French Heavy Artillery

In the structure of the artillery within a French Army Corps, there was a corps reserve. In all but the 1st and 6th Corps the reserve consisted of two light field batteries (batterie de 4), two light horse batteries (batterie de 4 à cheval) and two heavy batteries (batterie de 12). Each pair of batteries was formed into a division (for the want of a better term) and commanded by a chef d'escadron and the whole reserve was in turn commanded by a colonel. In the reserves of the 1st and 6th Corps there were two horse artillery divisions.

The light and horse batteries were equipped with La Hitte Canon de campagne de 4 rayé modèle 1858 (often called a 4-pound gun, but actually threw a 4-kilogram round) and the heavy batteries were armed with the Canon de 12 La Hitte, modèle 1859 (again a 12-kilogram not a 12-pound round).

I like these guns. They are big and meaty. I remember seeing a damaged Canon de 12  from 1870 in the arcade inside the Musée de l'Armée in Paris that had been struck square on the barrel and there was a large scar stretching back from the canon mouth - I know I have a photo of it somewhere, but can't find I right now.

These two sets represent batteries de 12 of Captain Humann's 11th Battery, 5th Regiment and Captain Carbonnel's 10th Battery, 15th Regiment.

I have swapped some of the crew out with crew from the light field batteries to get some variety within the crews.

67e Régiment de Ligne

This post celebrates three completions.

The first is the completion of the 67e Régiment. Created in 1791 from Régiment Languedoc the 67e was heavily involved in the Revolutionary Wars in the Low Countries. Later it fought at Essling and Wagram, then followed the Emperor north in the 1809 campaign against Russia. In 1813 it fought at Lutzen, Bautzen and Leipzig. In 1814 it fought at Mâcon and Lyon.

Dissolved after the Hundred Days, it was reformed in 1831 in Algers and served in Africa until 1846. In the Second Empire it did not serve in the Crimea or Italy, but went to war in 1870 under Colonel Leon Mangin, a highly experienced infantry officer. Aged 49, Mangin was a graduate of St Cyr and spent his first ten years of his career in the Chasseurs, serving successively in the 9th,10th, 5th, 7th and 8th battalions. After a brief period of service as chef de batallion in the 1st Tirailleurs Algériens he led the 1st Chasseurs in Italy. He served in the first stages of the Mexican Expedition where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 85e Régiment. He returned to France in 1863 to take up a position in the 4e Voltigeurs de la Garde. Made colonel of the 67e Régiment in 1867 he led it in 1870 where the regiment accumulated  1011 casualties in the actions of Saarbrücken, Spicheren, Rezonville and Gravelotte. Mangin was made brigadier in 1871 and continued in the army until 1881. He died year later.

Colonel Leon Mangin

The regiment was heavily engaged in the Great War and won a rare battle honour in WWII during the Battle of France in 1940 for its actions at Stonne. Dissolved in June 1940 it was reactivated in 1944 and was engaged in the recapture of Dunkirk. After the war it is served chiefly in North Africa until the mid-1960s and was engaged in the Algerian conflict. It returned to France in 1964 and was disestablished in 1998.

The second completion is that of  Fauvart-Bastoul's Brigade.

The third completion is the Second Division commanded by Henri Jules Bataille.

Born on 6 September 1816 Bataille had a combat record that rivalled that of Vergé from First Division. Entering St Cyr in 1834 his first assignment was as a sous-lieutenant in the 22nd Line which he took up in 1836. Sent to North Africa three years later he commenced a 20 year period of service there. He participated in the siege of Zaatcha in 1849 followed by a brief period in Paris, where he was made lieutenant colonel of the 56th Line, before returning to Algeria as colonel of the 45th Line, a regiment he led in the campaign against the Kabyles. Made général de brigade in August 1857 he commanded a brigade in the Army of Lyon and then First Brigade, Second Division in Canrobert's 3rd Corps, in the Italian campaign where he gained distinction, earning the Legion d'Honeur for his part in the capture of the Ponte Vecchio at Magenta and was in action again at Solferino. After that war he earned the prestigious position in command of a brigade of Voltigeurs of the Guard. Made général de division in 1866 he commanded the 2nd Division in Rome as a part of the Army of Occupation. Returning to France he took command of the 4th Division, Army of Lyon and then 2nd Division in the Camp of Châlons in June of 1870.

