8 e régiment de cuirassiers

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Régiment de Cuirassiers cavalerie
8 e régiment de cuirassiers

Cuir 8 Insignia 1954.png

Most recently used association badge
active 1635 to 1964
Country Blason France modern.svg Flag of France.svg France
Armed forces Blason France modern.svg Flag of France.svgfrench army
Armed forces cavalry
Branch of service Cuirassiers / tank scouts
Location La Valbonne
Patron saint St. George
commander
commander last: Colonel Dumas-Delage
Important
commanders

Mestre de camp Marquis de Vibraye

Association badge 1936 to 1942

The Régiment de Cuirassiers cavalerie , most recently an armored reconnaissance regiment as the 8 e régiment de cuirassiers , was originally a regiment of heavy cavalry, established in the Kingdom of France during the Ancien Régime . It did particularly well in the Revolutionary Wars and the Wars of the First Empire .

Formation history

  • 1635: Establishment of the regiment de cuirassiers du Roy . At that time it consisted of two or three companies (also called "Esquadres" or "Escadrons"), each with 100 to 120 riders.
  • 1638: By order of Cardinal Richelieu , the Cuirassiers were renamed Cavalerie.

In the same year it was handed over to the Marquis d'Aumont and was now called: Régiment du marquis d'Aumont cavalerie

  • 1645: Renamed to: Régiment de Chappes cavalerie
  • 1665: Renaming to: Régiment de Villequier cavalerie At the request of the king, the riders were equipped with a cuirass , as was customary with the troops of the German emperor.
  • 1740: Renamed to: Régiment de cuirassiers du Roy
  • 1791: After 125 years, the regiment its proud name "Cuirassiers du Roy" lost to in 8 e régiment de cavalerie to be renamed
  • 1803: Renamed to: 8 e régiment de cuirassiers
  • 1815: dissolved
  • 1825: Conversion of the Régiment des dragons du Rhône into the 8 e régiment de cuirassiers
  • 1916: Renamed to: 8 e régiment de cuirassiers à pied
  • 1919: Disbanded
  • 1936: Re-established as: 8 e régiment de cuirassiers
  • 1940: Renamed to: 8 e régiment de cuirassiers, Régiment de Lorraine (In the Armistice Army)
  • 1942: Disbanded (continued in the Maquis )
  • 1944: Relocated as: 8 e régiment de cuirassiers
  • 1954: Disbanded
  • 1954: Re-established as: 8 e régiment de cuirassiers
  • 1964: Disbanded

Garrisons

Colonels / chef 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.

I. II. III.
  • 1788: Colonel Charles de Lameth
  • 1792: Colonel Charles-Joseph Randon de Pully
  • 1792: Colonel Albert-Victor-Marie Desprez De la Marliere
  • 1795: Chef de brigade Jean-Baptiste Dore
  • 1796: Chef de brigade Jean Louis Brigitte Espagne
  • 1799: Chef de brigade / Colonel Jean-Baptiste-Gabriel Merlin
  • 1805: Colonel Grandjean
  • 1813: Colonel Louis-Jean-Claude-Clement Lafaivre
  • 1815: Colonel Garavaque
  • 1815: Colonel de Saint Genies
  • 1826: Colonel de Montagu
  • 1830: Colonel Roge
  • 1832: Colonel Hoffman
  • 1833: Colonel Desaix
  • 1835: Colonel de Dancourt
  • 1846: Colonel Porcher
  • 1848: Colonel Rey
  • 1850: Boyer
  • 1855: Colonel Texier-Pommeraye
  • 1856: Colonel Charles Louis Thérémin d'Hame
  • 1865: Colonel de la Rochefoucaud
  • 1869: Colonel François Henri Guiot de La Rochère
  • 1874: Colonel Humblot
  • 1881: Colonel Dufaud
  • 1887: Colonel de Bremond d'Ars
  • 1888: Colonel Torel
  • 1896: Colonel de Carne
  • 1900: Colonel de Seroux
  • 1908: Colonel de Font-Reaulx
  • 1912: Colonel Hugner
  • 1913: Colonel Henri André Mesplé |
  • 1915: Colonel de Latour
  • 1916: Colonel de Tessières
  • 1918: Colonel Leandri
  • 1936: Colonel Morio
  • 1940: Colonel Segur
  • 1944: Colonel Calvel, then Colonel de Beaumont
  • 1945: Colonel Fayolle
  • 1947: Colonel de l'Estoile
  • 1949: Colonel Henry
  • 1953: Colonel de Roquemaurel
  • 1954: Colonel Volpert
  • 1956: Colonel de Balincourt
  • 1959: Colonel Reppelin
  • 1960: Colonel Metivier
  • 1961: Colonel Desrippes
  • 1962: Colonel Dumas-Delage

