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nswc DESPATCH
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Last Update 30/May/2009
The NSWC Despatch is the Quarterly magazine of the Northern Sydney Wargames Club of Sydney
Australia. There are many interesting articles, some single issue and others continue from
one issue to the next. Read and enjoy. Following is a section of articles from various
issues of the Despatch.
The Irish Legion
By Lochet
Illustration by Mike Gilbert
The "Legion Irlandaise" or Irish Legion was raised as a light infantry battalion
by the Decree of 3 April 1803 from the almost endless stream of enthusiastic Irishmen that
appeared any time there was an Englishman to be shot. The Legion was raised with the
intention of using it in the proposed French invasion of Ireland, a project that was under
very serious consideration in 1803.
Initially, only a single battalion was raised under the direction of Adjutant General
Bernard Macsheehey, a French officer of Irish birth and many years of service in the
French army. The organization of the battalion was completed on 31 August 1803 in Brest.
It had a complement of five companies, each company having the following structure:
1 Capitaine
1 Lieutenant
1 Sous-lieutenant
1 Sergeant-major
4 Sergeants
1 Fourrier
8 Corporals
120 Chasseurs
2 Drummers
139 Total
Eventually, the battalion was raised to the standard nine company organization of all
French battalions. This gave it eight chasseur companies and a single carabinier company.
Later, like in other French army infantry units, one company of chasseurs was changed to a
company of voltigeurs.
Since the Irish Legion initially had only a single battalion it did not have a full
regimental staff. Its staff consisted of:
1 Chef de bataillon
1 Adjutant-major
1 Chirurgien (surgeon)
1 Drum major
4 Master artisans
The Decree of 10 March 1804 ordered the raising of a second battalion and the title
"Regiment" was given to the legion. In February 1807, when the 1st Battalion had
a strength of 900 men, the regiment received both a standard and an eagle. The flag had
the distinction to be of a special pattern.
After the French victories over the Prussians in 1806, a number of Irish were released
from Prussian captivity and added to the regiment. It appears that the British had sold a
number of Irishmen who were involved in the insurrections of 1798 to the King of Prussia
as miners. Many were recruited into the Prussian army and after the destruction of that
army it was natural that many would pass into French service.
On 25 October 1807, the Irish Legion was directed to form a provisional battalion with six
140-man companies. This battalion did not last long and was quickly reabsorbed into the
regiment.
On 1 January 1808, the 2nd Battalion of the Irish Legion was serving in the 2nd Division
of the Corps d'Observation des Cotes de l'Ocean (Coastal Observation Corps) in Spain and
it contained eight officers and 518 men. By 1 June its strength had risen to 654 officers
and men. On 15 November it was serving as part of the garrison of Pampeluna and had a
strength of 556 men.
Irishmen ... had been sold by the British to the King of Prussia as miners.
The Decree of 17 December, l808 reorganized the 2nd Battalion, then serving in Spain, to
the six-company formation which had become the standard in the French army. It now had one
carabinier, one voltigeur and four chasseur companies. The staff of the regiment consisted
of:
1 Chef de bataillon
1 Adjutant-major
1 Adjutant sous-officier
1 Drum corporal
4 Master artisans
Each company had:
1 Capitaine
1 Lieutenant
1 Sous-lieutenant
1 Sergeant-major
4 Sergeants
1 Caporal fourrier
8 Corporals
121 Soldiers
2 Drummers
140 Total
This gave the battalion a total theoretical strength of 848 men. The actual strength of
the battalion was 556 when this reorganization was completed in Burgos. However, despite
the reorganization of the 2nd Battalion, the 1st Battalion, still in Flushing, retained
the original nine-company organization.
The 1st Battalion was reorganized with six companies identical to that of the battalion in
Spain shortly after the reorganization of the 2nd Battalion was complete. After the 1st
Battalion completed its reorganization it was renamed the 2nd Battalion and the battalion
in Spain became the 1st Battalion. After this redesignation was complete, the new 2nd
Battalion received a reorganized staff that consisted of:
1 Chef de bataillon
1 Adjutant major
1 Quartier-maitre
1 Chirurgien-major
1 Chirurgien sous-aide
1 Adjutant sous-officier
1 Drum corporal
1 Master tailor
1 Master armorer
1 Master gaiter maker
1 Master cobbler
11 Total
On 13 April 1809, a further three battalions were ordered raised. The 3rd and 4th
Battalions were given the same organization as the first two battalions. The 5th
Battalion, being the depot, had only four chasseur companies.
The 3rd Battalion was formed on 1 June 1809 in Landau and the 4th began organizing on l6
August 1809 in Antwerp.
