Chasseurs Bretons
The Chasseurs Bretons was a light infantry battalion of the French Royal Army which was created just before the French Revolution. The battalion would see service in the initial stages of the conflict, but the lineage ended after being redesignated as a Demi-Brigade. The battalion's successor, the 81éme Régiment d'Infanterie would continue into the modern French Army until 2010 when it was disbanded.
| Chasseurs Bretons 6éme Bataillon de Chassers (Bretons) | |
|---|---|
 Regimental uniform after formation in 1788. | |
| Active | 1788–1795 |
| Country |  .svg.png){kind=small} |
| Allegiance | King of France French Nation |
| Branch |  |
| Type | Chasseurs à Pied |
| Size | Battalion |
| Part of | Army of the Rhine |
| Headquarters | Lorient |
Formation
The Chasseurs Bretons were formed on 1 May 1788 in Lorient, Brittany from the infantry companies of the Chasseurs à Cheval des Alpes. The regiment's first uniform consisted of; black tricone (officers in bicorne), yellow turnbacks, dark green jacket, dark green breeches, dark green gaiters, black boots, dark green pockets, yellow trimmed dark green pockets, yellow trimmed dark green cuffs, yellow cuff flaps, and white buttons.[1][2][3][4]
Immediately afters its formation, the battalion moved to Belle Île and the next year to Rochefort-en-Terre. In 1789, it occupied the island of Oléron, and in November 1790 it detached a company to Saint-Jean-d'Angély, where quite serious disturbances had broken out. Soon the entire battalion was in the town, where it spent the year of 1791.[2]
Revolution
On 1 April 1791, provisional regulations were announced following the initial stages of the French Revolution, and the regiment renamed as the 6éme Bataillon de Chassers (Bretons), but they continued to be known as their former title until 1792. In addition to the new title, the regiment adopted a new uniform; peak casque, with stiff black horsehair crest and mock leopard skin turban helmet, yellow turnbacks, dark green jacket, dark green breeches, dark green gaiters, black boots, dark green pockets, yellow trimmed dark green pockets, yellow trimmed dark green cuffs, yellow cuff flaps, and white buttons.[1][2][4]
In the beginning of 1792, the regiment was directed towards Strasbourg where it was to join the vanguard of the Army of the Rhine Armée du Rhin. The regiment had the distinction of being the first to attack the Prussian entrenchments on the heights of the Chapelle Sainte-Anne, and charged with bayonets at the ready and pushed the majority of the opposing force out of the entire area. Finally, on 25 June 1795, the battalion was transferred to Belfort, and shortly thereafter amalgamated with the 8th Battalion of Calvados Volunteers and 4th Battalion of Saône-et-Loire Volunteers to form the 6éme Demi-Brigade Légère. It was at this point that the lineage of the Bretons as a royalist regiment ended.[1][2][4][5]
Commanding Officers
Commanding officers of the regiment were:[2]
- 1788–1791 Jean-Baptiste-Marie-Joseph Florimond de Cappy
- 1791–1792 Thomas O'Meara
- 1792–1795 Joseph Gillot
Footnotes
- Susane, Volume I, pp. 311, 313–314, 364, 369, 399, 404.
- Susane, Volume VII, pp. 382–383.
- Lienhart & Humbet, pp. 57–58.
- Smith, Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars, pp. 46–47.
- Smith, Napoleon's Regiments, p. 186.
References
- Louis Susane, Historie de l'Ancienne Infanterie Français, Volume I, 1849 Naval and Polytechnical Military Library of Paris, Paris, France.
- Louis Susane, Historie de l'Ancienne Infanterie Français, Volume VII, 1853 Naval and Polytechnical Military Library of Paris, Paris, France.
- Dr. Constance Lienhart & Réne Humbert, The Uniforms of French Armies 1690–1894; Volume 3: The Infantry, Originally published in 1906, re-printed in 2020, Zanica, Italy. ISBN 978-8893275255.
- Digby Smith, Napoleon's Regiments Battle Histories of the Regiments of the French Army, 1792–1815, 2000 London, United Kingdom. ISBN 1-85367-413-3.
- Digby Smith & Jeremy Black, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars, 2015 Lorenz Books, London, United Kingdom. ISBN 978-0-7548-1571-6.