"Favorite moment in Napoleonic Warfare?" Topic

Mine probably involves Ney somewhere but it's a plucky move to thumb your nose at annihilation.

This scene happens later:

"At dawn on December 14, the Russians attacked. Ney called upon his infantry, but only one of its weak battalions, the garrison of 300 Germans, was armed. When a Russian cannonball came crashing over the stockade, killing their commanding officer, the soldiers threw down their arms and fled in terror. Still, Ney, deserted by the last of the organized armed units, refused to surrender his position. After a vain attempt to check the flight of the Germans, he gathered up their loaded muskets and faced the horde of Russians alone. Sergeant Bourgogne wrote: "I shall never forget the Marshal's commanding air at this moment, his splendid attitude towards the enemy, and the confidence with which he inspired the unhappy, sick and wounded around him. In this moment he was like one of the heroes of old time. In these last days of this disastrous retreat he was the savior of the remnant of the Army."

Or Lannes at Ratisbon:

"At the storming of Ratisbon, Lannes won great notoriety for his actions. The Austrians' fire was devastating as they struck down one French column after another. Resolute, Lannes ordered a third assault, which the soldiers obeyed reluctantly. Instantly, Lannes exclaimed, "Well, I will let you see that I was a genadier before I was a Marshal, and still am one." Seizing a ladder, he carried it toward the breach. His aides tried to stop him, but he was defiant. At last, Lannes's aide-de-camp, Marbot, cried, "Monsieur le Maréchal, you would not wish us to be disgraced, and that we should be if you were to receive the slightest wound in carrying that ladder to the ramparts as long as one of your aides-de-camp was left alive."

Marbot and another officer dragged the ladder away from their protesting leader. The sight of a marshal arguing with his aides over leading the assault had achieved the desired effect; the whole division was roused to action. Armed with ladders, they charged the ramparts, with Marbot the first one over the wall. Lannes soon rushed the gate with infantry, storming through the Austrian defenders."

How about General (at the time, Colonel) Louis Lepic, when in command of the Grenadiers à Cheval:

"At the battle of Eylau, seeing his horse grenadiers lowering their heads as bullets whistled around, Lepic had this famous word: "Heads up gentlemen, these are bullets, not s !" (Haut la tête messieurs, la mitraille ce n'est pas de la merde !). The ensuing heroic charge at the head of his horse grenadiers, where he was seriously wounded, brought him the rank of général de brigade. Seeing Lepic after the battle, Napoleon went to him and said: "I thought you had been captured, General Lepic. I was feeling deeply sorrowful about it," at which Lepic retorted: "Sire, you will only ever hear of my death." That evening, Lepic, who had been seriously wounded in action that day, received 50,000 francs, which he immediately distributed to his horse grenadiers."

Dunno, Somosierra? All of Auerstadt? Buçaco was a nice little action: 10 for 1 exchange rate and the stoopid enemy needn't have even fought it.

What was the battle where Massena pointed at an Austrian regiment and said, "Men, those soldiers come from the best families in Vienna. I recommend them to you" and then routed them?

I also like Wellington's "Have you, by God" line at Waterloo.

Mine is another Lepic moment …
"Elsewhere Colonel Lepic's horse grenadiers were also in a tight spot, overextended and mounted on blown horses. Russian infantry began to move in, and a Russian officer called out to Lepic to surrender. 'Take a look at the faces of these men,' Lepic roared back: 'Do they look like men who would surrender?'

Fighting Techniques of the Napoleonic Age: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics
By Robert Bowman Bruce, Amber Books, 2008

I always liked Napoleon facing down the 5th of Line on the road to Grenoble in 1815.

Or Nelson turning his (literally) blind eye to his commander's signals at Copenhagen,

Now Maitland! Now is Your Time!

