French infantry in 1813

Indeed, the havoc caused by the Streifkorps - intercepting intelligence and cutting lines of communications is underestimated.

Despite with the best intentions - and ample units, Nabulieone had no cavalry leader matching the prowess of the Streifcorps leaders. as can be seen at Altenburg.

Not only the lack of cavalry leaders, but the lack of trained cavalry overall. Therefore not able to follow up his victories by pursuing his beaten enemy. Enabling Cossacks and Streifcorps to operate behind Napoleon's lines. Also depriving him of his eyes, imho the cause that Napoleon time and again did not know where the Allied troops were, on several occasions surprising French troops and ambushing them. Also the cause that Napoleon didn't know were his own troops were as communications were cut.

I agree aboslutly, this is reflected by the increasing brutality of the French officers - as you already pointed out.

Behandlung durch Offiziere, frz. Armee, 1813

So, ich habe mal den Thread aus dem engl. Forum rausgesucht ( http://www.napoleon-series.org/cgi-b...read;id=133495 ), hier noch mal das Wichtigste:

+ Anon. Autor, allg. über die Behandlung der Soldaten.
[Die französischen Subalternoffiziere] "behandeln den jungen Conscribierten mit Ohrfeigen, Stockschlägen, Fußtritten, Schimpfworten, so arg, wie es leider sonst nur immer bei den deutschen Truppen der Fall war".
http://books.google.de/books?id=w71PAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA6

+ "Neueste Chronik von Dresden", Dresden: Beger, 1814, p. 71f, über die sich nähernden frz. Marschkolonnen, 1. Tag der Schlacht bei Dresden (26. August 1813): "Von den Beschwerden des schnellen Marsches ermüdet, von Hunger und Durst erschöpft, wurden die neu ausgehobenen knabenhaften Gewehrträger, die besonders unter dem leichten Fußvolke sehr zahlreich waren, von den rauhern Waffenbrüdern im eigentlichen Sinne voran getrieben, wie kläglich sie auch sich gebehrden mochten".

+ Weinhold ("Dresden und seine Schicksale im Jahre 1813", Dresden: Arnold, 1814, p. 52), über die Situation in Dresden, Anfang Oktober: "Schmutzige Lazarethgestalten grinsten Jedermann auf allen Straßen entgegen; die stolze große Armee selbst glich größtentheils einem Heere, eben zur Hektik übergehender Bettler. Wer bei dieser Kraftlosigkeit wankte, ward vom Officier mit der Faust so in das Gesicht geschlagen, daß Gewehr und Tschako auf die Straße hinstürzten. Die Disziplin war gänzlich aufgelöst".

Vionnet, p. 119, spricht von Soldaten, die von ihren Offizieren "wie Sklaven" behandelt worden seien. Rieu, p. 73, bemerkt ebenfalls, dass Soldaten, die hinter den Marschkolonnen zurückblieben, von den Offizieren geschlagen wurden.

Gruß, Tom
Frz. Quellen:
Rieu, J.-L., Mémoires. Genève: H. Georg, 1870
Vionnet, L.-J., Souvenirs d’un ex-commandant des grenadiers de la Vieille Garde. Hrsg. R. Vagnair, Paris: E. Dubois, 1899

only by marching back and forth, unable to take part any longer in the operational art of war, Nabulieone is loosing a third of his army just before the battle of Leipzig,

The naval artillery (Marine artillery-they were sailors, not Marines, properly Corps Imperial d'Artillerie de la Marine) supplied enough troops to form four large infantry regiment which were filled out with conscripts to bring them up to strength, and to send artillerymen to the Imperial Guard to help rebuild the Guard artillery arm.

Do you have a reference where artillerymen from the Coastal Artillery (cannoniers garde-cotes) were used in 1813? Some companies were assigned to the field army in 1814, but I have seen nothing that they were used in the same manner

French Naval Definitions:

Marine: Navy.

Marin: seaman, mariner, sea officer.

Matelot: sailor, seaman, mariner.

Napoleon had drawn personnel from the Imperial Navy for land service since at least 1806. Before that, naval personnel had served with the armies in Italy in 1796-1797 and in 1800-1801.

Before the transfer of the four Marine artillery regiments to the Grande Armee in early 1813, several naval battalions had served ashore as ground troops.

As an army commander in Italy in 1796-1797 and in Egypt in 1798-1799 Napoleon organized gunboat flotillas to support the army on Lake Mantua and Lake Garda, both organized by Pierre Baste. The flotilla on Lake Garda Murat brought a demi-brigade of infantry across the lake to assist in cutting off the Austrian retreat from Rivoli. In Egypt, the flotillas were used on the Nile and on the Egyptian canals both as supply vessels and gunboats.

In 1806 unemployed sailors and workmen in Brest were formed into two regiments of naval infantry (infanterie de marine) to be employed as garrison troops. The officers and NCOs of these units would retain their naval titles and they were drilled by NCOs from the artillerie de marine.

When war with Austria loomed heavy in 1809 Napoleon ordered that naval battalions of artificers to be organized. They were titled ouvriers militaires de la marine and were also known as ouvriers militaires du genie maritime. One of these battalions, soon known as the Battalion of the Danube went into Austria with the newly-christened Army of Germany. Additionally, the 44th Bataillon de Flotille went with them. They were assigned to the army’s engineer parc. Both battalions were commanded by Capitaine de Vaisseau Pierre Baste.

These two naval battalions ‘built bridges, boats, landing craft, and a floating battery, and organized a water transport system on the Danube to speed up supply. Baste led them on small-scale reconnaissances and raids, one of which located and destroyed an Austrian fire boat…they blocked Austrian attempts to recommoiter…giving Napoleon complete control of the Danube in the Passau-Vienna area. During the night crossing before Wagram, they ferried the first French assault units across and helped to ‘throw’ the pontoon bridges between Lobau Island and the north bank of the Danube, while their gunboats ran in to provide short-range gunfire support and smother the remaining Austrian outposts along the north bank. They took one Austrian-held island by boarding it, just as if it had been an enemy warship.’ -John Elting, Swords Around a Throne, 308.

Massena was assigned both the 43d and 44th Bataillons de Flotille into Spain where the 44th Bataillon was lost. The 43d did all its assigned tasks including infantry combat.

Another battalion of naval artificers, the Bataillon Espagne served in Spain from 1810-1813. In 1812, the Battalion of the Danube and the 1st Bataillon de l’Escaut were assigned to the Grande Armee’s engineer parc. A portion of them served with Eble at the crossing of the Berezina, and the survivors of the units were with Rapp’s garrison of Danzig. Rapp also organized a squadron of gunboats upon which the sailors undoubtedly manned.

Baste commanded the 4th and 17th Equipages de Flotille in Russian who worked along the Grande Armee’s line of communications in Russia and some of them ended up at the Berezina with Eble’s pontonniers.

In 1813, the naval artificers remaining in France supplied 1,000 men to rebuild the pontonier and sapeur du genie battalions. Two naval battalions in Germany with the Grande Armee served as both infantry and artillerymen and ended up in the garrison of Torgau.

In all, there were nine battalions of ouvriers militaires de la marine in 1811-Espagne, Danube, 1st, 2d, and 3d Escaut, Boulogne, Toulon, Brest, and Cherbourg. (Elting, Swords, 706.)

The lineage of the naval artillerymen went back to the old Royal Navy. They were known then as cannoniers-matelots. When assigned aboard ship, they served as pointers and gun captains. Ashore they manned coastal artillery which protected naval bases. They were abolished on 28 January 1794 but in October 1795 were reestablished as Demi-Brigades of Marine (naval) artillery. They held naval rank and a brigade of them served in Italy in 1800-1801. The eventually became the Corps Imperial d’Artillerie de la Marine (Imperial Corps of Naval Artillery) in 1805 (the Demi-Brigades being abolished in 1803 and replaced with four regiments) with four regiments in France, along with six companies of apprentice gunners and six companies of ouvriers. There were also two battalions detached serving one each on Guadeloupe and Martinique. They served both ashore and aboard ship as before.

The combat record of the naval artillery regiments under the Empire actually begins in 1813, with the exception of one battalion that was in Portugal with Junot. They were converted into four infantry regiments, the 1st having 8 battalions, the 2d having 10, and the 3d and 4th regiments having four each. They were assigned to Marmont’s VI Corps and were also given dark blue overcoats and their steadiness under fire with those overcoats led the allies to believe that they were Guard units.

After forming, cadres for the foot artillery and men for the artillery of the Guard were taken from them, eight companies of the former and four hundred for the latter. Five hundred of the best of the gunners were ‘left with the Navy.’ The four regiments were filled with conscripts for those taken elsewhere and officers were provided with ‘recent St Cyr graduates’ and Guard Velites.

Were the naval artillerymen also sailors? I would say so, as they were naval personnel and based on their record the naval personnel that served with the armies in land operations were quite literally ‘maids of all work’-artillerymen, infantrymen, engineers, and sailors.

Two excellent references for the naval personnel and units who served with the French armies are:

-Napoleon’s Sea Soldiers by Rene Chartrand.

-Swords Around a Throne by John Elting, Chapter XV.

Other useful references are:

-Historique de l’Artillerie de la Marine by the Ministry of the Navy

-Les Marins de la Republique et de l’Empire by Paul Lecene.

Indeed - one is in need of such witnesses to find out the usual propaganda stories.

@Immo Frese

Indeed that could be - in case you look at the "cokpacks" in the campe de Dresde manuscript - huge. they seemingly grew out of proportion compared to earlier Napoleonic period.

@Hans - Karl Weiß So a colpack is a better translation for this than a bearskin?

@Jonathan North

I may be mistaken, but colpack described, as far as I know a bearskin cap of voltigeurs or light cavalry in different shape to the bearskin caps of the line infantry, so in case this term is correct for the French Army, or Polish I would use it.