Russian Jägers – Borodino 1812

Russian Jägers 1812.

Minis by Perry.

After plenty of additions made to my World War One projects, I thought it was time to sneak in a unit for my ever growing Borodino 1812 collection.

At the battle of Borodino, fought on September 7th 1812, Russian commander Mikhail Kutuzov made extensive use of elite Jäger battalions to cover his left, around the city of Borodino and the river crossing there, situated to the north-west when looking out from the Great Redoubt in the centre.

Jägers. Note the different trousers and boots.

The Perry minis offer the version to the left.

With no less that 50 Jäger regiments in the Russian army at the time of this great battle, one would have to include a few of these iconic units into the collection for variety.

Another view at the Jägers as they skirmish forward.

Like most of my 1812 Borodino collection, I’ve opted for the excellent Perry Miniatures for this unit. Basing consists of 3 x 40/40mm bases per battalion, my standard for large battalion games in 28mm.

Guard Jägers.

The Russian infantry had undergone some renovation since the somewhat unsuccessful track record of the Wars of the Third and Fourth Coalition. In addition to incredible efforts made to refine grenadier battalions into elite troops, the number of Jäger regiments in the army had also been upgraded from 22 in 1805 to numbering more than the said 50 regiments in 1812. 

The Russian uniform of 1812 is one of my favorites.

The white trousers and the dark green jacket is very a pleasing color-scheme. 

With Kutuzov’s guidance, the training emphasized physique and marksmanship, resulting in a new breed of quality in the Russian ranks. Something the French would note from 1812 and forward.

Russian Infantry putting up a fight at Borodino.

During Borodino, the Russian infantry was credited for fighting like lions. A compliment they had enjoyed before, but again there was something new stirring under the surface. In previous battles, it had been normal practice to bring out the booze before a big fight, to “strengthen moral”. At Borodino this was not allowed. Instead the holy icon of The Black Virgin of Smolensk was paraded through the ranks, transmitting a sobering feeling that the fight was for nothing less than the fate of Holy Mother Russia.

Kutuzov kissing the icon of the Black Virgin.

A scene from Soviet film director, Sergei Bondarchuk's 1966 7hrs opus "War and Peace".

An absolute "Must see" for any Borodino enthusiast.  

Confidence in the Russian ranks had indeed grown since they were thrown off the Pratzen heights in 1805. I’ll end this account by a quote from the marching song by the 26th Jägers: “We are not afraid of Marshal Oudinot, he is nothing but a piece of shi…” 

Thank you very much for reading!

"My blood belongs to the Emperor" - General Lasalle

Lasalle with his pipe.

The figure is from Front Rank.

For this week’s blog post I’m leaving the trenches of Verdun, traveling only a short distance east to Metz, the birthplace of the legendary “Hussar General” – Lasalle.

Early Life

Born on May 10th 1775 into a family of minor nobility, Antoine-Charles-Louis showed a flair for the military trade from an early age. Already at 14 he had joined the local regiment and merited a rank of Second Lieutenant. 

Lasalle leading the 5th into battle.

When the Revolution threw France into turmoil, Lasalle was in 1792 stripped of command due to the idealistic view of the revolutionaries, wanting to wash out all the old aristocratic officers. Lasalle was however not deterred, and took this setback with great calm. He moved to Paris and enlisted in the revolutionary army as a private.

Campaign in Italy

In 1793 Lasalle joined the Army of the North on its campaign in Italy, and his conduct soon earned him advancement in the ranks. He was present at the Battle of Rivoli, where he proved to be beyond fearless, charging down and breaking an complete Austrian regiment with only 26 chasseurs at his side. The Italian campaign thus saw Lasalle’s star rise, and Napoleon personally asked the young cavalry officer to join him for the Invasion of Egypt in 1798.

Lasalle smoking his pipe.