Général de division Henri Jules Bataille

As the campaign in 1870 opened his division was moved close to the frontier in late July where it skirmished with German patrols in front of Saarbrücken. Bataille led the attack on that town in the reconnaissance in force on 2 August. At Spicheren he was in reserve, but committed his division without orders, unnecessarily strengthening the French front line, when it would have been better deployed to the left flank. Ten days later at Rezonville he was wounded in the stomach, but remained with the division to fight at Gravelotte two days later where two horses were killed under him. Seriously injured he was transported to Metz and surrendered when that fortress fell in October.

After the war he commanded 2nd Corps in the Versailles Army that took Paris back from the Communards. Appointed commander of Fifth Corps in 1873 he fell afoul of the army restructure six years later and retired from the army in 1881. He died in Paris the following January.

The order of battle for the division at the commencement of the 1870 campaign was as follows:

2nd Division Général de Brigade Henri J. Bataille

1st Brigade Général de Brigade Pouget (absent Colonel Haca commanding brigade)

• 12th Chasseurs à Pied - Commandant Jouanne-Beaulieu

8th Regiment Colonel Haca

• 1st Battalion – Captain Francot 
• 2nd Battalion – Commandant Avril de Lenclos 
• 3rd Battalion – Commandant Coonna d'Istra 

23rd  Regiment Colonel Rolland 

• 1st Battalion – Commandant Beaujeois 
• 2nd Battalion – Commandant Bourrie 
• 3rd Battalion – Commandant Pierrebourg

2nd Brigade Général de Brigade Jacques A.J. Fauvart-Bastoul

66th Regiment Colonel Amellier

• 1st Battalion – Commandant Guichard 
• 2nd Battalion – Commandant Gérard 
• 3rd Battalion – 

67th  Regiment Colonel Mangin

• 1st Battalion – Commandant Lazarotti 
• 2nd Battalion – Commandant Kienlin 
• 3rd Battalion - 

Divisional Artillery Commandant Collangettes

• 7th Battery, 5th Regiment (de 4) – Captain Bobet 
• 8th Battery, 5th Regiment (de 4) – Captain Benoit 
• 9th Battery, 5th Regiment (Mit) – Captain Dupré

Civil War Action

On Sunday we fought an American Civil War game.

There were six players, three on each side. I commanded on the right with two infantry and one cavalry brigades, with the possible reinforcement by a third infantry brigade. To my left were another four infantry and one small cavalry brigades, with some reinforcements expected. Opposing us were six infantry brigades and a cavalry brigade.

The objectives for both sides were the control of the road that ran up the centre of the table.

On my front the action developed quickly. One of my cavalry regiments charged to try and take advantage of an isolated enemy infantry unit, while the Confederates attack one of my small Zouave units. The cavalry was repulsed but the Zouaves won against the odds.

The full length of the table

At the other end of the table the Union and Confederate cavalry face off. Each side rolled 6xD6 needing a 5 or 6 to score a combat point.

This was the Union roll...the Confederates failed to roll a single 5 or 6 and were scattered to the wind. The Yankees then broke through onto an unsuspecting Confederate infantry unit behind it, smashing it too...but there Union attack ran out of steam.

To my left my fellow Union commander was getting tied up in the woods.

The point of junction between my command and the centre was a hotbed of fighting.

But the Union Centre was in trouble.

Above and below two of my units.

The Alabama boys move to the attack, but two turns later were driven off.

The fight for the woods dragged on.

More Alabamians

The left centre of the Union line was in trouble.

On my front the Rebel line was crumbling. The lost right infantry regiment charges the Rebel battery and drives the gunners off.

At the crossroads a single Confederate battery holds the line, but the gunners are soon driven away from their guns.

In the centre the Union forces have been scattered and the Confederates are dominant, but the flanks are dominated by strong Union commands.

The game ended as a Union victory.

3rd Battalion, 66e Régiment de Ligne

Here is the final battalion of the 66e.

And the whole regiment.

The 67e Régiment in under the brush now.

2nd battalion, 66e Régiment de Ligne

The mound of garden bark that I showed in the post is distributed to the gardens.

The Blueberry garden with the cardboard layed (the cardboard blocks the weed growth). 

And with the bark spread

The front rose garden with all its weeds...

And much tidier with the bark layed 

The whole job took six hours, but while we started in overcast conditions the sky soon cleared and the day became hot. As I shovelled away these words rang through my head 🎶Breaking rocks in the hot sun, I broke the law and law won🎶 (from the song by the Bobby Fuller Four - although I prefer the Clash or Green Day versions). But it is done and the gardens are tidy again. 

