Talavera 208 - French and British Limber Teams and French Supply Wagons

French Artillery Train

Following on from my previous post about French Horse Artillery, I decided to carry on with the momentum of completing the French and British orders of battle for Talavera by completing the extra limber teams required to convert my three model gun batteries into two model gun batteries that better reflect the footprint of the six to eight guns they represent.

The French artillery arm at Talavera numbered 66 guns in total, 36 with I Corps and 30 with IVth Corps and the guns needed a lot of limbers, ammunition caissons. support and replacement vehicles to service those guns and these models are designed to represent that support on the table.

The great aspect of using Carnage & Glory is that the rules really encourage the players to treat their gun crews with the respect that the historical commanders were forced to; namely repeat firing over several turns will fatigue the gunners and reduce their effectiveness and lethality.

The wise commander in such a large game, planned to be fought over two days, is thus forced to think about keeping some of his batteries in reserve, fresh and ready to replace batteries forced to retire and recover their fatigue.

These models will thus help to indicate those guns limbered or moving to and from the reserve and will really add to the overall look of the game.

Not only that but their completion marks the lasts models required to represent the French army in the afternoon attack scenario.

French Supply Train Drivers 

I am very lucky to have family who are only to happy to support my balmy hobby and contribute to the collection with the odd model or two at Xmas and birthdays.

This Xmas was no different and I was gifted with some great models from Blue Moon, Warmodelling and AB representing the rear area troops together with casualty figures that really help add extra drama to any game.

The Blue Moon range of support and supply wagons are a great addition to the 18mm offerings available and fill a gap that has needed filling for some while.

I couldn't resist working on a pack of these models whilst doing the limber teams and soon discovered the need to get my scratch building head on to organise horse teams and drivers for this pair of French supply wagons.

Come on you 18mm range designers, please can we have some nice drivers and other seated troops to adorn models like these.

I much prefer AB horses to any other range and so decided to use some of the left over ones from my foot limber teams to stand in for my supply wagon teams.

The drivers took a little more work to manufacture, with the decision to use a couple of spare Xan French legere. These marching infantry had their muskets removed together with their legs and back packs, then having new putty sculpted legs added to have them seated on the wagons.

I then decided to create some covered loads using bits of cork tile cut up and stuck together, covered in toilet paper lightly soaked in watered down PVA and then painted when dried.

I haven't stuck the loads in and so I can have empty wagons or different loads with barrels and boxes uncovered.

The Supply Train drivers were a vital support to the French in Spain who found it harder and harder to allow their troops to so readily loot the countryside as they tended to do elsewhere in Europe.

The wagons, whilst adding extra eye candy to the Talavera game will also come in handy for some future guerrilla ambush games and those pursuit scenarios where the French are tasked with getting their stores and ill-gotten booty away in a hurry.

The traces and driving reins were created using my trusty three ply fuse wire which allows the look of draped reins and taught traces to be easily modelled.

The original 2CV - French army style - G. Rava

British Royal Artillery Drivers

And finally the British order of battle is now finished with the completion of these two foot limber teams, using the excellent AB range of drivers and limbers.

At the start of the Revolutionary War, British artillery was still being drawn by civilian drivers with all the problems that system caused when expecting guns to be moved under fire.

It was not until September 1794 that the Corps of Captains, Commissaries and Drivers was established replacing civilians with soldiers and attaching teams of drivers to the artillery brigades; this military formation was found unsatisfactory and was replaced in 1801 by the Corps of Gunner Drivers itself replaced in 1806 by  Corps of Royal Artillery Drivers.

The new Corps reported directly to the Board of Ordnance that commanded the artillery but was a separate entity to the artillery.

The look of the drivers was very similar to the horse gun crews, with their Tarleton helmets and light cavalry style of dress and sabres.

If you are planning to add traces to your teams and get information about harness colours, which were black leather fittings for British teams, you really need a good reference source and I found Franklin's book on British artillery such a reference. 

