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a great Regiment! could you please load a map of France and her colonies when you can?
Thanks for reading and commenting! Really glad you're enjoying it.
Alas I cannot! At least right now, anyway. I finished the game and the AAR a while ago and as pictures were never important for the AAR, I don't think I took too many screenshots. I'm also away from my PC for a while but I will have a look when I get back and post up anything I find.
A brand new continent for the regiment to fight and win on! Perhaps it will be Asia next. Just don't go to Dien Bien Phu!
With preparations complete, King Louis XIV announced that a state of war existed between France and Portugal once more; the North African territory of Tlemcen would be added to the Kingdom’s demesne. The 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE, having been pre-positioned in Sardaigne, crossed into Cagliari on the 8th of June 1686 with the Corps du Nord and immediately clashed with an army of 11,000 Spaniards. A series of short, sharp battles precipitated a general engagement on the 25th of June whereby the Spaniards were killed or captured; the city falling to the Corps on the 28th of July.
Immediately thereafter, the Corps du Nord was embarked for Spanish Sicily and the city of Palermo where they arrived and landed, uncontested, on the 19th of August. The city, not desirous of being under Spanish occupation any longer, surrendered quickly with the French troops being received as liberators. The Corps subsequently turned its attention to large Spanish army near the Sicilian capital of Messina, drawing them to battle on the 26th of October but the result was inconclusive as they managed to withdraw. Due to the nature of the terrain, a significant mountain range to the North and West of harbour-city and the disposition of the defending troops, the Corps du Nord was unable to undertake the siege and so returned to Palermo on the 28th of November.
In January 1687, scouts were alerted to troops moving down through the mountain passes towards Palermo and so the Corps marched to meet them. On the 3rd of February, the Corps du Nord was victorious at the Battle of Gimello with 6200 Spanish killed or captured; the RÉGIMENT was at this time, however, part of the screening force at Saponara and missed the battle. Following the battle, the Corps du Nord returned to Palermo once more. On the 23rd of June, with the war heavily in favour of the French, the Spanish army was removed from Sicily and so the Corps du Nord advanced to and besieged Messina. It would take until the 30th of July 1689 before the city would surrender; the surrender precipitating a peace with more North African territories, including Tlemcen, being ceded to France.
The Sicilian campaign saw the RÉGIMENT lose 174 officers and men despite the efforts of the Spanish to avoid a general battle. On the 16th of August, the RÉGIMENT embarked upon the troop ships again and made their way back to Cagliari to conduct security duties and assist with the repair to local fortifications. Soon afterwards the RÉGIMENT embarked to return to Bourgogne, where it arrived in the early part of 1690, and it was stationed there many years, during which period little occurred worthy of being recorded.
The Comte de Tours obtained permission to dispose of the colonelcy of the RÉGIMENT to Colonel Charles de Crecy, formerly the Major-Chef of the 4E Régiment de Bourbon. The Comte de Tours subsequently took up post of the newly raised 3E Régiment de Normandie who joined the 2E in Bourgogne in December 1694.
Pursuing those schemes of di Savoia-unification, war was resolved upon on the 20th of August 1696 as King Louis XIV sought to continue to bring his ancestral lands under his dominion. The German states of Hamburg and Ravensburg being obliged, joined their forces with those of Savoy, and so too did those of the Vatican. And while the din of hostile preparation was heard on every side, the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE was placed upon a war establishment, and reconvened with the other forces of the Corps du Nord. They arrived, with several other regiments, in September, 1696, and were placed in the siege lines around Chambery. On the 9th of October, to great surprise, the city surrendered without a shot having been fired. Quitting the province of Savoie later that month, the RÉGIMENT proceeded to Berne situated abreast of the river Aase, where the remainder of the Corps had gathered and formed part of the siege of that Fortress.
On the west side of town was a detached fortification of small and large redoubts against which the French troops carried on their approaches – other regiments attacking other parts of the town. The approaches being carried to the foot of the glacis, orders were given to storm the covered-way, and make a lodgement on the top of the glacis; and the RÉGIMENT, being on duty in the trenches at the time, was appointed to make the attack, together with the grenadier companies of the Corps, and a party of chosen fusiliers. It would be the RÉGIMENT’s performance in this attack which would spur interest in the creation of permanent grenadier regiments.
Capitaine Ducharme has given the following account of this attack:
The enemy had about four hundred killed, and two hundred made prisoner. The French loss, in killed and wounded, did not exceed forty men.
After the capture of Berne, the RÉGIMENT was employed in the siege of the fortress of Sundgau, which was captured in a short time on the 3rd of July 1697; these two fortresses now having fallen, the navigation of the Savoy interior was thus cleared of the enemy. Striking from Sundgau the very next day, the RÉGIMENT advanced towards the city of Ulm in Ravensburg, the German forces retiring as the French approached, but leaving strong garrisons along the way.
The RÉGIMENT traversed the country to Ulm, and was in position near that city when the German forces made a sudden advance to surprise the French troops in their quarters, but were defeated in their design. The Duc de Bourges assembled the Corps and it advanced towards Ulm, when the Germans quitted their post and eventually retired within their fortified lines, where the French General was desirous of attacking them, but was prevented by the news of large Papal force being defeated by the Corps du Sud; the road to Rome then being opened. The French quit Ulm on the 15th of September and proceeded south, arriving at the city of Mantua on the 22nd of December and placing it under siege.
Mantua stubbornly held out for 12 months before the Governor finally surrendered on the 6th of December 1698; also six months after Rome itself had fallen to the Corps du Sud. Upon the fall of Mantua, the Papacy, its forces having been broken and the Pope himself a guest of King Louis XIV in Paris, submitted themselves as vassals to the King, owing to pay a monthly indemnity to the Crown and to provide military forces upon the commencement of war. This also saw the removal of the indecent and morally corrupt excommunication of the King and the indefinite removal of Spanish influence upon the Holy Father.
Their allies beaten and fortresses fallen, Savoy sued for peace in early 1699 with terms reached on the 6th of April for the transfer of Sundgau and Berne to France. The successes of the French arms were splendid beyond all precedent. Towards the end of May, the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE was detached from the main army to take post in Berne to assist the Gendarmerie with policing the state and the repair of fortifications. On the 4th of July this deployment became justified as a mob of 500 Swiss rebels rose and attacked French patrols and burned civic properties throughout the city. The RÉGIMENT was called in and a number of rebels were put to the sword before the remainder were dispersed.
Further violence took place on the 1st of February 1700 when a far larger force of 1500 German & Swiss rebels together stormed the civic manor, murdering the Governor before the RÉGIMENT could take action. The mob dispersed in the night but the leaders were tracked down and sentenced in the proceeding months.
Immediately thereafter, the Corps du Nord was embarked for Spanish Sicily and the city of Palermo where they arrived and landed, uncontested, on the 19th of August. The city, not desirous of being under Spanish occupation any longer, surrendered quickly with the French troops being received as liberators. The Corps subsequently turned its attention to large Spanish army near the Sicilian capital of Messina, drawing them to battle on the 26th of October but the result was inconclusive as they managed to withdraw. Due to the nature of the terrain, a significant mountain range to the North and West of harbour-city and the disposition of the defending troops, the Corps du Nord was unable to undertake the siege and so returned to Palermo on the 28th of November.
In January 1687, scouts were alerted to troops moving down through the mountain passes towards Palermo and so the Corps marched to meet them. On the 3rd of February, the Corps du Nord was victorious at the Battle of Gimello with 6200 Spanish killed or captured; the RÉGIMENT was at this time, however, part of the screening force at Saponara and missed the battle. Following the battle, the Corps du Nord returned to Palermo once more. On the 23rd of June, with the war heavily in favour of the French, the Spanish army was removed from Sicily and so the Corps du Nord advanced to and besieged Messina. It would take until the 30th of July 1689 before the city would surrender; the surrender precipitating a peace with more North African territories, including Tlemcen, being ceded to France.
The Sicilian campaign saw the RÉGIMENT lose 174 officers and men despite the efforts of the Spanish to avoid a general battle. On the 16th of August, the RÉGIMENT embarked upon the troop ships again and made their way back to Cagliari to conduct security duties and assist with the repair to local fortifications. Soon afterwards the RÉGIMENT embarked to return to Bourgogne, where it arrived in the early part of 1690, and it was stationed there many years, during which period little occurred worthy of being recorded.
The Comte de Tours obtained permission to dispose of the colonelcy of the RÉGIMENT to Colonel Charles de Crecy, formerly the Major-Chef of the 4E Régiment de Bourbon. The Comte de Tours subsequently took up post of the newly raised 3E Régiment de Normandie who joined the 2E in Bourgogne in December 1694.
Pursuing those schemes of di Savoia-unification, war was resolved upon on the 20th of August 1696 as King Louis XIV sought to continue to bring his ancestral lands under his dominion. The German states of Hamburg and Ravensburg being obliged, joined their forces with those of Savoy, and so too did those of the Vatican. And while the din of hostile preparation was heard on every side, the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE was placed upon a war establishment, and reconvened with the other forces of the Corps du Nord. They arrived, with several other regiments, in September, 1696, and were placed in the siege lines around Chambery. On the 9th of October, to great surprise, the city surrendered without a shot having been fired. Quitting the province of Savoie later that month, the RÉGIMENT proceeded to Berne situated abreast of the river Aase, where the remainder of the Corps had gathered and formed part of the siege of that Fortress.
On the west side of town was a detached fortification of small and large redoubts against which the French troops carried on their approaches – other regiments attacking other parts of the town. The approaches being carried to the foot of the glacis, orders were given to storm the covered-way, and make a lodgement on the top of the glacis; and the RÉGIMENT, being on duty in the trenches at the time, was appointed to make the attack, together with the grenadier companies of the Corps, and a party of chosen fusiliers. It would be the RÉGIMENT’s performance in this attack which would spur interest in the creation of permanent grenadier regiments.
Capitaine Ducharme has given the following account of this attack:
“The Duc de Bourges sent for all the officers and told them, the design was to drive the enemy from the covered-way, that they might not disturb the work-men in making a lodgement; however, if the enemy gave way with precipitation, we were to jump into the covered-way, and pursue them, let the consequence be what it would. We all thought these were very rash orders, contrary both the rules of war, and the design of the attack.”
“About four in the afternoon (25 May 1697), the signal was given, and, according to our orders, we rushed up the covered-way; the enemy gave us one scattering fire, and away they ran: we jumped into the covered-way and ran after them. They made to a ravelin, which covered the curtain of the fort, in which were a captain and sixty men. We, seeing them get into the ravelin, pursued them, got in with them and soon put most of them to the sword. They that escaped us fled over a small wooden bridge that led over the moat to the fort and here, like madmen, without fear or wit, we pursued them over that tottering bridge, exposed to the fire of the great and small shot of the fort. However, we got over the fausse-braye, where we had nothing for it but to take the fort or die. They that fled before us climbed up by the long grass that grew out of the fort; so we climbed after them. Here we were hard put to it to pull out the palisades, which pointed down upon us from the parapet, and, was it not for the great surprise and consternation of those within, we could never have surmounted this very point.”
“But as soon as they saw us at this work, they quitted the rampart, and retired down to the parade in the body of the fort, where they laid down their arms and cried for quarter, which was readily granted them. Thus were the unaccountable orders of the Duc de Bourges as unaccountably executed, to the great surprise of the whole army, and even of ourselves, when we came to reflect on what we had done.”
“About four in the afternoon (25 May 1697), the signal was given, and, according to our orders, we rushed up the covered-way; the enemy gave us one scattering fire, and away they ran: we jumped into the covered-way and ran after them. They made to a ravelin, which covered the curtain of the fort, in which were a captain and sixty men. We, seeing them get into the ravelin, pursued them, got in with them and soon put most of them to the sword. They that escaped us fled over a small wooden bridge that led over the moat to the fort and here, like madmen, without fear or wit, we pursued them over that tottering bridge, exposed to the fire of the great and small shot of the fort. However, we got over the fausse-braye, where we had nothing for it but to take the fort or die. They that fled before us climbed up by the long grass that grew out of the fort; so we climbed after them. Here we were hard put to it to pull out the palisades, which pointed down upon us from the parapet, and, was it not for the great surprise and consternation of those within, we could never have surmounted this very point.”
“But as soon as they saw us at this work, they quitted the rampart, and retired down to the parade in the body of the fort, where they laid down their arms and cried for quarter, which was readily granted them. Thus were the unaccountable orders of the Duc de Bourges as unaccountably executed, to the great surprise of the whole army, and even of ourselves, when we came to reflect on what we had done.”
The enemy had about four hundred killed, and two hundred made prisoner. The French loss, in killed and wounded, did not exceed forty men.
After the capture of Berne, the RÉGIMENT was employed in the siege of the fortress of Sundgau, which was captured in a short time on the 3rd of July 1697; these two fortresses now having fallen, the navigation of the Savoy interior was thus cleared of the enemy. Striking from Sundgau the very next day, the RÉGIMENT advanced towards the city of Ulm in Ravensburg, the German forces retiring as the French approached, but leaving strong garrisons along the way.
The RÉGIMENT traversed the country to Ulm, and was in position near that city when the German forces made a sudden advance to surprise the French troops in their quarters, but were defeated in their design. The Duc de Bourges assembled the Corps and it advanced towards Ulm, when the Germans quitted their post and eventually retired within their fortified lines, where the French General was desirous of attacking them, but was prevented by the news of large Papal force being defeated by the Corps du Sud; the road to Rome then being opened. The French quit Ulm on the 15th of September and proceeded south, arriving at the city of Mantua on the 22nd of December and placing it under siege.
Mantua stubbornly held out for 12 months before the Governor finally surrendered on the 6th of December 1698; also six months after Rome itself had fallen to the Corps du Sud. Upon the fall of Mantua, the Papacy, its forces having been broken and the Pope himself a guest of King Louis XIV in Paris, submitted themselves as vassals to the King, owing to pay a monthly indemnity to the Crown and to provide military forces upon the commencement of war. This also saw the removal of the indecent and morally corrupt excommunication of the King and the indefinite removal of Spanish influence upon the Holy Father.
Their allies beaten and fortresses fallen, Savoy sued for peace in early 1699 with terms reached on the 6th of April for the transfer of Sundgau and Berne to France. The successes of the French arms were splendid beyond all precedent. Towards the end of May, the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE was detached from the main army to take post in Berne to assist the Gendarmerie with policing the state and the repair of fortifications. On the 4th of July this deployment became justified as a mob of 500 Swiss rebels rose and attacked French patrols and burned civic properties throughout the city. The RÉGIMENT was called in and a number of rebels were put to the sword before the remainder were dispersed.
Further violence took place on the 1st of February 1700 when a far larger force of 1500 German & Swiss rebels together stormed the civic manor, murdering the Governor before the RÉGIMENT could take action. The mob dispersed in the night but the leaders were tracked down and sentenced in the proceeding months.
In February 1703, the RÉGIMENT again took the field when the King’s Dutch allies declared the Dutch-Hessian Nationalist War. The Corps du Nord, now being commanded by the Duc de Toulouse, was reformed and advanced to Frankfurt on the river Main on the 22nd of March. On the 11th of April, however, having secured passage through Austrian Strasbourg, the Corps was re-directed to Kassel; the Dutch forces having quickly advanced through Hesse’s border provinces. Kassel was reached on the 22nd of May and the RÉGIMENT entered the siege trenches from time to time but were encamped near Brasselsburg. The siege passed without incident until the 16th of January 1704 when the Dutch and Hessians reached an agreement on settlement; the RÉGIMENT returned to Berne on the 4th of March. Despite a French military absence of only 12 months, the citizens of Sundgau rose up in rebellion on the 16th of March and were reported to have 16,000 men under arms to defend the city.
The Corps du Nord came together once more in April to take part in the capture of the fortress from the rebels; the garrison disputed every yard of ground with sanguinary tenacity, but the loyal French soldiers carried on the siege with vigour and brought their approaches to the foot of the glacis, where a storming party was assembled to attack the covered-way. The 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE was appointed to take part in this service. The signal being given, the assailants rushed forward to the palisades, and threw a shower of hand-grenades into the covered-way; then, entering amidst the confusion, overthrew all opposition. Colonel de Crecy states:
The rebel leader, finding himself unable to arrest the progress of the besieging force, surrendered and was later hung. The RÉGIMENT subsequently returned to Berne in June once Sundgau was at peace once more.
King Louis XIV celebrated his 56th birthday on the 23rd of February 1705; the RÉGIMENT was invited to participate in a grand parade as part of the celebrations. The King desired to reward his loyal legions at this parade and subsequently was pleased to confer the battle honour of ‘IBERIA 1667-72’ upon the REGIMENT to recognise “their sacrifice and gallantry against our inveterate enemies the Spanish and Portuguese.”
The King and Queen of France, passing through Berne in August 1706, the officers of the RÉGIMENT met His Highness without the town, to show their respect to the character of their formidable leader.
In the spring of 1707, the RÉGIMENT marched to Dijon, and other towns throughout Bourgogne and was reviewed by His Grace the Duc de Champagne. “The RÉGIMENT gained great reputation by its discipline and good appearance, and had the pleasure of being assured of His Grace’s approbation.” After the review, the RÉGIMENT marched to Verdun, and mounted guard over the Savoyard prisoners at the fortress.
The RÉGIMENT was called to arms once more on the 1st of January 1708 after the Duc de Lorraine, having refused the King’s generous offer of fellowship within the Kingdom, was declared in absentia. This sparked the 1st French-Lorraine Nationalist War; the RÉGIMENT was amongst those troops who besieged Nancy until it capitulated on the 16th of February. Meanwhile, the treaty between the British and Portuguese ended in May 1708 and by the 13th of July 1708 a state of war existed between the two once more; France would answer Britain’s call again.
