Let's discuss: Reenacting!

[Olafson]

Just out of curiosity, what about the drill are they doing wrong?

Difficult to tell, it is many things.

Just a recent example, here is a video of them doing "Battalion Drill" let me try to break it down. Some side info first though. This "Battalion" was apparently formed from 3 different groups, the 85e (To the right of the "battalion") the 45e (center) and the 21e (left)

As a headsup, most if not all of the drawings below assume that the Peleton is acting on its own and therefore the left guide is at the left side of the company. That would not be the case for most companies in a battalion. The guide would be behind the line, as he would not be necessary. Only the left guide of the leftmoste company would be necessary. 

Some explanations on the wording I am going to use.
Company = Peleton
Section = Section
Chef de Battalion = Battalion Commander
Chef de Peleton = Company Commander
Chef de Section = Section Commander
Guide de droite = Right Guide
Guide de gauche = Left Guide

Link to the video:

Spoiler

https://www.facebook.com/lumiere62/videos/10156229692542936/

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So it starts with the "Battalion" in what I believe is in order of battle charging bayonet, moving forward. First thing to notice is that half of the guys are not holding their guns correctly.

Next thing you will notice is their weird setup. It makes absolutely no sense. They seem to be a brigadebattalionpeleton Which obviously never existed. 

Originally battalions were made out of 8 Fusilier and 1 Grenadier company (1791-1808) and later from 4 Fusilier, 1 Grenadier and 1 Voltigeur company. Since the event was supposed to take place in 1815, we should assume that the battalion should ideally use the newer system (1808-15). There are 2 different ways to compose a battalion and we have no real information on which system was used by which regiment. However, it is widely accepted that the Heffemeyer System was more widely used.
In the Heffemeyer system, the 1st battalion would be formed like this:

Voltigeurs (6th Company) - 2nd Fusiliers (5th Company) - 4th Fusiliers (4th Company) - 1st Fusiliers (3rd Company) - 3rd Fusiliers (2nd Company) - Grenadiers (1st Company)

The 6th and 5th company would form the 3rd Division, the 4th and 3rd Company the 2nd Divison, the 2nd and 1st Company the 1st Divison. All sections (with a small exception) and therefore all companies would be equalized to have the exact same number of files. This is extremely important as it otherwise would mess up the alignment when doing certain maneuvers.
The eagle (The 1st Battalion has only one) would be placed in the 2nd section of the 1st Fusiliers, making that section unusually large. Unlike all other sections, it would not be equalized to make it the same size as all other sections. The section would be larger than any of the other sections. This is done to make sure that the Eagle is in the perfect center of the battalion. If the sections were equalized, it would not be in the center. It is important to place the eagle in the center, as it is the center guide and extremely important for most maneuvers.

If you want a more detailed drawing depicting everything here is one I made a while ago for myself. It is in German though, and it contains various spelling mistakes + its not very pretty, but maybe it helps:

Spoiler

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Now that you know this, how is the "Battalion" in the video composed?
It seems like the "Battalion" is made out of 3 Companies like this:

21e - 45e - 85e

It is a bit difficult to see, but I believe the companies are composed as following (Including guides etc.): 85e: 8 files , 45e: 12 files, 21e: 6 files. Their companies are not equalized, therefore their sections are not equalized either.
I talked about this before, but for reenactment purposes, I think we can make company compositions slightly smaller. However there is still a certain number of ranks that NEED to be filled in order to do anything in a proper manner.

For each company that would be:
Chef de Peleton
Chef de 2e Section
Guide de droite
Guide de gauche

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Additionally for a reenactment battalion you would also need one Chef de battalion.

So, looking at the video I see the following setup:
85e:
Chef de Peleton - 0
Chef de 2e Section - 0
Guide de droite - 0
Guide de gauche -1

45e:
Chef de Peleton - 1
Chef de 2e Section - 0
Guide de droite - 0
Guide de gauche -1

21e:
Chef de Peleton - 0
Chef de 2e Section - 0
Guide de droite - 0
Guide de gauche -1

Battalion:
Chef de Battalion - 1
Eagle - 2

So, there is a severe lack of ranks in this battalion.