No video clip with this post as work has taken over in recent weeks and I am off this weekend to enjoy the fun at Crusade 2017 in Penarth, my first show of the new year - post to follow.

So if you have any questions about the models shown, drop me a post on the blog, and I will endeavour to answer them.

So the Next Talavera 208 posts will be back looking at the final formation of troops, namely General Bassecourt's 5th Spanish Infantry Division and starting with the 1st Regiment of Spanish Royal Marines.

References consulted for this post
British Napoleonic Field Artillery - C. E. Franklin
Talavera 1809 Chartrand & Turner - Osprey Campaign

Talavera 208 - French Horse Artillery

It was the great artillery reformer Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval who designed the standardised artillery equipments that served the French army so well during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

Lt. General Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval,
French artillery officer and engineer
1715 - 1789

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Vaquette_de_Gribeauval

The principle of standardisation is an accepted norm in military circles today, but in the eighteenth century it was a truly revolutionary concept.

It was however the increased mobility that the Gribeauval system granted to French artillery forces that really delighted the gunners with the removal of the lavish ornamentation that previously encrusted gun barrels, he managed to pare down the weight by up to 45% in some examples. Even with a slightly heavier more robustly built carriage the weight saving still amounted to about 20% over older systems.

Horse artillery crew in action c1807 using the prolong rope attached to the limber - Print after Dorel

Alongside these improvements were added a robust design of carriage with iron instead of wooden axles and with added ropes and levers the guns could very often be fired whilst still attached to the limber and horse teams, but without the need to move the gun on and off the limber each time, very useful when conducting a fighting retreat or a rapid movement to close range. Whilst the design of the split trail and rounded base prevented the recoil of the gun embedding the trail into soft ground.

The development of horse artillery equipped with the lightest versions of the Gribeauval four and later six pounder guns together with crews mounted and able to ride alongside the drivers and limber teams enabled artillery to accompany cavalry brigades and complete the combined arms teams that characterised the mobility of Revolutionary and Napoleonic warfare over that of the preceding century. With enemy infantry forced to form square by the approach of enemy cavalry, the horse artillery could move in rapidly to blast the closed up infantry and break up their defence.

French horse artillery gunner and driver

The video clip below really illustrates well the Gribeauval artillery system used by the French horse and foot artillery teams. This demonstration group are dressed as foot artillery gunners but the orders and crew placements together with the mobility provided by the drivers and team give a good idea as to how these artillery groups would have operated and the speed that they could be brought into and out of action. 

The cannon were categorised according to the weight of shot they used so originally the pieces consisted of the 4, 8 and 12 pounder brass cannon alongside 6 inch bore howitzers, designed to lob shells at targets behind objects or defences and very useful for setting light to defended buildings.

The foot batteries referred to as "division"in the French army were organised around six guns of the same type and two howitzers, very often using the heavier 8lbr and 12lbr guns and the horse batteries around four guns, usually the 4lbr alongside two howitzers.

It normally took eight specialist artillerymen to serve all calibre's of gun and thirteen to crew a 6" howitzer including two bombardiers to set fuses if shells were being used.

The effective or battle ranges for the different gun models are quoted from Guibert's "Essai Generale de la Tactique - 1803".

Detail of French Horse Artillerymen - Rousselot

In 1801, following complaints from French general officers about the performance of the 4lbr and 8lbr pieces versus enemy 6lbr guns, General Marmont, the Inspector General of Artillery was prompted to write to First Consul Bonaparte.

The principle issues were that the 4lbr gun was a poor weapon when using case shot and the 8lbr gun was too heavy as a medium field piece compared to enemy 6lbrs and that alongside other reforms to the Gribeauval system a 6lbr gun should be produced which would be more effective than the 4lbr and equally mobile and was almost the equal of the 8lbr in fire-power.

Napoleon, an artillery officer himself, always took a close interest in his artillery arm, even to the point of positioning the odd gun or two himself

This report provoked the interest of Napoleon, a gunner by profession himself, to set up a Commission of General Officers on the 29th December 1801 to evaluate the situation and to come forward with proposals.

