Colonel Laurent Schobert commander 3eme Ligne 1805-1811

Painting of General Laurent Schobert

(http://www.memoiresdeblandy.fr/general-baron-laurent-schobert/)

    First, some background information on Colonel Schobert's career taken from the regimental history (HISTORIQUE DU 3 Regiment d'Infanterie EX-PIEMONT 1569-1891)

Colonel Laurent Schobert's service record from 2YB120 3.Ligne An X.1810

Military Career- Schobert (Laurent) was born in Sarre-Libre (Moselle), on April 30, 1763 Child of the regiment admitted to the pay of the 96th regiment, on April 30, 1770; hired as a soldier on February 1, 1776; corporal on March 14, 1784; sergeant-fourrier on September 7, 1784; sergeant-major on January 1, 1791, he was appointed sub-lieutenant on August 22, 1792. Adjutant-major on 
1 September, he took the rank of Captain on March 15, 1793, and commanded a company almost immediately. He was appointed aide-de-camp to General Grenier (Fructidor year II), Captain in the Guard of the Directory (3 brumaire year V), and in the Consular Guard (13 nivôse year VIII). Named, the 25 brumaire year XII, Battalion chief in the 4e Ligne, he was promoted Major in the 4e Ligne on the 30th frimaire, and took command of the 3e Ligne on the 12th pluviôse in XIII (Feb 1, 1805). Schobert was made Brigadier General on August 6, 1811, served in the Grande Armée on July 22, 1812, and obtained a retirement of 4,000 francs on October 18, 1815. 

Campaigns. - Schobert made the campaigns of 1792, 1793, years II, III and IV, in the armies of Moselle, Rhine, and Sambre-et-Meuse; those of years VII and VIII, in the army of Italy; years IX, XII and XIII at the Boulogne camp; 1805, 1806, 1807, 1808, 1809, 1812 in the Grande Armée. Injury. - Blow to the left hip by canister round on June 10, 1807, at the Battle of Heilsberg; taken prisoner of war, he returned on August 10, 1807. 

Decorations. - Schobert, a simple knight of the Legion of Honor in 1805, was appointed commander of the Legion of Honor after the Ba

Colonel Schobert's Legion d'Honneur papers

ttle of Austerlitz as a reward for his fine conduct in the defense of the village of Telnitz.


     Colonel Schobert had a long military career and served in almost every rank from an infant of the regiment to a Brigadier General!  He served with the Guard and with the battle-hardened 4e Ligne who had such famous officers as François René Cailloux Pouget (later Colonel 26e Leger), Nicole Guye (later General ADC to King Joseph Bonaparte), and Jean Louis Gros (Later commander of Chasseurs a Pied de la Garde). However, in his memories Colonel Schobert's brigade commander General Latrille de Lorencez has an unpleasant description of our leader during the Battle of Teugen-Hausen. He compliments the regiment but says the "3rd who behaved very well, despite the weakness of his leader." This is interesting statement because after reading some of General Lorencez's memoirs, you get the feeling that anyone who took glory away from him or made him look bad got his wrath in his writings. He even goes as far as to say that Marshal Davout wasn't even involved in the battle until the very end taking credit away from General Saint-Hilaire who division did the brunt of the fighting! Most likely the negative comment comes from the fact that the 3e Ligne in its first attack and battle under its new Brigadier General was repulsed by the Austrian light infantry and took too long to reform. This left the 57e Ligne vulnerable and outnumbered in the early part of the Battle of Teugen-Hausen. It seems General Lorencez did not blame the failure on the regiment but on the lack of Colonel Schobert's toughness to force his regiment to perform well under fire. 
     
     General Latrille de Lorencez did not last long as the 3e Ligne's brigade commander, and he never mentions if the much older Schobert and himself had any rivalry or disagreements during their time serving together. I believe the Colonel Schobert's career speaks for itself and he served bravely in many battles and unfortunately may have been uncomfortable with leading his whole regiment in skirmish formation uphill against a well trained light infantry foe who was taking aimed shots at his soldiers. Whatever the issue Colonel Schobert led the regiment successfully in three major battles during the 1809 campaign ( Battle of Teugen-Hausen, Battle of Aspern-Essling, and Battle of Wagram) and was later promoted to a higher rank.

The next post will show the order of battle for the 3eme Ligne and 1st battalion 3eme Ligne.

