Napoleon's Polish Troops

OS P RE Y · M EN -AT -ARM S SER IES

apoleons 'Polish CJfoops Text blOTTO VON I' IV K A Colour plalrs bl

M IC HAEL ROFFE

~ IE N - A T - A R~ IS

ED I T O R :

~ I,\R T I X

SE R IE S W I X DRO W

ALBA :>' 1I0 0 K H RVIC r.s

'Polish CJfoops T,,·, by OT T O VON P I VKA Colour plates by

~IIC HAEL

ROFFE

OS P R EY P U BLI S HI NG LIM ITED

Publabed in 19 74 by Ckprey Publish ing Li d , P.O . Boll :.1 5, 107 Oxford ROiId, Readin g, Berkshir e Cop)Tighl 19 74 Os prey Publi shin g I.td This book is co pyrigh ted u nd er the Heme Convenuon. All r i~hu reser...ed. A ~rt from ~ ny fair dealing for t he pu rpose of pri ...at e S1 ud)', researcb, eriuc icm o r re...iew, a s permitted und er th e Copyright Ar t, 1956, no part of th is pu blica tion ma y be reproduced , stor ed in a re tr ieval Iyst em, o r lr.. nsmi tt ed in an)' form or b y a ny means elec tronic, elec teicul, chemical, mechanical, optical, photoforyin~, reco rd ing: or o th erw ise, w ithout t he pr ior permission of t he cop yri'l:hl own er. En quiries should be addre..sed to the Publishe rs. ClI~ ~per

edition tsBS 085045 'J.J. 7 9 edinon bB~ 0 850~5 198 1

Pr in ted in Great Britain by JarTold . Sons Lid, ::\"orwich

lJlf/Y}flt/rfiol/ 25 Xovem ber 1795 the kingdom of Poland fell 10 her stro nger neig hbours, Russia , Pr ussia Aust ria, a nd 'he third partition of t ha t uny, turbulen t sta te took place. Tbe elected King of Polan d, Sranisla s Augustu s, forced 10 a bd ica te and retired to R ussia with prnsion of 200,000 ducats a year . HI"dirt! at 5 1 M1enburg (now Leningrad ] on 12 Febr ua ry 1798 . HiI old kingdom was redistributed as follo...."I: \.ustria took the la rg er part of t he pala tina te of ~.,

the pa latinates of Sandomir and Lublin

part of the d istr ict of Ch dm and th ose pa rts tht- pa la tina tes of Brzecz, Podl ach ie a nd it' which lay all the left bank of the Ri ver

Pru.ia look those parts of Podlachie and -it' which lay on t he right bank of the Bug;

the palatinates of T ro ki a nd Sam ogitie on the left bank of the Xiemen a nd one t of the palatinate of Krakow . ia took the rest of Lithuania up to th e _iiemen, the rNI of the palatinates of Breece 'ovogrod("k and the greater part of Sa mogi rie tht' rema ins of Wo lhynir-, Courland an d

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a result o f Napoleon's victories in Italy. After the victory of Lodi, the Cispadane a nd Tran spadan e Rep ublics were combined in to rhe Cisa lpi ne Rep ublic, and the government of Ihis new 5[011(", being un a ble to raise its own army, decided 10 enlist th e a id of foreign troops. Dom brow ski arrived in Mil an on 2 Decem ber 1796 and presented his sch eme 10 Napoleon. On 4 January 1797 Napoleon wrot e to th e Council of Stat e of Lom bard y 10 say t ha i Gen rra l Do mbro wski was willing to raise a Po lish II"gion to help rhe people of Lombardy. Xa poleon added that he wo uld gladly la ke all measures necessary for this operation. T his offer was well received and on 9 J an uary 1797 a conve nnon was signed by which Domb rowski gua ran teed the s('rvices of his compatriots to the republic in exchange for which his men became Lombard citizens and received rhe same pay and privileges as the other national troops. The Poles retained their own unifonns and comma nds were given in Po lish. T hey wore the French cockade and com re-epauleues in Lom bar d y's national co lours with th e inscription ' Gli uo mini liberi sono Iratelli' (Free men arc br others},

