Wellington's Mongrel Regiment: A History of the Chasseurs Britanniques Regiment in the British Army, 1801-1814

The Chasseurs Britanniques Regiment was formed around a core of Frenchmen who had gone into exile for their king, and who, with their comrades, went on to serve Britain in Egypt and the Mediterranean, before joining Wellington’s army in the Peninsula to fight in many of the momentous battles of the war.

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25/07/2005

They Turned Out So Ill

The Independent Companies of Foreigners are widely regarded as the worst examples of foreign units in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars. They were formed, in the last years of these wars, to receive French deserters who had come over to the British in Spain. Each company was intended to serve separately in the garrisons of the West Indies. Instead two of them were used in an active role on the East Coast of America - this did not turn out well. Drawing of British, French and American sources, this book provides a fuller picture of the men, why the units were formed, why they were used as they were and what actually happened. Judgement can then be made whether the bad reputation of the units, and the soldiers in them, is justified.

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14/12/2018

Wellington's Switzers

Pioneering regimental study. The Watteville Regiment was formed in 1801 for the British Army. It began service in Egypt (1801) then in the Mediterranean where it particularly at Maida (1806). It was part of the garrison besieged in the Spanish city of Cádiz. Finally the regiment was sent across the Atlantic to defend Canada against the United States and saw action at Oswego and before being sent to the Niagara front. At Fort Erie, the action was marked by both controversy and individual fortitude. The Story of the Swiss Regiment in British Service during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 in the defence of Canada, is vividly told for the first time using the primary sources held in Britain, France, Switzerland and Canada. This book demonstrates the important contribution made by Swiss and other foreign soldiers in Britain's global military commitment. The Wateville Regiment was formed in 1801 from a core of Swiss soldiers and over the years took on a more multinational flavour. It first saw action in Egypt (1801) and the Mediterranean where it participated in the celebrated victory over the French arms at Maida (1806). It was part of the garrison besieged in the Spanish city of Cadiz. Finally the regiment was sent across the Atlantic to defend Canada against the United States and saw action at Oswego before being sent to the Niagara front. At Fort Erie, the Action was marked by both controversy and individual fortitude. Many officers and men chose to be Discharged in Canada rather than return to Europe.

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25/8/2015

To Fight the Same Battles: The narrative of Madame de Bennes A woman who defied the French Revolution

Louise de Bennes, a mother of two and wife, was dragged into the turmoil of the French Revolution. She refused to be another of its passive victims. The decisions that she took were extraordinary and difficult. Within months of finally seeking refuge in London she retold her story, without clever flourishes or unnecessary drama. She concentrated on interactions with people which are related with candour and often humour. The language used is of its age but easily understood and the editor’s commentary makes the story accessible to a modern audience by explaining events and issues which would have been immediately recognisable to the readers of her day. Madame de Bennes challenges preconceptions of the era and the roles taken by women and men.

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25/8/2016

A FINE CORPS AND WILL SERVE FAITHFULLY

The Swiss Regiment de Roll in the British Army 1794-1816 In the first years after Revolutionary France declared war in 1793 Britain scrambled to raise forces at home and abroad. One source was officers and men from Switzerland who had previously served the French monarchy. They were experienced soldiers who had had their employment curtailed, often after having been subjected to the hostility of the partisans of the revolution. However, the confederation of cantons, allies, and territories that then formed Switzerland had to be wary of upsetting France, their powerful and increasingly bellicose neighbour. Nevertheless, through a network of supporters and sympathisers in Switzerland and elsewhere, a regiment was formed in 1795 for British service. Its first destination was Corsica but circumstances forced it to take a circuitous route from Southern Germany through Italy before embarking. Active service on the island came at a cost, and was followed by postings to Elba and Portugal. As British strategy and war aims evolved in the increasingly important Mediterranean theatre, the Regiment de Roll was sent to Menorca. Involved in a number of expeditions, it went with Abercromby to Egypt and took a significant role in the victory outside Alexandria on 21 March 1801. Service continued in the Mediterranean theatre at Gibraltar, during the epidemic of 1803, and then Sicily. The regiment fought in Egypt during the unfortunate 1807 campaign. Detachments then went on to serve in Italy and in the capture of the Ionian Islands. In the latter stages of the Napoleonic Wars the regiment was used to provide reliable elements to garrisons and fighting forces throughout the region from the Adriatic to Eastern Spain. Detachments fought at Castalla and the Col d’Ordal in Spain in 1813, marched across Northern Italy to Genoa in 1814, and arrived in Naples in 1815 to help topple Murat from power. The regiment’s Swiss soldiers finally returned home in 1816 after de Roll’s was finally disbanded. Through the use of a variety of primary documents including official reports, correspondence and lists, and private letters, as well as journals and other material, the story of the Regiment de Roll is told. It is set in the Mediterranean theatre which, overshadowed by that of the Iberian Peninsula, is perhaps less familiar to readers. So, the wider events as the conflict progressed in the theatre are described to explain and give context to the regiments various deployments. Nevertheless, the experiences of individual men and women of the regiment are not forgotten.

