The Grande Armée (French for "the Great Army" or "the Grand Army") first entered the annals of history when, in 1805, Napoleon I renamed the army that he had assembled on the French coast of the English Channel for the proposed invasion of Britain but failed at the Battle of Trafalgar and re-deployed it East to commence the Campaign of 1805 against Austria and Russia.
Thereafter, the name was used for the principal French army deployed in the Campaigns of 1805-07 (where it got its prestige), 1812, and 1813-14. In practice, however, the term "Grande Armée" is used in English to refer to all of the multinational forces gathered by Napoleon I in his campaigns of the early nineteenth century (see Napoleonic Wars).
The first Grande Armée consisted of six corps under the command of Napoleon's marshals and senior generals. When Napoleon discovered that Russian and Austrian armies were preparing to invade France in late 1805, the Grande Armée was quickly ordered across the Rhine into Southern Germany, leading to Napoleon's victories at Ulm, Austerlitz and Jena.
The army grew in size as Napoleon's might spread across Europe. It reached its maximum size of 600,000 men at the start of the invasion of Russia against the Russians in 1812. All contingents were commanded by French generals, except for a Polish and an Austrian corps. The huge multinational army marched slowly eastwards, with the Russians falling back before it. After the capture of Smolensk and victory in the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon and a large part of the Grande Armée reached Moscow on 14 September 1812; however, the army was already drastically reduced in numbers due to bloody battles with Russians, disease (principally typhus) and long communication lines. The army spent a month in Moscow, but was ultimately forced to march back westwards. Assailed by cold, starvation and disease, and constantly harassed by Cossacks and Russian irregulars, the retreat utterly destroyed the Grande Armée as a fighting force. As many as 400,000 died in the adventure and only a few tens of thousands of ravaged troops returned.
Napoleon led a new army to the Battle of Nations at Leipzig in 1813, in the furious defence of France in 1814, and in the Waterloo campaign in 1815, but the Napoleonic French army would never regain the heights of the Grande Armée in June 1812.
Staff system
Prior to the late 18th century, there was generally no organizational support for staff functions such as military intelligence, logistics, planning or personnel. Unit commanders handled such functions for their units, with informal help from subordinates who were usually not trained for or assigned to a specific task.
The first modern use of a General Staff was in the French Revolutionary Wars, when General Louis Alexandre Berthier (later the first Marshal of Empire) was assigned as Chief of Staff to the French Army of Italy in 1795. Berthier was able to establish a well organized staff support team. Napoleon Bonaparte took over the army the following year and rapidly came to appreciate Berthier's system, adopting it for his own headquarters, although Napoleon's usage was limited to his own command group.
The Staff of the Grande Armee was known as the Imperial Headquarters and was divided into the Napoleon's military household, and the Army General Headquarters.
Napoleon's military household
The Military Household of the Emperor included the department of Aides-de-camp, orderly officers (until 1809), the Emperor's Cabinet with the Secretariat, a department that collected intelligence about the enemy using spies, and the topographical department. Attached was also the Emperor's Civil Cabinet that included the office of the Grand Marshal of the Palace and the Grand Ecuyer.
Army General Headquarters
The Grand État-Major Général (Chief Staff Major General Headquarters) included the office of the Etats-Major-General's Cabinet (Berthier) with their four departments: Movements, Secretariat, Accounting and Intelligence (order of battles). Berthier also had his own private Military Staff which included duty Generals and Staff Aides-de-camp. Finally there was the Army General Staff with the offices of the three Assistant Major-Generals to Berthier.
Lest one think this was a safe office job of the modern staff officers, a contemporary subordinate staff officer Brossier reports that at the Battle of Marengo
The General-in-chief Berthier gave his orders with the precision of a consummate warrior, and at the Marengo maintained the reputation that he so rightly acquired in Italy and in Egypt under the orders of Bonaparte. He himself was hit by a bullet in the arm. Two of his aides-de-camp, Dutaillis and La Borde, had their horses killed.
Organization
One of the most important factors in the Grande Armée's success was its superior and highly flexible organization. It was subdivided into several Corps (usually from five to seven), each numbering anywhere between 10,000 to 50,000, with the average size being around 20,000 to 30,000 troops. These Corps d'Armée were self-contained, smaller armies of combined arms, consisting of elements from all the forces and support services discussed below. While capable of fully independent operations, the Corps usually worked in close concert together and kept within a day's marching distance of one another. A Corps, depending on its size and the importance of its mission, was commanded by a Marshal, or Général de division (Divisional General).
Napoleon placed great trust in his Corps commanders and usually allowed them a wide freedom of action, provided they acted within the outlines of his strategic objectives and worked together to accomplish them. When they failed to do this to his satisfaction, however, he would not hesitate to reprimand or relieve them and in many cases took personal command of their Corps himself. Corps were first formed in 1800, when General Moreau divided the Army Of The Rhine into 4 Corps. These were only temporary groupings, however, and it was not until 1804 that Napoleon made them permanent units. He would sometimes form the cavalry into separate Corps, so they would be able to move and mass more quickly without being slowed by the infantry.
The main tactical units of the Corps were the Divisions, usually consisting of 4,000 to 6,000 infantry or cavalrymen. These in turn were made up of 2 or 3 Brigades of 2 Regiments apiece and supported by an Artillery Brigade of 3 or 4 Batteries, each with 6 field cannons and 2 howitzers, making 24 to 32 guns in all. The Divisions were also permanent administrative and operational units, commanded by a General de Division (Major General) and likewise capable of independent actions.
Forces of La Grande Armée
Imperial Guard
Main article: Imperial Guard (Napoleon I)France's Imperial Guard ( Garde Impériale ) was the elite military force of its time and grew out of the Garde des Consuls and Garde Consulaire . It was, quite literally, a Corps d'Armée itself with infantry, cavalry and artillery divisions. Napoleon wanted it also to be an example for the entire army to follow, and a force that, since it had fought with him over several campaigns, was completely loyal. Although the infantry was rarely committed en masse, the Guard's cavalry was often thrown into battle as the killing blow and its artillery used to pound enemies prior to assaults.
From a single regiment in 1800, it was steadily expanded until it was the size of a field army.
Infantry of the Guard
There were three sections:
- Old Guard ( Vieille Garde ): Composed of the longest serving veterans who had served three to five campaigns in Napoleon's army, the Old Guard consisted of two regiments and was the crème de la crème of La Grande Armée.
- Grenadiers à Pied de la Garde Impériale : The Grenadiers of the Guard was the most senior regiment in La Grande Armée. During the 1807 campaign in Poland, the Grenadiers were given the nickname les grognards ("the grumblers") by Napoleon himself. They were the most experienced and brave infantrymen in the Guard, some veterans having served in over 20 campaigns. To join the Grenadiers, a recruit had to have been under the colours for at least 10 years, have received a citation for bravery, be literate and be over 178 cm tall. The Grenadiers à Pied did not see combat as often as the infantry of the Young or Middle guard, but when they did they performed admirably. In 1815, The Old Guard grenadiers were expanded to four regiments. The new regiments, the 2e, 3e and 4e Grenadiers were immediately classed as Old Guard, despite the fact that they were nowhere near the calibre of 1er Grenadiers. In fact, the army referred to them as Middle Guard. It was these regiments which were defeated by the British Guards at Waterloo. The 1er Grenadiers was engaged in fighting the Prussians at Placenoit. The Grenadiers à Pied wore a dark blue habit long (coat with long tails) with red turnbacks, epaulettes and white lapels. The Grenadiers most distinguishing feature was the tall bearskin hat, decorated with an engraved gold plate, a red plume
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