O SPREY Men-at-Arms PUBLISHING Napoleon’s Guards of Honour 1813–14 Ronald Pawly Illustrated by Patrice Courcelle • © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Men-at-Arms • 378 Napoleon’s Guards of Honour 1813–14 Ronald Pawly • Illustrated by Patrice Courcelle Series editor Martin Windrow © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com NAPOLEON’S GUARDS OF HONOUR 1813–14 NAPOLEON’S DILEMMA I NLATEJUNE1812, when Napoleon’s Grande Armée crossed the River Niemen to invade Russia, it was probably the largest and strongest army that had ever been gathered for a single campaign throughout recorded history. They needed four days and three bridges to cross the Niemen. From the whole of Europe they came: from France, from what Hand-coloured engraving by are now Holland and Belgium, from Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy Martinet. The same engraving and the Balkans, and from every corner of Germany – even from was used to represent each regiment; the only changes defeated Austria and Prussia, which were obliged to send allied troops the artist had to make were to advance on the outer flanks of the invading army. However, although the number on the sabretache some 400,000 strong, the ranks were no longer filled by the victors and portmanteau, and the of Austerlitz. colour of the tip of the plume. Most of the veterans who had followed the eagles in 1805 had disap- (Collection of Belgian Royal Army Museum, Brussels) peared, paying the everlasting human tax of Bonaparte’s continual wars – some were paying it still, in Spain, the ‘ulcer’ of the empire. The veterans who remained were mainly serving in the Imperial Guard. In 1812 the soldiers of the Line were the former conscripts who had fought at Friedland (1807) and Wagram (1809) – not the real old ‘grumblers’, perhaps, but still experienced, battle-proven regiments clad in striking uniforms and led by veteran commanders. Six months later, only one bridge across the Niemen would suffice to carry home the returning shadow of the former Grande Armée; and if the few tens of thousands left crossed it slowly, it was because they were sick, footsore and starving. Near the Polish border, Napoleon, passing over command to his brother-in-law Murat, left the wretched tatters behind and headed directly for France, where he had somehow to rebuild an army. For the first time in his career a war had not ended with a single campaign, and gathering a new army would present him with many difficulties. Most of Napoleon’s immediately available remaining experienced troops were fighting the Duke of Wellington’s Anglo-Portuguese army in Spain in defence of his brother’s puppet throne, and he did not want to weaken this second front. Infantry was not the problem: young conscripts could be gathered in, and trained – more or less 3 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com – while marching to join the army in Germany; but the cavalry was different. Horses themselves were in short supply after the hecatomb of Russia; and horse soldiers had to be trained to ride and care for their beasts, and to master the manoeuvres needed in the field. Instructing the light cavalry to the point where they could serve efficiently was particularly difficult: they were the eyes of the army, on which it depended for scouting and screening, and their mission required officers and NCOs who could operate independently without constant supervision by senior commanders. It was believed that to train good light cavalrymen normally took as long as three years – and Bonaparte needed them in three months. What Napoleon needed were educated men of private means, accustomed to riding, who could not only learn their trade quickly but also provide their own horses and pay for their own uniforms and equipment. For many years he had tried to attract the ‘cream of society’ throughout his empire into his military service. In 1807, for example, he had created the Gendarmes d’ordonnance, a mounted and foot corps consisting mainly of noblemen; in all some 394 would serve, but under pressure from his jealous Imperial Guard he was more or less obliged to disband them. (The attempt was not a total failure, as the Gendarmes d’ordonnance would provide his army with about ten generals and 24 colonels.) Now, with a cavalry arm that had bled or frozen to death in the snows of Russia (or had simply drifted away from the line of march as soon as they reached safe territory), Napoleon decided that the situation obliged him to call upon the sons of the leading classes from all over the empire. This was not only a military necessity but also a political one. When he was sitting on his throne in Paris, he was still the most powerful man in Europe; but the disaster in Russia had made his position somewhat fragile, and the new ‘Gardes d’honneur’ would be considered in some sense as hostages, to ensure the continuing loyalty of those families who played a large part in the organisation and administration of the empire. New victories were urgently needed; and, lacking time to train the new recruits properly, the emperor would be forced to open a German campaign in 1813 with an army consisting mainly of young, inexperienced conscripts – and practically without trained cavalry. This need would be felt at Leipzig, where Napoleon kept most of his cavalry in reserve (a decision