On the 2nd May 1803 the commission proposed what became known as the Year XI System which among other recommendations proposed the replacement of the 4lbr field gun with a 6lbr long and short barrelled gun.

Of all the reforms under the Year XI System it was arguably the introduction of the 6lbr gun that had the most impact, given that the new system was not universally well received with the principle complaint that much ammunition and resources were already in place for the original Gribeauval pieces.

Year XI would continue to be a 'bone of contention' up to 1810 when Napoleon set up another review that confirmed that the 6lbr gun would be the principle reform to come out of the Year XI System condemning the other recommendations as largely unsuitable.

The rough difficult terrain encountered in the Peninsula persuaded the gunners to use lighter pieces than would normally be the case in the rest of Europe and so the foot batteries would often leave the 12lbr guns in the park preferring the 8lbr and later 6lbr long guns for use in the Spanish interior.

It was the 6lbr that became the principle weapon of the horse artillery, although it was not uncommon to still see the 4lbr in service particularly with allied contingents with, for example, the artillery elements in the German Division being issued 4lbrs as replacements for their own guns on arrival at Bayonne in 1808 before their march into Spain.

Detail of French Drivers - Rousselot

Alongside the Gribeauval reforms the other major influence on the effectiveness of French artillery in general and horse artillery in particular was the professionalising and incorporation of the drivers into a military corps as opposed to the civilian drivers of the previous century.

Civilian drivers were  all militarised on 3rd January 1800 as the "Artillery Train", ensuring that horse teams would enter a battle and that ammunition wagons would be kept close at hand to resupply the guns.

Each gun would have its own team together with two reserve caissons of ammunition carrying about one-hundred and seventy rounds per gun.

In addition to the guns and caissons each battery would include one spare gun carriage and team, one mobile forge and one vehicle for tools and spare parts. Thus there might be around twenty vehicles supporting a typical horse battery.

Interestingly there was, until 1809, the year of Talavera, no French drill manual for manoeuvring their gun batteries, and the one there was was an unofficial publication
  "Projet d'Ordonnance Provisoire pour l'Artillerie, Contenant l'Ecole et les MaManoeuvres d'une Batterie de Campagne"
published by General Officers following the Battle of Wagram that year.

It was not until the more common use of multiple massed batteries as one of the key French tactics that French gunners felt the need to issue a drill manual for individual batteries, but still without official principles for using guns in mass formations.

The French concentrated the bulk of their forty plus pieces at Talavera into a mass battery atop the Cerro de Cascajal designed to support their main attack against the British line on the opposite Cerro de Medellin and in the flatter ground lining the bank of the Portina stream. An Ensign in the 3rd Guards noted the ferocity of the bombardment.

"a tremendous cannonade - shots and shells were falling in every direction - but none of the enemy were to be seen  - the men were all lying in their ranks, and except at the very spot were a shot or shell fell, there was not the least motion - I have seen men killed in the ranks by cannon shot - those immediately around the spot would remove the mutilated corpse to the rear, they would then lie down as if nothing had occurred and remain in the ranks, steady as before." 

Paradoxically horse artillery, so useful in the very forefront of battle, was also ideal in the reserve role; ready to be committed by the General who spotted a weakness in the enemy line. I suspect that will be the role of these guns in the forthcoming games

My French horse artillery are composed of figures from the AB range supplied by Fighting 15's with a link to them in the side column.

The colour combination I mention in the video clip for painting my French equipments consist of:

Base Coat - 75% Russian Uniform, 25% Black

First Highlight - Russian Uniform

Second Highlight - 75% Russian Uniform, 25% Off White

All colours are Vajello.

If you have enjoyed viewing and reading this post then add to your enjoyment by popping over to the "Talavera 208 Just Giving" page using the link below and make any contribution you care to, towards a great cause, Combat Stress, and enjoy the warm feeling that will come knowing you have added to the good in the world; not to mention the thrill when you see these models in action this year, and a message from me thanking you for your support. 