The Invasion of Egypt

At the Battle of the Pyramids Lasalle made yet another daring charge, storming a garrisoned village at the head of no more than 60 horsemen. The wild charge bore home, and Lasalle continued his advance down an unknown path amongst the Giza Pyramids, offering him an opportunity to cut off the enemy, and serving them on a plate to Napoleon. Greatly impressed, Napoleon promoted Lasalle to Lieutenant Colonel of the 22nd Horse Chasseurs and the 7th Hussars.

Lasalle at the head of his brigade.

Lasalle would soon repay Napoleon for this advancement, when he saved the life of Davout. The General had been cornered by mamulukes at the Battle of Remedieh and was about to be cut down, when Lasalle dashed in, chopped both hands off the mameluke in front of Davout, broke his own sword over the head of Osman Bey, but kept on fighting by picking up swords and guns from the battlefield around him. The mamelukes eventually broke, and Lasalle had once again proven to have a cool head in the heat of action.

The Libertine Lasalle

Lasalle’s passions extended further than the battlefield. He consumed life in great breaths, or should I say in big gulps. A true light cavalryman he founded the “Society of Alcoholics”. Reputedly Lasalle drank, swore and was quite the libertine. After a night of heavy drinking, Lasalle proudly asked Paul Thiébault to count all the empty wine bottles. Thiébault remarked: “Do you want to kill yourself”? Lasalle answered: “My friend, any hussar who is not dead by thirty is a blackguard”

The libertine in a quiet moment of reflection.

No stranger to the passions of the flesh either, Lasalle had a long standing affair with Minister of War, Berthier’s wife Joséphine. When Berthier finally had enough and divorced Joséphine, Lasalle was quick to propose to her. To help out with the costs for the wedding, Napoleon gave 200.000 Francs to Lasalle. When the two men met up only a week after, Napoleon was keen to know how the planning was coming along. Lasalle remarked that he had spent the money on old debt and the rest he had gambled.

A view at the sabretasche and the dolman.

Normally this kind of insolence would have seen any other soldier stripped from rank and scorned, but Napoleon simply gave Lasalle another 200.000 Francs, and told him to get on with it. When Napoleon’s astonished staff asked why this Lasalle got such a soft treatment, Napoleon quietly answered: “It only takes a stroke of a pen to create a prefect, but it takes twenty years to make a Lasalle".

The “Brigade Infernale”

At the famous battle of Austerlitz, Lasalle won the admiration of Murat, who then put him in command of a Light Cavalry Brigade consisting of the 5th and 7th Hussars. Under the leadership of Lasalle, this brigade would become known to history as The Hellish Brigade – Brigade Infernale.

Detail: Lasalle raising his pipe signaling the charge. 

At the Battle of Jena, Lasalle and his brigade captured the King of Prussia’s bodyguard, and pursued the Prince of Hohenlohe off the battlefield at sword’s point. Later during the Prussian campaign, Lasalle and his small contingent of hussars reached the fortified city of Stettin. The well defended city had a garrison of 5.000 men and 281 guns, but Lasalle calmly demanded their surrender stating: “If, by 8 a.m. you have not surrendered, the town will be bombarded by our artillery, stormed by 50,000 men, the garrison will be put to the sword and the town will be plundered during twenty-four hours"

The commander of Stetting believed the message from Lasalle, and surrendered his entire force to the little group of French cavalrymen. This feat made Lasalle more famous than ever, and upon hearing of the city’s surrender, Napoleon wrote to Murat: "If your Light Cavalry captures fortified towns, I’ll have to discharge my Engineer Corps and have my heavy artillery melted down"

Lasalle punishing his brigade at Golymin.

But Lasalle could be brisk as well as dashing. During the Battle of Golymin, the Hellish Brigade was charging a battery of 15 Russian guns. As they closed in on the enemy the fire on the horsemen intensified. A big portion of the brigade broke, and they fled to the rear. The furious Lasalle spurred his horse and pursued his fleeing men. Catching up with them he screamed “Halt!” - the men obeyed their enraged commander and stopped their wild stampede. Lasalle quietly brought the brigade back to the front line, positioned it across from the Russian guns, and told them to hold ground. Lasalle rode forward to a position 20 paces in front of his men, and calmly took the murderous fire from the Russian battery. The brigade accepted this punishment with no further disobedience. 

