"“Legion Franche Etrangere” Uniforms?" Topic

Hello all!

I'm very new to Napoleonics and, in looking up images of units and uniforms that might be fun to paint, I came across this online article where Alan Perry was interviewed by Wargames Illustrated in July 2019 ( link ) .

In looking through the article, I was struck by the second image down, the "Legion Franche Etrangere", for their unique uniform and the fact that Mr. Perry states that he "could be a German, a Pole, or from any country Napoleon might have invaded, or he may in fact be a deserter from an enemy army." This just sounded too cool to pass up!

However, in trying to find information on this unit( s? ) and it's uniform, I came up pretty stumped. I found several online mentions of Napoleon's "Foreign Regiments" of La Tour d'Auvergne, d'Isembourg, Irlandaise, and de Prusse. However, the miniature shown in the Wargames Illustrated article doesn't seem to match any of the uniforms from these foreign regiments. It's close to what I've found for d'Isembourg, but it's missing the yellow collar, etc., and the miniature has a white waistcoat and trousers as opposed to d'Isembourg's light blue.

So is this regiment Mr. Perry is referencing from one of these units or something entirely different? If it's different, what kind of actions did this unit participate in? While my American Civil War information is great, I'm in completely uncharted territory here!

Thanks in advance,
Mediocrities

Bonjour

The légion franche étrangère is not "Napoleonic " as such but belongs to the Revolutionnary wars era (1792-93).

All the details here:
link

Sorry, it is in french.

All the best from Burgundy

GBoue

I'm really not sure what he is talking about. There were a great many Foreign/Mercenary units under the Consulate and Empire (see Jack Dempsey's excellent book, "Napoleon's Mercenaries".

Closest thing I could find was the 3rd battalion Etranger, formed in September 1809 from deserters from enemy combatants, and was stationed on Elba and later Corsica. Dempsey says dark sky blue coat with dark blue piping on the lapels, dark blue collar and cuff flaps, dark blue piping on the cuffs, white turnbacks, and white vest. That would seem to fit with the picture, aside from the turnbacks, especially with the "3" on the shako. Disbanded April 1814 (very late), no information known about a standard, if any.

Régiment d'Isembourg link

About the foreign Legion link

Now had a look at Elting's Napoleonic Uniforms Volume 2 – there is Knotel picture which looks similar though not exactly the same as the painted figurine as the print has a rhomboid plate, entitled "3rd Foreign battalion, fusilier private 1810-11. Text below reads:
"3 bataillon Etrangers (2 organised 1802, 1 in 1809) formed from deserters from other European armies; normally employed as coastal defence or garrison units.
This is the only reliable depiction of the uniform the author has been able to find – smart but definitely different from those of both regular French units and other lower forms of military life such as colonial battalion."

Copy of the plate is on link 4th item down)

well, I am deeply sorry to say that but I think that Perry made a mistake. The painted figures belongs to 3rd bataillon étranger (as Son Excellence le Prince d'Eslling has written) and is not related at all with "Légion franche étrangère".
If you want to paint an interesting light blue uniform, you should try "bataillon des déserteurs franaçis rentrés" which fought fairly well during the Walcheren campaign in 1809 (my MBA military history subject at the Sorbonne univesity last century).

For "bataillon des déserteurs français rentré du service etranger" see link

I also did a little Google research and found this site on the origins of the French Foreign Legion: link

It relates, in part:

During the French Revolution , the National Legislative Assembly allowed the use of foreign soldiers and created foreign volunteer units, such as the Foreign Volunteer Units in Service of France . In its July 26, 1792 decree, the Assembly stated that "if the enemies' kingdoms would deploy numerous armies against the free people, it is important for these free people to admit into their ranks all the men whose sublime impulse calls to fight for the sacred cause of Liberty. " Consequently, the Légion Franche Etrangère (Free Foreign Legion), a precursor to the modern-day Foreign Legion, was created on August 1, 1792. Germanic , Italian, Batavian , and Polish Legions were also formed.During this period, 42,000 out of a total of 146,000 soldiers in the French army were non-French nationals.

My limited understanding of French leads me to believe that the "Franche" in the above title translates to "Free" not "French."

It appears that all of these lasted only about a year before the troops were incorporated into regular French units.

The number on the shako seems to indicate the figure is from the 3rd Regiment Etrangere. But that regiment is the "Irish Legion" and wore a green uniform. link

As others have stated, I think the Perrys made a mistake in painting this figure.