Pretty much anything from Marbots memoirs, where he either saved the day (good example above in getting into a wrestling match with Lannes), saved the Eagle (Eylau), saved the Marshals report to Napoleon on a battle (Spain, forget which one, but he was still with Lannes at that time as I recall) or maintained the largest extant French cavalry regiment from the debacle of Russia…

Marbots memoirs are all you need to know to understand how the Napoleonic wars SHOULD have been. Mind you, John Kincaid gives him a (much more laid back) run for his money!

Colonel William Inglis at Albuera; "Die hard 57th, die hard.'

Agustina de Aragón at Zaragoza, stopping the French with a whiff of grapeshot from a 12pdr, whose crew had been wounded or killed, at one of the city entrances, El Portillo.

Salamanca 22nd July 1812

General Leith. Commander 5th Division

"General Leith rode up about 2 o'clock. The cannonading at this time was terrible. Addressing the Regiment he says, ''Royals'', on which we all spang up. ''Lie down men'' said he, though he sat on horse-back, exposed to the fire as calm as possible. ''This shall be a glorious day for Old England, if these braggadocian rascals dare but stand their ground, we will display the point of the British bayonet, and where it is properly displayed no power is able to withstand it. All I request of you is to be steady and obey your officers. Stand up men!"

Paul :)

"I believe Marmont is extending his left, my lord?"

"The devil he is, Somerset!"

Anything without british troops

Sparta

Anything without British troops

Why? Seeing as most of the quotes above are pertaining the French

Paul :)

There is a moment during the battle of Eylau in 1807 when Bennigsen is in a discussion, under fire, with his HQ and Russian officers around him, about where to make a stand with some reserves as the French pressure mounts. Shot and shell and bullets are whistling around and men are falling under the storm of fire. You can just picture it, dramatic scene, blood, fire, shell bursts, terror in the middle of a raging blizzard. One officer shouts that " …. only the Devil would stand here …. " to which Bennigsen replies " …. very well then , let us stand here with the Devil …. "

Whatever might be thought of his generalship, Bennigsen did not lack for personal courage.

Anything without British troops

"Ich stinke etwas!" Feldmarschall v Bluecher after Ligny receiving the British liaison officer, while lying down heavily bruised, while a doctor rubbed him down with schnapps.

*"I really smell bad!"

"Quelle Affaire!"

Senarmont at Friedland in 1807.

The Swiss at the Berezina in 1812.

The Poles at Somosierra in 1808.

Drouot at Lutzen in 1813.

The 84th Ligne at Graz in 1809.

Kellermann at Quatre Bras in 1815.

The 1st Grenadiers a Pied and the Grenadiers a Cheval leaving the field of Waterloo in perfect order in 1815.

The 1st Grenadiers a Pied and the Grenadiers a Cheval leaving the field of Waterloo in perfect order in 1815.

Only believed by the deluded.

Paul :)

Anything without british troops

Having a bad day over there on Devil's Island, Nicolai? Come on, the sun is shining and the Gardehusarregiment have their open day tomorrow

Raining today

But it is a great period for drama, whether real or imaginary. Luckily, my toy soldiers aren't real either, so "enhanced" memoirs work for me, to capture the flavour.

And in my happily deluded mind, my old guard walk into the sunset in good order. Truth be dammed

Scott's brigade at Chippawa in 1814.

The siege of Fort Erie.

The drawn battle of Lundy's Lane.

And in my happily deluded mind, my old guard walk into the sunset in good order.

Welcome to the arena of the 'deluded.' ;-)

I have to agree with Mserafin with Napoleon opening his coat and daring ANYONE in the 5th Ligne at Grenoble to blow him away…

Napoleon had the balls of an ELEPHANT…(and probably why so many of his men worshipped the ground he walked on…)

zaevor2000

I have to agree with Mserafin with Napoleon opening his coat and daring ANYONE in the 5th Ligne at Grenoble to blow him away…

Oh well! It's an open minded society these days….

Paul :)

Napoleon had the balls of an ELEPHANT…(and probably why so many of his men worshipped the ground he walked on…)

If he had the balls of an elephant, with his short little legs, they must have worshiped the ground his balls dragged along.

