Author Topic: Reenactment Discussion  (Read 311657 times)

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Offline DeoVindice61

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #555 on: May 01, 2013, 07:51:50 am »
Of course not. The last square of the Old Guard was destroyed by German infantry supported by British cavalry.

It was also Cambronne that delivered Cambronne's word (Merde!), not Ney. Neither died at Waterloo.


Ahh I see, I thought it was too dramatic for that. Thanks!

Offline Mr T

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #556 on: May 01, 2013, 08:33:48 am »
Technically it were the Middle Guard who had advanced on the Allied position in the first place with one or two battalions of the Old, the proper Old Guard was the 1er Chasseurs and 1er Grenadiers, the 2e Grenadiers and Chasseurs were also a part of the Old Guard. A battalion of the 2e Grenadiers and another of the 2e Chasseurs were at Planchenoit while the 1er Chasseurs were guarding the Le Cailou farm.

When the French army disintegrated, the remaining squares of the Old Guard formed square and marched off the battlefield in good order, the most notable squares were of the 1er Grenadiers who fought off repeated attacks of allied cavalry and Napoleon himself was inside one of these squares, as for this scene from Waterloo I believe its supposed to show the sacrifice of the Middle Guard, though all those batteries are completely inaccurate many of the Middle Guard squares who had fallen back from the Allied ridge formed again and formed a weak defence against the now advancing allies, many soldiers of the Middle Guard died then, and it was Cambronne who Allegedly shouted Merde! or La Garde meurt mes ne se rend pas! however he later denied saying either of these words. And in fact Cambronne did surrender to the allies after he was captured in the square he was in, quite a few other Guard Generals were also captured.

But yeah, that scene is definitely inaccurate to what actually happened.   


Offline Duuring

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #557 on: May 01, 2013, 11:44:46 am »
It's worth mentioning that there apparantly was no middle guard during the 100 days. There was young and there was old.

Oh and who commanded the I/1er Chasseurs, Napoleons real final square?

Duuring!  ;D

Offline Completenoob

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #558 on: May 01, 2013, 01:52:33 pm »
I always gathered Duuring knows too much for his liking but if he's a time traveler it all begins to make sense. Clairvoyance!

Offline zac

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #559 on: May 01, 2013, 02:15:46 pm »
^

Offline Millander

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #560 on: May 01, 2013, 03:41:17 pm »
So the 2e Grens&Chass were aparty of the old guard for the 100 days? I know they were middle guard before that.
Of course, I also think lines should be able to move in double rank without having emotional breakdowns.

Offline Mr T

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #561 on: May 01, 2013, 04:41:03 pm »
So the 2e Grens&Chass were aparty of the old guard for the 100 days? I know they were middle guard before that.


Indeed, the 1er Grens&Chass and the 2e Grens&Chass were part of the Old Guard, the 3eGrens&Chass and 4e Grens&Chass were considered Middle Guard, however the Divisions were formed in the order of their type. So the Old Guard Grenadier Division contained all the battalions of all four regiments of the Guard Grenadiers including the 3e and 4e, the same goes for the Chasseurs.


Offline Duuring

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #562 on: May 01, 2013, 06:14:25 pm »
Apparantly officers and NCO's of the Dutch 3eme Grenadiers were actually old guard, the men remaining middle.

The (re)raised 3e and 4e in 1815 were thus considered fully Old Guard, but it's of course questionable if they had the same standards (and uniformity) of the 1er.

Offline Docm30

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #563 on: May 01, 2013, 11:53:28 pm »
Apparantly officers and NCO's of the Dutch 3eme Grenadiers were actually old guard, the men remaining middle.

Only the officers of the Dutch Grenadiers were Old Guard, everyone else was Middle Guard. It was only the N.C.O.'s (above and excluding Corporal) of the Fusiliers, 2nd Grenadiers and 2nd Chasseurs that were Old Guard, at least in regards to Middle Guard regiments.

Offline Duuring

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #564 on: May 01, 2013, 11:57:54 pm »
Ah, it was like that? I believe you, I read that bit in French somewhere months ago, and I believe you also mentioned it in L'aigle thread ones.

I should pay better attention in Docm's class of fun Historical facts about Napoleons guard.

Offline Mr T

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #565 on: May 02, 2013, 12:00:25 am »
I got a fun fact for you, during the battle of Waterloo soldiers of the 1er Grenadiers and other Guard regiments climbed trees to get a view of the battle, It must've been a pretty humorous sight :P


Offline Duuring

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #566 on: May 02, 2013, 12:13:36 am »
That must have been the apple trees then, 'cos I don't think there were an awful lot of trees around the French guard position.

Now I must come up with a fun fact about the NL units, I suppose?

Offline Mr T

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #567 on: May 02, 2013, 12:16:33 am »
Maybe not here since we're going a tad off topic  ;D

Maybe we should create a sort of "Anecdote" thread for the Napoleonic wars, like put down first hand or second hand true stories of things that happened :D


Offline Docm30

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #568 on: May 02, 2013, 12:24:46 am »
It's worth bearing in mind that probably 80% of the trees on the battlefield were remove during the 20th century. It was quite heavily forested during the battle.

Offline Duuring

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Re: Reenactment Discussion
« Reply #569 on: May 02, 2013, 12:29:09 am »
I know, but even looking at maps, the forested areas seem to be south of hougomont, Mont-saint-jean and around Placenoit.

Good idea Mr_T, I have plenty of those. Though, better make it 'Historical corner for anecdotes, fun facts and awesome things'