Hello everyone,
I already posted this on The Miniatures Page, but I thought it worth while to post it here as well. For those who have already seen this, I apologize in advance. Below shows the officers of the 7e Legere who fought at the Battle of Thann. I have also listed their awards, age, and wounds if available. I am also attaching men who were sent from the velites de la Chasseurs a pied Garde Imperial to make up for the losses of the regiment after Eylau.
Below is the list of officers from the 7e Legere that took part in the Battle of Thann. The 3rd Battalion was the advance guard of General Gudin's division under General de brigade Petit's command. The 1st and 2nd Battalions were attached to General de Division Montbrun with Colonel Charles-Guillaume Lamaire in command of the regiment. As the list shows below, the 1st and 3rd suffered the most casualties, with the 3rd’s staff being the hardest hit, losing Adj. Major. Louis Waroquier (killed) and Chef de Batallion Jean-Pierre Faury shot in the left hip. Six other officers from the 3rd Battalion would be wounded, including two Capits., two Lieuts., and 2 Sous-Lieuts. There was also one officer from the 2nd Battalion, named S.Lieut. François-Joseph Courties, who was shot in the left shoulder.
The wounded officers of the 3rd Battalion were Capit. Yves-Blaise-Julien Bonnescuelle Duplessy (35) shot in the right hand, 3e Bat./ 4e Co. Capit. Jean Baptiste Brocq (43) was wounded by a shot at Thann on 19 April 1809, 3e Bat./ 3e Co Lieut. Charles Dupuy (no date of birth) no information on his wounds, 3e Bat./ 4e Co. Lieut. Jean Bertrand Senat (39) received a strong contusion to the right shoulder, 3e Bat./ 3e Co. S.Lieut. Joseph-Benjamin Collin (25) no information on his wounds, and 3e Bat./ 4e Co. S.Lieut. Ambroise Beaumont (no date of birth) no information on his wounds.
Multiple sources put the total casualties for the regiment over 200 men hors de combat. We do know two officers were killed, and 13 other officers were wounded, including the commanding officer Colonel Charles-Guillaume Lamaire, who received a strong contusion to the left thigh. Unfortunately, I am missing the controle de troupes for the 7e Legere, which would shed some more light on the regiment's losses and the situational report dated 20 April 1809. In his work on the 1809 campaign, the Austrian historian Binder says, "In the Petit Brigade, the 7th Light Regiment 2 Batts., which had branched off to Montbrun, lost 2 Officers and only 40 men, which does not seem quite comprehensible." https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=H8lCAAAAYAAJ... One word of caution, even though Binder claims to have seen the 20 April 1809 3rd Corps Situational report, his number of casualties seems very high. It does not match the number of men I have collected from the controle de troupes for other regiments.
However, I did find a document that shows the number of men killed up to 30 April 1809. As shown below from C506, the 7e Legere had 41 killed or scratched off the roles twenty days after the opening of hostilities, which was most likely includes those killed outright, mortally wounded, and or those written off due to long absence in the hospital.
The 7e Legere Regimental history reports, "Our losses did not exceed 200 men; Captain Waroquier was killed." https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ugCm4rhYxDQC... Whatever the actual losses were for the regiment, the 7e Legere could easily afford them as they were one of the strongest regiments in the 3rd Corps with 63 officers and 2,790 NCOs and soldiers present on 10 April 1809.
I would also like to post some information on the officers who joined the regiment after the horrific Battle of Eylau. On the two-day Battle of Eylau on 6 and 7 February 1807, the regiment would take part in Marshal Augereau's VII Corps' disastrous attack on the second day of battle. The 7e Legere would lose four officers killed, four mortally wounded, and 29 wounded. After internal promotions, to make up for losses, the regiment was sent five newly promoted Sous-Lieutenants from the Velites de la Chasseur a pied nine days after the battle on 16 February 1807 and three officers on 13 July 1807. Most regiments I have researched have a few officers from the Velites des la Garde (Grenadiers or Chasseurs a pied). However, the 7e Legere is the largest yet. Of the 18 Sous-Lieuts present with the regiment on 19 April 1809, 10 were former Velites des la Chasseurs a pied de la Garde. In contrast, Joseph Marcel (20) was the only recent graduate of the École Spéciale Impériale Militaire de Saint-Cyr. The other seven Sous-Lieuts. were long-serving soldiers of the 7e Legere who were promoted from the ranks and must have felt some jealousy or frustration with the Garde newcomers. There were also two Lieuts. from the Velites des la Chasseurs a pied de l Garde, Claude-Phillippe Cotte (34) and Jean-Paul-Marie de Sede (31). Lieut. Cotte was a holder of the Legion d'honneur and had a long career before joining the the Garde and eventually being promoted Sergent in an 9 in the Velites des la Chasseurs a pied de la Garde in 2nd Company, 3rd Battalion of the 2e Regiment. This is still a work in progress as a few are still missing.
References:
Historique du 82e régiment d'infanterie de ligne et du 7e régiment d'infanterie légère, 1684-1876, par P. Arvers, avec les différents types d'uniformes... par Ch. Brecht,... dessinés et gravés... par E. Collomb,... – Paul Arvers, Brecht https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ugCm4rhYxDQC&printsec=frontcover&fbclid=IwAR323lREIfLo0zULU1He6DySm3l5RcBkTpZvVhYVF8mqDl54QLayBwvxCvc&pg=GBS.PA192
Der Krieg Napoleons gegen Oesterreich 1809 – Freiherr Karl Binder von Krieglstein
2YB552 7.Légère An X.1811
XB576 7.Légère 1809
2C 506 2e&3e Corps April 1809
Regiment de velites, 14 germinal an XII [5 Mars 1804] -21 Mars 1807. GR20 YC48 https://www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/fr/arkotheque/visionneuse/visionneuse.php?arko=YToxMTp7czoxMDoidHlwZV9mb25kcyI7czo3OiJhcmtvX2lyIjtzOjg6ImltZ190eXBlIjtOO3M6NDoicmVmMCI7czoyOiI1MSI7czo0OiJyZWYxIjtzOjI6IjIyIjtzOjQ6InJlZjIiO2k6NjU7czo0OiJyZWYzIjtzOjQ2OiJQQVJDT1VSU0lORElWL0NPTlRST0xFVFJPVVBFL0dSMjBZQy8yMFlDMDA0OFgvIjtzOjQ6InJlZjQiO3M6NDY6IlBBUkNPVVJTSU5ESVYvQ09OVFJPTEVUUk9VUEUvR1IyMFlDLzIwWUMwMDQ4WC8iO3M6MTg6ImlkX2Fya19lYWRfZmFtaWxsZSI7aToxMDtzOjQ6Im1vZGUiO3M6NzoiZG9zc2llciI7czoxNjoidmlzaW9ubmV1c2VfaHRtbCI7YjoxO3M6MjE6InZpc2lvbm5ldXNlX2h0bWxfbW9kZSI7czo0OiJwcm9kIjt9#uielem_move=0%2C0&uielem_islocked=0&uielem_zoom=100&uielem_brightness=0&uielem_contrast=0&uielem_isinverted=0&uielem_rotate=F
Tableaux, par corps et par batailles, des officiers tués et blessés pendant les guerres de l'Empire (1805-1815) / par A. Martinien,... Martinien, Aristide, 1899.
Base Leonore http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/leonore_fr?ACTION=NOUVEAU&USRNAME=nobody&USRPWD=4%24%2534P
High quality research again, but please include all what you did publish on TMP - like the information about the purchase of cloth and so on, it would deserve a more in depth discussion.
PM with details about the light infantry coat on the way.