Swiss troops in British and British service

Kingdom of England 927–1707	Kingdom of Great Britain 1707–1801	United Kingdom since 1801

Seventeen Swiss troops in English and British service (not all approved by the federal authorities) were deployed from 1691 to 1856 for the Kingdom of England , the Kingdom of Great Britain (from 1707) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (from 1801), mostly for the benefit from allied states.

Swiss troops in foreign service was the name of the paid service of commanded, whole troop bodies abroad, regulated by the authorities of the Swiss Confederation by international treaties .

These treaties contained a chapter regulating military affairs: the so-called surrender (or private surrender if one of the contracting parties was a private military contractor).

Overview of the Swiss troops in British and British service

Kingdom of England 927–1707
# tight	designation	year
Queen Elizabeth I 1558–1603
King James II 1685–1689
Queen Maria II. 1689–1694 King Wilhelm III. 1689-1702
1	Battalion Oberkan	1691-1694
2	Sacconay Regiment	1694–1706 then Holland
Queen Anne 1702–1714

Kingdom of Great Britain 1707–1801
# tight	designation	year
King George I 1714–1727
3	Federal Auxiliary Corps	from Holland 1715
4th	Second Bern regiment	from Holland 1719
King George II. 1727–1760
5	Battalion East India not regular	1751-1755
6th	Prevost regiment not regular	1755-1756
King George III 1760-1801
7th	Roll regiment "Royal Etranger"	1794-1816
8th	Colonial regiment de Meuron « His Majesty's Regiment de Meuron »	previously Holland 1796–1816
9	Regiment Stuart not regular " Queen's Own Germans "	1798-1818
10	Emigrant regiment de Rovéréa not regular	1799-1801
11	Bachmann emigrant regiment not regular	1799-1801
12	Emigrant Regiment von Salis-Marschlins	1799-1801
13	Paravicini emigrant regiment not regular	1799
14th	Emigrant battalion de Courten not regular	1800-1801
15th	Freikorps Managhetta not regular	1799-1801

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1801–1927
# tight	designation	year
King George III 1801-1820
16	Wattenwyl Regiment	1801-1816
Queen Victoria 1837–1901
17th	British Swiss Legion not regular	1855-1856

House of Tudor Elizabeth I.	House of Stuart Jacob II Mary II Anne	House of Orange William III.
House of Hanover George I. George II George III Victoria

Queens, the key people

The monarchs of the British Isles used their great financial strength to indirectly influence the balance of power on the European mainland. They secured their political influence above all by providing their changing allies with the funds to recruit Swiss troops.

Queen Elizabeth I had made the Kingdom of England the leading world sea power. Trade, smuggling and raids on the Spanish fleet with its colonial goods transports led to an immense wealth of the crown and the leading social class. However, the unmarried and childless Elizabeth I was the last of the Tudors . After her death in 1603, the crown went to the Stuarts .

The Stuarts dynasty fought a decade-long power struggle with the English parliament, which after the so-called Glorious Revolution (German: Glorreich Revolution) 1689 with the Bill of Rights (German: Bill of Rights ) and the expulsion of the last male Stuart from the throne, James II ended.

(The Bill of Rights is the basis for today's parliamentary system of government in the United Kingdom . As a result, the British Queen is no longer the sole bearer of state sovereignty , but only together with Parliament .)

Twelve years earlier, his daughter, Maria II , had her cousin Wilhelm III. von Orange , the governor , captain-general and admiral of the United Netherlands , married the most prominent leader of the Protestant denomination at the time. He was the strong man whom high-ranking figures in Parliament called to the aid and who prevailed militarily with an invasion of England. Wilhelm and Maria recognized the Bill of Rights, in contrast to Jacob, who had to flee to France to see Louis XIV .

In his place, the couple were crowned equal monarchs of the kingdoms of England , Scotland and Ireland at Westminster Abbey in 1689 .

A year earlier, Ludwig had torn the Palatinate War of Succession from the fence. His attempt to reinstall the Stuarts on the British Isles failed. Wilhelm brought the uprisings in Scotland and Ireland under control until 1691 and began to support the anti-French alliance - also with Swiss troops.

The conflict was primarily fought in Germany, but it spread to the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, the colonies and a pirate war on the high seas. It ended with the Peace of Rijswijk in 1697.

Name, duration of use	(1 eng ) Oberkan battalion 1691–1694
Year, contractual partner	1690, private capitulation of Colonel Heinrich Oberkan from Zurich with Wilhelm III., Tolerated by the federal authorities. In the 17th century, Swiss mercenaries were already serving in the armies of Holland and England. The capitulation of the confederates with France in 1480, and above all its financial possibilities, prevented an official military rapprochement between William III for a long time. and the confederates. The Protestant cantons in particular followed the plight of their fellow believers in the Netherlands with concern. But it took a number of unfriendly acts by France, e. For example, the offensive use of his Swiss troops despite different surrender provisions, finally the repeal of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 with the expulsion of the Huguenots and the French attack on the Electoral Palatinate in 1688, until the mood in the Confederation shifted. Initially, private capitulations, such as that of Oberkan, were tolerated unofficially, but Swiss troops were soon recruited for other countries with the authorization of the authorities. In 1690 the Protestant cantons of Zurich, Bern, Glarus, Schaffhausen and Appenzell Ausserrhoden and the city of St. Gallen closed with England's King Wilhelm III. signed a contract for two Swiss regiments, in which the Dutch States General were expressly included, but which was not yet followed by any direct English advertising.
Stock, formation	1 battalion of 800 men.
Origin squad, troop	k. A.
Owner, commander, namesake	Colonel Heinrich Oberkan from Zurich. He had quit French service and enlisted in England.
Use, events	The battalion in English pay was made available to Duke Viktor Amadeus II of Savoy. It fought in the Palatinate War of Succession in Piedmont. When Colonel Oberkan died in 1694, his battalion was part of the Sacconay regiment .

Name, duration of use	(2 eng ) Sacconay Regiment 1694–1706 / 1714
Year, contractual partner	1694, surrender of Colonel Jean de Sacconay from Lausanne with William III., Recognized by the federal authorities.
Stock, formation	1 regiment of 1,600 men.
Origin squad, troop	Many officers came from Vaud and the Free State of Graubünden, the crew from Bern, Vaud, Basel, Graubünden and Zurich. One company each was owned by the brothers Caspar and Salomon Hirzel from Zurich.	Savoy and Piedmont around 1700
Owner, commander, namesake	Colonel Jean de Sacconay from Lausanne. He had resigned from the French service and enlisted in Holland, where Wilhelm entrusted him with advertising; 1707 Colonel Antoine de Mestral from Vaud.
Use, events	After his death in 1694, the Oberkan battalion was expanded into a regiment with a further battalion in English pay and made available to Duke Viktor Amadeus II of Savoy. It fought in the Palatinate War of Succession in Piedmont. Two years later, in 1696, the regiment changed to Dutch service. There it was dissolved in 1714 and its units distributed to the other Swiss regiments and that of Albemarle.

After Maria II died in 1694, Wilhelm III. Sole ruler until his death in 1702. His successor Anne , Maria's sister, was the first Queen of Great Britain in 1707 , but also the last monarch of the Stuarts.

It followed, in 1714 with Georg I, the era of the House of Hanover .

The Stuart supporters are not giving up

George I and his successors were confronted several times with attempts by the Jacobites to replace the Hanoverians with the Stuarts. Most of the uprisings started in Scotland and were suppressed - also with the help of Swiss troops, which were obtained from Holland and financed with English money.

Name, duration of use	(3 eng ) Federal Auxiliary Corps from Holland 1715
Year, contractual partner	1688: Auxiliary alliance between Wilhelm III. and the States General .
Stock, formation	6 battalions of the Swiss regiments in the Dutch service.
Origin squad, troop	From the Dutch regiments Stürler, Schmidt and de Chambrier.
Owner, commander, namesake	Jacques François de Goumoens from Orbe and Bern.
Use, events	The troops were made available to George I by the States General to fight the 1st Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland. After the death of Louis XIV without French support, the Scottish Jacobites were in a losing position.

Name, duration of use	(4 eng ) Second Bern regiment from Holland 1719
Year, contractual partner	1688: Auxiliary alliance between Wilhelm III. and the States General .
Stock, formation	1 regiment of 1,600 men.
Origin squad, troop	The Dutch Second Bern Regiment.
Owner, commander, namesake	Jacques François de Goumoens from Orbe and Bern.
Use, events	The troops were made available to George I by the States General in English pay for action against a second upsurge in the 1st Jacobite revolt in Scotland. The fighting was due to an unrealistic plan by the Spanish Cardinal Giulio Alberoni to conquer England.

France and the colonies in focus

Mughal Empire around 1700

The British East India Company (BEIC) was created through a charter from Elizabeth I and endowed with extensive rights, privileges, monopolies and its own army, with the purpose - to put it simply - to be able to exploit the colonies in Asia unrestrained.

She had to assert herself against identical French intentions in the Carnatic Wars .

The British position Fort St. George in Madras since 1639 (later: 1665 Bombay, 1686 Fort St. David near Pondicherry and 1696 Fort Williams at the Ganges estuary near Calcutta) came under pressure in the First Carnatic War when the French settled in Pondicherry, Chandarnagar at the mouth of the Ganges, Mahe and Carrical and their governor, Admiral Bourdonnais , was able to conquer the British Madras in 1746.

The engineer Captain Paradis, a Swiss from Freiburg (?), Born in London (?), Commissioned by the French governor-general in Pondicherry, Dupleix , succeeded in defeating Madras against a tenfold superiority of Mahfuz Khan, the son of the ruler of Arcot, who was allied with the British To claim Anwaruddin Khan, at the Battle of Aydar.

The victory was in vain: in the Peace of Aachen in 1748, Madras was reassigned to Great Britain.

The situation only changed fundamentally when the British General Clive conquered Arcot in 1751 and a year later the French were defeated by the English at Trichinopoly . The core of their troops were Swiss units.

In 1757 at the Battle of Plassey , Clive laid the foundation for British rule in India. In his troops, Captain Georg Friedrich Gaupp led the Madras infantry, in which the remnants of the disbanded Swiss Battalion East India were.

In 1761, the hostilities between the British and French on the Coromandel Coast were finally over. Great Britain had prevailed - also and in particular thanks to its Swiss troops and their officers in command functions.