On the 11th of November, the RÉGIMENT marched to Barrois to assume the siege of the castle at Bar-leDuc from other regiments due to proceed south towards the French/Spanish border. The RÉGIMENT took post on a ridge of mountains three miles from the town; owing to the numerous rocky heights and steep acclivities before the town, the soldiers had to make roads along difficult precipices, to drag guns up the mountains, and to carry up materials for erecting the batteries, which they performed with cheerfulness. A practical breach having been made in the west side of the castle, on the 14th of March 1709 the infantry (including companies from the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE), commanded by Colonel Robespierre of the 4e Ligurie:
After the capture of these important posts, the siege of Bar-le-Duc was prosecuted with vigour, and on the 16th of March the garrison surrendered. The RÉGIMENT then accompanied the force that marched into Saxony and occupied the town of Anhalt on the 31st of July and remained until the Lorraine-Saxony confederacy sued for peace. The territories of Barrois and Lothringen were formally incorporated into the Kingdom.
On the 21st of November, the RÉGIMENT, having re-joined the Corps du Nord, commanded by the Duc de Normandie, arrived in Labourd and took post upon the defences within the Pyrenees. On the 12th of May 1710, the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE was amongst those regiments detailed into the vanguard of the force which marched upon the historic city of Pamplona but which was found to be largely undefended and so raised the French flag upon the battlements on the 27th of June. Simultaneous to this movement, the Guarde had advanced through the mountains and invested the castle at Huesca while a Neapolitan force besieged Bilbao. The Corps du Nord thus found itself essential to the maintenance of the lines of communication between these forces and so remained in the province of Navarra; the RÉGIMENT encamped first at Estella and then marched a few days later to Torres del Rio where a minor skirmish occurred with a Spanish delaying force.
The RÉGIMENT received instruction to make contact with the Neapolitans and so patrols moved north, cautiously, to affect this. Numerous Spanish cavalry vedettes were encountered between July and August but no significant casualties were reportedly sustained. On the 23rd of August, Colonel de Crecy was present as French troops finally reached the Neapolitan General’s headquarters in the village of Basauri. On the 26th of March 1711 a French patrol warned of the approach of large Spanish army heading towards Bilbao; the Corps du Nord was force-marched and arrived at approximately midday on the 5th of April to find the two opponents engaged in a heated conflict.
The 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE led the first of three columns, posted to the left, as the Duc de Normandie encouraged his forces to attack the right flank of the Spaniards. The attack was pressed with great fury; the RÉGIMENT displayed its usual spirit and determination; and, after five hours’ sharp fighting, some disorder appearing in the enemy’s ranks, the RÉGIMENT advanced to the charge and routed the enemy; at the same time a Neapolitan battalion also rushed forward and captured a number of cannon and a colour. Lieutenant Lisle, two serjeants and nine men were killed; also two officers, five serjeants and 12 men wounded.
The RÉGIMENT remained a short time following the battle until the 12th of April, it was afterwards employed in manoeuvring and skirmishing in various parts of Vizcaya and Navarra and on the 29th of July was directed to Tarragona to intercept a second Spanish army threatening Barcelone. However, a third Spanish force intercepted the column on the 27th of August near Urgell. Departing the previous nights’ encampment, the RÉGIMENT was amongst the main body of the centre column when a sharp fire of musketry struck the right column. The column collapsed at the surprise and fury of the attack and so it was the centre that turned and presented their muskets to the enemy.
Colonel de Crecy was killed at this point and command of the RÉGIMENT fell to Major-Chef Killian d’Eu whose calm, steadfast resolve in the face of the weight of the attack held the RÉGIMENT together. The return fire from the centre column was such that the Spanish attack was stifled and a stalemate occupied the battlefield. The Duc de Normandie reorganised his lines and repeated attacks and counter-attacks over the following 28-hours resulted in more casualties but no exchange of position. This deadlock however, did work in the French favour as it gave time for the Guarde to arrive, a request for assistance having been sent to them during the first evening.
On the morning of 29th of August, the Guarde’s elite heavy cavalry struck the flank of the Spanish position causing much distress amongst their ranks and sending the entire force to flight. The RÉGIMENT lost Colonel de Crecy, Capitaine Marren, Lieutenants Paganel and Clare, 4 serjeants and 26 soldiers killed; another 5 officers, 8 serjeants and 46 soldiers wounded. Major-Chef d’Eu would remain in command of the RÉGIMENT for the duration of the campaign. In correspondence following the battle, the Duc de Normandie wrote: “but the unparalleled valour of our forces in the centre, particularly de Crecy’s (the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE) and Montbaillard’s Regiments, at length prevailed.”
Two days later the RÉGIMENT struck camp on the battlefield and undertook to pursue the retreating Spaniards. Subsequent minor skirmishes occurred through Tarragona and Valencia as the French drove towards the fortress at Cadiz.
The aggressive motions of the French forces towards the interior of the country forced the Spanish and Portuguese armies into proactive overtures of their own. And so it was, on the 11th of December 1711, two French corps of 60,000 soldiers, with a further 18,000 Neapolitans faced the Spanish Guardia Real, commanded by the Marshall of Spain, Roman Palafox, of 42,000 men alongside another 4,000 Portuguese near the town of Villarcayo in Castilla la Vieja; the site of numerous Franco-Spanish conflicts in the preceding years.
The Iberian position was made formidable by treble entrenchments and other works of art, and covered by thick woods while the allied army, commanded by the Duc de Burgundy and Phillipe of Naples, was encamped upon the open grounds in front of the enemy’s position. As the morning began to dawn, the allies assembled in arms, and the chaplains performed divine service at the head of the several regiments, at which time a thick mist overspread the woods and concealed the armies from each other. At an early hour the RÉGIMENT was ready to advance, but the moment of onset was protracted by the fog; about half-past seven the sun broke forth and the artillery of both armies opened their fire.
About nine o’clock the RÉGIMENT, with the other troops destined to attack the forces posted in the woods on the enemy’s left wing, went sweeping through the open grounds and commenced the assault with an animation which evinced the ardour reigning in the breasts of the men. In its advance the RÉGIMENT encountered entrenchments and breastworks bristled with bayonets and emitting streams of fire, while the showers of cannon balls and musket shot thinned its ranks, and for a moment it recoiled before the dreadful storm of death by which it was assailed. But it soon rallied, and, being supported by fresh troops, took part in a general attack on the entrenchments, which was made with such fury, that the Iberians were driven from their breastworks back into the wood, where a sharp fire of musketry was kept up from behind the trees.
The enemy, however, brought forward fresh troops and charged through the wood with great resolution. The ground was now disputed step by step; the combatants, surrounded by a thick foliage and a dense smoke, fought in small parties among the trees, while at one place the enemy, and at other places the allies, proved triumphant, and the shout of victory was occasionally raised by both parties and re-echoed by the hollow sounding woods in notes of terror.
In the midst of this varied conflict, the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE held the ground it had gained in the wood with tenacity; but its loss was severe. Meanwhile a sanguinary contest was going on in other parts of the field, where incredible feats of valour were performed, and obstacles deemed insurmountable overcome, while hundreds fell on both sides. Eventually the enemy’s centre was forced; furious charges of cavalry took place; at the same time the RÉGIMENT and other forces in the wood gained ground, and finally the enemy was driven from the field of battle.
Thus terminated the most severe action fought during this war, and the loss on both sides was very great. The RÉGIMENT had Capitaines de Ros, Gorges, Malet and Robert, with Lieutenants Beaumont and Mortimer killed; also Capitaines Braose, de Meules and Hugues and Lieutenants d’Adreci, de Rainecourt, de Ouistreham and Verney wounded. The acting Colonel of the RÉGIMENT, the daring and chivalrous Major-Chef d’Eu, highly distinguished himself; when leading the troops through the wood, in the face of a shower of balls, he urged the soldiers onward to acts of heroism, and, turning round, unbuttoned his waistcoat, and showed them his naked bosom, assuring them he was not provided with armour any more than themselves1. The loss of the RÉGIMENT in non-commissioned officers and private men was such that it would be retained as the Corps’ reserve until the war’s end.
A few days after the battle, it proceeded with the Corps to Toledo which would be placed under siege from the 19th of January 1712. On the 28th of February, however, the Spanish and Portuguese, having been reinforced with troops from Cadiz and Oporto, returned to Castilla la Vieja where the Guarde was still posted, besieging the castle at Villarcayo. The Corps du Nord broke the siege and marched to assist the Guarde where a second large battle occurred shortly thereafter. Owing to their losses sustained in the first battle of Villarcayo, the RÉGIMENT was not actively engaged in any of the fighting but performed essential duties at the behest of Duc de Normandie.
A second significant defeat saw the Iberians routed from the field; the Corps du Nord was ordered to pursue and a number of engagements took place between the vanguard and rear-guard respectively ahead of a third general battle at Leon on the 2nd of May. In this instance, the Iberian force was posted on the crest of a hill that dominated the local area and gave their remaining artillery an unobstructed view of the battlefield.
The Duc de Normandie, impatient to finally destroy General Palafox’s force, pressed the attack immediately, the infantry entering the plain in front of the Iberian army, whose batteries, posted on the elevated grounds which rise with a gentle ascent from the plain, opened their fire, while the regiments deployed and prepared to engage in the assault of the Iberian position. At one o’clock the infantry went boldly forward to the attack – exhibiting, in their firm array and noble bearing in the face of showers of grape and musketry, a splendid spectacle of war, and by a gallant charge broke through the Spanish lines; but, owing to the failure of the right wing in their attempt, the centre and left regiments were forced to retire. The 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE was held back from the assault and instead took post upon the left wing to watch for flanking attacks by the Portuguese cavalry whom had, to this point, been largely inactive in any conflict. Such positioning was critical as, at approximately four o’clock a force of 500 cavalrymen came sweeping from behind the hill, threatening the wing which the RÉGIMENT protected.
Holding the soldiers in line and standing to their front, Major-Chef d’Eu, gave the order to fire when the enemy was no more than 50 yards to their front, and soon afterwards, after a number of repeated charges, the enemy gave way, and was driven from this part of the field.
A second attack was made upon the Iberian position and never did French valour and intrepidity display itself in greater lustre than on this occasion; but again did the right wing fail and the victorious centre and left were forced to retire once more. The Corps passed the night at their post but upon daybreak the following day, the enemy was found to have withdrawn once more. 4500 Iberian dead were left on the field; 1200 French were killed or wounded. In this action the RÉGIMENT had only three men killed, and three wounded.
The subsequent day the RÉGIMENT marched with the Corps to its former station in Castilla la Vieja, the Guarde having advanced to Madrid, to besiege the fortress there. Eighty recruits joined the RÉGIMENT at this time from Normandie. The fortress there surrendered on the 20th of January 1713 without cause for an assault; the RÉGIMENT then advanced to the citadel at Bragança, in Portugal, arriving on the 15th of February which capitulated on the 28th of November.
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1 “The Colonel of the 2E Normandie, who fought also on the right, exposed his person in such a manner that he had several musket shots through his wig, and through his clothes; not from an overheated valour which runs into all places of danger merely to show a contempt of it, but that he might animate the troops to imitate his example, and to perform those miracles which, from their being put upon such an attack, seems to have been expected from them” – Military History of the Iberian Wars.
The Corps du Nord came together once more in April to take part in the capture of the fortress from the rebels; the garrison disputed every yard of ground with sanguinary tenacity, but the loyal French soldiers carried on the siege with vigour and brought their approaches to the foot of the glacis, where a storming party was assembled to attack the covered-way. The 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE was appointed to take part in this service. The signal being given, the assailants rushed forward to the palisades, and threw a shower of hand-grenades into the covered-way; then, entering amidst the confusion, overthrew all opposition. Colonel de Crecy states:
“This proved warm service; for though we drove the rebels at once out of the counterscarp, they sprung two mines upon us, and from their works plied us with a most violent fire, which we lay exposed to until our workmen had thrown up an entrenchment sufficient to cover us. In this action our regiment had six officers and upwards of eighty soldiers killed and wounded.”
The rebel leader, finding himself unable to arrest the progress of the besieging force, surrendered and was later hung. The RÉGIMENT subsequently returned to Berne in June once Sundgau was at peace once more.
King Louis XIV celebrated his 56th birthday on the 23rd of February 1705; the RÉGIMENT was invited to participate in a grand parade as part of the celebrations. The King desired to reward his loyal legions at this parade and subsequently was pleased to confer the battle honour of ‘IBERIA 1667-72’ upon the REGIMENT to recognise “their sacrifice and gallantry against our inveterate enemies the Spanish and Portuguese.”
The King and Queen of France, passing through Berne in August 1706, the officers of the RÉGIMENT met His Highness without the town, to show their respect to the character of their formidable leader.
In the spring of 1707, the RÉGIMENT marched to Dijon, and other towns throughout Bourgogne and was reviewed by His Grace the Duc de Champagne. “The RÉGIMENT gained great reputation by its discipline and good appearance, and had the pleasure of being assured of His Grace’s approbation.” After the review, the RÉGIMENT marched to Verdun, and mounted guard over the Savoyard prisoners at the fortress.
The RÉGIMENT was called to arms once more on the 1st of January 1708 after the Duc de Lorraine, having refused the King’s generous offer of fellowship within the Kingdom, was declared in absentia. This sparked the 1st French-Lorraine Nationalist War; the RÉGIMENT was amongst those troops who besieged Nancy until it capitulated on the 16th of February. Meanwhile, the treaty between the British and Portuguese ended in May 1708 and by the 13th of July 1708 a state of war existed between the two once more; France would answer Britain’s call again.
On the 11th of November, the RÉGIMENT marched to Barrois to assume the siege of the castle at Bar-leDuc from other regiments due to proceed south towards the French/Spanish border. The RÉGIMENT took post on a ridge of mountains three miles from the town; owing to the numerous rocky heights and steep acclivities before the town, the soldiers had to make roads along difficult precipices, to drag guns up the mountains, and to carry up materials for erecting the batteries, which they performed with cheerfulness. A practical breach having been made in the west side of the castle, on the 14th of March 1709 the infantry (including companies from the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE), commanded by Colonel Robespierre of the 4e Ligurie:
“proceeded with a cool steady confidence, and unloaded arms, towards the enemy, forced their way through a smart fire of musketry, and, regardless of live shells flung into the breach, or the additional defence of pikes, stormed the Castle.”
After the capture of these important posts, the siege of Bar-le-Duc was prosecuted with vigour, and on the 16th of March the garrison surrendered. The RÉGIMENT then accompanied the force that marched into Saxony and occupied the town of Anhalt on the 31st of July and remained until the Lorraine-Saxony confederacy sued for peace. The territories of Barrois and Lothringen were formally incorporated into the Kingdom.
On the 21st of November, the RÉGIMENT, having re-joined the Corps du Nord, commanded by the Duc de Normandie, arrived in Labourd and took post upon the defences within the Pyrenees. On the 12th of May 1710, the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE was amongst those regiments detailed into the vanguard of the force which marched upon the historic city of Pamplona but which was found to be largely undefended and so raised the French flag upon the battlements on the 27th of June. Simultaneous to this movement, the Guarde had advanced through the mountains and invested the castle at Huesca while a Neapolitan force besieged Bilbao. The Corps du Nord thus found itself essential to the maintenance of the lines of communication between these forces and so remained in the province of Navarra; the RÉGIMENT encamped first at Estella and then marched a few days later to Torres del Rio where a minor skirmish occurred with a Spanish delaying force.
The RÉGIMENT received instruction to make contact with the Neapolitans and so patrols moved north, cautiously, to affect this. Numerous Spanish cavalry vedettes were encountered between July and August but no significant casualties were reportedly sustained. On the 23rd of August, Colonel de Crecy was present as French troops finally reached the Neapolitan General’s headquarters in the village of Basauri. On the 26th of March 1711 a French patrol warned of the approach of large Spanish army heading towards Bilbao; the Corps du Nord was force-marched and arrived at approximately midday on the 5th of April to find the two opponents engaged in a heated conflict.
The 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE led the first of three columns, posted to the left, as the Duc de Normandie encouraged his forces to attack the right flank of the Spaniards. The attack was pressed with great fury; the RÉGIMENT displayed its usual spirit and determination; and, after five hours’ sharp fighting, some disorder appearing in the enemy’s ranks, the RÉGIMENT advanced to the charge and routed the enemy; at the same time a Neapolitan battalion also rushed forward and captured a number of cannon and a colour. Lieutenant Lisle, two serjeants and nine men were killed; also two officers, five serjeants and 12 men wounded.
The RÉGIMENT remained a short time following the battle until the 12th of April, it was afterwards employed in manoeuvring and skirmishing in various parts of Vizcaya and Navarra and on the 29th of July was directed to Tarragona to intercept a second Spanish army threatening Barcelone. However, a third Spanish force intercepted the column on the 27th of August near Urgell. Departing the previous nights’ encampment, the RÉGIMENT was amongst the main body of the centre column when a sharp fire of musketry struck the right column. The column collapsed at the surprise and fury of the attack and so it was the centre that turned and presented their muskets to the enemy.
Colonel de Crecy was killed at this point and command of the RÉGIMENT fell to Major-Chef Killian d’Eu whose calm, steadfast resolve in the face of the weight of the attack held the RÉGIMENT together. The return fire from the centre column was such that the Spanish attack was stifled and a stalemate occupied the battlefield. The Duc de Normandie reorganised his lines and repeated attacks and counter-attacks over the following 28-hours resulted in more casualties but no exchange of position. This deadlock however, did work in the French favour as it gave time for the Guarde to arrive, a request for assistance having been sent to them during the first evening.
On the morning of 29th of August, the Guarde’s elite heavy cavalry struck the flank of the Spanish position causing much distress amongst their ranks and sending the entire force to flight. The RÉGIMENT lost Colonel de Crecy, Capitaine Marren, Lieutenants Paganel and Clare, 4 serjeants and 26 soldiers killed; another 5 officers, 8 serjeants and 46 soldiers wounded. Major-Chef d’Eu would remain in command of the RÉGIMENT for the duration of the campaign. In correspondence following the battle, the Duc de Normandie wrote: “but the unparalleled valour of our forces in the centre, particularly de Crecy’s (the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE) and Montbaillard’s Regiments, at length prevailed.”