Colonels who died or were wounded while commanding the regiment:

  • Colonel Dore: died August 6, 1796
  • Colonel Merlin: Wounded May 21, 1809
  • Colonel Grandjean: wounded September 7, 1812
  • Colonel Lefaivre: wounded October 30, 1813
  • Colonel Garavaque: wounded June 16, 1815

Officers of the regiment, killed or wounded between 1805 and 1815:

  • fallen: 8
  • those who died from their wounds: 20
  • wounded: 81

Battle calendar

Ancien Régime

The regiment took part in all of King Louis XIV's campaigns.

In 1672 the regiment took part in the Rhine crossing and "[the riders] ... with their appearance spread fear and terror".
In 1677 at the Battle of Cassel , 17 standards, 44 flags and 3,000 prisoners were taken from the enemy. The Mestre de camp des Regiment, the Comte de Revel, was promoted to Maréchal de camp .
Battle of Neer winds
Battle near Luxembourg
Campaigns in Italy
Battle of Parma
Battle of Guastalla

The cuirassiers took part in the new campaign with four escadrons. On May 11, 1745 they attacked together with the Guard Cavalry, the Gensdames and the Carabiniers in the Battle of Fontenoy

The regiment attacked under the command of the Marquis de Caulaincourt in the battle of Krefeld . In the Battle of Lutterberg , it attacked a total of five times , together with the Régiment Royal-Piémont Cavalerie and the Régiment Dauphin-Cavalerie . The Hanoverian infantry suffered great losses.

Wars of the Revolution and the First Empire

Cannonade near Valmy: in the foreground two cuirassiers and a trumpeter of the 8th regiment. The left column, the 53 should e régiment d'infantry (ex-Alsace) to be. Painting by Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse .

restoration

After the final abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte, the regiment was dismissed and not set up again until 1826.

Second empire

During the Franco-German War , the regiment fought in the Battle of Wörth , in which it was almost wiped out. (3rd Cavalry Brigade, Général Michel in the Cavalry Division of the 1st Army Corps.) This almost suicidal attack pushed the Germans back on Morsbronn and their own 4th Infantry Division was able to withdraw in good order.

Third Republic

During the Paris Commune , the regiment was part of the "Armée versaillaise" (Versailles Army) involved in the so-called Bloody Week .

  • From 1886–1889 the regiment was housed in the Ordener quarter in Senlis

First World War

1914

In July the mobilization took place in Tours . On August 3, the regiment then moved to Revigny on the Maas . On August 10, it received its baptism of fire at Marville in a skirmish with German cavalry. On August 18th the Belgian border was crossed. Skirmishes and attacks on German columns at Villiers, Vallansart and Tintigny followed.

The regiment's first casualty was the cavalier Gaston Grellier who was killed in enemy fire on September 10th during a reconnaissance.

On August 27, fighting followed at Remilly-les-Pothées to cover the withdrawal of the 9th Army Corps. This lasted until the collapse of the German offensive movement.

From September 6th, the cuirassiers carried out reconnaissance tasks in the Sommesous - Soudé-Sainte-Croix area.

This was followed by the race to the sea and the subsequent stabilization of the front.

For the rest of the year the regiment was available as a reserve for the 9th Cavalry Division in Flanders . Brief trenching operations on the Yser Canal followed in places .

