12e Chasseurs à pied

Blogger has just struck again...having spent a good couple of hours writing up an article on the great cuirassiers charges at Froeschwiller on 6 August 1870 to mark the 153rd anniversary of the battle, its gone...vanished...not in drafts, not in the trash...just gone...grrr!

Yesterday saw the completion of the second of what will be three battalions of Chasseurs a pied for my build of the French 2nd Corps. 

The 12e battalion formed part of the First Brigade, in Bataille's Second Division, comprising the 12th Chasseurs, 8th and 23rd Line Infantry Regiments, commanded by général de brigade Pouget. However, Pouget had fallen seriously ill on July 25 and Colonel Haca, of the 8th Line had taken command of the brigade. Born in Quesnoy in November 1820, François August Florimond Haca entered St Cyr in 1839. Graduating two years later he went on to serve in Africa from 1850-63. Then followed a period of service with the Bureaux d'Affaires d'Affrique. In February 1869 he was named colonel of the 8th Line. Haca led the brigade at Saarbrucken and Spicheren, but returned to his regiment to lead it at Rezonville and Gravelotte. He was made provisional general de brigade in November when interned after the capitulation of Metz, but not confirmed until 1873. Made general de division in 1880, he died at Orleans in 1897. 

In 1853 Emperor Napoleon III expanded the corps of chasseurs à pied from ten to twenty battalions. The  newly raised 12e battalion had a relatively uneventful service in the Second Empire. It did not serve in the Crimea, but joined the Baltic Expedition that took the Russian fortress at Bomarsund instead, but since the fortress was reduced by the artillery it was not called on to storm the place. Sent to Italy in 1859, it arrived too late for active operations.

In Bataille's Division in 1870 it was not engaged at Spicheren, but was in the thick of the fighting at Rezonville losing 11 officers and 216 men. It was lightly engaged at Gravelotte.

In 1888 it was designated 12e bataillon alpin de chasseurs a pied. It fought throughout the Great War, but was disbanded in 1929. Reconstituted in 1939 it was involved in the Narvik expedition. Disbanded again in July 1940 it was raised again in 1954 and fought in Tunisia and Algeria until finally disbanded in 1962.

I am sure that Stew will be pleased to note that these troops do not have red pants...but the red pants will make their cheerful return next week. 

A Very Brief Respite from FPW French Infantry

My intention to take a break from the French infantry for the FPW was very short lived. I had thought about making some scenic items, some scatter pieces to dress up the table and I got quite inspired by a cross sculpture I had seen in a game on the Perry Facebook page. Remembering my visit to the Musee de 1870 at Gravelotte a few years ago and seeing this cross in part of the Rezonville panorama, I thought I would make one myself.

I had just started to gather the materials needed when I thought "I am sure I have seen this recently" and sure enough I then remembered that John from Hand-Built History had built this very piece. John has done a fabulous job with it (much better than I could do) and I didn't want to duplicate it, so I made a much simpler model.

The cross is made from some plastic card scrap and given some surface and edge damage. The main pillar is a spare gun barrel from the old Wargames Factory WSS set that has been trimmed and then roughened by a light sanding. The base was made from Milliput over a MDF form.

This piece will be paired with the water trough I made a few years ago, that I don't think has ever made onto a table. 

This was the limit of my inspiration for terrain...so now it is back to the French infantry.

The First Division, 2nd Corps Completed.

With the completion of the third battalion of the 55e Régiment (below) the infantry of the First Brigade and consequently the First Division, 2nd Corps is completed. 

The German army of 1870  maintained a full corps structure in peacetime for all operational arms complete with staff and supply services, but the larger part of the French army was not so well organised with only four permanent formations of corps size. Of those four permanent formations three of them, the Imperial Guard, the Garrison of Paris and the Garrison of Lyon, existed more for the maintenance of public order than for military purposes, while the organisation of the corps at the Camp of Instruction at Châlons was transient. This latter corps was comprised of the regiments that went to Châlons for the three month summer manoeuvers. They were formed into brigades and divisions with the relevant support services for the duration of their manoeuvers, but those formations were broken up at the end of the manoeuvers and the regiments sent back to their regular posts.