that probably saved his army at Hanau two weeks later). Another problem Napoleon had to face was that he had also lost in Russia the faithful nucleus of his army, the cadres around whom he had previously been able to rebuild the Grande Armée. Most of the surviving NCOs were now promoted to the officer ranks, or were needed with the army in the field; and this would have damaging consequences for the process of training the new recruits at the depots. THE DECREE On 3 April 1813, following Napoleon’s decision, the Senatus Consulte ordered the creation of four regiments of Gardes d’honneur, and two 4 days later the decree was proclaimed. Twenty-four articles were needed © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com to describe the organisation of the new corps, and where the men were to be found. The four regiments of Guards of Honour were to be formed from volunteers, born Frenchmen – i.e., born in the empire – and were to be clad in elegant hussar-style uniforms (noblesse oblige …). Their garrisons were to be at Versailles (1st Regiment), Metz (2nd), Tours (3rd), and Lyon (4th). Each regiment was to be composed of a staff of 65 men and 156 horses, and no less than ten squadrons. Each squadron was to consist of two companies, each of 122 men and 127 horses. The establishment of the 20 companies in each regiment would be 2,440 men with 2,540 horses, the staff bringing the total to 2,505 men with 2,696 horses. His four regiments of Guards of Honour would together bring the emperor 10,000 well-equipped and mounted men, who would in due course provide the leadership cadres for his armies. The regimental colonels were chosen from among divisional or brigadier generals; the majors were colonels in the Line, though all the other officers would keep the same rank as they held in the Line. Aged between 19 and 30 years old, the ‘fine flower’ of the empire who were summoned to join the new corps were to be unmarried and without a profession (the age limits were later relaxed to between 17 and 35 years). Who could volunteer to become a Guard of Honour? The élite and their sons, meaning members of the Legion of Honour or of the Imperial Order of the Reunion; Knights, Barons, Counts and even Dukes of the Empire; members of the departmental or district electoral councils, and councillors of the ‘good’ cities of the empire. In practice even administrators were acceptable to volunteer, and the definition of ‘sons’ stretched to include nephews. Unsurprisingly, soldiers who were serving or had served in the French Drawing of a Guard of Honour armies were also welcome, as were their sons; and so were current or by A.van Hammée. This trooper former officers in one of the foreign allied armies. For these valuable is shown in the standard full dress uniform that was more veterans the age limit was raised as high as 45 years. And then there were or less the same for all four the citizens, or the sons of the citizens, who paid the highest income regiments. However, coming taxes in their department or city – if they had the means, even these from all corners of the empire, classes were allowed to enter the Guards of Honour. the men displayed many One of the articles stated that the enlisted men had to pay for their differences in exact shades and cloth qualities. Note the uniform, horse and equipment themselves. The chancelleries of the slung carbine, the pique-shaped Orders would provide financial support to their members who did not braid motif on the thighs, and have the means to pay for their equipment. It was stated that the Guards the tasselled hussar-style boots. of Honour would receive the same pay as the Chasseurs à cheval of the (Collection of Belgian Royal Imperial Guard; and that after 12 months’ service in the ranks Army Museum, Brussels) they would automatically be promoted to sous-lieutenant. 5 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Each regiment was to enlist soldiers from dif- ferent parts of the empire, and every department received instructions about the contingents of guardsmen that they had to muster: The 1st Regiment was to be organised with volunteers from the 1st Military Division (Paris), the 14th (Caen), the 15th (Rouen), the 16th (Lille), the 24th (Brussels), and the 30th (Rome). The quotas for these areas totalled between 1,248 and 2,496 men. The 2nd Regiment would receive volunteers from the 2nd Military Division (Mézières), the 3rd (Metz), the 4th (Nancy) the 5th (Strasbourg), the 17th (Amsterdam), the 18th (Dijon), the 25th (Wesel), the 26th (Mainz), and the 28th (Genoa), totalling between 1,205 and 2,410 men. The 3rd Regiment would draw upon the 10th Military Division (Toulouse), the 11th (Bordeaux), the 12th (La Rochelle), the 13th General J.L.Lepic (1765–1827). (Rennes), the 20th (Périgueux), the 22nd (Tours), the 29th (Florence), This veteran of all the major and the 31st (Groningen), totalling between 1,305 and 2,610 men. campaigns of the Revolution The 4th Regiment would take volunteers from the 6th Military and Empire became in 1805 the Division (Besançon), the 7th (Grenoble), the 8th (Toulon), the 9th colonel-major of theGrenadiers (Montpellier), the 19th (Lyon), the 21st (Bourges), the 23rd (Bastia), à cheval of the Imperial Guard, and later a brigade general. the 27th (Turin), and the 32nd (Hamburg), totalling between 1,242 and Promoted divisional