The origins of the 53e Ligne date back to the Regiment Alsace, first raised in 1656.
It spent 1805 - 1806 as part of the Army of Italy (fighting at Caldiero, Tagliamento, and in the Tyrol).
1808 - 1809 the Regiment was once again with the Army of Italy ( Battle on the Piave, Tagliamento, San Michele, Raab, Wagram, and Znaim).
The regiment was part of the invasion of Russia in 1812, and fought at Borodino, Maloyaroslavets, and Krasnoe.
In 1813 - 1814, it returned again to the Army of Italy, where it was engaged at Caldiero, San Michele, Boara, and the Mincio.
Nice plummage on these blokes. Another fine unit
ReplyDeleteThe plumes are half the fun of painting Imperial French line pre `1811!
DeleteWonderful colors!
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
Thank you, Stokes. No generic troops in overcoats here! :-)
DeleteBeautiful paint job and interesting historical background...
ReplyDeleteThe troops in the Division I based this set of 4 units on spent much of their service in the Italian theater.
DeleteAnother fine unit Peter. I'll bet those who survived were happy to get back to Italy after the Russian campaign.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lawrence.
DeleteYes, those *very* few who survived it!
Well, I guess you needed more to offset all those new Austrians. Look good too.
ReplyDeleteYes, "but the balance of power's maintained that way... who's next. who's next, who's next?!" [Tom Lehrer, circa 1964]
DeleteIf I had to do things over again, I think it quite likely I would go with your 18's instead of 24's, nice work again Peter!
ReplyDeleteI think the 18 figures (in 25/28 mm) gives enough mass (and balances the command figures) without taking up so much space, cost and painting time. It is perhaps an accidental result of the fact that the original flats that I started with circa 1960 came 20 to a box, with one figure being a mounted colonel, so it was natural to base them on 6 stands of three, which nicely fits French company organization. On the other hand, your larger units look fabulous, Mark, and you seem to have no difficulty pumping them out! :-)
DeleteCheers Peter, yes it's the game frontages that start to become problematic - fitting everything on the table! :)
DeleteYes, 25's occupy enough space already without making the units huge. I could never understand doing 36 man battalions (or even more) in 25 mm!
DeleteNicely painted French and interesting to read their list of deployments and battles fought
ReplyDeleteThank you, Keith. The best thing for this regiment was no service in the Peninsula... not that Russia was much better!
DeleteVery nice work, Peter! The Foundry French are an elegant bunch. That is a good pose too. Are all of your center coy poms orange?
ReplyDeleteI have a very definite system for my French infantry. They are organized into "Divisions" of 4 Ligne and 1 Legere. The troops of a Division are all by the same manufacturer, and where possible, the same pose, more or less. I use the French company pom poms to differentiate the 4 "Regiments" of each Division... Dark Green for the first, Sky Blue for the second, Aurore, as here, for the 3rd, and Violet for the 4th. Should I decide that I don't like the system, and want to go with company colors, a shuffle of the stands will produce 4 units, each with 1 stand in each of the 4 colors, with the only difference being which color pom poms the command stand of each Regiment has. With 6 stands per unit, each stand represents a company at the Battalion level... even though I call them "Regiments".
DeleteA similar system works for my French cavalry, too - 4 stands of 2, 8 figures. Thus each stand is a squadron, and each figure a company. Thus one figure each in the Chassuers, Hussars, Dragoons, and Chevau-Leger Lanciers is an elite company figure.
I am the very model of a meticulous modern General! :-)
A very sensible system too I think! :)
DeleteAs I have said, also a consequence of the way the original painted flats that i started with were packaged! :-)
DeleteSome of my favourite poses in the WF French range. Great job on them Peter.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, Carlo. The Foundry French make up the majority of my Divisions, in part because they come in many poses! Thus I have one Division each in Attacking, Defending, Marching, Firing, and Loading poses.
DeleteLovely battalion Peter and I really like the orange/aurore pom-poms. I was gonna type that they are my favourite company colour, but I think that goes to the purple or sky-blue.
ReplyDeleteRegards, James
Thanks, James. I think Sky Blue is my favorite French company color, and Dark Green my least favorite (in part because I use Green for the Legere anyway).
DeleteI'm with you on that one. The green seems like duplication. I try to use a lighter green for the company pom-pom, but would have preferred another colour, a brown perhaps or even simply black or white. We should have been in charge of such things. Where's that time machine...?
DeleteWell, if you think about it, they used the three primary and the three secondary colors - red for the Grenadiers, orange (aurore) for the 3rd Fusilier company, yellow for the Voltigeurs, green for the 1st Fusilier company, (sky) blue for the 2nd Fusilier company, amd Violet for the 4th Fusilier company. So, it would have to be white, black, or perhaps Rose (pink) to replace the green.
DeleteWow that’s an impressive resume, one has to wonder how many of the vets returned from Russia, to campaign further in Italy. A hard life being a soldier back then.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Kevin
If a dozen survived the campaign, that would probably be a lot... out of probably at least 2,000 and probably more then 3,000 who crossed the Nieman into Russia... by that time, many French regiments had 5 and sometimes even more battalions! Napoleon fovfurtedout it was cheaper to add battalions to existing regiments rather than adding new ones, although there were some new regiments added opver the years. Many of the new regiemnts, though, were essentially wholesale transfers from territories added to metropolitan France (such as the Kingdom of Holland).
DeleteThe perfect French line regiment uniform, delightfully rendered, lovely looking unit!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
You are far too generous, Iain!
Delete