My favourite moment is when Lannes and Murat captured the bridge across the Danube at Spitz by persuading the Austrian commander that an armistice had already been signed. And when he asked why a party of grenadiers led by Oudinot was advancing on the bridge they managed to persuade him that they weren't advancing they were just marking time to keep their feet warm in the cold weather.

The 42nd and 28th at Alexandria. In the dawn's grey light, fighting French dragoons in front and rear.

"Abercrombie calling out "My brave Highlanders, remember your forefathers!"

The 28th, running out of ammunition at the end and chucking stones at French infantry on the glacis, who have also run out of ammunition and are chucking stones st them.

To their left, Highlanders, collapse on the sand in the morning sun and weep helplessly amidst their dead and wounded, when the massed enemy have finally withdrawn and the cannon balls are no longer ploughing through their ranks. Abercromby finally acknowledges he has been wounded and allows his staff to carry him to the rear.

"The reserve, against whom the principal attack of the enemy was directed, conducted themselves with unexampled spirit. They resisted the impetuosity of the French infantry, and repulsed several charges of cavalry…

The 28th and 42nd regiments acted in the most distinguished and brilliant manner."

When my flank charge by a small battalion of poor troops saw off a battalion (and then routed two others) of veteran troops who ignored them. I thought of saving those dice for future emergencies, but lost track of them.

Maybe the Prussians attacking the French flank at Waterloo, or maybe the Russians defending Borodino.

Farine's cuirassiers mouse-trapping the Union Brigade, along with Jacquinot's lancers at Waterloo.

The two-battalion Old Guard infantry assault against Plancenoit after the Young Guard was ejected by the Prussians and retaking the village, defeating 14 Prussian battalions in the process.

"Having a bad day over there on Devil's Island, Nicolai? Come on, the sun is shining and the Gardehusarregiment have their open day tomorrow thumbs up"

:-) Better today, can tolerate anglophiles :-)

Best moment is from Coignet. The Old guard is in formation at Essling. One of the men have to take a cr.p. He goes out in front and turns his back on the enemy while doing his buissness in front of the whole regiment – the Austrians gunners shower him with cannonballs without hitting him and he returns to the regiment to applause. His reason was, that the guard could never retreat in front of the enemy :-)

By the way Janner – if your ever on devils island come along to our club for a game :-)

Sounds like a plan, Sparta

In his memoirs, Elzear Blaze recounted that General Dorsenne was the only officer who could calmly face away from incoming artillery fire and conduct whatever business he wanted to do. I'm supposing the man had absolutely no nerves at all.

Blaze said that he tried it and could not stop himself from turning to look if any of the solid shot was headed his way.

Incredible.

There are so many course, and I can't remember where I saw this, (and what investigating I have been able to do has not yet revealed the source), but as I recall it, when the commanding officer of a formation was ordered into a battlefield hot spot by Ney he questioned the exact direction he was supposed to have his command move and the Marshal answered something to the effect, "In the direction of my horse' ass." I was so impressed with the story I looked up how to say Ney's response in French. Unfortunately the phrase doesn't come up a lot in casual conversation. Thanks, John Miller

Something like "vers le cul de mon cheval", I suppose, but the only way to be sure would be to visit France and try it out on a policeman.

Or the Garde Republicaine as they trot past?

"Something like "vers le cul de mon cheval", I suppose, but the only way to be sure would be to visit France and try it out on a policeman."

How do you say 'nightstick shampoo' in French?

4th Cuirassier, Supercilious Maximus, & Murvill: Thanks for your comments. I am a Ney "fanboy" so every story about him I find fascinating. I have never been to France but I would love to see the Garde Republicaine as they trot past, regardless of which direction their horses' asses are going, among hundreds of other cool things, (the Gardes, not the horses asses'). It is my impression that the cops of France are generally spoken to with respect, so I am led to believe that the French version "hey pal, which way to the Musee d' Armee" would probably not be acceptable there. Thanks, John Miller