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!
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| 3eme Ligne Voltigeur office, cornet, sergent porte-fanion, and voltigeur from Petit soldats de Strasbourg |
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| 3eme Ligne Voltigeur Sergent porte-fanion and fusilier sergent-major from Commandant BUCQUOY plates |
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| 3eme Ligne Voltigeur in capote(greatcoat) according to Commandant Bucquoy Plates |
