Attica Miniatures

In the four squadrons (3 Don and 1 Black Sea), the regiment participated in the Patriotic War (1st Western Army, 1st Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant-General F.P. Uvarov).
 

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June 12, the regiment participated in the first battle with the French at the crossing on the river. The Niemen. After the crossing of Napoleon through Neman, the Cossack cossacks covered the retreat of our army and from 14 to 23 July fought without interruption with the advancing French avant-garde. July 15 in the battle of Vitebsk, the regiment captured a French battery: "The Cossack leybes first went several times to attack. In one of them the choicest donts flew over the battery near which Napoleon stood, and made such an alarm around him that he stopped for some time his actions. "

Leib-Cossacks fought valiantly in a 2-day battle near Smolensk and at Valutina mountain.

On August 26, the regiment distinguished itself in the battle of Borodino, participating in the swift attack of Platov and Uvarov on the left flank of the French. When the army retreated to Moscow, the Cossacks were in the rearguard of Platov and repeatedly stopped the onslaught of the enemy. On September 2, three regiment squadrons, cut off from the rearguard, joined the detachment of General Vincenterode, who covered the way to Petersburg. The squadron, formerly under Count Orlov-Denisov, remained in the main army and took part in the battles of Tarutin, Maroyaroslavets, Vyazma, Lyakhov and Krasny. At the end of December 1812 the regiment joined together and settled in the vicinity of Vilna.

After the arrival of Emperor Alexander I, the regiment formed an imperial convoy, and accompanied the Emperor in all campaigns and battles of 1813-1814.

May 8, 1813 in battle at Bautzen, one of the exadrons was appointed to the detachment gr. Orlova-Denisova and made several attacks.

October 4, 1813 - the regiment distinguished itself in the Leipzig battle, an attack on the French cuirassier Latour-Mobura, than saved from the capture of Emperor Alexander I and rescued the Russian light Guards cavalry, attacked by the enemy on the march and did not have time to build. He was awarded the St. George standard and silver pipes.

March 13, 1814 - In the battle of Fer-Champenois, a hundred regiments in the Guards light cavalry division broke through to the rear of the advancing troops of Mortier and Marmont near the village of Vorefroi, forcing the enemy to retreat, then participated in a battle with the French cavalry near the village of Lenare and attacked the Mortier quads and Marmont on the heights of Lint. On March 19, 1814, the regiment solemnly entered Paris and settled on the Champs-Elysees. Cossacks regiment accompanied Napoleon to the island of Elba.

In the four squadrons (3 Don and 1 Black Sea), the regiment participated in the Patriotic War (1st Western Army, 1st Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant-General F.P. Uvarov).

Set of Cossacks:

In the four squadrons (3 Don and 1 Black Sea), the regiment participated in the Patriotic War (1st Western Army, 1st Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant-General F.P. Uvarov).

Set of Cossacks:

In the four squadrons (3 Don and 1 Black Sea), the regiment participated in the Patriotic War (1st Western Army, 1st Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant-General F.P. Uvarov).

Set of Cossacks:

In the four squadrons (3 Don and 1 Black Sea), the regiment participated in the Patriotic War (1st Western Army, 1st Cavalry Corps of Lieutenant-General F.P. Uvarov).

Set of Cossacks:

Napoléon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a French statesman and military leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again briefly in 1815 during the Hundred Days. Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. He is considered one of the greatest commanders in history, and his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history.

Louis-Nicolas d'Avout (10 May 1770 – 1 June 1823), better known as Davout, 1st Duke of Auerstaedt, 1st Prince of Eckmühl, was a French general who was Marshal of the Empire during the Napoleonic era. His talent for war along with his reputation as a stern d isciplinarian earned him the title "The Iron Marshal". He is ranked along with Masséna and Lannes as one of Napoleon's finest commanders. His loyalty and obedience to Napoleon were absolute. During his lifetime, Davout's name was commonly spelled Davoust, which is how it appears on the Arc de Triomphe and in much of the correspondence between Napoleon and his generals.

