Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne

Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne
Rider of the regiment
active	November 19, 1791 to 1795
Country	France
Armed forces	Coalition troops
Branch of service	cavalry
Type	dragoon
Strength	200
Insinuation	Army of the emigrants
commander
Important commanders	Comte de Bussy

The Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne (later "Chevaliers de la couronne") were a cavalry unit of the army of the emigrants during the French counter-revolution . It existed from 1791 to 1795.

history

Lineup

The unit was set up on November 19, 1791 in Worms by the Comte de Bussy, an emigrated nobleman from Burgundy , who provided a considerable amount of money for it. She was assigned to the army of emigrants .

The troop should consist of 300 aristocrats or young men from good families. They were to be the nucleus of the army that the Prince de Condè had decided to raise . The Comte Louis de Frotté and the Prince de Talmont also decided to join the corps . In January 1792 the unit marched first to Ettenheim , then to Oberkirch (Baden) . The Condé army then consisted of only two thousand men.

At the end of 1791, Comte Louis de Frotté joined the “Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne” unit.

Antoine-Philippe de La Trémoille took part in the first campaign of the “Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne” as aide de camp des Comte d'Artois .

Armand Emmanuel du Plessis, duc de Richelieu , temporarily in command of the "Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne", after his resignation he was replaced by the Duc François-Henri d'Harcourt .

The King of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm II. Met in Germersheim with the Prince de Condé, who before him at the head of a battalion of nobles, with some other corps, such as B. the "Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne" and the Légion noire de Mirabeau in review.

The campaign got off to a promising start. Theobald Dillon's troops were driven from the Netherlands, his soldiers shouted treason and massacred him on April 28, 1792. The pressure of the coalition seemed irresistible.

Louis de Frotté and the "Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne" were annoyed that they were not used in the cannonade at Valmy and also about the attitude of the allies who (in their view) had withdrawn for no reason. This retreat through the mud, water from wells and ponds poisoned by corpses, the attitude of the republican-patriotic populations in the north and east was a nightmare. Royalist civilians fearing for their lives made this debacle worse. A daily order of the Comte d'Artois of November 23, 1793 dissolved the units of the emigrants pro forma.

In the service of Austria

Nonetheless, de Condé's troops continued their fighting activity; they were now in the ranks of the Austrians . In the “First Battle of Weissenburg” in 1793, the regiments “Leopold-Toskana Hussars” and “Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne” in Sandern received the order to march into the area of Reilsheim . A German brigade appeared here at the same time, headed by the Duc de Bourbon and the Duc d'Enghien.

The disorder of the enemy army was so great at that moment that its cavalry fled and shot at its own infantry, which they believed to be part of the emigre army. The result of this mistake was a considerable loss of people and horses. On that day the revolutionary troops lost about 2,000 men. It would have been even more if the two counter-revolutionary avant-gardes of Hotzé and Viomesnil had followed them. The existing 6,000 emigrants would probably have thrown 30,000 Republicans back onto the lines on the Lauter. The Field Marshal Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser but hesitated and ordered not to proceed on the already achieved positions out.

Despite this renewed tactical mistake made by Field Marshal Wurmsers, Monsieur de Salgues, who commanded a cavalry division, wanted the Hussards de Salm-Kirburg , the Uhlan Regiment of André Boniface Louis Riquetti de Mirabeau and the "Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne" existed to take a hill occupied by the Republicans, which was welcomed by his small troop. He split them up to attack on three points. Monsieur de Salgues took command of one of these columns, the other two were led by the Viscount de Cluny and Monsieur de Laureau. This brave troop moves in silence, switched off the first two guards and, without firing a single shot, were able to vive le Roi! The redoubt, occupied by 300 republicans, with loud war cries ! conquer.

At the same time attacked General Puymaigre from Corps Condé, who was in its right wing at the head of two groups of nobles and "Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne" and was able to with the battle cry "Long live the King", a detachment of republican cavalry up push back under the enemy cannons under the gallows hill.!.

The "Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne" were often used to support or even rescue other units. They supported carabininiers who were already being shot at by Republican artillery fire and were being pursued by fresh cavalry. The Carabininiers then joined them, and the lieutenant colonel, in command of this division, came to thank them. He turned to the Chevalier d'Arbaud, the aide-major of the "Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne", who had saved a sub-officer of the Carabiniers with as much skill as courage. Ecquevilly wrote:

"Under these circumstances I have seen an example of the anger that the murder of our queen has aroused particularly in the Hungarians."

The fight went on despite everything. Moreau was pursued on his retreat not by the Austrians, but by the vanguard of the Condé army under the Duc d'Enghien. Battles were fought in Aichach , on September 30, 1793 in Schussenried (300 dead or wounded) and on October 2 in Biberach , where Moreau completely surprised the imperial and drove them away, which cost them more than 4,000 men. If the debacle did not turn out to be a catastrophe, it was thanks to the Condé Army. The small Condé artillery troops, the army headquarters and the "Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne" were able to clear the situation through their intervention and save the Austrians from final annihilation.

Jean Victor Marie Moreau called the matter a half-victory the next day:

" Sans cette poignée d'émigrés, l'armée autrichienne était à moi!
(Without this handful of emigrants, the Austrian army was mine). "

.

The unit was also involved in the Second Battle of Weissenburg . At that time, the "Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne" consisted of 200 or 300 men between the ages of 16 and 20. During a fight, Frotté stayed on the battlefield all day and shows a lot of courage and serenity. The three elite troops, the “Chevaliers-dragons de la couronne” under the command of Mandat and du Breuil; the "Grenadiers de Saint-Jean" under the command of Moulin and the defectors under Saint-Louis saved the last columns by covering the retreat.