general in 2,484 men. February 1813, and colonel On 7 April 1813 the presses of the imperial printing office in Paris of the 2e Gardes d’honneur, began turning out the decree; it would not only give the imperial admin- he suffered greatly from his istrators a lot of work, but would also cause the departmental prefects wounds, in particular a severe head wound received in Russia many headaches. From the River Elbe to the Pyrenees and from the which prevented him from coast of Friesland to the Tiber, it would agitate the ruling classes of the wearing a hat. A combination empire. For years such men had succeeded in buying ‘proxies’ to serve of agonising headaches, gout, in the imperial armies in place of their sons – though sometimes at and increasing mental instability heavy cost. But now they had to obey: their own flesh and blood was reduced his ability to command the regiment, and he was trans- summoned to the ranks, and this sacrifice turned many of them against ferred to an administrative the regime. In practice this ostensibly volunteer corps could not really command with the 21st Military be created out of spontaneous patriotic élan, and very soon the prefects District at Bourges – a sad end were forced to ‘appoint’ volunteers, who therefore felt themselves more to a long and glorious career. hostages than real soldiers. (Collection of Belgian Royal Army Museum, Brussels) Leadership Commanding officers with famous historical family names were selected to lead the regiments, in order to attract even members of the old nobility. General of Division Count Defrance was appointed to the command of the Division of Guards of Honour. The 60-year-old Gen. Count de Pully was chosen to command the 1st Regiment; Gen. Baron Lepic, the 2nd; Gen. Count de Ségur – the son of Napoleon’s Grand Master of Ceremonies – the 3rd; and Gen. Count Saint-Sulpice, the 4th Regiment. Suitable cadres were in short supply, however; and each time the emperor asked for squadrons to be sent to join the field army, the colonels replied that they needed hand-picked soldiers, experienced 6 NCOs and officers from the Line to train and lead the new recruits. This © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com would remain a problem throughout the whole history of the regiments of Guards of Honour. Portrait of G.V.Lecoq de Biéville, a guardsman in the 1er Régiment On 14 May 1813, in order to meet the urgent need for officers, des Gardes d’honneur. Born at Napoleon authorised the colonels to commission officers for their Caen, Normandy, in 1783, he regiments. Squadron commanders (chefs d’escadron– i.e. majors) had to entered the Guards of Honour be French born, current or former members of the army, with an on 13 July 1813, and is recorded income of between 5,000 and 6,000 francs, and devoted to the as being 1.7m tall. He passed into the 1st Scouts Regiment of emperor. Captains, lieutenants and sub-lieutenants were to be chosen the Imperial Guard in December by the regimental administration council, which consisted of the 1813; in May 1814 he returned colonel, the two majors and the squadron commanders. Initially they home without permission – as did were to look within the regiment for Guards of Honour who were so many soldiers after Napoleon’s eligible for promotion and had already held rank in the French or a first abdication. He returned to the army for the Hundred Days foreign allied army. campaign of 1815, serving with By this date, throughout the empire, young men – volunteers or the Grenadiers à cheval of the appointed – were being organised into detachments ready to march off Imperial Guard. Since most of to one of the four regimental depots. the Guards of Honour were finan- cially better off than the majority of soldiers, many could afford RECRUITMENT uniforms of fashionable, even dandified cut. Lecoq de Biéville displays a stylish high collar, a It was not an easy task for the departmental prefects to find the required shako worn at a jaunty angle, numbers of men, but for the moment there was little reason for and a pelisse slung over the left shoulder. Note the regimental complaint. Just one month after the decree a total of 446 men had number ‘1’ cut out of the shield volunteered; four days later 1,166 names had been recorded, of under the Imperial Eagle on his whom 831 were volunteers; and within a week these numbers had shako plate, with the red cloth tripled. By late May 1813 no less than 40 departments had already body showing through. reached the maximum numbers required. Only one department – the (Collection of Belgian Royal Army Museum, Brussels) Bouches de l’Elbe, with Hamburg as capital – was having real problems finding volunteers or suitable men; but by then, Russian troops were already occupying part of the department. On 24 October 1813 the Ministry of the Interior could proudly announce to the emperor that the 1st Regiment (Versailles) had – on paper – 2,393 men; the 2nd (Metz), 2,417 men; the 3rd (Tours), 2,695 men; and the 4th (Lyon), 2,555 men, making a total of 10,060 men. In all, 6,837 men were delivered by the French departments; 1,232 by the Italian departments, Corsica and the Roman departments or former Papal States; 1,165 by the Belgian departments; 524 by the Dutch departments; and 302 by the German departments. These promised numbers were somewhat deceptive, however: they were the totals reported by the prefects for the numbers of men who left the departments for the depots. In reality some of them never arrived or, once they had reported to the garrison, were found unfit for military service. By 24 November, 9,714 men had been sent to the regimental depots, but only 9,129 would actually serve in the Guards of Honour. 