Welcome to the newsletter for the year which was remarkable for, er, nothing really happening.
We shall then look to the future with optimism but always with the knowledge that nobody knows what tomorrow will bring and whether events will go ahead. What form an AGM will take is yet to be established. Meanwhile the Napoleonic association have put forward the following dates;
18-19 April is Stanford hall in Leicestershire.
1-3 May is Deene park, Northamptonshire.
29-30 May Crouch ridge, Essex.
19-21 June, Waterloo!
Many more dates like
Many more events like the Marvellous festival and Horsham are now on the 45e page but as it is there are no exact date, see them at 45eme.com/events .
I'm sure most of us are chomping at the bit to get back to going to it, the atmosphere of the camp, the wood smoke and smell of burnt powder! The thrill of battle and the joy of seeing good friends whom have been absent from our lives for too long, a big hole in the calender. let's hope the winter will see covid beaten and routed from the field!
45e History and Research.
By Duncan Miles.
Early in 2020, I was kindly given access to a number of interesting documents concerning the 45e which are stored in the archives at Vincennes. For a long time now a couple of us had planned a visit to the archives, yet for one reason or another the trip(s) never materialised. It was a delught, thetefore, to find that Paul Dawson, a military Historian and writer, had made numerous trips to the archives whilst researching his numerous books on the French Napoleonic army. A quick search on Amazon will list his current and planned, well-researched, publications.
After some printing from James B, in 21e, Paul kindly agreed to share the images that he had taken of all the documents relating to 45e. Since then we have recruited a small group of people to help us with the translation of the documents. As you can imagine, all the documents are hand-written, contain many abbreviations and a variety misspellings for the same names/words.
Deciphering them had and is proving challenging, nevertheless, progress is being made. Special mention and thanks to to Phil T who has undertaken a massive amount of the work.
Paul has asked us to limit the sharing of the information we have, up until the publication of his next book, which was due out towards the end of 2020 but now looks like being the middle of 2021. His book will contain some of the key findings that we have been given access to and Paul does not want that information in the public arena until that time.
Nevertheless, we have uncovered some very interesting information concerning the administration records of the regiment, including detailed analysis of what was issued when and to whom and what was worn by the troops. There are also numerous details concerning military discipline, training and performance.
Our plan is to begin introducing this information to everyone at the AGM and to propose what we do with it. Initial analysis suggests that we should be making a few important changes to our kit, based upon our 1809 portrayal. We are looking to ensure greater uniformity of kit and uniform and want to be able to provide detailed templates/patterns for our own items of uniform. We are currently looking into suppliers of materials, buckles, buttons etc that are prepared to make the uniform items to our own correct specifications.
As you can imagine this is not a quick process. What does it mean to 45e members? Nothing at the moment, at least not until the information has been presented and discussed at the AGM. We do plan to ensure that new members that join us will eventually be given access to a complete list of uniform templates and suppliers. Existing members are not being expected to ditch existing items of kit and clothing, especially where there has already been a substantial financial outlay to purchase them in the first place.
However there are likely to be some 'quick wins' which we will be proposing that we would like to see implemented and which will not prove particularly expensive to acheive. Hopefully, your appetite has been wetted and we look forward to presenting our findings and recommendations reasonably early in 2021.
Duncan & the 45e Time team investigation group.
The honourable Charles James Fox.
1749-1806.
Fox began his political career as a fairly non challenging and conventional member of parliament and also something of a rake who amassed large gambling debts.
However with the onset of the American war of independence he had been a firm supporter of the colonists demands for representation and with open war began wearing the blue and buff colours of Washington's army. His entire career from then on would largely be spent in opposition.
His views generally swung to the side of the Whigs and he believed George the third was an aspiring tyrant.
He was foreign secretary in 1781-82 but he and Lord North were removed from Office by the King's royal prerogative and replaced with Pitt the younger.
A Gilray cartoon picturing Fox about to behead the king.
The honourable James Fox (as he was known) was avidly anti slavery and one of his lasting accomplishments was getting the first legislation against the slave trade into action. He was also pro French revolution when it came, although disappointed by the terror he saw it as the lesser of two evils, and welcomed the establishment of a more stable republic.
"Peace is the wish of the French, of Italy, Spain, Germany and all the world, and Great Britain alone the cause of preventing its accomplishment, and this not for any point of honour or even interest, but merely lest there should be an example in the modern world of a great powerful Republic."
When Pitt died after Austerlitz, Fox was again made Foreign secretary in a coalition government.
He wanted to see peace with France. Could it have worked? In 1806 Fox learnt of a plot to assassinate Napoleon and promptly warned Talleyrand, who acted to foil the attempt. This certainly helped relations.