Additionally there seems to be a problem with the placement of troops. Both the 21 and the 85e seem to be carrying an eagle, additionally it seems to be at different positions in their companies, the 85e has their eagle center right, while the 21e seems to have their eagle on the very right side. The left guide of the 85e is at the left side of his peleton, which makes no sense. In a battalion, only the left guide of the leftmost company is on the left side. All other left guides are behind their sections leftmost file as file closer, 2 steps behind the rear-rank. The chef de peleton of the 45e seems to be in the correct position. The left guide of the 45e is on the same position as the guide of the 85e, therefore he is wrong. The left guide of the 21e is behind the rear rank as file closer. the 21e is
the leftmost company, therefore he is the left guide of the entire battalion, he should be on the left side of his last file, not behind the rear rank. The drummers seem to be placed at random. They should be in the left center of the Battalion, 15 steps behind the file closers, i.e. 17 steps behind the rear-rank. I am going to ignore the placement of the Chef de Battalion for now, as it is a drill.

So, as you can see, pretty much anything you can do wrong is done wrong.

The logical thing to do would have been the following:
- Assume that we are a downsized battalion consisting of only the 1st and 4th Fusiliers, i.e. 3rd and 4th Company. i.e. the 2nd Divison.
- Drop one of the eagles. Drop the eagle guards, we are such a small battalion, we have no use for them in this reenactment scenario.
- Equalize both companies as following: The Chef de Battalion stays Chef de Battalion. The 21e drops their Eagle, their Eagle carrier becomes Chef of the 4th Company. The 85e keeps their eagle and is placed as the leftmost file of the 2nd section of the 3rd company. The chef of the 45e becomes Chef of the 3rd company. One of the caporals of the 85e becomes left guide of the 3rd company, the left guide of the 45e becomes right guide of the 4th company. The left guide of the 21e becomes Chef de 2e Section of the 4th Company. The left guide of the 85e becomes Chef de 2e Section of the 3rd Company. Another corporal of the 85e becomes Right guide of the 3rd Company. We now have EXACTLY 38 privates remaining. 10 files go into each company, with one of the files being just 1 man (sadly we are missing 2 guys . Ideally placing all remaining corporals at the flanks. The drummers go 17 steps behind the center rear rank of the 5th Company.

Now each company and each section has the same number of files (Ignoring the obviously 1 file larger 2nd section of the 3rd Company) and the eagle is in the perfect center. Each company has a right and left guide, each section has a chef and each company has a chef a swell.

It would look exactly like this:

Spoiler

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Tbh. the holes in the first sections look kinda sad, but there is nothing we can do about it. It will still work just fine anyway, and that is what we need to care about.

On to the next scene.
In this scene they seem to be facing the other direction, probably having turned around just a few seconds earlier. For some reason however, the drummers and file closers seem to be "behind" i.e. in front of the line. This makes no sense.
There is a reason something like "Contre Marche" exists. Reference here:

Spoiler

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You can not walk backwards very far, as that would mess up your whole battalion. Everyone would be standing on the wrong flank and the rear rank would be the new front rank, which would not work. You can turn around 180 degrees, but the manual clearly states that this shall not be done for more than 40 steps. It is both difficult to keep the line (also because the eagle would be standing int he rear rank) and it turns your entire battalion around and inverses it.

Reason is quite simple. First of all, ALL the file closers, musicians, officers, and sappeurs would have to march around the entire line to get back into their now inverted positions. 2nd of all, unless in extrem situation, you would never shoot with the rear rank being in the front. Reason for that is that originally the French were supposed to fight in 3 ranks. The tallest guys would be in the front rank, the smallest guys in the 2nd rank and the guys in between in the rear rank. When firing, the front rank would crouch down, while the other 2 ranks would continue standing straight. If you think about it, this makes sense. You have all the tall guys in the front, which looks impressive, but since they are kneeling down when firing, the small guys can easily fire over their shoulders, and since the medium guys are taller than the small guys, they can also easily fire over their shoulders. Turning this around is ofc possible, but it would be more difficult and more dangerous, as it was assumed that you would only do so in extreme situations.

