Dispatches
Letters to the Editor
from First Empire Readers
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So many letters pertained to The Battle of Göhrde (FE#38), I placed them all in a separate file: Gohrde Letters. --RL
Russian Army 1812 Dear Sir, I am a long term subscriber to your magazine. I have a question and I am hoping that it can be answered by you directly or that it can be printed in your "question and answers" section. I would also greatly appreciate any information. in the form of sources, that you could recommend. I have exhausted all of the material available to me. I am attempting to find information concerning the Russian army fielded to meet the French invasion of 1812. I understand that the Russian regiment consisted of three battalions, and that the first and third (also often called the second field battalion) were used in the field. while the second battalion was termed the depot battalion. I also know that many regiments had an additional fourth or "reserve" battalion attached. These fourth battalions were often brigaded with the second (depot) battalion to form "reserve" divisions in addition to the combining of other regiments depot battalions and the combine grenadier battalions of the depot battalions that formed independent divisions, or were attached to the parent divisions. My question is this: what regiments had "reserve"- battalions or what regiments depot battalions were brigaded with "reserve" battalions? Where these "reserve" battalions considered a true fourth battalion to existing regiments, or were they independent battalions that were merely brigaded with the second battalions? Were they organised like the line battalions (i.e. with a grenadier/tirailleur company and musketeer companies)? The second part of this question concerns the uniforms. In 1812 each of the battalions of a line regiment (1t-3rd) had their own distinctions. Each had its own piping color for the trim on the forage cap. The musketeers, grenadiers and tirailleurs of each battalion also had distinct colors for the pompoms and sword knots. What were the distinctions for the "reserve" battalions? Was their uniform the same as the parent regiment but with sequential distinctions as for the other three battalions? Or, did they have their own unique uniform? Thanks sincerely,
Thank You John Dear Mr. Watkins Thank you for publishing a reply to my queries on train vehicle colours, and in particular, please could you pass on my gratitude to Mr. John Cook for taking the trouble to write that reply. As from now, when gaming, many routs will dissolve into chaos as broken down wagons block roads and bridges, and many pursuits will turn aside to engage in a bit of profitable plundering. Yours Sincerely
Publishing Krieg 1809 Hello there, Overall the magazine has maintained its high standard and the articles have been well worthwhile. One point in your issue #37 that did raise some concern was the comment in John Cooks column regarding the lack of a publisher for his translation of part of the first volume of Kreig 1809. I am amazed and saddened that no one was willing to take this on. Given the amount of Napoleonic volumes in print, and the minimal depth of far to many, I would have thought that any publisher worth his salt would have jumped at the chance of such an offer. Perhaps John has thought of doing a simple print run in ring binder style, with plastic or card covers, off his own bat. I know I would be interested in a copy. It seems such a short sighted policy when any original source material in English is turned down.I must admit to my own failings in having only "schoolboy" level French, so the idea of acquiring a foreign language print is really self defeating. So if any book publisher is out there reading this why not reconsider the case. Anyway enough said. All the best,
On Foreign Sources Dear Sir, In renewing my subscription I took the time to reread various issues from my last subscriptions #25 to #36. Giving the 'dispatches' column in particular my full attention. One area of contention seemed to rear it's head much more often than any other subject that of the lack of use made from foreign sources whether they be a primary or secondary source. I do notice that back in #26 there was a suggestion to use French magazine articles as well as a request for the same from the Editor. There does not seem to have been much uptake to this request- I know I am probably wrong but its hard to guess given only the author's name. Since a case has been put forward for the Napoleonic period to have been considered a global conflict which may or may not be true but what is true is that it was a pan-European conflict. To this end there are very few countries in Europe which the various campaigns did not touch. There must be some way of communicating with the equivalents of First Empire in these countries to facilitate an exchange of information and articles. The most obvious route surely is to use the contacts built up by the Napoleonic Association at the larger European re-enactment events. The two hundred year anniversary cycle is now underway it would be a shame if the opportunities for a mutual exchange of information were lost for another fifty years. The appreciation of the first hand perspective of the central European powers and their reactions to the changes imposed or adopted due to the rule of the real First Empire would be a fascinating starting point for members of a population that is only coming to terms with part of the Napoleonic legacy some two hundred years later. Never mind any considerations of the inter-reactions by the members of the various coalitions sponsored by Britain. Yours sincerely, Cavalry Bio Books Dear Dave, I wondered if you, or any helpful members of your readership are able to inform me of any good books (biographies if possible) concerning the famous Cavalry commanders Kellerman (the younger) and Henry Paget (Lord Uxbridge), both of whom had long careers before fighting at Waterloo. My own search so far - has unfortunately ended in vain, so I hope you can be of assistance. Yours sincerely, Buttons are Garde! Dear Dave, Following publication of my article 'A Waterloo Venture' in First Empire Magazine October/November, readers may be interested to know that I have had confirmation from Adrian Forman, Napoleonic antique expert, that the buttons are Imperial Guard other ranks issue, in pewter. So at least one other person read my article apart from you and I. Regards Imperial Bayonets Typo Dear Dispatches: George Nafziger's thoroughly absorbing foray through the world of tactical Napoleonic regulations, "Imperial Bayonets: Tactics of the Napoleonic Battery, Battalion and Brigade as Found in Contemporary Regulations", is indeed a book that I would encourage every student of the period to add to their library. It is tremendous, moving well beyond George Jeffrey's very helpful work, "Tactics and Grand Tactics of the Napoleonic Wars". Nevertheless, I stumbled over a possibly minor detail and appeal to your readership for assistance—as my Spanish is nearly useless. In the section on the "Philosophy of artillery usage" in which the maxims of Spanish artillerist T. de Moria are set forth, the term "toesas" arises. It is a Spanish unit of measurement for distance which Nafziger calculates consistently on page 268 as equal to six yards. A puzzlement! I raised an eyebrow at the apparent distance that Moria thereby suggested are appropriate ranges for smoothbore artillery fire. Maxim twenty-eight would have artillery opening with round shot at 2,700 yards! Longish, to say the least, and considerably beyond even the theoretical maximum range of the heaviest field guns. I do not know sufficient Spanish to be familiar with the term "toesas", and I am unlikely to find much enlightenment in my corner of West Africa, but I have encountered the Spanish term "toise", which I recall is equal to about two yards, or six feet. Question: is "toesas" a plural, connoting a measure that is three times longer than a "toise"; or are the words variants of each other, possibly leading Mr. Nafziger to a mistaken calculation of distances? A recalculation of the distances produces a much more reasonable result of one-third the yardage cited by Mr. Nafziger. Instead, for instance, Moria would have artillery opening its fire at about 900 yards, which would seem to agree with most of the authorities I have ever encountered. I would certainly be grateful for any observations your readers might have to offer. Many thanks for producing such a tremendous magazine. Cheers - Howie Muir by email Editor: I actually found this anomaly on publication of Imperial Bayonets, and asked George directly, it would appear that this was a typo and should be 6 feet and not 6 yards! Review of "Imperial Bayonets" in FE#33 Before Some Gets Hurt! Dear Sirs, Our wargaming group is in a debate over the following two questions: 1. For wargaming purposes, from 1803 to 1815 would the British army be structured as a divisional, corps or a little of both depending on the date? 2. Would the British army of 1812 be structured as a divsional or corps army? We've posted these two questions on the newsgroups, to Napoleonic authors, and military historians. But the results are varied or inconclusive? Are these possibly proposed incorrectly? Can anyone help us settle this debate? Timothy Oxley, Kaiya@pacbell.net Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #39 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com |