Name, duration of use	(5 eng ) Battalion East India not regular 1751–1755
Year, contractual partner	1751, private capitulation of Lukas Schaub from Basel, special representative of the British royal court with secret assignments in Vienna, with William Mabbott, director of the East Indian Company. Various federal authorities opposed the advertising that was going on at Basel and Schaffhausen. The Basel council therefore instructed Obervogt Johann Ulrich Schnell in Riehen to reinforce the guard and arrest the passing recruits in the inn. Schaub was summoned and then fined for not showing up. In 1752, after a written complaint from the four captains, the BEIC's board of directors confirmed the independent disciplinary law and jurisdiction, including for capital crimes, without the possibility of appeal, of the Swiss troops for officers and soldiers and other special rights. The resulting dissatisfaction among the British officers led to the discontinuation of advertising in Switzerland three years later.
Stock, formation	1751: 4 infantry companies of 139 men: 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 1 ensign, 6 sergeants and corporals each, 1 drum major, 2 drums, 1 whistler, 120 soldiers, with a service period of 7 years after landing in East India, 20 –35 years old, of Protestant faith, from the Protestant federal cantons. 1752: 1 artillery battery of 60 men: 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 1 cadet, 3 sergeants and corporals each, 50 artillerymen, not British, otherwise with the same conditions as with the infantry companies.
Origin squad, troop	From the Protestant cantons of the Confederation, especially from Zurich, Geneva and Basel, a few from Hanover and Alsace. When it came to recruiting, the number of Germans in the team increased steadily, and Scandinavians also appeared in the team lists. At times the stock was also supplemented by locals (original sound: blacks ). In 1755 the recruiting in Switzerland was stopped and the captain Jakob Christoph Schalch and lieutenant Johann Konrad Zündel, who had been in charge of advertising in Schaffhausen, were dismissed. The disputes between the English command in India and the Swiss captains because of the special position of their jurisdiction had become too much for the board of directors of the BEIC.
Owner, commander, namesake	The owner was the British East India Company (BEIC). It determined the following officers, who had to take an oath on their task on the Coromandel Coast, with their (partly drawn) functions: 1st company: Captain: Jean Chabbert, retired in 1752 due to illness; Lieutenants: Georg Friedrich Gaupp (1752 captain in place of Chabbert, later captain in the Madras infantry, command in Plassey ) and Rudolf Wagner; Ensign: Johann Konrad Heidegger (1752 lieutenant, † 1754), 1752 volunteer Lullin (1754 lieutenant), 1754 Friedrich Jäger. 2nd company: Captain: Johann Heinrich Schaub; Lieutenant: Friedrich Gurtler (later a captain in the Madras infantry) and Jean François de Beck (later a lieutenant colonel in the Madras infantry); Ensign: Johann Ludwig Prevost († 1754); Cadet: 1754 Daniel Frischmann (1754 ensign, 1758 lieutenant, 1759 captain, 1765 lieutenant colonel, 1769 colonel and commander of the fortress of St. George in Madras). 3rd company: Captain: Paul Philippe Polier von Bottens, other officers: k. A. 4th company: Captain: Alexander Ziegler, 1758 Emmanuel Henny; Lieutenants: Tobias Pfister and David de Vasserot; Ensign: Johann Seiler; Adjutant: Emmanuel Henny (1758 captain in place of Ziegler). Artillery battery: Captain: Louis d'Iliens from Lucerne; Lieutenant: Georg Helffer from Hanover and Jean François Pachoud from Bern; Cadet: Jean Jacques Vouga from Neuchâtel.
Use, events	Fort St. George in Madras 1754 The first troop transport with four ships of the BEIC cast off on January 1, 1752 in Gravesend and arrived at Fort St. George in Madras at the end of May after five months of voyage. There the crew was equipped and assigned to their places of work. The 4th Ziegler Company was transferred to Bombay. The 2nd Company Schaub wanted to sail to Fort St. David near Pondicherry in inconspicuous Indian boats. However, it was discovered by the French crew there and picked up by a French warship. When the report arrived from Pondicherry, Major Stringer Lawrence, in command of the 1st Gaupp Company, immediately embarked for Fort St. David and took over the English army, consisting of 400 Europeans and 2,000 locals. Although he overran a troop of approximately equal strength from Dupleix near the southern Indian city of Bahour, Schaub and his 2nd company were then held captive in Pondicherry for two years. Under the command of Lawrence or Clive (until 1753) the Swiss troops regularly decided the meetings with the French until 1754. In that year the marching column of the English army, traveling too carelessly with Lawrence, was overwhelmed by local troops allied with Dupleix surprised and almost destroyed: 138 Europeans were made prisoners, 100 were wounded and 50 dead. The 100 Swiss grenadiers who had previously made the difference were lost. Captain Polier of 3rd Company temporarily took over the command of the sick Lawrence, but soon had to hand it over to Captain Calliaud, wounded himself. The 4th Ziegler Company, still consisting of 80 men, was relocated from Bombay to Madras for reinforcement. To the great surprise, Dupleix was recalled from India by France, and his successor released the 2nd Schaub Company again. It was an English negotiation success of the London diplomacy in France. In 1755, the next year, the advertising in Switzerland was stopped and the meager remnants of the Swiss troops were incorporated into the English associations of the BEIC. In 1757, Clive, who returned to the Coromandel Coast , at the Battle of Plassey , in which Captain Gaupp was in command with a large number of foreigners (German: foreigners, meaning the remaining Swiss), actually rectified the situation in favor of Great Britain, even if the hostilities were just beginning Finally stopped in 1761. The French remained tolerated with their trading activities on a low flame.

Swiss forest combat know-how as a success factor

Even in the Seven Years' War in Europe and in the colonies, especially in North America , Great Britain and France faced each other in opposing camps. Ultimately, France was unable to maintain the Ohio Valley, the connecting axis between its territories on the Saint Lawrence River and the Mississippi , against Great Britain and gave up its North American possessions in the Peace of Paris in 1763 . The British, however, then sat down, u. a. thanks to the forest fighting know-how of the Swiss Supreme Bouquet , also against the Indian Pontiac uprising and thus gained the upper hand in the American colonies.

Name, duration of use	(6 eng ) Prevost regiment not regular 1755–1757
Year, contractual partner	Private capitulation of Jacques Prevost from Geneva with George II, without the participation of the federal authorities. The English parliament also ultimately refused recognition as a regiment.
Stock, formation	1 regiment of 16 companies in 4 battalions.
Origin squad, troop	Swiss, but in Calcutta that sometimes also meant Germans.
Owner, commander, namesake	Colonel Jacques Prevost of Geneva (major general in 1760, donations of land in Georgia and Canada in 1763); Lieutenant Colonel Augustin Prevost (1759 Colonel, 1767 Major General, 1778 Commander of Savannah / Georgia, 1780 General and Governor of Georgia), his younger brother; Major Marc Prevost (1759 lieutenant colonel, 1765 colonel, 1767 farewell due to injury), his youngest brother. All three brothers had moved from Holland to England after the two older brothers had previously been in Sardinian service.
Use, events	Uniform of the 60th Royal American Regiment 1758 After the king's assurance, Prevost had recruited the regiment and an excellent officer corps by 1756 with great commitment. A change in mood in parliament prevented its recognition. The 3rd and 4th Battalions were incorporated into the troops of the British East India Company in 1756. These troops received the additional designation European (German: European). The Doxat's Chasseurs (German: Doxat's Jäger) are mentioned by various sources in the 1st Bengal European Regiment (German: 1. Bengalisch-European Regiment) in Calcutta . Captain Doxat led a rifle company of European mercenaries, possibly a non-regular Swiss force. However, since no reliable information could be found about it, it is only mentioned here. Lewis Doxat died on a mission in Ramnagar in 1781 when the Governor General of India, Hastings , wanted to discipline the recalcitrant Chait Singh, Raja of Benares , militarily. The 1st and 2nd Battalions were assigned to the 60th Royal American Regiment in 1757 . The regiment under the command of the Earl of Loudoun was raised in British North America on Governors Island , New York, in the same year to protect the British Thirteen Colonies from attacks by the French armed forces and their Indian allies. It consisted of 4 battalions of 1,000 men and was also open to German and Swiss officers. It was the first ever British force with non-English officers. The two battalions of Prevost increased it to 6 battalions and became a brigade. The 1st Battalion also the three brothers Prevost, who kept their grades, their companies were: Colonel Jacques Prevost with the Colonelle , Lieutenant Colonel Augustin Prevost with the Lieutenant-Colonelle and Major Marc Prevost with the majors . The other Swiss companies Steiner, de Wullyamoz and du Fez were also there. In the campaigns of the Seven Years' War of 1758, access to the Saint Lawrence River was fought with Louisbourg , with the conquest of Fort Frontenac control over Lake Ontario and with the capture of Fort Duquesne over the Ohio Valley. In 1759 the French forts of Ticonderoga , Crown Point and Niagara were conquered , Fort Oswego was rebuilt and the decisive battle on the Plains of Abraham with the capture of Quebec followed . From then on France was on the defensive. In 1763, the brigade also suppressed the uprising of the Indian tribes in the area of ​​today's US state Ohio , the Pontiac uprising (after the Ottawa chief Pontiac ). Frederick Haldimand The guerrilla-style forest fighting tactics of the Swiss Henri Bouquet , which he had adopted from the Cherokee Indians, and the Swiss lieutenant colonel of the Royal Americans, Frederick Haldimand, played an important part in British success . In the Peace of Paris in 1763 , France had to cede most of its American territories to Great Britain. In the same year the Prevost brothers, of whom Augustine had become governor of Savannah, were granted extensive lands in Georgia and Canada. The 60th Royal American also fought in the American Revolutionary War . Augustin Prevost was its governor when the British had to evacuate Georgia in 1783. Later the 60th Royal American Regiment was deployed around the world as part of the regular British Army, including a. in the Napoleonic Wars , as King's Royal Rifle Corps (German: Des Königs Königliches Schützenkorps) in the Anglo-Egyptian War , in the Second Boer War , in the First and Second World Wars. The troop went in 1966 in the Royal Green Jackets (German: the royal green jackets, see web links) and this in turn in 2007 in the regiment The Rifles . The regiment is headed by Queen Elizabeth II .

At least Canada remains

The east of North America with the Proclamation Line between the Thirteen Colonies and Indian Land. The border with Spain is still uncertain at the 49th parallel because the source of the Mississippi River was not yet known.

The wars in Europe and the colonies swallowed up considerable resources and exhausted the treasury. When George III. To raise taxes in the American colonies, the American War of Independence broke out.

As early as 1763, Georg III., With the attempt to achieve a more stable situation between the Thirteen Colonies and the indigenous indigenous population with a proclamation line (German meaning: declared border line), caused resentment among the settlers.

A number of British government measures and provocations on the part of the settlers escalated finally in 1774 for rebellion and led in 1776 to the United States Declaration of Independence (English: American Declaration of Independence ), in which the Thirteen Colonies their official separation from the mother country and the right to own, to form sovereign confederation, declared.

A year later they agreed on the Article of Confederation , basis and precursor to the United States Constitution of 1784.

From 1778 onwards, the absolutist states of France and Spain intervened on the side of the rebels against the British naval blockade, thereby turning the American Confederation's War of Independence into a decisive turning point.

At the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, the collapsed British army under General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered to French-American troops under the command of Comte de Rochambeau and George Washington . The war was over.

In 1783, in the Peace of Paris , Great Britain had to recognize the independence of the former British colonies. It renounced all areas up to the Mississippi . The United States extended its northern border to the Great Lakes , Florida fell back to Spain .

George Prevost

Battle of Chippewa
in the British-American War in 1814

The British-American War 1812–1814 was Britain's second major conflict with her former colony, this time triggered by the United States. Both sides exhausted themselves in costly battles until, in the peace of Ghent , the status quo ante (Latin for: state of before) was restored before the war.

In that war, Augustin Prevost's son was George , Governor General of Canada and Commander in Chief of the British Armed Forces. For various reasons he almost ended up before a court martial, but he died before that.

However, Great Britain in North America was finally reduced to Canada , and the United States of America (English: United States of America , USA for short) had finally emancipated itself from it.

Many Swiss were also involved in this process, and the Swiss Confederation later based its constitution of 1848 on that of the USA.

