‘Force à la Loi, Fidélité à l’Empereur!’: French Garde-Nationale 1814-1815

My surviving reader will probably remember that late last year I posted a scenario for the little-known last battle of the Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of La Souffel.  I then intended to put that scenario on as the W.A.S.P. Big Christmas Game, but to do that I first needed to add a few units to my armies, including a couple of brigades of French Garde-Nationale.

Yes, these are pretty obscure and I don’t think I’ve ever seen another wargames army with Garde-Nationale in it (as if that’s stopped me before…).  However, they are actually quite useful if you plan to wargame the 1814 Campaign, where they appeared at a few battles such as Montereau, Fère-Champenoise and Paris, as well as numerous sieges in 1814 and 1815 and the above-mentioned Battle of La Souffel.  Even when the Garde-Nationale wasn’t present, they could always be sneaked in at the back as some particularly badly-equipped ‘Marie-Louise’ conscripts.

The deal was of course already settled, as I’d been drooling for quite some time over The Great Mr Barton’s lovely new(ish) Garde-Nationale figures.  However, I wanted to include some uniformed troops in the mix, reflecting the fact that at least some of the troops would have been uniformed and well-equipped, with only the recently-conscripted men being rudimentarily dressed.  To that end, I took the officers, Eaglebearers and some other troops from the standard AB Figures 1812-1815 French Infantry range and also included a few great-coated ‘Marie-Louises‘.

Anyway, having painted them and seen them cover themselves in glory at La Souffel, I’d better say something about their history.  The Garde-Nationale is however, a huge and fiendishly complicated subject, so here is my no doubt error-riddled take on them…

Once the backbone of the French Revolutionary armies, the Garde-Nationale had since been allowed to wither on the vine, being deeply unpopular among the general population and also being treated with suspicion by successive regimes, from the Directory to the Consulate to the Empire.  However, it was still maintained as a necessary evil.  One major change made by Napoleon when he became Emperor in 1805 was that the Garde-Nationale would now report to the regional Departments, rather than their local Municipalities, thereby becoming rather more useful for national defence.  Nevertheless, Napoleon still doubted the ability of the civilianised middle-class Garde-Nationale to maintain order in Paris and therefore created a new, militarised Municipal Guard of Paris.  A second, albeit largely cosmetic change was that the unit terminology would reflect that of Imperial Rome, substituting ‘Cohort’ for Battalion and ‘Legion’ for Regiment.

With the reduction in the general threat to France following the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, large parts of the Garde-Nationale were disbanded and the organisation was generally reduced in size.  However, this only seemed to make it even more unpopular with the unlucky few who were conscripted to serve in its ranks.  This unpopularity only increased in 1808, when some Garde-Nationale units were sent to Spain as the internal security situation there deteriorated.

After more than a decade of steady deterioration, the Garde-Nationale were finally put to the test in defence of France in 1809, when 40,000 British troops landed on the island of Walcheren, at the mouth of the River Scheldt, to the west of Antwerp (which at that time was part of Metropolitan France).  Several northern Departments were ordered to mobilise the Garde-Nationale and while most did fill their levies, the newly-raised troops frequently arrived without uniforms, equipment, weapons or even training, causing Marshal Bernadotte, commanding of one of the Garde-Nationale formations, to describe them as ‘useless’, while other officers described them as ‘more like hordes of beggars than true soldiers’ and that ‘they embarrass me more than serve me’.

Thankfully, the British invasion eventually proved to be a damp squib thanks to the disease that was rife in the soggy polder-land of Walcheren.  This was fortunate, as great numbers of the Garde-Nationale had reportedly deserted, while the political fallout of their raising had generated a crisis within France, with many units even having arms and equipment withheld from them by local governors and military authorities.  With the withdrawal of the British army and fleet from Walcheren, the threat greatly diminished once again and the mobilised Garde-Nationale troops were demobilised in early 1810.

