Marshals and Generals

FRENCH COLONEL-IN-CHIEF

Louis Friant

Born: 18 September 1758 – Morlancourt, Somme, France

Died: 24 June 1829 – Seraincourt, France

Rank: Colonel-in-Chief

Louis Friant was born in the village of Morlancourt, 8 km south of Albert near the river Somme. He was a son of a wax-maker but not following in his father’s footsteps he enlisted in the Gardes Francaises in February 1781 at the age of 22.

Friant rose to the rank of Corporal before he left the service in 1787 but then volunteered for the Garde Nationale of Paris during the outbreak of the French Revolution in September 1789. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel of the 9e battalion de Paris in September 1792. Friant was wounded in the left leg on 16 December 1793 while leading his battalion on the German frontier under the Army of the Moselle.

On returning back to duty as Colonel of the 18e Demi-Brigade in March 1794, Friant took part in the great victory of Fleurus on 26 June 1974, a short distance from the future battlefield of Ligny/St-Amand. He was for a while acting-commander of a brigade in July and then a division in August in the same year. He was at the sieges of Maastricht in October 1894 and Luxemburg in April the following year. He was promoted to General de Brigade on 13 June 1795.

After serving as Military Governor of Luxemburg for a sort period, Friant served with the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse in 1796 along the Rhine. In January 1797 at the age of 39, he joined Bernadotte’s Division of the Army of Italy. He saw action at the Battle of the Tagliamento on the 16 March 1797 and assumed command of the 5^th Brigade, 3^rd Division with the 30e and 55e Ligne from June 1797.

In the Egypt campaign Friant commanded the 2^nd Brigade with the 61e and 88e Linge of General Desaix’s division in Egypt, taking part in the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798. He was temporally promoted to General de Division on 4 September 1799 and succeeded Desaix as commander in Upper Egypt after Desaix returned to France. Friant took a lead role in the suppression of the great revolt in Cairo in March – April 1800 and was confirmed as General de Division and named Governor of Alexandria in September 1800. He fought the British at the Second Battle of Aboukir 8 March 1801 and defended Alexandria in August the same year. At the end of 1801, Friant returned to France and became the inspector general of infantry. By this time General Davout had married one of Leclerc's sister’s, and with Friant also being married to one of Leclerc's sisters and they had a son called Jean Francois Friant, the two generals became brothers-in-law.

In 1805 in the Ulm-Austerlitz campaign, Friant’s Division earned reputation for rapid and effective marching. This quality was put to excellent use when the Division was sent from Vienna to reinforce the Grande Armee at Austerlitz, marching 70 miles in 46 hours and arrived just in time to counterattack the Allies at Telnice and Sokolnice on the morning of 2 December 1805. In the fighting along the Goldbach stream, Friant had three horses killed under him. He was awarded the Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honor on 27 December 1805.

In October 1806 in at the Battle of Auerstadt where Davout was in command of the III Corps of 26,000 men and defeated the Prussian main body of 63,000. Friant’s Division advanced on the right, turning the Prussian left flank. The infantry of Friant and Gudin who were standing in square, withstood and shattered a large cavalry attack led by Blucher himself.

In the Polish campaign, Friant’s Division fought successfully at the Ukra River on 24 December 1806. At the Battle of Eylau, Friant’s Division arrived to reinforce the French right on the morning of 8 February 1807, helping to turn a near-defeat into a stalemate. Friant suffered a musket shot to his right side at Eylau. Friant was named Comte de I’Empire on 5 October 1808. 

In the 1809 campaign, Friant’s Division fought with distinction at the battles of Teugen-Hausen, Abensberg, Eckmuhl and Ratisbon in April of that year.

At the Battle of Wagram on 6 July 1809, Friant was wounded in the shoulder by a shell fragment during the successful storming of the Square Tower at Markgrafneusiedl.

In the Russian campaign of 1812, Friant commanded the 2e Division of Davout's I Corps. In August 1812, after General Dorsenne's death, he was nominated as commander of the Grenadiers à Pied de la Vieille Garde. Friant remained at the head of his Division. He was wounded yet again at the Battle of Smolensk 17 August and severely wounded during the capture of Semenovskaya village at the Battle of Borodino 7 September 1812. Incapacitated and left behind at Gzhatsk, he was still there with his wounds unhealed when the retreating army returned to Gzhatsk at the end of October.

Friant returned to France to recover from his wounds in January 1813. He returned to the front in June 1813, commanding the Old Guard Division at the Battles of Dresden 26 August, Leipzig 16–19 October, and Hanau 30 October 1813.

In the 1814 campaign in France, Friant and his 1st Division of the Old Guard fought a successful defensive action against Gyulai's Austrians at Bar-sur-Aube on 24 January. Friant took part in Napoleon's surprise counter-offensive against Blücher's Army of Silesia, gaining victories at Montmirail 11 February, Château-Thierry 12 February, and Vauchamps 14 February 1814. Friant's Old Guard was the core and reserve of the Emperor's masse de manoeuvre. They were committed to battle in the bloody and indecisive clash at Craonne 7 March 1814, the reverse at Laon 9–10 March, the recapture of Reims 13 March, and the defeat at Arcis-sur-Aube 20 March.