Louis-Nicolas Davout, Marshal of the Empire

Davout was born at Annoux (Yonne), the son of Jean-François d'Avout (1739–1779) and his wife (married in 1768) Françoise-Adélaïde Minard de Velars (1741–1810) He was educated at a military academy in Auxerre, before transferring to the École Militaire in Paris on 29 September 1785. He graduated on 19 February 1788 and was appointed a sous-lieutenant in the Royal-Champagne Cavalry Regiment in garrison at Hesdin.On the outbreak of the French Revolution, he embraced its principles. He was chef de bataillon in a volunteer corps in the campaign of 1792, and distinguished himself at the Battle of Neerwinden the following spring. He had just been promoted to general of brigade when he was removed from the active list because of his noble birth. He nevertheless served in the campaigns of 1794-1797 on the Rhine, and accompanied Desaix in the Egyptian Expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Although on his return he did not take part in the Battle of Marengo, where his friend Desaix was killed while making a decisive contribution to the victory Napoleon, who had great confidence in his abilities finally promoted him to general de division and arranged his marriage to his sister Pauline's sister-in-law Aimée Leclerc, thus making him part of Napoleon's extended family, and gave him a command in the consular guard. At the accession of Napoleon as emperor, Davout was one of the generals who were created marshals of France. Davout was the youngest and least experienced of the generals promoted to Marshal, which earned him the hostility of other generals throughout his career. As commander of the III Corps of the Grande Armée, Davout rendered his greatest services. At the Battle of Austerlitz, after a forced march of forty-eight hours, the III Corps bore the brunt of the allies' attack. In the subsequent War of the Fourth Coalition, Davout with a single corps fought and won the Battle of Auerstädt against the main Prussian army, which had more than twice as many soldiers at its disposal (more than 63,000, to Davout's 28,000). Historian François-Guy Hourtoulle writes: "At Jena, Napoleon won a battle he could not lose. At Auerstädt, Davout won a battle he could not win".
s a reward, Napoleon let Davout and his men enter first in Berlin on 25 October 1806.

Davout added to his renown in the campaign of Eylau and Friedland. Napoleon left him as governor-general of the newly created Duchy of Warsaw following the Treaty of Tilsit of 1807, and the next year created him Duke of Auerstädt. In the war of 1809, Davout took part in the actions which culminated in the Battle of Eckmühl, and also distinguished himself in the Battle of Wagram, where he commanded the right wing. He was created Prince of Eckmühl following this campaign. He was entrusted by Napoleon with the task of organizing the "corps of observation of the Elbe", which would become the gigantic army with which Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. In this, Davout commanded the I Corps, numbering over 70,000, and defeated the Russians at Mohilev before he joined the main army, with which he continued throughout the campaign and the retreat from Moscow. During the retreat he conducted the rear guard, which was deemed too slow by the Emperor, and was replaced by Ney. His inability to hold out at Berezina until the arrival of Ney and his corps, led him into disgrace and he would not meet with the Emperor again until his return from Elba.

In 1813 he commanded the Hamburg military district, and defended Hamburg, a poorly fortified and provisioned city, through a long siege, only surrendering on the direct order of the new King Louis XVIII, who had come to the throne after the fall of Napoleon in April 1814. During the siege, he expelled up to 25,000 of Hamburg’s poorest and weakest citizens out of the city into the cold winter, many of whom perished of cold and starvation. Between 1806 and 1814, when the French occupation came to an end by the surrender of Davout, the population decreased by nearly one-half, namely to 55,000.

Davout's military character has been interpreted as cruel, and he had to defend himself against many attacks upon his conduct at Hamburg. He was a stern disciplinarian, who exacted rigid and precise obedience from his troops, and consequently his corps was more trustworthy and exact in the performance of its duty than any other. For example, Davout forbade his troops from plundering enemy villages, a policy he would enforce by the use of the death penalty. Thus, in the early days of the Grande Armée, the III corps tended to be entrusted with the most difficult work. He was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the ablest of Napoleon's marshals. On the first restoration he retired into private life, openly displaying his hostility to the Bourbons, and when Napoleon returned from Elba, Davout rejoined him.