The final battle and immortality

On July 5th 1809, Lasalle fought what was to be his last battle at Wagram.

On the morning of the battle he had a strange feeling, that the fight before him might be his last. When he opened his baggage he found his pipe broken and a wine glass that his wife used to be crushed. The passionate Lasalle read this as an omen of death to come.

He then wrote two letters, one to the Emperor and one to his wife.

The final charge.

Later during the battle of Wagram, while charging at the head of the 1st Cuirassiers, Lasalle was shot between the eyes, dying instantly. The farewell letter to his wife became famous. The last part of it reads: “"Mon coeur est à toi, mon sang à l'Empereur, ma vie à l'honneur" (My heart belongs to you, my blood to the Emperor, my life to honor)

The dashing libertine general had almost kept his word. He died 34 years old.

Thank you very much for reading!

Franco-Prussian Terrain: Alsacian house

The Lindenau House from Grandmanner's 28mm Napoleonic collection. 

In 2014 I had the privilege of visiting the now docile battlefield at Woerth in a rural part of beautiful Alsace. Earlier the same year I was bordering on fiscal collapse by melting my Visa at the ever-bustling Salute, spending a sunny April weekend in London. Both these visits are combined in this week’s project.

The unpainted resin model with a 28mm miniature for size comparison.

Building a collection of miniatures for a certain period often has us focus on the soldiers and their colourful uniforms, dashing cavalry squadrons or hard hitting artillery batteries with the occasional diversion into character units. But terrain has for my part so far taken the backseat. However, things are about to change.

Front view of the finished model.

Personally, painting military miniatures always takes me into a dreamy state, where I project myself to the era of the soldiers I’m painting. Whether they be the snappy marching columns of Napoleon or the well-drilled grenadiers of Frederick the Great, I find myself mentally marching alongside them.

The village of Woerth as it looked in August 2014.

My fiancé on the left, Johanna, was kind enough to join my battlefield walk.

This imaginational access to a period in history gets further nourishment when the painted soldiers march onto the wargaming table – if the scene is properly set that is. Setting the scene with the right quality of terrain can really enhance the experience of one’s miniature collection, and help make that imaginative leap back in time to a certain faithful day in history.

Picture of the back side, with worn down stairs
and stacked firewood adding details to the model.

Partaking in the very active wargaming scene in Stockholm, I’ve had two big inspirations when it comes to terrain. Fellow club member Michael, who meticulously addresses all the small details on the table and have a sharp eye for what will work and how to arrange it. My second big inspiration, and a very accomplished painter, is wargaming friend Rickard, who is among the most talented terrain constructors I’ve come across.

Further inspiration for the color scheme.

Painting by Edouard Detaille "La charge du 9e régiment de Cuirassiers à Morsbronn"

With these two gentlemen in my hobby-sphere I have decidedly made a plunge into the wonderful world of terrain. First stop on this journey is my Grandmanner “Lindenau House” from their 28mm Napolenonic range. The model was purchased in London at Salute from Grandmanner’s vending stall, with a clear aim to apply it as a Alsacian house for my Franco-Prussian collection. 

Prussian troops crossing through Alsace 

after the initial victories of Woerth and Spichern.

Visiting the battlefield at Woerth last summer fuelled further inspiration to this painting project, and with my holiday pictures from this sleepy corner of Alsace in hand, I set out to finished this lovely detailed model.

The result is the product of about 4-5 full afternoons of painting. The target was to go for a classic color scheme resembling what can be found on the paintings from the battles of Wissembourg, Spichern and Woerth. I imagine it would work very well for a timeframe of 1740-1918 – enabling me to cover the SYW, Napoleonics, Franco-Prussian and Early WW1 “Battle of the Frontiers” with this model.

The Lindenau House could easily be adopted for other periods,

here shown in a SYW scene, as Frederick scouts for an Inn with 

good potato soup.

