Gardes d'honneur de la Garde impériale

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Gardes d'honneur de la Garde impériale

Charles Joseph Randon de Pully, général de division et commandant le 1st régiment de gardes d'honneur.jpg

Charles Joseph Randon de Pully , Général de division and commander of one he régiment de gardes d'honneur
active 1813 to 1814
Country Flag of France.svg France
Armed forces Emblem of Napoleon Bonaparte.svg Napoleonic Army
Armed forces Guard impériale
Branch of service Cavalerie de la Garde impériale
Type Light cavalry
Insinuation Vieille Guard
Butcher Coalition wars
commander
commander Last: Charles Joseph Randon de Malboissière de Pully

The Gardes d'honneur de la Garde impériale (German: Honorary Guards of the Imperial Guard) consisted of four regiments of light cavalry, set up to reinforce the guard cavalry of the First Empire . Uniformed like the hussars, the staff should come from the bourgeoisie and the lower nobility. The units were built in 1813 and disbanded during the First Restoration .

backgrounds

At the end of 1812, after the disastrous withdrawal from Russia , the Grande Armée was bled to death and in a catastrophic state - the same was true of the Garde impériale , which was far from its target number. The regiment of the Lanciers rouges de la Garde impériale still consisted of 60 riders. Cheered up by the French defeat in Russia, the kings of Europe formed the Sixth Coalition led by Russia and Great Britain. In addition, there were the countries of the so-called Rhine Confederation , which until then had been forced to fight under Napoleon and which now sided with Napoleon's opponents.

With this threat in mind, the emperor ordered the evacuation of 350,000 men by way of a senate resolution ( Senatus consultum ) of January 11, 1813. A new Senate resolution on April 3 then enabled the formation of the Corps of the Gardes d'honneur.

List and structure

Back from Russia, Napoleon decided in 1812 to create new units to reinforce the decimated guard cavalry and to oppose a renewed opposing coalition. Among the hastily deployed troops were 10,000 horsemen who formed the corps of the Gardes d'honneur. The sons of the most important families of the bourgeoisie and the lower nobility from the 130 départements of the empire were asked to volunteer.

Since the new recruits should come from the upper social classes, it was planned that they would have to pay for uniforms and equipment themselves. Furthermore, they were allowed to have their own servants who would do the low jobs for them, such as B. had to do the stable service. Everyone was promised to be promoted to officer after a year of service.

The appeal to the wealthy young men, however, did not bring the hoped-for success, which was probably due to the emerging military defeat; numerous exceptions had to be made. Soon it was inevitable to accept sons coming from humble backgrounds. In the Haute-Garonne department , registration began on April 20, and on August 11, 88 volunteers had reached the quota estimated for this.

However, it appears that the call, such as B. also in the Département Ain , more young people from the lower classes and not the sons of the wealthy bourgeoisie and the nobility, as Napoleon had wanted.

Situation in the Haut-Garonne
  • 47 volunteers were able to pay for their uniforms and equipment, 41 were provided by the prefecture
  • 38 volunteers were able to pay for their horses, the prefecture provided it for 50
  • 40 volunteers were able to pay for bridles / saddles, 48 ​​were provided by the prefecture

The prefecture took the money it needed from a fund set up (or had to be) set up by the wealthiest families in the department.

The recruits from the Haut-Garonne were assigned to the “3 e régiment de gardes d'honneur” of the “Garde impériale” and stationed in Tours for training.

Calls

Although integrated into the Grande Armée completely unprepared for combat missions , they were able to justify the trust placed in them on the side of the elite of the imperial cavalry.

They came in 1813 in a campaign in Germany in the Battle of Hanau for the first time in the fight and distinguished themselves in the following year even at the retreat fighting in France, in particular the Battle of Château-Thierry , the battle of Montmirail and the Battle of Reims , from . After Napoléon's first abdication , the “Gardes d'honneur” were dissolved in 1814.

After the end of the campaign in 1813, the survivors of the four regiments were combined into a division on January 13, 1814. On March 13, 1814, they attacked the Russian cavalry in the Battle of Reims and drove them to flight. The riders of the 3rd regiment were then attacked in the back by the infantry and had to fight doggedly to free themselves. On March 15 the whole division consisted of only 460 riders.

Uniforms and equipment

Horsemen of the "Gardes d'honneur"

The uniforms corresponded roughly to the hussars or the chasseurs à cheval de la Garde impériale :

green dolman with lacing and Vitéz kötés in white (silver for the officers) and white cuffs
green cape with black fur
red trousers with white lacing (silver for the officers)
The fur hat of the chasseurs was soon replaced by a red shako with white trimmings and an eagle (silver for the officers). The pompom and the neck showed the colors of the regiment and the company.
"Hungarian style" boots of the light cavalry
white bandolier with cartridge
Saber pocket with white (silver for the officers) braid and eagle
Cavalry saber
Carabiner on the bandolier

For the batches in the general rank, the uniforms were correspondingly more elaborate (gold instead of silver).

Plaque in Viffort in memory of the “3 e régiment de gardes d'honneur” in the battle of Château-Thierry

literature

  • Liliane and Fred Funcken: L'uniforme et les armes des soldats du Premier Empire. Volume 2: de la garde impériale aux troupes alliées, suédoises, autrichiennes et russes. Casterman, Tournoi 1969, ISBN 978-2-203-14306-7 .
  • Lt.-Col. Hector-Jean Couvreur: Histoire des Gardes d'Honneur Belges. L'Avenir, Namur 1941 (Review: Frans van Kalken: Couvreur (Lieutenant-Colonel) H. Histoire des Gardes d'Honneur Belges. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire. Volume 21, 1941, p. 328 f. , on Persée ).
  • Georges Housset: La Garde d'honneur de 1813-1814. Histoire du corps et de ses soldats. Bernard Giovanangeli, Paris 2009, ISBN 978-2-7587-0041-8 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  • Ronald Pawly; Patrice Courcelle (Ill.): Napoleon's Guards of Honor. 1813-1814 (= Men-at-Arms , No. 378). Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2002, ISBN 978-1-84176-488-7 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • Ronald Pawly; Patrice Courcelle (Ill.): Napoleon's Red Lancers (= Men-at-Arms , No. 389). Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2003, ISBN 978-1-84176-508-2 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georges Carrot: La Garde nationale (1789–1871). Une force publique ambiguë. Éditions L'Harmattan, Paris 2001, ISBN 978-2-7475-0127-9 , p. 194 (Review: Françoise Brunel: Georges Carrot: La Garde nationale (1789–1871). In: Dix-Huitième Siècle (= Christianisme et Lumières ). No. 34, 2002, p. 622, on Persée ).
  2. ^ Napoleon's Guards of Honor. 1813–14 ( memento of October 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). Osprey Publishing, Oxford website.
  3. ↑ Historique des regiments. The Gardes d'Honneur de la Haute Garonne. In: Histoire du Consulat et du Premier Empire .
  4. ↑ a b La garde d'honneur 1813-1814. French Ministry of Defense website .
  5. ↑ in France also called "Brandenbourgs"
  6. ↑ Département de l'Aisne, Region Hauts-de-France

Web links