3 e regiment de cuirassiers

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Régiment Commissaire Général Cavalerie
3 e régiment de cuirassiers

3rd regiment de cuirassiers.jpg

Internal association badge
active 1635 to 1998
Country Armoiries république française.svg France
Armed forces Flag of France.svg French armed forces
Armed forces Flag of France.svg Armée française de terre
Branch of service cavalry
Type Panzer Regiment
Insinuation 8 e brigade motorisée
Location Chenevières
Patron saint Saint Georges
motto "Retrocedere Nescit"
("Il ne sait pas reculer")
commander
commander Last: Colonel Figuier
Important
commanders

Mestre de camp , marquis d'Esclainvilliers

The 3 e régiment de cuirassiers (short: 3 e RC ) was a cavalry association of the French army . In the end it belonged to the arm blindée et cavalerie . The then "Régiment d'Esclainvilliers" as the first association in the tradition of the "3 e cuirassiers" was one of the twelve permanent cavalry regiments that had been set up in the Kingdom of France by decree of May 16, 1635.

Lineup and name changes

1635: Listed under the name Régiment d'Esclainvillers-cavalerie
1645: Renamed to: Régiment Commissaire général cavalerie
1791: Renaming as part of military reforms to: 3 e régiment de cavalerie
1803: Conversion into a cuirassier regiment with the designation: 3 e régiment de cuirassiers
1814: During the restoration it was renamed: 3 e régiment de cuirassiers-Le Dauphin
1815: During the reign of the Hundred Days, renamed the 3 e régiment de cuirassiers
1815: Disbanded after the second restoration and integrated into the 6 e régiment de cuirassiers-Condé .
1816: Reinstated as: Cuirassiers d'Angoulême
1824: Renamed to: Cuirassiers de Bordeaux
1830: Renamed to: 3 e régiment de cuirassiers
1919: Disbanded
1940: Rebuilt and dissolved again after the peace agreement
1952: erected again
1964: Disbanded
1968: Repositioned
1998: Definitely dissolved

Mestres de camp / Colonels / Chefs de brigade

Mestre de camp was the rank designation for the regimental owner and / or the actual commander. Should the Mestre de camp be a person of the high nobility who had no interest in leading the regiment (e.g. the king or queen), the command was given to the Mestre de camp lieutenant (or Mestre de camp en second). The name Colonel was used from 1791 to 1793 and from 1803, from 1793 to 1803 the name Chef de brigade was used . From 1791 there were no more regimental owners.

Colonel Lacarre
Grave of Colonel Henri de Lafutsun de Lacarre, fallen near Frœschwiller on August 6, 1870 during the attack near Reichshoffen.
  • 1635: Marquis d'Esclainvilliers
  • ?
  • 1791: Alexandre Guillaume Morin de Montcanisy, Colonel
  • 1792: Louis Charles de La Motte-Ango de Flers, Colonel
  • 1792: François Léger de Bellefonds, Colonel
  • 1794: Jean-Baptiste Lefebvre, Chef de brigade
  • 1794: Nicolas Sigisbert Mollard, Chef de brigade
  • 1798: Jean-Baptiste Meunier, Chef de brigade
  • 1801: Claude Antoine Hippolyte de Préval, Chef de brigade, 1803 Colonel
  • 1806: Jean-Louis Richter, Colonel
  • 1809: Jean Toussaint Arrighi de Casanova , Colonel
  • 1811: Charles Eugène Lalaing d'Audenarde, Colonel
  • 1813: Jean-Guillaume Lacroix, Colonel
  • ?
  • 1830: Joseph-Nicolas Brice
  • 1870: Louis Lafutsun de Lacarre, killed in the attack near Reichshoffen
  • ?
  • 1892: Colonel Poulot
  • 1896 to 1898: Colonel Geslin de Bourgogne
  • 1909: Colonel de l'Espée
  • ?
  • 1940: Lieutenant-Colonel François
  • ?
  • 1962 to June 14, 1964: Lieutenant-colonel Hannezo
  • 1974 to 1976: Lieutenant-colonel Beau.
  • 1978 to 1980: Lieutenant-colonel Bosch
  • 1980 to 1982: Colonel Bonavita
  • 1982 to 1984: Colonel de Conninck
  • ?
  • 1989 to 1990: Colonel Desrousseaux de Medrano
  • 1990 to 1992: Colonel Chèvre
  • 1992 to 1994: Colonel Toussaint
  • 1994 to 1996: Colonel Kermorvant
  • 1996 to 1998: Colonel Figuier

Battle calendar

Ancien Régime

The regiment took part in almost all battles of the monarchy.