With the international political situation once again deteriorating through 1811 and into 1812, Napoleon now turned his thoughts to the thorny problem of how to force Russia to abide by the terms of the Treaty of Tilsit, thereby imposing his Continental System and closing Russia’s ports to British trade.  Having built the world’s most powerful military machine, the logical choice to Napoleon’s mind, was to invade Russia and again force terms at the point of his sword.  To that end, in addition to the largest field army the world had ever seen, he would need to build a large organisation that would be responsible for the defence of France and which would also then be able to serve as a pool of replacements for what would inevitably be a very costly campaign.

This would arguably prove to be one of Napoleon’s very last good decisions.

To that end, an Imperial decree of 13th March 1812 ordered the complete overhaul of the Garde-Nationale.  Responsibility for raising, training and equipping the Cohorts would now pass from the civil Departments to the thirty-two Military Divisions of the Empire, which placed them firmly within France’s military command-structure.  Men would be called up into one of three ‘Bans’:  The First Ban comprised men aged 20-26 who had thus far been fortunate enough to escape conscription to the regular Army.  The Second Ban comprised men aged 26-40, as well as men from the First Ban who had managed to find a ‘second’ to serve in their place.  The Third Ban comprised men aged 40-60.  The First Ban would be called up immediately as local defence forces, while the Second and Third Bans would remain as a mobilisation reserve.  Malcontents were partly pacified by guarantees that when mobilised they would only be used as internal security defence forces within the borders of the Empire (guarantees which in the event, proved worthless).

With the First Ban being mobilised immediately, 88 new Cohorts would be formed, each of six 140-man Fusilier companies, an artillery company of 100 men and a depot of 100 men.  Including staff, medics, cooks, bottle-washers and hangers-on, each Cohort totalled 988 men.  Unlike previous mobilisations under the civil authorities, the mobilisation went well, with all Military Divisions soon reporting that they’d achieved their mobilisation quota.  Many Cohorts also seem to have casually ignored the regulations, re-designating some Fusilier companies as Grenadiers and Voltigeurs (‘Chasseurs’ and ‘Tirailleurs’ also being described), complete with fringed epaulettes and even bearskins as marks of their élite status.

However, there had always been some truth to the general suspicion that a strong, mobilised Garde-Nationale might one day be used for seditious purposes by unscrupulous and powerful men.  Sure enough, in October 1812 elements of the Garde-Nationale of Paris under General Malet attempted a coup, having spread rumours that the Emperor had been killed in Russia.  However, the coup was quickly suppressed and the ringleaders were executed.  The men of the Cohorts who had been duped into following Malet were then forced to wear their uniforms inside-out for the following weeks as a mark of their shame.

In January 1813 and with things going bosoms-skyward for the Grande Armée in Russia, Napoleon arrived back in Paris and immediately ordered the creation of 22 new infantry regiments from the Cohorts of the Garde-Nationale.  These regiments would each consist of four field battalions and a depot battalion, being designated as the 135ème to 156ème Régiments d’Infanterie de Ligne.  As they were now part of the regular Army, the battalions were no longer known as ‘Cohorts’ and companies of Grenadiers and Voltigeurs were now formally included in each battalion.  In addition, the 88 Cohort artillery companies would be transferred to the regular army’s artillery branch, with the first four batteries of Young Guard Artillery being formed from some of these gunners and the rest becoming companies of Foot and Horse Artillery of the Line.  This massive draft of trained troops would provide a considerable portion of the combat-power of Napoleon’s resurrected Grande Armée.

While sorely lacking in combat experience, the men of these new regiments had received a full year of training with the Cohorts before going into action.  However, most units had to be brought up to strength with raw recruits of the ‘Class of 1813’ and many long-serving Garde-Nationale officers and NCOs were found to be unfit for service in the field, so were replaced by 400 officers brought from Spain.  While some units (understandably disgruntled at being sent to fight outside France) did suffer initially from discipline problems, these regiments generally performed solidly throughout all the major battles of 1813 and 1814.  While they didn’t exactly set the world ablaze with their military endeavours, they proved themselves the equal of any other Line regiment (almost all of which were now filled out with raw conscripts) and were certainly a lot better than the great mass of ‘Provisional Regiments’ now in the field (several reports mention that the generally older men of the former Cohorts were able to cope better with the physical rigours and mental stresses of the campaign than the battalions filled with raw teenagers).