Name, duration of use	(7 eng ) Regiment von Roll " Royal Etranger " 1794–1816
Year, contractual partner	1794, Ludwig Robert von Roll (ex-field marshal in France) from Solothurn with Georg III.
Stock, formation	1 regiment of 1,800 men.
Origin squad, troop	From the Confederation. At the instigation of the French business agent in Solothurn, the advertising had to be relocated to Waldshut and Villingen in the Black Forest with permission from Emperor Franz I of Austria.
Owner, commander, namesake	Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Jost Dürler from Lucerne until 1802; 1802 Colonel Thuringia von Sonnenberg.
Use, events	At the end of 1795 the "Royal Etranger" marched in 2 battalions of 900 men from Constance through Tyrol and Italy. It was crossed in Civitavecchia via Elba to Ajaccio in Corsica . Part of the regiment was used against insurgents. After the British evacuation of Corsica, it was moved to Elba in 1796 and, a year later, when it withdrew from this island, to Lisbon. On both islands it tragically lost a special command: Of Major Dieffenthaler's 18 officers and 300 men, only 4 survived a shipwreck in the Strait of Bonifacio , and 4 officers and 100 men drowned off the coast of Piombino . In Lisbon, reduced to one battalion by surrendering 2 grenadier companies to the "Royal Irish" regiment, it was rebuilt there to 1,000 men by replacement teams from all over the world. As a "Rolls Regiment" incorporated into the English army and initially used briefly in the reconquest of Menorca , it then fought as part of General Abercrombie's expeditionary force in Egypt. He sat with General Hutchinson of the Egyptian expedition of Napoleon in 1801 to an abrupt end. In 1802 Colonel Dürler was given command of the foreign brigade (regiments von Roll , von Wattenwyl and Dillon). Colonel Thuringia von Sonnenberg took over command of the von Roll regiment. After the British withdrawal from Egypt in 1803, the regiment in Gibraltar lost 10 officers and 197 soldiers to a yellow fever epidemic and under General Frazer in the steward brigade in 1807, which was crossed from Sicily back to the Nile, 30 men in the occupation of Rosette . Fort Balaguier near Toulon In 1810, parts of the regiment were involved in the capture of the fortress of St. Maura on the Ionian island of Lefkada . In 1813 - previously supplemented in Sicily with prisoners from the Napoleonic Swiss regiments from Portugal and Bailén - it was successfully involved under Lord Bentinck against the corps of Marshal Suchet in Spain: as Roll-Dillon battalion in the battle of Castalla , in the capture of Fort Balaguier at the entrance to the port of Toulon , the unsuccessful siege of Tarragona and the battle at the Ordal pass, a Catalan town in the Penedès . In 1816 the " Rolls Regiment " , which was distributed in detachments on the islands of Malta , Kefalonia and Zakynthos , was dissolved.

Name, duration of use	(8 eng ) Colonial Regiment de Meuron " His Majesty's Regiment de Meuron » 1796-1816
Year, contractual partner	1795, preliminary contract of Charles Daniel de Meuron in Neuchâtel with (his friend) Colonel Hugh Cleghorn (1798 colonial secretary for Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka , see web links) on behalf of the War Secretary (German: War Minister) Henry Dundas , who signed the contract ratified. De Meuron's main demand: the British settle the outstanding wages of the bankrupt Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie VOC (German: United East India Company); Main demand of the British War Office : Charles Daniel de Meuron has to go to India in order to personally supervise the transfer of his regiment into British service. In 1796, in Madras, the treaty concluded the previous year by de Meuron and Cleghorn (both present) was signed by the government there: by Governor Robert Hobart and his councilors, Lieutenant General and Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army, Alured Clarke, the member Chamber of Commerce, Ernest William Fallofield; and Chamber of Accounts member, Edward Saunders. But that's where the negotiations should really begin, because: The Madras surrender was only partially fulfilled in the War Office in London, with ever new excuses. In particular, de Meuron's main demand, the settlement of the remaining Dutch wages arrears, was suspended by the War Office after an initial payment of 30,000 pounds in India; De Meuron therefore went to London in 1797, was not discouraged by the many delays and was finally received by Henry Dundas, Minister of War, who, however, no longer wanted to know about further payments; The tough de Meuron, however, remained tough and relied on the intercession of a young lady from the de Montmollin house, who at the time was in favor of the British court. With success: he reached a comparison of 80,000 pounds, which was given to him by Lieutenant General Colbrooke Nesbitt, Inspector General of the Foreign Forces, but with the unmistakable attitude “en le laissant dans l'alternative de l'accepter immédiatement ou de perdre son régiment »(German: gave him the choice between immediate consent or the loss of his regiment). De Meuron agreed (he too, probably grudgingly). 1798, final contract of Charles Daniel de Meuron (in agreement with the «Quatre Ministraux», the de facto executive, and the Prussian governor Béville of Neuchâtel and Valangin) signed in London with Lieutenant General John Ramsay, agent for foreign troops of the War Secretary Henry Dundas - three years after the de Meuron colonial regiment effectively entered British service. It came into force at the beginning of 1799.
Stock, formation	1 regiment of 1,259 men in 10 companies of 124 men with a staff of 19 men.
Origin squad, troop	Protestants from the cantons of the Confederation, preferably from Neuchâtel.
Owner, commander, namesake	1781 Colonel Charles Daniel de Meuron from Neuchâtel, as a lieutenant colonel, his younger brother Pierre-Frédéric de Meuron and Major Simon de Sandol-Roy from Le Locle; 1788 Pierre-Frédéric de Meuron; 1801 Jean-Pierre de Meuron-Bullot (drowned in 1803); 1803 Henry-David de Meuron (drowned in 1804); 1804 Pierre Lardy; 1812 Anton Kaspar Zweifel (he had married the widow of Jean-Pierre de Meuron-Bullot in 1804) and François-Henri de Meuron-Bayard from Neuchâtel, the son of Pierre-Frédéric.
Use, events	Charles Daniel de Meuron as British major general 1795 was a disaster year for Holland. France, with General Pichegru , overran the Dutch army, occupied Amsterdam and proclaimed the Batavian Republic . The Prince of Orange, William V , fled to England with his family and placed the Dutch colonies under British protection. The Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie , abbreviated to VOC ) was bankrupt and had long owed the payment of wages to the colonial regiment de Meuron, which was therefore in poor condition. In addition, his surrender would expire at the end of the year. Charles Daniel de Meuron had to decide: loyalty to the employer or economic future? His business acumen won. The British government had for some years toyed with the idea of ​​employing the capable Swiss troops, and after the escape of Wilhelm V, Colonel Hugh Cleghorn, who was familiar with Switzerland and Neuchâtel, no longer hesitated to visit de Meuron in 1795 to send for negotiations. These were difficult, but quickly ended with a provisional surrender contract when the War Office guaranteed the arrears of Dutch wages. Immediately de Meuron set out with Cleghorn on the way to Madras to put his regiment in British service. In the same year 1795, the Regiment de Meuron was still in Dutch service, the British invasion of Sri Lanka under General James Stuart and Admiral Peter Rainier began with the landing in Trincomalee . The de Meuron-Motier company did not give up the fight there until they had lost 30 of their 80 men and were sent to Madras as a captive. The bulk of the de Meuron colonial regiment with its colonel steadfastly defended Colombo. The fighting was at its height when news of the regiment's change of side reached the incredulous Pierre-Frédéric de Meuron. He was only ready to lay down his arms when the English liaison officer Major Agnew assured him that he would not have to fight the Dutch and the governor of the island, Johan van Angelbeek , released the regiment from his oath in writing. In its previous fifteen years of existence, the colonial regiment had recruited 2,277 men, 42 of whom were killed in action, 139 died at sea, 329 various in hospital, 637 were released, 189 deserted and 55 were taken prisoners of war. After gathering as Her Majesty's Regiment de Meuron in Thoothukudi , South India , the discontent and indiscipline troops began to transform into a tight regiment of the British style. Charles Daniel de Meuron did this job, then took his leave and returned to Neuchâtel, promoted to British Major General (and with his salary). Death of Sultan Tipu in Seringapatam (The red Swiss with hard hats) The regiment's first major operation was in Seringapatam in 1799 in the Fourth Mysore War . The grenadier company with Captain Pierre Lardy and lieutenants Jean de Montmollin and Elias Wolf, as well as the rifle company under Lieutenant François-Henry de Meuron-Bayard and Lieutenant Alphonse Matthey, belonged to the storm troop, the remaining eight companies to Colonel Wellesley's reserve . Lieutenant Charles de Meuron-Tribolet led the pioneer troop, which opened the way over the last two obstacles to the breach over which the city was stormed by Sultan Tipu of Mysore , who lost his life in the process. 35 men of the regiment were wounded and 40 men were killed: Lieutenant Matthey, 1 assistant surgeon, 3 sergeants, 5 corporals, 2 drums, 25 soldiers; 1 man drowned and 2 went missing. Pierre-Frédéric de Meuron, appointed military governor of Sri Lanka, had led the entire Mysore campaign in the southern Indian city of Arni in the Tiruvannamalai district . He returned to London in 1801 and to Neuchâtel in 1807. The command of the regiment, stationed in Seringapatam, was taken over by Jean-Pierre de Meuron-Bullot, who drowned two years later when the dinghy capsized while transferring to the ship for a trip to Europe. The same fate befell his successor Henry-David de Meuron, 1802 military governor of Pondicherry, who also drowned. In 1805 the regiment moved to Fort George in Madras, before moving in 1806, after a large number of regimental members had transferred to other English units in India, with 35 officers, 16 constables and 116 men (and leaving 19 "regimental children" behind in orphanages) ) was shipped to England, where it arrived eight months later. There and later in Gibraltar (with Piedmontese and German deserters from Napoleonic troops) it was able to replenish its holdings before it spent quieter times in Messina in 1808 as part of the British occupying army of Sicily. In 1809, Colonel Lardy renewed the surrender for another seven years and in 1812 sold the regiment, stationed in Malta and equipped for the third time with new uniforms, to Major Georg Wyndham. Command was taken over by the senior officer, Lieutenant Colonel Anton Kaspar Zweifel, who carried out the function together with François-Henri de Meuron-Bayard. The regiment was established in 1813 to reinforce the troops of the Governor General of Canada, George Prevost , who were on the defensive in the British-American War against American forces, with his now 1,200 men in Malta in the three ships Regulus, Melpomene and Dover embarked overseas, where they arrived after four months of crossing. In 1814, Prevost had deployed his troops in two attack columns: The first, consisting of three brigades under General Gordon Drummond , including the Regiment von Wattenwyl , advanced from Lake Ontario to the capital Washington, but had to withdraw again at a loss. Battle of Plattsburgh 1814 (on the left the flag of de Meuron, on the right the American flag; in the middle the bridge; in the back the naval battle) In the second attack column of General Thomas Brisbane , which had the city of New York as its target with an advance along Lake Champlain , the Regiment de Meuron formed a brigade with Canadian fighters. The Regiment de Meuron succeeded in taking part of the city of Plattsburgh, which was divided into two by the Saranac River . Restrained by the capable administrator but reluctant military Prevost from storming the poorly defended American fort on the other side, it held out under heavy fire around the clock for six days and finally had to watch the English support fleet on Lake Champlain from was defeated by an American association. The English fleet commander was killed in the first salvo of the American artillery. The only thing left for the de Meuron regiment was to cover the retreat of the English artillery. Captain Frédéric Matthey, the brother of the lieutenant who had fallen in Seringapatam, kept the bridge over the river open to the last. An inspection the next year found the regiment in good condition. In 1816, the de Meuron colonial regiment under François-Henry de Meuron-Bayard was dissolved. In Quebec, 27 officers, 37 sergeants, 22 corporals, 7 reels and 232 soldiers, a total of 325 men, boarded the ship Elisa with their families back to Europe and Switzerland. The rest stayed in North America. Led in 1816 still an expedition of Swiss soldiers to the Red River, where the Scottish settlers - some of them - Emanuel of May, Protais d'Odet d'Orsonnens and Gaspard Adolphe Fauche Selkirk's colony by local Métis at Seven Oaks were destroyed were, and cleared the area of ​​the Indian raid units. But by then the de Meuron colonial regiment was history.