nDCr- alo ne had opposed Poland 's treatment ame Iht' natural refuge of all Polish exiles. Polish offic("rs and men were still held a s of ....·ar in T obolsk, P('I('rsburK, Mo scow , u.•.Magdeburg and ot her places, bUI among In Pari s was one General J ean-Hr-nri ",~ki who on II October 1796 formed the 1 eeion' with xapolecn's aid. cit" 287 of the French Cons rinnion d id it the pr C5('nce of foreign troo ps on d. Dom browsk i was sent 10 It aly to I l~ work in the new repu blic crea ted a s

3

a nd sixty ca nnon from the Army of Ita ly in o n! 10 un dertak.. a raid th rough Croatia, Transylv,u

an d H un ga ry up into Ga licia. This was aim . approved, and on 18 Apri l the Legion WaJ 4111 ,I Leob-n P.. u preparing 10 march when Xapolforbad .. th .. scheme on the grounds th at it wo u l not 5("("\... th .. political good of th .. Polish cause. At this time occurred the massacr.. 011 VtTOn and the troubles in V..nice; the Legion took at active part in the assault on ,"..rona. In \Ia y the Legion had so increased in sill" th a t it .....as reorganized into two infantry legions, Ih. first commandrd by (flonl:'Tal K nia ziewicz , the second by Ge n..ra l Wielho rski. Each co nsisted of th ree ba ttalions of ten companics, eac h co mpany haying 12.) men. The corps also had th ree companies of artillery co mmanded by C he f de ba ta illon Axamirowski. French regu latio ns were used for ga rrison d uties; d rill and d iscipline wer e acco rdi ng to old Poli sh regulation s but cor po ra l pun ishment was fo rbid den, a. was the case in t he French Arm y of th.. d ay. I n J uly t 79 7 Dom bro wski a nd the grena di..r ba tta lion went 10 supp ress the insurrection al Reggi e du ring w hich the Poles much distinguished

w-•••, 1M ....... laiat:d.o... 01 rot..od.u.......u. (w .) ....... s...-,. (rieJul _ • 50 _ _ coo.. I. 1107 .... __ 1 a ~ C a " " ' .

O n 20 Janua!)· 179 7 Dom br o....~k i published a proc lamation in four lan gu ages ca lling on Poles 10 t n t..r his n..w tegion. T wo weeks lat ..r th.. Legio n co nsi te-d of 1,:200 me-n in Po lish uniform {kur tka , panta loons and czapka in blu.. cloth . \ Ian y o f hi men ca me from rh.. A usman Army which indud r d in its ra n ks ollier rs a nd sold iers origin ally from G alicia an d ma llY othe rs were Polish ..x-prison..n of wa r an d d eseners. I n \ Iarch th .. Legio n was sen! to th .. fort ress of Ma nt ua , wh.. r.. it was joi ned hy a n..w ba tta lion . At t h.. sam .. lim e its arril l..ry w as orga nized a t \Iilan. II did not receive its bap tism o f fire u nt il th e insurr..ct ion 4111 Brescia . By April, Dombrowski had .),000 me-n r nrolled. Dom bro....·ski, anxious for action, wan ted his l..gio n augmen ted by 2,000 infantry, 500 cavalry