Also purchased from Granmanner at Salute was a XL redoubt position with three canon positions incorporated in the superb resin cast sculpting. This was carried home as an unplanned impulse purchase, but fitting nicely into my 1812 Borodino project.

I look forward to getting more brush time with Grandmanner’s excellent models in the months to come.

Thank you very much for reading!

Merry Christmas! - Recap of 2014

Napoleon & Roustam.

The miniatures are from Perry.

What better way to end 2014 than by finishing my first ever command stand of history’s no.1 All Star: Napoleon. In this case the “Corsican Monster” is trotting around the battlefield protected by his mamluk bodyguard, Roustam. I’ll probably do the “sitting on a chair at Borodino” command stand as well. I’ve got the Foundry minis for it since 10 years back, so it’d be a shame not to, but all that belongs in 2015.

View from behind - quite a saber Roustam is carrying around.

Perhaps the Mamluk equivalent of a doppelsoldner!

I’ll skip format and not give you a long write up on old Boney – although my love of all things French is perhaps well known to any regular readers. Instead I thought I’d take a minute to summarize 2014. What projects did I get into, what books did I read and what sites and museums did I visit during the past year. 

PAINTING PROJECTS OF 2014

The Danish Horse Guards, Battle of Lund 1676

The Scanian War: A late 2013 skirmish game project with Michael “Dalauppror” inspired me to read up on the Scanian War period. An interesting and dramatic time in Scandinavian history, with large battles fought between Denmark and Sweden over the supremacy of the North in the late 17th Century. With the great 28mm range from Warfare miniatures to support a larger project, Jesper, Michael and I embarked on a complete battalion based collection for the war. Later during the year, an opportunity arose to go and host a gaming table at the Danish gaming convention, DFFcon, taking place in the historical royal armoury in Copenhagen. Of course this just added to the motivation for painting. Michael, Jesper and I had a great time and the collection will probably expand, although at a lower output, in 2015.

French lignards and chasseurs skirmishing.

The Franco-Prussian War: In my opinion the mother of WW1. A big interest of mine, if not the biggest when it comes to history, and 2014 saw some great additions to my growing collection in 28mm. I also read some great books on the period, and managed to visit some of the key battlefields this year accompanied by my lovely and understanding fiancé. These visits really fueled my inspiration. History comes very alive when you’re standing on the actual spot where a certain charge took place or viewing and understanding the size of an area where a battle was fought.

The 5th French Hussars. 

Borodino 1812: A project started in 2013, with the aim to build a complete French and Russian gaming force for this behemoth of a battle, using my current favorite ruleset - Black Powder. Over the past year I managed to expand my collection with 5 units, of which my favourite would probably be the French hussars. When visiting Salute, I found a suitable model of the Great Redoubt cast in resin by Grandmanner, which I'm looking forward to painting up. At the same time the Perrys are constantly expanding their range, so this project is moving forward with good steam.

WW1 Imperial German Battleship, Friedrich der Große.

WW1 Naval - The Battle of Jutland: Speaking of steam. A late addition to the project list of 2014 perhaps, but a project that really took speed after the Scanian War project was parked after Copenhagen. Inspired by my friend Mark’s collection of 1/285 planes for Check Your 6, I ventured out of my comfort zone of 28mm, and into the wonderful world of WW1 naval modeling, using GHQ’s highly detailed 1/2400 range. This period and scale has fast become a personal favourite in terms of gaming, and I plan to expand both navies for my Jutland project in 2015. Mark is currently working on a US Navy intervention force inspired by the actual 6th Squadron send over to Scapa, and I recommend a visit to his blog – beautiful ships.

SMALLER PROJECTS IN 2014

Spitfires scramble during the Battle of Britain.

Check your 6: Great rules which inspired me to paint up a few Spitfires to pit against Mark’s Luftwaffe collection. We've played a few games during 2014, and I’m hoping we’ll get a chance to play more in 2015.

