An Imperial Guard commander and the 1813 Campaign (I) …

We follow Louis-Joseph Vionnet, Viscount of Maringoné, and his soldiers of the Imperial Guard throughout the 1813 campaign in Germany.

… On 30 March at four in the morning, I received the order to depart the next day before daylight. I hastily arranged my affairs and those of the regiment and spent the whole night (working) on this task.

On 31 March at six in the morning, I set out with the battalion of fusiliers which I still commanded. We halted at Bondy and slept at Claye.

On 1 April, we had lunch at Meaux at the Hôtel de la Sirène, renowned for its excellent food, and spent the night at La Ferté.

On 2 April at Château-Thierry, where we stayed on the 3rd. I visited this town which is divided in two by the Marne. It is the birthplace of La Fontaine, one can still admire the house where he used to live.

The 4th at Dormans. The day was short and the weather charming. The soldiers were no less tired; they were forced to do an hour’s exercise on arriving at the cantonment, as well as on the road during each break. Before heading to the enemy, these troops had no other training than that given at each stage.

On the 5th at Épernay, I was accommodated at La Croix d’Or, but I dined with Captain Hilaire [captain of voltigeurs in the 52nd Infantry Regiment, Vionnet’s compatriot] and his family who welcomed me with the utmost grace.

On the 6th and 7th at Châlons, I was lodged at the Imperial Palace. It should be noted that the mayors always billeted us in hotels; our food made us pay a high price.

On the 8th at Auve, one of the poorest villages in France; thus we were scattered in the surroundings.

On the 9th we had lunch in Sainte-Menehould. There is a very delicious dish named after this town [pig’s feet in Sainte-Menehould fashion]. We slept at Clermont.

On the 10th and 11th at Verdun, I dined with Mr. de Marbeuf.

On the 12th at Mars-la-Tour.

On the 13th at Metz; I was lodged at the Faisan. I visited the prefect and General Lorge who commanded the division.

On the 14th at Courcelles, the Prince of Wagram [Marshal Berthier] dined in the hotel where I was staying.

The 15th and 16th at Saint-Avold. On the 16th, the Emperor dined at the Hôtel de la Poste. He gave 50 napoleons for his dinner and 100 francs to the girl who had served him.

On the 17th at Saarbrücken.

On the 18th at Homburg.

On the 19th at Landshut.

On the 20th and 21st at Kaiserslautern.

On the 22nd at Venweiller.

On the 23rd at Alzey.

The 24th at Mainz.

On the 25th and 26th at Frankfurt, I was lodged with M. Bethmann, the famous banker, who received me very well. There I received my appointment as colonel in the Guard.

The 27th at Hanau.

On the 28th, I left to join the 2nd Regiment of Tirailleurs of the Guard of which I had been given the command.

The 29th at Schlüchtern.

The 30th at Fulda, I stayed with the father of a colonel in French service.

1 May at Vac.

The 2nd at Weimar.

The 3rd at Lützen. This town was crowded with wounded and prisoners. The buildings were devastated and I could not find anything to eat. My regiment was at Pegau, a lovely town on the right of the Elster. The King of Prussia and the Emperor of Russia had their headquarters there on the day of the battle.

On the 4th, I joined the regiment at the bivouac near Borna.

On the 5th, the division was bivouacked in front of Golditz and on the 6th at Waldheim.

On 7 May, the entire force of the Young Guard bivouacked in column by brigade near Rosen.

On the 8th at Ober-Covitz opposite Dresden, from which we were only a short league away, on the very ground where Frederick the Great gained a victory in 1745. I could not comprehend how the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia, whose greatest forces consisted of cavalry, could have chosen a terrain that was both so cut off and so well covered to fight a great battle, the French army not having a single cavalryman to oppose them. The victory of Lützen was the consequence of this grave error.

It was entirely to the credit of the French infantry. Our enemies believed that they would easily overcome the infantry, which they knew to be poorly trained and inexperienced, but it was not to be. If on the contrary the ground had been better chosen, if the Russian cavalry had been able to deploy and manoeuvre, the French army would have been completely annihilated.

The field of action for the Russians was so narrow that they continually obstructed each other while being much more exposed to the fire of our artillery which struck them wherever they were. They nevertheless withdrew in good order and, after a few days, were in a position to fight a second battle.

On the 10th, we entered the city between eight and nine o’clock in the evening, just at the time when the ‘horned ones’ (reference to the enemy, devils?) were occupied with their distributions, which caused the loss of many possessions.

The Emperor had already been there since the 8th, the enemy occupying the New Town. H.M. lodged at the castle of the King of Saxony very close to the Elbe and at a very short distance from the enemy who fired canister at us again, which caused us many casualties.

The regiment rested on the 11th, 12th and 13th.

On the 14th, he and the entire Imperial Guard went to receive the King of Saxony near the castle of Grosse-Garten on the road to Prague.

On 15 May at midnight we received the order to take up arms immediately. The entire army remained in battle array until 7 o’clock in the morning. We then set off on the road from Dresden to Berlin. The regiment bivouacked in front of Reichenbach.

On the 17th, we set off again and marched until very late at night.

On the 18th after having carried out a short exercise, we set out again to halt at Bischofswerda where we took our billets.

In the evening one learned that a detachment of Lancers of the Guard had encountered a large group of Cossacks and had had several men wounded. General Lanusse received the order to ascertain the situation. He took the regiment with him and it left at dawn on the 19th. But it was soon revealed that the Cossacks had withdrawn and were at least five leagues [about 20 km] from us. The general then sent us back to camp.

When we arrived there we found no one. The army had departed; thus, after quickly making soup, we set off again.

We soon encountered the Young Guard camped in front of Bautzen in three lines, the right at the village where the Emperor was, the left facing the Bohemian mountains …

To be continued …

Jonathan North translated Vionnet’s recollections on the Russia 1812 Campaign. A fascinating read.

Source : Vionnet de Maringoné, Mes Campagnes – Russie et Saxe (1812-1813), À la Librairie des Deux Empires, 2003, pp. 69-74.