"Chasseurs à Cheval of the French Imperial Guard" Topic

Some paintings and plates for you guys.

CAPITAINE DES CHASSEURS À CHEVAL DE LA GARDE IMPÉRIALE EN GRANDE TENUE, painted by Georges Scott.

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Portrait of Captain Jean-Baptiste Isidore Martin de Laborde (1772-1852) of the Regiment of Chasseurs à Cheval of the French Imperial Guard, painted by Alexandre Casanova (1770-1844) in 1805.

Isidore Martin served in the 23rd and 24th French cavlary regiments in the 1790s. He joined the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Guard in 1802 as sous-lieutenant. He was promoted to capiatine (captain) adjuntant-major of the regiment in 1804 (and made member of the Order of the Légion d'honneur in the same year).

Isidore Martin fought with his regiment at Austerlitz and Eylau. After Eylau, where the regiment suffered heavy losses, he was promoted to chef d'escadron. He was made officer of the Légion d'honneur in november of 1808. Martin fought against the Austrians in 1809. He was promoted to colonel and commander of the 6th Cuirassiers in august of 1811. Martin commanded the 6th Cuirassiers troughout the Russian Campaign in 1812 and the campaign in Germany in 1813. He was created Baron of the Empire in september of 1813.

Martin kept his job after Napoleon's abdication in 1814 and was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Order of Saint Louis. He joined the eagles when Napoleon returned to France in 1815 and commanded his 6th Cuirassiers at Ligny and Waterloo. Colonel Martin was seriously wounded at Waterloo and had one of his arms amputaded.

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TROMPETTES DES CHASSEURS À CHEVAL DE LA GARDE IMPÉRIALE, painted by Lucien Rousselot.

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CAPITAINE DE CHASSEURS À CHEVAL DE LA GARDE IMPÉRIALE, painted by Eugène Leliepvre.

Beautiful artwork, my favorite regiment of all time, thanks to Daumesnil, followed closely by HM 15th Hussars! 😊

Thanks for posting. Great paintings.

Tom

Just wanted to add a few!

Portrait of Colonel Louis-Bernard Francq 10e Cuirasseirs 1809-1812

Portrait of Colonel General Jean Vivant Brunet Denon 24e Chasseurs a cheval 1807-1809 He would lose an arm in 1809

Portrait of Colonel Claude Mugnier 6e Dragoons

Major Marie Louis Hercule Hubert Corbineau

Colonel Charles Henry Delacroix 9e Chasseurs a cheval 1808-1809

Colonel Claude Etienne Guyot Colonel Chasseurs de la Garde 1809

Great finds, MarbotsChasseurs!

They knew how to dress in those days!

Keep them coming!

I think you'll like these two videos, Andrew Preziosi.

YouTube link

YouTube link

The videos are amazing. The perfect uniform, the skill of the rider, plus his use of the sword……and the horse is just superb. Seeing a real sword blow from a mounted user looks so different to the movie version. It would be so easy for the impact to unseat the rider, let alone what it did to the footslogger. Great find

Now I can see why some officers didn't want the sabers drawn to the last minute. A young recruit could barely control a horse let alone use the sword! Great video!

Excellent videos.

French cavalry, light or heavy, Guard or line would attack with their sword points towards the enemy in the front rank and those behind would have their swords raised, pointing upwards.

The French fought with their sword points, while other cavalry, notably the British, fought slashing with their swords and caused less wounds.

Sergeant Guindey fought sword against saber with Prince Louis of Prussia at Saalfeld and killed him with the point of the sword, not slashing. Guindey was wounded across the face by Louis slashing with his.

And the sword knot was used over the wrist to keep the sword in the possession of the rider if the grip was lost during combat but the sword was still attached and recoverable. Some French cavalry commanders recommended using a strong handkerchief in place of the sword knot for this purpose as it was much stronger than the sword knot.

The French fought with their sword points, while other cavalry, notably the British, fought slashing with their swords and caused less wounds.

No! The slashing with the British hatchet bladed 1796 Light Cavalry sabre caused terrible wounds but not as many fatal wounds. The same goes for the heavy cavalry 1796 sword.

The Light cavalry sabre was used mainly for cutting rather than piercing anyway. Though the French blade was better at piercing, the cutting was better with the British blade.

the videos above clearly demonstrate the cutting more than the stabbing aspect of light cavalry swordwork.

An aspect of Hussar training pre-Napoleonic.

"It would be so easy for the impact to unseat the rider, let alone what it did to the footslogger"

'scuse me? What are you trying to say?

