The Vistula Legion was one of the toughest fighting regiments in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars, and, because of its bright yellow facings, one of the most easily recognisable.

The Poles initially joined foreign armies after the third Partition of Poland in 1795 blotted out it's independence completely. Indeed Austria, Prussia and Russia were so busy snuffing out Poland that they tended to ignore the revolution in France until it had gained momentum and become a danger to the crowned heads of Europe.

The history of the Vistula Legion shows that originally founded as the Polish Legion in the army of Lombardy on 9 January 1797, it later became the 1st and 2nd Foreign Demi-Brigades of the French Army. Under these titles they saw much action in Italy. The 2nd Demi-Brigade was destroyed in Haiti by fever and in fighting against the black inhabitants who wanted their independence.

On 31st March 1808 the Demi-Brigade was reorganised as the three regiment Vistula legion, and after initial service in the pay of the Kingdom of Westphalia was transferred to the French service. Each regiment was of two battalions. Although Johnson says three battalions each, I can find no trace of a third battalion in the Orders of Battle in either Oman or von Pivka. It is possible that the third battalion was a depot unit. They were equipped as light infantry, grenadiets and voltigeurs with sabres as well as bayonets, both in black scabbards. Fusiliers had only one crossbelt on which they carried both black cartridge box and bayonet.

Although the companies used line infantry designations. A regiment of cavalry was also formed but this will be dealt with in a separate article. The prime mover in this recruiting activity was General Jan Henryk Dombrowski whose name is now immortalised in the Polish national anthem. The first commander of the Legion was General Josef Grabinski. The Legion, whose depot was in Sedan, was promptly moved to Spain as part of Junots III Corps.

The battles and engagements of the Legion set out below show how effective they were in the French cause, although, of course, the Poles main aim was the independence of their own country.

1st Regiment, commanded by Colonel Josef Chlopicki. Mallen & Aragon June 1808, the second siege of Saragossa 1809 in which all three regiments of the Legion distinguished themselves, Maria & Belchite June 1810, and the sieges of Tarragona & Murviedra/Sagunto in 1811. They were then withdrawn from Spain and attached to the Imperial Guard for the 1812 Campaign in Russia. The attachment of all three regiments shows the high esteem in which Napoleon held them. The 1st Regiment fought at Smolensk, Mozhaisk, Krimskoya, Czerykow, Voronov, Taratina, Krasne, and the crossing of the Beresina.

2nd Regiment, commanded initially by Colonel Bialowieski. Both sieges of Saragossa in 1808 and 1809, Tudela 1809, Perdiguera, Santa Fe, Belchite, Aquila, El Frasna, Calatayud, Retascon, Daroca, Ojos Negros, Tremadal, and Torre la Carcel 1810, Teruel, Villastar, Villel, Lancosa, and the siege of Tortosa 1811 as well as numerous engagements in Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia during that year. Then to Russia at Smolensk, Mozhaisk, Taratina and the Beresina crossing.

3rd Regiment, commander Colonel Swiderski. Both sieges of Saragossa, Smolensk, Taratina, and the forcing of the Beresina.

In July 1809 a Second Vistula Legion commanded by General Mikolaj was raised in Wolkersdorf. It was merged into the First Legion and renamed the 4th regiment on 12 February 1811 when it's commander was Major Tanski. It fought at Puebla de Senabria 1810, Benevente and Salinas in 1811, and Penaranda. and Rogozno in 1813.

The Legion, like most of the French Army, suffered grievous casualties in Russia, so on 18 June 1813 the remnants formed formed the cadre of one Regiment under command of Colonel Malchewski. It fought at Kratzen, Kulm, Schluckenau, Ebersbach, Loebau, Neustadt, Boma, and Lipsk in 1813,and the defence of Soissons and Arcis sur Aube in 1814. At Arcis, Napoleon took refuge from an enemy cavalry charge in one of the regiment's squares.

As you can see above the infantry of the Legion never faced British troops in the Peninsular which is unfortunate from a visual wargame point of view. I must admit that as one of my favourite regiments it has appeared on many a table against my British units.

The Legion returned to Poland after the abdication of the Emperor in 1814. However many Poles remained in France and those in the 3rd Foreign Regiment were among the last to offer resistance at a bridge in Sevres in 1815. For most of this period it was uniformed in the French fashion.

Uniform

The headdress was a French type round shako decorated with a sunburst brass helmet plate and the French cockade. The shako cords were generally accepted as white, though an illustration by Chelminski shows a voltigeur with green cords and a trumpeter with red. The chinstraps were reported as white by Job and Gembarzewski, but yellow by others. It is possible that, because of short supply of light infantry shakoes, some line shakoes were issued which would have yellow metal chinstraps.