To be clear, there is a order that allows the rear rank to turn around and fire. But in this case, the order was not given. "feu en arrière, demi-tour droit"

So, whatever they are doing is clearly wrong. You can also hear them shouting "align to the center" or something along the lines, which obviously is kinda difficult if your eagle is not in the center. THAT'S WHY YOU PLACE IT IN THE CENTER.
They then proceed to do another 180 degree turn, and all the file closers and drummers return to their actual position... Another thing is, no one is repeating the orders. I guess this makes sense, as two of the Companys have no Company Commander and the one that does just does not seem to care. This makes no sense. In reality the Chefs de Peleton were supposed to repeat the orders, and the soldiers would listen to the Chef de Peleton. This makes sense, if you think about it. from 1791 - 1808 battalions were composed out of NINE companies. Do you seriously think you can hear a single guy? Not really.

Next up, the battalion is supposed to form into a column of sections. Of SECTIONS. Not Companies. SECTIONS. Do you see what they do next? the 85e and the 21 wheel by company, the 45e wheels by sections. This makes sense if you think about it. They are missing almost all of the Chef de Section and a significant number of guides. Their sections are also all of different frontage. There is no way they could have wheeled in sections, so they proceed to do so in companies instead.
But lets just give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they did it correct (lol).

Here is how you would do it in reality, on a company basis:

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You see what they did wrong here?
First of all, none of the Chef de Section move in front of their section. Not even the one Chef de Section that does exist. 2nd of all, the left guides (because apparently there are only 2nd sections here, MAAAYBE because there are no right guides in the entire battalion), step out of the line and move to the position of the Chef de Sections prematurely. 
The order to march is then given before the guides are in place, which I guess is okay, since they aren't supposed to be there in the first place, but is also not okay, because you are supposed to wait for everyone to be in position before you give the order and you know what, I don't really know what to say here, because none of this shit makes any sense whatsoever, and trying to bring sense in this mess is confusing as hell and probably not possible because there simply is no sense in the whole thing, no one knows what hes doing anyway. The sections then start wheeling and are being halted to late. They are supposed to be halted a good step or two before they reach the Chefs of each section (Commanded by the chef de section btw., not the chef de battalion).
Sean then starts shouting something about "conversion s'il vous plait, monsieur" which makes no sense in this case, because they are not supposed to do a conversion. A conversion is done on a moving pivot, in this case you should absolutely not do this though, as it would change your alignment, the pivot needs to be static.
After halt is given, and it seems like the order to dress is given while the camera is not recording, which would be fine, except there are no guides (Or atleast none in the position of the guide) to dress to...  No idea what happens after this ofc, as I can not see it. What I can see though, is that the drummers for some reason think that they are Chefs of the sections and step into the place where the Chef de Section is supposed to be. Wtf. drummer? You are supposed to be at a completely different position right now.
Also, only one of the guides is holding his weapon in an orderly manner. The officers are not holding their sabres in an orderly manner either.



Here is another video, this time of just the 85e.

Spoiler

https://www.facebook.com/cpetsepers/videos/2114038105290409/

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Again, lets look at their setup:
Chef de Peleton - 1
Chef de 2e Section - 0
Guide de droite - 0
Guide de gauche - 1

Again, they are missing a whole bunch of important ranks.

Also, in the first few seconds of the video, you can already see the left guide stepping out of the line, infront of the line. Wtf are you doing guide? You are the GUIDE. GUIDE. GUIIIIIIIIIIDE. You are the goddamn pivot point, people align to you, you are extremly important. You do not simply step out of the line. Also, please. Hold your weapon like a real sergeant.
You will also notice that their eagle is somewhere in the center of the first section, which makes no sense. First of all, it makes no sense to have an eagle for company drill. The eagle is useless. 2nd of all, the eagle is in the wrong position. He is supposed to be on the left flank of the 2nd section. But I understand why that was not done. They tried to equalize the sections including the eagle. That is the reason they placed it in the first section. They should have equalized the sections first, then added the eagle on top of that.
The officer is not holding his saber in a proper manner.

Alright, so we continue and the 85th wants to form a column of sections while marching to the front. Fine, you can do that, makes perfect sense.