Cheers all 

JJ

Just Giving - Talavera208

Sources used in the creation of this post:

French Artillery - Patrick Griffith, Almark

French Napoleonic Artillery - Micheal Head, Almark

Napoleon's Guns 1792-1815 (1) Field Artillery - Rene Chartrand, Ray Hutchins, Osprey Vanguard

Artillery Equipments of the Napoleonic Wars - Terence Wise, Richard Hook, Osprey Men at Arms

Painting War 2, Napoleonic French Army Rafael Perez

Talavera Wellington's First Victory in Spain - Andrew W Field

King Joseph & Marshal Jourdan Video Clip - Talavera 208

As an addendum to my previous post and as the saying goes 'a picture is often worth a thousand words' and perhaps some moving ones are worth a few more, I offer up a video clip of my recent work with some painting ideas to go with it.

First up I should say that I was prompted at having a go at this by Mr Paul Alba who is a bit of a 'dab hand' at at this kind of stuff and as mentioned in the comments around the Joseph post, I benefited from Paul's useful video clip of some of his own command groups - see the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reIimxMhQUs

I can see some distinct advantages displaying figures using this medium perhaps in future alongside the stills photography. To save you commenting, I will do the two together in future, when I have my lighting set up, to give you a better chance at seeing the detail clearly.

'Rafa's book', referred to in my commentary, is referring to Rafael Perez' excellent edition of "Painting War - French Army" which I reviewed back in July 2014 and constantly refer to when working on my own French collection.

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/painting-war-napoleonic-french-army.html

Other colour combinations I tried out for the first time came from Rafa's recommendations including the red tunics and saddle-cloths in this particular group. All I can say is, if you want to develop your own techniques pick up a copy of this really useful reference.

One other reference I would particularly recommend getting hold of, are the collection of Rousselot plates. I have originals published back in the 70's by Historex and I treasure them as a resource above many others.

The main aspect I find particularly useful is the level of detail Rousselot goes into that really allows the painter to work out what is what when looking at a figure and importantly the colour options to choose

http://www.napoleon-series.org/reviews/uniforms/c_rousselot.html
http://www.napoleon-series.org/reviews/uniforms/c_rousselot2.html
http://www.napoleon-series.org/reviews/uniforms/c_ryan.html

If you have enjoyed viewing and reading this post then add to your enjoyment by popping over to the "Talavera 208 Just Giving" page using the link below and make any contribution you care to, towards a great cause, Combat Stress, and enjoy the warm feeling that will come knowing you have added to the good in the world; not to mention the thrill when you see these command bases in action in 2017, and a message from me thanking you for your support. After all we are in that season when giving is what it's all about.

Cheers all 

JJ

Just Giving - Talavera208

Talavera 208 - King Joseph, Marshals Jourdan, Victor and General de Division Sebastiani

King Joseph Bonaparte (1768 - 1844) 

The Emperor Napoleon's elder brother, Joseph, was a lawyer and French diplomat before being appointed King of Naples by the Emperor following his occupation of the territory in 1806.

When the French invaded Spain, Napoleon, in some desperation, turned to Joseph to become his puppet King following the abdication of the Spanish Bourbon Royal family and somewhat reluctantly Joseph agreed to take the job entering Madrid on the 20th July in the wake of Imperial French forces.

What followed was popular uprising against French occupation, forcing the Emperor to enter the country himself in 1808 to restore the French position before turning it back over to his Marshals in early 1809, forced to deal with a new war with Austria.

Joseph was not a soldier and Napoleon never intended for him to command in Spain, hoping to leave the subjugation of the country to his Marshals who were very experienced and had no intention of allowing Joseph to interfere with their operations.

