"Standards carried in French mixed cavalry brigades" Topic

In an OOB of Arrighi's III reserve cavalry corps at Leipzig, I noticed the two heavy cavalry brigades consisted 3rd or 4th sqdns. from nine different French dragoon reg'ts. One bde. had five sqdns., the other four. My question is what standards, if any, would have been carried? Thanks.

Each French dragoon squadron carried a guidon.

So, if they carried guidons at all they would have several.

A standard (forgive the pun) practice for a wargamer is to have one guidon per tactical unit being that a regiment/squadron/company.

NONE in theory – on 25 December 1811 an official decree was issued. ArticleII stated "The eagle is only granted to infantry corps having over 1200 effectives, or to cavalry corps of not less than 600 horses." This had the effect of reducing all infantry & cavalry regiments to one eagle apiece, and in April 1812 all regiments were ordered to return their extra eagles to the Ministry of War in Paris. In fact some regiments ignored the order.

Early in 1813 the cavalry regiments in Spain were ordered to return all their eagles to Paris, and the line infantry regiments were reduced to one eagle per brigade carried by the senior regiment. By now only a few heavy cavalry regiments carried their eagle on campaign.

Above from the Osprey book on the flags etc of France & her allies. Not had a chance yet to cross check with Hollander's "Nos Drapeaux et Etandards 1812 to 1815".

I agree with Prince of Essling, for such composed units, none in 1813.

Always worth remembering that people are still counting "trophies" in the Napoleonic Wars. So Bonaparte will keep insisting that only eagles "count" and make sure as few eagles as possible show up on a battlefield.

As a wargamer, though, I go with one standard for maneuver unit--flat minimum of 12 cavalry (24 prefered) or 24 infantry to keep it from looking like a color guard. If I didn't care for the look of the thing, I'd use colored counters.

Je confirme: aucune aigle, auncun guidon, RIEN !

Allez Bernard, on parle des Français… maîtres du style, de l'éclat et de l'élan.

Ils auront sûrement glissé une sorte de marqueur de compagnie/escadron, ne serait-ce qu'un petit carré de tissu porté au bout d'une carabine de dragon.

Thank you all for help.

@ Stoppage,

I have yet to see an illustration of a French cavalry fanion or its equivalent.

The nearest I have seen is an illustration by Fort of a sapper from the 13th Dragoons carrying what looks very much like a lance with a red on white pennon! Also Tome 3 Chasseurs a Cheval 1779-1815 has a drawing of a sapper from the 15th Regiment carrying a lance with an orange pennon with a gold coloured 15 inside a gold coloured bugle.

Agreed there must have been some type of marker for cavalry lines etc but what……? Would the markers have been carried by the associated baggage train?

One thing we wargamers always miss is the need to deduct troops to guard the units' baggage….. (British accounts for Albuera refer to companies being detached for this duty).

Ian

@P.o.E

A quick googling "Mounted Dragoon Sapper" got me to:

Historex – Sappers of the mounted dragoons of the line 1809-1812

the [Download] link goes here:

Historex – PDF File – SAPEURS DE DRAGONS A CHEVAL DE LA LIGNE 1804 – 1812

…sometimes appeared on parade with a lance
with blackened shaft, iron point and butt, white-over-
red pennant

So – it may be a parade thing only for French dragoons, perhaps a hang-over from when dragoons were on foot.

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It mightn't have been a good idea for a cornet to disobey the Emperor's ukase re Eagles, however, getting the squadron sappers to carry a dragoon fanion – might've been a work-around.