Dispatches
Letters to the Editor
by the readers
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Letters on: Poles at Utitsa; Raszyn 1809; Advertisers Take Note; Bavarian Uniform Info Required; South American Correspondant; Life of the Po; Absent Poles at Utitsa Dear Sir, I am writing to correct the order of battle from the "Action at Utitsa" article in First Empire No.6. The only Polish divisions of Poniatowski's V Corps present at Borodino were the 16th and 18th Infantry divisions. (Dombrowski was detached and operating in the Mstislavi area which is approximately 200 miles from Borodino. Also detached were the entire 18th Light Cavalry brigade and 1st Chasseurs from 19th Cavalry brigade). Another point is the respective strengths of the Polish units. Assuming that the Poles suffered as much as the other contingents of the main army, their battalions would have been no more than 350 - 450 men each and the squadrons about 70-85 men each at the beginning of the battle. Poniatowski had approximately 6000 men at Borodino. Finally, great magazine. Sources.
Chandler - A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars. Segur - Napoleon's Russian Campaign Haythornthwaite - Uniforms of the Retreat from Moscow Tranie - La Camapagne de Russe. Napoleon 1812 Nicolson - Napoleon 1812 Editor. I am the guilty party in all this. Leon's manuscript listed the order of battle as published but included notes, in French, which led to the inclusion of the units outlined above, and apparently were indicative of their intended exclusion. Leon forgot that I am of the opinion that the only language worth anything is English, (i.e. I'm hopeless at languages!). Apologies to the U.N. et al. Will somebody submit an article on Raszyn 1809? Dear Sir, I have just started wargaming again after a 14 year hiatus and long stretches at model railways, chasing girls, getting a job etc, etc. [Editor. Went through a similar phase myself, but the editorial concubine found out, so I had to give up chasing model railways!]. My particular interest is Napoleonic and the campaign of 1809 in Poland. I am busy building up a Polish and Austrian army. Information on this campaign is scarce to say the least, with the only references in English being Pivka's "Napoleon's Polish Troops" and Nafziger's "Poles and Saxons of the Napoleonic Wars". Perhaps you could find someone to write an article in the future. How about the battle of Raszyn 1809? An ideal wargame scenario as it involves (relatively) small forces on both sides. Anyway, it is just a thought. Keep up the good work (the more obscure the battle the better in my view!). And finally, no silly colour pictures of precision - painted figures that us ordinary wargamer never hope to achieve! Advertisers take note again..... Dear Mr. Watkins, First of all I would like to congratulate you on your outstanding magazine "First Empire". Apart from the fact that the magazine contains a lot of very interesting and informative articles, I am most pleased to find that you are brave enough to publish decent reviews of figures, rules etc. Living on the continent I have to order most of my wargaming stuff by mail, and am therefore in great need of accurate information. So far all the reviews I have seen in the "glossy's" are not informative in the sense that they point out the good and the bad things. None of the magazines publish reviews like you do. Personally I think that you are doing the hobby, both gamers and traders a very good service. The case of the Minifigs Swedish Command group is an example of how we all benefit from critical but fair reviews and of how the industry is willing to listen and react. I sincerely hope that you will be able to keep up the good work. Editor. I'm certainly glad you like the review policy. I have had to dodge a few bullets and abuse, (in one instance), but the more "adult" traders/manufactures apreciate that their is no malice and that I try to ensure that reviews are fair even if damning. I wish I could say this of all, but there you go... In point of fact there is now a change of policy here. I want to publish reviews submitted by the consumer, YOU. It is your opinions that should count, not mine or any of my cohorts, perhaps we can start a new trend! I believe that you should have a forum, whether it be praise or critiscm. I may even extend this to manufactures to publish a defence, although I can't guarantee it would be in the same issue. This is not me taking the easy option, as I shall continue to publish `editorial staff' reviews. Bavarian uniform info required... Dear Editor, It's quite uncanny how each issue of "First Empire" seems to contain at least one article about a subject I've been thinking about, dreaming about, already embarked on etc. This is very true of the latest issue (No 8). I had already started to paints some Bavarians for the army list for the Battle of Hanau (from the Osprey series "Napoleon's German Allies No3, Bavaria) and lo and behold there was an article in "First Empire" about that very battle, plus a list of the Austrian Corps too. The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to thank you for another excellent magazine. I also wondered if you (or any kind reader) could supply information about some of the units mentioned in the article (uniform details etc), nameley;
