4th French Line Infantry Regiment, 1805
Dated: December 2nd, 2003.
From Peter Styk of Slovakia.
This contribution is posted on exactly 2nd December to remember all the brave Russians, Austrians and Frenchmen who died on the Austerlitz battlefield 198 years ago.
For my newest contribution I have used two HaT sets: French Line Infantry-1805 and Young Guard set.
It is my 1st Battalion from the 4th Line Infantry Regiment which was on the Austerlitz battlefield part of Marshals Soult IV corps. Together with 28th Line they were part of the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division under General Vandamme. In the middle of 2nd December 1805 they fought against the Russian Guard. In the clash with Russian Guard Cavalry the regiment lost their Eagle after the regimental Eagle bearer - Sergent-Major Saint-Cyr was killed in the middle of broken square formation.
In 1804 Napoleon issued the famous eagles to his regiments and the actual flag was now of secondary importance to the eagle itself. The new flags issued at this time measured approx 80cm square. The eagle was assigned to 1st Battalion. The eagle bearer was a Sergent Major, and together with the flag guard (consisted of seven "Fouriers") he was part of 2nd Company. In this period each regiment consisted of nine companies. Seven of them were fusiliers companies, one voltigeur company - number 8 and grenadier company. The drums are also from French Young Guard. The cornets trumpet is from Dutch Infantry set. With Best Regards from Slovakia Peter Styk
Many thanks to Mr. Styk.
