After my call with John on Sunday I had gone looking for Zvezda lancers in my collection that are 'unallocated'. I had a number put aside to become a mixture of 3e éclaireurs, ten figures, from which I have removed the aiglets, plus another 12 figures that I had envisaged using as a mixture of the Young Guard squadrons of the 1e chevau-légers lanciers (including the seventh squadron which came from the previous 3e chevau-légers lanciers) and also the Young Guard squadron of the 2e chevau-légers lanciers. I had a piece of paper with the figures with a vague note to self about which were gonna be which. Huh? What was I on about, I thought.
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| One of the lovely pictures of the 3rd Polish lancers by Charmy |
This lead me down a path that I had trodden previously, looking at info. in my books until I opened my 'ultimate' army list for the Battle of Leipzig. Ah, it all became clear. Four to be the Young Guard squadron of the 2e, eight as the Young Guard squadrons of the 1e, including that of the previous 3e (still in their original uniform) and a tip to self to 'make up the numbers for the Young Guard squadrons of the 1e with figures of the 3e éclaireurs'.
So, no drama, to 'nick' four of them to make a larger unit of Berg lancers and simply use more of the ten allocated as 3e éclaireurs to represent the 4th to 7th squadrons of the 1e chevau-légers lanciers at Leipzig (in 1813).
3rd lancers of the Guard
My little trek down the path already trod was not a waste—one always finds out more, particularly when information has only been skimmed before. This time, I read the description of the 'ill-fated' 3e chevau-légers lanciers from Jouineau and Mongin's "The Imperial Guard of the First Empire 2. Mounted Troops". It is a most interesting tale that I discovered has a few different versions in different books.
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| Above and below: two more plates from Charmy illustrating the lovely 3e chevau-légers lanciers. |
3é régiment
Formed in Lithuania on 12th September 1812 and had a brief existence... It was nearly completely destroyed at Slonim (Russia) and its colonel, general Konapka, hero of the 1st regiment during the war in Spain, was wounded and made prisoner. (p. 44)
Charmy's brief description is similar.
It was formed in Lithuania at Wilna, ten squadrons of two companies each. Commander: general Konapka. It was part of the Grande armée in the Russian campaign and was destroyed by the Russians at Slamina on the 18th October 1812. Those who remained were transferred to the 1st Regiment of the Polish Lancers of the Guard on 11th April 1813. (p. 126)
As is Pigeard's.
On the 19th October 1812, the two squadrons commanded by their colonel were surprised in their cantonment at Slonim in Lithuania by a corps of Russian partisans [his term] under general Czaplicz. Despite a valiant defence, all who were not killed were made prisoner. (p. 116)
Lachouque gave us more information.
[July] The Emperor took advantage of the Poles' good will to create a third regiment of light-horse in the Guard. It was recruited from members of Polish landowning families who could ride and provide their own equipment. It was uniformed like the 1st with yellow buttons and lace instead of white. General Konopka was appointed colonel in chief and put in charge of organizing it (p. 232). [October] Farther south Bessières and 1,400 of Colbert's light horse camped near Voronovo on the Kaluga road to wait for General Konopka's 3rd lancers (p. 242). The newest regiment of lancers would never join Colbert's brigade. General Konopka and the first two squadrons had been surprised at Slonim on the road to Minsk by a large body of Cossacks. 'They defended themselves valiantly and lost sixteen officers and many men before they were finally beaten. All who escaped with their lives were made prisoner.' Nothing was left of the regiment but a small depot at Grodno (p. 249).
The account in Jouineau and Mongin, which had sent me looking for other versions, provide the greatest detail.
The regiment was put on a war footing on 12 September 1812 and immediately left Warsaw for Russia. It headed for Minsk to join the Grande Armée on 5 October of the same year. [...] A fortnight later, on 1 October in vaudeville-style circumstances where smugness rivalled with sheer incompetence, the regiment allowed itself to be surprised in the town of Slonim by the Russians. The town was not even on the regiment's route. The wife of the General Konopka, the regiment's commanding officer, and wives of the other officers lived in the town. The regiment deviated from its route and, forgetting to send out scouts and not setting up a "grand garde", the headquarters and several other companies allowed themselves to be encircled by the Russians who were billeted only ten miles from the town. General Konopka and most of the lancers (i.e. the commanding officer, 13 officers and 235 troopers) were captured after a brief struggle. (p. 162)
I thought this would interest John too, so sent him a photo of the page from Jouineau and Mongin.
"Interesting", he replied.
"The danger of a quickie before heading to the front...," I said.
"Hope Clausewitz put that in his book," he quipped.
I cracked up!
"It's in Sun Tzu ain't it?"
"Hope so," John replied.
"Or was that Harry Hoo?"
Uffindell is even more damning of Konopka and his fellow officers, which he provides as an example of 'neglect of duty'.
