While commanding Napoleon's rear guard during the disastrous retreat from Russia in 1813, Michel Ney and his men became cut off from the main army after fighting off attacks by Russian Cossacks. Starving and freezing to death, with Cossacks closing in on them, Ney led his men in a desperate night crossing of the partially frozen Dnieper River. Crossing one-by-one with Ney going last. A thousand men died in the ice leaving Ney with only 800. Once reunited with the main army, Napoleon welcomed him as "The bravest of the brave."

At the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 Michel Ney lead 15 cavalry charges against dug-in British positions in a single day, having 5 horses shot out from under him. Soldiers later said it was as though Ney wanted death but death did not want him. Captured and charged with treason by the Royalists, Ney's last words were these: "Soldiers, when I give the command to fire, fire straight at my heart. Wait for the order. It will be my last to you. I protest against my condemnation. I have fought a hundred battles for France, and not one against her. Soldiers, fire!"