A one-legged skeleton unearthed by a team of archaeologists is believed to be one of Napoleon Bonaparte's generals, Charles-Etienne Gudin, according to a French historian and former soldier.
A
team of French and Russian archaeologists discovered the 200-year-old
skeleton in July during an excavation in the Russian city of Smolensk,
which lies about 250 miles west of Moscow.
Pierre Malinowski, who
led the dig, told CNN that after he unearthed the remains he flew
overnight with part of the skeleton's femur and teeth inside his
suitcase from Moscow to Marseille to compare the DNA with that of the
general's mother, brother and son.
"A professor in Marseille
carried out extensive testing and the DNA matches 100%," Malinowski told
CNN. "It was worth the trouble."
Malinowski also told CNN he
believes Gudin will be buried at Les Invalides, a historic complex of
military museums and monuments in Paris, which holds the body of
Napoleon.
Gudin died of gangrene after having his leg amputated during Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia in 1812.
COMMENTS