the subsequent retreat, the French commanders became more brutal to the men; he says that even in retreat the commanders would inspect the men's weapons, and men who had rust on their weapons were beaten with clubs "until they were near desperation." Also, food became even harder to find, and several times he had to fight French and German soldiers over scavenged wheat. In the bivouac at Smolensk, the men slaughtered their horses, and fought over the meat. Unable to get even horse meat, Walter turned to blood: ...I took along the pot I carried, stationed myself beside a horse that was being shot, and caught up the blood....I set this blood on the fire, let it coagulate, and ate the lumps without salt. Walter was shaken by the efficiency of the Russian scorched earth policy. He recorded that From Smolensk to Moshaisk the war displayed its horrible work of destruction: all the roads, fields, and woods lay as though sown with people, horses, wagons, burned villages and cities; everything looked like the complete ruin of all that lived. Later life Jakob Walter returned safely to Württemberg and remained there the rest