Oh yeah…didn't think of you.

I still think though that being "tied" to one's sword (or even more one's lance) could have its downside. Pierce your enemy is all well and good, but God help you if you cannot instantly extract it as you ride on.

"Less Wounds" Brechtel198 said above. I guess the debate has always been fewer wounds (ie numbers, quantitative, less likely to hit the enemy at all) or qualitative, less severe wounds. The point will finish most on the end of it, but needs much training. The edge, the slash with a hatchet blade, will take limbs or heads off, easier done and will at least discourage one's opponent.

Some French cavalry commanders recommended using a strong handkerchief in place of the sword knot

never heard of it – so such as??

As for the video, the good thing is to see how all the equipment moves around – as to the sabre work, the underhand strokes look spectacular, but did they really use it, by this opening up their own body – the opponent wouldn't be just a bag – but would fight back?

A pity that the downward sweep it not shown.

Great Stuff, Cuirassier…Thanks!

Every football game I ever see (OK, soccer to our Transatlantic Cousins) the pundits will say "All he needed to do was open up his body"….as he misses an open goal.

OK, this will be difficult for vonW as Bundesliga is so much more sensible and maybe this expression is not used….

But he is right. This is a superb example of attack against a totally impassive enemy on foot…who is motionless. It is quite possible that that is just what infantry broken by cavalry really did present however. Everything says that, just before dying soldiers do tend to freeze. Most never actually fired their M16

never heard of it – so such as??

I believe that it is in de Brack's fine memoir.

thanks it is on page 47 of my French edition

Avant – Postes de Cavalerie Légère – Souvenis, par F. de Brack

re – print Paris, Aux Trois Hussards 1995

This is what he proposes, in case – nobody knows if it ever was applied at all – or at least in great numbers with the French light cavalry.

von Winterfeldt stateth:-
>>This is what he proposes, in case – nobody knows if it ever was applied<<

Sounds more like he was taking the p___.

Sword-knots weak- You got to be kidding me!
All the extant versions I saw AND touched were solid, thick and well stitched. IIRC the GI (at least some) cav had solid leather ones too! Everything but pure decorative sword-ware had real materials underneath their flashy gold.

I will see if I can find a detail slide I may have taken there.

So what pansy soldier is going to drag out his linen or silk handkerchief and wrap it around his wrist and sword/sabre hilt/ grip, expecting that to hold in a combat??

Just more movie invented fantasy BS IMHO.
d

The edge, the slash with a hatchet blade, will take limbs or heads off, easier done and will at least discourage one's opponent.

I thought the edges were purposely left blunt? (probably to use as axes against infantry skulls)

Wasn't there a complaint (from French early times) that there were too many unneccessary casualties due too sharp swords?

Isn't there an anecdote about Indian cavalry swords being incredibly lethal – only to find they were sharpened British ones?

So what pansy soldier is going to drag out his linen or silk handkerchief and wrap it around his wrist and sword/sabre hilt/ grip, expecting that to hold in a combat??

Just more movie invented fantasy BS IMHO.

Silk is pretty good against cuts. Wrap silk scarf around neck to prevent beheading.

Would be interesting to compare silk neckerchief protection versus leather stock versus metal gorget.

I think it was Nolan who commented on the Indian cavalry use of curved swords. He suggested reintroducing metal bridle gauntlets to protect the hand holding the reins.

So what pansy soldier is going to drag out his linen or silk handkerchief and wrap it around his wrist and sword/sabre hilt/ grip, expecting that to hold in a combat??

Antoine de Brack did and he was no 'pansy.' Perhaps you should take a look at his excellent memoir?

Chasseur a cheval in undress uniform
link

I don't think the poster meant a particular soldier being a 'pansy'.

I think the sense was as in "pansy soldiers" as a whole.

Perhaps its a naval/air force thing.

The remark was ignorant and should not have been stated in the first place.

I think that damn carbine banging around would swiftly drive me mad!

I reckon the carbine was routinely either left in camp or stuffed under some convenient bit of tack. I can't imagine any cavalryman riding into action with a carbine butt thumping into his ribs on the same side as his sword.

That was the first thing I noted. My God what a pain in the you know what and several other places besides.

I'm sure I have read somewhere that Carbines were generally only carried on patrol/outpost duty but then again there's Mercer's account of the guy taking potshots at him and his battery at Waterloo and other accounts of them in general engagements.

Look like a dammed annoyance to me.

Probably not too good for the carbine either.