"Position of French sappers 1800 - 1807" Topic

From what I ken, from 1808 the sappers in a French bn. would march behind the eagle escort. Where were they pior to that? Were they with the Grenadier coy.? Were they behind the "colour party" / eagle escort anyway and the 1808 regulations just made it official to have the sappers behind the eagle escort? Thanks.

Where did you find they were behind the Eagle or flag ?

Some info, in French, here:

link

Before 1808, there were no sapeurs at all in the infantry, as far as I know ?

see also Manuel d'Infanterie 1813, page 448

One would have to check earlier MdIs to find out about the position of the pre 1808 regulations of Sappeurs, Sappeurs did exist before 1808 – I will have a look what Bardin is saying in his encyclopedie militaire

Now when I go back and look I can't find the reference ###!@@@XX. Perhaps I imagined it, making this posting pointless. Tant pis.

I did find however, that in 1804 10 reg'ts are recorded with some having 8-9 sapeurs, others with 12-16 sapeurs. This is out of Emir Bukhari's: French Napoleonic Line Infantry 1796 – 1815.

Alombert, Campagne de l'an 14 (1805), p. 355, quotes the decree of 7 April 1806, which officially introduced 4 sapeurs for every battalion of line infantry. These men are taken from and continue to be part of the company of grenadiers.

Unfortunately, this decree doesn't say where the sapeurs are to be posted.

Alombert also quotes (p. 354) an order of 9 July 1804, which orders mousquetons with bayonet to be delivered to the 6 sapeurs of the 9e léger and of the 96e de ligne.

The French sapeurs d'infanterie were part of the head of column which also included the drummers and drum major. On the march they accompanied the eagle, the drums, and the band. Their badge, worn in the sleeve, was two crossed axes. They were selected from the unit's grenadier/carabinier companies.

They were descended from the Royal Army's soldier carpenters, called ouvriers in the Swiss regiments and the French Guards. Their actual formation and equipment were not finalized in the Grande Armee until 1805-1806. They were the infantry equivalent of the sapeurs du genie in the French engineer arm.

As part of the unit's tete de colonne, their uniforms were some regiments gave them uniforms of a distinctive cut and color. They traditionally wore aprons, carried an axe and wore either bearskins or shakos with a red plume which denoted their elite status. Battalions had four sapeurs, one of them a corporal.

And as an addition to the above, dragoon, cjhasseur a cheval, and hussar regiments also had sapeurs, some of them carrying/armed with a lance.

The chasseur a cheval regiments sapeur detachment was made up of six to eight picked men and belonged to the regimental headquarters. The hussars' detachments were about the same as were the dragoons.