Two days later the RÉGIMENT struck camp on the battlefield and undertook to pursue the retreating Spaniards. Subsequent minor skirmishes occurred through Tarragona and Valencia as the French drove towards the fortress at Cadiz.
The aggressive motions of the French forces towards the interior of the country forced the Spanish and Portuguese armies into proactive overtures of their own. And so it was, on the 11th of December 1711, two French corps of 60,000 soldiers, with a further 18,000 Neapolitans faced the Spanish Guardia Real, commanded by the Marshall of Spain, Roman Palafox, of 42,000 men alongside another 4,000 Portuguese near the town of Villarcayo in Castilla la Vieja; the site of numerous Franco-Spanish conflicts in the preceding years.
The Iberian position was made formidable by treble entrenchments and other works of art, and covered by thick woods while the allied army, commanded by the Duc de Burgundy and Phillipe of Naples, was encamped upon the open grounds in front of the enemy’s position. As the morning began to dawn, the allies assembled in arms, and the chaplains performed divine service at the head of the several regiments, at which time a thick mist overspread the woods and concealed the armies from each other. At an early hour the RÉGIMENT was ready to advance, but the moment of onset was protracted by the fog; about half-past seven the sun broke forth and the artillery of both armies opened their fire.
About nine o’clock the RÉGIMENT, with the other troops destined to attack the forces posted in the woods on the enemy’s left wing, went sweeping through the open grounds and commenced the assault with an animation which evinced the ardour reigning in the breasts of the men. In its advance the RÉGIMENT encountered entrenchments and breastworks bristled with bayonets and emitting streams of fire, while the showers of cannon balls and musket shot thinned its ranks, and for a moment it recoiled before the dreadful storm of death by which it was assailed. But it soon rallied, and, being supported by fresh troops, took part in a general attack on the entrenchments, which was made with such fury, that the Iberians were driven from their breastworks back into the wood, where a sharp fire of musketry was kept up from behind the trees.
The enemy, however, brought forward fresh troops and charged through the wood with great resolution. The ground was now disputed step by step; the combatants, surrounded by a thick foliage and a dense smoke, fought in small parties among the trees, while at one place the enemy, and at other places the allies, proved triumphant, and the shout of victory was occasionally raised by both parties and re-echoed by the hollow sounding woods in notes of terror.
In the midst of this varied conflict, the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE held the ground it had gained in the wood with tenacity; but its loss was severe. Meanwhile a sanguinary contest was going on in other parts of the field, where incredible feats of valour were performed, and obstacles deemed insurmountable overcome, while hundreds fell on both sides. Eventually the enemy’s centre was forced; furious charges of cavalry took place; at the same time the RÉGIMENT and other forces in the wood gained ground, and finally the enemy was driven from the field of battle.
Thus terminated the most severe action fought during this war, and the loss on both sides was very great. The RÉGIMENT had Capitaines de Ros, Gorges, Malet and Robert, with Lieutenants Beaumont and Mortimer killed; also Capitaines Braose, de Meules and Hugues and Lieutenants d’Adreci, de Rainecourt, de Ouistreham and Verney wounded. The acting Colonel of the RÉGIMENT, the daring and chivalrous Major-Chef d’Eu, highly distinguished himself; when leading the troops through the wood, in the face of a shower of balls, he urged the soldiers onward to acts of heroism, and, turning round, unbuttoned his waistcoat, and showed them his naked bosom, assuring them he was not provided with armour any more than themselves1. The loss of the RÉGIMENT in non-commissioned officers and private men was such that it would be retained as the Corps’ reserve until the war’s end.
A few days after the battle, it proceeded with the Corps to Toledo which would be placed under siege from the 19th of January 1712. On the 28th of February, however, the Spanish and Portuguese, having been reinforced with troops from Cadiz and Oporto, returned to Castilla la Vieja where the Guarde was still posted, besieging the castle at Villarcayo. The Corps du Nord broke the siege and marched to assist the Guarde where a second large battle occurred shortly thereafter. Owing to their losses sustained in the first battle of Villarcayo, the RÉGIMENT was not actively engaged in any of the fighting but performed essential duties at the behest of Duc de Normandie.
A second significant defeat saw the Iberians routed from the field; the Corps du Nord was ordered to pursue and a number of engagements took place between the vanguard and rear-guard respectively ahead of a third general battle at Leon on the 2nd of May. In this instance, the Iberian force was posted on the crest of a hill that dominated the local area and gave their remaining artillery an unobstructed view of the battlefield.
The Duc de Normandie, impatient to finally destroy General Palafox’s force, pressed the attack immediately, the infantry entering the plain in front of the Iberian army, whose batteries, posted on the elevated grounds which rise with a gentle ascent from the plain, opened their fire, while the regiments deployed and prepared to engage in the assault of the Iberian position. At one o’clock the infantry went boldly forward to the attack – exhibiting, in their firm array and noble bearing in the face of showers of grape and musketry, a splendid spectacle of war, and by a gallant charge broke through the Spanish lines; but, owing to the failure of the right wing in their attempt, the centre and left regiments were forced to retire. The 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE was held back from the assault and instead took post upon the left wing to watch for flanking attacks by the Portuguese cavalry whom had, to this point, been largely inactive in any conflict. Such positioning was critical as, at approximately four o’clock a force of 500 cavalrymen came sweeping from behind the hill, threatening the wing which the RÉGIMENT protected.
Holding the soldiers in line and standing to their front, Major-Chef d’Eu, gave the order to fire when the enemy was no more than 50 yards to their front, and soon afterwards, after a number of repeated charges, the enemy gave way, and was driven from this part of the field.
A second attack was made upon the Iberian position and never did French valour and intrepidity display itself in greater lustre than on this occasion; but again did the right wing fail and the victorious centre and left were forced to retire once more. The Corps passed the night at their post but upon daybreak the following day, the enemy was found to have withdrawn once more. 4500 Iberian dead were left on the field; 1200 French were killed or wounded. In this action the RÉGIMENT had only three men killed, and three wounded.
The subsequent day the RÉGIMENT marched with the Corps to its former station in Castilla la Vieja, the Guarde having advanced to Madrid, to besiege the fortress there. Eighty recruits joined the RÉGIMENT at this time from Normandie. The fortress there surrendered on the 20th of January 1713 without cause for an assault; the RÉGIMENT then advanced to the citadel at Bragança, in Portugal, arriving on the 15th of February which capitulated on the 28th of November.
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1 “The Colonel of the 2E Normandie, who fought also on the right, exposed his person in such a manner that he had several musket shots through his wig, and through his clothes; not from an overheated valour which runs into all places of danger merely to show a contempt of it, but that he might animate the troops to imitate his example, and to perform those miracles which, from their being put upon such an attack, seems to have been expected from them” – Military History of the Iberian Wars.
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On the 9th of December, the Corps du Nord arrived beneath the walls of Corunna and placed that city under siege where the final remains of Palafox’s army still stood. But Spanish morale and appetite for further conflict was broken and so a peace was brokered with the British that saw the Spanish withdraw from the conflict on the 12th of May 1714. A most glorious victory for the allies that had been largely paid for in French blood but which provided respect and approbation of French arms across Europe. On the 13th of May the Corps du Nord advanced into Portugal once more and raised the French flag in the civic square of Porto on the 29th of June 1714 as the Portuguese royal family fled south.
With the war waning dramatically, French attention turned to the administrative evolution of the Kingdom; a Kingdom which now spanned the three continents of Europe, Africa and the New World. Such practices were inefficient for the effective governing of the various territories, protectorates and colonies across the globe and indeed did not pay the greatest honour to the prestige and reputation of the French nation. As such, on the 6th of July 1714, the Glorious French Empire was born with Louis XIV elevated as Emperor of the Imperial realm.
The war against Portugal continued however. As the Emperor was crowned, the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE arrived in Coimbra and captured that city and its surrounds by the 13th of August. Thereafter, the Corps marched south to Seville where transports awaited to ferry them across to Ceuta as the remaining Portuguese forces had begun to threaten the Empire’s North African territories. It was on the 9th of December, mid-crossing, that Britain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Brussels and brought an end to the conflict. Tangiers, Ceuta and Kasdir were ceded to France in recompense as was a great sum of gold.
To the delight of the officers and soldiers of the REGIMENT, Major-Chef d’Eu was confirmed as Colonel with a commission effective from the 2nd of May 1715. Colonel d’Eu was further presented with the honorific title Marquis d’Ibérie as formal recognition from the Emperor of his exemplary bravery and leadership during the 1st Battle of Villarcayo.
The RÉGIMENT remained in Ceuta until the 10th of May 1715 to assist with the establishment of order in the new territory and hence they were ferried back to the mainland. The troops arrived in Bar-le-Duc on the 8th of June and marched into the garrison of the fortress for a time.
Upon the one year anniversary of the establishment of the Empire, Emperor Louis XIV recognised the contribution and sacrifice of the Army by awarding battle honours and titles to the various regiments that had, from time to time, won great victories over the Empire’s enemies. The 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE would thus add ‘Iberia 1709-14’, ‘Villarcayo (1711)’, ‘Villarcayo (1712)’ and ‘Leon (1712)’ to their list of honours.
On the 1st of January 1716 the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE was struck from the order of battle of the French Army and immediately re-raised as the RÉGIMENT DE GRENADIERS À PIED DE NORMANDIE. Versailles, having recognised the value of Grenadier companies as assault forces, and their particular success in the recent war with Spain, undertook to establish permanent regiments of these elite, shock troops. The Grenadier Regiments would be raised from each of the “home provinces”; the 2E was selected to this service from Normandie. While new recruiting standards would apply for service in such regiments, existing members would continue to serve in the regiments’ ranks until the end of their tenure.
All soldiers would be titled ‘Grenadier’ to differentiate them from the regular line infantry soldiers and, in addition to being armed with a number of grenades when in battle, would be signalised by the adoption of bearskin fur caps, in the Austrian style, with cloth tops and an ornamental front plate depicting a grenade and the regiment’s province. The rest of the uniform remained similar save for the addition of a belt tube that held a match for lighting the grenade fuse.
The desires of the Emperor remaining unresolved in Savoy, the 3rd Savoyard Unification War commenced on the 20th of April 1716 when the Corps du Nord departed its cantonments in Berne and crossed into Savoie. The RÉGIMENT DE GRENADIERS À PIED DE NORMANDIE was with this force as it arrived to surround the city of Chambery on the 13th of May and placed it under siege; but, owing to the state of the fortifications, were able to, after some short months, assault the enemy positions and capture the city by the 20th of November. Lieutenant Grimoire and twelve grenadiers were the RÉGIMENT’s only casualties in this action.
The Savoyard forces unable to prevent the movement of the French corps, the Corps du Nord subsequently marched on the fortress of Chur in Graubünden, a modern star fort built into the mountain ranges of the Alps. The fortress and town were well supplied and so the Corps would be occupied for some time in bringing the garrison to surrender; an assault against the walls would be folly. Upon the eventual surrender on the 7th of February 1718, the Corps marched into the town and took possession of twenty-two pieces of cannon, a number of standards and colours, all their baggage, and the Duc de Savoy’s equipage and plate. The behaviour of the French troops was applauded; they exhibited thirty standards and colours which they had captured from the enemy therein and were thanked by the Emperor for the eminent service they had rendered to his cause.
With the final bastion of Savoyard defence having fallen, the Emperor sought peace and the capitulation of Savoy but, owing to difficulties the stubborn resistance of the disaffected nation, was unable to fully incorporate the territory into the Empire. Savoie, Wallis, Piedmont, Cori and Montferrat where however ceded.
The GRENADIERS departed Chur on the 11th of June and returned to their pre-war dispositions in Berne on the 23rd of July 1718. In September, the GRENADIERS proceeded to the vicinity of Dijon, and encamped, with others of the Corps du Nord, on Helfant Heath. In October it proceeded to the plains of Denain, near Valenciennes, where the Corps was reviewed by the Duc de Berry on the 22nd of that month. After the review the GRENADIERS returned to its former cantonments at Berne and the neighbouring villages.
The RÉGIMENT was again encamped on Helfant Heath in July 1719; in September they pitched their tents on the glacis of Valenciennes, near the Quesnoy gate; and on the 6th of that month were reviewed, with the remainder of the Corps, by the King of the Netherlands. They removed in October to the plains of Denain, where the Corps was reviewed by the Duc de Barcelone on the 15th of October; on the 20th the GRENADIERS returned to their former quarters at Berne.
In these quarters they remained until June 1720, when they once more pitched their tents on Helfant Heath, where they were reviewed by the His Royal Highness, the Dauphine, Prince Charles, on the 24th of June, and by the Duc de Berry on the 31st of July. In August they again pitched their tents on the glacis at Valenciennes. On the 10th of September, the Corps du Nord was reviewed by the Duc de Normandie; and on the 23rd of October, the same troops, accompanied by a contingent of Papal Guards, were reviewed by His Most Serene Holiness, Pope Augustus XIV. After the review, the GRENADIERS marched back to Berne.
The GRENADIERS marched in November to Besancon and Montbeliard, and in June 1721, to Mulhouse Castle, with one company detached to Altkirch, another to Thann, and in the autumn a company was detached to Colmar. In consequence of the disturbed state of the North-Eastern counties of France, seven companies were ordered into Bar and Lorraine – four companies proceeding to Bar-le-Duc, and three to Metz; the company left at Colmar arrived at Metz, and the two companies left at Mulhouse at Metz in January 1722. At an inspection on the 27th of April following, the Duc de Lorraine expressed his approbation of the appearance, discipline and interior economy of the RÉGIMENT; and also at the inspection the following year on the 22nd of April, 1723.
The RÉGIMENT remained at Bar-le-Duc and Metz until early May when they proceeded directly to Sundgau where a number of peasants had raised the flag of rebellion in the town of Altkirch. Upon arrival on the 21st of May, the presence of armed troops was enough to convince the rebels of their folly and they subsequently laid down their arms and returned to their homes. The leaders were later identified and subsequently hung.
The long and spectacular life of Emperor Louis XIV came to end on the 20th of July, 1723 when he passed away at Versailles. Owing to the passing of the Prince Charles in November 1720, the new Dauphine, also Charles, was only three years old at his grandfather’s passing; the Empress Consort, Madeline of Holland, had passed in 1703 and so the governance of the Realm passed to the senior Ducs: Burgundy and Anjou. With the Empire thus handicapped until the Dauphine would come of age, France would enjoy 17 years of peace; 17 years of watching the German and Italian states crumble and burn at the hands of the Ottoman Turk.
Notwithstanding in the inability of offensive action, the RÉGIMENT remained gainfully employed. Following the rebellion in Altkirch, they proceeded to Berne in June and to Savoie in July, where they joined those mourning the death of the Emperor on the 20th of that month. In September they marched to Piedmont and Cori in October and to Montferrat by the 11th of November where they remained in garrison for some years.
On the 7th of March 1726, the rebellion of the Comte de Vaud was crushed by the RÉGIMENT and others from the Savoy garrisons. This rebellion precipitated a relocation of forces; the RÉGIMENT subsequently occupied the fortress at Lyon from the 11th of April from where regular patrols into the surrounding provinces would ensure the safety of the public. On the 2nd of February 1727, three companies were permanently stationed in Dijon; another three were directed to the town of Aix-les-Bains on the Lac du Bourget. These companies were rotated with others in July before the RÉGIMENT was reunited again, in Savoie, in November 1727.
From November 1727 until October 1730 the GRENADIERS were charged with the security of the Royal Palace in Savoie and as the Duc de Savoy’s bodyguard. They discharged this duty with great alacrity and discipline, winning high regard with both the Duc and the citizens of the city.
On the 12th of October 1730, the GRENADIERS passed over their ceremonial responsibilities to the 4e Regiment de Calais and proceeded into cantonments in the province of Wallis. On the 23rd of November they were inspected by the Duc de Toulouse and were found to be “in a high state of discipline and morale.”
In the mountainous Wallis the GRENADIERS were dispersed once again by Companies to various posts in the border territory following a number of minor Savoyard insurrections. Two companies occupied the settlement of Zermatt near the base of the Matterhorn; two companies made their way to Saas Fee while three further companies were posted to the North in Fiesch. The regimental headquarters and other companies remained the provincial capital of Sion. Patrols from each of these locations were commonplace during the summer and autumn months but were extremely limited during winter owing to the snows and extremely cold climate. The REGIMENT suffered 57 casualties in their three-year occupation of Wallis; all affected by the weather or the treacherous terrain.
In the summer of 1734, the GRENADIERS were removed from Wallis and occupied the Castle at Nancy in Lothringen. It was there that they participated in the celebrations following the crowning of Charles X di Savoia as Emperor of France on the 7th of December, 1734. Elsewhere in Paris a lavish ceremony was held to mark the occasion and was attended by the Commanding Officer. Not three days later however, a rebellion of significant strength was raised in Duchy of Brittany by the misguided Xavier de la Motte d’Airan. His troops, numbering close to 30,000 quickly overwhelmed the loyal garrison at the castle in Brest and struck out into the provinces shortly thereafter to loot and pillage. The GRENADIERS joined regiments from the Guards in marching upon Brittany shortly after the fall of Brest, arriving at the said castle on the 11th of January 1735. Calls to the rebels to surrender were rebuffed and so it was determined to attack and carry the walls on the night of the 16th of January once all loyal forces had arrived.
The GRENADIERS were joined by the Grenadier Regiments of Lyonnais, Berry and Bourbon as the lead regiments assigned to assail the walls. At the prescribed time of eleven o’clock in the evening, the assault troops took their positions in the final lines of circumvallation surrounding the castle as the final shells from the artillery landed against the walls. In the din of smoke, the crumbling of the castle walls and the wails of dead and dying rebels, the GRENADIERS burst forth from the entrenchments and attacked through breaches to their front; the other regiments laying ladders against the walls and climbing to the parapets.