Sites: Research on military and civilian life of Colonel Laurent Schobert
http://www.memoiresdeblandy.fr/general-baron-laurent-schobert/ https://www.schobertpascalparcoursmilitairesbiographiques.com/newpage (I highly recommend checking out this site as it talks about his whole career and has two sections on the 1809 campaign)
Historique du 3 Regiment d'Infanterie EX-PIEMONT 1569-1891 

Souvenirs militaires du général comte de Lorencez

2YB120 3.Ligne An X.1810

Base Leonore Colonel Schobert's File http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/leonore_fr?ACTION=RETROUVER&FIELD_1=Cnoms&VALUE_1=schobert&FIELD_2=PRENOMS&VALUE_2=&FIELD_3=DATE%2dNSS&VALUE_3=&FIELD_4=LIEU%2dNSS&VALUE_4=&FIELD_5=Nom%20de%20jeune%20fille&VALUE_5=&FIELD_6=SEXE&VALUE_6=%20&FIELD_7=COTE&VALUE_7=&NUMBER=1&GRP=0&REQ=%28%28schobert%29%20%3aNOM%2cNOM2%2cNOM%2dJF%2cNOM%2dMARI%2cSURNOM%2cNOTES%20%29&USRNAME=nobody&USRPWD=4%24%2534P&SPEC=9&SYN=1&IMLY=&MAX1=1&MAX2=1&MAX3=100&DOM=All

3eme Ligne Voltigeurs 1809

      

    The last company that I will be showcasing is the voltigeurs of the 3eme Ligne in 1809.  According to Petit Soldats de Strasbourg, the voltigeurs wore green with yellow crescent epaulettes, yellow-tipped green plumes, and green shako cords, and a black shako.  The Otto Manuscript shows a voltigeur wearing green epaulettes and a small green plume and green shako cords c1807-1808. When the battalion was formed up in line formation, the voltigeurs took their place on the left of the line, the second most prestigious position of honour after the grenadier company on the right of the line. 

       The voltigeur company in a the post-1808 french battalion had 121 voltigeurs, 2 cornets instead of tambours, 8 caporals, 1 furrier, 4 sergeants, 1 sergeant-major, 1 sous-lieutenants, 1 lieutenant, and 1 captain.  Unlike other companies in the regiment, the voltigeurs of the 3eme Ligne had 2 cornets with each company. According to Colonel Schobert's order book, he writes to General de Brigade Candras on May 26,1807, "  Six carbines are necessary to arm the cornets of the voltigeurs." The cornets would carry a carbine because their main function was to relay the orders of the officers using their cornet and not take part in the skirmishing like the other voltigeurs. The voltigeurs carried the dragoon musket due to their short stature. The Model 1777 Dragoon musket had a 42-inch barrel and an overall length of 57 inches. According to General de Division Guillaume- Philibert Comte de Duhesme in his Essai historique sur l'infanterie legere 3.ed, "I will offer the rifle and the bayonet that we gave to the dragons. The weight of a heavier weapon does not suit a man who has to be nimble and stout, whose maneuvers in the ranks must often be done on the run. Its fire will be brighter and more deadly with a light weapon because it will charge it faster and aim better he will defend himself better, if he finds himself compromised in the plain with a man on horseback, he will defend himself better and will better deal the blows, will carry some more with the bayonet if his rifle is short than if it is so long because he will handle it with more dexterity and force."

       

       I could go on and describe the voltigeur company's roles, but I believe General de Division Duhesme covers best all their roles and functions. He writes, "Their name and their weaponry say that they have to fight outside the ranks, skirmishers cover the masses and the lines. Voltigeurs must be explorers of their bodies march; it is, therefore, necessary, in the maneuvers of their regiments, to train them in the spirit of their functions, by giving them, in these maneuvers, a role which is their image, and a theory which prepares them for the practice of the profession. of tirailleur: it is what made me imagine, at the beginning of the campaign of 1805, while presiding over the instruction of the regiments of my division, to adopt the following provisions. 

       

      When a regiment of three battalions is in battle, the first battalion has its company of voltigeurs on the right, a hundred or a hundred and fifty paces, the third on its left, at the same distance, and the second behind or in front of it, at about the same distance. This first arrangement announces to the two companies of the wings that they must keep the flanks of the body, and to that of the center, that it must illuminate the forehead and provide the sentinels advanced in its march; they usually maneuver on two ranks. If the regiment gets into one column to march to the enemy, the column will be preceded and flanked during all the march by these three companies, which will march, that of the center by platoon and that of the wings by file, always taking the heights and detaching the third of their world in riflemen. The column passes to the order in battle, the company of left starts to go to take, in the direction of the new line, a position suitable to a position to guarantee the left and thus cover the movement; the one on the right is similarly worn at the most favorable point for keeping the right; that of the center is lowered in front of the front: both detach skirmishers in all the avenues through which we can approach the line; the same arrangements are made for the tight column as for the other. If the column deploys, and if it is to fire, what in war the approach of the enemy would indicate, the company of the center and its skirmishers flow on the side where there is more fear of being turned, in order to protect it more effectively, either by doubling the riflemen or by placing themselves in a gallows (if it is necessary), always taking the advantages ground. 

