Lefebvre-Desnoettes - yes.
First event - Benavente, 1808 - yes.
Second event - Merseburg or Weimar, 1813 - no.
A week silence, then came poruchik Rzhevski and
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| Lessons learned? Trivia #3 https://www.wargame.ch/board/nwc/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14602 |
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| Author: | Kosyanenko [ Mon Aug 04, 2014 7:48 am ] |
| Post subject: | Lessons learned? Trivia #3 |
We are used to think that the regiments of la Garde Imperiale were composed of hand picked men. Seeing in ranks a veteran with 28 years of service was nothing uncommon. With meritocracy implemented only the very best of them could be assigned to be officers of the guard. And apparently only the very best officers could be assigned to command such a renowned units. Also, conventional wisdom tell us that the fools are learning on their own mistakes, while the clever ones do learn on mistakes made by others. Unfortunately it does not classify those who repeat ones own mistakes, continuing jumping on a rake with a distinctive cry. Surprisingly such unclassified persons were present even among the regimental commander of French guard regiments. The person in question just after assignment to his new regiment made a notorious blunder. After a long forced pause he takes command of a different formation only to repeat the blunder. Nevertheless it did no harm to his carreer, which finished only with the fall of his Master, to which being a divisional commander in the very heat of events Mr.Y had a direct connection. The questions are: 1. Who's Mr.Y? 2. What were the two similar blunders? N.B. No rationale on the quality of the French Guard cavalry as a whole and the unit under Mr.Y command in particular is intended. We are discussing only and purely Mr.Y "skills" in leading his toops and ability to learn lessons from ones own mistakes. |
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| Author: | Prince Repnin [ Tue Aug 05, 2014 11:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Lessons learned? Trivia #3 |
Your mention of the Guard Cavalry's General, Anton, makes the answer much easier. GD Lefebvre Desnoettes, Comte (1773-1822). The Fall of 1808, Spain. With his glorious regiment - the Guard Chasseurs a Cheval - he joined the pursuit of the English army. They caught up MG Moor's rearguard at Benavente on 29th December. Napoleon anxious to force a decision when he saw the English retiring in the distance took a risk and ordered Desnoettes to cross the Esla river with a few squadrons, to try and pin the enemy. Fording the Esla, Desnoettes came across pickets of the 18th Light Dragoons who fell back before him. He followed at the gallop and in the pursuit his men soon became breathless and disordered. The trap was sprung when the 10th Hussars lying in wait behind Benavente swooped down on him. His troops swept back the two miles to the river, while Desnoettes in difficulty with a wounded horse that refused to ford it was taken prisoner. He was then shipped to England. In the Spring of 1812 his wife joined him at Cheltenham, and encouraged to break his parole, with her help disguised as a Russian count he escaped to France. The Fall of 1813, Germany. Desnoettes took command of the 1st Guard Cavalry Division, which numbered some 4,000 lancers. In September Napoleon detached him to clear the rear areas behind the Elbe between Dresden and Wittenberg where Allied partisans under Thielemann, Mensdorf and Platov were causing chaos and threatened communications. He was initially successful and defeated Thielemann at Merseburg on 24th September, harrying his force as it fell back towards Altenburg where linked up with 5,000 Austrians under Klenau. When he attacked them at Altenburg on 28th, Platov took him in the rear. Desnoettes suffered a sharp reverse, losing over 1,000 men. It was a set-back that hastened Napoleon's decision to withdraw from Dresden to Leipzig, as his rear areas became untenable. By the way, on 22nd October Desnoettes had indignity of another defeat at the hands of Platov when caught at Weimar and put to flight. In the Summer of 1814, he swore allegiance to the Bourbons and in turn received the title Chevalier de Saint Louis and assumed command of his old regiment renamed the Royal Chasseurs a Cheval, but in 1815, he is an active plotter against the Bourbons already breaking his "noble" word again. Desnoettes was the typical die hard Bonapartist. Napoleon thought highly of him and even included him as a beneficiary in his last will and testament. |
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| Author: | Kosyanenko [ Wed Aug 06, 2014 2:01 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Lessons learned? Trivia #3 |
Lefebvre-Desnoettes - yes. First event - Benavente, 1808 - yes. Second event - Merseburg or Weimar, 1813 - no. A week silence, then came poruchik Rzhevski and
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| Author: | Kosyanenko [ Wed Aug 06, 2014 2:33 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Lessons learned? Trivia #3 |
Some artwork for the first event: http://www.qsl.net/g0isw/Benevente%201808.jpg http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz16 ... 8f98fa.jpg http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_D0U_ABUZfi8/S ... febvre.jpg |
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| Author: | Kosyanenko [ Thu Aug 14, 2014 3:29 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Lessons learned? Trivia #3 |
The second event was the clash at Medyn on October 25th, 1812. Lefebvre-Desnoettes commanded 500-600 cavalry, 1000 infantry and 6 guns. All polish. Against him was a force of about 800 cossacks. A charge of polish cavalry, cossacks pretend to flee, then the trap triggers, poles are overthrown. Most of the cavalry and all the guns are taken. Infantry finds safety in a wood nearby. A nice picture showing the capture of general Tyschkewich - commander of the polish cavalry. http://www.artscroll.ru/Images/2008/a/A ... 000008.jpg Interesting enough is that he also got into this trap at least for the second time. The first was at Mir in July 1812. |
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