Name, duration of use	(9 eng ) Stuart Regiment " Queen's Own Germans " not regular 1798–1818
Year, contractual partner	Founded by the British Commander-in-Chief General Charles Stuart in Menorca in 1798, without any influence from the Federal Diet.
Stock, formation	1 regiment. No information on inventory and organization.	San Felipe fortress in front of Mahon in Menorca The Shorncliffe Army Camp in Kent, England, 1801
Origin squad, troop	Deserters from the Swiss regiments Rüttimann and Jann . Depending on the source, it is said to have been around 300 men, 738 Polish and Hungarian deserters or even 1,000 Germans who were sold as Austrian prisoners from France to Spain for two dollars a head.
Owner, commander, namesake	Brigadier General John Stuart, troop commander of the same name under Lieutenant General Charles Stuart , commander of the successful British expeditionary force during the conquest of Menorca in 1798 with the fortress of San Felipe.
Use, events	When the Spanish troops surrendered in Ciutadella on Menorca , 2 battalions of the Rüttimann regiment and 1 battalion of the Jann regiment also received free withdrawal, but without their deserters. From these, the troop commander is said to have formed the Stuart Regiment under the British Commander in Chief of the same name . It was then transferred to Gibraltar in 1800 as the Minorca Regiment (German: Menorca) and to Egypt in 1801, where it stood out against Napoleon's cavalry in the Battle of Alexandria under General Abercromby , captured an infantry flag, but left 300 men out of 795 on the battlefield. In 1802, when it was withdrawn from Egypt, it received the name Regiment Queen's Own Germans (German: the Queen's own Germans) as an award . Trained under General Moore in the Shorncliffe Army situation in the Shorncliffe System in 1803 and became the 95th foot of light infantry (German: light infantry regiment number 95), it fought from 1808 to 1811 as part of the Rifle Brigade (German: rifle brigade) under the Duke of Wellington in the Spanish War of Independence against France, in Portugal in the Battle of Vimeiro and in Spain near Talavera and Albuera . The " 95th foot " was one of the first units in which the Brown Bess was replaced by the Baker Rifle . This British regiment of (at least partially) Swiss origin was disbanded in 1818.

Napoleon, the French challenge personified

Great Britain, as a leading supporter of the old order, inevitably became more and more involved in the coalition wars against Napoleon, including Switzerland.

Above all at the tireless efforts of the last mayor of Bern, Niklaus Friedrich von Steiger , who emigrated to Augsburg, who was in contact with the British Foreign Minister, Lord Grenville , through the British legation secretary James Talbot , and who also brought together the most important Swiss emigrants in southern Germany.

From this a plan arose in 1998 at the imperial court in Vienna, which ultimately led to the financing of several Swiss emigrant regiments in the Austrian army in English pay.

From 1799 they fought in the Second Coalition War , which turned Switzerland into a widespread theater of war , as part of the Allied forces in the First and Second Battles near Zurich, but then in vain against the French occupation of the country.

The Treaty of Lunéville in 1801 nevertheless left Switzerland as a «Helvetic» French subsidiary republic.

Name, duration of use	(10 eng ) Emigrant regiment de Rovéréa not regular 1799–1801
Year, contractual partner	1799, private surrender of Colonel Ferdinand Isaak de Rovéréa with the English ambassador William Wickham on behalf of Lieutenant General John Ramsay, agent for foreign troops of the British War Office under Henry Dundas , on behalf of George III.
Stock, formation	Target stock: 1 regiment with 14 companies, including 2 grenadier and 2 hunter companies each. However, Rovéréa did not come out with a substantial number of 800 men, only in 1800 were about 1'000 men in 2 battalions ready for action. The uniform consisted of a dark green tunic with a black collar, lining and lapels, yellow buttons and a red armband, light blue tight-fitting trousers and a high hat. In November 1799 the hat was replaced by the shako .
Origin squad, troop	Swiss exiles, mainly from Bern, Freiburg and Solothurn, who wanted to fight against the French occupation and the Swiss constitution . There were also some French deserters there.
Owner, commander, namesake	Colonel Ferdinand Isaak de Rovéréa from Vevey, with Eugène de Courten from Siders as lieutenant colonel and as major to Karl Anton von Glutz from Solothurn, former bailiff of Falkenstein; 1799 Colonel Friedrich von Wattenwyl (vom Murifeld) from Bern.
Use, events	Rovéréa, counter-revolutionary and former officer in the Erlach regiment in France, had set up a 600-man " Légion fidèle " to defend Bern the previous year . During the French invasion , she got into the fight near Nidau and had to surrender three days later. Rovéréa went into exile in Germany and formed his regiment in Neu-Ravensburg with English money, which was sworn in by Schultheiss von Steiger and in 1799 in the corps of General Friedrich von Hotze , a general of Swiss origin, as the only existing of the five emigrant regiments in the First battle near Zurich in the imperial main army was used. Am by patriotic leaflets, & a. also by de Rovéréa and von Steiger, prepared advance of the allied Austro-Russian main power under Archduke Karl in 1799 from the north to the Aare and Limmat lines in the First Battle of Zurich , the companies of the captains von Diessbach and von Wattenwyl were also involved. They were badly disheveled in battles near Andelfingen and Embrach and later returned to the majority of the troops, greatly reduced. This had to occupy the basin of Glarus in the Gavassini corps, which secured the left flank. It successfully fended off French attacks at Lake Walen and Näfels and was able to establish a counter-revolutionary government in Glarus. An unauthorized advance over the Pragelpass into the Muotatal against Schwyz, however, failed with the loss of 2 cannons, around 200 prisoners and over 35 dead. After Zurich was conquered by the Allies, the Rovéréa émigré regiment was ordered there, the hunter companies as a crew in the "revolutionary" Höngg, the majority on outposts in Wollishofen. Once there, it had to assert itself against a French attack, mourning 21 dead and 63 wounded. After its reorganization in Küssnacht (as well as the suppression of a mutiny by the Jäger company), the regiment was commissioned to serve as a crew in Rapperswil, replacing nine ships on Lake Zurich (in addition to the weak chain of posts on the right bank of Lake Zurich of the emigrant regiment Bachmann ). In the Second Battle of Zurich, when the Allies were thrown back across the Rhine, the hopes of the emigrants had failed. The Rovéréa émigré regiment was cut off in Rapperswil, withdrew independently via St. Gallen and the ship bridge at Höchst in Vorarlberg and took up position there immediately. In the winter quarters in some villages near Augsburg (Oberhausen, Gersthofen, Gablingen) there was a mutiny among parts of the regiment, again starting from the hunters, which led to the dismissal of Rovéréa. Colonel Friedrich von Wattenwyl became the new commandant of the regiment. Archduke Ferdinand's brigade in the main Austrian army (the other two emigrant regiments Bachmann , von Salis and the Managhetta Freikorps were assigned to the Bündner and Vorarlberg armies of General Reuss ) moved forward to Waldshut in the new year. During the French advance across the Rhine north of Basel, it was involved in fighting in Messkirch and Memmingen during the Austrian retreat, with the loss of two thirds of its population (also through desertion), and finally trapped in Ingolstadt together with other troops. When the Treaty of Lunéville was concluded in 1801 , the Rovéréa émigré regiment, completed with non-Swiss residents, was in the winter quarters in Leitomisl in Bohemia. From there, after the Peace of Lunéville , like the other British-funded troops, it moved to Styria and was dissolved there in 1801. 30 officers and 200 men from his stock were transferred to the Wattenwyl regiment .

Name, duration of use	(11 eng ) Bachmann emigrant regiment not regular 1799–1801
Year, contractual partner	1799, private capitulation of Niklaus Franz von Bachmann with the English ambassador William Wickham on behalf of Lieutenant General John Ramsay, agent for foreign troops of the British War Office under Henry Dundas, on behalf of George III. The regiment was established in the summer of 1799 with the intention of the British War Office to form a Swiss brigade of several regiments in addition to that of Rovéréa. There were enough officers. In the case of the team, the passage that the force could also be deployed abroad (near the border) was obviously a certain obstacle.
Stock, formation	1 regiment of approx. 1,200 men in 2 battalions according to the target organization of 1799, which Bachmann further specified in an order. Instead of the traditional pointed hats and linen coats or blouses, the same uniform was introduced as in the Rovéréa émigré regiment, but with a blue tunic and a "B" ("B" for Bachmann) on the hat. In November 1799 the hat was replaced by the shako , with an oval brass B shield.
Origin squad, troop	Swiss, especially Zurich and Eastern Swiss. The majority of the officers came from Zurich and Glarus, but some also came from western Switzerland.
Owner, commander, namesake	Major General Niklaus Franz von Bachmann (ex Sardinian-Piedmontese service) from Näfels Canton Glarus, with Lieutenant Colonel Fridolin Hauser from Glarus. In 1799, despite British concerns about his suitability, Bachmann was appointed Inspector General of all and in 1800 “Brigade Chief” of the emigrant regiments except for Rovéréa, but never had this whole force together.
Use, events	Bachmann was able to raise 1,000 men in a very short time, but had to spend two months in the Winterthur depot due to a lack of weapons and equipment, which he used for daily exercises. His officers even drafted their own regulations. In this way a usable, disciplined troop formation was created in a short time through constant practice, drills and checking. The Bachmann emigrant regiment was sworn in and performed three important missions: In 1799, during the fighting in the Second Battle of Zurich , it was tasked with keeping the right lakeshore axis along Lake Zurich clear and preventing any French landings in order to allow the troops operating in the Zurich area to retreat into the hinterland. Cut off under Russian command in detachments on posts on the right bank of Lake Zurich, parts of the regiment were captured by a French advance from the Uznach area, others were greatly reduced by mounted Cossacks. The majority managed, with losses - around 500 soldiers from Eastern Switzerland took the opportunity to desert - almost dissolved, to retreat through Eastern Switzerland and over the ship bridge in Höchst to Vorarlberg. It moved to an outpost position in Gaissau for a short time and was then moved to Dornbirn , where it was relocated. It found its winter quarters in 12 (!) Villages (Oberbalzheim, Sinningen, Erolzheim, Beuren, Mooshausen, Haslach, Dietenheim, Wain, Kirchberg, Bergheim, Gutenzell, Bonlanden) near Memmingen south of Ulm , which was not exactly conducive to discipline and training . In 1800 the order of the Jelačić Brigade in General Reuss's combat group was to hold Feldkirch. It consisted of the Bachmann Regiment, the Managhetta Freikorps and other troops and was intended on the one hand to prevent a French advance from Liechtenstein or Graubünden and on the other hand to block the Arlberg axis to Bavaria. When the French attack by the Molitor Brigade on this blocked position in its core area was brought to a standstill, Jelačić, fearing a French bypass through the Kleinwalsertal, ordered the retreat over the Arlberg. Bachmann commanded the rear guard. These, his regiment reinforced with the Freikorps Managhetta, an Austrian infantry battalion, a cavalry squadron and several companies of state riflemen, reached Stuben unmolested when an armistice ordered his regiment behind the pass to Imst . Here, too, the regiment lost its existence due to deserters. When the armistice expired and the fighting resumed in November, Bachmann, now as commander of the vanguard brigade of the Auffenberg liaison corps , was in the snow-covered Upper Inn Valley near Nauders . The French Baraguey division of MacDonald's Graubünden Army advanced through the Upper Engadine to Zuoz and S-chanf and pushed Bachmann's brigade with the Bachmann and von Salis regiments, the Managhettas militia, which had shrunk to 200, 3 Austrian infantry battalions, 10 companies of Tyrolean riflemen, 1st Squadron Dragoons and 12 field guns in the Lower Engadine between Zernez and Martina. The cold and inadequate British supplies killed dozens of soldiers from frostbite , illness or exhaustion. In spite of this, a Swiss-Austrian shock troop succeeded in a well-prepared coup on the French positions of the 3rd Orient Half-Brigade at Zuoz and S-chanf. Two battalion commanders, 30 officers and 313 NCOs and soldiers as well as a flag fell into the hands of the attackers. The bitter cold, however, caused almost half of the team to freeze limbs and incapacity to fight. In the spring of 1801, the Bachmann vanguard brigade had to retreat behind Martina before the French overwhelming force, where they received the news of the Peace of Lunéville . From there, like the other British-funded troops, it moved to Styria. The Bachmann emigrant regiment was released there in May 1801. Three weeks later, 4 officers and 118 men transferred to the Wattenwyl regiment .

