Foreign Regims and Corps Hors Ligne in the French Imperial Army After the Campaign of 1806 against Prussia, Napoleon planned to raise new regiments from the newly acquired parts of Westphalia, Hesse-Cassel, etc. The regiment of Westphalia was one of the new planned unit and raised by the Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen on an executive order from Napoleon dispatched from Posen on December 11, 1806. The regiment - a light infantry regiment - was initially envisioned as a four battalions unit. Each battalion was to include six companies of 150 men each, forming a total of 3600 men. The first battalion was recruited in the Munster Province, the second in Munden, the third in Brunswick and the fourth in Fulda and Erfurt from among discharged Prussians, Brunswick and Orienen-Fulda soldiers. However, recruiting was very slow and never reached even half of the target figure of 3600. Nevertheless, in March-April 1807, all four battalions were transferred from their respective recruitment areas to the town of Burtsheid near Aachen. From Aachen on May 4, 1807, the Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen wrote a letter to Marshal Berthier in which he complained about the difficulties of recruiting, the desertions, and the patchwork appearance of the regiment, dressed and equipped as they were from the captured stores of the Prussian, Saxon and Hanoverian armies. In that letter, the Prince requested a flag or an eagle for the regiment of Westphalia. On May 20, 1807, the regiment marched through Belgium and reached St.Omer in northern France on June 3, 1807, then Calais. There the regiment received new muskets and was sent to Mecheln where it remained as a garrison from June 25, 1807 to November 1807 for the first battalion and January 1808 for the second battalion. The regiment had been so reduced by desertion that its effective forces in September 1807 was only 1158 men and that included the staff and band. There was also only one battalion commander at this time, Schenck, who was commanding the regiment during the absence of the Prince. This sorry state of affairs could not be tolerated, and on October 1807, the regiment was reduced to two battalions. The uniform was standardized on the French fashion although it retained the distinctive "German lapels". The uniform was white with red collar and cuffs piped with red. On November 1, 1807 the first battalion was sent to the south of France. The new depot of the regiment was established in Perigeux where on January 6, 1808, the first battalion received its flag. It was a huge flag of about 65 inches by 65 inches, much larger than the standard French flag pattern, and without an eagle! The flag had been made according to Napoleon's instructions (see drawing). It is a mistake to claim that the new flag was of the usual pattern for Foreign regiments, only the regiment of Prussia had received the new flag while other foreign regiments like the Regiment of Isembourg or the Swiss regiments had received the much smaller flag of the 1804 pattern with an eagle. One should be very careful about generalizations in the Napoleonic period. There are always surprises and inconsistencies. In Perigeux, a total of four flags were given to the regiment although it had been reduced to two battalions, only one being in Perigeux. On January 8, 1808, the second battalion of the Regiment of Westphalia, now under the command of the Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, was transferred to Cassel where the battalion became part of the 2nd Westphalian Infantry Regiment. (The 2nd Westphalian Infantry Regiment was part of the Westphalian Division that was sent to Spain, but that is another story). It is interesting to note that the flags of the third battalion found its way to the city of Cassel in Germany, where in 1912, it could be seen with the flags of the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of Hesse-Cassel at the Neue Buhler Galerie. The battalion was then transferred to Spain, where the size of the flag certainly caused some amazement and perhaps some melancholy among the old veterans of the Republican Army when the 690 men of the first battalion were passed in review by General Mouton at Miranda, Spain, in the presence of several old regiments. (It should be remembered that in 1804, some regiments departed from their old republican can flags, which were of the same large size, with a certain feeling of sorrow.) The battalion became part of the Corps d'Observation of the Ocean Coast. It took almost a year to officially recognize that the Regiment of Westphalia was only a battalion strong, and it was finally renamed Battalion of Westphalia (Bataillon de Westphalie). The command was given to the faithful Schenck, and in compensation, the Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen became Aide de Camp for the King of Naples (Murat). The Battalion of Westphalia was short-lived because of the impossibility of recruiting in Westphalia. On September 30, 1809, it was disbanded and the remaining troops were incorporated in another "Corps Hors Ligne", the Hanoverian Legion. It was the logical evolution and consequence of the creation of the Kingdom of Westphalia by Napoleon's decree dated November 17, 1807. There is very little available on the morale and behavior of the battalion while in Spain where the battalion participated for a short time in the relatively mild military operations of 1808-1809. Judging by the behavior of the Regiments de Prusse and of Isembourg raised in similar conditions, it is unlikely that the Regiment of Wesphalia was an elite unit. Uniform data on the Regiment of Westphalia i s scarce and our plate is based on the data from Rigo's LE PL UMET PLATE No. 69 and Fieffe (Eugene), Histoire des troupes etrangeres au service de la France (Paris, 1854). The later source show a carabinier with a red plume but a white colar. We have painted our battalion as shown in the drawing. That is: Uniform: As a whole, the uniform is white on the French fashion with German lapels. It is piped with red. Shako: Black as for the light infantry. Cords: Chasseurs - white (could be green) Voltigeurs(*) - green Carabiniers - red Flag bearer - green Plumes: Chasseurs - green top white Voltigeurs - green top yellow Carabiniers - green top red Flag bearer - green top white Collar: Red for everybody Flag: The size of the flag was 1.64 meter by 1.64 meter (about 65 inches by 65 inches). The length of the flagpole was 2.8 meters (110 inches). On the drawing the dimensions of the flag are in proportion to a noncommissioned officer. The flag was never carried in the field but only on parade. This regulation is also applicable to the other light infantry regiment of the French army but it was seldom enforced. Epaulettes: Apparently green for the chasseurs and voltigeurs but red for the carabiniers. Gaiters: The gaiters are of Hungarian cut with a greencolored trim around the top with like colored tassel. Sabre-briquet: The sabre-briquest is on the Prussian model as for the Regiment of Prussia, and was apparently also carried by the chasseurs. (*) Note the correct spelling of VOLTIGEURS. ADDITIONAL SOURCES General Jean Regnault Les aigles imperiales, 1804-1815 Miscellaneous notes from French archives, etc. Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 2 No. 2 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by Emperor's Headquarters This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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