When formed, the 4th Battalion went to Flushing where it became part of the garrison. The
5th Battalion was also formed in Antwerp and became the depot battalion. All three
battalions were formed principally of foreign deserters of every nationality.
When the five battalion organization was completed a full regimental staff was established
and consisted of:
1 Colonel
1 Major
5 Chefs de bataillon (l per battalion)
5 Adjudants majors (l per battalion)
1 Quartier-maitre tresorier
1 Officier payeur (paymaster)
3 Porte etandards (standard bearers)
1 Chirurgien major
5 Chirurgien sous-aide (l per battalion)
10 Adjutant sous-officiers (2 per battalion)
1 Drum major
1 Drum corporal
1 Chef de musique
7 Musicians
1 Master tailor
1 Master cobbler
1 Master gaiter maker
1 Master armorer
This set the strength of the regiment at five battalions, one being the depot. It had 108
officers and 3,862 men, 3,970 total.
With the capture of Flushing by the British on 16 April 1809, the 4th Battalion was taken
prisoner along with the 2nd Battalion of the Regiment de Prusse. Though the 2nd Battalion
of the Regiment de Prusse was quickly reestablished from its depot, the 4th Battalion of
the Irish Legion was not.
During 1813, the Irish were finally able to come to grips with the enemy.
Records indicate that in January 1810, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Irish Legion were
serving in Spain in the 3rd Division of Junot's VIII Corps, under the command of Major
General Solignac. As at Flushing, the Irish Legion was serving with its sister regiment,
the Regiment de Prusse, another foreign regiment. The Irish Legion served in the siege of
Astorga during April 1810, suffered a small number of casualties, and led an otherwise
undistinguished life.
During June 1810, the Irish Legion found itself assigned to the Army of Portugal. It was
still in Junot's VIII Corps and was assigned to the brigade of General Thomieres. Its next
major combat effort was to be the siege of Ciudad-Rodrigo as Marshal Massena began his
advance into Portugal.
The order of 1 May 1810 ordered the 4th Battalion reformed in Landau, but the strength of
the regiment was so low that it was decided to reduce the strength of the regiment to two
battalions. The Decree of 28 June 1810 reorganized the regiment and the 1st and 4th
Battalions became the new 1st Battalion. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions, then serving in
Spain, became the new 2nd Battalion.
On 1 January 1811, the 2nd Battalion, in Thomiere's brigade of the Army of Portugal,
mustered 23 officers and 525 men. However, by 1 March, its strength had fallen to 273 men.
Reinforcements appear to have arrived in the following weeks because by 15 March its
strength had risen to 21 officers and 462 men.
On 4 and 5 May 1811, the Irish Legion was engaged in the battle of Fuentes de Onoro.
Though the Irish Legion's Division was not on the field in the first day of battle, during
the second day, Solignac's Division formed the reserve for the flanking maneuver that was
to strike the British Light and 7th Divisions. However, as Solignac's Division was not
engaged, losing only two officers killed, the Irish did not have an opportunity to display
their military prowess.
The two battalions of the Irish Legion were destroyed...
After the battle, Marmont assumed command of the Army of Portugal. The Division in which
the Irish Legion's served was now commanded by Major General Brenniers and its strength
formally recorded as a single battalion.
On 5 August 1811, as part of a general reorganization of foreign regiments, the Irish
Legion was renamed the 3rd Regiment etranger. During February 1812, the 3rd Battalion was
reestablished. In addition, the 2nd Battalion was withdrawn from Spanish service and sent
north to be rebuilt and refit.
In 1812 the 1st Battalion occupied the islands of Goeree and Overflanque, the 2nd
Battalion was in Berg-op-Zoom and the 3rd was in Willemstadt. On 2 February 1813, the
first two battalions joined Lauriston's corps of the reforming Grande Armee in Germany and
returned to their depot in October 1813.
During 1813, the Irish were finally able to come to grips with the enemy. Two of its
battalions were assigned to Lauriston's V Corps, 17th Division (Puthod), 1st Brigade
(Vachot). On 19 August 1813, facing the Army of Silesia, they were heavily engaged in the
battle of Lowenberg, losing ten officers. It appears to have been engaged with Langeron's
corps. On 23 August 1813 they were engaged again in the Battle of Goldberg where they lost
5 more officers engaging the Prussians under Prince Carl von Mecklenburg.
