A Little Archaeology for Les Grognards

One-legged skeleton found under Russian dance floor is Napoleon's 'lost general', DNA tests confirm

More than 200 years after he died of his battlefield wounds in Russia, one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s favourite generals has been formally identified thanks to DNA tests on a one-legged skeleton found under a dance floor.

His heirs are now calling for him to receive a state funeral in his native France.

Charles Etienne Gudin, whose name is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, died aged 44 on August 22, 1812, after being hit by a cannon ball during Napoleon’s unsuccessful invasion of Russia.