When war broke out in July 1870 there was a fear that the Germans would make a sudden strike into northeastern France from the Palatinate. To block such a strike the troops at Châlons, because of their relative state of readiness, were designated 2nd Corps, ordered to draw what equipment was needed from the store houses of Châlons and sent forward toward the frontier. The reservists were to join their regiments in their forward position.

The corps consisted of three divisions, each identically structured with two infantry brigades (the first consisting of a Chasseur battalion and two line regiments, the second consisting of two line regiments) and three batteries (2 of 4lb field guns and one of mitrailleuses), a cavalry division of two brigades (each of two regiments) and a corps artillery reserve of six batteries (2 of 4lb field guns, 2 of 12lb field gin and 2 of 4lb horse artillery). This structure was used by 2nd, 4th, 5th and 7th Corps in the initial mobilisation. The 1st, 3rd and 6th Corps, each commanded by a Marshal of France, had an additional infantry division, an additional cavalry brigade and in the case of 1st and 6th Corps two additional batteries in the corps reserve.

The full order of battle for First Division, 2nd Corps at the outbreak of the war was:

1st Division Général de Division Charles N. Vergé

1st Brigade Général de Brigade Charles R. Latellier-Valazé

     3rd Chasseurs à Pied – Commandant Thoma  

     32nd Regiment Colonel Merle  

          1st Battalion – Commandant Collingnon 

          2nd Battalion – Commandant Bazaille 

          3rd Battalion – Commandant Lapasset 

     55th Regiment Colonel de Waldner-Frauendstein  

          1st Battalion – Commandant Millot 

          2nd Battalion – Commandant Damei 

          3rd Battalion – Commandant Chanon

2nd  Brigade Général de Brigade Charles J. Jolivet

     76th Regiment Colonel Brice  

          1st Battalion – Commandant de Brauneck 

          2nd Battalion – Commandant Dubrurgua 

          3rd Battalion – Commandant Jammais 

     77th Regiment Colonel Fevrier  

          1st Battalion – Commandant Mezerin

          2nd Battalion – Commandant Rembert 

          3rd Battalion – Commandant Lemonfagner

Divisional Artillery Commandant Rey

     5th Battery, 5th Regiment (batterie de 4) – Captain Maréchal 

     6th Battery, 5th Regiment (Mitrailleuse) – Captain Besancon 

     12th Battery, 5th Regiment (batterie de 4) – Captain Martimor

9th Company, 3rd Engineers Regiment - Captain Bonnal

Here is the full division, deployed in column of divisions, First Brigade on the left, the Second Brigade on the right and the Chasseurs in the middle.

First Brigade

Second Brigade

The divisional artillery will be purchased towards the end of the month.

Commanding First Division, was général de division Charles Nicolas Vergé. Born at Toul in 1809 he was the only general officer in 2nd Corps who had not had a formal military eduction, yet he was the most combat experienced of them all. Serving as fourrier in a detachment of Parisian volunteers in 1831, he went to Algeria later that year and served there for the next twenty-one years, rising steadily through the ranks while serving successively in the Zouaves, Foreign Legion, Spahis, Chasseurs d'Afrique, Tirailleurs Algerienne, 36th line, 8th Light and 27th line. He went to the Crimea where he fought at the Alma and Sevastopol, later receiving  promotion to général de brigade in 1855, commanding Second Brigade, Second Division, 2nd Corps. For his services in the Crimea he received a Médaille de Crimée from Turkey and was made Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath by the British Government. In Italy he commanded a brigade in Bourbaki's Division, 3rd Corps, but did not see action at Solferino. Promoted to général de division in March 1861 he took command of the First Division at Châlons in March 1870 which he led at Spicheren, Rezonville, Gravelotte and Noiseville. He surrendered at Metz and was interned until the end of hostilities. 

After the war he commanded a division in the Versailles Army that retook Paris from the Communards and later commanded Twelfth Division, 6th Corps until his retirement in 1874. He died at Versailles in 1893 and was buried at Fontainebleau.  The church of Notre Dame d'Ecrouves, just outside Toul, has a stained glass window (below) dedicated to him. 

Second Battalion, 55e Régiment d'Infanterie

Yet another French Franco-Prussian War infantry battalion - this is the penultimate battalion of the First Division.

The third battalion is under way and should be finished tomorrow.

I think I need a break from the French for a few days after that!