With 48,000 men now having been removed from the Garde-Nationale to form the new regiments, this only left 30,000 mobilised men with which to defend France and maintain order.  To make matters worse, on 3rd April 1813 the Emperor called up a further 80,000 previously un-mobilised men from the First Ban for regular Army service, leaving the recruitment-pool very shallow indeed.  Only two days later, on 5th April he ordered that the Garde-Nationale would create 291 new Cohorts in the northern and western coastal Departments (mainly from dockyard cities filled with presently-unemployed shipwrights), each consisting (rather oddly) of two companies of Grenadiers and two of Chasseurs, to be raised from the men of the First and Second Bans (men aged 20-40).  Each company would be 150 strong, for a total Cohort strength of 600 men.  However, for reasons that aren’t clear, only 27 of these Cohorts were successfully mobilised.

Further ‘Urban Cohorts’ were raised across northern France, each consisting of four companies of Fusiliers and one company each of Grenadiers, Voltigeurs and artillery.  The infantry companies were each 150 men strong, while the artillery companies each had 100 men, for a total of 1,000 men per Cohort.  Then, with the Emperor’s failure to defeat the enemy in Germany during the Spring of 1813, with the situation in Spain deteriorating and with enemy strength growing (especially following Austria’s declaration of war in August 1813), yet more Cohorts were raised in eastern France, the Alps and the Pyrenees.

In December 1813, following France’s total defeat in Germany and Spain, Napoleon ordered 184 unfortified towns to raise ‘Grenadier Cohorts’ for local defence and public order duties.  In addition, he ordered the creation of over a hundred more Cohorts from the First to Third Bans, each of 840 men (four Fusilier Companies and a Grenadier Company).  These would be grouped into 18 brigades, which would in turn be grouped as two ‘reserve armies’ for the defence of north-eastern France.

The Garde-Nationale of Paris, commanded by Marshal Moncey, was now ordered to mobilise 30,000 men, organised into 12 Legions (one for each arrondissement), each of four Cohorts and one artillery company.  These Cohorts were again organised of four Fusilier Companies and a Grenadier Company, though when in action the four Grenadier Companies in each Legion were to be grouped as an élite battalion.

However, this all proved to be hopelessly optimistic as mobilisation proved ineffective and desertion was rife.  In southeast France especially, entire brigades deserted and returned to their homes en masse, while whole units in the southwest openly defected to the Royalist cause as Wellington’s army arrived!  The ‘Reserve Armies’ simply never happened, with a few brigades and divisions operating in support of regular Army formations and many units being instead ordered to operate as ‘free corps’.

Nevertheless, Pacthod’s Garde-Nationale division of 30,000 men fought well at Montereau on 18th February 1814 and did so again against hopeless odds at Fère-Champenoise on 24th March (along with Amey’s Garde-Nationale division) before finally being overrun by enormous numbers of Allied cavalry.  Moncey’s Parisian Garde-Nationale then distinguished themselves during the Battle of Paris on 30th March.

Following the First Restoration, the Garde-Nationale was once again reduced in size and function and once again became a despised institution.  Despite an attempt at mobilisation, the Garde-Nationale offered absolutely no resistance to Napoleon’s return in March 1815.  The Emperor wasted no time at all in once again using the Garde-Nationale mobilisation pool to raise a new army; ordering that 326 battalions be raised from the First and Second Bans, with 204 of these being transferred to the Army for war service.

