Napoleon’s Mounted Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard

1805: The pursuit from Ulm

In late September 1805, marching via Strasbourg, the Mounted Chasseurs entered Germany, while a handful of them were selected to fulfil escort duties to the Emperor. As support, five guns (3x 8-pdrs and 2x 4-pdrs) together with 12 caissons were attached to the regiment, as well as a spare limber, a field forge, a wagon and an ammunition cart. On 9 October they crossed the river Donau. Once in contact with the enemy the cavalry of the Guard, commanded by Marshal Bessières, supported the Line cavalry when required. The French advance was so fast that they were able to cut the Austrian lines of supply and encircle the whole army of the lethargic Gen von Mack, concentrated at Ulm.

The unfortunate Mack surrendered on 15 October; and the following evening the Mounted Chasseurs arrived at a village reserved for the Emperor’s headquarters. In pouring rain they started looking for shelter, occupying houses reserved for the Emperor’s household; when the latter arrived, they were rather brutally refused access. The next day part of the Austrian army, under Archduke Ferdinand, was reported to have escaped from the Ulm encirclement; hearing this, Napoleon ordered Marshal Murat to hunt them down. To punish his Mounted Chasseurs for their arrogant behaviour the night before, he suspended the regiment from all their normal duties and ordered Murat to put them in the vanguard of his cavalry corps. The imperial instructions were simple: ‘Do not spare them, and keep them in the vanguard as long you are chasing the Austrians’.

For 12 long days the weary Chasseurs would be in the saddle night and day, but in the process they would more than redeem their reputation. They were soon on the heels of the fleeing Austrians, and eventually two-thirds of the troops who had escaped encirclement in Ulm were captured, together with 50 guns and 18 colours and standards.

On 21 October the retreating Austrians were sighted near Nuremberg and Murat’s spearpoint, consisting of Lt Desmichel’s 30-odd Chasseurs, came up against about 300 Austrian light infantry covering the retreat. The Mounted Chasseurs threw themselves on this demoralized rearguard with the sabre, and in minutes they surrendered, to be taken back to the rest of Desmichel’s squadron following at a distance. With this formality completed the chase resumed, and a few hundred yards further on Desmichel spotted more prey – another 400 infantrymen. Once contact was made these too threw down their weapons and surrendered, leaving two colours in Desmichel’s hands.

Nothing could stop the Chasseurs now, and yet again they drove ahead. This time they found Austrian cavalry marching along a sunken road; hearing gunfire from their infantry, some 500 dragoons from the Latour Regiment had made an about-turn to come to the infantry’s aid. Desmichel’s handful of men was by now reduced to about 24, the rest wounded and left behind; nevertheless, taking advantage of the narrow sunken road, Desmichel charged. Unable to see the numbers opposing them, the Austrians flinched under the shock; uncertain and surprised by this vigorous attack, they fell or fled one by one, retreating in haste. They left behind them 50 dead, some 150 prisoners (including the regiment’s colonel and a number of his officers), 25 guns, and all their baggage and wagons. On 22 October the Mounted Chasseurs’ actions were mentioned in the 10th Bulletin of the Grande Armée. A week later they returned to the Imperial headquarters, where they resumed their service as personal bodyguard and escort to the Emperor. Desmichel was commissioned captain, and decorated with the cross of an Officer in the Legion of Honour. In five days the cavalry had covered 130 miles in pursuit of Archduke Ferdinand’s troops; Murat reported to the Emperor that ‘12,000 prisoners of war are taken, together with two lieutenant-generals, seven major-generals and more than 200 officers; 120 guns and 500 ammunition and baggage wagons, including those of Prince Ferdinand; 11 regimental flags were taken, as well as 400,000 florins from the treasury of the Austrian corps; 800 French soldiers who had been taken by the enemy were also liberated.’

At Olmütz, on 20 November, Bessières with the Guard cavalry division assisted Murat to clear the road to Brünn, which was blocked by some 6,000 Russian cavalry. Bessières brought his troops forward in two lines, the first of five squadrons – three of Mounted Grenadiers and two of Mounted Chasseurs; the second line comprised two squadrons of Mounted Grenadiers and three of Mounted Chasseurs. Taking the lead, Bessières charged the Russian cavalry with such vigour that in a few minutes the latter were in full retreat, and due to the speed of the French success they were unable to take their artillery off the field.