Name, duration of use	(12 eng ) Emigrant Regiment von Salis-Marschlins 1799–1801
Year, contractual partner	Helvetic Canton of Raetia 1799, private capitulation by Anton von Salis-Marschlins, on the one hand with the English ambassador William Wickham on behalf of Lieutenant General John Ramsay, commissioner for foreign troops of the British War Office under Henry Dundas , on behalf of George III., on the other hand with Archduke Karl for a Graubünden hunter regiment on foot . The advertising was supported by the interimal government of the canton of Raetia under President Anton von Salis-Soglio with an appeal to the municipalities.
Stock, formation	1 regiment of 2 battalions with approx. 1,400 men in 10 companies (1st and 2nd Jäger companies, fusilier companies Conzett, Toggenburg, Buol, Paravicini, Salis, Misani, Gugelberg, Tscharner). The uniform corresponded to that of the Rovéréa émigré regiment, but with a blue tunic and green envelope, lining and collar (marked as a hunter corps). In November 1799 the hat was replaced by the shako . According to the contract, the armament came from Austrian armories. The long weapon was probably the Austrian M1798 musket.
Origin squad, troop	The commanders from Graubünden. European names appear even among the officers. The team is likely to have had a significant proportion of non-allies.
Owner, commander, namesake	Lieutenant General Anton von Salis-Marschlins von Igis in Graubünden as the owner. Absent from abroad, he did not lead the regiment himself. Lieutenant Colonel Josef Vinzenz von Salis-Samaden was in command.
Use, events	The Salis emigrant regiment was formed in Feldkirch with cantons in what is now the districts of Altenstadt , Levis and Gisingen . The depot was set up in Chur , despite resistance from the local city council. When the Allied retreat began after the Second Battle of Zurich , von Salis had reached a population of around 600 men and was relocated to Kempten , where he remained for the entire winter until the spring of 1800. In April he had gathered 1,400 men under the flag (black-yellow-red flamed with the white cross and the inscriptions " Bündtner Regiment von Salis " and " Pro Deo et Patria " surrounded by laurel wreaths ) and was ordered to Feldkirch. As the emigrant regiment Bachmann and the Freikorps Managhetta were subordinated to the Bündner and Vorarlberg armies of General Reuss , the regiment was deployed in Graubünden, which initially resulted in the desertion of 300 soldiers. Despite measures taken by the army command, they were mostly hidden and protected by their home communities. Desertion remained a problem, even when the regiment spent the summer of 1800 without enemy contact in Bergell, Upper Engadine and Poschiavo. As a result, three companies had to be dissolved. Of the rest, four and the artillery detachment were in Müstair in the Münstertal and three companies (Gugelberg, Conzet and Paravicini) in the Upper Engadin with outposts on the Maloja . Withdrawn towards the end of the year in the Lower Engadine, the Salis emigrant regiment became part of the Bachmann vanguard brigade and was released in Styria in 1801 after its winter campaign (see under Bachmann emigrant regiment ). 5 officers and 200 men transferred from the dismissed regiment to the von Wattenwyl regiment .

Name, duration of use	(13 eng ) Paravicini emigrant regiment not regular 1799
Year, contractual partner	1799, private surrender of Emil Paravicini to the English ambassador William Wickham on behalf of Lieutenant General John Ramsay, agent for foreign troops of the British War Office under Henry Dundas , on behalf of George III., In agreement with General Hotze and Lieutenant Colonel Craufurd , British liaison with the Swiss emigrant regiments.
Stock, formation	300 men maximum.
Origin squad, troop	From all over Switzerland and partly abroad.
Owner, commander, namesake	Emil Paravicini from Glarus.
Use, events	Unlike the Swiss regiments of Reding, Escher vom Berg and Graf Thurn planned by the British, as well as a corps of Swiss guides on horseback, the Paravicini emigrant regiment got beyond the project stage. It only had a short life, however. Apparently Paravicini had a bad reputation for embezzlement, which hindered advertising. When the English ambassador William Wickham (see web links) found out about it, he demanded an investigation either by the Glarus government or a court of Swiss officers, suspended Paravicini and transferred the command to his brother Fridolin (?). When the Allied retreat to Swabia after the Second Battle of Zurich in 1799, the regiment lost its way in all directions and was not restored.

Name, duration of use	(14 eng ) Emigrant battalion de Courten not regular 1800–1801
Year, contractual partner	1800, private capitulation of Eugène de Courten with the English ambassador William Wickham on behalf of Lieutenant General John Ramsay, agent for foreign troops of the British War Office under Henry Dundas , on behalf of George III, in agreement with General Melas , Austrian commander in chief in Northern Italy , for a Valais corps .
Stock, formation	1 battalion with 3 companies and approx. 400 men.
Origin squad, troop	Valais emigrants in Piedmont, members of the disbanded Sardinian Swiss regiments and recruits directly from the Valais (approached via the snow-covered passes).
Owner, commander, namesake	Lieutenant Colonel Eugène de Courten from Sierre.
Use, events	De Courten was looked at in a crooked light in 1798 during the uprising of the Upper Valais against the Helvetic Republic . He emigrated to Feldkirch and came into contact with the emigrants from Augsburg, especially von Steiger and Rovéréa. Eventually he took over the role of lieutenant colonel in the Rovéréa émigré regiment. When Rovéréa was replaced by von Wattenwyl in the winter of 1799/1800, he first asked to leave, but then accepted Wickham's proposal to raise a Valais corps in Piedmont . Despite the instructions of the British Inspector General, Lieutenant General John Ramsay, the Austrian recruiters for General Melas in Novara made his life difficult. In the Aosta Valley he completed his advertising, but a lot more slowly. In the brigade of Johann Festenberg von Hassenberg of the division of Andreas von Hadik-Futak the Younger (son of Andreas Hadik von Futak ) he fought in the battles of Turbigo and Novara. Only 280 men strong, he was withdrawn to Stra an der Brenta near Venice and isolated there. After the Treaty of Lunéville , he took the remnants of his battalion over the Alps to Styria to the other Swiss emigrant regiments on his own account, and was released there in 1801. 4 officers and 189 men from the abdicated emigrant battalion transferred to the von Wattenwyl regiment .

Name, duration of use	(15 eng ) Emigrant Freikorps Managhetta not regular 1799–1801
Year, contractual partner	1799, private capitulation of Rittmeister von Managhetta with the English ambassador William Wickham on behalf of Lieutenant General John Ramsay, commissioner for foreign troops of the British War Office under Henry Dundas , on behalf of George III, at the instigation of Brigadier Jelačić, from the Austrian Bündner - and General Reuss's Vorarlberg Army.
Stock, formation	1 free corps of fluctuating size.
Origin squad, troop	Stock 1799: Zurich on-call battalion of 462 men with 7 companies: Lieutenant Colonel Johann Jakob Meyer and the captains Heinrich Meyer, Heinrich Füssli, Johann Ernst, Salomon Weiss, Heinrich Spöndli, Konrad Hirzel and (hunter) Kaspar Freudenweiler; Appenzell-Ausserrhoden contingent with 431 men in 6 companies: Colonel Johannes Zellweger and the captains Hans Ulrich Zuberbühler, Johann Anton Tribelhorn, Johannes Hörler, Johann Müller, Johann Ulrich Isenhut and Johannes Näf; Schwyz contingent of 5 companies: Captains Franz Xaver Fälckli and Thomas Herket (Schwyz: 223 men), Ehrler (Muotatal), Gyr (Einsiedeln: 122 men) and k. A. (Laughter: 105 men); Glarus contingent of 371 men in 4 companies: Captains Konrad Schindler, Schmid, Leuzinger and Hefti; Uri contingent with 180 men in 2 companies: Captains Josef Anton Arnold and Johann Josef Marti; Menzingen Company (train): Captain Josef Anton Staub; Detachment Schaffhausen : Lieutenant Johann Konrad Ermatinger; Company Uznach : k. A .; Detachment Nidwalden : 130 emigrants.
Owner, commander, namesake	The royal-imperial Rittmeister Managhetta von Lerchenau, Modena dragoon from the Bohemian Dragoon Regiment No. 5 , member of a noble family from Lower Austria.
Use, events	When the Jelačić Brigade in General Reuss's combat group had to retreat from Central Switzerland to the Linth in the summer of 1799 , there were around a thousand voluntary or irregular militias in their ranks: Urner, Schwyzer, Unterwaldner, Zuger, people from Einsiedeln, Laughter and Uznach. Many of them had their families with them. After the fighting in the Glarnerland at the end of August they were placed under the command of Rittmeister Managhetta together with a contingent of Appenzell in Schänis. From a fund of the English ambassador William Wickham, who also donated a certain amount for the families, he was able to distribute at least a modest amount of money and a pound of bread to each soldier every day. Nevertheless, they had to face great privations. During the Second Battle of Zurich , the corps stood in the Uznach area without any enemy contact and withdrew with the troops of the successor to the fallen General Hotze , Franz Petrasch, through Toggenburg, where he adopted the Appenzell contingent, to the Bodensee area in Lindau . Its ranks had thinned considerably: the two Schwyz and Einsiedel companies as well as the two Uri units had each shrunk to one company. In addition, the militiamen often went home after a battle, only to reappear after a few days. Jelačić “was not amused”. In Lindau, however, despite all the difficulties, a relationship of trust between the militia officers and Managhetta developed, and the disorganized crowd slowly developed into a structured unit. She spent the winter of 1799/1800 in the Bregenz area and fought in the spring, now 400 men strong, together with the Bachmann emigrant regiment in the Jelačić brigade in Feldkirch. Subordinated to the rearguard under the command of Colonel Bachmann when retreating over the Arlberg Pass, she shared the fate of his regiment from then on (see there ). The remnants of the Managhetta Freikorps were also released in Styria in 1801.

Her Majesty's diplomats are making short work of them

The Allies, Great Britain and the emigrants did not work out their plans. Napoleon had won.

At Hohenlinden , General Moreau's corps had cleared the direct route to the Austrian capital Vienna. Emperor Francis II. Had no more choice than the Archduke Karl reached ceasefire from Steyr to accept the humiliation to prevent a French invasion of the Imperial Palace. In the subsequent Peace of Lunéville in early 1801, considerable territorial cessions followed.

Napoleon now controlled all of Europe on the left bank of the Rhine east of the Pyrenees, Switzerland and Northern Italy as far as the Adriatic.

The Swiss emigrants, their troops disarmed, had to accept the Helvetic Republic . After all, she was gracious to them. At the end of 1801, the Helvetian Directory issued a general amnesty. The emigrants were able to return to Switzerland.

The Swiss emigrant troops march back to Windischgraz in 1801

The Swiss emigrant regiments had already come a long way. The Treaty of Lunéville called for the imperial troops to be withdrawn far to the east: for the British-financed Swiss associations, this meant southern Styria (now Slovenia). The march there was an extreme achievement, especially for the frost-damaged corps von Bachmann and von Salis, with corresponding losses from illness, gangrene, death from exhaustion and desertion. The 2,400 men in the end were quartered in 80 (!) Villages in Windischgraz , with the command in Gonobitz . Finally, a typhoid epidemic broke out. What should happen to the badly battered Swiss?

France was not to have it, and Her Majesty had already invested a lot in it. Great Britain was therefore given priority, the emperor did not want to spoil it again with Napoleon. When Bachmann and Anton von Salis, now himself again, toying with the Neapolitan service and processed the cadre and crew accordingly, Wickham and Ramsay therefore made short work: they dismissed the Swiss troops without further ado - and began individual advertising for a regiment in the British Service for general use, not in the colonies, but in Egypt. The project succeeded. The two intriguing colonels stood empty-handed and fell between the table and the bench.

Anyone wishing to make use of the general amnesty and return home received their discharge papers in Maribor, and officers and NCOs received a decent exit regulation.

