Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Gentlemen

Which was the best Foreign Unit in The French Army 1799-1814
Perhaps Chevau-legers Polonais de la Garde

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Jim Hall
Field Marshall
Commander Anglo-Allied Army

The best Etrangers was the Bataillon de Tirailleurrs du Po who became the 11e Legere who fought from 1789 to 1815, history Chasseurs Royaux - Corses #3 Bataillon Valaisan , Tirailleurs Du Po. 1792 du Po establish 1803. Fought in every major battle as shock troops.
Were as the 1er Chevau - Leger- Lanciers Polonais was raised 1807

I like cliff's pick but i also like tirailleurs corses ( hope I have the name correctly) - I think the tirailleurs corses y tiraiilleurs du po were equals

These two famous light infantry units were brigaded together during the campaign of 1805 in the Legrand's division of Soult's IV Corps. During the battle of Austerlitz both units contributed to the succesful defense of Sokolnitz, previous to the storming of the Pratzen heights by the other divisions of IV Corps (Saint-Hilaire and Vandamme). I believe the 'Tirailleurs Corses' were also known as 'the emperor's cousins' and were from the island of Corsica (I believe) , whereas the 'Tirailleurs du Po' were from the Northen Italian zone which was liberated by Napoleon from Austrian rule.

Les Cousins de l'Empereur being French couldn't be counted as Foreign units. But they were for sure great fighters!

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Général David Guegan

3ème Régiment de Grenadiers - Bataillon d'élite du 3ème Légère
2ème Brigade
Grenadiers de la Réserve
Réserve
La Grande Armée
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"From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step."
Napoléon Bonaparte

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Groucho Marx

Jim , you must be reading this book -"Napoleon's Mercenaries: Foreign Units in the French Army Under the Consulate and Empire, 1799-1814" are you ?

Evening Roy

Good call

I dip into it every once in a while, I was going to do a mirror post, who was the worst

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Jim Hall
Field Marshall
Commander Anglo-Allied Army

Sirs,

At least one of the best was 3 Foreign Regiment, a former Irish Legion, created in 1803. In February 1813, the unit had soldiers from 23 nations, including 201 Poles. August 23, 1813, regiment in the formation of a square won the hill Wolfsberg in Silesia near the town of Goldberg . Lost their commander, General Martial Vachot and 400 soldiers. Eleven soldiers were awarded the medal of the Legion of Honour. And many other units.

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Général de Brigade Cezary Pluskwa,
17ème Régiment de Dragons,
1ère Brigade,
4ème Division de Dragons,
3ème Corps d'Armée,
La Grande Armée.

Some good Italians or Poles no doubt.....

I always liked the Westphalian Jager caribinier.


My 25mm army includes the 3 units of the Westphalian guard.

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Marechal Knox

Prince d'Austerlitz et Comte d'Argentan
Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur

"What is history but a fable agreed upon"

Westphalians! I used to be a Westphalian officer...

...before I came to my senses and joined the winning side that is.

I guess, it is impossible to determine the best unit in general, gentlemen.
It is possible only in the considering of some unequivocal campaign, if we would look not on the unit's battle experience in general but on its battle merits. It is my strong opinion.
Even the famous 'L'Incomparable' 9e Régiment d'Infanterie Léger was really 'one of a kind' in the campaigns of 1799 and 1800 only - at Mincio and Marengo. In 1805, when 3/4 of the regimental strength were not those die-hard 'Italian' veterans but just regulars and conscripts, the 9th was an ordinary regiment already, and showed up no excellence . In the campaign of 1807, they even lost their Eagle - at Mohrungen, 25th January (from memoirs of Captain Reitzenstein: " ...My giants - the Yekaterinoslav Grenadiers - drove away those ragged, stunted French infantrymen just with their musket butts, and laughing chased them pretty long...").
Tirailleurs du Po - the former Expeditionary Piémontaise Battalion, and Tirailleurs Corses - they are one of so many fictional legends of LGA, it seems to me. With all my good will, I tried to find some remarkable facts of their battle history but in vain. They fought more or less successfully in 1805, 1806, 1809 campaigns like the absolute majority of LGA's infantry. They always brigaded with one of the best French regiments - 26e Léger - hereby all have explained.

The valiant Polish men of Légion de la Vistule: 1er, 2e and 3e Régiment d'Infantery and 1er Régiment de Lanciers - especially, they covered themselves with the unfailing glory in campaigns of 1808 and 1809, in Spain.
Zaragoza, Tudela, Talavera! It was their 'star hour'.
But the most admiration I feel after the battle merits of LGA's Infanterie Suisse: 1er, 2e, 3e, 4e Régiments.
1812. Russia. 1st and 2nd Battles of Polotsk - one of the most savage battles of the campaign. After that - the damned Berezina. Marshal St-Cyr: " I know the Swiss. ...The French are more impetuous in an advance, but if it comes to a defense, we can count of heroic calm and courage of the Swiss."
In Russia, the performance of the Swiss regiments was one of the finest by foreign troops during the whole of the Napoleonic wars. Napoleon himself mentioned the stalwart performance of the Swiss in a bulletin on the 1st November, 1812. The four regiments were awarded 34 Légion d'Honner for the 2nd Polotsk, and 62 for the Berezina.

Chest' imeyu!

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General-Feldmarshal Prince Vladimir N. Repnin
Imperial Russian Corps Commander
Prince Braine-Le Comte & The Adjutant-General of His Imperial Majesty
Chevalier Guards Regiment