4

themselves. .\t th ....nd of 17~ the Xeapolitan Arm} invaded th c Papal stat.. to expel th .. Franco, Polish forces und ..r GC"ner,d Championn r t. K n iaziewicz commanded the Polish Legion during Domb ro wski·s able-nee and on .. December th .. Xea pc litans wert" dc f..an-d at the Sault of Civira Castellana. From th.. captured stocks ofhonn and ha rness found in Ga ..l.. arsenal after this battle, a regim..n r of ca v alry .....a. added to the Polish Leg ion . T he n..w regirn enr was commanded by Colonel Ka rwowski; Elie T remo a nd Biern ack i wr-re nom inate d Cht' fs d 'E scad ron s. Organi zati on was no t co m ple te, ho we ver , before the a rmi stice of I I J a nua ry. On 23 J a nua ry Na ples ca pit ula ted and as a ma rk of respec t to the Polish services, Gene ra l Kniaziewicz was sent to p a ris hy G..nera l C hampionn et to lake back a ll the trophies capiu red d uring th e campaign. A new ann- French coalition was quickly formed and considerable Ausrro-R ussia n fOTC.., under the oommand of the- Russia n Feld M arschall Leutnant

E., le o f Ihe 131h Infaall'}' ...d ( riSb l) ....1. . .Jd ... o f lb• .... 011..... UI &11&110.., 1..1" Inf .nl l'}'.

____ _ _ _ _ J -arc w soon advanced to threaten the young blics founded in Italy. For-cn available for their defence wrre few. The French troops were in Egypt with Napoleon : co mman d of the Army of I ta ly was held b)' incom pe ten t Scherer; Championner had gone ~ was replaced as commander of the army of . 'aples by Macd onald . The Polish Legions, commanded by Widhorski ADd Rynk iewica, were garrisoned in .\I a ntua at the sta rt of the campaign and were employed dis persed amongst the Fr ench uni ts. Co nstantly eng aged in different battles, they suffered heavily ; fro m 26 " la rch 10 5 Ap ril (a n er t he Battle of . lagnano where General R yn kiewice was killed ). Of the 4,000 men who had set OUI, only 2,000 effecu ves remained. The Second Legion retired in to Mantua with their artillery under the comma nd of W irl ho n ki. .M antua was commanded by Ge nera l Foissac-Larour and was besieged and capitulated (m uch against the wishes of the Poli h officers) on 28July. The Austrians demanded the retu rn 10 their service of all Poles corning from

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Folluwin/it Illl' disasters which d1iKKI'd Ib, French in Italv the Cisalpine Republic eli appeared and the homele-ss debris of III.. l'Riull found thrmsrhi" in France wht'rr tht')' prompt" set about raising a new lCJ::wn. Conditions in France had cha nged : 8unapartt' Irll f4tYpt l('Cf('lIy and landed at Freju on :2 October 1799. On 9 !\O\'em!xr he changed Ih t' form of French government and was proclaimed First Consul. He decreed that foreign troops could be' taken into Frrnch service and ordered the formation of Dew l("J{ions. On to Fl'hrual)' 1800 the remnants of thl" Polish- It alia n Legions were rcorRiinill"d at ~br· scill" and renamed 'La l.iKion ltalique'. Kn ia ziewicz meanwhile had received orders 10 form another Po lish legion ; this forrnanon, rhe 'Legion of the Da nube' , was organized as follow s: batla lion~ of infanlry each of len companies of 1:13 men One r~imt':lIt of C3"alry of four squadrons One balll'ry of hone artillery

Four

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It s stre ngth w as 5.970 men and the commanders were: Au trian-comrolled Galicia and all had to revert Lt:gion commander Gnteral KniaLit'wW:'z to the rank of private rtg;lrdlns of what position Chief of Suff GaWTO'W'ki tht')· had anained in the ILgMJJl. .:\xa.mito~lr.i and Old" de BriI(D Sokolnicki 150 men of the Legion escaped 10 I.)'ons disguised Chefs de baOlillons 1'-IJZU, Druwiecki, in French uniforms. General Widhonki, ~b.jor Kralevnki .nd \\'uikwr.ki Kosinski and the ofiicen were imprisoned in Arlillery Nltel)' R J) zicwa.n

fOOT AkTILLERY

3rd Batrahon

Chef de Kataillon

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Ch ef de Bataill un

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E N e t N E E R DETACfnlLVT

and D IVIS IO N {;jnt-ral de Oivi ion Ch ef d' Eta t ~Iajor lajor d e Division

Zajon czc k Co lonel K 05.~ki Skorzewski (Pa ul)