In 1795, the King ( Louis XVIII. ) Was ordered to dismiss the Corps of the Chevaliers-dragons de la Couronne by the Prince de Condé as the only way to resolve the differences between Monsieur de Bussy, the commander of this Corps, and the Chevaliers, who had been very annoyed to learn that he had started negotiations with the Austrians in order to get out of the world with their pay. As a result of this dismissal, the unit was immediately set up again on the field as "Chevaliers de la couronne". The level of training was the same as that of the other cavalry regiments, but some changes were made in the officer corps.

In British service

Louis de Frotté was meanwhile with the "Régiment des Chevaliers de la couronne" under Viscount de Bussy in Great Britain and is preparing for the invasion of his homeland.

To highlight his devotion to the Bourbon cause , in 1794 in London, he asked Monsieur Puisaye , who was in charge of the King's interests in Brittany , urgently for permission to travel through France to stir up Normandy . The "Chevaliers de la couronne" were one of the four corps that should form the Catholic and Royal Army of Normandy (Armée des royalistes de Normandie et de la lisière du Bas-Maine). In the battle of Biberach the "Chevaliers de la Couronne", the Régiment du Dauphin cavalerie and 300 other riders were deployed.

The German peasants were often more dangerous to the de Condé army than the Republican soldiers. Not infrequently they killed soldiers who were traveling alone or in small groups and plundered them. The Germans were not always to blame for this behavior. One reason for this was the arrogant behavior of the noble horsemen who had not given up their feudal manners and were after every skirt. About a girl who had been raped by the troop's hussars and who complained about it, de Condé said condescendingly thunder de l'argent à la coquine (give the rascal money). In another case, riders of the regiment who were after a peasant girl got into an argument with the father, who was killed in the process.

After the end of the First Coalition War , Condé's army switched to the service of Tsar Paul I and was stationed in Poland. They fought in the Rhineland in 1799 under Alexander Wassiljewitsch Suworow . After Russia left the Second Coalition in 1800 , those loyal to the king switched back to the English and fought in southern Germany.

After the army of de Condé had earned merit in Wissembourg, Haguenau and Bentheim, de Condé had to dismiss his army and retired to Great Britain in 1800 with his son. Nothing is known about the whereabouts of the “Chevaliers de la couronne”.

Footnotes

1. ↑ the term is difficult to translate because there are several meanings for "Chevalier". In this case, however, the German "Kavalier" would be appropriate in the sense of higher social status.
2. ↑ Souvenirs du chevalier d'Hespel d'Hocron, volontaire à l'armée de Condée, 1794-1797: Accompagnés d'une notice sur la famille d'Hespel, Albéric Charles Henri d'Hespel d'Hocron, Hyrvoix de Landosle, Editions P. Roger, 1927, p. 32.
3. ↑ Archives généalogiques et historiques de la noblesse de France, ou, Recueil de preuves, mémoires et notices généalogiques, servant à constater l'origine, la filiation, les alliances et les illustrations religieuses, civiles et militaires de diverses maisons et familles nobles du royaume , P Louis Lainé, 1830, p. 38.
4. ^ Campagnes du corps sous les ordres de Son Altesse Sérénissime Mgr le prince de Condé, Armand François Hennequin Ecquevilly, Le Normant, 1818, vol. 1, p. 12.
5. ↑ Louis de Frotté: le lion de Normandie, Jean Silve de Ventavon, Fernand Lanore, 1993, p. 64.
6. ^ Campagnes du corps sous les ordres de Son Altesse Sérénissime Mgr le prince de Condé, Armand François Hennequin Ecquevilly, Le Normant, 1818, v.1, p.68.
7. ^ Campagnes du corps sous les ordres de Son Altesse Sérénissime Mgr le prince de Condé, Armand François Hennequin Ecquevilly, Le Normant, 1818, v.1, pp. 74 & 75.
8. ↑ Campagnes du corps sous les ordres de Son Altesse Sérénissime Mgr le prince de Condé, Armand François Hennequin Ecquevilly, Le Normant, 1818, v.1, p. 219.
9. ↑ the chief assistant to the chief of staff
10. ^ Campagnes du corps sous les ordres de Son Altesse Sérénissime Mgr le prince de Condé, Armand François Hennequin Ecquevilly, Le Normant, 1818, vol. 1, p. 247.
11. ↑ Revue de Rouen et de Normandie, Société des émules, Rouen, Au bureau de la Revue de Rouen, 1845, année 13 (1845), p. 393 et ​​Histoire de l'armée de Condé pendant la Révolution française (1791-1801) : d'après les archives de l'État, les mémoires de l'émigration et des documents inédits, René Bittard des Portes, Slatkine-Megariotis Reprints, 1975, p. 306 et Revue des études historiques, Société des études historiques, 1902, année 68 (1902), p. 206.
12. ↑ Louis de Frotté: Le lion de Normandie, Jean Silve de Ventavon, Fernand Lanore, 1993, p 109th
13. ^ Armée de Condé
14. ↑ La chouannerie dans l'Avranchin / by Félix Jourdan .
15. ^ Campagnes du corps sous les ordres de Son Altesse Sérénissime Mgr le prince de Condé, Armand François Hennequin Ecquevilly, Le Normant, 1818, vol. 1, p. 377.
16. ↑ Louis de Frotté: The Lion of Normandy, Jean Silve de Ventavon, Fernand Lanore, 1993, p. 108.
17. ↑ Forneron, Henri (1834-1886) Histoire générale des émigrés pendant la Révolution française, E. Plon, Nourrit (Paris), Vol.II, p. 17