1915

  • In January: work at Compiègne , Saint-Sauveur, Saintines
  • February 16 to May 9: in Champagne
  • April: at Saint Mihiel
  • May – June: at Arras and Amiens
  • July 1st: Relocation to Montbéliard for border protection against Switzerland . (57 e division de reserve)
  • August 29th: Relocation to Eurville
  • September 22nd: In Champagne near Somme-Suippes, Somme-Vesle and Tilloy
  • October 4th: Relocation to Dammartin-sur Yévre, Bussy-le-Repos
  • October 25: Relocation to the Lunéville region . Conversion of an escadron into a cavalry rifle escadron (delivery of the horses).
  • December 25th: Deployment of several detachments to work on the construction of the second line of defense, especially in the Parroy forest and on the hill north of Dombasle-sur-Meurthe until May 2nd, 1916

1916

  • May 22nd: By order of the High Command on May 20th, the regiment was converted into a cavalry rifle regiment and the horses surrendered. The new name of the regiment was from June 1st: "8 e régiment de cuirassiers á pied" (8th cuirassier regiment on foot). The structure now corresponded to that of an infantry regiment.

The composition as a nominal infantry regiment was carried out from:

  • the 1st battalion from the four former cavalry escadrons
  • the 2nd battalion of four escadrons of the "Groupe Léger de la 6 e Division de Cavalerie" (light group of the 6th Cavalry Division)
One escadron each from the 7th and 10th Cuirassier Regiments, and one each from the 2nd and 14th Dragoon Regiments
  • the 3rd battalion from four more escadrons of the "Groupe Léger de la 6 e Division de Cavalerie"
13 e chasseurs á cheval and 17 e hussards, as well as two reserve cadrons of the 1 er hussards

In addition there were the “Groupes Cyclistes des 6 e et 9 e divisions de cavalerie” (cycling department of the 6th and 9th cavalry divisions) and a reserve cadron des 13 e chasseurs à cheval.

From June 26, the reorganization was completed and operations took place in the front sections of Lorraine, Champagne, and the Somme. On December 29th and 30th the regiment was withdrawn from the front and transported to Beaucourt to refresh.

1917

Participation in the April offensive at the Chemin des Dame in the Berméhicourt sector and in front of the Fort de la Pompelle .

By October 20, the front lines on the Reims – Chalons road were occupied. Then the regiment withdrew and relocated in the Bois de Zouaves east of Pompelle.

1918

On January 16, after eight months at the front, the unit was relocated to Camp Mailly to refresh.

March – April: Defensive battles in the German spring offensive on the Avrefront. On April 12, 24 officers and 629 men were unavailable. The regiment was withdrawn that day to La Vacquerie in a resting position.

May – June: Defensive battles on the Chemin des Dames in the Selens sector

On June 14th, the unit went to the Abbeville-Saint Lucien region to relax. From May 28 to June 14, 7 officers and 80 men were killed, 21 officers and 770 men were wounded. There were also 221 missing people. The total number of sorts was thus 28 officers and 1,071 men.

On the night of June 28th to 29th, the regiment was loaded into Saint-Omer and transported to the east of the front. On July 6th, the trenches in the area of ​​Ranzières were occupied.

September: Aggressive fighting at Saint-Mihiel. Pursuit of the retreating German troops.

November 11th: The battalions received the telephone message “Suspendre toute action! La Guerre est finie! "(Stop activities - the war is over)

post war period

After the armistice, the regiment lay in Mézières for a few days . From there it marched to Luxembourg and entered German soil on December 11th. The Rhine near St. Goar was reached on December 23rd via Trier and the Hunsrück . On December 27th the loading onto Rhine barges and the transport to Mainz took place . There, on the square in front of the town hall, the regiment's standard was awarded by Général Fayolle with the Fourragère in the colors of the Croix de guerre . On February 2, 1919, the unit moved to Worms, where officers and men were separated for the purpose of dissolution. From here it went to the depot in Tours, where the liquidation was finally carried out.

