Retreat from Moscow
On October 18th 1812, after an inconclusive campaign, Napoleon ordered the withdrawal of troops from Moscow, just 34 days after capturing it. It signalled the last days of imperial glory. Napoleon mustered the Old Guard to address them before the withdrawal began. The real disaster was still ahead - of the near half million men who entered Russia under Napoleon, only 50,000 returned.
Square Defence
French Cuirassiers assaulting the British Infantry squares during the Battle of Waterloo on Sunday 18th of June 1815. Attempts to recall the Cuirassiers had failed and they continued their advance past Le Haye Saint and found themselves on blown horses in front of formed squares with the Union Brigade to the flank.
Lancers of the Guard
At the Battle of Waterloo, on June 18th 1815, 2 regiments of Polish Lancers of the Imperial Guard met Cumberland's dragoons. The Lancers broke two brigades of British Dargoons and then rode down an entire Ponsoby's brigade, killing General Ponsonby, two colonels and 700 soldiers in the process.
The Rifles
In 1800 the ‘Experimental Corps of Riflemen’ was formed under the command of Colonel Coote Manningham. The new Corps first parade was at Horsham on the 1st April 1800. The 95th were to fight in many a battle and build up such a reputation as they would be known an elite regiment of the British army.
The distinctive rifle-green uniforms of the 95th and the lack of embellishment or ornamentation earned them their lasting nickname ‘greenjackets’ - but in the ranks of the French after their first introduction in 1808 in seeing their battlefield
tactics and experiencing aimed-fire from the 95th, their soldiers began to refer to British riflemen as ‘Grasshoppers’.
From 1809 to 1810, the Rifles earned the respect of the rest of the army in addition to their supporting red-coated units in The Light Division and were jocularly noted by one British officer in 1813 ‘to be as superior to the French light infantry skirmishers as the French light infantry skirmishers are to ours !’
The Experimental Corps of Riflemen became the 95th Regiment (Rifles) on January 18th 1803, remaining so until 1816, when they were taken out of the line to become The Rifle Brigade. The Rifle Brigade became the Royal Green Jackets in 1968, an amalgamation that consisted of the 43rd and 52nd (former redcoat regiments of the Peninsular War ‘Light Division’) and the 60th and 95th. The Royal Green Jackets amalgamated again in 2007 with the Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry, Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry and The Light infantry to become The Rifles.
Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, effectively destroying the Third Coalition against the French Empire. The picture shows Austrian Grenadiers in action at Austerlitz. The battle was fought on the 2nd December 1805.
The Austrian Grenadier battalion pictured faces strong attacks by French line infantry. The Austrian VI/23rd Infantry regiment were ordered to assist, but instead threw down their muskets and feld the field in panic.
Charge of the Cuirassiers
During the Battle of Waterloo, on June 18th 1815, the Prince of Orange saw that La Haye Sainte had been cut off, and tried to reinforce it by sending forward the Hanoverian Lüneberg Battalion in line. French Cuirassiers concealed in a fold in the ground caught and destroyed it in minutes. The pictures shows what the Hanoverian's would have seen moment before disaster struck.
The Long Walk Home
A detachment of Polish Line Uhlans wade through a swamp in search of new mounts after being broken at the First Battle of Smolensk, August 17, 1812.
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Cheers,
Tim aka LZ