Name, duration of use	(16 eng ) Wattenwyl Regiment 1801–1816
Year, contractual partner	1801, private capitulation of Friedrich von Wattenwyl (Murifeld) with the English ambassador William Wickha on behalf of Lieutenant General John Ramsay, agent for foreign troops of the British War Office under Henry Dundas , on behalf of George III.
Stock, formation	1 regiment of 46 officers and 799 men.
Origin squad, troop	From the dismissed emigrant regiments, the Freikorps Managhetta and the Swiss company Durand of a French emigrant regiment in British service. Together with the commanding officer, (Bernese) officers from the Rovéréa émigré regiment were in the majority.
Owner, commander, namesake	Bernese Colonel Friedrich von Wattenwyl (Murifeld), with Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Ludwig Karl von Wattenwyl (Rubigen), who led the regiment in place of the ailing Friedrich (1810 Colonel, 1812 owner of the regiment), and Major Carl Viktor von Fischer, also from Bern.
Use, events	It must have been a pretty wild bunch in various uniforms that was formed into a regiment in Šoštanj . Among the 10 captains there were 3 Bernese, 3 Valais, 1 Appenzeller, 1 French and 2 other Swiss. The team consisted of Swiss, French, Germans, Austrians, Poles and Italians. They were all seasoned warriors, however, and the rigid British military justice system kept them in check (and prevented them from deserting). The officers gradually succeeded in forming a capable troop from this, which proved itself on three continents: In Africa: After they had taken on 150 men on the march to the port of embarkation in Trieste in St. Florian who had waited in vain for the promised employment in Naples, they were moved to Egypt via Malta. They fought in General Hutchinson's army in the successful siege of Alexandria. Later they were placed under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Jost Dürler in the Foreign Brigade (regiments von Roll , von Wattenwyl and Dillon). In Europe: British line infantry in action Back in Sicily via Malta in 1805, they became part of the expeditionary force of Major General John Stua, who outmaneuvered General Reynier's French troops in the Battle of Maid . From 1811 to 1813, the von Wattenwyl Regiment in Spain was involved in the Spanish campaign of Lieutenant General Wellesley , particularly in the defense of Cádiz. In America: To reinforce the troops of the Governor General of Canada, George Prevost , who were on the defensive in the British-American War against the American forces, it was then - actually in contradiction to the surrender - transported overseas. In 1814, Prevost had deployed his troops in two attack columns: The damaged White House after a watercolor from around 1814 The one attack column led by General Thomas Brisbane , which had the city of New York as its target with an advance along Lake Champlain , already ran aground in the Battle of Plattsburgh and had to withdraw. The other, consisting of three brigades under General Gordon Drummond , including the regiment of Wattenwyl, advanced from Lake Ontario towards the capital Washington, but had to withdraw after heavy losses. Later, in an attack by General Ross on the capital in retaliation for similar actions by the Americans in Canada, the von Wattenwyl regiment again suffered losses in the Battle of Bladensburg , but was subsequently involved in the fire in Washington before the British surrendered after 26 Hours already withdrawn. A tornado that happened by chance during the attack had already extinguished many sources of the conflagration. The defeat of the British at Plattsburgh under the command of Prevost, personally on the spot, led to the peace of Ghent at the end of 1814 . Two weeks later, at the Battle of New Orleans , the British suffered their most terrible defeat against the American forces of General Jackson , who later became the 7th President of the United States of America . The von Wattenwyl regiment suffered great losses again. The news of the peace treaty in Ghent tragically arrived only after the battle. It was the last major action by the von Wattenwyl regiment. It was dissolved in Quebec in 1816.

The final chapter in British pay service - a violation of all laws

When the British Parliament decided in 1854, to strengthen its small professional army, which had shrunk after nine months of the Crimean War , to make a Foreign Legion of 10,000 men possible, it had no idea about the turmoil it would cause in the still young Swiss Confederation .

It had forbidden the conclusion of surrenders in 1849 . However, it was still legal for Swiss citizens to provide foreign services. The treaties of the cantons of Bern, Lucerne, Uri, Unterwalden, Freiburg, Solothurn, Wallis, Graubünden and Appenzell Innerrhoden (the latter valid until 1859) with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1825–1828 were still in force - and the will of the republican majority to abide by the law obviously stronger than their rejection of foreign military service. Their ban was not followed until 1859 by federal law.

In the Military Criminal Code of 1851, however, it had not only banned the recruitment of Swiss compulsory military service and in the Federal Criminal Law of 1853 the general advertising of Swiss for foreign services, including for advertising agencies abroad, but also made it a criminal offense.

The front positions in the Crimean War led to an almost grotesque situation. On the one hand, the enemy par excellence of the republican, the absolute monarchy of Russia. On the other hand, there was the Western alliance of eternal rivals Great Britain and France, for which he felt sympathy - for which the published opinion of a not immodest majority in the press even called for Swiss military participation.

However, on the basis of old law, Swiss regiments stood in southern Italy as a pillar of Bourbon absolutism, while the new federal constitution did not allow the creation of pay contracts that could have been placed in the service of a popular cause.

Either way, when the British were looking for a connection to Swiss military circles and a high military personality as a standard bearer as early as 1854 and even started advertising for the Swiss for their Foreign Legion in Switzerland with an agent the next year, they violated all applicable laws.

Name, duration of use	(17 eng ) British Swiss Legion (German: British Swiss Legion ) not regular 1855–1856
Year, contractual partner	1855, a " letter of service " (German: Dienstbrief, written as an instruction) from the British advertising agent in Switzerland, Captain Charles Sheffield Dickson (promoted to Colonel at the same time) of the British War Office from War Minister Lord Panmure on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, for inspection by the Swiss Organizing Committee, made up of Captain Johann Baumgartner from Naters (commissariat officer in the Federal General Staff and soon to be promoted to Major His Majesty), Lieutenant Colonel Eduard Funk from Nidau ​​(artillery instructor) and Colonel Johannes Sulzberger from Thurgau (infantry instructor). Baumgartner had made an " extract from the military convention of the British Swiss Legion " - although never signed - which apparently did not correspond to the " letter of service " in important points , i.e. better terms than it promised. This sales letter was distributed in large numbers in Switzerland with the help of the British Embassy.
Stock, formation	1 infantry brigade with a maximum of 3,300 men in 2 regiments of 2 battalions, plus 1 sniper company. The originally planned artillery unit with 1 field battery with 6 guns and a heavy battery of 4 twelve-pounders and 2 six-pounders did not materialize. The uniform: red skirt (sniper green) with black collar and lapels, double row of brass buttons (Swiss cross bordered with British Swiss Legion ), epaulettes with British Swiss Legion medal , blue trousers and shako with BSL badge and green pompom.
Origin squad, troop	Swiss, up to 22% foreigners.
Owner, commander, namesake	Brigade Commander: Colonel Charles Sheffield Dickson; 1st regiment: Commander Lieutenant Colonel Jakob Blarer from Baselland, with the battalion commanders, Majors Karl Häfeli from Aarau and Theodor Fornaro from Rapperswil; 2nd regiment: Commander Lieutenant Colonel Balthasar a Bundi from Graubünden, with the battalion commanders, Majors Friedrich Ginsberg from Zurich and Ernst Martignoni from St. Gallen.
Use, events	The search for a high-ranking military personality turned out to be difficult. Various well-known Swiss toyed with the idea, but could not make up their minds. Ulrich Ochsenbein, for example: elected Federal Councilor and ex-head of the military department. However, he chose the offer as commander of the French Foreign Legion (at that time it was sufficient to resign as a senior Swiss officer for the end of the year. Foreign service was legal until 1859, although it was already disreputable. It should be noted that a Federal Councilor at that time did not yet have a pension got). The British ambassador, George John Robert Gordon, had to be content with Colonel Johannes Sulzberger. Advertising with a network of agents and sub-agents distributed over Switzerland and depots on French soil (Baden and Austria did not allow depots on their territory) in Selestat, Hüningue, Jougne north of Vallorbe and Blamont near Pruntrut, on Sardinian territory in Evians and Domodossola ( later relocated to Novara due to frictions with advertisers for an Italian legion) was relatively successful. In a short time there were 7 officers and 470 men together. The first setback occurred when the first contingent of 5 officers and 217 men arrived at the training camp in Dover and found nothing prepared there. The fact that, in contrast to the advertising letter, but in accordance with the "letter of service", 50 francs of the hand money of 150 francs had to be delivered for the equipment, even caused a stir in the press and led to heated discussions in parliament. Sulzberger solved the problem by intimidating the recruits and from then on having the soldiers and NCOs sign a relevant "declaration". The officers von Wattenwyl and von Steiger were so angry that they were dismissed by Colonel Dickson. The Swiss authorities arrested a recruiter here and there, against which the officers working abroad usually protested vigorously. Some cantons also handled criminal prosecution rather laxly. There was little more left for the Federation than to wait for the final surrender to come to an end. Dover Castle The monotonous garrison life in Dover fort and the barracks of Western Heights with strict drill from 6:00 to 11:00 and from 14:00 to 17:00 was only occasionally of an honorary service for an important state guest and once by an inspection interrupted by Queen Victoria. She expressed her satisfaction with her Swiss troops with “a trained body of men, ready for any service” (German: a group of men, trained for every mission). This, although a whole series of inadequacies such as a lack of order and cleanliness, lack of maintenance of armaments and equipment, late reporting, alcoholic excesses, night shootings, harassment of ladies in the city of Dover, absence of the company commanders during barracks inspections, were put on record. In the middle of November 1855, the 1st regiment with 1,450 men was moved to Izmir, where Colonel Blarer trained his troops and kept them in shape with strict marches. On March 1, Major Ginsberg followed with the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment, already with a large proportion of Savoyards and Italians, in anticipation of the early deployment to the front. But there was still time for a gymnastics and wrestling festival on Easter Monday and at the beginning of June for a shooting festival with a temple of gifts. The Paris Peace Treaty was signed in March and advertising for the British Swiss Legion in Switzerland ceased. Nothing came of their war effort. The brigade was transported back to England to the Shorncliffe Army Camp (German: Military Camp Shorncliffe, see web links) in Kent, where the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment and the recruits who had not yet been assigned were located. Apart from a gun salute on Queen Victoria's 47th birthday, they hadn't experienced anything exciting. At most, Captain Alexander Dorschatz had disappeared from Sitten with the troop coffers. The Legion was abdicated not until a year after the peace agreement, as agreed, but in autumn 1856. 240 men could still be recruited from Holland in Dover. Another 400 emigrated to Canada, financed by Great Britain, and 40 to the Cape Colony. A few transferred to the English dragoons at Shorncliffe. The rest of them were released in Strasbourg. The officers who had not signed the ominous "declaration" and the organizing committee struggled for a long time with additional claims for compensation, albeit in vain. The unsightly outcome of this daring military service adventure found the appropriate echo in the press. But nothing is as fleeting as yesterday's newspaper.

With the law of 1859, such ultimately outrageous and cold-blooded actions as advertising the British Swiss Legion were not impossible, but at least very unlikely.

But anyway: God save the Queen! (German: but one way or another: God protect the queen!).