The Legion was not engaged at Katzbach, which occurred on 26 August, but on 29 August it
was engaged in a savage skirmish on the Bober River. Its commander, General Puthod, had
pushed his Division across the Bober River and was quickly trapped by a superior allied
force. The two battalions of the Irish Legion were destroyed, losing 20 officers and all
of its enlisted men. Many of these casualties were the result of combined attacks by
Russian General Emanuel's cavalry of the Russian advanced guard and a detachment of the
Prussian Leib Hussars of Major von Schenk and later infantry assaults, including a bayonet
charge by five Russian Jaeger battalions.
The battle went poorly for Puthod's Division, and according to Prussian sources, of the
11,885 men he led over the Bober that morning, only 254 escaped. The rest were either
captured or killed.
The portions of the Irish Legion that survived the Bober disaster also escaped the Decree
of 25 November 1813 that disbanded most of the foreign regiments. However, this decree
directed it to absorb into its ranks the Regiment de Prusse, also known as the 4th
Regiment etranger. The result of this merger was the reestablishment of the Irish Legion
as a regiment with five battalions, four field and one depot. The decree stipulated that
there be no Russians or Prussians in this force and those that were in this new regiment
were sent to join the newly forming battalions of "foreign pioneers."
This reorganized regiment went to Antwerp where it participated in the spirited defense of
that city. On 19 December 1813 the regiment still had four battalions and a depot
battalion, though combat and attrition reduced its strength.
When Napoleon abdicated, Louis XVIII began a general reorganization of the French army.
The regiment was technically disbanded 26 May 1814, but the disbanding went slowly. By 1
September 1814, the regiment still consisted of three companies of chasseurs and a train
unit.
Before the Legion had totally disbanded, Louis XVIII issued the Royal Ordinance of 16
November 1814 which raised a successor to the Irish Legion using the veterans of the
original Legion. This newly organized regiment had a theoretical staff organization of:
1 Colonel
1 Major
3 Chefs de bataillon
3 Adjudants-majors
1 Quartier-maiter
1 Porte drapeau
1 Chirurgien major
1 Chirurgien aide-major
1 Chirurgien sous-aide
3 Adjutant sous-officiers
1 Drum major
1 Drum corporal
1 Chef de musique
7 Musicians
1 Master cobbler
1 Master tailor
1 Master armorer
29 Total
Each company was to have:
1 Capitaine
1 Lieutenant
1 Sous-lieutenant
1 Sergeant-major
4 Sergeants
1 Fourrier
8 Corporals
56 Soldiers
2 Drummers
75 Total
This Royal Irish Regiment was disbanded by Napoleon's Decree of 2 May 1815. The Irish
soldiers in it were assigned to the new 7th Foreign Regiment, but this unit never grew to
a significant size under Napoleon and did not engage in any combat during the One Hundred
Days.
Uniforms
During the period 1803 to 1814, the Irish Legion wore the basic French Light Infantry
uniform in a striking light green color with pockets a la Soubise. The waist-coat and
trousers were white in 1811 and the breeches may have been green prior to that date.[1]
The facing colors were yellow, i.e., collar, turnbacks, etc. They wore knee-length black
gaiters, black shoes and white belts.
Initially, the carabiniers wore a bearskin bonnet with red cords, patches and plumes. A
shako with the same accouterments eventually replaced this. The chasseurs wore a shako
with white cords and pompons of the company colors: yellow, green, violet and light blue.
The voltigeurs' shako had a yellow over green plume and green cords. All shakos had the
Imperial Eagle plate.
The regimental sappers wore the same uniform as the carabiniers, but their bearskin had a
primrose patch with a red grenade, plume and cords.
Commanders
The regimental commandants and colonels of the Irish Legion were as follows:
Commandants:
April 1803-Macsheehy
December 1803-Petterzzolli
Colonels:
3 April 1803-Daniel O'Meara
8 February 1812-William Lawless
19 August 1813-Mahony
Of the regimental colonels, William Lawless led a most interesting career. He was born in
Dublin Ireland on 20 April 1772. He entered French service as a chef de bataillon in 1799,
no doubt one of the many Irish seeking an opportunity to fight the English. He served as
part of the Legion des Francs du Nord, a light infantry formation. In 1800, however, he
was subjected to a mandatory retirement. In 1803 he was returned to service and appointed
as a captain in the Irish Legion. On 10 July 1806, he became a Chef de Bataillon, probably
commanding the regiment's 2nd Battalion. He particularly distinguished himself during the
l809 British invasion of the Scheldt at Flushing, where he was grievously wounded.
On 10 February 1810, he was promoted to Major in the Legion. He became regimental
commander on 8 February 1812. During the battle of Lowenberg, in 1813, he was wounded
again and his arm was amputated as a result. He was retired for a second time on 26
October 1814.
