12th Cavalry Division, Cavalry (Reserve) Corps, Armee Du Nord 1815
Moving on quickly with the cavalry of Napoleon's army in 1815 is the 12th Division. This was formed of the 1st and 2nd Carabiniers along with the 2nd and 3rd Cuirassier regiments. This heavy cavalry unit was commanded by Général de Division Nicolas Roussel d'Hurbal.
The division was delayed whilst crossing the Sambre and did not take part in the fighting at Quatre-Bras on the 16th of June. It may have helped the cavalry charge conducted by Kellerman during that battle had it been present.
At Waterloo, the division was on the French left with the rest of Kellerman's Corps. It was inactive until the early afternoon when it joined the effort to crush the Allied squares. It took heavy casualties, losing over 1000 men in the fighting.
The information for this post came from Mark Adkin's Waterloo Companion and John Franklin's Waterloo (1) Quatre-Bras, Waterloo (2) Ligny & Waterloo (3) Mont St Jean and Wavre by Osprey (Amazon affiliate links).
Today is the 11th of December, which happens to be the anniversary of the Battle of Jitra, a terrible defeat for the defending Allies in Malaya. It was a sign of things to come and here is a video on my channel about the disastrous battle. Have a watch here (and please subscribe!):
Another fine cavalry division :)
ReplyDeleteCheers Tamsin, the French are very colourful arent they?
DeleteAnother fine unit. I'm curious about the angles in the front face of the base. Are they intended to help calculate charge directions and are the bases custom made?
DeleteM
Thank you! The notches are to show the firing angles and the centre point of the unit. The bases come from Sally 4th, part of their Blucher specific range.
DeleteFWIW, according to multiple sources, the latest being "Napoleon's Waterloo Army" by Paul L. Dawson, the French Carabiniers wore white jackets in 1815. Pre-1810, they wore a substantially different uniform; similar to the French Old Guard Grenadiers a Cheval. Perhaps that's why, as Dawson wrote on page 307 of the above-mentioned book: "At Waterloo, the carabinier brigade was brigaded with the heavy cavalry of the Imperial Guard to form a division commanded by General Guyot." I offer this information only because this slight alteration would certainly make your Carabiniers more unique within your array of French heavy cavalry. Well done!
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