GeorgBuchner | 19 May 2022 4:59 p.m. PST |
hi, there is a difference yes between dismounted dragoons and foot dragoons correct? how are these typically depicted in miniature? did foot dragoons have their own battalions or just companies? |
79thPA | 19 May 2022 5:57 p.m. PST |
There were multiple regiments of dismounted French dragoons at Austerlitz. The Russians had some dismounted dragoon regiments who fought the Persians. |
Georg Buechner | 19 May 2022 6:14 p.m. PST |
Ah okay so foot dragoons were actually even regiment size, I always just assumed they were not so large in number when organised on foot, |
ColCampbell | 19 May 2022 8:38 p.m. PST |
The French dismounted dragoons were dismounted because there were not enough horses to go around. They maintained their normal "mounted" organization while they were dismounted. They would normally have two or three squadrons of about 140-160 men per squadron (or 280 to 480 men). So they were the equivalent of a weak infantry battalion. Jim |
jwebster | 19 May 2022 9:39 p.m. PST |
Do you know if they operated as skirmishers or formed infantry ? Thanks John |
Artilleryman | 20 May 2022 1:30 a.m. PST |
They were equipped as infantrymen with packs and boots and gaiters. (Imagine an ordinary infantryman but with a dragoon's helmet.) The trumpeters were given drums. Off hand, I have not heard of how they were used in combat but the intention was to mount them as soon as horses were obtained. |
79thPA | 20 May 2022 3:54 a.m. PST |
I found this. It is pretty interesting. TMP link
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GeorgBuchner | 20 May 2022 5:37 a.m. PST |
this is great info thanks, i think until now i had just though Dragoons were some versatile trooper sort who could fight as well mounted and and on foot, and when on foot were just though skirmishers or something, – hte lack of horses aspect i didnt know were there foot dragoons come the 1812-1813 period? there were some miniature rules i was looking at recently i forget which set it is) but in that there were some flats provided that featured a dragoon holding some horses that had been dismounted – this counter i suppose the rallying point for dismounted dragoons, so i got that impression of them being like motorised infantry a little |
robert piepenbrink | 20 May 2022 8:19 a.m. PST |
Dragoons began as purely mounted infantry, but that's in the 17th Century. As the 18th Century wears on, they're still supposed to be trained and equipped to dismount, but it gets harder and harder to get them off their horses. Those early Napoleonic French dismounted units reflect a horse shortage Napoleon fixed as soon as he could. (Davout actually has a unit of dismounted cuirassiers in Hamburg, 1813-14. But again it's making use of available manpower in the absence of horses, not policy.) I have run into French dragoons dismounting in the field in the Peninsula, but it's a pretty rare thing, usually brought about by terrain, and tends to be done in skirmishes rather than pitched battles. I would not personally expect them to be as good dismounted as a decent line infantry unit, but rules rarely reflect this. Mind you, it can be pretty difficult to get mech infantry out of their vehicles, too. |
4th Cuirassier | 20 May 2022 10:00 a.m. PST |
Nobody does these in 1.72 do they? |
Dave Jackson | 20 May 2022 10:06 a.m. PST |
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GeorgBuchner | 20 May 2022 4:03 p.m. PST |
1813 was marked by a shortage of horses too, any accounts of dragoons fighting on foot in that year anyone know of? |
Dave Jackson | 20 May 2022 4:07 p.m. PST |
I am only familiar with the 1806 campaign. Have not read of any formed regiments in other campaigns. |
4th Cuirassier | 21 May 2022 3:15 a.m. PST |
Thanks Dave So when dragoons fought on foot did they really keep their long swords, or did they turn them in and make do with the dragoon musket and bayonet? The 25 / 28mm figures I've seen and those Dave has linked to all show them with the sword and the musket. I can see how they'd do that if they had, say, just dismounted to flush out some guerrilleros, or whatever. But if they were marching as foot troops, would they not turn their swords in to the baggage train until horses were found? |