The Garde-Nationale had generally always been a middle-class or ‘bourgeois’ organisation raised from the tax-paying classes (mainly as the poor working classes were not trusted to bear arms except as part of the regular Army).  However, in Paris the Garde-Nationale were now supplemented by 24 battalions of enthusiastic ‘Tirailleurs-Fédérés’ raised from the poor (and staunchly Republican) underclasses.  Additional battalions were then raised elsewhere in other major cities such as Lyon and Nantes.

Following Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo and as the Allied armies arrived at the walls of Paris, it was mainly the Fédérés who showed much enthusiasm for resisting the Allied invaders.  However, after a token resistance the armistice was signed and the Garde-Nationale were then employed in suppressing dissent. They even escorted Louis XVIII into Paris before then being used to forcibly disarm the Fédérés.

Elsewhere in France and despite events in Paris, some Garde-Nationale units fought hard to defend numerous fortresses, most notably at Huningue, where General Barbanègre’s small garrison, consisting mostly of Garde-Nationale troops, heroically held out until 26th August before being allowed to surrender with full military honours.  General Berckheim’s division of Garde-Nationale was also apparently present at the above-mentioned Battle of La Souffel on 28th June, though the exact details of their participation in the battle are non-existent.

Uniforms of the Garde-Nationale

During the Revolution, the original blue uniform of the Garde-Nationale, with red collar and cuffs piped white, white lapels and turnbacks piped red and yellow ‘metal’ (i.e. buttons and officers’ distinctions) formed the basis for the Republic’s new uniform for Infantry of the Line.  In 1805 Napoleon ordered that the Garde-Nationale should be differentiated by white ‘metal’.  However, the Garde-Nationale throughout this period wore a bewildering array of uniforms and more often than not, civilian dress.

With the reformation of the Garde-Nationale and the raising of the Cohorts of the First Ban in 1812, the uniform was regulated as being of the same style as the new uniform then being issued to the Line Infantry of the regular army; namely a blue ‘Bardin’ tunic with short tails.  This garment had a red collar piped white, red cuffs piped white with a blue flap, white lapels piped red, blue shoulder-straps piped red, white turnbacks without piping and red piping on the tail-pockets.  In order to differentiate the Garde-Nationale from the infantry of the Line, their ‘metal’ colour (i.e. buttons, badges and officers’ distinctions) remained white/silver.

Belts and breeches were white, as were campaign over-trousers, though dark blue wool could sometimes be seen as Winter dress.  Gaiters were black and typically came up to just below the knee, though some units had long and/or white gaiters for parade.  Blue collar-piping is also seen and as with the Line Infantry, there were apparently a few variations on cuff-flap colourings.  As mentioned above, many units created their own élite companies, complete with distinctions such as fringed epaulettes, plumes and even bearskins.

Shakos had white metal fittings and pompoms coloured by company.  The company colours aren’t specified, but were probably variations on the theme of the usual sequence of red, green, light blue, aurore, violet and yellow (red, aurore, light blue and green are seen in various prints).  The pompoms are shown in a number of styles; spherical, carrot-shaped, flattened ‘lentil’-shaped and tufted ‘grenade’ style.  Bicorne hats were also still de rigeur among the Garde-Nationale of Paris and were also seen in units elsewhere.

The artillery companies of the Garde-Nationale Cohorts had essentially the same uniform as the post-1812 regular artillery; namely a dark blue Bardin tunic with red cuffs and turnbacks and blue collar, lapels, shoulder-straps and cuff-flaps, all piped red.  Shakos had a red lace upper edge and red pompom.  The only real difference to that of the regular artillery was that the ‘metal’ was white.

When converted to Line Infantry in 1813, the 88 selected Cohorts were ordered to conform to the Line Infantry regulations, therefore changing their white/silver ‘metal’ to yellow/gold and converting two companies per battalion to Grenadiers and Voltigeurs, complete with the usual distinctions; the Grenadiers were to wear red fringed epaulettes, shako-lace and pompoms, while Voltigeurs were to have green fringed epaulettes with yellow shako-lace and yellow or green or split yellow/green pompoms with chamois collar piped red or blue.  ‘Aigrettes’ (i.e. short plumes) are also described for the élites and the Voltigeurs’ epaulettes could also feature red or yellow crescents.  However, a few reports from their commanding generals complaining about the slow progress of change would suggest that a few units perhaps went to war without having made these uniform changes or having only partly-changed.