It often appears the war with France was widely supported but this is history written by the victors, at the time both workers and middle classes, particularly merchants and manufacturers, suffered greatly from the war and radicals supported republican ideals.
Britain had suffered relatively little bloodshed by 1806 and in truth her small armies performance had been mediocre at best. It was with money, money, money that Britain had fought the French via other nations. Nations that just kept losing. Why not have peace and see trade bloom?
Sadly Fox grew ill during negotiations and died in September, aged 57, and was buried in Westminster cathedral.
We will never know if the talks would have reached an agreement, but with peace there would have been no continental system and thus no Peninsular war and possibly no invasion of Russia, what a very different outcome the era might have had!
Book reviews.
Adventures of a young rifleman, by Johan Christian Mämpel.
Don't be put off by the title, this is not another book on the 95th!
As the cover states our correspondent is a young Saxon who finds himself in Prussia in the wake of the 1806 campaign and signs up for the French army. Only later in the book does he find himself changing sides and joining the King's German legion.
It is a real eye opener to see how different the experience of a 'French' and a 'British' soldier in the Peninsular really were.
It is written in that easy to read style of regular soldiers on all sides, as if they were just sat before you talking of their time in the wars.
If you enjoy first hand accounts about the human experience of the wars this is a book for you.
'Napoleon's paper kingdom; the life and death of Westphalia, 1807-1813' by Sam A Mustafa.
This could have been a very dry book, it's certainly not concerned with thunderous battles unless it is the war for the soul of a nation.
How do you sweep away several largely independent small states and replace them with one new, shiny regime? Westphalia! Surely it would be simple, redraw the map, give them a king and a new currency. Job done?
Mustafa is quick to point out the first accounts of Westphalian rule from those who were involved were often from dignitaries who had found themselves 'On the wrong side of history' and may have been keen to curry favour with the reinstated regimes with undue criticism. This study attempts to be neutral.
Many facets are covered but everything falls in with the bigger picture of Napoleonic Germany and national identities. I found myself sympathising with those citizens, sorry, subjects! (Napoleon didn't like the term citizens being used) Who wanted to embrace a new system but were soon quite disenchanted.
It had previously seen suggested in various Napoleonic tomes that it was 'The merry monarch' who ruined the economy against his older brother's sage advice but no, his excesses are small fry compared to the depredations from Paris.
A chapter concerning the campaign of 1812 in which the vast majority of Westphalian troops were committed is naturally the most dedicated to military events, largely from first hand accounts.
Indeed the book is never short of anecdotes and snapshots of people's lives in relation to the topic in question.
A bit of a special interest book maybe but was enlightening as to what it was like to live under French 'occupation' even when you are supposed to be allies.
Flashman's Waterloo, by Robert Brightwell.
You may recall Duncan recommending this series of books on facebook, a recommendation I will repeat. The original Flashman series was written by George Mcdonald Fraser about Harry Flashman, the fictional Victorian cad believed to be a hero of the British Empire until his memoirs were discovered and published. This is very much the same idea but Thomas Flashman would be the uncle of the above.
I have so far got through 'Flashman in the Peninsular', 'Escape', 'Madison's war's (about the war of 1812 with America) and thus to 'Waterloo.'
I almost didn't go on to Waterloo because I find the subject so done to death and rather imagined it would have struggled to escape the same path as Sharpe's Waterloo. I was proved wrong.
It was another enjoyable romp through England, to France and then Belgium, bumping into many of the personalities of the age in a series of misadventures that lead him to that bloody field in June.
Whilst this Flashman is certainly a rogue mainly interested in saving his own skin he does come across as a bit more of a pleasant, less arrogant version of his illustrious nephew, this may be in part due to the current zeitgeist, being a bit less bawdy.
Flashman may have survived the Napoleonic wars but I still have the first book 'Seawolf' involving Thomas Cochran and then five further books post Waterloo to visit. As with many historical authors there is a post narrative section regarding the events and characters of the book, recounting that 'Yes, that actually happened' as Brightwell likes to point out, truth is often stranger than fiction.
The siege of Danzig.
Where were most of the 45eme in 1813? They were divided between Spain, Saxony (at the battle of Dresden) and with 659 of the fourth battalion at the city of Danzig (Previously Prussian, today Gdansk on the coast in Poland) which was under siege for most of the year.
The city had been previously captured by siege in 1807 and General Rapp had been appointed Governor. He had marched into Russia and been wounded at Borodino, fought in the retreat besides Marshal Ney and been sent back to defend Danzig with survivors of McDonald's Corp joining the garrison. Which surely meant they brought typhus with them, such were the number of deaths that using muffled drums or firing a salute at burials was forbidden less the Russians be encouraged by the constant sound of funerals.