A number of men were killed and wounded in this instance, including Capitaine de Bans as he bravely led his men forward. The rebels, untrained as they were, were not motivated nor disciplined to repulse such an attack and, with the loyal French troops closing in from every flank, threw down their weapons and ran into the city to escape the savagery of the attack. A few short hours later the rebel leader’s flag was struck and replaced with that of the Emperor as the troops rounded up the last remaining rebels and put them to the sword.
The GRENADIERS had 8 men killed, including the unfortunate Capitaine de Bans, in the assault and another 17 wounded including Lieutenant Eude and Sous-Lieutenant d’Escalles.
Those units not engaged in the assault at Brest formed the van of the Army as it sought out the main rebel force and eventually found them in the early morning of the 5th of February encamped near the small village of Sizun, in Finistere, with the forbidding marshes of the Armorica Peninsula to their flanks and rear. A flanking attack thus being eliminated the force was determined to dislodge the enemy, numbering 25,00o at this time, by frontal attack and force them into the marshes.
Following a pause of only a few hours to reorganise into lines, the French force advanced, under cover of the artillery for a time, before reaching such a point where their musketry could bear. Following a sharp issue of fire from the rebel line, the cowardly rebels melted into the smoke of their discharge and reformed lines a further 100 yards to their rear; numbing the effectiveness of the open French salvo. Upon reforming, the rebels presented once more and fired again but held their ground and received the retort from the leading French regiments. At this time, the GRENADIERS were held in the Reserve but would soon have their own opportunity to affect the battle.
The leading French regiments gradually moved closer to the rebel line as they continued to fire at each other. When the lines were no more than 30 paces apart, the commanding French General ordered his line to retire in order giving encouragement to the rebels who themselves began to inch forward through the smoke of the battle. But the French move was false; as the lines withdrew the regiments began to separate and through this the Reserve, including the hardy men of the RÉGIMENT DE GRENADIERS À PIED DE NORMANDIE, charged through, bayonets fixed and muskets raised as they crashed into the stunned rebel line and commenced a great slaughter. While the rebels had returned fire bravely in the initial phases of the battle they proved no match for the ferocity and skill of the attack of the Reserve and, with their dead quickly mounting, threw down their arms and either ran or raised their arms in surrender. The Reserve attack, bolstered by the counter-charge of the first French line in some areas, was immediately effective and by 3 o’clock in the afternoon the regiments were re-forming.
With the rebels broken and scattered, the French army was split up to pursue those larger groups as they fled through the Duchy. The GRENADIERS captured or killed a further 87 rebels as they moved through Morbihan and Armor; on the 24th of February they received word of the death of the rebel leader at Rohan and, following the handover of their prisoners to the local Gendarmerie, shortly thereafter commenced their return to the province of Vaud.
When the GRENADIERS arrived the fortress at Lausanne they were welcomed by the Duc de Normandie, representing the Emperor, who praised the REGIMENT for their exemplary conduct and dedication to their Emperor in the conflict against the Pretender:
With the war waning dramatically, French attention turned to the administrative evolution of the Kingdom; a Kingdom which now spanned the three continents of Europe, Africa and the New World. Such practices were inefficient for the effective governing of the various territories, protectorates and colonies across the globe and indeed did not pay the greatest honour to the prestige and reputation of the French nation. As such, on the 6th of July 1714, the Glorious French Empire was born with Louis XIV elevated as Emperor of the Imperial realm.
The war against Portugal continued however. As the Emperor was crowned, the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE arrived in Coimbra and captured that city and its surrounds by the 13th of August. Thereafter, the Corps marched south to Seville where transports awaited to ferry them across to Ceuta as the remaining Portuguese forces had begun to threaten the Empire’s North African territories. It was on the 9th of December, mid-crossing, that Britain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Brussels and brought an end to the conflict. Tangiers, Ceuta and Kasdir were ceded to France in recompense as was a great sum of gold.
To the delight of the officers and soldiers of the REGIMENT, Major-Chef d’Eu was confirmed as Colonel with a commission effective from the 2nd of May 1715. Colonel d’Eu was further presented with the honorific title Marquis d’Ibérie as formal recognition from the Emperor of his exemplary bravery and leadership during the 1st Battle of Villarcayo.
The RÉGIMENT remained in Ceuta until the 10th of May 1715 to assist with the establishment of order in the new territory and hence they were ferried back to the mainland. The troops arrived in Bar-le-Duc on the 8th of June and marched into the garrison of the fortress for a time.
Upon the one year anniversary of the establishment of the Empire, Emperor Louis XIV recognised the contribution and sacrifice of the Army by awarding battle honours and titles to the various regiments that had, from time to time, won great victories over the Empire’s enemies. The 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE would thus add ‘Iberia 1709-14’, ‘Villarcayo (1711)’, ‘Villarcayo (1712)’ and ‘Leon (1712)’ to their list of honours.
On the 1st of January 1716 the 2E RÉGIMENT DE NORMANDIE was struck from the order of battle of the French Army and immediately re-raised as the RÉGIMENT DE GRENADIERS À PIED DE NORMANDIE. Versailles, having recognised the value of Grenadier companies as assault forces, and their particular success in the recent war with Spain, undertook to establish permanent regiments of these elite, shock troops. The Grenadier Regiments would be raised from each of the “home provinces”; the 2E was selected to this service from Normandie. While new recruiting standards would apply for service in such regiments, existing members would continue to serve in the regiments’ ranks until the end of their tenure.
All soldiers would be titled ‘Grenadier’ to differentiate them from the regular line infantry soldiers and, in addition to being armed with a number of grenades when in battle, would be signalised by the adoption of bearskin fur caps, in the Austrian style, with cloth tops and an ornamental front plate depicting a grenade and the regiment’s province. The rest of the uniform remained similar save for the addition of a belt tube that held a match for lighting the grenade fuse.
The desires of the Emperor remaining unresolved in Savoy, the 3rd Savoyard Unification War commenced on the 20th of April 1716 when the Corps du Nord departed its cantonments in Berne and crossed into Savoie. The RÉGIMENT DE GRENADIERS À PIED DE NORMANDIE was with this force as it arrived to surround the city of Chambery on the 13th of May and placed it under siege; but, owing to the state of the fortifications, were able to, after some short months, assault the enemy positions and capture the city by the 20th of November. Lieutenant Grimoire and twelve grenadiers were the RÉGIMENT’s only casualties in this action.
The Savoyard forces unable to prevent the movement of the French corps, the Corps du Nord subsequently marched on the fortress of Chur in Graubünden, a modern star fort built into the mountain ranges of the Alps. The fortress and town were well supplied and so the Corps would be occupied for some time in bringing the garrison to surrender; an assault against the walls would be folly. Upon the eventual surrender on the 7th of February 1718, the Corps marched into the town and took possession of twenty-two pieces of cannon, a number of standards and colours, all their baggage, and the Duc de Savoy’s equipage and plate. The behaviour of the French troops was applauded; they exhibited thirty standards and colours which they had captured from the enemy therein and were thanked by the Emperor for the eminent service they had rendered to his cause.
With the final bastion of Savoyard defence having fallen, the Emperor sought peace and the capitulation of Savoy but, owing to difficulties the stubborn resistance of the disaffected nation, was unable to fully incorporate the territory into the Empire. Savoie, Wallis, Piedmont, Cori and Montferrat where however ceded.
The GRENADIERS departed Chur on the 11th of June and returned to their pre-war dispositions in Berne on the 23rd of July 1718. In September, the GRENADIERS proceeded to the vicinity of Dijon, and encamped, with others of the Corps du Nord, on Helfant Heath. In October it proceeded to the plains of Denain, near Valenciennes, where the Corps was reviewed by the Duc de Berry on the 22nd of that month. After the review the GRENADIERS returned to its former cantonments at Berne and the neighbouring villages.
The RÉGIMENT was again encamped on Helfant Heath in July 1719; in September they pitched their tents on the glacis of Valenciennes, near the Quesnoy gate; and on the 6th of that month were reviewed, with the remainder of the Corps, by the King of the Netherlands. They removed in October to the plains of Denain, where the Corps was reviewed by the Duc de Barcelone on the 15th of October; on the 20th the GRENADIERS returned to their former quarters at Berne.
In these quarters they remained until June 1720, when they once more pitched their tents on Helfant Heath, where they were reviewed by the His Royal Highness, the Dauphine, Prince Charles, on the 24th of June, and by the Duc de Berry on the 31st of July. In August they again pitched their tents on the glacis at Valenciennes. On the 10th of September, the Corps du Nord was reviewed by the Duc de Normandie; and on the 23rd of October, the same troops, accompanied by a contingent of Papal Guards, were reviewed by His Most Serene Holiness, Pope Augustus XIV. After the review, the GRENADIERS marched back to Berne.
The GRENADIERS marched in November to Besancon and Montbeliard, and in June 1721, to Mulhouse Castle, with one company detached to Altkirch, another to Thann, and in the autumn a company was detached to Colmar. In consequence of the disturbed state of the North-Eastern counties of France, seven companies were ordered into Bar and Lorraine – four companies proceeding to Bar-le-Duc, and three to Metz; the company left at Colmar arrived at Metz, and the two companies left at Mulhouse at Metz in January 1722. At an inspection on the 27th of April following, the Duc de Lorraine expressed his approbation of the appearance, discipline and interior economy of the RÉGIMENT; and also at the inspection the following year on the 22nd of April, 1723.
The RÉGIMENT remained at Bar-le-Duc and Metz until early May when they proceeded directly to Sundgau where a number of peasants had raised the flag of rebellion in the town of Altkirch. Upon arrival on the 21st of May, the presence of armed troops was enough to convince the rebels of their folly and they subsequently laid down their arms and returned to their homes. The leaders were later identified and subsequently hung.
The long and spectacular life of Emperor Louis XIV came to end on the 20th of July, 1723 when he passed away at Versailles. Owing to the passing of the Prince Charles in November 1720, the new Dauphine, also Charles, was only three years old at his grandfather’s passing; the Empress Consort, Madeline of Holland, had passed in 1703 and so the governance of the Realm passed to the senior Ducs: Burgundy and Anjou. With the Empire thus handicapped until the Dauphine would come of age, France would enjoy 17 years of peace; 17 years of watching the German and Italian states crumble and burn at the hands of the Ottoman Turk.
Notwithstanding in the inability of offensive action, the RÉGIMENT remained gainfully employed. Following the rebellion in Altkirch, they proceeded to Berne in June and to Savoie in July, where they joined those mourning the death of the Emperor on the 20th of that month. In September they marched to Piedmont and Cori in October and to Montferrat by the 11th of November where they remained in garrison for some years.
On the 7th of March 1726, the rebellion of the Comte de Vaud was crushed by the RÉGIMENT and others from the Savoy garrisons. This rebellion precipitated a relocation of forces; the RÉGIMENT subsequently occupied the fortress at Lyon from the 11th of April from where regular patrols into the surrounding provinces would ensure the safety of the public. On the 2nd of February 1727, three companies were permanently stationed in Dijon; another three were directed to the town of Aix-les-Bains on the Lac du Bourget. These companies were rotated with others in July before the RÉGIMENT was reunited again, in Savoie, in November 1727.
From November 1727 until October 1730 the GRENADIERS were charged with the security of the Royal Palace in Savoie and as the Duc de Savoy’s bodyguard. They discharged this duty with great alacrity and discipline, winning high regard with both the Duc and the citizens of the city.
On the 12th of October 1730, the GRENADIERS passed over their ceremonial responsibilities to the 4e Regiment de Calais and proceeded into cantonments in the province of Wallis. On the 23rd of November they were inspected by the Duc de Toulouse and were found to be “in a high state of discipline and morale.”
In the mountainous Wallis the GRENADIERS were dispersed once again by Companies to various posts in the border territory following a number of minor Savoyard insurrections. Two companies occupied the settlement of Zermatt near the base of the Matterhorn; two companies made their way to Saas Fee while three further companies were posted to the North in Fiesch. The regimental headquarters and other companies remained the provincial capital of Sion. Patrols from each of these locations were commonplace during the summer and autumn months but were extremely limited during winter owing to the snows and extremely cold climate. The REGIMENT suffered 57 casualties in their three-year occupation of Wallis; all affected by the weather or the treacherous terrain.
In the summer of 1734, the GRENADIERS were removed from Wallis and occupied the Castle at Nancy in Lothringen. It was there that they participated in the celebrations following the crowning of Charles X di Savoia as Emperor of France on the 7th of December, 1734. Elsewhere in Paris a lavish ceremony was held to mark the occasion and was attended by the Commanding Officer. Not three days later however, a rebellion of significant strength was raised in Duchy of Brittany by the misguided Xavier de la Motte d’Airan. His troops, numbering close to 30,000 quickly overwhelmed the loyal garrison at the castle in Brest and struck out into the provinces shortly thereafter to loot and pillage. The GRENADIERS joined regiments from the Guards in marching upon Brittany shortly after the fall of Brest, arriving at the said castle on the 11th of January 1735. Calls to the rebels to surrender were rebuffed and so it was determined to attack and carry the walls on the night of the 16th of January once all loyal forces had arrived.
The GRENADIERS were joined by the Grenadier Regiments of Lyonnais, Berry and Bourbon as the lead regiments assigned to assail the walls. At the prescribed time of eleven o’clock in the evening, the assault troops took their positions in the final lines of circumvallation surrounding the castle as the final shells from the artillery landed against the walls. In the din of smoke, the crumbling of the castle walls and the wails of dead and dying rebels, the GRENADIERS burst forth from the entrenchments and attacked through breaches to their front; the other regiments laying ladders against the walls and climbing to the parapets.
A number of men were killed and wounded in this instance, including Capitaine de Bans as he bravely led his men forward. The rebels, untrained as they were, were not motivated nor disciplined to repulse such an attack and, with the loyal French troops closing in from every flank, threw down their weapons and ran into the city to escape the savagery of the attack. A few short hours later the rebel leader’s flag was struck and replaced with that of the Emperor as the troops rounded up the last remaining rebels and put them to the sword.
The GRENADIERS had 8 men killed, including the unfortunate Capitaine de Bans, in the assault and another 17 wounded including Lieutenant Eude and Sous-Lieutenant d’Escalles.
Those units not engaged in the assault at Brest formed the van of the Army as it sought out the main rebel force and eventually found them in the early morning of the 5th of February encamped near the small village of Sizun, in Finistere, with the forbidding marshes of the Armorica Peninsula to their flanks and rear. A flanking attack thus being eliminated the force was determined to dislodge the enemy, numbering 25,00o at this time, by frontal attack and force them into the marshes.
Following a pause of only a few hours to reorganise into lines, the French force advanced, under cover of the artillery for a time, before reaching such a point where their musketry could bear. Following a sharp issue of fire from the rebel line, the cowardly rebels melted into the smoke of their discharge and reformed lines a further 100 yards to their rear; numbing the effectiveness of the open French salvo. Upon reforming, the rebels presented once more and fired again but held their ground and received the retort from the leading French regiments. At this time, the GRENADIERS were held in the Reserve but would soon have their own opportunity to affect the battle.
The leading French regiments gradually moved closer to the rebel line as they continued to fire at each other. When the lines were no more than 30 paces apart, the commanding French General ordered his line to retire in order giving encouragement to the rebels who themselves began to inch forward through the smoke of the battle. But the French move was false; as the lines withdrew the regiments began to separate and through this the Reserve, including the hardy men of the RÉGIMENT DE GRENADIERS À PIED DE NORMANDIE, charged through, bayonets fixed and muskets raised as they crashed into the stunned rebel line and commenced a great slaughter. While the rebels had returned fire bravely in the initial phases of the battle they proved no match for the ferocity and skill of the attack of the Reserve and, with their dead quickly mounting, threw down their arms and either ran or raised their arms in surrender. The Reserve attack, bolstered by the counter-charge of the first French line in some areas, was immediately effective and by 3 o’clock in the afternoon the regiments were re-forming.
With the rebels broken and scattered, the French army was split up to pursue those larger groups as they fled through the Duchy. The GRENADIERS captured or killed a further 87 rebels as they moved through Morbihan and Armor; on the 24th of February they received word of the death of the rebel leader at Rohan and, following the handover of their prisoners to the local Gendarmerie, shortly thereafter commenced their return to the province of Vaud.
When the GRENADIERS arrived the fortress at Lausanne they were welcomed by the Duc de Normandie, representing the Emperor, who praised the REGIMENT for their exemplary conduct and dedication to their Emperor in the conflict against the Pretender:
“…it was with great relief that I learnt that Grenadiers of Normandie were marching towards the enemy for I knew your reputation and skill at arms would preclude any utterance of failure and that the wicked rebels would shortly be dashed. You have, as always, my eternal approbation.”
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A well deserved elevation to new heights. Let's hope the genediers have as much success in the future as they had in the past.
On the 6th of October 1735, upon the direction of the Ministry of War, the old Corps model was disestablished and the regiments were allocated into Divisions instead; this practice, adopted from the Dutch model, would see smaller concentrations of forces in formed bodies but enable a greater spread of influence throughout the Empire. The GRENADIERS were allocated to the 3rd Division under the command of Major-General de Mont-Canisi and were posted to the province of Bern where they occupied a number of positions including the castle in the city of Bern. As part of the new structure, the Divisions were partnered with sister-divisions; the 3rd was partnered with the 4th who were billeted in the province of Lothringen.
At the same time, owing to the increase of General Officer positions and the success of his leadership, Colonel d’Eu, the Marquis d’Iberie, was promoted Brigadier General and appointed to the 3rd Division Headquarters as Chief of Staff. He was replaced on the 7th of October by Colonel Jean-Baptiste de Rainecourt.