6 points worth of knights for the Trolle army.

Lion Rampant: Michael hosted a game and got me hooked on these simple and smooth running rules. We’re now a handful of gamers from our local club, each with a12 point army, and running more or less weekly games, mixing up our factions freely in big skirmishes. Great fun and perfect for a 2-3 hrs club night game.

Imperial pike block under the Fugger banner.

Italian Wars: Together with fellow club members Jonas and Michael, I started building a battalion based collection in 28mm for the period around the Battle of Pavia, 1525. I really loved painting the Pro Gloria minis, but was waiting for more releases to build my collection. Pro Gloria just got sold to Warlord about two weeks ago, and it looks like they’ll be speeding up the release process in 2015. Looking forward to picking up this project again when that happens.

BOOKS I’VE READ IN 2014

“Borodino and the war of 1812” by Christopher Duffy

The book really zooms in on the battle and that exact point in history. It gives a great account of each sequence of this great clash of arms, and I took a lot of inspiration for what units to paint from the detailed description.

“The Battle of Jutland” by Geoffrey Bennet

G. Bennet offers and interesting insight to both the tradition and mind set of the Royal Navy and German Imperial Navy. He treats the battle in a very useful step-by-step fashion, giving me as the reader a full understanding of why the admirals did what they did. Also, he skillfully recreates the drama of the initial encounter of the Cruiser forces, the climax of Jellicoe’s T-crossing maneuver and Sheer’s night action. It’s a great book on the battle, treating both navies and their relative gains from the battle with great objective fairness in the chapter “Who won?”. Recommended!

“The Franco-Prussian War 1870-71, Vol. 1; The Campaign of Sedan” 
by Quintin Barry

There are two books in this series. The first covering the initial Imperial part of the war, the second focussing on the desperate Republican part of the conflict. I really enjoyed reading this first book in the series, as perhaps the most detailed account I’ve come across on the war in modern publishing. Q. Barry is a methodical writer and each actions and responsible commanders are carefully analyzed to present an objective and detailed overview. The book also offers useful OrBats for the mayor battles of the campaign.

“Alphonse de Neuville; L’épopée de la défaite” by Phillipe Chabert

The book offers a portrait of one of France’s greatest military painters. It’s in French, but that shouldn't put off any period enthusiast. Even for those who don’t read the language, I warmly recommend it for it’s wonderful imagery on the Franco-Prussian War. The book accounts for Neuville's complete life but focuses on the later part, and his friendship and work with fellow master, Edouard Detaille.

MUSEUMS, CONVENTIONS &  BATTLEFIELDS VISITED IN 2014:

The old cemetery gate known from Neuville's painting of the battle.

The battlefields of Mars-la-tour & Gravelotte-St-Privat: I visited this historic site in mid-May, and the weather was mild and generous for walking the grounds. It was my first trip to an actual battlefield, and these two are really a great place to start. With the 2014 addition of the new museum on the Franco-Prussian War located in Gravelotte, the visit to Lorraine was a real success, and something I look back on as a turning point in my hobby and interest in the Franco-Prussian War. 

Napoleon's field furniture along with the famous grey jack and hat.

Musée de l’Armée; Les Invalides: Recently renovated to boast some great new technical details like multiple 80” screens in the floor telling the story of certain battles or conflicts. The rich history of France is carefully presented with a HUGE collection of uniforms, historical artefacts like Napoleon's uniform, hat and field furniture, and offers the visitor a complete coverage from pre-historic weaponry to WW2 and the liberation of France. It’s well worth the 10 Euro entrance fee. In fact, I admit I’d pay that just to gain access to the museum’s book shop.

The fields around Woerth bore many scars of war.

The battlefield of Woerth: Set in the beautiful hilly countryside of Alsace, only a short drive from the German border, this battlefield was really a fantastic place to visit. The post war German remembrance work on the big Franco-Prussian War battles, had seen the construction of a tall panoramic tower in the middle of the battlefield, offering a great overview of the complete area. The local townspeople were very friendly too, and we fell in conversation with an old lady in Woerth, who fetched the local church keeper to open the door at the village church, in order for us to view the memorial plates hung there in honor of all the fallen soldiers. Apart from an interesting history, Alsace also offered some great food and wine. All in all I think it's one of the best, and most overlooked, regions in France to go for a holiday.