One of the most notorious cases of neglect of duty by an Imperial Guard officer was the destruction of the newly raised 3e Chevau-légers lanciers at Slonim in Lithuania in October 1812. The regiment's commander, Général de brigade Jan Konopka, had been instructed to join the Grande Armée, which had reached Moscow, but he ignored intelligence that his route was threatened by a corps from a secondary Russian force, the Army of the Danube. He belatedly left Slonim early one morning after being alerted to the Russian approach, but was pursued and defeated. His wife and two other women managed to escape by crossing the river on a raft, but Konopka himself was wounded and then captured, along with 250 of his men. A Russian general, Louis-Alexandre, Count Langeron alleged [my italics]:
General Konopka didn't have an advanced post or a vedette on any road and our army was only twenty verstes [thirteen miles] from him. Such lack of foresight in an officer who had much experience of war in the French army is inexplicable and led to suspicions that having squandered the funds allocated for the formation of the regiment, he had found no other way of settling his accounts than to get himself captured... We sent back to their families the young men who were earmarked for the honour of guarding Napoleon. (pp. 208–209)
Plate from Jouineau & Mongin, showing the 3e chevau-légers lanciers with facings of a crimson colour.
Epilogue
What of General Konopka? A quick look on the inter-web provided versions of the same information.
After being released from prison in 1814 he was offered the command of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of Congress Poland but he declined. Exhausted by wounds, prison, and fatigue he died the same year in Warsaw. (Wikipedia)
Lancers of Berg
I came then to reading/re-reading about the Berg lancers. This unit had a confusing existence; originally as lancers (1807–08), then as chasseurs (1808–09) and finally as lancers (1809–1812 & 1812–1813). At one time there were two regiments, differently equipped in Spain and Russia, then a combined regiment again, greatly reduced early in the 1813 campaign, built up again during the armistice, progressively reduced at Peterswalde in late August, then at Leipzig and Hanau, the remnants were disarmed, save for chef d'escadron comte von Goldstein, a naturalise Frenchman, and a few troopers who were transferred to the 27th chasseurs à cheval (Pigeard, pp. 363–366).
With all of these changes in organisation, the uniforms are confusing in the extreme and I wanted to check that the one I had settled on was 'correct'.
Initially, they had a white kurtka with pink facings, trousers and czapka; although Jouineau and Mongin state,
Although this "Polish-style" uniform was well and truly drawn by Baron Lejeune, nobody can today confirm whether it was ever really worn. (p. 164)
As Hourtouille stated,
We have tried to be objective, but the way this regiment was dispersed, the numerous campaigns it took part in and the constant changes of uniform, makes it difficult to combine different sources into a coherent whole. (p. 116).
The most accepted version of the uniform in 1813 is a green kurtka, faced pink, with green trousers with pink stripes (grey on campaign) and sheepskin shabraque with pink tooth edging (possibly green for the second regiment in Russia). Interestingly, this is how they are shown in Funcken (often maligned for inaccuracies).
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| The Berg lancers in Funcken, élite company. |
There is a more glorious, full dress version that was produced in one of Knötel's plates (and reproduced beautifully by Jack Girbal in "Soldiers and Uniforms of Napoleonic Wars"). That's the one for me. Taking full advantage of the saddlecloths that come with Zvezda's Polish lancer figures that I used.
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| Girbal's painting in "Soldiers and Uniforms of Napoleonic Wars"; a mixed-bag of some of the variations in the uniform of the Berg lancers. The second figure from the left (front) is the one based on Knötel that I followed when I painted the first 12 figures of Berg lancers for our game of Bautzen back in 2013. |
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| A version of the Knötel's plate shown in Jouineau and Mongin. I prefer Girbal's version with that slight purple tinge to the border of the shabraque. |
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| I will need to add some details to the trumpeter's uniform, which was based on Imperial livery. I'll use the bottom right figure in this plate from Jouineau and Mongin, which is derived from Girbal's above (but with the fancy shabraque)! |
Some imprimatur, should I need any for a wargame unit, which is only and always representation, comes from Pigeard.
On the 10th August [1813] the lancers paraded in full uniform at Dresden for the revue. They assisted at the battle of Dresden but were not engaged. (p. 366)
Good enough for me!
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| My Berg lancers with the extra four figs 'nicked' from the Young Guard squadrons of the 1e chevau-légers, based and undercoated to be painted at the same time as the others are spruced up. |
References consulted
Charmy, G (2003) Splendeur des Uniformes de Napoleon: La Garde Imperiale à Cheval. Tome 3. Editions Charles Herissey, Rennes, France. 251 pp.
Funcken, L and Funcken, F (1969) L'uniforme et les armes des soldats du premier Empire Tome 2 : De la garde impériale aux troupes alliées, suédoises, autrichiennes et russes. Tome 2. Casterman, Tournai, Belgique. 157 pp.
Hourtoulle, F-G, Girbal, J and Courcelle, P (2004) Soldiers and Uniforms of Napoleonic Wars. Translated by A McKay. Histoire & Collections, Paris, France. 208 pp.
Jouineau, A and Mongin, J-M (2018) The Imperial Guard of the First Empire 2. Mounted Troops. Volume 2. Éditions Heimdal, St Martin-des-Entrées, Bayeux, France. 176 pp.
Lachouque, H and Brown, ASK (1978) The Anatomy of Glory. Arms and Armour Press, London, England. 564 pp.
Pigeard, A (2005) La Garde impériale : 1804-1815. Editions Tallandier, Paris, France. 484 pp.
Uffindell, A (2007) Napoleon's Immortals: The Imperial Guard and its Battles, 1804–1815. Spellmount Limited, Stroud, Gloucestershire. 363 pp.
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