Bibliography
Belhomme, Lt. Col., Histoire de l'infanterie en France, Paris.
Couderc de Saint-Chamant, H., Napoleon ses dernieres armees, E. Flammarion, Paris, date
unknown.
Fieffe, E., Histoiredes troupes etrangeres au service de la France, Librairie Militaire
J.Dumaine, Paris, 1854.
Friederich, R., Geschichte des Herbstfeldzuges 1813, Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn,
Berlin, 1904.
Malibran, H., Guide a l'usage des artistes et des costumiers, Combet & Cie, Paris,
1904.
Martinien, A., Tableaux par corps et par batailles des officiers tues et blesses pendant
les guerres de l'Empire (1805-1815), Editions Militaires Europeennes, Paris, 1987.
© Copyright 1995 by The Emperor's Press
[1] Malibran, H. Guide a l'usage des artistes et des costumiers, Combet & Cie, Paris,
1904, p. 314 gives the trousers as white in 1811.
©Copyright@Thoran Braune 1999
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DID YOU KNOW?
By Thoran Braune
1) That medieval stone-throwing engines were similar to Greco-Roman engines because they
were copied from the Byzantines and from ancient Roman military texts such as that by
Vegetius.[1]
2) That General Giulio Douhet of Italy advocated strategic bombing and predicted that
“…the involvement of all people in the war of the future due to extensive aerial
bombardment.”[2]
3) That Big Hole, Wisdom, Montana is the site of a clash between US Colonel John
Gibbon’s force and the Nez Perce of Chief Joseph in August 1877.[3]
4) In 1598 Juan de Onate, founded a colony in the Rio Grande valley. A year later his
soldiers began attacking the local Indians. In one such raid in 1599 the Spanish attacked
the Acoma Pueblo of the Keres, killing about 800 and capturing another 600 to be used as
slaves. Juan de Onate ordered all captured males, from this raid, over the age of 25 to
have one foot cut off and to serve 20 years in slavery.[4]
5) The Apaches, who were allies of the Keres and help to defend Acoma against the 1599
attack, raid San Gabriel so much (also as did the Navajo) that Juan de Onate had to move
his capital to Santa Fe in 1610.[5]
6) That the Boer commandos were organized on the basis of peacetime administrative
districts and according to the size of the Afrikaner population. The Commandant was
elected by the burghers within the commando. At the start of the Anglo-Boer War these
commandos averaged 1,000 men each, with some as small as 200 and others as large as
3,000.[6]
[1] Canby, Courtland. A History of Weaponry, Hawthorne Books, New York, 1965, p.19.
[2] Ibid. p.87.
[3] Hook, Jason, To Live and Die in The West, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 1999. P.53.
[4] Ibid. p.132.
[5] Opcit. p.132.
[6] Knight, Ian, Colenso 1899, Osprey, Reed Consumer Books, Melbourne, 1995. p.14.
QUOTES
1) War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory
George Orwell (1903 - 1950), Polemic, May 1946, "Second Thoughts on James
Burnham"
2) You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.
Homer (800 BC - 700 BC), The Iliad
3) You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.
Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)
4) He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a
contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.
Douglas Adams
English humorist & science fiction novelist (1952 - 2001)
5) Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience
of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
Douglas Adams, "Last Chance to See"
(1952 - 2001)
6) The man who prefers his country before any other duty shows the same spirit as the man
who surrenders every right to the state. They both deny that right is superior to
authority.
Lord Acton
7) Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton, Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 1887
8) If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do
they get smart just in time to ask questions?
Scott Adams US cartoonist (1957 - )
9) In war, truth is the first casualty.
Aeschylus Greek tragic dramatist (525BC - 456BC)
10) It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.
Aesop Greek slave & fable author (620BC - 560 BC)
11) I took a speed reading course and read 'War and Peace' in twenty minutes. It involves
Russia.
Woody Allen US movie actor, comedian, & director
12) Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.
Abraham Lincoln 16th president of US (1809 - 1865)
13) There are always survivors at a massacre. Among the victors, if nowhere else.
Lois McMaster Bujold, US science fiction author (1986)
14) When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him: 'Whose?'
Don Marquis US humorist (1878 - 1937)
15) Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who
embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The
statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no
longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.
Sir Winston Churchill British politician (1874 - 1965)
16) Please give me some good advice in your next letter. I promise not to follow it.
Edna St. Vincent Millay, Letters US poet (1892 - 1950)
17) Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its
status.
Laurence J. Peter US educator & writer (1919 - 1988)
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