Interwar period

  • In 1936 the regiment was re-established as a mechanized unit. It was equipped with the Panhard 178 armored car .

Second World War

At the beginning of the war, the unit belonged as an armored reconnaissance regiment to the “2 e division légère mécanique” (2nd light mechanized division) and was the first French unit to cross the Belgian border on the evening of May 10, 1940. For its service in the battle of Hannut it received three commendations in the army command.

In June the regiment defended the bridges in Tours.

After the armistice, it continued to exist in the army of the Vichy regime until it was disbanded by German troops after the rest of France was occupied. On August 24, 1944, Colonel Raymond Chomel unofficially re-established the regiment in the Maquis . It fought underground against the German occupation and also against the column of Major General Elster .

An official reconstruction followed on October 1, 1944. In November of the same year it was used against the German bridgehead at Saint-Nazaire . In May 1945 it was dissolved again.

2. Post-war period

In 1954 the unit was reorganized as an armored reconnaissance regiment with the wheeled armored vehicle EBR-75 , only to be disbanded in 1964. The tradition of the “8 e régiment de cuirassiers” is continued by an escadron des 12 e régiment de cuirassiers .

Standard

The standard bears the names of the battles in which the regiment took part in golden letters:

Fourragère aux couleurs de la Croix de Guerre 1914–1918
  • Valmy 1792
  • Fleurus 1794
  • Wagram 1809
  • La Moskowa 1812
  • Hanau 1813
  • La Marne 1914
  • L'Avre 1918
  • Saint-Mihiel 1918

Royal standards

Napoleonic standards

Awards

The flag ribbon is decorated with:

  • the Croix de guerre , 1914–1918 with two palm branchesCroix de guerre 2 p.png
  • the Croix de guerre 1939-1945 with a palm branch Croix-de-guerre-contraste-IMG 0949.jpg

The standard leads the Fourragère in the colors of the Croix de guerre 1914–1918.

Uniforms of the Ancien Régime

Footnotes

  1. Cuirassiers on foot, the horses were surrendered
  2. Roger Picard, La Vienne dans la guerre 1939/1945: la vie quotidienne sous l'Occupation , Lyon: Horvath, 1993. 264 pages. ISBN 2-7171-0838-6
  3. Between 1793 and 1803 the rank of Colonel was replaced by the designation Chef de brigade.
  4. The commander on the Beresina was also called Marquis de Caulaincourt, but was not identical to the former
  5. Cavalry barracks were called "Quartier"
  6. V. Claude Lembrez: Le Groupement d'squadrons Calvel ou les 122 jours qui le 5e précédèrent résurrection du 8e régiment de cuirassiers (1er juin au 1er octobre 1944). 218 pp., 1990, ISBN 2-9505392-0-3 .
  7. DECISION n ° 12350 / SGA / DMPA / 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
  8. Regulation n ° 12350 / SGA / DPMA / SHD / DAT of September 14, 2007 on the appearance of the inscriptions on the flags and standards of the troops of the army, the medical service and the fuel supply industry. Published with the Official Army Bulletin No. 27 of November 9, 2007
  9. ^ Order AFN 1952–1962 on the assignment of the inscriptions on the flags and standards of the formations of the army and the services of November 19, 2004 (A) NORDEF0452926A Michèle Alliot-Marie

literature

  • Historique du 8 e régiment de cuirassiers, 1665–1874. 106 pp., H. Tanera, éditeur, 1875, in Gallica
  • Cinquième abrégé de la carte générale du militaire de France, sur terre et sur mer - Depuis novembre 1737 jusqu'en décembre 1738. Lemau de la Jaisse, Paris 1739
  • Chronology historique-militaire. M. Pinard, chap. 4 & 7, Paris 1761 & 1764
  • Pajol, Charles PV: Les Guerres sous Louis XV. Cape. VII, Paris, 1891, p. 343
  • Liliane & Fred Funcken: Les uniformes de la guerre en dentelle
  • Musée des Blindés ou Association des Amis du Musée des Blindés, 1043, route de Fontevraud, 49400 Saumur.

Web links