Hi to everbody on PF ,
Ask anyone for the Napoleonic equivalent of a Tank and I have no doubt the answer will be heavy cavalry , armoured in Cuirass and helmet on heavy horses , the ground shaking as the regiments charged forward in the name of the Emperor and the glory of France .
One of the most famous is the brass clad Carabinier of Napoleons cavalry and that is what we have from Dolman Miniatures .
As always with Napoleonic subjects we have the luxury of original information as well as many books being also easily available here are a few
f my favourites:
Ask anyone for the Napoleonic equivalent of a Tank and I have no doubt the answer will be heavy cavalry , armoured in Cuirass and helmet on heavy horses , the ground shaking as the regiments charged forward in the name of the Emperor and the glory of France .
One of the most famous is the brass clad Carabinier of Napoleons cavalry and that is what we have from Dolman Miniatures .
So lets have some background on these troops :
After being disbanded in 1679, carabineers were reorganized in 1691 and distinguished themselves at Neerwinden in 1693. For their actions, King Louis XIV had them organized into the Carabiniers du Roi in November 1693, and thus one of the finest French cavalry branches was born. Mr. Pawly quickly skips over the carabiniers' distinguished career during the wars of 18th century to bring the reader to the French Revolution. In 1790, cavalry forces were organized and carabiniers received seniority over the rest of cavalry. They earned further laurels serving in the French revolutionary armies on the Rhine in 1792-1795 and a new generation of talented officers emerged. After the 18 Brumaire, Napoleon paid particular attention to this elite unit and appointed his brother Louis, future king of Holland as a colonel-general of the Corps of Carabiniers. On 2 December 1804, eight carabinier squadrons opened the parade preceding Napoleon's coronation in Notre Dame.
The carabinier service during Napoleon's famous march from the Atlantic coast to Ulm. Attached to General Nansouty's heavy cavalry division, the carabiniers were organized into two regiments under Colonels Antoine-Christophe Cochois and Pierre-Nicolas Morin and amounted to roughly 400 men each. Although they had seen no action in the first stage, the carabineer units participated in battles at Wertingen and Elchingen before engaging Archduke Ferdinand's Austrians corps and entering Vienna on 13 November.
They distinguished themselves at Austerlitz.together with exploits in Prussia in 1806 and Poland in 1807. They did not participate in the major battles of the campaign but took part in the pursuit and entered Berlin on 29 October 1806. The following year, they luckily escaped the savage battle of Eylau but fought at Ostrolenka and later Friedland. Describing the Friedland campaign, author uses Joseph Abbeel's memoirs which add certain flavor to the narrative. After Tilsit, the carabiniers were quartered at Hanover, where they were reinforced and received new German breed horses before the onset of another war. In 1809, they remained in Vienna during the battles of Aspern-Essling in May but fought at Wagram in 5-6 July.
Serving in General Montbrunn's 2nd Cavalry Corps, the carabiniers were organized into a brigade under General Chouard.
The opening of the campaign proved disastrous to the many thousands of horses and bad weather and lack of forage devastated the carabineer units. They had to find new mounts and often used smaller local horses; an illustration by Faber du Faur illustrates well what an outlandish sight it was to see tall and heavily armored carabiniers on these tiny horses, with their feet and sabers almost touching the ground.,some carabiniers could get no horses and had to follow the troops on foot; with no suitable shoes and in knee-high boots, they quickly exhausted themselves and fell behind. Probably the carabiniers' most memorable exploit occurred during the Battle of Borodino, where they stormed the Great Redoubt despite suffering heavy casualties. The retreat proved even more devastating and, after fighting under General Latour-Maubourg at Smolensk and Berezina, only some 200 men escape out of once valiant carabineer brigade; the 1st Regiment, numbering 941 men in July 1812, now had only 81 men.
In the 1813 Campaign in Germany. the French forces. The surviving carabiniers were reorganized but they never recovered; in July 1813, according to one source there were "only 122 men with 134 horses in the 1st Regt. and 140 men and 143 horses in the 2nd." Nevertheless, they were attached to General Sebastiani's cavalry and took part in the battles of the campaign. .
During the Hundred days, they rejoined Napoleon's army and formed a brigade in General Kellermann's 3rd Reserve Cavalry Corps serving with distinction at the battle of Waterloo alongside the cuirassiers.
The Regt has served France well and must have been an oh so impressive sight thundering forward on their horse ......an image not forgot by many an infantryman in square as was the tank in WW1.
f my favourites:
Continued in next post:
Nap