    

     If one forms the columns of attack by battalions, which announces that one wants to march on the enemy, it is then that the captains of the voltigeurs will launce almost al their world in skirmishers, to join in the terrible effect of the masses and the more deadly effect of a hail of well-directed rifle shots. However, they will do well to keep with them a third or quarter of their men to serve as a rallying point in case they are repulsed, especially by some cavalry charge."

     General de Division Guillaume- Philibert Comte de Duhesme essays on the roles of light infantry and voltigeurs are fascinating to read. He was leading advocate for light infantry and learned the pros and cons through his very long military career during the Napoleonic wars.   It is free and easily accessible on google play books and can be easily read by using the google translate function. The next post will be the Etat Major and Colonel Laurent Schobert to finish the regiment!

3eme Ligne Voltigeur office, cornet, sergent porte-fanion, and voltigeur from Petit soldats de Strasbourg

3eme Ligne Voltigeur Sergent porte-fanion and fusilier sergent-major from Commandant BUCQUOY plates

3eme Ligne Voltigeur in capote(greatcoat) according to Commandant Bucquoy Plates

 

3eme Ligne Grenadiers 1809

       The 3eme Ligne in 1809 had four grenadier companies attached to the regiment. Three companies came from the first three battalions and a fourth company from the 4th battalion still forming its fusilier companies. The Imperial Decree of February 18,1808 stated in Article 9th: "The Grenadier Company shall be taken from the totality of the corps, from among the men most appropriate by their height and shall be accepted only if they have 4 years of service and have participated in at least 2 of the following campaigns: Ulm, Austerlitz, Jena or Friedland." 

The picture represents a depleted half peleton of grenadiers from the 3eme Ligne in campaign dress 1809

         Here we can see the grenadiers of the 3eme Ligne in 1809. According to Petit Soldats de Strasbourg, the grenadiers and sapeurs wore a bearskin bonnet with red epaulettes and red plumes. However, the Otto Manuscript c.1807-1808 depicts the fourth battalion under the orders of Major Duclos in white uniforms and shakos. The Otto Manuscript depicts a sapeur and a grenadier both wearing a shako with a grenade for the shako plate and a small red plume. It could be possible that some battalions of the 3eme Ligne wore bearskin bonnets and the others wore shakos. Without any inspection reports from the period available for me to research, I am unable to give a definitive answer. 

       The grenadier company like all the five other companies in a post-1808 french battalion had 121 grenadiers, 2 drummers, 8 caporals, 1 furrier, 4 sergeants, 1 sergeant-major, 1 sous-lieutenants, 1 lieutenant, and 1 captain. Unlike the other companies, the grenadier company in each battalion had 4 sapeurs. When the regiment was on the march or on review, a caporal sapeur led the combined sapeurs in front of the regiment's Tete de Colonne followed by the Tambour-major leading the musicians, and next the combined tambours under a caporal-tambour.

3eme Ligne Sapeur from Otto Manuscript

Sapeur 3eme Ligne 1809 from Commandant Bucquoy plates

3eme Ligne Grenadier officer and Grenadier from Otto Manuscript

Grenadier 3eme Ligne 1809 from Commandant Bucquoy plates

3eme Ligne Fusilier Uniform Plates

   

         Taking inspiration from Mont-Saint-Jean uniform plates website http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/unitesFRGde.php and JC Miniatures Blog http://jcminiatures.blogspot.com/2006/06/coming-soon-updated-wargame-plates.html who have given me countless hours of reading and editing, I decided to make my own for 1809. This is the first of the French fusilier companies of the 3eme Ligne in 1809. I tried to give as much detail as possible and show the multiple uniforms that are recorded for the regiment. We are given great primary source detail from the Otto Manuscript of the regiment during the years of 1807-1808 in its white uniforms and blue surtouts for the officers. Also, Colonel Laurent Schobert had an order book that described many of the uniforms that his regiment wore. If you are able to read french this website will give you some exert of his orders!  Also, on the same website we are lucky enough to have a death certificate of a soldier named fusilier Culet who died in the temporary hospital in Prenzlow where the regiment had its cantonments. Fusilier Culet served in the 2nd Company, 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Ligne. On the back of his death certificate, his clothing and equipment are described! Here is a link to the website sehri.forumactif.com/t541-3e-de-ligne

         Some of the major sources I used for this are the Otto Manuscript, Petit Soldats de Strasbourg, Rigo Le Plumet Plates, Lucien Rousselot and Napoleon's Line Infantry from Osprey publishing and the sehriforum. I am going to add some plates from the Petit Soldats de Strasbourg that have given me a lot of inspiration to finish these plates.