D-Day display at Salute - huge and very very impressive.

SALUTE 2014: This show just seems to get bigger and bigger each year. This year I did myself the service of pre-ordering all my purchases, but with the huge amount of minor/new traders present, I must admit to a certain degree of spontaneous shopping as well. Most memorable from this year Salute was probably the unusually high quality of the gaming tables on display. A wonderful weekend in London, and something which will be repeated in 2015.

Beautiful WW1 table with 1/300 bi-planes from Shapeways.

DFFCON 2014: A great little convention held inside the Royal Danish Armory. There was about 10-12 different games of high quality, all open to participation. I got to try out some Samurai skirmishing, walk a tour in the museum, plus we enjoyed great interest in our hosted Battle of Lund table. As an added touristic bonus, Jesper and Michael got to try the Danish open sandwich specialty - Smørrebrød, which was consumed with much approval by the Swedes.

With that summary of 2014, I wish you, dear reader, a merry Christmas! Hope you’ll all have a great one, and find time to sneak away for an hour or two of peaceful solitude at the painting table during the holidays, I know I’ll be!

Thank you very much for your support and readership in 2014!

The Infernal Brigade – 5th French Hussars

Chaaarge!

Inspired by the excellent “Sons of Mars” painting by American artist and military painter Keith Rocco, I decided on the 5th Hussars as the perfect starting point for adding a unit of these colourful and dashing cavalrymen to my French Napoleonic collection.

"The Sons of Mars" by Keith Rocco.

The 5th had strong historic roots back to the American Revolution where they fought the British and to the Revolutionary Wars participating at the important battle of Valmy. During the Napoleonic period and the War of The Third Coalition they famously charged alongside the 2nd hussars at Austerlitz, clashing with the Grand Duke Constantine’s Uhlans. The trumpeter of the 5th, Joseph Pincemaille, actually managed to capture the Uhlan’s regimental commander. 

Joseph Pincemaille perhaps?

Later during the War of The Fourth Coalition the 5th got brigaded with the 7th Hussars, and came under command of the legendary light cavalry commander, Lasalle. The nickname “Infernal Brigade” was given to Lasalle’s units after Jena, when they hung like wild hawks over the fleeing Prussian infantry, cutting down all that stopped for a pause.

French Hussars in all their splendor.

Plate by L. & F. Funcken.

Legend also has it, that Lasalle with 500 men from his Infernal Brigade managed to have the fortified city of Stetting, with its garrison of 5.000(!) men, surrender to him, simply by pointing to his men and claiming them to be the avant-garde of an approaching army. The Prussians didn’t want any of that, and laid down their arms in spite of their current 10:1 advantage. Such was the reputation of this fearsome brigade.

Great details on the small cavalry flag offer by GMB.

Originally formed in 1780, the 5th became part of the later modernization of the cavalry. Before the Napoleonic wars the French army had 13 hussar regiments. However these had been reduced and refitted into 10 regiments by 1803. As part of the modernization the shako was introduced in 1804, whilst the elite companies would stand out by wearing a colback. 

Napoleon inspecting the ranks - 5th is to the right.

The standard uniform consisted of the very characteristic dolman worn with the pelisse hanging over the shoulder. Wintertime would see them also wearing the pelisse, to add extra warmth with its fur edgings. Down to the left hang their sabre-tache. This exotic note to their Hungarian DNA was individually decorated for each regiment.

Rear shoot offering a good view of the white pelisses.

Weaponry would include the characteristic curved sabre for the light cavalry, a standard issue 1786 short musket and a not insignificant amount of chevalier’s pride and dash.

Thank you very much for reading!

The 9th French Cuirassiers – 1812

The 9th Cuirassiers.