Appointed Minister of War, he reorganized the French army insofar as time permitted, and he was so indispensable to the war department that Napoleon kept him in Paris during the Waterloo campaign. To what degree his skill and bravery would have altered the fortunes of the campaign of 1815 can only be surmised, but Napoleon has been criticized for his failure to avail himself in the field of the services of the best general he then possessed.

Davout directed the gallant, but hopeless, defence of Paris after Waterloo. He received the command of the army assembled under the walls of Paris, and would have fought, had he not received the order of the provisional government to treat with the enemy. On 24 June 1815 Davout was sent by Joseph Fouché, the president of the provisional government, to the dethroned Emperor at the Élysée Palace with a request to quit Paris, where his continued presence could lead to trouble and public danger. Napoleon received him coldly but left Paris the next day and resided at Malmaison until 29 June when he departed for Rochfort. In later years, Napoleon said of Davout bitterly that ”he betrayed me too. He has a wife and children; he thought that all was lost; he wanted to keep what he had got,” while on another occasion he remarked that “I thought that Davout loved me, but he loved only France.” Followingly, he retired with the army beyond the Loire and made his submission to the Bourbon government on 14 July, and within a few days gave up the command to Marshal Macdonald.

He was deprived of his marshalate and his titles at the second restoration. When some of his subordinate generals were proscribed, he demanded to be held responsible for their acts, as executed under his orders, and he endeavoured to prevent the condemnation of Michel Ney. After a time the hostility of the Bourbons towards Davout faded, and he became reconciled to the monarchy. In 1817 his rank and titles were restored, and in 1819 he became a member of the Chamber of Peers.

In 1822, Davout was elected mayor of Savigny-sur-Orge, a position he held for a year. His son Louis-Napoléon was also mayor of the city from 1843 to 1846. A main square bears their name in the city, as does a boulevard in Paris.

The Carabiniers-à-Cheval (Horse Carabiniers) were mounted troops in the service of France.

Their origins date back to the mid-16th century, when they were created as elite elements of the French light cavalry, armed with c arbines but then gradually evolved towards semi-independent status during the 18th century. They only became independent units as late as 1788, when a two-regiment heavy cavalry corps was created. From the French Revolutionary Wars onwards, they were the senior heavy cavalry regiments in the French army, rose to prominence during the Napoleonic Wars and were disbanded in 1871, after the fall of the Second French Empire.

Carabiniers during the Russian Campaign, by Édouard Detaille.

The French carabiniers are first mentioned at the battle of Neerwinden in 1693 commanded by Prince de Conti. Although their original role was that of a mounted police similar to the Gendarmes, as combat troops they were first took the form of separate companies within each cavalry regiments on 29 October 1691 under Louis XIV. Only later was an independent regiment or cavalerie de reserve established in 1693 under the command of Duc du Maine. However at that time all French cavalry other than the gendarmes were called light cavalry, and their first name was Corps royal des carabiniers, organised by brigading of four squadrons commanded by a lieutenant-colonel.

The Corps was enlarged to ten squadrons by the start of the Seven Years' War. Their depot was in Strasbourg, where it remained for a century. On 13 May 1758 the Corps was renamed Royal carabiniers de monsieur le Comte de Provence.[6] By 1762 the Corps was enlarged to five brigades of thirty squadrons, but was reduced to two regiments in 1788.
The 1st and 2nd Carabiniers-à-Cheval were created in 1787, as regiments of heavy cavalry. They participated with distinction to the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Their uniform was described by the Etat militaire de l'an X (1802): "National blue costume and scarlet lapels, blue collar, bearskin hat, yellow bandolier and belt, with white plait on the edges. Horse equipage: saddle à la française, blue cover with white plait on the edges, a grenade in the corners, the ornaments of the bridle stamped with a grenade." Before 1810 the Carabiniers-à-Cheval did not wear a cuirass.

he decree of 24 December 1809 altered the uniform of the carabiniers: white costume, double steel cuirass (breastplate and backplate) covered with brass sheathing (copper for officers), helmet with a peak and which covered the back of the neck, with a golden-yellow copper crest decorated with a chenille made of scarlet bristle. Their armament included a carbine, a sabre (straight-bladed before c. 1811, then "a la Montmorency" - with a very slight curve) and a pair of pistols.