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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Friday, November 6, 2020

10e Legere 1809

    


     The 10e Legere is the last regiment in the 1st Brigade of Saint Hilaire's 4th Division in 1809. Before 1809, the veteran regiment fought in the battles of Austerlitz, Iena (Jena), Eylau, Heilsberg, and countless other small engagements. At the Battle of Thann, the regiment played a secondary yet still very important role in the eventual French victory. The gallant and well thought of Colonel Pierre Berthezene was the commanding officer since February 1807, taking over for Colonel Pouzet (later his head was taken off by a cannonball as a General de Brigade in front of his friend Marshal Lannes at the end of the Battle of Aspern-Essling in 1809). The regiment fought the majority of the battle on the far right of the French position located near Roith. Throughout the battle, their opponents were the Peterwardeiner Grenz Infantry Regiment No. 9 (1 battalion) and the Erzherzog Karl Legion (1 battalion). We know about the regiment's actions in the battle mainly from the after action reports of Marshal Davout, L. Boudin de Roville (1st Aide de Camp to General Saint-Hilaire) (1) and Colonel Berthezene's memoirs (2). Before the battle on 10 April 1809, the situational report shows 71 officers and 2,501 men with the regiment. There were also two men detached and 204 in the hospital with a total effective strength of 2,778 officers and soldiers. The regiment had 3 Batallions du Guerre and the elite companies from the 4e Batallion.

 

   Unfortunately, I was unable to view the Controles de Troupes for the regiment, and there is no precise information on casualties other than the officers. In Binder's work (1906), he claims the 10e Legere had five officers and 431 out of action. (3) According to Binder, he used the 3rd Corps 20 April 1809 situational report to come to this number, but Martinien cites nine officers wounded (4), and in my research, I was able to find one additional officer injured and two officers captured. It seems that Martinien listed Lieut. Salomon as wounded on the 19 and 21 April 1809, but his service record only list the 21st. He could of have possibly mixed up the name with Sous-Lieut. Louis Auguste Bonenfant who was seriously wounded by a cannonball and missing from Martinien's list. His service record states that he was wounded by a cannonball that carried away his left arm and retired due to the amputation of that same arm in 1810. Below can be seen his record from Base Leonore (here). 

 

Lieut. Bonenfant service record. Even after losing his left arm he came out of retirement and joined the 69e Cohort in 1812.
     

    His wound most likely occurred when the large Austrian battery stationed in front of Hausen targeted the 10e Legere as it left the cover of the woods north of Hausen. Colonel Berthezen says, "The 10th light moved, by the right of this regiment (57e Ligne), to the left flank of the enemy, and attacked it so vigorously that it did not allow it a long resistance; the artillery, compromised, hastened his retreat, leaving one of his pieces in our hands, and the infantry was led, bayonet clear in their loins, to the heights of Hausen; but then the 10th light and the 3rd of the line (1e Batallion under orders of Chef de batallion Laffithe), which had been sent to his right to support his operation, found exposed discovered under fire from 40,000 men and 60 pieces of guns. After having suffered an artillery discharge and some battalion fires, they had to reenter the wood" (Berthezene, 1855, p. 194).


     Without reading the 10e Legere controls de troupes, there will be no closer approximation of the number of men who were killed and wounded. However, Colonel Berthezene does not mention high casualties for the regiment, so I am somewhat skeptical of Binders' conclusion. We know that one officer was captured along with eight men in the confusing back and worth fighting in the woods in front of Roith. That officer was from the 1e Carabiniers named Lieut. Joseph Gerbe. He was possibly captured during the fighting in the woods, but no data is available describing his capture. It is interesting to note he was captured unwounded, so he might have been surrounded and cut off. What is certain is Lieut. Gerbe was returned from captivity on 17 August 1809. Another officer from the 4e Carabinier named Capit. Jean Richard was wounded and captured during the battle. The XB584 10.Légère 1809 is slightly confusing when it comes to when and where Capit. Richard was captured. All the documents agree he was wounded and captured, but two cite 19 April 1809 Battle of Thann, and one cites 22 April 1809 Battle of Eckmuhl. Even though when and where he was wounded and captured is not known, the officer's fate had a sad ending. According to the XB files, Capit. Jean Richard was wounded, captured, and not returned after the end of hostilities and presumed dead. One can only imagine how the wounded officer must have been rushed into captivity due to the Austrians' rapid retreat, which would of not helped his wound. The official report from the 2YB564 10.Légère An X.1811 does state he was a prisoner of war on 19 April 1809, so I felt this made my conclusion correct.

 

Capit. Jean Richard born on 24 April 1767, was wounded and captured just five days short of his 42nd birthday.