7 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com It was naturally easier to find volunteers within the French borders of 1792 than in the annexed departments; in France proper, only the tradi- tionally royalist departments such as Brittany and the Vendée failed to respond well. Even so, Brittany’s five departments were still able to send some 540 men to the 3rd Regiment’s depot at Tours – though in due course some of them revealed themselves to have a different agenda than serving the emperor. It was easier in the departments of the Ile-de-France around Paris: these levied 524 guardsmen, of which 160 came from the Seine department alone. Throughout the empire, men volunteered or were chosen, and once dressed, mounted and equipped they were sent to their respective depots. In the Nord department the first 15 volunteers, among them two sons of the mayor of Dunkirk, left for the 1st Regiment at Versailles on 1 May. One month later, the minimum required for the department was reached – 100 men, and all volunteers; 60 were already marching towards Versailles, and the other 40 would leave shortly. In Normandy things did not proceed so smoothly; it was with some difficulty that the five Norman departments gathered the required 600 men for the 1st Regiment. Italy Mounted trooper of the 1st Outside France, in Italy, the prefects found the men needed in spite of Regiment. The Dutch guards-man the hesitation of some local councils and leading families. For the 27th, A.van den Broecke was one of the first appointees – rather 28th and 29th Military Divisions special measures were decreed. Large than volunteers – to reach the numbers of men were already serving in one of the local Italian Guard regimental depot at Versailles. units (e.g. Guard of Honour of Turin), in the Vélites, and as lieutenants A second physical examination and sub-lieutenants of the 14th Hussars. Stationed in Mainz, these men there revealed him to be unfit could apply to serve in the Guards of Honour and their numbers would for active service, and he ended up in the depot company. Without be deducted from the required local quotas. Forty-four of them took the much to do, he travelled widely opportunity to transfer into the 4th Regiment. In the meantime the first around Paris, Antwerp and detachments left Italy for France: 50 men from Piedmont left Turin on Brussels. Later he would be 23 June; and on 15 July another 81, commanded by a captain and taken into custody when Dutch former officer in the Gendarmerie, left Alessandria. The Stura origin became sufficient reason for the French to doubt a man’s department sent four different detachments to Lyon between 17 June loyalty. Van den Broecke kept a and 24 July. Those who travelled from Tuscany and Rome took their journal that he illustrated with six time, only reaching Tours in October. In total the Italian departments watercolours showing his friends mustered 204 men from Rome and Trasimène (the former Papal States) in uniform and scenes of military for the 1st Regiment; 236 men from Genoa and 144 from Piedmont life. This one shows the full dress uniform; note the red-tipped went to the 2nd; 256 men from Tuscany were selected for the 3rd; and green shako plume with its red 356 men mainly from Piedmont were directed to the 4th Regiment. pompon, the white sheepskin shabraque, and the cylindrical Switzerland portmanteau with the regimental In Switzerland, the department of Leman immediately found 40 number. (Collection of Zeeuwse Bibliotheek, Holland) 8 volunteers against a maximum of 47 men required. In Geneva, capital © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com of the department, after a parade in full dress, the prefect gathered the Corporal of the 4th Regiment new recruits in the dining room of the prefecture and before the meal in summer campaign dress, wearing the dolman with overalls he offered a toast to the emperor’s health: ‘Guards of Honour, élite of reinforced with black leather. Full the department of Leman, go and join the rest of the Empire – go and equipment is carried, with the show that you are willing to compete for the love of the great man who exception of the saddle pistols. presides over our destiny!’ Over the pouch belt is buttoned Among these recruits we find the name of one Frederic-August the broad sling belt to which the carbine was hooked. NCOs wore Cramer (or Kramer), chosen for the 4th Regiment. Some days after the same uniform as the troopers receiving the decree the prefect of the department, Baron Capelle, had with the difference that all come to see Cramer’s father. He reassured the young man’s parents that braiding, lace and shako cords the Guards of Honour, whose future task would be to act as Life Guards were in silver or, according to for the King of Rome (the son of the emperor), would be kept away some sources, mixed silver and green. Rank distinctions were as from the hazards of battle. Having five children and being a member of for hussars: corporals wore a the imperial administration, Cramer père fell into the category of men silver chevron above mentioned in the decree. Frederic-August, aged just 17 and flattered by the cuffs and a the imperial summons, agreed without hesitation. silver band at the His uniforms were made according to the models sent from Lyon, top of the shako. (Collection of and for the first time in his life he found himself responsible for the Belgian Royal daily care of a horse. At daybreak on 2 June 1813 the young Cramer left Army Museum, the military stables with the rest of his detachment. The band of the Brussels) National Guard joined them, their music drowning out more than one murmur of anxiety. Six days later they arrived at Lyon, where they would be quartered in the Caserne de la Charité near Bellecourt. Cramer, thanks to the influence of the prefect, would be promoted quarter- master; his 26-year-old friend de Sonnaz – whose father was a former governor and general in service of the King of Sardinia – became a sergeant-major. The two friends from Geneva would serve in the 2nd Squadron, com- manded by the Count de Saluces, from Piedmont; Cramer’s company was commanded by Capt. de Montillet du Champ d’Or, who had served in the army of the Condé against the Revolution, but who had now joined the Guards of Honour in order to escape from his domestic problems. The first lieutenant was a certain Colin, described as a rough hoodlum. The second lieutenant was a good man named Riedmatten, a former lieutenant in the Valaison Battalion. The two sergeants were Parisian dandies, both in their early thirties (one of them, with the oddly British-sounding name of Onslow, would later become a famous musician). Among the rest of the cadres of the company we find men such as Cuneo d’Ornano, a small man of the same age as Cramer, who came from Corsica and was a distant relative of the Bonapartes; De Fenouil de Marbœuf; Sauvaigne, from Nice; and Brion, from Artois, who would be killed at Dresden. The 4th, like all the other regiments, presented a mixture of nationalities, cultures, classes and languages. Another Swiss department, Simplon, only had to send 12 men and found them without problems; all were equipped, mounted and dressed in Lyon at the expense of the department. The Low Countries The nine Belgian departments mostly found the required men without excessive difficulties. The Dyle department found 20 volunteers and had to appoint 56 other men to make up the decreed quota. The Deux- Nèthes department took four months to find 88 men; they left in five 9 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com parties, arriving at Versailles between 19 May and 5 September. The Escaut department found their required 152 men. In Holland, the prefects had to muster 398 guardsmen of whom 14 were chosen for the 1st Regiment, 316 for the 2nd, and 68 for the 3rd Regiment. As a proportion of the populations these were not high numbers, but the adminis- tration nevertheless had serious problems in finding them. On 2 June, the 12 men who left Middelburg consisted largely of inn and restaurant keepers – hardly the class envisaged; once at Versailles, ten of them were rejected and packed off to join Line regiments because they lacked the necessary standard of education. At Arnhem, in the department of the Yssel Supérieur, only three volunteers offered their services out of a total of 44 men required. However, in the Bouches de l’Yssel department the prefect was able to find the decreed maximum of 31 guardsmen destined for the 3rd Regiment. In Friesland, in the far north of Holland, the first of three detachments was also ready to march towards Tours. Their departure was delayed because they had to wait for the arrival of their uniforms from The Hague, and for the shakos, sent on 29 June from Paris. At last the first 15 guardsmen, commanded by one Van Hylckama and including the single genuine volunteer from the department – S.H.Manger – left Leeuwarden on 12 July. A second party of 15 men would leave on the 20th, and a third, of just five guardsmen, on 29 July. One G.Buma, the son of the mayor of Leeuwarden, tried to escape military service on the grounds of health problems; invited to come to the prefecture, he found his equipment, uniform and horse waiting for him there. After a parade in full dress he was sent off to Tours with the rest of his party, arriving on 20 August. Once at the depot Buma was assigned to the 6th Squadron of the 3rd Regiment; with this unit he left for Mainz in mid-September, arriving there on 20 October 1813. In Groningen, in the department of Ems Occidental, the minimum quota was 22 men. These were found, and on 30 June a first depart- mental detachment of 35 men left Groningen for Tours. By 20 July a total of 54 guardsmen had left the department, 11 men more than the maximum required. One of them was the 22-year-old Albertus Dassen. Like most educated men, Albertus took the opportunity of the five- week journey to Tours to visit places of interest along the way. In Antwerp they visited the churches, the town hall and the naval base; in Brussels they visited the imperial palace of Laeken, where they were able to see the bedrooms of the emperor and empress. Everywhere they were 10 billeted in lodgings normally reserved for officers; their only complaint © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com