The REGIMENT had little time to train and acclimate themselves with the new organisation before war once again engulfed the Empire; Savoy, steadfastly refusing to submit to the Emperor, was once again the target in the 4th and final, Savoyard Unification War as French forces began crossing the border once more on the 4th of November 1735. The 3rd Division, already located on that border, crossed directly into Zurich unopposed and by the 11th of November had the not-unformidable city defences of Zurich under siege. Having been affected by three consecutive wars against the French, the Savoyards were illprepared for the conflict as the French won victory after swift victory. Zurich surrendered to the 3rd Division on the 5th of June 1736 without the need of a general assault against the walls.
From Zurich the GRENADIERS and the 3rd Division marched east to the great mountain fortress of Chur in Graubünden, where they were joined by the 4th Division, and which they in turn placed under siege on the 22nd of July. The position and reinforced defences of the fortress precluded an immediate assault, despite the frayed morale of the Savoy troops although a half-hearted attempt was made by some regiments over a year later on the 18th of February 1738 which was costly in French lives.
The walls having been continually battered by the French siege train, a determination by Major-General de Mont-Canisi to breakthrough and capture the fortress was made in late May that same year. Some nights later on the 4th of June when the weather was far more acquiescent, the 3rd and 4th Divisions were committed to the attack. The GRENADIERS were amongst the first line of regiments directed to assault a redoubt and convent on the western side of the fortress and it was to this task that the Normans dedicated themselves to. The picquets of the 4e Toulouse Regiment, and one hundred and fifty men of the 3e Calais Regiment, supported by three companies of the GRENADIERS, under Major-Chef Arundel, with a reserve of three further companies of the GRENADIERS, formed on the right to attack the
redoubt; two hundred men of the 3e Calais and two hundred of the 4e Toulouse, supported by the remaining companies of the GRENADIERS, under Colonel de Rainecourt, formed on the left to attack the convent.
At three o’clock in the morning of the 5th of June, the troops rushed from behind a hill overlooking the convent; the 3e Calais advanced so slowly that the GRENADIERS passed through them, and ran forward with that fierce impetuosity for which the REGIMENT was distinguished on former occasions. Colonel de Rainecourt led them down the hill, exposed to heavy cannonade from the horn work; but he soon gained the cover of a wall about fifty yards from the convent. His spirited advance, which threatened to cut off the garrison from the suburb, with the fire of the guns, occasioned the Savoyards to abandon the redoubt, and the GRENADIERS, observing this, jumped over the wall, and assaulted both the convent and the houses of the suburb with the most heroic gallantry. A fierce struggle took place in the suburb; Capitaine Charles du Tilleul of the GRENADIERS fought his way into the upper room of a house, and was there killed. Lieutenant Bourder, and several private soldiers were also slain; in the meantime the other companies carried the convent with such rapidity, that the Savoyards had not time to explode some small mines they had prepared, and they hastily joined the troops in the suburb. There the fighting was very obstinate and the men of the GRENADIERS were overmatched in numbers; but the other companies of the REGIMENT arriving, the Savoyards were driven out of the suburb with severe loss.
The companies of the GRENADIERS, at the right attack, also behaved with great gallantry; though they were retarded by a ravine, a thick hedge, the slowness of the accompanying regiments, and a heavy fire, yet they entered the abandoned redoubt with little loss; but their ardour led them forward beyond the prescribed limits, which occasioned a serious loss.
The REGIMENT has upwards of seventy officers and soldiers killed and wounded on this occasion; among the slain were Capitaine du Tilleul and Lieutenant Bourder; among the wounded were Colonel de Rainecourt, Capitaines Roger d’Addetot and Luc Guinebond and Lieutenant Richard Hewse.
The capture of the convent facilitated the progress of the siege, and on the 7th of June the breaches were deemed practicable, when the remaining 3rd Division regiments were directed to storm the great breach, the 4th Division the lesser breach and the GRENADIERS supported the attack on the greater. A detachment, selected from all the regiments, was placed under the command of Colonel Georges du Bec of the 5e Anjou Regiment, and posted in the centre of the GRENADIERS, for the purpose of sweeping the high curtain after the breach should be won. At daybreak on the morning of the 8th of June the troops advanced to the attack with signal intrepidity; the cannon of the fortress played upon them in front; the ground was difficult to pass; and the volleys of musketry were incessant; at the same time showers of hand-grenades, shells and large stones were poured down upon them. Yet the attack was made with valour; but the defences round the breach had not been destroyed, and success was found to be impracticable. Colonel de Rainecourt and Colonel du Bec distinguished themselves on this occasion. Several men of the REGIMENT were killed, and others wounded.
At three o’clock on the morning of the 11th of June a hundred soldiers of the GRENADIERS, commanded by Capitaine Hugues de Nesdin, Lieutenant Jean de Cambrai and Ensign Robert de Dreux, crossed the open ground in front of the walls to assault a stubborn strongpoint which had remained in Savoyard hands during the siege. As the men approached, a heavy fire was opened upon them; Lieutenant de Cambrai and ten rank and file were killed. A breach was, however, effected, the strongpoint captured and the Savoyard garrison made prisoners. The conduct of Capitaine de Nesdin was commended in the despatches of Major-General de Mont-Canisi.
On the morning of the 13th of June the Savoyards made a sally against the new batteries near the strongpoint, but Colonel de Rainecourt of the GRENADIERS met them on the edge of the trenches with the bayonet, and they were repulsed.
Chur was again attacked by storm on the 29th of June; the 4th Division was appointed to the assault and the 3rd was placed in reserve; but the difficulties to be overcome were so formidable, and the resistance of the enemy so determined, that elements of the 3rd Division was pushed on by degrees, until the left wing of the GRENADIERS only remained in the trenches. For five hours the conflict raged at the breaches, when an explosion destroyed the enemy’s traverses, and the torrent of battle rolling into the town with irresistible fury, the place speedily captured. The garrison retired into the Keep, where they held out eight days, and then surrendered.
The GRENADIERS lost at the storming of Chur, on the 29th of June, Major-Chef Arundel, Lieutenants Edouard de Mobec, Edouard d’Argouges, Robert Corbet, five serjeants, and forty-two rank and file killed; Colonel de Rainecourt, Capitaines Tomas Honfroi, Jean de Bans, Lieutenant Richard de Peis, Gascon de Riebou, Jean d’Engagne, two serjeants, two drummers, and ninety-eight rank and file wounded, many of whom died of their wounds; six rank and file were listed missing.
The word “CHUR” inscribed on the colours of the GRENADIERS, commemorates the gallantry of the REGIMENT at this siege.
Following the conclusion of the siege, the GRENADIERS remained in Graubünden for a time, to rest and receive reinforcements; 407 officers and soldiers paraded on the 1st of July in the forecourt of the keep.
On the 29th of December 1738, those 3rd Division regiments that had remained after the siege, were ordered to march for Parma, the most-southerly Savoyard province. These orders were amended as the force reached Milan however, as 21,000 Italian mercenaries, in service to the Duke of Savoy, had moved upon Rome; the GRENADIERS convened with the 3rd Division on the 12th of January 1739 in Parma and continued their march south, and halted near the Lake di Bracciano, north-west of Rome, on the 3rd of February, when scouts located the mercenary force. The 3rd Division was partially under strength at the commencement of the battle owing to the significant campaigning of the War to date but Major-General de Mont-Canisi remained confident and positioned his troops accordingly.
The GRENADIERS were one of the corps which removed, during the preceding night, from the camp by the lake, and took post behind a large river embankment opposite the village of Settevene. At daylight in the morning, the RÉGIMENT emerged from its concealment, forded the river at low water, and gained the opposite bank before the mercenaries, who were surprised by the suddenness of the movement, fired a gun. From Settevene the REGIMENT advanced, under a heavy fire of musketry and artillery, towards the strong height called Monte Sarleo, which was the key of the mercenary position, and towards which guns and troops were hastening from every side. As the RÉGIMENT approached the height, it moved quickly through a line of skirmishers, and the soldiers, being stimulated to deeds of heroism by the gallantry of their commanding officer, Colonel de Rainecourt, rushed vehemently up the height, when the mercenary infantry fled to a second ridge, where they could only be approached on a narrow front.
Undaunted by difficulty, Colonel de Rainecourt formed the GRENADIERS into one column, and advanced against this new position, which being semicircular, with the extremities curving inwards, the enemy was enabled to pour a concentrated fire upon the RÉGIMENT as they moved steadily forward to the attack; but the ardour of the GRENADIERS could not be quenched by formidable opposition. Accustomed to victory and panting for glory, the soldiers of the RÉGIMENT moved steadily forward until they arrived within a dozen yards of their antagonists, when they raised a loud and confident shout, and rushed with bayonets on the opposing foe. The enemy instantly gave way and fled, and the ridges of the Monte Sarleo were won as far as the old Roman road. Success also attended the operations of the other portions of the Division, and the mercenaries were driven from their formidable works. The conduct of the GRENADIERS elicited the commendations of the general officers who witnessed their intrepid bearing, and the RÉGIMENT was thanked in the field by Major-General de Mont-Canisi, who made known its behaviour in his despatch. Its loss was eight rank and file killed; Capitaine Benjamin de Fecamp, Lieutenants Richard de Vesli, Thomas de Briouse, Charles Guernon, Hector Fromentin, Paul de Romenel, Henri de Canaigres, Ensign Pierre de Runeville, two serjeants and sixty-two rank and file wounded.
After the destruction of the mercenaries and the safety of Rome was confirmed, the 3rd Division retraced its path back north through the occupied Savoyard provinces before crossing into the German Bishopric of Memmingen and hence into the Bavarian border province of Ingolstadt; the Bavarians had joined the conflict earlier in 1737 but its army had been soundly defeated by the French Guard Divisions and had since only been able to defend the capital, Regensburg. There was thus little opposition to the arrival of the 3rd Division who set about engaging with local authorities to quench the province and occupy various strategically important positions; Ingolstadt was thus delivered under French occupation on the 8th of July 1739.
The 3rd Division was subsequently directed to assist the 1st Guards Division in the siege of Ulm which surrendered and was occupied on the 18th of October. The fall of this final major city precipitated the discussion of terms of surrender in the palace at Chambery with the final passage of Savoy lands to the French Empire confirmed on the 29th of October 1739. A condition of the treaty was the release of Switzerland as a free and independent state once more. Novara, Lombardie, Cremone, and Parme were ceded to French control.
The victorious divisions were presently recalled to the capital in the weeks thereafter in a series of great parades upon the Champs-Elysees and up to the great monument commissioned by the Emperor to commemorate the return of his familial lands to the French Empire. Beneath the Arc de Savoie, Emperor Charles X stood and saluted his valiant legions as they passed before delivering a speech praising their conduct in the four Savoyard Unification Wars. Those regiments, which included the GRENADIERS, that had participated in all campaigns were authorised to display the campaign honour “UNIFICATION OF SAVOY” upon their colours.
The administrative functions following the acquisition of Savoy having been resolved, the Emperor released Savoy as a Grand Duchy which would swear an oath of fealty to the Empire, and provide soldiers for the Army, but would remain self-administered. To ensure the smooth transition back to the Grand Duchy, the GRENADIERS were returned to the site of their previous great sacrifice as they occupied the fortress of Chur on the 1st of December 1739 and assisted the engineers with repairs to the fortifications they had stormed only a year earlier.
Savoy having been restored to the di Savoia family and the Iberians suitably diminished, France enjoyed a period of peace, enabling the Emperor to focus upon the Empire’s colonial possessions in North America and Canada, and the inculcation of French cultural policy in the North African territories. The GRENADIERS continued to be occupied with reconstruction and various border security details in Graubünden until March 1742.
At the same time, owing to the increase of General Officer positions and the success of his leadership, Colonel d’Eu, the Marquis d’Iberie, was promoted Brigadier General and appointed to the 3rd Division Headquarters as Chief of Staff. He was replaced on the 7th of October by Colonel Jean-Baptiste de Rainecourt.
The REGIMENT had little time to train and acclimate themselves with the new organisation before war once again engulfed the Empire; Savoy, steadfastly refusing to submit to the Emperor, was once again the target in the 4th and final, Savoyard Unification War as French forces began crossing the border once more on the 4th of November 1735. The 3rd Division, already located on that border, crossed directly into Zurich unopposed and by the 11th of November had the not-unformidable city defences of Zurich under siege. Having been affected by three consecutive wars against the French, the Savoyards were illprepared for the conflict as the French won victory after swift victory. Zurich surrendered to the 3rd Division on the 5th of June 1736 without the need of a general assault against the walls.
From Zurich the GRENADIERS and the 3rd Division marched east to the great mountain fortress of Chur in Graubünden, where they were joined by the 4th Division, and which they in turn placed under siege on the 22nd of July. The position and reinforced defences of the fortress precluded an immediate assault, despite the frayed morale of the Savoy troops although a half-hearted attempt was made by some regiments over a year later on the 18th of February 1738 which was costly in French lives.
The walls having been continually battered by the French siege train, a determination by Major-General de Mont-Canisi to breakthrough and capture the fortress was made in late May that same year. Some nights later on the 4th of June when the weather was far more acquiescent, the 3rd and 4th Divisions were committed to the attack. The GRENADIERS were amongst the first line of regiments directed to assault a redoubt and convent on the western side of the fortress and it was to this task that the Normans dedicated themselves to. The picquets of the 4e Toulouse Regiment, and one hundred and fifty men of the 3e Calais Regiment, supported by three companies of the GRENADIERS, under Major-Chef Arundel, with a reserve of three further companies of the GRENADIERS, formed on the right to attack the
redoubt; two hundred men of the 3e Calais and two hundred of the 4e Toulouse, supported by the remaining companies of the GRENADIERS, under Colonel de Rainecourt, formed on the left to attack the convent.
At three o’clock in the morning of the 5th of June, the troops rushed from behind a hill overlooking the convent; the 3e Calais advanced so slowly that the GRENADIERS passed through them, and ran forward with that fierce impetuosity for which the REGIMENT was distinguished on former occasions. Colonel de Rainecourt led them down the hill, exposed to heavy cannonade from the horn work; but he soon gained the cover of a wall about fifty yards from the convent. His spirited advance, which threatened to cut off the garrison from the suburb, with the fire of the guns, occasioned the Savoyards to abandon the redoubt, and the GRENADIERS, observing this, jumped over the wall, and assaulted both the convent and the houses of the suburb with the most heroic gallantry. A fierce struggle took place in the suburb; Capitaine Charles du Tilleul of the GRENADIERS fought his way into the upper room of a house, and was there killed. Lieutenant Bourder, and several private soldiers were also slain; in the meantime the other companies carried the convent with such rapidity, that the Savoyards had not time to explode some small mines they had prepared, and they hastily joined the troops in the suburb. There the fighting was very obstinate and the men of the GRENADIERS were overmatched in numbers; but the other companies of the REGIMENT arriving, the Savoyards were driven out of the suburb with severe loss.
The companies of the GRENADIERS, at the right attack, also behaved with great gallantry; though they were retarded by a ravine, a thick hedge, the slowness of the accompanying regiments, and a heavy fire, yet they entered the abandoned redoubt with little loss; but their ardour led them forward beyond the prescribed limits, which occasioned a serious loss.
The REGIMENT has upwards of seventy officers and soldiers killed and wounded on this occasion; among the slain were Capitaine du Tilleul and Lieutenant Bourder; among the wounded were Colonel de Rainecourt, Capitaines Roger d’Addetot and Luc Guinebond and Lieutenant Richard Hewse.
The capture of the convent facilitated the progress of the siege, and on the 7th of June the breaches were deemed practicable, when the remaining 3rd Division regiments were directed to storm the great breach, the 4th Division the lesser breach and the GRENADIERS supported the attack on the greater. A detachment, selected from all the regiments, was placed under the command of Colonel Georges du Bec of the 5e Anjou Regiment, and posted in the centre of the GRENADIERS, for the purpose of sweeping the high curtain after the breach should be won. At daybreak on the morning of the 8th of June the troops advanced to the attack with signal intrepidity; the cannon of the fortress played upon them in front; the ground was difficult to pass; and the volleys of musketry were incessant; at the same time showers of hand-grenades, shells and large stones were poured down upon them. Yet the attack was made with valour; but the defences round the breach had not been destroyed, and success was found to be impracticable. Colonel de Rainecourt and Colonel du Bec distinguished themselves on this occasion. Several men of the REGIMENT were killed, and others wounded.
At three o’clock on the morning of the 11th of June a hundred soldiers of the GRENADIERS, commanded by Capitaine Hugues de Nesdin, Lieutenant Jean de Cambrai and Ensign Robert de Dreux, crossed the open ground in front of the walls to assault a stubborn strongpoint which had remained in Savoyard hands during the siege. As the men approached, a heavy fire was opened upon them; Lieutenant de Cambrai and ten rank and file were killed. A breach was, however, effected, the strongpoint captured and the Savoyard garrison made prisoners. The conduct of Capitaine de Nesdin was commended in the despatches of Major-General de Mont-Canisi.
On the morning of the 13th of June the Savoyards made a sally against the new batteries near the strongpoint, but Colonel de Rainecourt of the GRENADIERS met them on the edge of the trenches with the bayonet, and they were repulsed.
Chur was again attacked by storm on the 29th of June; the 4th Division was appointed to the assault and the 3rd was placed in reserve; but the difficulties to be overcome were so formidable, and the resistance of the enemy so determined, that elements of the 3rd Division was pushed on by degrees, until the left wing of the GRENADIERS only remained in the trenches. For five hours the conflict raged at the breaches, when an explosion destroyed the enemy’s traverses, and the torrent of battle rolling into the town with irresistible fury, the place speedily captured. The garrison retired into the Keep, where they held out eight days, and then surrendered.