During Napoleon's exile, Friant was retained as commander of the Grenadiers à pied de France. In the campaign of the Hundred Days, he was appointed as Colonel-in-chief of the first Grenadiers à Pied of foot of the old guard. His men made the final assault on Ligny as darkness fell on 16 June 1815.

On 18 June, at Waterloo Friant led his 3800 Old Guard Grenadiers in the final, fateful attack on Wellington’s Allied center, where he was wounded once again. He was admitted to retirement on September 4, 1815, at the age of 57 years where he had served in 34 years of campaigns.

He died on 24 June 1829, aged 70. His name is on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Wagons - Part One

Wagons were the most important item for an 18^th Century army. Without these no supplies could be sent to the front or to keep the army on the march. The wagons would carry all sort of equipment that any army might need on campaign such as ammunition, pontoon & bridging equipment, wheelwrights, blacksmiths or even ambulances. The cargo would also be musket cartage's, power, flints, dry food, water, fodder for the horses and much more. The logistics for any Napoleonic army must have been immense with the number of men and even camp followers that went on campaign.

In the Peninsula War the Royal Horse Artillery ‘A Troop’ which was called the chestnut troop due to the colour of the horses, contained five guns and a 5-5 Howitzer with 162 men. Each of the guns needed one Ammunition wagon. Also there were another three wagons for the troop which was for ammunition, baggage and forage for the horses.

So why do we not see many wargamers using them on their battlefield tables? The answer could be one of two things the lack of space with a small wargaming table would defiantly be the biggest answer. The second answer is that there are not many of the plastic companies out there that make them for us till now. There are many metal companies that make wagons but not many for 20mm fans.

When I started wargaming back in the early 70’s the only plastic company around then was Airfix. They brought out the very first plastic wagon set which were in fact the ‘Wagon Train’ set number 01715 for the cowboys and Indian figures that they had put into production back in 1962. The set made in brown plastic contained just one covered wagon pulled by four horses which was very basic and under scale for 1/76. 

Picture from Plastic Soldier Review Site

Atlantic then brought out a ‘Pioniers Wagons’ set number 1052 sometime in the late 70’s.  This set is very hard to find as the company went out of business in 1984. So I am glad that I brought a set back then as they were my main wagon supplies for my army back then. The set contained four covered wagons made in brown plastic each pulled by two oxen. This then was a great set to have which also included barrels shovels and pick-axes and a little lantern which could be attached to the back end of the wagons which I think was a nice touch.

Imex was the next plastic company to produce wagons back in 1997 all made in light brown plastic. They produced two sets the first being a ‘Chuck Wagon and Prairie Schooner’ one wagon of each was covered and pulled by two horses and then in the same year ‘Munitions and Ambulance Wagon’ set number 514. The munitions wagon had an open top with two horses and the ambulance had a covered top again with two horses with two stretchers as accessories. Although this set was for the American Civil War. Another nice set which again I have in my collection and in the painting queue. Imex also produced to more wagon set in 2004 which was a box containing two ‘Conestoga Wagons’  and a ‘Wagon Train’ set 610 which contained 8 Conestoga wagons, one chuck wagon and one Prairie Schooner. All of the above was produced as an American History Series. These can still be brought in model shops and on the Internet.

We had to wait for Italeri in 2000 to produce the very first Napoleonic wagons with a box called ‘Napoleonic Wars Accessories’ set number 6017. This was for the French army. It’s just a shame that it only had one wagon which can be covered or uncovered. The wagon is pulled by two horses and with a driver in blue plastic. The accessories included infantry sitting around ready to move off or resting after a long march.

Picture from Plastic Soldier Review Site

HaT then in 2006 produced the best Napoleonic wagon set to date for the French. Box number 8106 ‘French Baggage Wagons’ in light grey plastic contains three wagons which again can be covered or uncovered pulled by two horses each with driver. At the same time they have produced ‘Ammunition Caisson’ box number 8101, ‘Wurst Wagon’ 8102, ‘Light and Heavy Ambulance’ numbers 8103/8104, ‘Field Forge’ 8107 and ‘Pontoon Wagons’ 8108. All of these sets have three of each.

HaT on their web page have in the pipeline sets for the Prussians including Ammunition Caisson, Baggage and Limbers for the artillery. These have been in production for a long while now but hope that these will be produced in the near future.

Picture from Plastic Soldier Review Site

Birthday Boy!

Yes, it’s was my Birthday this week and where the hell did that last year go. As you can see that I did get a couple of war game related items for which I am truly grateful for. In the picture on the left is the good old Conflix 28mm Merchants House and yep I do already own one of these but another one will make any village/town look even better now. It’s just a shame that Conflix have not made any more to add to this collection. On the right is from 4Ground 28mm five Mature Orchard Tress & Bases. These will be for my La Haye Sainte Farm project.