In mid January communications with the main French armies were cut, initially by large numbers of Cossacks but this was enough to stop supplies and discourage foraging expeditions. A sally of four battalions was fairly successful but a second by Neopolitan troops was repulsed and now Russian infantry and more Cossacks arrived. There was a whole division of Neopolitans in the city who fought well, what a fate it must have been for men from the sunny south of Italy to be trapped in a frozen 'Polish' city. Also amongst the defenders were a significant force of Bavarians.
The Russian forces attacked the outlying fortified settlements such as Stolzenburg and Ohra. They made little progress and were then hit in the flank by a much smaller force and tumbled back to their starting point with heavy loss. Rapp was not going to just sit and await events but his defence was full of assaults on the besiegers.
During the winter months another perilous duty was the daily breaking of the ice on the river as the usual protection from attack against the less defensible side of the city was a threat when the enemy could just walk across the frozen river. Picks were the common tool as using gunpowder would have denuded supplies, men who slipped into the freezing water as the ice broke were seldom recovered.
In march sickness was still causing higher casualties than all the counter attacks combined. Still two further sallies were successful, one capturing Tasevalck, a full eight miles from the city and captured a large store of supplies, including a herd of cattle that were driven back to the city.
With the spring the Russians were reinforced, now up to 30 000 men. News of an Armistice arrived seven days after it had been announced but the siege continued. The Russians even agreed to regularly supply the city with provisions.
The truce ended on the 24th August and 8,000 Prussians had joined the Russian troops. Assaults on the 28th and 29th were again beaten in the outlying areas, but one Timed two pronged attack almost broke the defenders but order was restored.
Now, in October. A battery of congrieve rockets was used to bombard the city and many fires were started that destroyed whole blocks, including some vital food supplies.
The long suffering citizens of Danzig made an official appeal to the allied Generals to be allowed to leave the battered, half starved city but this was denighed, in spite of this over a thousand civilians were expelled from the city who had become homeless or been made orphans.
Such were the loses by now that hundreds of Officers without commands volunteered to form a battalion and serve as infantrymen.
With Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig and withdrawal far to the West the writing must have been on the wall that no one was ever coming to break the siege, which now has received heavy guns that could now begin to destroy the city defences.
Never the less a night time raid by Captain Chamure with a small force of handpicked troops captured a village and some supplies, not much but it was a boost to morale.
But too little to help the desperate situation and on 29 November General Rapp agreed to a surrender.
The initial surrender had included the article that all French should be given free passage to return to France, but having surrendered, the Tsar refused this condition and the French and allies still with Napoleon became prisoners of war until the first abdication of Napoleon.
This article was based on a page from History of war.com and the book 'The long siege' by De Manchangy, despite being a long siege it is a short book! written with vigour and dash but few references. I'd rather hoped for some specific mentions of the 45e to add but that wasn't to be.
It was an unusual siege in that so much fighting occurred outside the city walls and in the outskirts, never actually witnessing a full assault on the walls but then by the time the siege guns and parallels were in place a wise commander would doubtless have foreseen the end without having to throw away thousands of lives in a bloody assault.
Quiz!
Q1: Which Marshal was handed the task of finishing off Sir John Moore's army?
Q2: Which Marshal took refuge in a Würtemburg square and encouraged, and amused, the men by complementing them loudly on their 'Good shitting?'
Q3: picture round, identify the uniform! (Nation and troop type).. one point each.
Q4: What was the original motto of the 45e?
Q5: If you saw a flag in the French regimental style but the corners were red and green where would the troops be from?
Q6: Who were the Opolchenie?
Q7: French Carabineres (cavalry) are often pictured with Grecian helmets but what was their previous headgear?
Q8: According to the duelists (and presumably historically) what three conditions could stop a pair of would be opponents duelling?
Q9: What was the name of the French army's chief Doctor?
Q10: Which City did a French force under Davout hold until weeks after Napoleon's first abdication?
Quiz answers.
A1) Marshal Soult.
A2) Murat at Borodino, getting his Scheiße and Schießen muddled up, anecodote from Christopher Duffy's Borodino and the war of 1812.
A3: Bavarian chevaux-Legere (light dragoon), French Carabinier, Dutch red Lancer.
A4: "Mastrict gave (them) the Crown."
A5: Kingdom of Italy.
A6: Russian militia.
A7: Bearskins.
A8: (Adopt Tom Conti voice) "You cannot fight, one; if you are in different places. Physical impossibility.
Two, if you are of different rank, breach of discipline, and three; if the state is at war. Duels of nations take absolute precedence."
A9: Rene-Nicholas Desgenettes. (If you said Larrey you are thinking of the chief surgeon).
A10: Hamburg.
Seasons greetings to all the 45eme and our comrades.
And so into the new year!