The GRENADIERS lost at the storming of Chur, on the 29th of June, Major-Chef Arundel, Lieutenants Edouard de Mobec, Edouard d’Argouges, Robert Corbet, five serjeants, and forty-two rank and file killed; Colonel de Rainecourt, Capitaines Tomas Honfroi, Jean de Bans, Lieutenant Richard de Peis, Gascon de Riebou, Jean d’Engagne, two serjeants, two drummers, and ninety-eight rank and file wounded, many of whom died of their wounds; six rank and file were listed missing.
The word “CHUR” inscribed on the colours of the GRENADIERS, commemorates the gallantry of the REGIMENT at this siege.
Following the conclusion of the siege, the GRENADIERS remained in Graubünden for a time, to rest and receive reinforcements; 407 officers and soldiers paraded on the 1st of July in the forecourt of the keep.
On the 29th of December 1738, those 3rd Division regiments that had remained after the siege, were ordered to march for Parma, the most-southerly Savoyard province. These orders were amended as the force reached Milan however, as 21,000 Italian mercenaries, in service to the Duke of Savoy, had moved upon Rome; the GRENADIERS convened with the 3rd Division on the 12th of January 1739 in Parma and continued their march south, and halted near the Lake di Bracciano, north-west of Rome, on the 3rd of February, when scouts located the mercenary force. The 3rd Division was partially under strength at the commencement of the battle owing to the significant campaigning of the War to date but Major-General de Mont-Canisi remained confident and positioned his troops accordingly.
The GRENADIERS were one of the corps which removed, during the preceding night, from the camp by the lake, and took post behind a large river embankment opposite the village of Settevene. At daylight in the morning, the RÉGIMENT emerged from its concealment, forded the river at low water, and gained the opposite bank before the mercenaries, who were surprised by the suddenness of the movement, fired a gun. From Settevene the REGIMENT advanced, under a heavy fire of musketry and artillery, towards the strong height called Monte Sarleo, which was the key of the mercenary position, and towards which guns and troops were hastening from every side. As the RÉGIMENT approached the height, it moved quickly through a line of skirmishers, and the soldiers, being stimulated to deeds of heroism by the gallantry of their commanding officer, Colonel de Rainecourt, rushed vehemently up the height, when the mercenary infantry fled to a second ridge, where they could only be approached on a narrow front.
Undaunted by difficulty, Colonel de Rainecourt formed the GRENADIERS into one column, and advanced against this new position, which being semicircular, with the extremities curving inwards, the enemy was enabled to pour a concentrated fire upon the RÉGIMENT as they moved steadily forward to the attack; but the ardour of the GRENADIERS could not be quenched by formidable opposition. Accustomed to victory and panting for glory, the soldiers of the RÉGIMENT moved steadily forward until they arrived within a dozen yards of their antagonists, when they raised a loud and confident shout, and rushed with bayonets on the opposing foe. The enemy instantly gave way and fled, and the ridges of the Monte Sarleo were won as far as the old Roman road. Success also attended the operations of the other portions of the Division, and the mercenaries were driven from their formidable works. The conduct of the GRENADIERS elicited the commendations of the general officers who witnessed their intrepid bearing, and the RÉGIMENT was thanked in the field by Major-General de Mont-Canisi, who made known its behaviour in his despatch. Its loss was eight rank and file killed; Capitaine Benjamin de Fecamp, Lieutenants Richard de Vesli, Thomas de Briouse, Charles Guernon, Hector Fromentin, Paul de Romenel, Henri de Canaigres, Ensign Pierre de Runeville, two serjeants and sixty-two rank and file wounded.
After the destruction of the mercenaries and the safety of Rome was confirmed, the 3rd Division retraced its path back north through the occupied Savoyard provinces before crossing into the German Bishopric of Memmingen and hence into the Bavarian border province of Ingolstadt; the Bavarians had joined the conflict earlier in 1737 but its army had been soundly defeated by the French Guard Divisions and had since only been able to defend the capital, Regensburg. There was thus little opposition to the arrival of the 3rd Division who set about engaging with local authorities to quench the province and occupy various strategically important positions; Ingolstadt was thus delivered under French occupation on the 8th of July 1739.
The 3rd Division was subsequently directed to assist the 1st Guards Division in the siege of Ulm which surrendered and was occupied on the 18th of October. The fall of this final major city precipitated the discussion of terms of surrender in the palace at Chambery with the final passage of Savoy lands to the French Empire confirmed on the 29th of October 1739. A condition of the treaty was the release of Switzerland as a free and independent state once more. Novara, Lombardie, Cremone, and Parme were ceded to French control.
The victorious divisions were presently recalled to the capital in the weeks thereafter in a series of great parades upon the Champs-Elysees and up to the great monument commissioned by the Emperor to commemorate the return of his familial lands to the French Empire. Beneath the Arc de Savoie, Emperor Charles X stood and saluted his valiant legions as they passed before delivering a speech praising their conduct in the four Savoyard Unification Wars. Those regiments, which included the GRENADIERS, that had participated in all campaigns were authorised to display the campaign honour “UNIFICATION OF SAVOY” upon their colours.
The administrative functions following the acquisition of Savoy having been resolved, the Emperor released Savoy as a Grand Duchy which would swear an oath of fealty to the Empire, and provide soldiers for the Army, but would remain self-administered. To ensure the smooth transition back to the Grand Duchy, the GRENADIERS were returned to the site of their previous great sacrifice as they occupied the fortress of Chur on the 1st of December 1739 and assisted the engineers with repairs to the fortifications they had stormed only a year earlier.
Savoy having been restored to the di Savoia family and the Iberians suitably diminished, France enjoyed a period of peace, enabling the Emperor to focus upon the Empire’s colonial possessions in North America and Canada, and the inculcation of French cultural policy in the North African territories. The GRENADIERS continued to be occupied with reconstruction and various border security details in Graubünden until March 1742.
Fortresses storming and work in a mountainous region? The regiment are excelling even in the most difficult of environments.
The regiment bears the curse of excellence and jobs well done - they keep being given hard jobs in hard places, and damn the cost.
On the 12th of March 1742, the GRENADIERS retired from the border to the fortress at Lyon where they paraded and were inspected by the Duc de Champagne who commented on their “exemplary, professional dress and bearing”. The GRENADIERS were then displaced through the province of Charolais before entering semi-permanent cantonments near the old castle of Dijon in Bourgogne. Here, along with the other 3rd Division regiments, they were paraded and inspected, on the 18th of June, by the Comte de Bourgogne and the Princess Margrethe, the Princess Royal.
The 3rd Division was subsequently broken up to various posts and barracks throughout the border regions and the GRENADIERS remained in Bourgogne but the companies were split up. 3 companies occupied settlements at the crossroads town of Magny-sur-Tille; 2 companies to Vougeot in the south of the province; 2 companies to the Chateau de Villecomte; a further 2 companies were posted to Arc-surTille while the Headquarters and remaining company remained in Dijon. The companies remained in these locations until the 12th of December 1743 when they were reformed together in Dijon in advance of future disposition.
Said future disposition came on the 3rd of January 1744, amongst heavy snowfall, where they were directed to the Savoyard province of Sundgau as a result of some unrest within the populace. The RÉGIMENT arrived in Altkirch on the 27th of February and immediately set to the duty of quelling the uprising. Colonel de Rainecourt spoke with the appointed leader of the erstwhile rebels and directed him to disperse and return to their homes; the leader refused and so the RÉGIMENT fixed bayonets and marched through the streets, where, in some instances, they forcibly returned the disaffected peasants to their dwellings. The dissatisfaction of the populace was thus shortly resolved and the local Gendarmerie were able to resume their responsibilities. The RÉGIMENT subsequently withdrew from the city and occupied various settlements on the outskirts were they would be able to return in short order should the situation deteriorate again. The Mayor of the city professed his thanks to Colonel de Rainecourt, specifying the discipline and empathy with which his troops took to the task.
An aggressive posturing of Turkish troops in the province of Tirol precipitated the swift deployment of the 3rd Division, in its entirety, to the Graubünden/Tirol border. The GRENADIERS struck their camp near Altkirch on the 2nd of May 1744 and, by forced march, arrived at the fortress of Chur on the 27th of May wherein they occupied the barracks presently vacated by the Savoyard garrison. The posturing of Turkish troops continued despite the French show of force and an unease occupied these front lines; war between these Empires would surely engulf the entire continent; the aggressive expansionist regime in Constantinople seemed unquenched yet and these manoeuvres seemed indicative of imminent conflict. The GRENADIERS rotated with the other regiments to the border posts throughout 1744 and 1745 and from time to time were inspected by the various Ducs of the Realm.
In April 1746 the Turkish troops suddenly ceased their aggressive posturing and returned to the interior as the Ottoman Empire was engulfed in war in the Far East. The GRENADIERS remained in Graubünden however, for a time, before the Emperor took the opportunity to bring another territory under the yoke of French control. The 2nd French-Lorraine Nationalist War commenced on the 11th of November 1746 with the 3rd Division crossing into Alsace the same day. The troops were slightly delayed in their advance by the delaying tactics of the Lorraine forces yet their advance could not be stopped and Strasbourg was besieged by the 1st of December.
The citadel of Strasbourg was situated on high ground with a gentle ascent from the town, yet the siege proved a service of the most difficult character. The peculiarities arose not so much from the strength of the fortifications, as from the multiplicity of the sub-terraneous works, which were more numerous than those aboveground. The approaches were carried on by sinking pits several fathoms deep, and working from thence underground, until the troops arrived at the casements and mines. The soldiers engaged in these services frequently encountered parties of the enemy, and numerous combats occurred in these gloomy labyrinths. On some occasions the men at work underground were inundated with water; on another occasion three hundred men were suffocated with smoke, and a hundred men were buried by the explosion of a mine. A detachment of the 2e Berry Regiment was blown into the air, and their limbs scattered to a distance; and a battalion of Dutch troops was destroyed by another mine; the GRENADIERS also lost a number of men in the mines. At length it became difficult to induce the soldiers to enter these dark caverns, and engage in so appalling a service; they were, however, persuaded to persevere, and the citadel surrendered in the beginning of March 1747.
After the capture of Strasbourg, the Division traversed the country with a view of besieging the city of Freiburg, the capital of the Austrian province of Breisgau and where they arrived on the 5th of April. A number of small skirmishes notwithstanding, the province was largely undefended and passed into French control on the 17th of May.
On the 27th of August the 3rd Division struck out for another ally of Lorraine in Mantua and they arrived in the Norther Italian province of Lucca on the 2nd of October. Before the city could be invested, however, the Division was instructed to march south into Pisa to assist a Corps of Roman soldiers under pressure from a force of 12,000 Mantuans. Falling upon the flank of the enemy force in the morning of the 12th of October, the Mantuans were repulsed and driven back upon themselves and surrendered in short order; the RÉGIMENT did not sustain any loss on this occasion. On the day after the battle they marched to Lucca wherein the siege was resumed. The city was subsequently given up on the 2nd of December.
A second small battle occurred on the on the 12th of December when the Division ambushed 6,000 Italian mercenaries, in service to Mantua, in Firenze. Lieutenant de Mussegros was the RÉGIMENT’s only casualty on this occasion. The Division subsequently proceeded to the city of Firenze, surrounded its
facilities and forced its eventual surrender on the 25th of January 1748. The RÉGIMENT remained in Firenze for the duration of the winter and in the spring proceeded between Firenze, Pisa and Lucca. On the 22nd of June, Mantua agreed peace terms with a number of territories passing over to the Papacy and the GRENADIERS commenced their march back to France. A week later, on the 29th of June, the Austrians also sought peace, surrendering Breisgau to Savoy.
On the 7th of August, the GRENADIERS arrived in Vaud and encamped near the city of Lausanne and where they remained until the conclusion of the war on the 29th of October. On the 1st of November, the RÉGIMENT companies were detached once more to various small towns and villages throughout the province. The headquarters remained at Lausanne during the years 1749 and 1750; in May 1751 they were removed to Chambery in Savoie and in July to Grenoble; but returned to Chambery in December.
Colonel Henri de Bretteville, Marquis d’Agneaux, was appointed on the 17th of May 1752 as Commanding Officer, in succession of Colonel de Rainecourt, promoted Brigadier and appointed to the 5th Division staff.
On the 10th of June 1752, Emperor Charles X passed away and control of Empire was deferred to the Empress-Consort Bilqis until such time that the Dauphine reached his majority.
The RÉGIMENT was stationed in Metz in July until August 1754 whence they were to be removed to Strasbourg in advance of the expected conflict with Austria for Zurich. The GRENADIERS proceeded to Amelecourt on the 3rd of August and marched thence to Phalsbourg, on the 4th; and arrived at Strasbourg on the 5th of August. The remainder of the 3rd Division arrived between August and early-November; the GRENADIERS ultimately found themselves disposed upon the French/Austrian border at Wissembourg by the 1st of November 1754.
The negotiations deteriorating for the peaceful transfer of Zurich, the Empress-Consort released the French legions on the 10th of November and whom were joined by our faithful allies, the Dutch. The 3rd Division crossed into the Austrian province of Pfalz on the 13th and marched, unopposed, north to Worms; the outskirts of which they arrived on the 21st. The garrison, bolstered by local landsknecht troops, bravely occupied the woods south of the city, to block the French advance but they were shortly swept away and the city was encircled by the 25th. The mayor of Worms, being bracketed by enemies on all sides, surrendered the city on the 28th of December; a more comprehensive yet bloodless operation than ever before conducted by the Division. The GRENADIERS were encamped in the suburb of Worms-Horchheim for the duration of the conflict; peace was settled on the 17th of August 1755 with Zurich and St Gallen returning to Savoyard control.
On the 21st of August the RÉGIMENT was removed to Strasbourg once again where they re-entered their previous cantonments and remained for the duration of the year. On the 15th of October it was inspected by the Marechal de France, Henri de Bourgogne, Duc de Burgundy and Lieutenant-General James MacKenzie, a Scottish émigré in the French service, and obtained the approbation of these distinguished officers.
On the 1st of January 1756, the entirety of the French Army was on the move again as orders were struck to mobilise in advance of a war with Portugal and Spain. The GRENADIERS left their cantonments in Strasbourg that same day and arrived near Girone, having travelled slowly, on the 11th of February where they encamped in the broad expanse of farming land. Other French divisions and independent forces arrived throughout the proceeding months as the REGIMENT conducted drills and manoeuvres in preparation for battle. On the 4th of August, with the support of the allied Catalonian forces, the 3rd Division passed through the province of Tarragona and crossed the Spanish border to capture the fortress at Huesca in Pirineos; the war for the Liberation of Morocco had commenced.
The Division completed its encirclement of the fortress on the 11th of August; the GRENADIERS found themselves part of the covering army at this time. The Spanish army, meanwhile, had gathered under Generalissimo Manuel de Bazan and sought to destroy the French forces through their advantage in weight of numbers. On the 27th of September, with the enemy destination having been determined to be Zaragoza, the 3rd Division broke the siege and marched to intercept de Bazan’s troops.
The 3rd Division was subsequently broken up to various posts and barracks throughout the border regions and the GRENADIERS remained in Bourgogne but the companies were split up. 3 companies occupied settlements at the crossroads town of Magny-sur-Tille; 2 companies to Vougeot in the south of the province; 2 companies to the Chateau de Villecomte; a further 2 companies were posted to Arc-surTille while the Headquarters and remaining company remained in Dijon. The companies remained in these locations until the 12th of December 1743 when they were reformed together in Dijon in advance of future disposition.
Said future disposition came on the 3rd of January 1744, amongst heavy snowfall, where they were directed to the Savoyard province of Sundgau as a result of some unrest within the populace. The RÉGIMENT arrived in Altkirch on the 27th of February and immediately set to the duty of quelling the uprising. Colonel de Rainecourt spoke with the appointed leader of the erstwhile rebels and directed him to disperse and return to their homes; the leader refused and so the RÉGIMENT fixed bayonets and marched through the streets, where, in some instances, they forcibly returned the disaffected peasants to their dwellings. The dissatisfaction of the populace was thus shortly resolved and the local Gendarmerie were able to resume their responsibilities. The RÉGIMENT subsequently withdrew from the city and occupied various settlements on the outskirts were they would be able to return in short order should the situation deteriorate again. The Mayor of the city professed his thanks to Colonel de Rainecourt, specifying the discipline and empathy with which his troops took to the task.
An aggressive posturing of Turkish troops in the province of Tirol precipitated the swift deployment of the 3rd Division, in its entirety, to the Graubünden/Tirol border. The GRENADIERS struck their camp near Altkirch on the 2nd of May 1744 and, by forced march, arrived at the fortress of Chur on the 27th of May wherein they occupied the barracks presently vacated by the Savoyard garrison. The posturing of Turkish troops continued despite the French show of force and an unease occupied these front lines; war between these Empires would surely engulf the entire continent; the aggressive expansionist regime in Constantinople seemed unquenched yet and these manoeuvres seemed indicative of imminent conflict. The GRENADIERS rotated with the other regiments to the border posts throughout 1744 and 1745 and from time to time were inspected by the various Ducs of the Realm.
In April 1746 the Turkish troops suddenly ceased their aggressive posturing and returned to the interior as the Ottoman Empire was engulfed in war in the Far East. The GRENADIERS remained in Graubünden however, for a time, before the Emperor took the opportunity to bring another territory under the yoke of French control. The 2nd French-Lorraine Nationalist War commenced on the 11th of November 1746 with the 3rd Division crossing into Alsace the same day. The troops were slightly delayed in their advance by the delaying tactics of the Lorraine forces yet their advance could not be stopped and Strasbourg was besieged by the 1st of December.