Figures from Perry - flags GMB.

It is not without a considerable measure of respect that I now humbly touch on what I, and many other period enthusiasts, regard as holy ground - French Cuirassiers.

A wall of metal and a thunder of hooves.

I can still recall the moment and place when I as a 10 year old kid got my first look at these awe inspiring riders. It was in a toyshop with my grandmother, who bought me the 54 mm Airfix plastic French Cuirassiers kit. Now anyone wargaming the Napoleonic period in the late 70ies or 80ies will remember this box. There was something unmistakably majestic about the figure on the box. A feeling that a unit of these riders could invincibly smash through anything the enemy would possibly field. A feeling of adoration that still stays with me today whenever I encounter these gallant riders, with their characteristic horsehair adorned helmets and shiny heavy duty cuirasses. 

The classic Airfix kit that sparked my fascination.

A natural choice for building a collection of Cuirassiers would be the Perry Heavy Cavalry plastic box, and I’ve had a few of these slumbering in a dark corner of my closet since Salute 2012, so it was about time to get on with them.

One of the troopers before basing.

Shows the musket thus dating the unit at 1812 and forward.

I’m aiming at 4 large units, which for my collection means 12 figures per unit. I’ve decided to spiff them up with a few of the metal casualty poses, to generate more animation than the boxes offer. 

In 1812 the 9th Cuirassiers held the following battle honours on their flag: Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau, Friedland, Eckmühl and Wagram. During the Russian campaign the 9th received 2 “Sabre of Honour”, and at Borodino they were part of legendary French cavalry commander Nansouty’s 1st Corp, forming a part of Murat’s Cavalry Reserve. 

Cuirassiers saluting their Emperor before the charge.

The battle of Friedland 1807.

The French Cuirassiers played a key role and formed the brunt of several mounted and very bloody charges on the entrenched Russian artillery and infantry on the Great Redoubt during the afternoon’s fighting at Borodino. Not only at The Moskova but certainly in most of Napoleon’s campaigns, the Cuirassiers were called upon to preform the most difficult and toughest of charges. A role in which they specialized, and often acted as a heavy “snow plough” bearing down on the enemy’s infantry, shaking the very ground with a thunder of hoofs as they charged home. They were formidable in this role, and the heavy elite of their time.

It would take considerable discipline for an 

infantry unit to stand and receive a charge like this. 

As a testament to their ruthless efficiency, a Russian infantry Corps of 30.000 men lost 33% of it’s strength by just one single charge of the French Cuirassiers at the Battle of Montmirail in 1814. 

Regimental colors with battle honors.

In 1804 French cavalry counted 12 of these Cuirassiers regiments, which were lovingly referred to by the rest of the army as “The Big Brothers”. With their heavy double plated cuirass, they were the hammer and the chock troops of the day. Armed of course with their heavy cavalry saber, they also packed two pistols, and from 1812 even a musket with bayonet. 

The Great Redoubt at Borodino 

after the charge of the heavy cavalry.

Under the heavy cuirass the troopers wore a dark blue habite-veste with cuffs and turn backs in regimental colors, as were the tags edging the chabraque made from sheep’s wool. These colors would be red, purplish dark red, yellow and a light rose color. The standard breeches were from light sheep’s skin or on campaign protective riding pants, buttoned in each side.

Cuirassiers charging at Eylau 1807.

The trumpeters would be dressed rather lavishly and with no apparent restrictions up to 1812, when an Imperial decree ordered them into habite-vestes of complimentary colors (the Funcken plates show green yellow and rose), no cuirass and white horses hair in their helmet.

Awe inspiring film clip showing 

the true punch of a Cuirassiers charge.

I will leave you with this short clip from the 1994 movie Colonel Chabert. It shows the “Eagles of Eylau” –the French Cuirassiers as they charged into the Russian line. The mere sound of a distant thunder of hooves building up can give me goose bumps – imagine being an enemy infantryman on the receiving end of such a charge!

Thank you very much for reading!