Here is how it is supposed to be done:

Spoiler

There is a small error in here, it is supposed to say "oblique a droite", not "oblique a gauche"

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The Chef de Section step in front of their respective sections to take command over them. We do not see this happen. Obviously not, because there is only one Chef de Section, and he is also the right ruide, so he can not step in front of his section.
The following orders are correct, however they should not be given by the guide, they should be given by the Chef de Section (Which is non existent) This part is executed correctly, but for the missing Chef de Section. The 1st section however is completely wrong, the right guide which his also Chef de Section does neither step in front of his section (As he should as Chef de Section) nor does he step to the left flank of his section (as he should as guide) instead he remains in his current position. The drummers then proceed to once again step in between the sections, believing that they have been promoted to Chef de Section. Now in reality, the Chef de 2e Section would make sure that his guide is right behind the guide of the first section (who is now on the left flank of his section), so realistically, Hans should not stop moving until he is right behind Willy, which would result in a nice checkerboard pattern. Ofc. even Hans is not that dumb and he instead dresses to no one in front of him and just assumes the position of the invisible guide in front of him.
Next up we see the section wheeling to the right. In this case, the order for conversion is given, as it is necessary to wheel on a moving pivot, or else the sections will crash into each other. The order is given, but executed the wrong way. The entire section wheels on a static pivot and would it have been larger, the 2nd section would have crashed right into them.


I guess thats it for now. Please excuse my typos.




EDIT: While falling asleep yesterday I realized that I did a small mistake with the analysis of the wheeling by "section". I just fixed it.

[Duuring]

And then we haven't even touched on school of the soldier. But that's a story for another time.

There are a few important aspects when it comes to drill.

1. Officers and NCO's have a specific place and role. Guides are the most important ones. They are literally irreplaceable. Even the commander, be it the chef de peleton or just a sergeant, cannot move around freely. Which brings us to point 2.

2. The instructor is not the same thing as the commander. These drill books are written on the assumption that nobody knows anything, from the lowest private all the way up to the colonel. That's great news for us re-enactors, as it gives instruction to everybody. But it also means that a chef de peleton giving drill has to either stay in his position all the time, or act as an instructor to correct mistakes. That means all officers and NCO's move up one position, all the way down to the most senior corporal who becomes 4th sergeant.

3. Knowledge, knowledge and knowledge. Every officer and NCO needs to know his responsibilities and position in the line, and preferably those of his immediate superior as well. Corporals were specifically picked from the men who knew drill the best. You can literally have a batallion of first timers perform reasonably well, as long as the officers and NCO's know what to do.

[Olafson]

As far as I know, an instructor could be of any rank, in theory a Sergeant could be ordering a Captain around. Though I kinda think that this is unlikely. Maybe Instructor was a rank in itself. I need more information about it, so do not take it for granted.
Also, I believe for various movements there are prescribed places for the instructor to be in, but for the love of god I can not keep them in my head. I do not think that that is a big problem though, for reenactment purposes what is important is how the rest of the drill is executed.

[Riddlez]

Traditionally drill instructors are sergeants. Officers aren't supposed to yell and cuss at men and sergeants usually have more experience than officers.

[Olafson]

Yes, and most likely this was also the case for the Napolenic Period, but I can not tell for sure.

[Duuring]

Instructor is not a rank. There is nothing in the drillbook that requires the instructor to outrank the commander. We should also be careful with the drill sergeant assumption. It makes sense to us, because we have been bombarded by images of the drill instructor being a sergeant.

There was no 'training stage' for soldiers. Conscripts would be send to the depot of their regiment directly after being drafted, and put into a company on arrival, where they would be trained by their own officers. The school of the soldier, I think, talks about soldiers being trained in groups of four by an instructor. Of course, that's just the theory. In wartime, soldiers were sent out to their regiment almost directly after arriving at the depot, and would be trained on the march.

One account I read described a group of Dutch conscripts that, on their arrival in their department capital, were told they were to become light cavalry, and they were sent to their regimental depot together with some horsemen driving a herd of remounts who happened to be in department capital at the time. The conscripts counted themselves incredibly lucky, as it allowed them to actually learn how to ride a horse before their arrival.

[Riddlez]

Then they'd be trained by the unit themselves, wouldn't it be the most logical to be trained by their section commander?

