Horse soldiers of Duchy of Warsaw - prints circa 1831AD

 Salvete Omnes,

a quick entry - Dog days of the summer - 

ad rem, one of my favorite periods in Polish uniform history is the Duchy of Warsaw: 1806-1815AD , during the Napoleonic Wars.

Poniatowski and his staff in Krakow's Sukiennice 1809, Stachowicz pinxit

Stachowicz, Michał (1768-1825) conceived the idea and drawings while a German engraver Sebastian Langer (1772-1841) executed the prints for a publication in Krakow (then a so called Free City of Krakow) in 1831.

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Valete

Pomeranian-Kashubian Yorck defeats Macdonald's cavalry - 1814

 Salvete Omnes,

several days ago there was 211th anniversary of the battle at La Chausse - Feb, 3rd 1814.
This battle took place during the 1814 defense of France conducted by Napoleon's Grande Armee corps and divisions commanded by his marshals.

In this instance Marshal Macdonald's forces, the XI Corps and II Cavalry Corps, were defending the Rhine River  line from Coblenz on the Rhine.  The French were facing huge numbers of Prussian - Army of Silesia-  and Austrian armies - Army of Bohemia - augmented by the Russian regiments and squadrons. 

General Yorck, a scion of the Pomeranian Kashubian lower nobility family of Jarka-Gostowski, commanded the Prussian 1st Corps f the Silesian Army.

Yorck as a fieldmarshal of Prussian army

the conditions for war during that winter were difficult, especially for the cavalry, with plenty of snow and cold, wind and poor & foggy visibility. 

French cavalry units at the village of la Chaussee were commanded by Dommanget (hussars, chasseur a cheval and lanciers cavalry)  and Marin Thiry  (2 cuirassier regiments), and their potions were constrained by the terrain. Also the French cavalry had poor morale and low spirit, 

while the Prussian horse, including militia horse regiment, was full of military vigor, animus and ardor. They were also disciplined and well trained as horsemen and as miltiary units. 

immobile French heavy cavalry receiving  the charging Prussians 

After the battle Yorck wrote to marshal Schwarzenberg  that the French sufffered loss of: seven guns, six caissons, one standard, several hundred men prisoners. Prussian suffered 150 causalities.  According to researchers at least 100 French were killed. 

I came across this website - where the author, Andrew Field,  goes into the details concerning this cavalry battle, with a splendid use of primary sources and military studies. 

This is the orde de bataille (Order of Battle) acording to Andrew Field's research. 

It was a minor victory of the Prussian cavalry over the French one.
All ink and watercolor plates by Richard Knotel. 

Valete

The grand folly begun on the 24th - Russia 1812

Salve,

I have been listening to the '1812' audiobook version of prof. Adam Zamoyski's great work.- Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow.

on this day the 24th of June but in 1812 the great Grand Army begun crossing the Niemen  River from Duchy of Warsaw  into the Russian Empire - the Polish hopes and expectations for the restoration of Poland in her pre-1792 border were at the highest. Unfortunately, the fickle Fortuna   and Napoleon would disappoint them absolutely. 

the huge armies - one commanded by Napoleon and the other by tsar Alexander - 'gathered' around Kown(Kaunas, present day Lithuania), both separated by the steep banks of the Niemen River.

Polish cavalrymen were in the avant-garde or advanced guard of the French army.  Young cavalry captain,

Roman Soltyk, Soltyk coat of arms, was the commanding officer of the squadron of the 6th Ulan Lancer regiment ( commanding officer colonel Michal Pagowski of Duchy of Warsaw army), was  stationed with his command on the Polish side of the Nieman River (near Poniemon, whereas the Russian side of the river had the town of Kowno) that June 1812, these Polish lancers, one of the best Polish ulan lancer regiments,  were attached to the French cavalry division  under general Bruyeres (Soltyk's version - in fact  Bruyere).

On the eve of June 24, 1812 ,  at the camps of the  6th Uhlans a travel carriage pulled by 6 horses and surrounded by a small detachment of the mounted chasseurs of the guard stopped suddenly at the lancers' outpost. 

From the carriage, to to astonishment of those present, emerged Napoleon and Berthier, prince of Neuchatel. They were met by the officers of the regiment and the emperor demanded Polish uniforms for Berthier and he. Napoleon took colonel Pagowski's coat and off duty cap , the ulan's czapka being to heavy said the emperor. He then mounted colonel Pagowski's horse and Bertheir, also dressed as Polish ulan officer, took the other horse of Pagowski.

 2nd Lieutenant Nikodem Zrelski, advance-post commander with his company of the 6th Ulans, went along with the emperor and Berthier, as their guide and scout. 
They rode to Aleksota (nowdays part of Kown/Kaunas, Lithuanian) on the left bank of the Nieman River and there Napoleon reconnoitered the whole Kowno area. The next day the Grand Army marched across into the war and mayhem.

 

Hundreds of thousands  of men and horses would suffer, perish and die during this campaign.

Pacem Aeternam

enjoy

Bitwa wojny polsko-rosyjskiej Stoczek - 14.II.1831

 Salvete Omnes,

[in Polish]

Tajemnica obrazu Jana Rosena, Bitwa pod Stoczkiem

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        Wczoraj, czyli w srode popielcowa i w dzien sw. Walentego,  minela kolejna rocznica bitwy pod Stoczkiem, rozegranej miedzy korpusem general Dwernickiego a korpusem rosyjskim gen. Gejsmara - opis bitwy  z danymi eg na portalu historia.org.pl. 

Ponizej, tak  opisal te bitwe kawaleryjska A.K. Puzyrewski, general armii imperialnej rosyjskiej, w pracy "Wojna polsko-ruska 1831r." polskie wydanie Orglebranda z 1899 roku:

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A tak Waclaw Tokarz, w pracy 'Wojna polsko-rosyjska 1831", Warszawa 1930 :

vivat armia polska, vae victis 

Valete

Henryk Pillati - paintings of war, horse races and Berek Joselewicz

 Salvete Omnes,

a short entry - in fact just I am bringing to your attention great art of a  painter Henryk (Henry, Engrique) Pillati (1832-1894), who was a Polish painter and illustrator of the Partition era. 

 

the last fight of colonel Berek Joselewicz of the 5th regiment of the chasseur a cheval (strzelcy konni) of the Duchy of Warsaw , sabred by the Hungarian hussars near Kock in 1809

 

enjoy

Valete