Jim

Thanks all of you for your responses. I ended up reaching out to Alan Perry to see what information he could provide and he was kind enough to reply. I thought I would share the information here for everyone's benefit.

"He's from a Knotel picture of a uniform of the 3rd Foreign Battalion that seems to have only lasted between 1810-11 receiving green uniforms afterwards. I don't know what their service record is. Yes they were made up from Poles and Germans."

I was able to find the Knotel image that Mr. Perry mentioned under "3e Battalion Etraner" and was able to find out a little bit about them from the Napoleon Series website ( link ) . From this it looks like their only actions were on Elba and in the Italian port city of Livorno in 1813, but their uniform would have changed by then to a green based on Mr. Perry's remarks. If anyone has any information on these actions I'd love to see it!

Ah well. Still an interesting uniform and one I'll still probably paint – my gaming friends and I will just have to fudge the Sharpe Practice skirmishes a bit

This is pretty much the unit I cited from Dempsey; regardless of what color they were wearing, he says the unit lasted well into 1814, surviving the dissolution of most other foreign units, as Napoleon understood "This unit isn't bad…"

It's a bona fide unit, so paint them and use them if you feel like it./ It will certainly challenge the uniform experts! The Knotel p[late may be wrong about the turnbacks, or not, as there was specific order for white cloth for same per Dempsey. of course, that doesn't guarantee it was obtained… or used! :-)

yes disregard H. Knötels picture books and go for Dempsey and the link of gboue2001.

Those 3 ups are incredibly well painted by Alan Perry.

I would do as Gonsalvo suggest, paint them and then use them as you like on the table top.

@Mediocrities,

Re Livorno (Leghorn) see pages 53 plus at link Additional info from Nafziger's "Defence of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy 1813-14" (page 125 et seq) and Vigio Ilari's "Lord Bentinck's Italian Levy 1812-16" at link (page 265 to 268 – it is in Italian).

The aim of the small expedition to Tuscany was to try and encourage 2 Croat Regiments plus the Bataillon Etranger to defect, raise the countryside into guerrilla warfare and impact the rear areas of Eugene's Armyof Italy.

The expedition was commanded by Catinelli with Ciravegna (promoted to lieutenant colonel on June 21) and by Major Luigi Dell'Oste of Pisa, the 3rd Regiment of Italian Levy had only 900 men, including 600 men transferred Sardinian troops. It was reinforced by 2 companies from the 1st Regiment, bringing the strength to over 1,000. Also attached were 2 six-pound pieces with ammunition and 50,000 francs, plus the material for arming the insurgents, to be left in storage in Ponza.

The naval force, was commanded by Josias Rowley, and comprised 74 gun ships of the line America (Rowley) and Edinburgh (GHL Dundas), 32 gun frigates Furieuse (William Mounsey) and Mermaid (David Dunn) and 18 gun brig Termagant (John Lampen Manley).

On the December 7th n(1813) 74 gun ship, of the line Armada (Charles Grant) and 38 gun frigate Impérieuse (Henry Duncan) joined the force. In the early afternoon of the 9th the ships dropped anchor 2 miles from Viareggio.

On the morning of the 10th thirty lifeboats landed the Italians: one of America's sank and drowned 2 sailors. The fort surrendered in the afternoon. Meanwhile, alarmed by the news that an English expedition had appeared in front of the coast, and fearing an attack by the Apennine insurgents on the capital, the Grand Duchess Elisa decided to abandon Florence and retire to Lucca but was beaten there by Catinelli.

On the 11th Rowley took and blew up a fort North of Viareggio, and Elisa ordered General Pouchin, commander of the 29th Division Militaire of Florence, to gather all the troops in Pisa. Informed of the movement, and disappointed and worried by the coldness of the people of Lucca and their refusal to receive the muskets offered by the British, Catinelli evacuated the city in the evening to avoid being cut off from Viareggio. He decided to take the fort of Avenza with a land attack supported by Rowley, and covered by a naval diversion on Lerici, at the entrance of the Gulf of La Spezia.

50 men deserted on route, at noon on the 12th Catinelli arrived in Viareggio, with the intention of going up the Magra valley towards Sarzana and the Apennines. However, learning that Pouchin was marching in force from Pisa, he gave this up and entrenched in defense of the village. The French attack started at 4 in the afternoon: the voltigeurs of the 3rd Bataillon étranger took the village, and had already crossed the bridge, when the Tuscan conscripts of the 112e Regiment de ligne fell back in panic, forcing Pouchin to recall the voltigeurs behind the Serchio abandoning 200 prisoners and the 2 cannons placed in battery in front of Viareggio, as their civil conductors had fled.

The Livorno combat (13-14 December 1813)
Catinelli learnt from the prisoners that Livorno was almost completely unmanned, proposed to Rowley embarking the troops on boats, towing them with the ships and disembarking North of Livorno to prevent the enemy from returning to the city. At three in the morning of the 13th, after a reconnaissance by the Impérieuse, the troops landed in Calambrone [3 km North of Livorno], under the ineffective pull of the towing ships the 28 gun frigate Rainbow, ex-French Iris (Captain Gawen William Hamilton] using his initiative assisted with the towing. Captain Dundas took command of the landing companies of the eight ships, and in the evening, with part of the volunteers, occupied the suburbs of Livorno. In the city there were only a few veterans, coastguards, customs officers, gendarmes and a company of armed civilian employees, but on the other hand the brig Alacrity (CF Mackao) and Adonis (TV Lebors) had arrived from Portoferraio, with the captain Armand Dubois-Aymée, bringing the defenders to about 500. A survey found that the ramparts, were protected by wide ditches and were too high to be climbed, and were dominated by a row of houses in the suburb. Sailors placed under observation on the road from Pisa with one of the two pieces, and 3 companies of the 3rd Italian Levy in the houses dominating the gates of Livorno, the rest of the troops formed the reserve, with the other 6pdr piece. The plan was to storm the gates with at night, covering it with a diversion from the sea on the harbour and launching Congreve rockets at the town: bad weather however prevented the landing of the necessary ammunition. At dawn on the 14th, the exchange of musket shots began between the defenders and the volunteers nestled on the roofs and upper floors of the dominant houses: the artillery of the square rested until the crew was eliminated by snipers.

A Tuscan gendarme, who managed to pass the enemy lines, reached Pisa and warned Pouchin before dying from the serious injuries received in his sortie. At ten o'clock, Pouchin's column emerged from the Pisa road attacking the sailors of Dundas, stationed one km outside the city in the cemetery of S. Antonio. The conscripts of 112e Regiment de Ligne refused to fight throwing themselves to the ground at the first discharges. The 3e étranger fought until their commander, Chef de battalion Salles, was killed (Martinien has Captains De Martange & Lobbo, plus Sous-Lieutenant Lapointe as wounded): then they too folded back, and 50 took the opportunity to desert. The sailors and the 1st Italian Levy chased them with the bayonet: 40 hussars (Tuscan) of the 13th régiment tried to stop them, but a discharge of the sailors of America shot down 14 (or 7? reports are a bit confused) as they passed, and all the others (except an officer) were then shot in the back.

Due to the rout of the relief column it was believed that Livorno would capitulate: instead the commander of the square, Colonel Dupré, rejected the surrender notice, and the defense council warned the mayor that he was about to order to set fire and blow up the houses in the suburb. The municipal authorities to send a delegation, received by Rowley on board America to persuade him to desist from the attack, claiming that it would be contrary o persuade him to desist from the attack, claiming that it would be contrary to the rules of war, and of no advantage for the British, to cause the destruction of the suburb, inhabited by 15-20,000 unarmed people. The commodore promised to work towards a ceasefire: a man from the blue-water school and from the beginning sceptical about the effectiveness of the amphibious guerrilla, he convinced Catinelli to desist, because the rough sea would not allow him to stay longer in front of Livorno and it was now evident that the city would not rise up and that it was no longer possible to cross the Arno and reach the Apennines. On the morning of the 15th the re-embarkation was completed, though the ships stayed in the harbour until the evening of the 16th.

After sailing North to make the enemy believe he wanted to continue the action on La Spezia, Rowley veered for Sicily. The reports of Dundas, Rowley and Catinelli do not give any indication on the losses suffered by the Italian levy: the French lost 44 dead, 76 wounded and 100 deserters of the 3rd étranger (mostly passed over to the enemy). Conversely, a certain number of "French" and Italian deserters enlisted by Catinelli, deserted and asked to return to French ranks.

Turning to 1810 – Martinien has 3rd bataillon etranger fighting smugglers.