Friday, November 27, 2020

72e Ligne Officer Shortage 1809

                72e Regiment d'Infanterie de Ligne 1809

The 72e Ligne has an interesting story in the early months of 1809. In theory, regiments with three war battalions have 1 Colonel and 3 Chef de Batallions, not including the depot battalion's officers. In the case of the 72e Ligne, ten days before the Battle of Thann, the regiment only had two Chef de Batallions present with the war battalions. The Chef de Batallion in charge of the regiment was Francois Marboeuf, a battalion commander with the regiment since 15 August 1806. Below can be seen a copy of a report that he signed as the Chef de Batallion Commanding the Regiment in Bamberg on 17 April 1809.

    So, where is the Colonel? The former Colonel Florentin Ficatier was promoted on 22 October 1808 to General de Brigade. The newly-promoted Colonel Meunier St.Clair never reached the regiment but instead was given command of the 31e Legere in Spain. From the documents I have, Chef de Batallion Francois Marboeuf was the regiment's acting commander from at least January 1809 to 23 April 1809. The newly promoted and wounded (at the Battle of  Eckmühl-shot in the thigh) Chef de Batallion Michel Pascal Lafitte from the 10e Legere would take command of the regiment on 23 April 1809. Chef de Batallion Marboeuf would be awarded the Officier de la Legion d'honneur on 23 April 1809, but his active service with the regiment would end soon. He retired on 1 October 1809 due to having his right thigh carried away by a cannonball on 6 July at the Battle of Wagram.

  At the Battle of Thann on 19 April 1809, the regiment was commanded by Chef de Batallion Marboeuf (43), who also likely oversaw the first battalion. The second battalion was under Chef de Batallion Gilbert Barras, who only had joined the regiment in early January 1809. The third was commanded by Jean-Pierre Bial (36), newly promoted from the 22e Ligne, and only arrived nine days before the battle. Having just reached near Ratisbonne the day before, Bial had very little time to get to know his men as he states," I took command of my battalion and on April 10 hostilities began at Hambach."(Bial)   

          Some sense of the serious officer shortage for the regiment can be seen from the III Corps situational report on 10 April. The regiment only had 55 officers when a full complement of officers should be 69, including the six officers from the two elite companies of the 4th Battalion. The regiment should also have extra officers detached from the 4th Battalion fusilier companies as Officiers de La Suite. However, from the reports I have seen, very few were sent to the war battalions. This could be due to the regiment having four companies from the 4th Battalion detached to fight in Spain in late 1808 and the need to create four new 4th Battalion companies in the late months of 1808.

   The 72e Ligne in early April 1809 should have 1 Colonel, 3 Chef de Batallions, 1 Officier Payeur, 1 Porte-Aigle, 3 Adjutant-Majors, 20 Capits. 20 Lieuts. and 20 Sous-Lieuts with the war battalions, including the elite company officers from the 4th Battalion. We can see from below that the regiment had the least number of officers present but the second-largest total soldiers present in the brigade. The regiment played an important role in stopping the Austrian counter-attack at the Battle of Thann. It is only a testament to the toughness and esprit de corps of the officers and men who performed bravely and suffered high casualties even with shortages of command and control. The author Terry Crowdy has a great article talking about these types of issues dealing with the 9e Legere 4th Battalion in the 1809 campaign HERE




The regiment tried to fill the vacancies with four brand new officers from the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr. According to the document below, the decree of 24 March 1809, sent Sous-Lieuts. Charriere, Majou, Magnier, and Girard de Chateauvieux to the war battalions. If these men arrived prior to the start of the 1809 campaign is unlikely and not noted.  However, Sous-Lieut. Magnier would fight with the war battalions in late May, while Sous-Lieut. Charriere, Majou, and Girard de Chateauvieux are noted on the 1 October 1809 report as Officiers in Recruitment.


 

        Another document that shows officers' shortage can be seen from a report on March 1809 and 1 May 1809. The second document dated 1 May 1809, shows that due to battlefield casualties from the battles in April and the already shortage of officers before the campaign started, the 72e Ligne needed four Capits., four Lieuts., and ten Sous-Lieuts, which was one more than the previous month. Thankfully, the regiment made good its vacancies in the Etat-major in April with the promotion of Colonel Lafitte and Chef de Batallions Bial and Keck (Keck previously served with the 16e Legere). The total of 18 officers is just two short of the officers required to command a full strength-battalion!

Report on the effective staff for 1 March and 1 April on the left. Take into consideration this is for all four battalions, including the depot. The fifth battalion was not formed yet. The document on the right shows the vacancies in officers and from what battalion/company they served.   



The most telling document demonstrating the officers' shortage is a report from the month of April 1809, showing the officers gained and lost. As you can see on the right, by the end of April, the regiment has gained a Colonel, three Chef de Batallions, 4 Capits. 12 Lieuts. and 11 Sous-Lieuts.


                                             

Report dated 1 May 1809 for officer vacancies.



                     

 19 April Battle of Thann Officier Casualties

  

        After the Battle of Thann, the regiment was even more under strength due to one officer being killed outright, and one mortally wounded who died almost a month later. Of the eleven wounded officers below, at least two did not fight with the regiment in the next coming days due to wounds. However, most of these officers would be wounded again either at the Battle of Eckmühl April 21-22, Battle of Essling May 21-22, or Battle of Wagram July 5-6.

Mortally Wounded:
1e Bat./ 3e Co. S.Lieut. Louis Ambroise: Died of wounds on 10 May 1809

Wounded in Action:
1e Grenadiers Capit. Michel Marie Lefizelier: Shot in the left leg
1e Bat./ 1e Co. Lieut. Jacques Louis Moulin: Shot in the left hip
1e Bat./ 1e Co. S.Lieut. Richard Adrien Devienne: Shot in the right forearm
2e Bat./ 4e Co. S.Lieut. Francois Philippe Chambelland: Shot in the left thigh
3e Bat./ 1e Co. S.Lieut. Jean Francois Royer: Shot in the left leg
3e Bat./ 3e Co. Capit. Germain Bardoux: Shot in the left arm
3e Bat./ 4e Co. Capit. Jean Baptiste Gaillard: Shot in the right leg
1e Voltigeurs Capit. Louis Mathurin Constant Metton: Shot in the right breast (nipple)
3e Voltigeurs S.Lieut. Jean Jacques Marce: Shot in the right leg
4e Voltigeurs Capit. Francois Poirier: Shot in the right thigh
4e Voltigeurs Lieut. Francois Augustin Bertrand Marigny: Shot in the right foot

                                         Uniforms

When it comes to uniform details for the 72e Ligne, I know of none sadly. Maybe someone else who is more qualified than myself can let me know, but at the moment, I only have what the shako plate might have looked like. Below is a picture, according to this website Bertrand  of an 1806 style lozenge shako plate of the 72e Ligne. Another taken from the SEHRI website, the shako plate looks similar to the 1812 model but has unique larger lion heads on the corners of the shako plate.



Sources:

 

 

 

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