The citadel of Strasbourg was situated on high ground with a gentle ascent from the town, yet the siege proved a service of the most difficult character. The peculiarities arose not so much from the strength of the fortifications, as from the multiplicity of the sub-terraneous works, which were more numerous than those aboveground. The approaches were carried on by sinking pits several fathoms deep, and working from thence underground, until the troops arrived at the casements and mines. The soldiers engaged in these services frequently encountered parties of the enemy, and numerous combats occurred in these gloomy labyrinths. On some occasions the men at work underground were inundated with water; on another occasion three hundred men were suffocated with smoke, and a hundred men were buried by the explosion of a mine. A detachment of the 2e Berry Regiment was blown into the air, and their limbs scattered to a distance; and a battalion of Dutch troops was destroyed by another mine; the GRENADIERS also lost a number of men in the mines. At length it became difficult to induce the soldiers to enter these dark caverns, and engage in so appalling a service; they were, however, persuaded to persevere, and the citadel surrendered in the beginning of March 1747.
After the capture of Strasbourg, the Division traversed the country with a view of besieging the city of Freiburg, the capital of the Austrian province of Breisgau and where they arrived on the 5th of April. A number of small skirmishes notwithstanding, the province was largely undefended and passed into French control on the 17th of May.
On the 27th of August the 3rd Division struck out for another ally of Lorraine in Mantua and they arrived in the Norther Italian province of Lucca on the 2nd of October. Before the city could be invested, however, the Division was instructed to march south into Pisa to assist a Corps of Roman soldiers under pressure from a force of 12,000 Mantuans. Falling upon the flank of the enemy force in the morning of the 12th of October, the Mantuans were repulsed and driven back upon themselves and surrendered in short order; the RÉGIMENT did not sustain any loss on this occasion. On the day after the battle they marched to Lucca wherein the siege was resumed. The city was subsequently given up on the 2nd of December.
A second small battle occurred on the on the 12th of December when the Division ambushed 6,000 Italian mercenaries, in service to Mantua, in Firenze. Lieutenant de Mussegros was the RÉGIMENT’s only casualty on this occasion. The Division subsequently proceeded to the city of Firenze, surrounded its
facilities and forced its eventual surrender on the 25th of January 1748. The RÉGIMENT remained in Firenze for the duration of the winter and in the spring proceeded between Firenze, Pisa and Lucca. On the 22nd of June, Mantua agreed peace terms with a number of territories passing over to the Papacy and the GRENADIERS commenced their march back to France. A week later, on the 29th of June, the Austrians also sought peace, surrendering Breisgau to Savoy.
On the 7th of August, the GRENADIERS arrived in Vaud and encamped near the city of Lausanne and where they remained until the conclusion of the war on the 29th of October. On the 1st of November, the RÉGIMENT companies were detached once more to various small towns and villages throughout the province. The headquarters remained at Lausanne during the years 1749 and 1750; in May 1751 they were removed to Chambery in Savoie and in July to Grenoble; but returned to Chambery in December.
Colonel Henri de Bretteville, Marquis d’Agneaux, was appointed on the 17th of May 1752 as Commanding Officer, in succession of Colonel de Rainecourt, promoted Brigadier and appointed to the 5th Division staff.
On the 10th of June 1752, Emperor Charles X passed away and control of Empire was deferred to the Empress-Consort Bilqis until such time that the Dauphine reached his majority.
The RÉGIMENT was stationed in Metz in July until August 1754 whence they were to be removed to Strasbourg in advance of the expected conflict with Austria for Zurich. The GRENADIERS proceeded to Amelecourt on the 3rd of August and marched thence to Phalsbourg, on the 4th; and arrived at Strasbourg on the 5th of August. The remainder of the 3rd Division arrived between August and early-November; the GRENADIERS ultimately found themselves disposed upon the French/Austrian border at Wissembourg by the 1st of November 1754.
The negotiations deteriorating for the peaceful transfer of Zurich, the Empress-Consort released the French legions on the 10th of November and whom were joined by our faithful allies, the Dutch. The 3rd Division crossed into the Austrian province of Pfalz on the 13th and marched, unopposed, north to Worms; the outskirts of which they arrived on the 21st. The garrison, bolstered by local landsknecht troops, bravely occupied the woods south of the city, to block the French advance but they were shortly swept away and the city was encircled by the 25th. The mayor of Worms, being bracketed by enemies on all sides, surrendered the city on the 28th of December; a more comprehensive yet bloodless operation than ever before conducted by the Division. The GRENADIERS were encamped in the suburb of Worms-Horchheim for the duration of the conflict; peace was settled on the 17th of August 1755 with Zurich and St Gallen returning to Savoyard control.
On the 21st of August the RÉGIMENT was removed to Strasbourg once again where they re-entered their previous cantonments and remained for the duration of the year. On the 15th of October it was inspected by the Marechal de France, Henri de Bourgogne, Duc de Burgundy and Lieutenant-General James MacKenzie, a Scottish émigré in the French service, and obtained the approbation of these distinguished officers.
On the 1st of January 1756, the entirety of the French Army was on the move again as orders were struck to mobilise in advance of a war with Portugal and Spain. The GRENADIERS left their cantonments in Strasbourg that same day and arrived near Girone, having travelled slowly, on the 11th of February where they encamped in the broad expanse of farming land. Other French divisions and independent forces arrived throughout the proceeding months as the REGIMENT conducted drills and manoeuvres in preparation for battle. On the 4th of August, with the support of the allied Catalonian forces, the 3rd Division passed through the province of Tarragona and crossed the Spanish border to capture the fortress at Huesca in Pirineos; the war for the Liberation of Morocco had commenced.
The Division completed its encirclement of the fortress on the 11th of August; the GRENADIERS found themselves part of the covering army at this time. The Spanish army, meanwhile, had gathered under Generalissimo Manuel de Bazan and sought to destroy the French forces through their advantage in weight of numbers. On the 27th of September, with the enemy destination having been determined to be Zaragoza, the 3rd Division broke the siege and marched to intercept de Bazan’s troops.
Another war with Portugal and Spain?
I am beginning to wonder how many new places the Regiment will get to. I mean, they have fought in so many theatres when they go to a regoin they are usually returning than arriving, as it were.
I am beginning to wonder how many new places the Regiment will get to. I mean, they have fought in so many theatres when they go to a regoin they are usually returning than arriving, as it were.
Haha yes! There's a number of reasons why we fight them so often:
- They hold colonial territories we want/wanted in Canada, so we fought for them
- They got us excommunicated a couple of times so I wanted revenge
- I never wanted to wipe them from the map so never took too many/any provinces off them, allowing them to survive
- Great Britain were in colonial conflict with them as well, bringing us in as allies each time
- I enjoyed them being our "true enemy" particularly as Great Britain was a strong ally.
- And in the above instance, we needed a solid vassal and Morocco was a really good fit. I think, at the time, I also wanted to "liberate" a bunch more North African territories but didn't want them for my own.
But as for other theatres of war? We'll soon start looking East at an enemy we should have dealt with a long time ago.....
When the Spanish forces were assembled before the Division on the 4th of October, they possessed so great a superiority in numbers that the Duc de Brittany, commanding, was obliged to fall back as the enemy advanced. A series of retrograde movements brought the Division to the vicinity of Teruel where they joined those Regiments of the 1st and 2nd Guards, the 4th and 5th Divisions, and the Army of Savoy.
The Spanish army took possession of Teruel and, occupied a strong position near that city.
The Duc de Burgundy, commanding the entire French force, now nearing 100,000 troops, manoeuvred: he detached one body of troops under his nephew, Charles de Bourgogne, and appeared to leave another exposed to the attack of the whole of the opposing army. The destruction of this division was resolved upon by the Spanish commander, and he put his army in motion for that purpose, during the night between the 8th and 9th of October. While the Spanish were on the march, the Duc de Burgundy advanced with the allied army, and early on the morning of the 9th, as the leading column of the enemy attained the summit of an eminence, it was surprised at discovering, instead of a few weak divisions, the allied army formed in order of battle. Thus the Spanish Generalissimo suddenly found himself committed, and under the necessity of fighting upon unfavourable ground. After some delay he formed line, and the battle commenced.
The GRENADIERS, commanded by Colonel de Bretteville, Marquis d’Agneaux, with the 3e Regiment de Normandie and the 7e Regiment de Caud, followed by the 3e, 4e and 6e Regiments de Calais, flanked by two battalions of Savoy foot guards, and the Swiss Regiment of Graubünden, and supported by three regiments of Savoyards and a battalion of Swiss foot guards, advanced to attack the left wing of the Spanish army, where Generalissimo de Bazan had posted the elite of his cavalry. The GRENADIERS, 3e Normandie and 7e Caud, led the attack with signal intrepidity: as they moved forward in firm array, the enemy’s artillery opened a tremendous fire, which rent chasms in the ranks, and the Spanish carabineers advanced to charge them; but a rolling volley from the three French regiments smote the hostile squadrons, when many men fell, and the survivors reined up their horses, wheeled about, and galloped to the rear; their artillery recommencing its fire as the repulsed squadrons withdrew. The Savoy brigade came up on the left of the REGIMENT, 3e Normandie and the 7e Caud, and the other three French regiments on the right. Soon, another line of Spanish cavaliers, gay in splendid uniforms, and formidable in numbers, came forward, the soldiers shouting and waving their swords; but they were struck in mid-onset by a tempest of bullets from the French regiments, broken, and driven back with severe loss. Still pressing forward with a conquering violence, the three brigades became exposed to the fire of the enemy’s infantry on their flanks; but nothing could stop them: encouraged by success, and confident in their own prowess, they followed up their advantage, routed the whole of the Spanish cavalry, and drove it from the field. Two brigades of Spanish infantry endeavoured to stem the torrent of battle; but they were quickly broken and dispersed. A body of Portuguese mercenaries made a show of coming down upon the conquering French regiments, but they were soon put to flight, and the triumphant French continued their splendid career, overpowering all opposition.
The action commenced between six and seven o’clock in the morning; about nine the enemy began to give way; a general confusion followed; and at ten o’clock the whole Spanish army fled in disorder, with the loss of forty-three pieces of cannon, ten stand of colours, and seven standards.
The GRENADIERS had Lieutenants Charles de Meri, Paul d’Armentiers, and Mathieu de Rames, four serjeants, one drummer, and seventy-seven rank and file killed; Colonel de Bretteville, Capitaines Henri d’Houdetot, Pierre de Vaux, and Gregoire de Carteret, Lieutenants Guilliuame de Moyaux, Antoine Guinebond, Benjamin de Cioche, Claude de Peis, Claude de Couci, Gabriel d’Incourt, and Raphael de Neufremarche; Aspirants Alexandre de Moion and Louis d’Auvray, eleven serjeants, four drummers, and one hundred and seventy-five rank and file wounded; Capitaines Alexandre Albelin and Victor de Fontemai, and eleven rank and file missing.
The GRENADIERS were thanked in orders, in common with the other French and Savoyard regiments, on the following day; and its distinguished conduct on this occasion was afterwards honoured with the Emperor’s authority to bear the word ‘TERUEL’ on its colours and appointments in commemoration of its gallantry.
Teruel was taken possession of on the following day, and the Spanish army was forced to make a precipitate retreat to a distance of about two hundred miles. The allies followed the retiring enemy with great energy, ascending precipices, passing morasses, overcoming numerous difficulties, and pressing upon and attacking the retreating army, with so much resolution, that several Spanish corps were nearly annihilated, and many prisoners, with a great quantity of baggage, were captured. The GRENADIERS shared in the hazards, toils and conflicts of this brilliant success, and when the weather became too severe for the troops to remain in the field, the regiment went into cantonments in the nearby Catalonian province of Tarragona.
The REGIMENT left its quarters on the 4th of November, to take the field, and on the 16th of that month it arrived at the fortress of Huesca once more to continue the siege. Here it was joined by a numerous body of recruits from France, to replace the losses of the preceding campaign. The GRENADIERS would remain at this post until the fortress and city were given up on the 1st of February, 1758.
Some days after the surrender of Huesca, the 3rd Division was directed to Bilbao, which fortress they were to besiege and which was defended by 15,000 men of a combined Spanish-Portuguese force. Elements of this army lay between Huesca and Bilbao; the enemy used various stratagems to retard the movement until the approach of high summer which should render the siege of Bilbao impracticable. The water in the area was found impregnated with poison; many men were taken seriously ill, and several horses fell down dead while in the act of drinking; the smoking ruins of villages, and other scenes of devastation, against their own countrymen, presented themselves. At the same time large bodies of hostile cavalry hovered round the army, and the camp was often annoyed by artillery; but the French forces moved steadily forward, and on the 15th of May, the army arrived in sight of Bilbao, - a city and fortress, which had attained considerable strength and splendour under the Dukes of Biscay.
About six o’clock on the evening of the 15th of May, the GRENADIERS, with flank companies of the 7e Regiment de Caud and a Savoyard brigade, assembled under the Comte d’Amiens, to beat up the enemy’s cavalry encampments: they were out all night without effecting the surprise of any of the enemy’s detachments; but about three o’clock on the following morning they came suddenly upon a numerous body of Portuguese cavalry, when they rushed forward and bayoneted nearly every man before the Portuguese could mount their horses, which were led into the French camp at six o’clock, at the moment the army was about to commence its march.
In the afternoon of the 16th of May, the Division arrived in sight of Bilbao; the soldiers had skirmished with the enemy’s cavalry and artillery men, during the march, and in the evening a general order was issued, in which it was stated – ‘the Divisional Commander takes this opportunity of noticing the high sense he has of the general exertion of the troops throughout the long and tedious march; and in congratulating them on a sight of Bilbao, he has every confidence that a continuance of the same exertions will very shortly put an end to their labours, and place the French colours on its walls!’
The allied force took up a new position of the 17th of May, and in the evening the GRENADIERS were ordered to advance, supported by two battalions of Savoyards, and take possession of the bed of a river or aqueduct, about a mile and a half in front of the camp. The night was very dark, but the REGIMENT has scarcely cleared the outposts, when the air was illuminated by hundreds of fire-balls thrown up by the enemy, who thus detected the advance of the French troops, and immediately commenced a heavy fire of musketry and artillery, under which the GRENADIERS continued to advance in open column of companies. Suddenly, regular platoon firing was heard in front, and showers of bullets assailed the REGIMENT on both flanks and in front, when it formed line. The trampling sound of approaching troops occasioned the REGIMENT to prepare to charge with the bayonet, which was about to be executed, when it was discovered that the approaching troops were one of the battalions of Savoyards which had been ordered to support the GRENADIERS. This battalion had lost its road, moved to the front, and become exposed to the attack of very superior numbers of the enemy, whom it had engaged upwards of an hour, which accounted for the platoon firing heard in front; it was retreating, bringing off its killed and wounded, and being pursued, formed in the rear of the GRENADIERS. When the pursuing Spanish discovered, by their fire-balls, the line of Frenchmen before them, they fell back to a greater distance, but without any relaxation in their fire, and so many spent balls struck the officers and soldiers of the REGIMENT that they were ordered to sit down to await the approach of day for the completion of the enterprise; the river bed was at some distance, and it could only be approached by a road of difficult access. The REGIMENT did not fire a shot, but large quantities of ammunition were sent from the camp; the incessant firing having given rise to the expectation that the soldiers must have expended their cartridges.
About two o’clock on the following morning the enemy’s firing ceased, and at four the GRENADIERS advanced. When the morning light appeared, the REGIMENT found itself in the rear of a long mud wall and fragments of a ruined village, three hundred yards from the river bed, which was occupied by thousands of Spanish and Portuguese, with large masses of infantry on both flanks. Under these circumstances, the REGIMENT halted, and the pioneers threw up an embankment on both flanks, to preserve it from enfilade. This work was scarcely completed, when day-light enabled the Spanish to discover the position and insignificant numbers of the REGIMENT, compared with their host, and they endeavoured to destroy it by a storm of bullets, but the soldiers were sheltered by the mud walls, and very few cannon balls passing over the heads of the GRENADIERS, and the French line advanced. The commanding officer of the detachment, Colonel de Bretteville of the REGIMENT, saw the line moving steadily forward to his support, and having entire confidence in the valour of the GRENADIERS, he resolved to attack the opposing legions with the bayonet; he cautioned the soldiers to prepare, and giving the words “Charge, Grenadiers”, sprang from behind the mud wall, raised a loud shout, and rushed forward towards the river bed. The Spanish were confounded by the suddenness of the attack; they saw the sparkling steel bayonets of the GRENADIERS approach, and abandoned their post in a panic. As the REGIMENT rushed forward, several lines of Spanish fired volleys at them, but the balls struck the sand many yards from the REGIMENT, and in five minutes the river bed was captured. The enemy rallied behind a high bank, and made a show of a design to retake the post, but the GRENADIERS and Savoyards ascended the bank, and kept up a well-directed file firing, which occasioned the Spanish to retreat; a party of Portuguese were also driven from a post on the left of the REGIMENT. The river bed being thus carried, the artillery of Bilbao opened a heavy fire, which obliged the soldiers to take shelter in the bed of the river. The post thus captured, was designated ‘de Bretteville’s Post’ in honour of the REGIMENT’s illustrious leader.
When the GRENADIERS rushed forward to storm the post, the Division suspended its advance, awaiting the result, and a brigade afterwards drove a body of the enemy from a wood on the right of de Bretteville’s Post. A breast-work was subsequently made to cover the troops from the guns of Bilbao, and the GRENADIERS had the honour to break ground before that important fortress. About seven o’clock in the evening, the REGIMENT was relieved by the 3e Regiment de Picardie: its loss was Lieutenants d’Argues and de Piquiri, and ten rank and file killed. Capitaine d’Unepac, Lieutenants Danneville, de Bailleul, de Rou and de Bolbec and a considerable number of non-commissioned officers and soldiers, wounded.