b) The Danube Legion c) What was Wurst battery? What uniforms /limbers etc did they use? I would be grateful if someone would supply this information or could you print the information in your Dispatches column, as you often do. If you are willing to print this type of information in your magazine, what about a section (space, economic considerations etc permitting) where you could print Uniform Queries from readers, without taking up space having to print all of the letters you receive. The Dispatches section could then continue to be used for debate, discussions, etc. Thanks for another great magazine and I hope that you will be able to help ( or "know a man who can"!) Response: letter to Editor FE 10 Editor. I'll throw this out to the readership, but with the following comments. My understanding of the Bavarian National Battalions is that they were raised by the King of Bavaria as a condition imposed on him by the Allies. They were kitted out with Austrain pattern equipment and as with many of the defecting German states were equipped with the Austrian shako. A Wurst is a sausage! (See I do know some foreign lingo!). The connection is that what the Austrian tenuously called horse artillery, carried it's gun crews on a long `sausage shaped' caisson, hence the Wurst. Other nations rather more sensibly mounted their horse gunners on horses. As such Austrian Wurst batteries were more mobile than the position and brigade batteries, but somewhat less so than say the French. Our South American Correspondant... Dear Mr. Watkins, I am delighted with the magazine which brings back memories of the heroic days of Wargamers Newsletter. the glossies are very nice and the colour pictures very juicy, but they are very pro fessional and very serious. Too many pictures and not enough text, and the "simple wargamer" sems to have been forgotten. There hasn't been a game report in either of them for a long time. Line drawings, no matter how amateur can convey the essential information. The main thing is to keep the flavour and encourage average Wargamers to participate. I also agree with those who feel that First Empire need not restrict itself to Napoleonic strictu sensu [Ed. Eh!], but can encompass Horse and Musket in general without losing the main thread of its ideal. Life on the Po.. Dear Sir, I see that the arcane details of an obscure French ( or should that be read Italian?) unit rear their ugly head again. Perhaps a brief note on organisation might be in order. The "Tirailleurs du Po" were raised in 1803 as the "Bataillon Expeditionnaire Piemontais" from volunteers from the departments which provided the manpower for the 27th Division. One would suspect that in lieu of information to the contrary that they would have the normal light infantry organisation, (although I cannot find any reference to voltigeurs), of nine companies and subsequently six (post - 1808). In 1811, along with the Tirailleurs Corses and the Bataillon Valaisan, it was used to reform the 11eme Legere. As might be suspected, their uniform was of light infantry cut. That is to say: pointed lapels, `Polish' cuffs, and `Hessian ' style gaiters. The colour was blue save for the lapels, cuffs, and turnbacks which were red piped white and the waistcoat was white. All other ranks seem to have red epaulettes and red gaiter lace. Officers seem to have worn gilt epaulettes, though it is not possible to say whether or not the other ranks had white metal or brass buttons. The arabiniers wore bearskins with red cap lines. The tirailleurs' headgear was a bicorn, with a drooping red plume, the strap securing the cockade was also red. The cockade was probably the French type, although the Italian variety is a strong posibility. Whether or not the bicorn was ever replaced by the shako my sources do not tell me. The battalion had an Eagle, however, I must confess the same ignorance as to whether the flag was of the French or Italian variety. Drummers were distinguished by yellow lace on the front and upper edges of the collar and by ellow chevrons on the arms (point upwards). The drum rims were blue. I hope that the above is of some use. As to anyone contemplating forming this unit, I foresee a frightful hack-job (Sorry! conversion) between a Revolutionary period line grenadier and a normal pre-1812 chasseur figure. The head swap is necessary as I know of only one company who make a figure suitable for a Revolutionary light infantryman in 25mm, which is fine if you use 25mm, but no damn good if you use 15 or 6mm where I imagine the choice is as limited or worse. The ubiquitous but surprisingly Napoleonic units are often hard to research, especially if they are hard to ignore or omit from your order of battle. I could go on about the Tirailleurs Corses but here perhaps I ought to stop. Editor: Feel free to continue in time for issue 10, I have no doubt someone will write in a ask about the `Corses'. And who will be the first manufacturer to rise to the bait? Further up the Po... Also recieved on the subject and in a slightly cryptic format was the following, slightly alternative view. For Phil Winfield, Morecambe (Dispatches 8) Tirailleurs du Po Single, 9 company battalion unit which became part of 11 Legere in 1811.
Chasseurs/Voltigeurs - Either Chapeau or Shako.
Chasseurs - Green (possibly), Volitiguers - Green/Yellow. Eagle: I don't know of one, they shouldn't have had one but neither should other "Foreign Regiments", which did have. Sources: Empires, Eagles and Lions No. 84, Ray Johnson's Napoleonic Armies and Haythornthwaite's Napoleonic Source Book. I hope this helps. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #9 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1992 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 |