3e Ligne Fusilier based on Martinet 1808-1809

3e Ligne Fusilier in white uniform based off Colonel Schobert's Order Book 1807

3e Ligne shako plate

3eme Regiment d'infanterie de Ligne in 1809

           In 1809, the 3e Regiment d'infanterie de Ligne had a strength of 70 officers and  2,496 men in 3 battalions and two elite companies (grenadiers & voltigeurs) from the 4th battalion. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Laurent Schobert, who had been in command since 1 February 1805. The regiment had fought in many famous battles such as Austerlitz (1805), Heilsberg (1807), and Friedland (1807). In the campaign of 1807, the regiment suffered at Battle of Heilsberg 7 officers and 44 men killed and 726 wounded including Colonel Schobert who was wounded and captured! Less than one week later the regiment under the command of Chef de Bataillon Laffithe will suffer again at the Battle of Friedland 85 NCOs and soldiers killed; 21 officers and 635 soldiers wounded.  In 1808, the regimental situation report shows the regiment was able to replenish her strength with 3 battalions of 88 officers, 2,179 men in cantonments in Prenzlow.
         At the Battle of Teugen-Hausen (Battle of Thann), the 3rd Ligne will be the first regiment of the III Corps to come in major contact with the Austrian light infantry. In haste, the entire 3rd Ligne will be sent by Marshal Davout in skirmish order to attack the Austrians on the Buchberg. Rushed and disorganized, the regiment was repulsed by the Austrian light troops and sent to reform behind the advancing 57th Ligne. Two battalions of the 3rd Ligne who reformed, advance to support the 57th Ligne who was bravely sustaining itself against as many as six Austrian regiments and one squadron of hussars.  After advancing to the right of the 57th Ligne, the 3rd Ligne has a sustained firefight with the overwhelming Austrian forces located on the Hausner Berg. The regiment's battalion kept in reserve is sent with the 10th Legere near Roith to outflank the Austrian left. After successfully forcing the Austrian Grenzer and artillery to retreat the 10th Legere, 3rd Ligne, 57th Ligne, and 72nd Ligne will force back multiple attempts by the Austrians to retake the Hausner Berg and forest located on both sides of the key position.
        According to the Austrian sources in Der Krieg Napoleons gegen Oesterreich 1809 by Binder, the 3rd Ligne only lost 18 officers and 157 men killed and wounded. However, in Martinien's work Tableaux, par corps et par batailles, des officiers tués et blessés pendant les guerres de l'Empire (1805-1815), the regiment suffered 3 killed and 25 wounded! Sadly, I am unaware of any French sources that give the actual killed and wounded soldiers for this battle. The short regiment history Historiques des régiments de l'Armée française, the Combat de Thann is only mentioned with one passage saying that "Chef de Bataillon Laffithe attacks the enemy first with his battalion and removes the enemy position".  In retrospect, this combat is very small compared to many famous battles the regiment fights before and after this combat. However, the regiment will suffer only a few officer casualties less than the ferocious Battle of Aspern-Essling on May 21-22. 
       Even though it is considered a combat according to the french, this battle was just as much as a test for the regiment than any of the previous battles in 1807. The confusing fighting in the woods near Teugen and being only 2 days before the massive Battle of Eckmuhl may have caused this battle to be forgotten for how considerable it was.

 Sources:
HISTORIQUE DU 3ème REGIMENT D'INFANTERIE DE LIGNE EX PIEMONT, 1569-1891, by Marius Bourgue
Thunder on the Danube: Napoleon's Defeat of The Habsburgs by John H. Gill Vol. 1
EGGMÜHL 1809 STORM OVER BAVARIA, Campaign 56, Osprey, Oxford,1998. by Ian Castle
CAMPAGNE DE 1809 EN ALLEMAGNE ET EN AUTRICHE TOME I ET II, Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1899 – 1900. by Charles Saski
Tableaux par Corps et par Batailles des Officiers Tues et Blesse pendant les Guerres de l'Empire 1805-1815 A. Martinien

Historiques des régiments de l'Armée française: 3e Regiment d'infanterie de Ligne
Der Krieg Napoleons gegen Oesterreich 1809 by Freiherr Karl Binder von Krieglstein
Base de données Léonore http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/leonore_fr?ACTION=NOUVEAU&USRNAME=nobody&USRPWD=4%24%2534P

État général de la Légion d'honneur by le comte De Lacépède