4e - 1 régiment d'infanterie de marine finished

[14th Brooklyn]

Finished the 1st battalion for the 4e -régiment d'infanterie de marine. They will see use for the Völkerschlacht game I plan. Minis are Victrix (with two exceptions), although a few have Perry heads.





Loads more pictures on my blog:

http://dhcwargamesblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/la-bricole-painting-competition-part-3-4th-marine-regiment-2/

THX for looking,

Burkhard

[grant]

Great looking unit. The drum really stands out. I think a unit of these of these guys just made my build list!

[Invisible officer]

Very nice miniatures, one of the rarely seen units.

Official title was not Infantry but Regiment d'Artillerie de la marine. Very good to confuse gamers, some thinking that they are artillery.
Formed in 1803 the four regiments had been still intended for naval service, as ship gunners and crew, not like Royal Marines. 1st and 3rd got a little action at Trafalgar.
The 4th had no actions of note until 181o. 1811 they fought at Barossa, starting the long trip: Beresina, Germany and France. Ending 1815 at Paris. A long way on land for these poor sailors.

[grant]

Anyone (uh, IO...) have a handy link for the 4th regiment's history? Did they make it to say Leipzig, 1813?

[Invisible officer]

Anyone (uh, IO...) have a handy link for the 4th regiment's history? Did they make it to say Leipzig, 1813?

I have no link. But some fights of the 4th for you :
5th May 1811 Barrosa / 28th Nov 1812 Beresina / 20th May 1813 Bautzen / 21st May Würschen / 26th Aug. Dresden / 16th Oct Leipzig and Möckern / 17th Oct Leipzig / 9 March 1814 Bergen-op-Zoom / 30 March 1814 Paris

CO Colonel Joseph Rouvroy , since 1805 with the Regiment, 17.April 1813 Colonel. KIA at the last fight in Paris.

[carvel2]

@14th...stop posting pictures of lovely Naps. Its stopping me focusing on Romans
They look a fantastic force, love the mud and the drum

[grant]

Thanks, IO - found them after you pointed me in the right direction. I am working towards Leipzig, so these fellows will fit in just fine!

(and if I had just googled Völkerschlacht - I would have been there, too... )

[14th Brooklyn]

THX guys.

Now regarding the title of the unit... I am still confused about that. Some sources actually say that the Artillery part of the title is wrong and stems from the fact that they were confused for Guard Marines at Leipzig. Although I have to admit... Getting the uniforms right was the most important thing for me here and I should have done that. If you go back a couple of post to part one, there are some painting of them.

@Grant: if you want to be more specific... Look for the Battle of Möckern (not to be confused with Mockern earlier that year). It also involved a very nice mix of Prussian units in von Yorck's advance guard, which is why I picked it for my Völkerschlacht project.

@Carvel2: I fear that might not happen too soon... Sorry!

[Invisible officer]

From 9th Nov. 1804 the official title was Corps impérial de l'artillerie de la Marine. The 4th was at Lorient. In February 1812 it was Antwerp, a large shipbuilding program running there.

24th January 1813 Napoleon transferred the units from the Marine to the War department. Some men actually served as artillery but most went into a 20 Battalion infantry division formed from the four Regiments. Under Marmont they fought bravely. At Lützen they held the right wing of the army, repulsing the Prussian cavalry seven times.

Later 500 men are transfered to the guard artillery .

Marmont praised the services of the artillerie de la marine (!) at Leipzig highly.

Of more than 18.000 men in the four regiments only 695 remained under the eagles at Napoleon's abdication.