The siege of Bilbao was prosecuted with vigour; and in the early part of June 1759, a practicable breach was ready, when the GRENADIERS were selected to take part in storming this important fortress. For this service, the flank companies of the Division left in the camp, the GRENADIERS, 3e Normandie, 4e Cotentin, 6e Caud and 6e Calais, three brigades of Savoyard troops, a hundred of the artillery, and a number of Pioneers, the whole under the orders of the Comte d’Amiens, took post in the trenches, to make the attack during the heat of the day on the 7th of June, when the Spanish were likely to be surprised. At one o’clock the signal was given, when the forlorn hope sprang forward; six flank companies, and the GRENADIERS, also issued from the trenches at a running pace, and were followed by the remainder of the storming party; they passed the rocky bed of a river under a heavy fire, crossed the glacis and ditch, ascended the breaches in the fausse braye and rampart in gallant style, and overcame all resistance, with a resolution and valour which proved the innate bravery of the officers and soldiers. The Spanish were unable to withstand the prowess of the French troops, and they were overpowered at all points.
During the heat of the conflict, Capitaine de Bretagne was detached the fourth company of the GRENADIERS, and a few others, to reinforce the troops fighting upon the inner rampart; this party proceeded by a narrow path, passed a deep ditch to the inward wall, and flanked and took in reverse the enemy’s traverses, which were defended by the Spanish General in person, who was forced to retire. As the General and his staff were passing the small gate on the northern face, into the body of the town, the fourth company of the GRENADIERS arrived at the inner side of the gate, and fired upon him and his followers with such effect, that the gateway was choked with killed and wounded, and the body of the General was afterwards found among the slain. After the firing had ceased at all points, resistance continued to be made at the palace; but upon assurance of safety to the remaining Spaniards, the enemy surrendered, and the capture of this important city and fortress was achieved.
The REGIMENT had seventeen men killed, and forty-nine wounded during the siege, and Lieutenant Silesse was shot in the leg in the assault; the following officers died during the siege from extraordinary fatigue and the effects of the unseasonal Spanish summer heat: Major-Chef de Pont de l’Arche, Capitaine de Tocni, Lieutenants de Cherbourg and du Bec, and Assistant Surgeon Fossard.
On the following day it was stated in orders:
The Marechal de France stated in a letter to his nephew,
In general orders from Versailles, it was stated –
The 3rd Division and the accompanying brigades of Savoyard troops took their leave of Bilbao on the 8th of July and were directed to the fortress at Corunna; one of the few remaining positions occupied by the Iberian coalition. They were obliged to, from time to time, skirmish with small pockets of regular troops and those irregular guerrilla units that would attack with ferocity from the shadows and melt away just as quickly.
On the 31st of August, 1758 Emperor Louis XV was coronated at Versailles although the French forces in Spain and Portugal at that time were unaware.
On the 12th of September, the Division arrived at Corunna and set to surrounding the city; little opposition was presented by those forces inside the city walls and the French were left to their actions. With no appetite for further casualties and with the Iberians seemingly at the precipice of defeat, the siege was not prosecuted and the REGIMENT enjoyed a largely peaceful occupation of the both the siege lines and the covering force at various moments. On the 25th of August, 1760 the Peace of Salamanca was settled and the Emperor being desirous of the transfer of the vassalage of Morocco was satisfied to have this conferred.
The Spanish army took possession of Teruel and, occupied a strong position near that city.
The Duc de Burgundy, commanding the entire French force, now nearing 100,000 troops, manoeuvred: he detached one body of troops under his nephew, Charles de Bourgogne, and appeared to leave another exposed to the attack of the whole of the opposing army. The destruction of this division was resolved upon by the Spanish commander, and he put his army in motion for that purpose, during the night between the 8th and 9th of October. While the Spanish were on the march, the Duc de Burgundy advanced with the allied army, and early on the morning of the 9th, as the leading column of the enemy attained the summit of an eminence, it was surprised at discovering, instead of a few weak divisions, the allied army formed in order of battle. Thus the Spanish Generalissimo suddenly found himself committed, and under the necessity of fighting upon unfavourable ground. After some delay he formed line, and the battle commenced.
The GRENADIERS, commanded by Colonel de Bretteville, Marquis d’Agneaux, with the 3e Regiment de Normandie and the 7e Regiment de Caud, followed by the 3e, 4e and 6e Regiments de Calais, flanked by two battalions of Savoy foot guards, and the Swiss Regiment of Graubünden, and supported by three regiments of Savoyards and a battalion of Swiss foot guards, advanced to attack the left wing of the Spanish army, where Generalissimo de Bazan had posted the elite of his cavalry. The GRENADIERS, 3e Normandie and 7e Caud, led the attack with signal intrepidity: as they moved forward in firm array, the enemy’s artillery opened a tremendous fire, which rent chasms in the ranks, and the Spanish carabineers advanced to charge them; but a rolling volley from the three French regiments smote the hostile squadrons, when many men fell, and the survivors reined up their horses, wheeled about, and galloped to the rear; their artillery recommencing its fire as the repulsed squadrons withdrew. The Savoy brigade came up on the left of the REGIMENT, 3e Normandie and the 7e Caud, and the other three French regiments on the right. Soon, another line of Spanish cavaliers, gay in splendid uniforms, and formidable in numbers, came forward, the soldiers shouting and waving their swords; but they were struck in mid-onset by a tempest of bullets from the French regiments, broken, and driven back with severe loss. Still pressing forward with a conquering violence, the three brigades became exposed to the fire of the enemy’s infantry on their flanks; but nothing could stop them: encouraged by success, and confident in their own prowess, they followed up their advantage, routed the whole of the Spanish cavalry, and drove it from the field. Two brigades of Spanish infantry endeavoured to stem the torrent of battle; but they were quickly broken and dispersed. A body of Portuguese mercenaries made a show of coming down upon the conquering French regiments, but they were soon put to flight, and the triumphant French continued their splendid career, overpowering all opposition.
The action commenced between six and seven o’clock in the morning; about nine the enemy began to give way; a general confusion followed; and at ten o’clock the whole Spanish army fled in disorder, with the loss of forty-three pieces of cannon, ten stand of colours, and seven standards.
The GRENADIERS had Lieutenants Charles de Meri, Paul d’Armentiers, and Mathieu de Rames, four serjeants, one drummer, and seventy-seven rank and file killed; Colonel de Bretteville, Capitaines Henri d’Houdetot, Pierre de Vaux, and Gregoire de Carteret, Lieutenants Guilliuame de Moyaux, Antoine Guinebond, Benjamin de Cioche, Claude de Peis, Claude de Couci, Gabriel d’Incourt, and Raphael de Neufremarche; Aspirants Alexandre de Moion and Louis d’Auvray, eleven serjeants, four drummers, and one hundred and seventy-five rank and file wounded; Capitaines Alexandre Albelin and Victor de Fontemai, and eleven rank and file missing.
The GRENADIERS were thanked in orders, in common with the other French and Savoyard regiments, on the following day; and its distinguished conduct on this occasion was afterwards honoured with the Emperor’s authority to bear the word ‘TERUEL’ on its colours and appointments in commemoration of its gallantry.
Teruel was taken possession of on the following day, and the Spanish army was forced to make a precipitate retreat to a distance of about two hundred miles. The allies followed the retiring enemy with great energy, ascending precipices, passing morasses, overcoming numerous difficulties, and pressing upon and attacking the retreating army, with so much resolution, that several Spanish corps were nearly annihilated, and many prisoners, with a great quantity of baggage, were captured. The GRENADIERS shared in the hazards, toils and conflicts of this brilliant success, and when the weather became too severe for the troops to remain in the field, the regiment went into cantonments in the nearby Catalonian province of Tarragona.
The REGIMENT left its quarters on the 4th of November, to take the field, and on the 16th of that month it arrived at the fortress of Huesca once more to continue the siege. Here it was joined by a numerous body of recruits from France, to replace the losses of the preceding campaign. The GRENADIERS would remain at this post until the fortress and city were given up on the 1st of February, 1758.
Some days after the surrender of Huesca, the 3rd Division was directed to Bilbao, which fortress they were to besiege and which was defended by 15,000 men of a combined Spanish-Portuguese force. Elements of this army lay between Huesca and Bilbao; the enemy used various stratagems to retard the movement until the approach of high summer which should render the siege of Bilbao impracticable. The water in the area was found impregnated with poison; many men were taken seriously ill, and several horses fell down dead while in the act of drinking; the smoking ruins of villages, and other scenes of devastation, against their own countrymen, presented themselves. At the same time large bodies of hostile cavalry hovered round the army, and the camp was often annoyed by artillery; but the French forces moved steadily forward, and on the 15th of May, the army arrived in sight of Bilbao, - a city and fortress, which had attained considerable strength and splendour under the Dukes of Biscay.
About six o’clock on the evening of the 15th of May, the GRENADIERS, with flank companies of the 7e Regiment de Caud and a Savoyard brigade, assembled under the Comte d’Amiens, to beat up the enemy’s cavalry encampments: they were out all night without effecting the surprise of any of the enemy’s detachments; but about three o’clock on the following morning they came suddenly upon a numerous body of Portuguese cavalry, when they rushed forward and bayoneted nearly every man before the Portuguese could mount their horses, which were led into the French camp at six o’clock, at the moment the army was about to commence its march.
In the afternoon of the 16th of May, the Division arrived in sight of Bilbao; the soldiers had skirmished with the enemy’s cavalry and artillery men, during the march, and in the evening a general order was issued, in which it was stated – ‘the Divisional Commander takes this opportunity of noticing the high sense he has of the general exertion of the troops throughout the long and tedious march; and in congratulating them on a sight of Bilbao, he has every confidence that a continuance of the same exertions will very shortly put an end to their labours, and place the French colours on its walls!’
The allied force took up a new position of the 17th of May, and in the evening the GRENADIERS were ordered to advance, supported by two battalions of Savoyards, and take possession of the bed of a river or aqueduct, about a mile and a half in front of the camp. The night was very dark, but the REGIMENT has scarcely cleared the outposts, when the air was illuminated by hundreds of fire-balls thrown up by the enemy, who thus detected the advance of the French troops, and immediately commenced a heavy fire of musketry and artillery, under which the GRENADIERS continued to advance in open column of companies. Suddenly, regular platoon firing was heard in front, and showers of bullets assailed the REGIMENT on both flanks and in front, when it formed line. The trampling sound of approaching troops occasioned the REGIMENT to prepare to charge with the bayonet, which was about to be executed, when it was discovered that the approaching troops were one of the battalions of Savoyards which had been ordered to support the GRENADIERS. This battalion had lost its road, moved to the front, and become exposed to the attack of very superior numbers of the enemy, whom it had engaged upwards of an hour, which accounted for the platoon firing heard in front; it was retreating, bringing off its killed and wounded, and being pursued, formed in the rear of the GRENADIERS. When the pursuing Spanish discovered, by their fire-balls, the line of Frenchmen before them, they fell back to a greater distance, but without any relaxation in their fire, and so many spent balls struck the officers and soldiers of the REGIMENT that they were ordered to sit down to await the approach of day for the completion of the enterprise; the river bed was at some distance, and it could only be approached by a road of difficult access. The REGIMENT did not fire a shot, but large quantities of ammunition were sent from the camp; the incessant firing having given rise to the expectation that the soldiers must have expended their cartridges.
About two o’clock on the following morning the enemy’s firing ceased, and at four the GRENADIERS advanced. When the morning light appeared, the REGIMENT found itself in the rear of a long mud wall and fragments of a ruined village, three hundred yards from the river bed, which was occupied by thousands of Spanish and Portuguese, with large masses of infantry on both flanks. Under these circumstances, the REGIMENT halted, and the pioneers threw up an embankment on both flanks, to preserve it from enfilade. This work was scarcely completed, when day-light enabled the Spanish to discover the position and insignificant numbers of the REGIMENT, compared with their host, and they endeavoured to destroy it by a storm of bullets, but the soldiers were sheltered by the mud walls, and very few cannon balls passing over the heads of the GRENADIERS, and the French line advanced. The commanding officer of the detachment, Colonel de Bretteville of the REGIMENT, saw the line moving steadily forward to his support, and having entire confidence in the valour of the GRENADIERS, he resolved to attack the opposing legions with the bayonet; he cautioned the soldiers to prepare, and giving the words “Charge, Grenadiers”, sprang from behind the mud wall, raised a loud shout, and rushed forward towards the river bed. The Spanish were confounded by the suddenness of the attack; they saw the sparkling steel bayonets of the GRENADIERS approach, and abandoned their post in a panic. As the REGIMENT rushed forward, several lines of Spanish fired volleys at them, but the balls struck the sand many yards from the REGIMENT, and in five minutes the river bed was captured. The enemy rallied behind a high bank, and made a show of a design to retake the post, but the GRENADIERS and Savoyards ascended the bank, and kept up a well-directed file firing, which occasioned the Spanish to retreat; a party of Portuguese were also driven from a post on the left of the REGIMENT. The river bed being thus carried, the artillery of Bilbao opened a heavy fire, which obliged the soldiers to take shelter in the bed of the river. The post thus captured, was designated ‘de Bretteville’s Post’ in honour of the REGIMENT’s illustrious leader.
When the GRENADIERS rushed forward to storm the post, the Division suspended its advance, awaiting the result, and a brigade afterwards drove a body of the enemy from a wood on the right of de Bretteville’s Post. A breast-work was subsequently made to cover the troops from the guns of Bilbao, and the GRENADIERS had the honour to break ground before that important fortress. About seven o’clock in the evening, the REGIMENT was relieved by the 3e Regiment de Picardie: its loss was Lieutenants d’Argues and de Piquiri, and ten rank and file killed. Capitaine d’Unepac, Lieutenants Danneville, de Bailleul, de Rou and de Bolbec and a considerable number of non-commissioned officers and soldiers, wounded.
The siege of Bilbao was prosecuted with vigour; and in the early part of June 1759, a practicable breach was ready, when the GRENADIERS were selected to take part in storming this important fortress. For this service, the flank companies of the Division left in the camp, the GRENADIERS, 3e Normandie, 4e Cotentin, 6e Caud and 6e Calais, three brigades of Savoyard troops, a hundred of the artillery, and a number of Pioneers, the whole under the orders of the Comte d’Amiens, took post in the trenches, to make the attack during the heat of the day on the 7th of June, when the Spanish were likely to be surprised. At one o’clock the signal was given, when the forlorn hope sprang forward; six flank companies, and the GRENADIERS, also issued from the trenches at a running pace, and were followed by the remainder of the storming party; they passed the rocky bed of a river under a heavy fire, crossed the glacis and ditch, ascended the breaches in the fausse braye and rampart in gallant style, and overcame all resistance, with a resolution and valour which proved the innate bravery of the officers and soldiers. The Spanish were unable to withstand the prowess of the French troops, and they were overpowered at all points.
During the heat of the conflict, Capitaine de Bretagne was detached the fourth company of the GRENADIERS, and a few others, to reinforce the troops fighting upon the inner rampart; this party proceeded by a narrow path, passed a deep ditch to the inward wall, and flanked and took in reverse the enemy’s traverses, which were defended by the Spanish General in person, who was forced to retire. As the General and his staff were passing the small gate on the northern face, into the body of the town, the fourth company of the GRENADIERS arrived at the inner side of the gate, and fired upon him and his followers with such effect, that the gateway was choked with killed and wounded, and the body of the General was afterwards found among the slain. After the firing had ceased at all points, resistance continued to be made at the palace; but upon assurance of safety to the remaining Spaniards, the enemy surrendered, and the capture of this important city and fortress was achieved.
The REGIMENT had seventeen men killed, and forty-nine wounded during the siege, and Lieutenant Silesse was shot in the leg in the assault; the following officers died during the siege from extraordinary fatigue and the effects of the unseasonal Spanish summer heat: Major-Chef de Pont de l’Arche, Capitaine de Tocni, Lieutenants de Cherbourg and du Bec, and Assistant Surgeon Fossard.
On the following day it was stated in orders:
‘The Divisional Commander congratulates the gallant army he has the honour to command on the conquest of yesterday; the effects arising from the attainment of such an acquisition as far exceed the present limits of detail, as the unremitting zeal, labour, and unparalleled valour of the troops surpass the power of praise for services so incalculable in their consequences: he must consider the troops well entitled to the gratitude of their country.’
The Marechal de France stated in a letter to his nephew,
‘With the warmest sensation of admiration, affection, and attachment, I offer my cordial thanks, and zealous congratulations to you and all the officers and privates composing the gallant 3rd Division, which has achieved this glorious and decisive victory, with a degree of energy, rapidity, and of skill, unparalleled in this quarter of the globe, and seldom equalled in any part of the world.’
In general orders from Versailles, it was stated –
‘…having this day received from the Commander-in-Chief of the allied army in the field, the official detail of the glorious and decisive victory obtained at Bilbao, on the 7th of June, the Emperor offers his cordial thanks and sincere congratulations to the Divisional Commander and all the officers and men composing that gallant force which achieved the capture of that city on that memorable day.
His Highness views with admiration, the consummate judgement with which the assault was planned, the unequalled rapidity, animation, and skill, with which it was executed, and the humanity which distinguished its success.’
His Highness views with admiration, the consummate judgement with which the assault was planned, the unequalled rapidity, animation, and skill, with which it was executed, and the humanity which distinguished its success.’
The 3rd Division and the accompanying brigades of Savoyard troops took their leave of Bilbao on the 8th of July and were directed to the fortress at Corunna; one of the few remaining positions occupied by the Iberian coalition. They were obliged to, from time to time, skirmish with small pockets of regular troops and those irregular guerrilla units that would attack with ferocity from the shadows and melt away just as quickly.
On the 31st of August, 1758 Emperor Louis XV was coronated at Versailles although the French forces in Spain and Portugal at that time were unaware.
On the 12th of September, the Division arrived at Corunna and set to surrounding the city; little opposition was presented by those forces inside the city walls and the French were left to their actions. With no appetite for further casualties and with the Iberians seemingly at the precipice of defeat, the siege was not prosecuted and the REGIMENT enjoyed a largely peaceful occupation of the both the siege lines and the covering force at various moments. On the 25th of August, 1760 the Peace of Salamanca was settled and the Emperor being desirous of the transfer of the vassalage of Morocco was satisfied to have this conferred.