Remarks

1. ↑ see also note on discussion page.

bibliography

• Beat Emmanuel May (by Romainmôtier): Histoire Militaire de la Suisse et celle des Suisses dans les differents services de l'Europe. JP Heubach et Comp., Lausanne 1788, OCLC 832583553 .
• Karl Müller von Friedberg : Chronological representation of the federal surrender of troops to foreign powers. Huber and Compagnie, St. Gallen 1793, OCLC 716940663 .
• Albert Maag: History of the Swiss troops in the war of Napoleon I in Spain and Portugal (1807–1814) , first volume, published by Ernst Kuhn, Biel 1892.
• Felix Burckhardt: The Swiss Emigration 1798-1801. Dissertation University of Basel, Verlag von Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel 1908.
• Heinrich Türler, Viktor Attinger, Marcel Godet: Historisch-Biographisches Lexikon der Schweiz , fourth volume, Neuchâtel 1927.
• Moritz von Wattenwyl: The Swiss in foreign military service. Separately printed from the Berner Tagblatt , Bern 1930, OCLC 72379925 .
• Paul de Vallière, Henry Guisan , Ulrich Wille : Loyalty and honor, history of the Swiss in foreign service (translated by Walter Sandoz). Les éditions d'art ancien, Lausanne 1940, OCLC 610616869 .
• Guy de Meuron: Le Régiment Meuron 1781-1816. Le Forum Historique / Éditions d'En Bas, Lausanne 1982, OCLC 611019200 .
• Heinrich L. Wirz, Florian A. Strahm: Swiss in the American Civil War 1861–1865 , series of publications by the Federal Military Library and the Historical Service, issue 49, Bern 2012, OCLC 821566116 .

See also

• Swiss troops in foreign service

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Heinrich Türler, Viktor Attinger, Marcel Godet: Historisch-Biographisches Lexikon der Schweiz , fourth volume, Neuchâtel 1927.
2. ^ ^{A b} Moritz von Wattenwyl: The Swiss in foreign military service. Separate print from the Berner Tagblatt , Bern 1930.
3. ↑ Lucienne Hubler: Sacconay, Jean de. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
4. ^ Fabienne Abetel-Béguelin: Mestral, de (Mont). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
5. ^ ^{A b} Daniel Bregnard: Goumoens, Jacques François de. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
6. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Julian James Cotton: His Majesty's regiment de Meuron , in The Calcutta Review , No. 234, October 1903, page 193.
   Another source describes Louis Paradis de La Roche as a French citizen, born in Landau (Alsace).
7. ^ Johann Eduard Kilchenmann: Swiss mercenary in the service of the English-East India Company around the middle of the 18th century, a contribution to the history of English companies in the Indian suburbs , dissertation University of Bern, Philosophical Faculty, J. Wirz printing house, Grünigen 1911.
8. ↑ ^{a b} May, Emmanuel: Histoire militaire de la Suisse et celle of suisses dans les différents services de l'Europe, Tome VII, Chapitre IV Autres services non avoués, Lausanne 1788th..
9. ^ Jacques Barrelet: Prevost, (Prévost) (GE). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
10. ↑ Lucienne Hubler: Prevost, Augustin de. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
11. ^ Dodwell and Miles: Alphabetical list of the officers of the Indian Army , by permission of the East India Company, Longman, Orme, Brown & Co., London 1838:
    Lewis Doxat: 1768 Cadet, 1769 Ensign, 1770 Lieutenant, 1778 Captain.
    (Descendant (?) Of Samuel Heinrich Emanuel Benjamin Doxat, artillery officer with distinction in the British East India Company and later - after his return and purchase of the castle in Renens - artillery chief of the canton of Vaud).
12. ^ Dean Mahomet: The Travels of Dean Mahomet, An Eighteenth-Century Journey Through India, University of California Press, Berkley 1997.
13. ^ Paola Crivelli: Bouquet, Henri Louis. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
14. ↑ Lucienne Hubler: Haldimand, Frédéric. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
15. ^ Albert Maag: History of the Swiss troops in the war of Napoleon I in Spain and Portugal (1807-1814). First volume, published by Ernst Kuhn, Biel 1892.
16. ↑ Erich Meyer: Roll, from (SO). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
17. ↑ ^{a b} Josef Brülisauer: Dürler, Jost. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
18. ^ Peter Quadri: Sonnenberg (LU). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
19. ↑ The Swiss Regiment de Meuron ( Memento from 7 July 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (English)
20. ↑ ^{a b} Hugh Cleghorn also stopped in Neuchâtel in 1789 during a 2-year sabbatical as a professor at the University of St Andrews in Fife / Scotland on a study trip through Europe.
21. ↑ Dominique Quadroni: Quatre-Ministraux. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
22. ↑ The Dutch surrender of 1781 was very carefully worked out with 25 paragraphs. The most important points:
    • The officers were chosen by the Colonel, with the exception of 2 companies that determined the Board of Directors of the Honorable Society (so that it would be kept informed of the mood in the officer corps elected by the Supreme !?);
    • The team should consist of at least 2/3 Swiss from the federal cantons and Protestants with at least 5 Dutch feet (i.e. 1m 44cm) in height;
    • Target inventory of the staff: 1 owner as a commander in the rank of colonel, 1 lieutenant colonel, 1 major, 1 lieutenant quartermaster, 3 ensigns, 1 chief surgeon and 10 assistants, 1 adjutant sergeant;
    • The company should have: 1 captain, 1 lieutenant, 4 sergeants, 4 corporals, 12 artillerymen, 2 tambours and 100 soldiers;
    • The staff officers had 6 years of service, the captains and lieutenants 4 and the sergeants at least 4 years of service;
    • The period of service was uniformly set at five years from arrival on site;
    • When the regiment was dissolved, the officers had a lifelong right to half their pay, unless they were to enter another service;
    • The troops had their own Swiss legal system without the British judiciary's right to intervene, except for abuse of office and high treason;
    • The VOC compensated the Colonel at £ 300 a man for advertising, original equipment and transport to the Île de Ré ;
    • De Meuron had to pay a deposit of 10'000 French pounds, which would be cashed if the target number of the regiment had fallen short of by more than 100 men at the scheduled time;
    • An excess of 50 men was permitted in recruiting for losses on the way to the meeting place;
    • The subsequent procurement of equipment should be procured in France during wartime, but Dutch war material in Holland during peacetime;
    • Since the operation was directed against the "red" English, the uniform should consist of a blue jacket with yellow lapels, knee breeches, gaiters up to the knees and a helmet with plumes and the coat of arms of Neuchâtel.
23. ↑ Cyrille Gigandet: Meuron, Jean-Daniel de. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
24. ↑ Cyrille Gigandet: Meuron, Pierre-Frédéric de. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
25. ↑ Dunvel Amélie Even: Sandol-Roy, Simon de. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
26. ↑ Myriam Volorio Perriard: Lardy. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
27. ↑ Veronika Feller-Vest: Doubt (GL). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
28. ↑ François-Henri de Meuron-Bayard's biography
29. ↑ Myriam Volorio Perriard: Meuron (de). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
30. ↑ Inventory on: De Meuron Regiment (English).
31. ↑ In essence, the Dutch surrender was adopted with a few adjustments:
    • Existence: 1 regiment of 950 men plus 100 sergeants and corporals, with the usual number of officers, the staff supplemented with a chaplain and the medical staff reduced to 3 surgeons, in 2 battalions;
    • The period of service for all was extended to 10 years and the officers' previous years of service were taken into account;
    • The formation, suit (now red again) and equipment had to correspond to the standard of the British infantry.
32. ↑ With the new provision that no English, Italian or French may be recruited.
33. ↑ The re-unification in 1812:
    • The uniform jacket was replaced by a jacket , the breeches and gaiters with trousers and the round hat with a shako , the grenadiers with a red, the hunters with a green and the fusiliers with a white feather;
    • The officers' dress uniform was complemented by a blue silk sash with an orange border;
    • The bags, cases and shakos were provided with a plaque with the letters GR ( Georgius Rex , Latin for: Georg König) and the inscription " De Meuron's Swiss Regiment " (German: De Meuron's Swiss Regiment).
34. ↑ Swiss DeMeuron Regiment in North America, 1813-1815 . (Memento from archive.today). Accessed: August 20, 2019. (English)
35. ↑ From the British inspection report (after Julian James Cotton):
    • Composition: 1 colonel, 2 lieutenant colonels, 2 majors, 10 captains, 18 lieutenants, 6 ensigns, 1 adjutant, 1 purser, 1 quartermaster, 2 doctors, 64 sergeants, 30 corporals, 21 tambours and 852 soldiers, a total of 1,011 men.
    • Of the 44 officers, 28 were Swiss (only 2 de Meuron!), 11 British and 5 German.
    • The team consisted of 313 Swiss, 256 Germans, 120 Italians, 7 Russians, 6 Poles, 3 Portuguese, 2 Spaniards and the rest from different countries.
    • 92 wives with 40 children were also listed.
36. ↑ ^{a b c d} José L. Terrón Ponce: El regimiento de Stuart , article in El Diario Menorca of July 2, 2005.
37. ↑ ^{a b} Article: Foreign Intelligence from the London Gazettes, Admirality Office , in The European Magazine and London Review , Volume 35, printed for J. Sewell, Cornhill and J. Debrett, Piccadilly, London 1799 (contains the wording of the surrender).
38. ^ ^{A b c d e f g h i} René Chartrand: Émigré and Foreign Troops in British Service (1): 1793–1802 , Osprey Publishing, ISBN 978-1-85532-766-5 , Oxford 1999.
39. ^ ^{A b c d e f g h i} Felix Burckhardt: Die Schweizerische Emigration 1798-1801 , dissertation University of Basel, Verlag von Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel 1908.
40. ↑ Excerpt from Lord Grenville's instruction to Talbot:

    « [...] England does not want to involve any country in the great battle with France; but if France attacks, England will help the attacked. The decision: whether war or peace must be left to the leading people in Switzerland; […] In the event of war, Bern will be paid an annual subsidy of £ 200,000 (equivalent to around 5 million francs), which can probably be increased. Talbot should, however, give the Swiss at most the sums mentioned. The subsidy is only paid out after a clear and open explanation of the situation in Switzerland and the useful use of the money. Talbot will keep Grenville informed about events in Switzerland. With the onset of hostilities between France and the Swiss Confederation, the reasons for keeping Talbot's mission lost; he will then go to Bern or some other suitable place and make the above-mentioned openings to the Bern government. At the request of the federal estates, an accredited British envoy will leave for Switzerland in order to forge ties between the two countries even more closely [...]
    and later, when he replaced the diplomat Talbot with the military lieutenant colonel Robert Craufurd :
    [...] Der The resumption of the war between France and Austria, which the news recently received here seem to put beyond any doubt, makes it very probable that the willingness of the inhabitants of Switzerland to shake off the yoke of their present oppressors has some prospect Success can be put into practice, and that the military movements of that country (Switzerland) could be combined with those of the Austrian army. It is therefore advisable that a person who is familiar with the nature of military negotiations and is able to estimate and control the expenditures of the formation and operations of an army be sent to the Swiss border […] »

41. ↑ Plan of the leading Swiss emigrants against Napoleon and the Helvetic Constitution :
    • 1. The English cabinet provides the necessary funds for agitation in Switzerland and - when the war breaks out - sufficient subsidies for the formation of Swiss troops.
    • 2. Austria takes the Swiss who rise under their own flag to liberate their fatherland into its service.
    • 3. Schultheiss von Steiger travels to Berlin in order to bring Prussia to the Anschluss with Austria and, through the mediation of the Russian ambassador in Berlin, Prince von Repnin , to support the Austro-Russian attempts at rapprochement.
    • 4. Coadjutor von Dalberg represents the cause of Switzerland at the German imperial estates.
    • 5. Prince Abbot Pankraz of St. Gallen makes his clergy available for agitation in Eastern Switzerland and himself maintains contact with Thugut .
    • 6. Hotze , in connection with the Imperial Chargé d'Affaires in Chur, Anton von Cronthal , carefully prompts the Graubündner to request help from the Emperor.
    • 7. Isaak de Rovéréa takes over the leadership of the agitation, which is to be conducted according to generally approved regulations.
42. ^ Sébastien Rial: Rovéréa, Ferdinand Isaak de. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
43. ^ Frédéric Giroud: Courten, Eugène de. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
44. ^ ^{A b} Hans Braun: Wattenwyl, Franz Friedrich von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
45. ↑ The oath read:

