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Posted by Rod Nelson Sgt.Maj.3eme De Rosnay joined the army in 1799 and within few months participated in several battles, could count 5 wounds and became captain. At Austerlitz he received his 8th wound, a shattered arm. In 1813, with 11 wounds, a musket ball lodged under his eye and citations for bravery he was promoted to general in the Young Guard ! These men died, fought, got wounded, all for the Emperor, their idol and master. The bravest men were awarded and/or promoted to higher rank. Often on his name-day Napoleon gave a number of dowries to be distributed among marriageable girls whose fathers had died in battle leaving no inheritance. The wars ended and the veterans returned to their homes. They looked like some old ruffians grown gray in blood and violence and scowling on all the world. If Napoleon's veterans had the chance to fight the enemy today in a pub, they would take them to the cleaners, then drive them back in a school bus sobbing like the muppets. '' From Napoleon Forever'' "It is not big armies that win battles, it is the good ones!"
on 12/17/2004, 2:06 pm, in reply to "Bayonets"
155.104.239.16
Bayonets? Bayonets! We don't need no stinking BAYONET! The French had the burning, aggressive desire to be in the thick of the action, a desire which gave rise to an attitude which scorned as une tactique si peu brillante the refusal by Wellington or Kutuzov to give battle without the likelihood of victory. The prolonged avoidance of the head-on clash was conduct alien to the temperament of the French troopers. The vast majority had the worthy desire to distinguish themselves in a violent action.
In 1806 a sergeant of 5th Hussar Regiment, man of truly martial appearance had his arm shattered by a Prussian cannon-ball. His uniform was covered in blood but he didn't cease telling the cavalrymen "Come on ... the Prussians are not all that bad !" Another hussar, Guindey, received a frightful cut across his face before he killed the Prince of Prussia in an one-on-one fight with just one thrust to his chest. When in 1807 at Eylau Russian cavalry and Cossacks surrounded the veterans of horse grenadiers and called for surrender, Lepic responded: "Take a look at these faces and see if they want to surrender !" Then he shouted to his lads "Follow me !" and set off at the gallop back through enemy lines. In March 1814 a major of horse grenadiers, battle hardened veteran, was wounded at the battle of Craonne. He had his foot carried away by a cannon-ball and the surgeon had to amputate his leg. During the extremely painful operation, "which he bore with great courage, the man called out "Vive l'Empereur!" and lost consciousness.
Napoleon's soldiers however were not angels. They got drunk (quite often), sometimes they robbed the civilians or raped the Spanish nuns. The chasseurs-a-cheval had a interesting way of obtaining alcohol when they wanted it. "There is no brandy left. Who's going to catch a goddam ?" - and the chasseurs would take turns to capture an English soldier with his supply of alcohol ,gin or rum,"he always carried."
General Lasalle asked Emperor when he will get command of the Guard cavalry. Napoleon said: "When Lasalle no longer drinks, no longer smokes and no longer swears..."
"The attack was the natural way for Frenchmen to fight.
British beef and German sausage might create specialists
in the art of standing still under fire but the mercurial Frenchman could not be so hibited. If the English did not have their gin and the Prussians their beer they would have shit in their trousers at the first cannon.
- Marshal Maurice de Saxe Gran Pair
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