The day ended with the completion of this the Second Battalion of the 66e Régiment.

 The Third Battalion is on the painting table now.

66e Regiment de Ligne

Well it's back to the red pants again. This time it is the start of the Second Brigade, Second Infantry Division, 2nd Corps. The brigade  consisted of the 66e and 67e Regiments and was commanded by General de Brigade Jacques Alexandre Jules Fauvart-Bastoul.

Son of a senior officer of hussars in the Grande Armée Fauvart-Bastoul was born at Béthune in 1814. He entered St Cyr in 1832 and joined the 28e Régiment three years later. He continued with that regiment until 1844,  promoted through the grades to Captain. He transferred to the 7e Légère in 1853 as chef de batallion and served in Algeria. He took command of the 6e Chasseurs that same year and led   them in the Crimean campaign. He was made Lt Colonel of the 14e Régiment in 1855, before transferring to the 3e Grenadier regiment in the Garde Imperiale the following year.

Made colonel in late 1857 he took command of the 36e Régiment before transferring back to the Garde in 1860 in charge of the 2e Grenadiers. Made General de brigade in 1865 he held various territorial commands until he took his brigade command in 1870. 

He was engaged at Sarrbrücken, Spicheren, Rezonville and St Privat before being imprisoned after the fall of  Metz. He served in the Versailles Army in the action against the Communards and was promoted to General de Division in 1871 in command of 18th Division. He retired from the army in 1879 and died at Paris in 1888 at the age of 73.

With roots tracing back to 1791 the 66e has laid claim to a host of honours in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, including action in the Vendée and the Low Countries. Part of the regiment went to the West Indies in 1802 serving in Guadeloupe, but the regiment’s real service in the Napoleonic wars was in the Peninsula, where it fought from 1807 to 1813, engaged in the actions of Vimeiro, Porto, Buçaco Fuentes de Ōnoro and Burgos, in Germany in 1813 at Lutzen, Bautzen, Leipzig and Hannau, in the 1814 Campaign at Laon, Reims Fère-Champenoise and Paris.

The regiment did not fight at Waterloo but had the dubious honour of offering the last resistance of the 100 Days episode when the Caribbean contingent stood against British forces that captured Guadeloupe in August 1815.

Recreated in 1830 the regiment served in Africa from 1832 to 1840, after which it returned to France. The third battalion had the honour of leading the procession that brought Napoleon’s remains back to France to be interred at des Invalides.

It was not engaged in the Crimea or Italy, serving instead in France then in Africa until 1867, before returning again to France. 

In 1870 it  served at Saarbrücken (losing 5 officers and 40 men), Spicheren (losing 12 officers and 212 men), Rezonville (where it suffered the loss of 16 officers and 575 men) and St Privat (2 officers and 27 men). It served the early part of the war under command of Colonel Charles-François Ameller, about whom I haven't been able to find much other than in 1857 he was chef de batallion in the 4e Zouaves and at that point, after 17 years of service, he had served in seven campaigns and been wounded twice.

When the regiment surrendered at Metz, the depot companies formed the 44e Régiment de Marche and fought in the Armée de l’Loire and the Armée d’Est. 

After the war the regiment was back in Algeria again in 1888, but returned to France shortly after. In the Great War it served in the Marne and Verdun sectors for much of the war. After the war it was posted briefly at Constantinople before it was disbanded in 1923.

Reformed in 1939 it fought in the 18th Divsion in the battle of France.

Dissolved in June 1940 it was briefly reactivated between 1963-66.

Also completed are two more generals. These are again the Marchal Canrobert figure that ships free with three boxes of plastic figures. To get a bit of variety I have done a little Frankensteinian surgery on them. Both were decapitated and their heads were replaced by those from the plastic command sprue. At the same time I removed the right hand of each figure that was waving the troops forward and replaced them with more plastic parts - one with a hand with a pointing finger and the other one pointing with a sword. Both the hands a heads were fixed in place with pin and glue. The horse's mane was damaged when the hand and the kepi it was holding were cut away, but a bit of GreenStuff was all that was needed to repair it.

It is Labour Weekend here and it is a tradition with us to use the long weekend to get the gardens in shape and they certainly need it  after the wet year we have had - in the 25 years we have lived in this house  I have never seen so many weeds growing. So early this morning, while I was watching the All Blacks play the Pumas in the Rugby World Cup semi-final, three cubic metres of bark arrived and was dumped on the driveway 

I am in for a long tiring day.