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07/07/2023

THE SOLDIERS ARE DRESSED IN RED

The Quiberon Expedition of 1795 and the Counter-Revolution in Brittany In Paris the progress of the French Revolution was marked by violent rivalries amongst political factions. Occasionally these spilled out into other regions where there were also truly counter-revolutionary movements which portrayed strong regional characteristics, particularly in Western France. In Brittany resistance to the Revolutionary regime in Paris merged with local grievances and developed into an insurgency in the countryside, waged by chouans. When, in 1793, France declared war on Britain the latter’s war policy initially sought peace by seizing colonial territories by which earlier conflicts had been concluded but by 1795 it was considered that peace could only be obtained by toppling the regime in Paris by supporting its internal as well as its external enemies. Thus in the summer of 1795 French émigrés in specially raised military units came ashore in Quiberon Bay, south-eastern Brittany, to not only sustain the chouans but also to expand their fight against the French republican regime. Landing from British ships, they were part of an expedition that was paid for, supplied and supported by Britain. Local Bretons, hoping for the restoration of their religion and king, joined the cause but republican forces, led by an energetic general, Lazare Hoche, soon checked and then defeated the émigrés and their local allies. Little has been written about the expedition in English and it has tended to be regarded as an episode within the confines of revolutionary or royalist politics. Nevertheless, the expedition and its bloody end remains contentious to this day, inspiring many memoirs, histories and novels in French, echoing regional and political divisions and tensions of the past. This book seeks to provide a comprehensive account of the expedition as a joint military enterprise – joint in terms of French émigrés and the British Government, and its Navy and Army, as well as in terms of the émigrés and local chouans. Drawing on memoirs, archival material and historical works it seeks to place the expedition within the context of wider events and describe how it was affected by the planning process as well as concurrent events and priorities. Personal and political capacity, ambition, rivalry and co-operation all played their part in affecting events, along with the weather and chance. In essence it seeks to give the reader the story of what happened but also shed light on why it happened. "This adventure is told in great detail...the content is based on a rich bibliography....The whole forms an excellent base. With the end of year celebrations approaching here is a book that will find its place under the Christmas tree." Vae Victus Magazine, No 165 Dec 2023 (Translated from French)

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24/05/2022

For God and King: A History of the Damas Legion (1793-1798): A Case Study of the Military Emigration during the French Revolution (Reason to Revolution)

The émigrés who left, or were driven from, Revolutionary France included a large part of the officer corps of the former royal army. Joined by others who wished to fight for the restitution of the monarchy in their homeland, these officers soon served this cause in the pay of countries facing the common enemy. With its origins at the 1793 Siege of Maastricht, one unit of such men, and one woman, was raised by Etienne de Damas-Crux for the service of the United Provinces and was to comprise of both infantry and cavalry. After the United Provinces were defeated and invaded in 1795, the unit transferred to the service of Britain. Its infantry companies were destroyed in the ill-fated Quiberon expedition while the cavalry, which grew to a regiment, joined in early 1796 the last émigré army, that of the Prince de Condé, and served alongside the Austrians in Southern Germany. Finally, the Damas Hussars disappeared when the Armée de Condé was reorganised in Russian service. This is a comprehensive and detailed history of the Légion de Damas which provides a case study of the French military emigration and thus an alternative view point of the Revolution that caused it and the wars that followed. By drawing in particular on memoirs of members of the unit and contemporary material in archives across Europe, from Britain to Russia, the story is told of those who remained steadfast to God and their King.

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15/10/2020

Carnet de La Sabretache

Des hussards tolpaches de Rohan aux chasseurs de Rohan-Brunswick, 1794-1797 - NO 198, mars 2014. - Des hussards tolpaches de Rohan aux chasseurs de Rohan-Brunswick, 1794-1797 - NO 199, mars 2014. - Les legions de Beon et de Damas a Quatre-Bras, Hougoumont et Mont Saint-Jean, juin-juillet 1794 - NO 203, juin 2015.

17/09/2020