 

    Below I will post the three uniform plates for the Carabiniers, Chasseurs, and Voltigeurs of the 10e Legere. The 10e Legere uniforms in 1809 are not exactly known, and there are many different variations of the uniform worn. I have tried my best to show each of the variations, but I have decided to go with what I believe the uniform looked like at the time. On Frederic Berjaud's website, you can find his description of the most likely uniform for the regiment here (2). I will also add some of the paintings and petit soldats showing the regiment in its many different uniform variations below.


Carabiniers
Chasseurs
Voltigeurs


Carabinier Sergent Major and Sapeur from E.Fort 

Carabinier in 1809 uniform from Bucquoy plates.

Sapeur in 1809 uniform from Bucquoy plates.


Chasseur from E.Fort

Chasseur Flutist and Voltigeur from E.Fort

Voltigeur, Carabinier, Chasseur, and Chasseur Drummer from the Carl Collection  

 

For those who can read French, an article by the late Didier Davin describing the regiment's uniforms in the Napoleonic period. Didier Davin was also the writer of the history of the 10e Legere on Frederic Berjaud's website.



 

 

References

1.) Campagne de 1809 en Allemagne et en Autriche – Charles Gaspard Louis Saski https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=xkxBAAAAIAAJ&pg=GBS.PA257

2.) Souvenirs militaires de la République et de l'Empire – Pierre Berthezène, Résidence jésuite https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=XWYqtYt4EQcC&pg=GBS.PA192

3.) Der Krieg Napoleons gegen Oesterreich 1809 – Freiherr Karl Binder von Krieglstein https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=H8lCAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA207 

4.) Le 10ème Régiment d'Infanterie Légère 1796-1815 http://frederic.berjaud.free.fr/Articles_de_Didier_Davin/10eLeger/10e%20Leger.htm

Base Leonore: Louis Auguste Bonenfant http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/leonore_fr?ACTION=RETROUVER&FIELD_1=Cnoms&VALUE_1=bonenfant&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=2&GRP=0&REQ=%28%28bonenfant%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

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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.

 

Sources:

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Friday, August 14, 2020

Grenadiers of the 57e Regiment d'infanterie Ligne 1809

 

    The 57e Ligne Grenadiers at the Battle of Thann paid a high price for being elite soldiers. During the battle 11 Grenadiers were killed, 14 mortally wounded, and 39 wounded including 3 of the 4 Grenadier Captains (1e Grenadiers Capt. Jean Viala: Shot in the stomach, 2e Grenadiers Capt. Laurent Bertet, and 3e Grenadiers Capt. Sernin Laffont: Contusion on the left arm). The high ratio of killed and mortally wounded to wounded shows the severity of the fighting against the Austrian who was holding the high ground. The third battalion, which most likely was posted on the extreme left of the regiment 's formaton in line, received the heaviest number of casualties.The regiment not only had to fight off 6 different regiments and an artillery battery posted on high ground, with no battery of their own to respond but also had to form square on it's left to fend off an attack by an Austrian Hussar squadron.Their position on the left allowed the Austrians to attack them from the front as well as work their way around the 57th flank in the woods that dominated the battlefield. The 3e Grenadier company commanding officer Capt. Sernin Laffont received a contusion to his left arm as well as 3 killed, 4 mortally wounded, and 13 wounded Nco's and soldiers.

3rd Grenadier Sergeant Philippe Montmayeux, Killed at The Battle of Thann on April 19, 1809 .   

  An unforunate NCO killed on the hills in front of Teugen was Grenadier Sergent Philippe Montmayeux, born in 1767, he had joined the 69e Ligne in 1791 and then transferred to the 4th Foot Artillery regiment in An 4. Montayeux joined the 57e Ligne in An 6 and would serve the majority of his time in the grenadier companies of the 1st and then 2nd battalion. Being promoted to Caporal in an 12 and Sergent in 1806, Sergent Montmayeux was a old veteran by the time of the battle with over 9 campaigns under his belt. His death with countless other veterans of the volunteers from 1791, 1792, and 1793 would be hard to replace after the heavy casualties sustained by the regiment in 1809.

