Post
by Chad » Fri Jun 12, 2009 1:32 pm
Rather than produce the whole of the passages from Detaille, I have extracted what I hope are pertinent notes which would have a bearing on encompassing the Revolutinary Wars.
As I was doing this it seemed to me that there are perhaps parallels between the early history of the French Revolutionary army and the union army in the first year of the ACW. A mixture of regular and volunteer units. Members more experienced in the ACW may be able to bring insights from that period as to how these two types of infantry can be well represented in a wargame.
So here is what I have drawn from Detaille's book:
EXTRACTS FROM ‘L’ARMEE FRANCAISE – DETAILLE
NATIONAL GUARDS AND OLD TROOPS
“Military history for the years 1791, 1792 and 1793 has been written with more passion than accuracy. Some have touted the volunteers of 1791 and 1792. Others have claimed that without the white coats (the old regiments), the blue coats (volunteers of the National Guard) would have been continuously battered.
The truth lies somewhere between these two positions. An effort will be made to present it clearly.
On the one hand, the standing army had been morally and militarily weakened by the Revolution. However, when facing the enemy, it regained much of its strength. On the other hand, the national Guard was full of spirit as it contained only volunteers and it fought for liberty, but it worsened after the massive levy and requisition. After two years of administrative experimentation and military defeats, the first demi-brigades emerged from a merger of the two elements: the National Guard and the army.”
“The effective strength of the standing army was supposed to be 205,000 men on June 26, 1792. It was only 178,000 despite great efforts to attain the large number. Below is the effective strength of the 4 actual armies:
Army of the North, Commander Luckner, counting 25,489 men of troops of the line;
Army of the Center, Commander Lafayett, totalling 25,227
Army of the Rhine, Commander Lamorliere, totalling 20,943
Army of Midi, Commander Montesquieu, totalling 23,380
As best as possible, battalions of volunteers or of the national Guard took their places beside these old troops. Once the war commenced, The National Guard, the volunteers, the men on requisition and those of the mass levy were merged as soon as they arrived at their designated postings…………The first battalions were supposed to have 524 men, including the staff. The second decree directed the 200 battalions to each have 800 men; this gave a total of 160,000 foot soldiers, supplementing the standing army on campaign. In June 1792, 168 of these battalions already had to be divided up amongst the four armies as follows:
Army of the North, 44
Army of the Center, 32
Army of the Rhine, 58
Army of Midi, 50”
DETAILLE THEN BRIEFLY DESCRIBES THE OVERALL CONDITION OF THESE VOLUNTEER UNITS AND ISOLATED INCIDENTS OF THE INDISCIPLINE AND POOR COMABT PERFORMANCE. HE CONCLUDES WITH THE LINE:
“This poor showing caused the old corps to regain their spirit as they tried to distinguish themselves from the National Guard.”
HE THEN CONTINUES:
“The assembly which was established in the Convention on September 21, 1792 welcomed the fruits of its labour: the old army, which wanted to obey, no longer had effective strength; the new army, which wished to argue, was the largest.”
“On February 21, 1793………it had been decided in principle to merge the old corps with the new, the standing army with the National Guard and volunteers. This never occurred due to the serious concerns of the moment.
As the generals had their hands full with the enemy, they resisted this change with all their might. They believed the veterans would lose their good qualities upon contact with the volunteers. Conversely, the members of the Convention feared the volunteers would all too quickly be shaped by the exercise of discipline. Although the officers of the nobility had been driven out by decree and wearing the white uniform had been prohibited, the old troops still raised fear in the hearts of the men of the Revolution.”
HE THEN GIVES A BREAK DOWN OF THE ARMY OF THE EASTERN PYRENEES ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1793 AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE INTERNAL ORGANISATION THAT THEN EXISTED AND THE PROPORTION OF THE OLD LINE REGIMENTS AND VOLUNTEER UNITS:
“Regiments of the Line – 7th, 61st, 70th, 1st Btn/53rd, 1st Btn/79th, a battalion of combined Grenadiers, 1st Btn Light Infantry
Battalions of Volunteers – 3rd & 4th Btns of the Ariege; 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th of the Paris; 1st & 2nd of the Beziers; 2nd & 8th of the Upper Garonne; 2nd of the High Alps; 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th and 6th of the maritime Coast; 1st of Gers; 1st & 2nd of Chasseurs of Lot; 1st of Mont Blanc; 2nd & 4th of Gard; 1st & 2nd of Tarn; 3rd of Montpelier; 2nd & 4th of Eastern Pyrenees; 1st & 2nd of High Pyrenees.
Corps Franc – Miquelets; Conscripts of Saint-Gaudens; Legion of Corbieres;
THE FIRST DEMI-BRIGADES
“ To escape the chaos just described, it was decided that the merger of the old corps with the new ones would be done in the following manner. Each regiment of the line, from first to last in the order of their numbers, would form the nucleus of two new corps. The first battalion would become a regiment with an uneven number and the second battalion a consecutive, even numbered regiment. Two or three battalions of volunteers were attached to them. Those which came from the regiments of the line were called full brigades (brigades de bataille). Those forming with a light battalion took the name of light brigades (brigades legere).”
“The new demi-brigades also all had to be formed of three battalions of nine companies, one being grenadiers and eight of fusiliers, along with a battery of six 4pdr cannon.”
“The law of May 7, 1794 stripped the infantry battalions of one of every two cannon. Invariably this meant that each battalion would no longer march with more than one cannon instead of an entire battery section.”
I hope this information is useful. I do not know if there is anything in his book that might be useful regarding the cavalry and Artillery, but if you think it would be worth it I will try to do a similar exercise.
Chad
It's July in a couple of weeks...well there's a thing, 14th of July, wonder if Eureka will anounce any new French Rev War figures on that date 