Seven Years War

Revolution and Empire

1815 to 1848

  • After the first restoration in 1814, the regiment was given the name "Régiment de cuirassiers du dauphin". After Napoleon's return from the island of Elba, it was briefly renamed "3 e régiment des cuirassiers". After his final abdication, it was dissolved on November 25, 1815, but shortly afterwards under the name "Cuirassiers d'Angoulême n ° 3". set up again. In 1830, after the July Revolution , it was given its last name: "3 e régiment de cuirassiers" .

Second empire

Attack of the 3e regiment de cuirassiers in the battle of Wörth on August 6, 18170
  • On August 2, the regiment fought in a battle near Haguenau
  • On August 6, 1870, the "3 e régiment de cuirassiers" was assigned to the "Division de Bonnemains" and deployed in the second phase of the cavalry attack at Reichshoffen. ( Battle of Wörth ). It lost 62 men and the regimental commander, Colonel de Lacarre, whose head was torn off by a shell. His cuirass, which was only slightly damaged on the collar, is now in the Cavalry Museum in Saumur .

After this attack, the remainder of the regiment withdrew in good order to Saverne , where it arrived the following day. Then the unit marched to Chalons-sur-Marne , which they reached on August 20, to unite with the main army there. From there the route continued via Floing (Ardennes) to Sedan , which the remainder of the division reached on September 1st. On September 3, the entire army surrendered. The "3 e régiment de cuirassiers" ceased to exist when the standard could be brought to safety. The replacement depot was in Limoges in September, from where the reserve unit, the "3 e cuirassiers de marche" ( March regiment ), was seconded to the Armée de la Loire (Loire Army). On the evening of March 4, 1871, the marching regiment arrived in Paris, where on April 1 it was designated as the new "3 e régiment de cuirassiers".

During the time of the Paris Commune , the regiment was involved in the suppression of the uprising and the bloody May week .

Interwar period

  • In 1904 parts of the regiment (depot, administration, directorate) were in Reims and Vouziers, the escadrons were stationed in Verdun . It belongs to the "1 re brigade de hussards" (1st hussar brigade) of the "4 e division de cavalerie" (4th cavalry division).

First World War

  • In 1914 the garrison was in Vouziers , the headquarters in Reims . It belonged to the "3 e brigade de cuirassiers" in the "4 e division de cavalerie" from August 1914 to September 1918.
  • The regiment fought on the Guise, then in Belgium at Virton , Cambron , Petit-Morin, Pontavert, Merville, Mercjem, Zarrenlinde and Clerckem, in Champagne , on the Avre (Somme) , in the Battle of the Somme and in the Second Battle on the Marne . For these missions he was given the inscriptions "Belgique 1914-1918" and "Picardie 1918" on the standard. The regiment was mounted as a cavalry regiment throughout the war.
  • In 1919 it was dissolved

Second World War

When the war broke out, new units of the Light Mechanized Division were set up. The regiment was part of the 4 e Division Légère Mécanique.

On May 27, 1940, the regiment was in Abbeville , where it offered resistance to the German Wehrmacht , but had to retreat to Beauvais after a short time . It brought up the rear when the French withdrew to Cormonville and Cheverny . On June 25, hostilities ceased and all units were ordered to cease firing. On July 31, 1940, the regiment in the field was disbanded.

post war period

  • In 1952 the regiment in Trier was reorganized.
  • In 1956 it was moved to Algeria , where it was disembarked in Oran and garrison in Sebdou in the Tlemcen region to secure the border with Morocco .
  • 1962 moved the regiment with three escadrons and the ECS (Escadron Commandement et Services - staff and supply cadron) to Sainte-Barbe du Tlelat, where they took part in the fighting at Oran. At the beginning of 1963 the 3rd Escadron stayed in Sainte-Barbe du Tlelat, the ECS and the 1st Escadron moved to Senia, the 2nd Escadron to Sidi-Chami. Here she secured access to Mers-el-Kébir . In March 1964, the whole regiment was concentrated in the "Caserne d'Eckmuhl" in Oran to be transported on June 4, 1964 to Camp de Sissonne in France. The heavy equipment consisted of tanks M24 Chaffee , M8 Greyhound and M3 half-tracks
  • June 14, 1964: renewed dissolution. The standard was kept in the "Center d'instruction des Blindés" (tank training center) in Trier.
  • In 1968 the unit was reactivated as a tank destroyer regiment. A abandoned property of the US Air Force on the heights of Saint-Clément between Lunéville and Baccarat served as a garrison . They were equipped with AMX-13 tank destroyers . In 1973, the AMX-13 were exchanged for AMX-30 main battle tanks and the regiment was given the status of a tank regiment.
  • After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, a number of regiments were disbanded in 1992, and the units stationed in Germany were particularly hard hit. The regiment was reorganized and received the 2nd Escadron des 5e régiment de cuirassiers and the EED (Escadron-d-eclairage-divisionnaire - Divisions-Aufklärungsescadron) incorporated into the "57 e division blindé". A new Escadron was installed and equipped with the AMX-30B.
  • An Escadron was deployed in Croatia for four months in 1994 as part of FORPRONU (Force de protection des Nations Unies). In 1997 it sent some relatives to the Western Sahara as UN observers .
  • As part of the downsizing of the French armed forces, the regiment was finally dissolved in 1998.