I’ve seen it mentioned in various books, articles and forum discussions that these new regiments didn’t have élite companies (perhaps because the Cohorts originally didn’t have them), but it is quite certain from various pieces of correspondence from their commanding generals, updating the Emperor on the progress in equipping them with such items, that they most definitely did.  There are also mentions in Nafziger’s campaign-histories of detached élite companies from these regiments.

After the departure of the 88 Cohorts in 1813 and especially into 1814, the supply system began to break down as the Garde-Nationale frantically tried to mobilise tens of thousands of troops.  While some units were still dressed in regulation style, many were filled with men parading in civilian clothes or part-uniforms, overcoats, non-regulation uniforms from other arms of service, captured uniform items, clogs, civilian hats, etc.  Shakos often had missing plates and muskets were often of various patterns and calibres, while belts were frequently of black leather, or missing altogether (along with associated cartridge pouches and bayonet-frogs).  While Napoleon decreed that the Grenadiers and Voltigeurs were to be prioritised for uniforms, even they were frequently dressed in a variety of styles.

Following the Battle of Montereau, Napoleon ordered General Pacthod to strip the enemy dead of any useful uniforms and shakos, so that his men might be better dressed.  He then wrote to War Minister Clarke, ordering him to make 12,000 blue ‘Gallic blouses’ available for the 12,000 men at Lyon.  This simple garment was a common item of peasant dress and during the 18th Century had been used as the uniform of French artillery-drivers, so it was not without precedent, was readily available and many men probably already owned their own.

In 1815 the uniform situation was much the same as in 1814.  The Garde-Nationale had been whittled back to minimum manning, so again struggled to dress and equip the newly-mobilised troops.  That said, some local officers did equip units at their own (or their town’s) expense, even up to and including squadrons of cavalry.  However, the situation once again required the Emperor to order the use of blue ‘Gallic Blouses’, with fancy embroidered versions for officers.  The Grenadiers and Voltigeurs were again if possible, to wear regulation uniform.

At the other end of the scale, the Garde-Nationale of Paris were by this time kitted out (at their own expense) in a manner not unlike the Imperial Guard, with 32,000 out of 40,000 men being fully-uniformed and the wearing of bearskins being widespread among the élite Grenadier and Chasseur companies.  The Fusilier companies had now replaced their former bicorne hats with shakos.

The Tirailleurs-Fédérés of Paris were regulated to wear a blue double-breasted coat with white metal buttons and without lapels, though buttoned across the chest.  This was to have a yellow collar and white piping around the cuffs, shoulder-straps, front-seam and tail-turnbacks.  This was worn with white trousers and a bicorne hat with a yellow pompom (shown above).

It isn’t clear if the official uniform was ever issued to the Tirailleurs-Fédérés of Paris and it would seem that they for the most part, fought in civilian dress.  However, an alternative version of the official uniform, showing the coat with lapels (piped white) and a shako with white metalwork and yellow pompom, is also recorded (shown above), as is a uniform for the Tirailleurs-Fédérés of Nantes (also shown above).

Eagles & Flags

In 1805 each Department of France was theoretically issued with an Eagle, though in reality, most Departments received theirs some time later or not at all.  The flags also followed some time afterwards; these were of the universal 1804 Pattern, with a white lozenge in the centre, bordered by gold laurels and flanked by alternating red and blue corners.  The obverse had the inscription ‘Force à la Loi, Fidélité à l’Empereur’, while the reverse had ‘Garde Nationale’ with the name and number of the Department below.  Some Departments are known to have had a simple pike-head instead of Eagle, while others had a slightly different version of flag, with the inscriptions on the opposite sides of the flag and simply ‘Garde Nationale’ with no unit identifier.

