"french prison batalion?" Topic

to All,
Any info sbout that? greetings serge joe

Do you mean this one ?

link

There was an Italian version; draft dodgers, deserters, petty criminals. Served in Spain and the 1813 campaign in Germany. Apparently they were quite handy. Standard uniform in mid grey with grass green facings, no elite companies,and ( I think) tricolour ribbons on a pole rather than a standard.

dear Oliver Schmidt, penal batalions? greetings joe serge

Have a look here:

link

and here;

TMP link

This will give you an idea and keywords to search yourself in the net.

there were others disciplinary units in the French Army before these regiments

since 1803 the 4 Colonial Battalions in garrison in 4 isles of France and Netherlands from Corsica to Walcheren, and 4 colonial Pioneers Battalions raised in 1811 attached to them, even if they were named "colonial" they remained in Europe, the 3rd Colonial Battalion having a lot of austrian and german soldiers and deserters

For that reason the Italian Army had its own similar "Colonial Battalion" then regiment 70 years before to have any colonial territory :)

I am not agree with napoleon series link about the so-called 38 "pioneer" battalions raised in 1811 : these units were not only recruited from POW's but also named officially Spanish "Prisoners of War" Battalions (Bataillons de Prisonniers de Guerre, not "Pionniers") a kind of labour workers units than anything else

There were also the Deserters Battalions, for obvious reasons renamed "Foreign Battalions" and the only French battalion (Former Emigrés) the French Returned Chasseurs Battalion