Inscriptions on the last standard carried

The outstanding battles and campaigns in which the regiment took part are listed in gold letters on the standard :

  • Valmy 1792
  • Marengo 1800
  • Austerlitz 1805
  • La Moskova 1812
  • Champaubert 1814
  • Belgique 1914-1918
  • Picardy 1918
  • AFN 1952-1962

Awards

The flag ribbon is decorated with the Croix de guerre 1914–1918 with a gold-plated star. (An Honorable Mention by the Army Corps.)

Motto

"Retrocedere Nescit"
(Il ne sait pas reculer)
"It knows no backing away "

Ancien Régime

Uniforms

  • 1740 to 1757

  • 1757 to 1762

  • 1762 to 1767

  • 1767 to 1776

  • 1776 to 1779

  • 1779 to 1786

  • 1786 to 1791

  • 1791

Standards

  • Standard of the regiment holder of the Régiment Commissaire Général, both sides the same

  • Standard of the Régiment Commissaire Général, obverse

  • Standard of the Régiment Commissaire Général, reverse side

Uniforms of the Revolution and the First Empire

When they were converted into a cuirassier regiment, the riders surrendered their tunics and received a short, collarless jacket that was only buttoned to the belt. The cuffs were blue, the pockets were transverse. The epaulettes are also blue, with piping in the colors of the regiment. In 1805 the helmet was given a red plume, and red epaulettes with fringes were added. The normal uniform skirt for duty without a cuirass had a tailcoat-like appearance with red lap envelopes on which there were blue grenades - the symbol for the elite associations (Armes d'élite).

  • Standard of the 1st Escadron 1791

  • Standard of the 2nd Escadron 1791

  • Standard of the 3rd Escadron 1791

  • Standard of the 4th Escadron 1791

literature

  • Général de brigade Philippe Peress 31, rue Hoche 49400 Saumur .
  • Édition heimdal 8058 De Gaulle chef de guerre.
  • Charles Maumené, Histoire du 3e Régiment de Cuirassiers, ci-devant du Commissaire-Général, 1645–1892 , Boussod, Valadon et Cie, Paris, 1893. 1 volume grand in-4 broché, 379 pages, 8 planches hors texte.
  • La Journée de Reichshoffen, avec carte et pièces officielles , par Eugène de Monzie -Palmé (Paris) -1876, available sur Gallica.bnf.fr, qui détaille notamment la fameuse charge
  • Historique sommaire du 3ème régiment de cuirassiers pendant la grande guerre: 1914 à 1918 -Berger-Levrault (Nancy) -1920, available on Gallica.bnf.fr, qui contient également une notice sur l'histoire du régiment avant la guerre

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 1789-1815 Armée française en 1804
  2. ↑ Almanach de l'Action libérale popular ...
  3. ↑ n ° 12350 / SGA / DPMA / SHD / DAT du 14 septembre 2007 relative aux inscriptions de noms de batailles sur les drapeaux et étendards des corps de troupe de l'armée de terre, du service de santé des armées et du service des essences des armées, Bulletin officiel des armées, numéro 27, 9 novembre 2007 Arrêté relatif à l'attribution de l'inscription AFN 1952-1962 sur les drapeaux et étendards des formations des armées et services, du 19 novembre 2004 (A) NORDEF0452926A Michèle Alliot -Marie (regulation no. 12350 / SGA / DPMA / SHD / DAT of September 14, 2007 regulates the inscriptions on the standards of the troops of the army, the medical service and the fuel supply service (Service des essences des armées). The basis is the “Bulletin officiel des armées », numéro 27, 9 November 2007)