IK ' A NT RY

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de Brigade Regi ment "

tKh Rcgi mcnt -th R~ mmt R~cnt

Comte Isidore Krasinski Colonel Pr ince ~Iichd Radziwill Co lon cl \'al en tin Skoru,"lr.i Co lonel Sobolewski ('.oloncl ("oOdcbsk i

A '· AL Il Y

Ge neral de Brigadc vd R~ imcn t of Lancers .fth Regiment of Cha~u n

:\iemojew'SJr.i ('.olond Lo nczynski ('.o Lond Kwasniew ski

T A Il.T I L L F.R Y

m d Battalion

Grneral de Oi,,·i ion

Kami enski . The o ld ' Polish-I talia n Legion ' arrived Silesia with Gcncral Grabinski a nd remained the kingdom of Wntfalia in order to reo~uW Comprising 6,000 men, it received the namc the ' Legion of th e Visrula' and w as divided ! three regiments each of two battalions :

Cbcf de Bataillon Gorski

aD DIVISION

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In 180 7 the army of th e Grand D uc hy of W comprised 3 1,7 '3 infantry, 6 ,035 cavalry guns including the horse a rt illcry batt"), at privat e cxpt'nSt' hy th e )'oung Count \\ Potocki. Three French officers were attach ed to organize the artillery and the engin eers. At Ihr sa m e time the re giment o f Chev a uofthc Guard was organized in the ca mp at. hr. colonel wa s th e Count Vincent Krasi nski aDl.i . four squadron commanders wer e Thom as Lc ski, J an Kceietubki, Ign ace Srolowsk i and H

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Jean Henri

R~iment

[)om hro~ki

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de Di vision

Colonel Cz Pak a.z

' A.VTR Y B RIG A D E

and Rcg imcn t

rr/1PI4nMr : Grll t'ral de Brigade

Amil car Kosinsk i Colonel Prince Antoine Sulkowski

Ih Regiment

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Co Jond Chlopicki ~lajor Kons inow\ ki Chcfs de & ta illon Ruthic Fon d zieb ki Colo nel Bialowlcj slr.i Maj or Szou C...l olld Swidcrsk.i Major Billing

The cavalry of th e Legion Lancers of who la ter beca me th e 7th Lancers Anny, received Coloncl K lick i as place o f Colon el Rc en iecki who brc:uDe General of th e Cavalry. At the bcgin ninK of XOHmt C ski receiv ed the ord er to rer re ~

to being incorporated into till' French Army. AI' officers and men chose to serve their own country. but Napoleon was adamant and the Legion wa sent 10 K assel in the S('rvicc of rhe newly forme d kingdom of Wn ilfalia. xt a rsbal D a vo u t, who had French and foreig n troops under his command, was in reality the mili tary viceroy of the G rand Duchy of Waru~ with supreme control over the civil au thorities. On I Sept em ber 1807 the G ra f von Schon feld, Mini ster Pleni poren riary of the King of Saxony, a rr ived in Wa ry w; on 5 September he assembled the Provisional Government, dissolved it and created by royal decree in its place a government of one ministry having six members, almost all the members of the old regime. Stanislas Malach owski was President of the Cou ncil , Prin ce Poniat ows ki retained. the folio of Wa r M inister , On 21 Septem ber 1807 the King of Saxony, Duke of \Va n aw, was received at the frontier by t he President of t he Council, the minis ters and by Gt'neral Dombrowski and arrived in state in the capital with his wife and daughter. Frederick Augustus liked the Poles and spoke their language weil ; he was good, just and pious bUI was no soldier, The- Saxon king re mai ned in Wa rsaw until 21 Decem ber 1&:17, a nd on his departure he reinst at ed th e ord er ' Vi rtut i Mil itari' which had been created by St a nislas-Aug usue, and decorated many officers into its various grades. He introduced a modification: the horsed warrior on th e reverse of the cross [the same as on the arms of Lithuania] was superseded by the motto 'Rex et

