"French Battalion Commanders" Topic

Need someone to enlighten me about the French command structure. My problem comes when I reach the Battalion level. I read some were lead by an officer with a rank of Colonel and other by the rank of Chef de Battalion. What is the difference, if any?

The regimental commander was a colonel with a chef de battalion for each of the 'battalions de guerre'. It varied from unit to unit, but generally you would find the colonel taking command of the first battalion with the chefs de battalion commanding the remaining battalions.

So a Chef de Battalion was an actual rank. Then I would assume that it fell between the Col. and Capt. equivalent to a Major /Commandant?

The colonel had a major with him on the regimental staff as a form of 2IC/senior staff officer. Below them were the chefs de battalion commanding the battalions and then the captains commanding the companies. And at that time the major was a 'major' and not the 'commandant' he later became during the Second Empire.

Would it then look like this: (Infantry-Lower to Higher)
Lieutenant
Captain
Major
Chef de Battalion
Colonel
General de Brigade
General de Division

At the Corps level were Marshals

Almost right except for Captain, Chef de Battalion, Major, Colonel.
And of course corps could be commanded by Generals de Division, especially in Spain. Marshal was more of an aristocratic title than a purely military rank.

What a major was above the Cheif de battalion?

Wasn't the major a staff officer, like in the British army, and only attached to the first battalion and don't in direct command of any thing.

I thought a Chief de battalion was the aquvilant of a Lt. Col

I have a feeling that the Major was a "spare" officer who could command substantial detachments of the regiment, or even the brigade of which the regiment was part, for special missions (eg if one or two battalions of a four-battalion regiment, or brigade, were split off to garrison a town; or if all of the grenadiers and/or voltigeurs of the regiment/brigade were converged for an assault).

I think also that the rank of Lt Col was abolished during the Revolution as it was considered a legacy of the Ancien Regime and the "ownership" of a regiment by its Colonel.

I can see it coming down to the pay scale.
Which ever one got payed more than the other would probably have the higher rank. I'm talking base pay not sure what type of "bonus pay" that could be in effect.

Max has it right. My view is also if you look at the rank badges, while the Colonel and the Major had two full epaulettes, the Chef de Battalion only had one full epaulette on the left shoulder.

In french army, 1815 :

link

In french army, today :
colonel – lieutenant-colonel – commandant – capitaine – lieutenant – sous-lieutenant

In fact, "major = lieutenant-colonel" and "chef de bataillon = commandant".

When I was military, I had a "commandant" (4 slices) whose rank were "commandant Dupont, chef d'escadron" (he was in the artillery) and another officer was intended "commandant Dupuis, chef de bataillon"(he was in the infantry).
The tradition continues…

Another links :

link

link

Not easy the grades in the French army…

The infantry regimental commander did not command any of the battalions in the regiment personally. I have seen no reference where it states that he did-he was the regimental commander and exercised command through his chefs de bataillon, who commanded the infantry battalions of the regiment.

The major was in command of the regimental depot, the depot battalion was commanded by the senior company commander. After the 1808 reorganization of the infantry regiments when the war battalions went from nine companies to six, the depot battalion had only four companies and no elite companies.

In 1811 Napoleon ordered that every regiment with four war battalions would have a 'major en second' so that the regiment in the field would have a de facto second in command. If the regiment was not together in the field, the major en second would command the detached battalions as a provisional regiment.

Sincerely,
K

Same data found in my references 10thMarines. On the table, I place a mounted colonel with my 1st battalions of French, with a white plume. 2nd and subsequent battalions the mounted chef de battalion sports a red plume. Gives me a quick reference when I look down at the troops.