    « We should swear to the liberation of our valued fatherland, which has been overwhelmed and oppressed by the most unjust attack, to the salvation of our holy religion and worship, our freedom and independence, to the restoration of the constitution, laws and rights left by our glorious ancestors, everything in our property and powers are to be used, to offer up goods and blood and life for it, and as true honest confederates until these our so honest intentions are fully achieved, not to lay down their arms and to be faithful to the fatherland as worthy descendants of our eternal forefathers until death and to remain. - Since we are compelled to use our arms and to unite in a military corps for the real fulfillment of this sacred obligation of ours, subordination, respect and obedience are to your commanders, to our worthy general, barons of, who are distinguished by so many glorious deeds Hotze, under whose command you stand against your Lord Colonel, and the other senior and non-commissioned officers, the most exact fulfillment of their orders necessary and your first duty. Accordingly, you will therefore swear to recognize them as your bosses and commanders, to obey them in everything, to follow their commands faithfully and to carry them out to the best of your ability. At last you will swear to keep your flags to the utmost and to defend them. »

46. ^ Katja Hürlimann: Hotz, Johann Konrad [Friedrich von Hotze]. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
47. ↑ ^{a b c} Reorganization of the Swiss troops in summer 1799:
    • Each regiment was to have two battalions of 1,000 men and a staff of 38 men;
    • The staff included the regimental staff as well as the battalion staff and consisted of the following batches: 1 colonel, 1 lieutenant colonel, 2 majors, 2 auxiliary majors, 2 sub-auxiliary majors, 1 adjutant, 1 quartermaster, 1 Catholic and 1 Reformed Field preacher, 1 regimental surgeon, 2 battalion surgeons, 2 junior surgeons, 4 leaders (train soldiers?), 1 regiment drum, 2 battalion drum, 1 regimental professional, 4 sub-professional, 1 regimental gunsmith, 1 gunsmith assistant, 1 regimental tailor, 1 regimental tailor;
    • The battalion was to consist of 6 companies, namely a grenadier, a hunter and 4 fusilier companies. Later, however, there were deviations from the rule, both in terms of the number of companies and the distribution of hunters;
    • The company population was foreseen: 1 captain, 1 first lieutenant, 2 lieutenants, 1 sergeant, 1 fourier, 6 sergeants, 7 corporals, 7 privates, 3 minstrels, 1 carpenter, 1 company clerk, 1 frater, 110 fusiliers, hunters or grenadiers. In the Salis regiment, where there was initially no hunter company, there were 22 snipers.
48. ↑ Hubert Foerster: Nicolas de Gady from Freiburg and his company in the Swiss Emigrant Regiment Bachmann in the Second Coalition War (1799-1801 ), article in Freiburger Geschichtsblätter , Volume 69, Freiburg 1992.
49. ↑ From the command book to Obrist-Leutnant von Hauser of the Bachmann Regiment of August 1, 1799:
    • 1 regiment in British pay and Austrian supreme command comprising 2 battalions;
    • The regiment and battalion have a staff;
    • The regiment has regimental music;
    • Each battalion has 7 companies, the first of which are snipers / hunters;
    • The company consists of 4 officers (Hauptmann, Oberleutnant, 2 Unterleutnants) and 160 men (NCOs, corporals, private, soldiers), in September 1799 the number of crews was reduced to 130 fusiliers and 120 snipers / hunters;
    • 3 years of service for a bonus of 11 guilders;
    • The soldiers are sworn in.
    • Each company is divided into 10 squadrons (from December 1799 into 8), which were led by a corporal or private;
    • Two squadrons are subordinate to a sergeant;
    • Alternately, a soldier is responsible for the cooking affairs of his squadron.
50. ↑ Hans Laupper: Bachmann, Niklaus Franz von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
51. ↑ Veronika Feller-Vest: Hauser, Fridolin Joseph Alois von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
52. ↑ The armament:
    • The Fusiliers with Brown Bess rifles from English delivery and a bayonet;
    • The snipers / hunters were allowed to keep their own butcher or were given a carbine with a rifled barrel. They had a hunting knife in place of the bayonet;
    • The cadre carried a saber with a brass handle: Feldweibel, Fourier and Wachtmeister with red and yellow wool tassels, corporals, corporals and drums with white ones.
53. ↑ The equipment:
    • Cartridge pouch and fur holder sack with white straps;
    • Canteen, comb, clothes and shoe brush, mirror, neck and pigtail bandage, spare shirt and shoes as well as the grease can.
54. ↑ Training in the Bachmann emigrant regiment:
    • Daily routine: Training from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the morning and after the lunch break until 5 p.m.
      The day ended with the tattoo at 8 p.m. and the room reading at 8:30 p.m.
    • Regulations: Bachmann and his officers added their own regulations to the 133-page guide “ Regulations Elémentaire pour les Régiments Suisses à la Solde d'Angleterre ” by Lieutenant General John Ramsay, which was printed in Kempten :
      • Major Ziegler wrote a manual for field service at the end of 1799, which served as a guide for the subaltern officers of the regiment. The pamphlet contained explanations in five sections about the outposts in general, about the relocation of the outposts, the service of the outposts, behavior on the march and finally general rules of conduct for officers of a troop in action. The work was printed in Augsburg on the orders of Bachmann.
      • A volume of approx. 350 pages served as the drill regulations: " Military lessons for the praiseworthy Swiss regiment of Bachmann ", printed in Memmingen in 1800, which in four parts the soldiers' school, the train school, the battalion school and, in the appendix, " the movements, so with large corps are to be carried out ".
    • The training was practiced in four classes, with the soldiers being led from the first to the fourth class, from the easier to the more difficult, without wasting time for the already trained and more intelligent people.
    • The cleanliness of the face, hands, weapons and equipment was also part of the training. It was checked regularly: the former daily, the equipment weekly, mostly after going to church on Sunday.
    • Disciplinary and military justice were also clearly regulated and managed.
55. ↑ The oath of the Swiss emigrant troops:

    « We swear to God the Most High a physical oath to our fatherland, the laudable confederation, and to those princes who, in order to deny the general enemy, should rob us of our religion, freedom and independence, as well as all the commanders of these powers Who will be decreed to command us, in particular our Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, as well as all other senior and non-commissioned officers to obey and loyal to, to honor and respect them, to obey their commands and prohibitions faithfully, to us on trains and watch Day and night, in battles, storms, skirmishes, and on all other occasions, to show manly and obediently, as it is good soldiers to behave according to the war articles, against the fatherland and the generously protective powers, enemies, except nobody to fight bravely and manfully every time as required, and to quarrel, even with the same person en not to maintain correspondence, but on the contrary everything we would like to find out about his evil intentions, to discover our superiors, never to separate and withdraw from our regiment, company, troop or flag without permission, but live as long as we are obligated and want to die. So help us God, and the holy gospel through Jesus Christ. Amen »

56. ↑ Jürg Simonett: Salis, Anton von (Soglio). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
57. ^ Silvio Färber: Salis, Anton von (Marschlins). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
58. ↑ Veronika Feller-Vest: Paravicini, Emil. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
59. ^ Frédéric Giroud: Courten, Eugène de. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
60. ↑ ^{a b} Hubert Foerster: Success despite failure: the uprising and the war of liberation in Switzerland in 1799; A contribution to the anti-Helvetic movements. Series of publications by the Federal Military Library and the Historical Service, No. 48, Bern 2012.
61. ↑ Statement by the disappointed Wickham:

    “ Could have procured a much larger number of Swiss, but for the conduct of generals Bachmann and Salis, the colonels of two of the regiments in H. M's Service, who, forgetful of all that they owed to HM on their own personal account as well as that of their country, having done every thing in their power to prevent the embarcation, to discourage the officers and men of the other regiments as well as of their own and had entered into secret engagements with other powers on the continent (Naples) , that would have deprived H. M. of the Service of the whole Corps, had not their intrigues been discovered in time and measures taken to defeat them . "

62. ↑ A year later, Colonel Bachmann , who had returned to Switzerland, had to emigrate again, this time to Northern Germany. At the head of the insurgent troops, he had driven out the Helvetic government in the Stecklikkrieg and thus caused another military intervention by Napoleon in Switzerland. In 1815, however, the 75-year-old from Glarus became the first general of the Swiss troops for four months . His mission was to counter the threat that flared up again after Napoleon's return from Elba with a military occupation of the western border. His unsuccessful foray into the Free County of Burgundy became the last foreign offensive action by Swiss troops abroad.
63. ↑ He was preferred to Lieutenant Colonel Eugen von Courten from Valais, which prompted him to say goodbye.
64. ↑ Hans Braun: Wattenwyl, Abraham Ludwig Karl von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
65. ↑ Annelies Hüssy: Fischer, Carl Viktor von. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
66. ↑
    

    Relay formation
    Both sides fought in relay formation, the French in columns, the British in lines.
    The first British squadron of Colonel James Kempt, in which there was a detachment of the von Wattenwyl regiment, drove the 1st French squadron, the 1st Brigade of General Compère, to flight with 3 salvos at 150, 80 and 20 meters.

    The battle ended in favor of the British as the 4th English Squadron, the 3rd Brigade of Colonel John Oswald, including 4 companies of the von Wattenwyl Regiment with 16 officers and 271 men, the 2nd French Squadron, the 3rd Brigade of Brigade- General Luigi Gaspare Peyri, including the long- standing 4th Battalion of the 1st Swiss Regiment Ragettli , was able to force the reserve to stand and retreat with a flank attack.

67. ^ Federal Constitution of September 12, 1848 in the first Federal Gazette 1849:
    

    Article 11
    No military surrender may be concluded.
    Article 12
    The members of the federal authorities, the federal civil and military officials and the federal representatives and commissioners may not accept pensions or salaries, titles, gifts or medals from foreign governments.
    If they are already in possession of pensions, titles or medals, they have to refrain from enjoying pensions and wearing the titles and medals during their term of office.
    Subordinate civil servants and employees can, however, be approved by the Federal Council to continue drawing pensions.

68. ↑ ^{a b} Federal Law on Advertising and Entry into Foreign Military Service (of September 30, 1859):
    

    Article 1
    Entry into those troops abroad that are not to be regarded as national troops of the state concerned is prohibited to any Swiss citizen without the approval of the Federal Council.
    The Federal Council can only grant such a permit for the purpose of further training for the purposes of the patriotic defense system.

69. ↑ Federal law on the administration of criminal justice for the federal troops (of August 27, 1851):
    

    Article 98
    The recruitment of “people who are on the federal or cantonal team registers” was not only prohibited, but also made a criminal offense: in times of peace, prison sentences or penal sentences and in times of war even the death penalty!

70. ^ Federal Criminal Law (of February 4, 1853):
    

    Article 65
    Anyone who recruits residents of Switzerland for prohibited foreign military service is punished with imprisonment and a fine.
    This threat of punishment also applies to employees of advertising offices that are set up outside of Switzerland in order to circumvent the ban on advertising on Swiss territory.

71. ↑ Guido Mülhaupt: The Federal Authorities Handling Foreign Services 1859–1927 , Master's Thesis in Modern History, Philosophical-Historical Faculty of the University of Bern, 2012.
72. ↑ Georg Hoffmann: The British Swiss Legion in the Crimean War, Advertising and Fate , Article Journal for Swiss History, Issue 4, Volume 22, 1942.
73. ↑ An Ulrich Steiner from Ringgenberg is said to have become the king of wrestling , who then put a Turkish oil wrestler on the back and let Colonel Dickson win a bet against a local pasha . Paul Grossmann: Swiss in foreign military service , in Ringgenberg and Goldswil - history and folklore , by Gustav Ritschart and co-author Hein Buri and Emil Schmocker, pages 44 and 45, publishing house and publisher in the Ringgenberg community, 1990.
74. ↑ Karin Marti-Weissenbach: May, Beat Emmanuel (from Romainmôtier). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
75. ↑ Olivier Meuwly: Valliere, Paul de. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .