There's a lot of information, diagrams etc. about how individual battalions deployed from column into line and vice versa, but I've had bad luck finding how this was achieved with larger formations in their marching columns. A lot of members here are very well read on this matter, so I figured it was worth asking. Apologies if this is either too vague or too involved or both, any help would be much appreciated.
Part I: Forming division column from bivouac in order of battle
As I understand it, during the Napoleonic Wars, a division or corps column on the march would bivouac in two lines of battle each night, presumably perpendicular to the march route and facing the expected direction of the enemy. Let's say it's a division of two brigades, each of two regiments, each with three battalions, for twelve battalions total. The brigades bivouac side by side, each with one regiment in the first line and the other in the second, as follows:
1-2-3|7-8-9
-----|-----
4-5-6|10-11-12
When time came to break camp and march again in the morning, how would these formations form their column? Would it be like the processional deployments of the 18th century, but in reverse, with the men forming line from their bivouacs, simultaneously quarter wheeling in towards the road in platoons or sections or whatever, marching across their fronts, then quarter wheeling back into column one after the other? Did they use an en tiroir method, or was it more of a haphazard improvised affair?
illustration of processional and en tiroir deployments, just imagine them in reverse:
I would imagine order of the resulting column on the road, going by the above numbering of battalions, to be roughly:
3
2
1
-
6
5
4
_
7
8
9
-
10
11
12
Part II: Deploying division column into order of battle
If the division then had to deploy for combat, how would it do so from a column of route? I would think it would form up with the first brigade in two lines to the left or right of the axis of advance, and the second brigade on the other side, forming a battle order like this:
3-2-1|9-8-7
6-5-4|12-11-10
When the regiments were deploying [battalions potentially remaining in column], would they be using a processional method, or some en tiroir deployment, or 45 degree wheels, or what?
Apologies if I'm completely off base; if i could clarify anything, feel free to ask.
does his research, selects his colors, and goes forth!
