Monday, August 17, 2020

57e Ligne Voltigeurs 1809

57e Ligne Voltigeurs uniform plate. The voltigeur caporal is wearing double red diagonal stripes across his foreams. Both yellow and red stripe variations are recorded for caporals.


 
Just like their taller and larger brothers in arms, the Grenadiers, the Voltigeurs were considered elite soldiers. This elite status came with prestige and respect. However, the life of a Voltigeur in battle was a dangerous cat and mouse game. These men were expected to fight in line like the rest of the battalion and expected to protect the front of the battle when in line and the flanks while on the march as skirmishers. Unlike the rigid formations when in line, skirmishers were expected to work in pairs and take aimed shots from any concealed cover that could be found. Orders from the 3rd Corps commanding officer Marshal Davout two years after the 1809 campaign cite skirmishers' role in his letter to his generals in 1811.
 
French Voltigeurs screen the advancing battalion. I believe the title is incorrect. Should be column of peletons(companies)
 

         Article 1.
          Covering the head of a column or the front of a line

The tirailleurs must always walk in pairs in order to give mutual assistance. They should fire only one after the other, so that one of them always remains loaded.
As much as possible, the line of the riflemen covering the head of a column, will describe the part of circle the head of the column of which would be the center.

 Article 3.
Covering one flank of the column.

Remark.

The cordon of skirmishers being established, it will march by the flank together with the reserves whilst following the direction of the column.                                                                        

                                                                Article 7.                                                                   March.

In open country, the riflemen will have to walk in the greatest order with calm, sang froid and silence; to reserve their fire and to be held ready to execute all the movements which will be ordered of them.
When one positions the rifleman on the sides at the head or tail of a column marching in open country, with not only the purpose of being informed of the movements of the enemy, but also to keep the skirmishers of infantry and cavalry distant so that they do not approach the column.
If the open country through which the column advances is furrowed with gullies and small hills or thickets, the riflemen will have to enter the gullies to clear them, to climb to the top of the hillocks, to turn and clear the thickets.

 This is important because the 3rd Corps on the morning of 19 April 1809 made a flank march against a known enemy force from Ratisbonne to Abensberg. The voltigeurs were the column's eyes and ears with the cavalry vedettes and were ready to fire and advance against any enemy light troops that got too close to the column. As was the case with the Battle of Thann, the French light troops were pushed back by the larger light infantry force ascending from the hills between Hausen and Teugen. However, this allowed time for the formed battalions to advance and take the fight to the Austrians.

 

French Voltigeurs advance from the left of the line (second place of honor) to cover the front of the battalion in line.


  

      In battle, the skirmishing voltigeurs' goal was to take out high-value targets of opportunity such as officers, Nco's, artillerymen, and other enemy skirmishers. Being at least 100 paces in front of the battalion to shield it from fire from other enemy skirmishers, the men had to listen to their officers' voices and signals from the cornets and their common sense to make quick reactions with the fluid fighting style of skirmishing. According to T.E. Crowdy's Napoleon's Infantry Handbook, "Napoleon stipulated voltigeurs had to be less than 1,598mm tall (officers could be up to 1,625 or 5 French feet). There were two reasons for this selection process. Firstly, short soldiers of whice there were plenty which would never qualify for service in the grenadiers, but they could aspire for service in the voltigeurs. Secondly, Bardin estimated this measure increased the pool of those eligible for conscription by about 40,000 men.... This decree clarified the recruits must be of a sound constitution, vigorous and nimble, but short in stature." 

   

    At the Battle of Thann, it is somewhat unclear what role the voltigeur companies from the 57e Ligne played. What is for sure, the terrain around Teugen and Hausen's villages with its thick forest and uneven ground would have played right into the small unit tactics of the French Voltigeurs. However, it seems from some of the wounds received by the officers that they not only fought with their parent battalions but came to close grips with the enemy. One unfortunate Voltigeur officer from the 1e Voltigeurs named S. Lt. Charles Basset received seven saber wounds all over his body. These wounds were as follows, 1.) left cheek 2.) lower lip 3.) right shoulder 4.) right hip 5.) right thigh 6.) left shin 7.) left leg. These wounds must have been inflicted by an Austrian officer's sword when the French finally crested the Hausner Berg. There are many reports of hand -to-hand fighting, as we have seen from Grenadier Lt. Raverat citation from my previous post. Also, 2e Voltigeurs Capt. Antoine Pelenc received two shots from a canister round: 1.) in the lower part of the right thigh 2.) In the lower abdomen. His wound suggests that the men were in the line of battle taking fire from the Austrian artillery on the higher ground. This would seem very possible because the Austrians would not waste their ammunition on skirmishers as the more compact formed battalions were a much higher valued target. Just like the Grenadier companies, four Voltigeur officers were wounded. Two of those were the commanding officers of the 2e & 3e Voltigeurs (2e Voltigeurs Capt. Antoine Pelenc, who was previously mentioned, and 3e Voltigeurs Capt. Bernard Boyer: Shot in the right leg). The other two officers were 1e Voltigeurs S. Lt. Charles Basset mentioned above and 3e Voltigeurs S. Lt. Joseph Olivier Dehemery (also spelled in the rolls as D'Hemery). Overall, the voltigeurs suffered 4 WIA officers, 7 KIA, 1 MW, and 27 WIA Nco's and soldiers. 

1e Voltigeurs S. Lt. Charles Basset's service record from Base Leonore. His wounds did not stop him from being promoted to Lt. in August 1809.


Voltigeur c.1809 and Voltigeur Cornet c.1805 from Petit Soldats de Strasbourg
 

Voltigeur Caporal, Voltigeur coat (habit), Voltigeur Cornetist, and a close up of a cornet from a H.Knotel and Hans M. Brauer

Voltigeur veteran of over 15 years of service showing his LdH award on his left lapel. From Bucquoy plates

 
Voltigeur Officer of the 57e Ligne by Manuscript de Petit Suhr c.1807 from Brown Digital Library.

  Voltigeur Cornet of the 57e Ligne by Manuscript de Petit Suhr c.1807.  The uniform is similiar to 1809, but the voltigeurs plume, epaulettes, shako plate, and the tricolor lace are different. This could be a possible uniform through a transition period from 1807-1809. Also, the cornet seems to be a trumpet instead.

 

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