Looking at my blog yesterday I see that I have now had over a total of 27,300 hits. If you are one of these, then I thank you for your time in looking around my blog. I have a few items to put up on here but they will appear here later next month.

The Lance

The lance is one of the oldest cavalry weapon and it is still in use today even though it’s now for ceremonial duties only around the world. A Lancer was a type of light cavalryman who fought with a lance. Lancers were used in mounted warfare by the Assyrians as early as 700 BC and then by the Greeks, Persians, Gallic, Han-Chinese, Nomadic and the Romans.

The lance was used widely in Asia and Europe during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance by armoured cavalry, before being adopted by the light cavalry particularly in Eastern Europe. But by the mid-seventeenth century the lance had almost disappeared from warfare. The lance was mainly a Polish weapon, and by the late Revolutionary Wars to the early Napoleonic period the French, Russian and Austrian armies employed Poles and adopted their Polish style uniform for most of their lancer regiments.

The first lancers were raised in the French army in 1807. Napoleon Bonaparte was so impressed with some Polish soldiers he saw armed with lances that he decided to arm French horsemen with the weapon. The length of the lance gave the soldier the ability to stab his foes at a longer distance than he could with a sword. This made the lancer greatly feared.

The lance was 275cm long and its blackened shaft was made of hardwood such as ash or deal. The bottom has a steel ‘shoe’ to protect the wood when the lance was rested on the ground. The center of the shaft has a Hungarian whitened leather grip and a loop for the fingers called a martingale. The lance was usually decorated with a small flag called a pennon. This dove tailed shaped flag was usually red over white but other combination of colours were used depending on nation and their regiments. The steel point was made with a flattened diamond section which allowed it to easily penetrate an enemy soldier’s body. It is secured by long steel straps called langets which made it harder to chop off the point with a sword. The lance weighed three kilograms (about six pounds, ten ounces)

Lance Tip

Not all the soldiers in a lancer regiment carried the lance. It was confined to those who were in the front rank. Soldiers in other ranks carried swords, pistols and short muskets called carbines. During the Napoleonic Wars many of the nation’s Austrian, French, Polish, Prussian and Russian fielded cavalry armed with the lance. They allowed the light horsemen to hit hard during the attack and with the use of the lance they had greater reach to poke the infantry in square formation although with limited success.

In many of the Napoleonic armies the lancer regiments were called Uhlans especially in the Austrian and Prussian service and they offend used the Polish style of dress with the distinctive ‘Czapka’ cap.

It was only the British army that was without Lancers during the Napoleonic Wars and this was to prove them costly when the French used them with good effect during the battle of Waterloo.

At Waterloo the British did not have any lancers in the army but after seeing them in action and what damage they could do they were finally introduced into the army but not until the following year in 1816.

At Waterloo according to historian Alessandro Barbero, he said that the French lances were "terrifyingly efficient." 

Commander of the French 1st Corps, 4th Division General Durutte, who saw the battle from the high ground in front of Papelotte, would write later, "I had never before realized the great superiority of the lance over the sword."

SELWG 16 Report

The SELWG annual Wargaming Show has come and gone and it is the only show that I have been able to get to this year.

Set in the lovely grounds of the Crystal Palace Park in the sports centre the autumn sun was shining as I arrived just before 10:45am. After paying my entry fee and picking up a programme I set off for the trade stands first as I always do at this show.

Although I did take some war funds with me I knew that there would not be any figures for me to buy as I have a back log of painting to do before I can see what figures I need, although saying that I am still waiting for HaT to produce the Elite in Greatcoats sets.

The top floor looked busier than past shows and after a look at the the first lot of traders I came to the Harfields stand. I love these guys as they always seem to have what I have wanted in the past.  Looking through their two big trays of plastic soldiers I came across a packet of Italeri French wagons.

There were two wagons in this packet one blue and one in silver with the same coloured horses to match. (I hope to write a piece on transport on this blog soon) When I returned home to take a proper look I found that most of the pieces were there and I had four extra horses. For two and a half quid it was worth it.

I did try to get to the bring and buy stand but as always it was very busy and I had to come later on in the day to see what was on offer. Here I brought a hard back book from Philip J Haythornthwaite called “Napoleon’s Military Machine” for just three pounds. I saw this book in a book shop many years ago when on holiday in Scotland and wished that I had brought the book then. So now it’s in my collection. 

In the main hall it did not seem so busy and looking around the trade stands was quite a pleasant experience. The only thing I brought here was from Products of War with small circle bases for another project I am thinking about.

After lunch I made my way around the gaming tables but there was no displays that really jumped out at me. There seems to be a lot of participation games which is a good thing really for up and coming gamer's. But for me no Napoleonic's? Oh well maybe next year but I did enjoy the show.  Here are a couple of pictures of the show.

Here is a picture of what I thought was the best in that it was a participation game with hundreds of lovely painted figures.

The table belonged to the NEWBURY & READING WARGAME SOCIETY and the games was called 1066 And All That!

SHIPWAY WARGAMES was another table full of painted figures and a great demo. The Austrian - Prussian War of 1866.