[Duuring]

I agree it makes the most sense, I'm just saying we should be careful when applying our logic on the early 19th century.

[Olafson]

I know for a fact that the School of the Soldier was teached by experienced soldiers (can even be caporal or lower) in groups of 4 or less.

I expressed myself wrong, Instructor is not a real rank, but a role? Not sure what the correct wording is. Something you get assigned to do. Logically, it would make sense for an instructor to be of Sergeant rank or higher for anything that is about Battalion drill, since Caporals were not expected (I think) to know more than Company drill.

Edit:

I am fucking dumb. From the Regulations, typed from German and translated with google, because I am lazy:

" Part Two
This school, which has the instruction of the soldiers, and on the teaching of the compartments, on which the instruction of the battalions and regiments depends, must have a noticeable eflux, and should be officiated and beset with the greatest number of staff by the staff: it is to be excellently under the direction and under the command of the adjudant majors, who are responsible to the regiment commandanten for the accuracy and forestry of teaching; accordingly, on tour, one of adjudantmajor and one of adjutants should constantly be present. Under the orders of the adjudant majors, the new officers will always be employed for at least six months in these schools; only on the orders of the regiment commandanten, and if they are in a position to do everything themselves, to command properly, and to declare all that is prescribed in the soldiers and peleton school, they can be acquitted of it. Since the captains must be responsible for the general instruction of their comapgnies, the regimental commander, and the staff officers of their battalions, they will not ignore the teaching of their data: they will appoint the non-commissioned officers and caporeans to teach them and the officers and instruct the sergeant of her company to keep a watchful eye on her forester's forester.
always it is necessary to designate, as often as possible, a general collecting place for soldiers of each regiment, and one of staff officers should be present so far as the stocks allow it.
if a certain number of soldiers are able to enter peleont's school, the adjudant major will assemble them, and have them trained by a new officeman employed by the school. He will supervise his own teaching and ensure that the progression prescribed in the Peleont School is observed. if the adjudant major believes that one or more soldiers of the peleont are able to enter the battalion, then he shall let their captains be led away and let them excercise in their presence; the chiefs shall then, if they consider the soldiers fit, have them included in the bataillion.
"

https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN654565414?tify={%22pages%22:[17],%22panX%22:0,%22panY%22:0.819,%22view%22:%22toc%22,%22zoom%22:0.41}

[Duuring]

That is quite literally directly in contradiction of what I've read from memoires but I guess in peacetime it makes sense? I stand corrected, anyway.

[Cara]

Depends the period actually in addition of the war/peace time. Early years 1792-1797, we can read in memoires as you said that they are trained on the field litteraly (Vigo-Roussillon is doing his first attack in Italy with no knowledge on "how to" fire a gun haha) but later 1800-1810, since the Camp de Boulogne (which have heavily trained thousands of newcomers), regular schools are formed at the regimental dépôt, with sometime a serious and full instruction, where the best (or educated) ones are selected to follow a caporal/sergeant/officer class (read Bourgogne on this).

[Duuring]

Okay, I wasn't aware they still had schools. Thanks for the correction, and yes, I definitaly need to read Bourgogne. First Blazé though.

[Cara]

As always with the different campaigns or regiments or subdivisions (as the Guard which was recruiting newcomers after 1804), there is a lot of variations and we can only trust some mémoires.

My pleasure to talk on Bourgogne when you will be reading it (wait for the Russia part...) and I will check my bookcase to see what I can recommend you too. I had a Dutch carabinier if I recall, who has done like only the Russia retreat  haha

[Olafson]

In reply to my previous post about the 85e drill, here is a video I just remembered to have seen some while ago.
I found it again.

Here is how you form sections the real way.


This are the guys we are working together with whenever we have the opportunity to do so. I guess you know now why.
See how nicely executed everything is? What you see here is the first section (and all the other sections, but they are obstructed by the first) doing it correct.
You will also note all the officers/section leaders carrying their sabre in the shoulder arms position, but as soon as they step out of line, they carry it in port arms position AS IT SHOULD BE.
Watching this video makes me so happy, I can not describe the feeling I get for it. Its beautiful.

[Riddlez]

Properly executed drill in an orderly fashion