First Battalion, 55e Régiment d'Infanterie

Returning to the Franco-Prussian War French infantry, this is the start of the 55e Régiment that along with the 32e Régiment and the 3e Chasseurs makes up the 1st Brigade of Vergé's 1st Division commanded by Général de Brigade Charles R. Latellier-Valazé.

Claiming history back to 1644 as Régiment Condé, it fought in the Napoleonic Wars at (among many) Valmy, Rivoli, Austerlitz, Jena, Lubeck, Eylau, Heilsberg, Albuera, Bautzen, Deresden, Klum, Toulouse Ligny and Waterloo.

Like many of the regiments reformed in the 1820s it served its time in Algeria. Of note is that François Achille Bazaine, the future marshal and as commander of the Army of the Rhine in 1870 became the scapegoat for the defeat, was colonel of the regiment 1850-54.

Colonel Charles de Maleville took command after Bazaine and led it at Solferino, where Maleville was mortally wounded storming the Casa Nouva farm, inspiring this well known dramatic image.

Under Colonel Waldner-Frauendstein it went to war in 1870, fighting at Spicheren where it skilfully covered the withdrawal of the rest of the division at the end of the engagement, Rezonville, Gravelotte and Metz. The 4th battalion became the 14e Régiment de Marche and served in the 13e Corps in the Siege of Paris. Eight depot companies of 2nd and 3rd battalions formed the 29e Régiment de Marche, fighting in the Loire Valley.

After the war it served again in North Africa and was heavily engaged in the Great War.  Desolved after the war it was reconstituted in 1939 as 55e Régiment d'Infanterie Alpine.

Also finished in the last couple of days is the basing on the two foot command stands.

French Command Figures: Back in the Red

After a few days in a Sydney I am back with the red paint, but as a bit of a break from the massed infantry I have done a couple of figures that I intend to use for command groups.

These are the supplied as Marshal Canrobert, the figure given free when you buy three boxes of plastic figures. Without the need for two marshals (and there will be another two figures coming with a future order) I will use these as divisional generals. I will need to be pair these chaps with another mounted officer, when they come available, to make the divisional command grouping, hence them being unbased.

Another two groups on foot  using some spare officer figures (with a fair bit of kit bashing) from the sprue and one metal officer from the Chasseur set will follow.

A Break From Painting Red

We had decided to 'hop across the ditch' to Sydney to catch a performance of Aida at the Opera House. It was something we had planned in 2020, but the plague ruined those plans, so when a fresh production was arranged we grasped the opportunity.

Our trip has an abysmal start. After a dream run the the airport - every green light and no traffic - the valet parking that I had thought I had booked was not valet parking, but rather covered parking half a mile away from the terminal. In a rush I drove over there, in the pouring rain, and managed to reverse into some bloody stupid planter box that badly damaged my back bumper. Wet and angry from this I returned to the terminal and the relative calm of the airline lounge. Then we had a departure delay due to an engineering issue then a further delay with a baggage loading, making us one hour late leaving. The trip across the ditch was bumpy, not severe turbulence, but still the bumpiest I had ever know over the Tasman Sea. Then there was a weather change in Sydney and they reduced operations to a single runway, so we circled off the coast for forty minutes while Air Traffic Control re-routed all the arriving aircraft. All these delays meant that there was no gate with an airbridge was available and we had to park at a remote gate and be bussed to the terminal. But the busses were slow to arrive and we lost another fifteen minutes. Then, almost as a final insult, neatly half the kiosks in the immigration hall were inoperative and standing in a queue with several hundred people I had to chortle at the sign that boasted how theses machines saved queuing times. Finally, two hours late, we hit the fresh air - well caught the train to the city more correctly...the most efficient part of the trip in fact.

Lunch allowed us to recover our shattered nerves and the afternoon was much more pleasant. A nice snooze in mid-afternoon (we had been up since 4:00 AM NZ time) was enough to refresh us prior to dinner and the show. Our hotel was just a short walk to the Opera House on a surprisingly mild evening. 

 The opera was every bit the spectacle we expected it to be - a superb performance in a superb venue.

Thankfully Saturday was a much more ordered and peaceful day. A bit of shopping, walking around the city in the sunshine...a rarity for us these days...and a nice lunch as a Malaysian restaurant overlooking Darling Harbour...so nice that we went back there for dinner.

We head back home today.