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He wa nted thus 10 avoid offending the Tsar of R ussia (Alexa nder I ) under whose co ntrol Lithu an ia now was, ..U (('r th e' king's depa rt ure: the d uchy co ntinued its reo rga niza tio n; in Apr il IBoB it was divided into 'depa rtments' o n the French model. In view of the reduction of the financial burden of the Polish Arm y which had 1.I«n a drain on the Im perial Chest, Xapoleon was able 10 pa' from h is own account a third of the sum whic h was required for the' raising and equipping of th e Poles, He abo ordered Ma rsh al De vo ut to pay at th e

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..........d.. of A-p"' .... llor;t; ..... A•• u i • • ...p_DC a.._ ;.w.&l . -_1.- II.. rreDC''' I_ I .... boo....... do_"," 01

end of June all that was requ ired for the m a inte-

nance ofthr French Corps within the d uch y whose nJ)('n5C'S were originally to have been met by the Polish Treasury. This made a good impression on all as the Polish Treasury was not in any condition to meet all these chargee. Not unti l the begi nning of September 1808 di d the French troops retire into Silcsia, with Bresla u as their headquarters. The Marshal retained supn:me command eve r the Polish Army hut conferred direct control of the- thre-e- Polish divisions o n Prince- Poniatowski. lit' continued to exerc ise polit ica l survei lla nce over the d uchy and appointed one of hi s own officers, Celene! Saulnier, to be Commandant of Waf5;lw.

CJlie'Folfs illrJpllill At t he outset of the Spanish campaiKn in spring t 808 the Polish contribu tion numbered some 8,000 men of the Vistula Legion and the Chevau-legers of t he Guard, raised 10 16,000 in August by the arrival ofthe 4th, 7th and 9th I nfa nt ry R~iml:'nt5. The Yistula Legion infantry distinguished themselves at the two sieges of Saragossa: by the- final fall of th e cit y o n 20 February 1809 the Legion ha d lost 1,39l"l men - thirty per rent casualties. The la ncers of the Legion fought at Medina del R io 5«0. For the re-invasion of Spain in Xovem-

