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    Napoleon’s Swiss Troops
    Unavailable
    Napoleon’s Swiss Troops
    Unavailable
    Napoleon’s Swiss Troops
    Ebook141 pages1 hour

    Napoleon’s Swiss Troops

    By David Greentree and Gerry Embleton

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Ever since the 15th century Switzerland had been exporting professional soldiers to serve as mercenaries for foreign monarchies. Napoleon, therefore, was not the first to make full use of the martial qualities of the Swiss and obtained Swiss agreement to expand the recruitment of regiments for service in the French Army. Napoleon would use Swiss troops on the battlefields of Italy and Spain, and in 1812 re-organize the four original regiments into a single division for the invasion of Russia, with each regiment having three full-strength battalions. In November of 1812, meeting up with Napoleon's main force retreating from Moscow at the Berezina River, the Swiss on the west bank guarded the approaches to the pontoon bridges from the Russian attack to the south. Just 1,200 Swiss out of the approximately 8,000 that entered Russia were left to face, along with 8,000 other remnants of other units, the 30,000-strong Russian army. The Swiss held their ground and when their ammunition ran out they charged the Russians with bayonets. This book reveals the proud combat history of the Swiss troops of Napoleon's army as well as the colourful uniforms they wore.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateMar 20, 2012
    ISBN9781780960470
    Unavailable
    Napoleon’s Swiss Troops
    Author

    David Greentree

    David Greentree graduated from the University of York with a BA in History before completing an MA in War Studies at King's College London and qualifying as a lecturer in Further Education. In 1995 he accepted a commission in the Royal Air Force and has served in a variety of locations, including Afghanistan and Oman. He has written several books for Osprey, focusing on British military history and World War II.

    Read more from David Greentree

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    Reviews for Napoleon’s Swiss Troops

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    • 4/5
      Fancy redcoats is one of the things Swiss and English troops shared. The national anthem was another. Switzerland changed both music and text (to an unfortunately bland psalm) once the confusion in international settings became too awkward. The ambiguity of the Swiss and English redcoats caused like trouble while the Swiss provided regiments to Britain's arch enemy France. This Osprey title covers mainly the four regiments at Napoleon's service plus the famous Neuchâtel battalion (Berthier's orange-yellow canaries) and the not so famous Valais battalion. This focus excludes Swiss regiments in other nations' service (Britain, Spain, Piemont, Naples) as well as the colorful potpourri of the cantonal armed forces in Switzerland itself.Overall, it is a sound restriction and allows for an adequate presentation and synopsis of the four regiments. The booklet is based on an earlier Partizan Press title of one author and corrects many of the mistakes that title suffered from. While the Osprey drawings are superior to the amateurish ones from the Partizan title, the men illustrated are anatomically challenged with T. Rex arms and mismatched backbones/hips. Young Embleton needs more practice to reach the quality standards of his father's work.The best part of the booklet is the chart showing the evolution of the regiments from 1798 to 1805 (which should have been continued to 1814). Napoleonic service meant that these units had to be continuously replenished and amalgamated, so that the original six demi-brigades of 1798 became the nucleus of the new 1st Swiss regiment. Apart from the Swiss sharpshooter who probably shot Nelson at Trafalgar, the most famous event of the Swiss regiments was their desperate stand at the Beresina where they covered the retreating French. The rather limited bibliography, missing key titles and preferring secondary and tertiary works to actual sources, is only partially helpful. The Osprey Men-At-Arms series should also be given a face-lift. Compared to the numerous color illustrations of the other series, it is sad that wonderful color illustrations are presented in bland black and white.