    One of the 4 Grenadier officers wounded at the battle was the gallant 2e Grenadiers Lt. Rene Claude Jean Raverat, who was shot in the right hand, breaking his hand. At the battle of Thann, Lt. Raverat who was already well known for bravery in the campaign of 1807, shown brightly again when, " On April 19, 1809, the day of the battle of Thaun, the enemy having seized the heights, made a division run to go and intercept the road; General Saint Hilaire wanted to oppose this movement, which could compromise the fate of his troops and that of part of the army. The 57th Regiment was ordered to march on this battery; it was only a short pistol shot away when it was greeted by the musketry of an infantry battalion. The 72nd line infantry regiment, seen at this point, had already come to grips in a wood, where it was crushed by grape-shot from a battery located on a hillock some distance away.The fire was so well fed and so well directed that the French were forced to retire in disorder. Raverat, with half of his grenadiers and about fifty voltigeurs, remains the last; but he is soon obliged to follow the retrograde movement. While he beats in retreat, one of the soldiers who had crossed the Passarge with him, falls wounded by a shot: he takes care to raise him; but at the same time, he himself was struck by a bullet which broke his right hand. the Colonel (Charriere) of 57th then ordered Raverat to go to the ambulance to get bandaged: "No, colonel," replies the lieutenant; This during the General Saint-Hilaire having rallied the troops, arrived with a reinforcement to attack a second time the mamelon;you have already lost a lot of officers, you might need me: "besides, I want to have the honor of commanding one" of your companies, and despite my injury, it is on "this redoubt that you will give it to me”. Ráverat, seeing that the moment is favorable, sets off at the head of a handful of brave men who emerge with bayonets; he climbs the height, after having killed a great number of enemies, and appears the first on the hillock, which is carried by storm. This bold move decided the victory. The one who had contributed so much, then yielding to the strong urges of his chiefs, entered the hospital of Newbourg, where he underwent an operation all the more painful, that it was necessary to extract from his hand the bullet which had remained there. Four days later, Napoleon arrived under the walls of Ratisbon; he was already informed of the courage displayed by this officer: "Where is Lieutenant Raverat, from" he asked the colonel of the 57th regiment? "Sire," replied the latter, "a shot from which he was hit" at the battle of Thaun, where the whole army saw him performing wonders of value, forced him to enter the country. ' hospital . - Well! added the emperor, let him know that I "appoint him baron, with an endowment of four thousand francs". 

Baron Raverat's LdH papers and service record can be seen at Base Leonore.

Grenadier officer from the 57e Ligne c.1807. Notice the officer is wearing a bearskin cap, but is not shown wearing the usual brass plate. Drawing by manuscript of Petit Suhr.   
t
Sapeur, Grenadier Tambour, Caporal Grenadier from Le Petit Soldats de Strasbourg. The caporal has red stripes instead of yellow.

 

Two paintings by Henri Boisselier for the Bucquoy plates depicting a Grenadier Caporal, Grenadier Tambour, Capt. Adj. Major, and a Sapeur.


Article from Rigo's Le Plumet Planche 79 in Tradition Magazine of the 57e Ligne in 1809
 

 

 Sources:

  1.  Base Leonore: http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/leonore_fr?ACTION=RETROUVER&FIELD_1=Cnoms&VALUE_1=raverat&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=8&GRP=0&REQ=%28%28raverat%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  
  2. 1809 Thunder on the Danube. Volume 1 by John H. Gill
  3. The Fastes of Glory or the Braves Recommended to Posterity: Monument Erected to Defenders of the Fatherland, Volume 2 pages 326-327 by Louis-Fran Ois L'h Ritier (De L'Ain) .
  4. 2YB320 57. Line An X.1811
  5. 2YB321 57. Line 1808.1815
  6. XB459 57. Line 1809
  7. Rigo's Le Plumet Plate 79 in Tradition Magazine
  8. Bucquoy, EL: Premier Emprie Uniforms
  9. Small Suhr manuscript
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Tuesday, August 4, 2020

3e Ligne in 6MM



    
    While visiting my parents for a little, I was able to paint some of my 6mm Adler Miniatures. These are truly the most detailed 6mm out there and even better than some larger scale miniatures. I decided to paint a few test figures to get a feel for painting again. It has been over 3 years since I painted and I felt these are a good start. 6mm miniatures are easier to paint than larger scales and I enjoy creating larger battalions. I have decided to start painting the 3e Ligne because I had some grenadiers in bearskins and I wanted to see how the unique sky blue uniform would look of the fusilier drummers/ voltigeurs cornets in 6mm. I think the color came out pretty good and like a lot of paintings it looks better in person. Below are French fusiliers, Grenadiers, Voltigeurs, wounded, and killed.  Painting the wounded and dead miniatures was interesting as I was researching the wounded and killed soldiers from the Battle of Thann. Putting a name to the men who were casualties on April 19, 1809 makes it more rewarding to paint this little dudes as my wife calls them!

    For anyone intersted in learning how to paint 6mm I highly recommend these painting tutorials. Sadly, none of these blogs are still active in 6mm, but a great place to learn the skills to paint 6mm. I have taken skills from each of these blogs, but the most important thing I have learned is that you need to be tidy and leave some of the black showing to help the miniatures pop.

















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