In 1812 the 88 new Cohorts were issued with tricolour flags in the style of the regular army’s 1812 Pattern, though lacking the heavy decoration of the regulars’ flags.  The obverse bore the inscription ‘Cohorte / Du 1e Ban / De La Garde/ Nationale’ painted in gold on the white central stripe, with the Cohort number painted on the blue stripe, in the upper corner at the hoist, again in gold.  The reverse (where battle honours would be painted on the regulars’ flags) was blank.  The new Cantons were not issued with Eagles, though some appear to have used the Eagles previously presented to their Departments (the Garde-Nationale of Paris are shown above and in 1814 are known to have carried an Eagle, with a flag carrying a different inscription in silver).  These flags also appear to have been fringed with gold (or possibly silver).

In 1813, the new infantry regiments created from the Cohorts were to be issued with new Eagles and flags of the regular Line Infantry 1812 Pattern.  The 135e, 136e, 138e, 139e, 140e, 141e & 142e were presented with their new Eagles in February 1813, while the 149e, 150e & 151e Regiments received theirs in May.  It isn’t clear when the other regiments received their Eagles, though the 146e & 148e are recorded as losing their Eagles, while the 147e is recorded as having its Eagle saved following the destruction of these regiments at the Battle of the Katzbach in August and the 145e lost its Eagle at Leipzig in October.  It therefore seems reasonable to assume that all these regiments received their Eagles, though some possibly not in time for the May battles of Lützen and Bautzen.

As for the new Cohorts of 1813-1814, it’s possible that they carried the old 1805 Eagles and 1812 Pattern (or 1804 Pattern) flags, or more likely locally-made flags.  There was certainly no official issue of Eagles or flags during this period.

In 1815 and for reasons only known to himself, Napoleon ordered 88 new Eagles and very elaborate and expensive flags for the Garde-Nationale.  This was at a time when, with the exception of the Old Guard, the regular Army was receiving the very cheap 1815 Pattern flags.  The new Garde-Nationale flags were of much the same pattern as those issued to the Old Guard, which were themselves very similar to the old 1812 Pattern.  The new Garde-Nationale flags (one of which is shown above) were richly fringed and embroidered in silver instead of the gold used by the Old Guard.  On the obverse they had the inscription ‘L’Empereur / Napoleon / À La Garde / Nationale / [Department name]’, while on the reverse they had the inscription ‘Champ / De / Mai’.  However, of the 88 made, 67 Eagles and 68 flags were given to the Duke of Wellington by Louis XVIII after Waterloo*, still in their packing cases, so were clearly never issued and it’s not clear if the remainder were issued.  Simpler flags on pikestaffs were also ordered, but again not issued.  However, many units carried their own unofficial flags of local design and manufacture.

* Many of the Garde-Nationale Eagles given to Wellington can still be seen on display at Apsley House in London.  They’ve also been spruced up with rather spectacular replica flags, as the original flags have gone for preservation and storage.

As you’ve probably noticed, I gave both my Garde-Nationale units Eagles and fancy flags… That’s because the flags (one being the flag of the Garde-Nationale of Paris from 1814 and the other being the 1815 Pattern shown above) were in my ‘spares’ box, having been printed on the Fighting 15s 1815 Imperial Guard flag-sheet.  And having ‘Cardi’ blood, I can’t abide wasting money…  If I ever paint any more Garde-Nationale, I’ll give them some self-designed ‘fannions’, perhaps simple tricolours with the Cohort number and name of the town.

Anyway, that’s enough from me.  I’ve got some more Napoleonic scenarios coming up, starting with four rather epic and megalomaniacal ones: Aspern-Essling, Lützen, Bautzen and Wachau.  I’ll also have to find at least one rather more modest scenario for balance.  I’ll also have some painted units to profile, starting with some Württembergers…