The Second Empire sure knew how to accessorize!
1st Regiment Chasseur à Pied Imperial Guard, 2nd Empire
1st Regiment Chasseur à Pied Imperial Guard, 2nd Empire
Polish officers Tzapka, Napoleons Imperial Garde.
Polish officers Tzapka, Napoleons Imperial Garde.
Uniform and Musket of a Voltigeur of the Imperial Guard from the French Empire dated between 1812-1815 on display at the Musée de l’Armée in Paris
Formed from the
Tirailleurs-Chasseurs and Conscrit-Chasseurs regiments of Young Guard, the Voltigeurs (vaulters or leapers) provided a skirmishing screen for the Imperial Guard of the Grande Armée.
During the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 the Voltigeurs defended the village of Plancenoit against the flanking Prussian attack under
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. After three assaults upon the village the Imperial Guard overwhelmed and almost annihilated by the Prussian Army.
Photographs taken by myself
Uniform and Musket of a Voltigeur of the Imperial Guard from the French Empire dated between 1812-1815 on display at the Musée de l’Armée in Paris
Formed from the
Tirailleurs-Chasseurs and Conscrit-Chasseurs regiments of Young Guard, the Voltigeurs (vaulters or leapers) provided a skirmishing screen for the Imperial Guard of the Grande Armée.
During the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 the Voltigeurs defended the village of Plancenoit against the flanking Prussian attack under
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. After three assaults upon the village the Imperial Guard overwhelmed and almost annihilated by the Prussian Army.
Photographs taken by myself
Cuirassiers of Napoleon III’s Imperial Guard
Georges Bertin Scott, c.1905.
The steel blue, madder red and white colors of the cuirassiers remained relatively unchanged from Napoleon the Great to the Great War. Note that their steel cuirasse was at this point still impervious to handgun fire, and of course any cuts or thrusts from melee weapons.
Cuirassiers of Napoleon III’s Imperial Guard
Georges Bertin Scott, c.1905.
The steel blue, madder red and white colors of the cuirassiers remained relatively unchanged from Napoleon the Great to the Great War. Note that their steel cuirasse was at this point still impervious to handgun fire, and of course any cuts or thrusts from melee weapons.