As previously mentioned the companies had line infantry designations, thus a battalions two elite companies were called grenadiers and voltigeurs respectively, whilst the four centre companies of each battalion were named fusiliers. The fusiliers wore a white pompom on the front of their shakoes, while the grenadiers had a red pompom with a tuft. Voltigeurs had a yellow pompom. with a tuft. Some artists show fusiliers with a tuft and grenadiers with a high acorn shaped tuft.

Initially they wore a long blue coat similar to the Spenser with yellow turnbacks for much of their service. The front was yellow and of plastron type. There is much controversy over the collar and cuff details. No decorations are known for the turnbacks. The change to an habite veste with similar facings was made in early 1813 after the Russian campaign.

Lienhard and Humbert in a folio published in 1810 say that the four regiments of the Legion existing at that time were differentiated as follows:

1st Navy blue collar with yellow piping and yellow cuffs.
2nd Collar and cuffs yellow.
3rd Collar yellow. Cuffs navy blue piped yellow.
4th Both collar and cuffs navy blue piped yellow.

This source is unsupported by any other, and these authors are not normally accurate in respect of Polish uniforms. In addition in the army of Napoleon such regimental distinctions are not normal.

The cuffs are reported as shaped round by Job and Gembarzewski but pointed by Lienhard and Humbert. Two other sources show them as rounded but with white or yellow trident shaped cuff patches.

Kozolubski is of the opinion that such differences in cuffs are possibly as a result of commanders wishing to polonise the uniforms.

Grenadiers wore white epaulettes rather than the red usual in French line and light regiments.Voltigeurs had green epaulettes with yellow piping, while fusiliers wore blue yellow piped shoulder straps. In 1812 grenadier shakoes had a red band round the top, and voltigeurs a yellow band. Fusiliers shakoes remained plain. All companies wore white trousers and knee length gaiters. The latter were shown trimmed,along the top with white lace. Boots were black.

Buttons of brass with grenades on them for grenadiers, bugles for voltigeurs and stars for fusiliers are reported. By strongly enforced regulation grenadiers grew both moustaches and sidewhiskers, voltigeurs had side whiskers only, and fusiliers were clean shaven. Only the pioneers were allowed beards.

NCO's rank markings are uncertain but probably French. Officers wore the usual French marks of rank in silver. Buglers had red capcords and a red pompom with yellow tuft. Bugle cords were red and white twisted cord. their epaulettes were green with red fringes.

Sappers are shown having a white apron and epaulettes, a tall bearskin with a sunburst plate and a shoulder length yellow busby bag with wolf tooth white edging. It also had white flounders. they also wore a white shoulder cord on the right and red sapper insignia on the left upper sleeve. This ensemble was completed with an ornate cock's head handle to a machete type sabre.

Though my armies are Sixmil these days I have tried to give enough uniform detail to enable the accurate painting of 25mm or even larger figures.

The Polish language is phonetic even if the letter combinations are different to English. A guide to pronunciation is below:

Polish	English
W	V
CKI	TSKI
L	W
RZ	Close the teeth and say "z"
I	EE
A (with tail!)	OM
Cz	CH

Whilst on the subject of pronunciation the Polish four cornered hat is a "Czapka", there is no "S" in the word.

I hope this article will inspire you to add these magnificent regiments to your wargame armies, and to respect the fighting power the Poles added to their allies the French.

References

1. Napoleon's Polish Troops by Otto Von Pivka . Osprey. 1974
2. Rodowody Pulkow Polskich 1717-1837 (Genealogy of Polish Regiments) by Bronislaw Gembarzewski. Warsaw 1925. Translated by C.H.Reavley
3. Bron i Barwa. (Weapons & Uniforms), Numbers 1,2,3 & 4. 1948-49. Articles by Julius Kozolubski, translator C.H.Reavley.
4. The Polish Army 1807-14 by W.J.Rawkins Publisher & Author 1980. Now marketed by P.Heath.
5. Soldats et Uniformes du Premier Empire, edited by Doctor F.G.Hourtoulle. Artist Jacques Girbal. Plates 17 & 18.
6. The Sikorski Museum, 20 Princes Gate, London. Fusilier uniform data confirmed by Wacek Fiedler. July 1991.
7. A History of the Peninsular War by Sir Charles Oman.Vol II. Appendix III. p625. Claredon Press, Oxford, 1903.
8. Napoleonic Armies by Ray Johnson. Arms & Armour Press, London, 1984.
9. Armies of 1812 by Otto von Pivka. Patrick Stephens, Cambridge. 1977.