"Attached extra French companies" Topic
5 Posts
All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.
In order to respect possible copyright issues, when quoting from a book or article, please quote no more than three paragraphs.
For more information, see the TMP FAQ.
Back to the Napoleonic Discussion Message Board
Areas of InterestNapoleonic
Featured Hobby News Article
Featured Link
Featured Ruleset
Featured Showcase Article
Featured Workbench Article
Featured Profile Article
Featured Book Review
|
Please sign in to your membership account, or, if you are not yet a member, please sign up for your free membership account.
Gunfreak | 29 Jun 2017 3:30 a.m. PST |
Looking at the OOB for the 3rd corps at the start of the 1806 campaign. I see several regiments got attacked voltiguers and grenadiers from the 3rd and 4th battalions. I assume the voltiguers would be used to strengthen the skirmish screen but what about the grenadiers. Would they operate as separate companies or be attached to one of the two battalions of it's regiment? |
4th Cuirassier | 29 Jun 2017 3:44 a.m. PST |
Is it possible they simply reinforced campaign-depleted equivalent companies of the regiment's other battalions? In Uniforms of the Peninsular War Haythornthwaite cites what he calls a typical French regiment of 3 to 4 battalions that had 120 grenadiers in total, so 30 to 40 men per company. Voltigeurs more but not much more. |
ScottWashburn | 29 Jun 2017 4:28 a.m. PST |
Since most of the formations (like squares and columns) were designed with a set number of companies in mind, tacking on extra companies could prove awkward. I would imagine the extra men simply reinforced the existing companies. |
attilathepun47 | 29 Jun 2017 8:36 a.m. PST |
As has been pointed out on previous threads, a company is an administrative organization. Going into battle, a battalion "equalized" its sub-units by temporarily shifting men from the strongest to the weakest ones, so that they were of equal size for tactical purposes. That is, no doubt, how the extra attached companies were put to use, but they would have remained separate administratively. |
Camcleod | 29 Jun 2017 9:29 a.m. PST |
I was wondering the same thing when I was looking at the French at Jena. I found a few maps that showed them as separate Elite Bns. The IIIrd Corps 3rd Bns. were on average just under 200 strong and I assume they could have operated effectively as independent Elite Bns. |
|