Napoleon's Brick Guard and Army

Like their colleagues the Foot Grenadiers , the Horse Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard were one of the Guard's most senior regiments (along with the Foot Chasseurs and the Horse Chasseurs), originating in Bonaparte's Consular Guard. They were also among the most respected and feared units of Napoleon's entire Guard and army, never having been defeated in battle, or so it's said. The Horse Grenadiers' uniform was similar to their colleagues' on foot, the most notable differences being a bearskin without a front plate, yellow contre-epaulettes, a pair of cavalry gloves ( gants à crispin ) and a pair of cavalry boots. The Horse Grenadiers were issued with a long straight sword (the weapon of choice of the heavy cavalry) and a musket. Trumpeters would wear a uniform in a lighter shade of blue and usually a bearskin identical to the other troopers' or a bicorne for parades. According to some specialists, the white bearskin the Horse Grenadier trumpeters are somet...

These two sappers from the Imperial Guard Corps of Engineers are wearing trench armour. The cuirass and the heavy helmet familiarly called pot-en-tête would protect sappers when they had to dig trenches under possible enemy fire. Soldiers wearing helmets and cuirasses and digging trenches probably seem at first like an oddity to who is not overtly familiar with the Napoleonic wars. Yet, this hidden part of battles and sieges can be traced back at least to the Middle Ages -- when men would dig trenches or saps to approach covertly an enemy's besieged fortifications often to detonate a mine under them so that a wall would collapse opening a breach -- and would be part of any major conflict up to today.  

The most senior unit of the Imperial Guard infantry (along with the Foot Chasseurs), the Foot Grenadiers are undoubtedly one of the most iconic contingents of the First French Empire. They were so renowned even at the time that pretty much any French soldier wearing a bearskin could be easily mistaken for one of Napoleon's awesome  Grognards (Grumblers)! The Foot Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard were the direct successors of the Foot Grenadiers of the Consular Guard, Bonaparte's bodyguard before he became emperor. The Foot Grenadiers and their colleagues of the Horse Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard are possibly the units most often pictured guarding Napoleon, although any unit of the Guard or indeed the regular army could be asked to perform sentry or escort duties around the emperor.  The conditions were strict to join the Foot Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard: to have served in the army for at least five years and taken part in a minimum of two campaigns, be at least 5 feet...

Two men from General Bonaparte's dromedary regiment in Egypt. Contrarily to some modern depictions, the men of the dromedary regiment, formed in 1799, did not wear shakos as the headgear was adopted by the army only later. The regiment would be disbanded in 1801 when the French left Egypt. The tasks of the dromedary regiment were varied, between fighting insurgents, escorting convoys or patrolling. Unlike traditional cavalry, the men would not necessarily fight from their mounts but rather alight and fight on foot like infantry, using the animals as cover if needed. Needless to say, they were considered an elite troop.  

  Supposedly, towards the end of the First French Empire, concerned with the ever-increasing number of unattended casualties on the battlefield, some high-ups came up with the idea of equipping some men so that they could rescue the wounded possibly even before the battle ended. The men would work by pair and each of them would carry on his back half a stretcher and be armed with a lance for self-defence. When a stretcher was needed, the lance heads could be detached and the shafts turned into stretcher poles.  The men would also be qualified nurses and carry basic first aid equipment.  Although some people have argued that the idea of stretcher-bearer lancers never materialised, I've read at least one testimony from the period describing the process.  So, the concept may well have been tested in the field at some point. As for the uniform these men would wear, the source material is extremely sparse at best and although most illustrations from the 20th or 21st centu...

  Here comes a troop of Foot Dragoons entering a wood. Ordinary dragoons were supposed to be able to fight either on horseback or on foot. But on several occasions during the First French Empire, the difficulty finding enough horses forced Napoleon to dismount a few regiments of dragoons who became, for a time, infantrymen. The Foot Dragoons would retain their helmet, uniform and weapons (a cavalryman's straight long sword and a musket and bayonet) and would wear an infantry backpack. Although not technically part of the Imperial Guard, some Foot Dragoon regiments were attached to the Guard for a short time. Sappers, minus their horses, would accompany Foot Dragoon companies, just as they did mounted regiments. Below is such a sapper clearing a fallen tree for an officer lucky enough to have retained his horse. Unlike ordinary dragoons who would go along a trumpeter on horseback, Foot Dragoons were typically served, in the style of regular infantry, by a drummer.  Like Napoleo...

Two officers and a trumpeter from an elite chevau-légers company on their morning stroll through the woods near the barracks. The tall plumes worn for the photographs are usually kept in storage during day-to-day duties. Unlike the regular troopers or in this case the trumpeter, officers wear a leopard skin turban around their helmet. You can compare the chevau-légers trumpeter with his colleague from the cuirassiers here .  

A few Imperial Guard artillerymen exercising supervised by an officer. The cannon has been left attached to its limber by a prolonge , usually a long rope that would allow if necessary the cannon to be dragged away very quickly.  You needed loads of men to operate a cannon properly. Officers, NCOs and cannoneers were the most qualified while other men would simply help with moving the gun arround and carrying ammunition. If necessary, infantrymen could be drafted into helping with the most menial tasks. Although mainly busy with firing the big guns, each artilleryman would cary a sword, a musket and a bayonet for self-defence.  

  The men in charge of transporting cannons and ammunition for Napoleon's Imperial Guard formed the Artillery Train of the Imperial Guard (there was a similar artillery train to service the cannons of the regular army). They would move the cannons and ammunition wagons to and from the battlefield and were expected to protect these from enemy attacks if necessary. Each gun was attached to a limber towed by four, six or more horses. On the limber was kept a crate containing a small number of rounds to allow the cannon to be fired in an emergency if the main ammunition wagon was not around. The  ammunition wagon (below) would contain a fair amount of rounds, sometimes of different kinds. Theoretically, there were several ammunition wagons to service each gun. A shovel and a pickaxe could be fixed to the sides and a spare wheel to the rear. My wagon contains 18 fireable rounds (6 more are stored in the crate on the cannon's limber). On the battlefield, the ammunition wagons were s...