15

T he mos t famou s act ion of the \ 'i stula lan cer s i . Spain was their devasta ting charge at Albu er on 16 .\f ay 1811, when, with a French hu ss. regime m, Iht')' an ni hilated Colbome's Rri t i ~ t infa ntry brigade. The Chcvau -legers o f the' Guard entered Spa ll with Napoleon, with a strength ofeilth t cornpanie The)' dislinji!:uished themselves in a bloody chan: at Scmosierra on 30 Xcvember 1808, and too k part in the pursuit of Moore's British Ann)' II Astorga. Aftcr escorting the Emperor back It France Ih~· were stationed on the Franco-Spa nish fron der, returmn g to Paris in February IBog, I n February 18 10, newlv armed with lances an d redesignated C"'lXl,.-II~nJ lanciers, a de tachment re-mmed to northern Spain. T hey operated main h against gue rr illa bands in the area; present at Fuen tes d e Osoro in ~I ay 1811, they d id not in fact cha rge. In September T81 1, 315 strong, Ihis d etach men t retu rn ed to the p arent regi ment in Fr ance, In Febr ua ry 18 12 a ll Polish un its serving in Spai n were co ncen trated on the Ehro . Together the fuur regimen ts of the Vis rula Legion had 3,oor men ; th e fou r infa nt ry regiment s of the: duchy ber 1808 the Legion serve d wuh ~I onc~ y ' s III the' 4th, 7th a nd 9th - totall ed 2,400 ; and the 7th. Corps , a nd the ot her three infantry regim en ts 8th and 91h Lancers totalled 1,000. ThCSt: figur es with Le febvre 's 1\' Corps . The IV Corps regi- were on ly achieved after remforcemem drafts frOID menu fouJtht at Talavera on 28 July IB09. a nd at Warsa w. I Est im a tes o f Polish casualties in lhi. Almonacid on 10 Augus t: Ihey were prominen t bitter campaign run as high as 40,000 dead a in the victory at Ocana on '9 Xovember IBog. wounded; Ihey ccnsistenrlv fought with gre Meanw hil e the Leg ion had bee n employed in the de terminauon, and uften, it mUSI be' said, diseas tern provinces, under Suc he r. In ~I a rc h 18 10 p layed bestial cruelty. a fou rth regiment joined Ihe Legion infan tr-y; it had orill;inally bee n raised as a "and Legion of the Vistula' by a decree of8 July 1&9- The last ba tt le in which the Legio n loo k pari in Spa in was a t Sag unto 0 11 25 Octobe r 1811, whe re Ihey p ro vided th e back bon e of a French force of 18,noo which smashed 3U,I-""' Spaniards. T he Vistula Legion lanc ers served Sl'p ara ldy from the infan try. A second regiment was raised In th e spri ng of lBog Austria d ecla red war by decree on 7 Feb ruary 1811, under Col onel Fran ce', encouraged by signs of pa trio tic unr Lubien ski, la te of the Chevau-legera of rhe G uard ; a mong Fr ance's German vassals .•\t this stage t but on 18 June 1811 both regimen ls were inco r- a rmy of the D uch y o f Wa rsa w consisted of pcrared in to the French Army as the 71h a nd 8th following : twelve infantry regim ents each o f rhre Regi men ts of Lancers, a 91h rrgi m~ nl txing ba ttalions; six cava lry regimen ts (1St, 41h and 5t formed around drafls from t he ether IWO. O n ly C haucul"1 a Cheval, and, 3rd an d Srh Lancers Poles were admitted 10 these three regi me nts. three banaliorn of anille'')-, each of three c

16

nine ty- th ree cannon; three I"nginffr train co mpa nies. The 41h, 7th and 9th been detached for Spanish service, h, to th and 1 uh were in Modlin and This left tl,2'65 infanlry, 4,s&t u.valf)" a"i ll~f)' for Ih~ defmc~ of the duchy. were formed , each of four infantry cavalry rrgjml"nls and an ~"i1Il"f)" batrith the 1St Division also ha,;nll: a horse battery , Some 2,200 Saxon troops ~.I"~ ailabl~. This army w;u threatened by the VII Corps in Galicia. some 33,000 men tht Archduke Ferdina nd. a nd invaded the duchyon 15 April 1809 .

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a nd the first serious dash took place at Raseyn, some ten miles south-east of Wa rsaw, on 20 April. Poniatowski withdrew into w arsa w that night, and at this point the Saxon troops were reca lled: the: Poles had only 9.500 dfl"£li,'t'S left, and had to abandon Warsaw and retire into Medlin. A treaty was concluded making Warsaw a neutral rily. and Poniatowski galhl"JTd strength. Austrian attempts to capture the Polish bridgehead which remained on their side of the Visrula at Praga were repulsed, and a succ essful coumer-auack was mounted. Ferdinand nl"xl attacked Thorn, bUI withdrew when tbe Poles promptly threatened his rear in Galicia by taking Sandomir. ~b.ny ofthl" 4,000 Austrians ejected were new local recrui ts, an d some 800 immediately ca rne ever 10 the PoIM. On 19/20 ~ la y Zamosc fdl to the Poles; and the jrd, 6th and reth Polish infantry, with ca valry and artilll"f)" support, succt'SSfully resisted a n attempt by 8,000 Austrians under Schau roth to recapture Sandomir. In rhe fact' of thrx repea ted set-backs, and gTowing local rnUtancl", Ferdina nd abandoned Wanaw o n 2 Jun~ 1809The situ a tion beca me more