As the French forces sought to defeat the remaining Spanish armies following Napoleon's lightning campaign, they only hardened Spanish resistance with their rapacious habits of terror, theft, rape and murder against the civilian population, rendering Joseph's attempts at winning hearts and minds over to a new Spain governed under the Code Napoleon practically useless.

His early attempts to introduce legislation to curb gambling and heavy drinking, only encouraged a rumour that the French King enjoyed a drink or three himself, thus earning himself the nickname from Spaniards "Pepe la Botella" or Pepe the Bottle, a derisive name that became common parlance among all classes of Spanish society.

When General Wellesley and the British army re-entered Portugal in 1809 and defeated Marshal Soult, Joseph's frustration at his inability to command and co-ordinate the Marshals drove him to take action by putting himself at the head of French forces defending his capital, Madrid, and prove his military credentials and thus assert his authority.

Talavera was to be the first battle at which Joseph was present and supposedly in command, but he can be forgiven if he struggled to assert himself over his commanders given the undermined position his younger brother had put him in.

I have modelled Joseph on a suitably dappled white charger dressed in the uniform of a Colonel of his own Spanish Guard Grenadiers, whose look mirrored that of of the Emperor's guard all be it with buff instead of white facings. As you can see this has been interpreted as an orangey buff to the more lighter version seen in the top portrait which is what I decided to go with.

To capture Joseph's appearance I decided to use a French mounted officer with a head swap using a senior French general officer in bicorne.

Accompanying the King is his senior military advisor, the greying Marshal Jourdan, together with members of the Spanish Guard Hussars and Imperial ADC's wearing white brassards and white and red plumes worn by members of the senior commanders headquarters staff to distinguish them from other staff officers.

Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan (1762 - 1833)

Jourdan joined the French army in 1778 as a private soldier, serving in the American War of Independence and was present at the siege of Savannah in 1779. Later he served in the West Indies where he, like many European soldiers, became ill which forced a return to France and him to leave the army in 1782.

In 1789 he returned to the Colours and joined the Revolutionary National Guard and quickly rose to General de Division in 1793. From 1794 to 1795 his star was in the ascendancy as he led the 70,000 man Army of the Sambre et Meuse defeating the Austrians at the Battle of Fleurus and taking Belgium and the Dutch Republic as the Allied forces were forced to withdraw.

However 'fickle fortune' took a hand in the following campaign of 1796 when in company with General Moreau's forces pushing the Austrians back through Bavaria to the Austrian frontier, Jourdan was caught in a flank manoeuvre by a certain Archduke Charles and beaten at the Battle of Amburg. The campaign then went from bad to worse seeing the French forced back by the end of the year and Jourdan identified as the scape goat for the failure.

His military career then went on hold and he was forced to focus on politics, formulating the Conscription Law in 1798, later known as Jourdan's Law, before returning to military duties in 1799.

He opposed the 'coup' of  the 9th November that brought Napoleon to power as First Consul, but was soon reconciled with the new regime, being appointed Inspector General of Cavalry and Infantry in 1800 and appointed a Marshal in 1804 by the Emperor Napoleon, later overseeing command in Naples alongside Joseph.

When Napoleon bullied his brother Joseph into taking the Spanish throne in 1808 he appointed Jourdan as his military advisor.

Imperial ADC's displayed the rank of their commander with brassards and plume colours
Plume /Brassard , Brigade - Lt Blue/ Lt Blue, Division - Black and Red/Red, Commander - White and Red/White 

Jourdan was certainly an experienced commander and he is believed to have offered Joseph sound if somewhat cautionary advice. He was by 1808 past holding an active command of his own and like Joseph was unable to exert any influence over the other French Marshals. It was Jourdan who would again play the roll of scape goat for French failure at Talavera, being replaced by Marshal Soult after the battle, only to return to his former post in 1812 when Soult was recalled for the invasion of Russia.

I wanted an older looking general officer model to represent Jourdan, he was 43 in July 1809, and so used the AB model of the bespectacled Marshal Davout, but gave the figure a suitably grey haired appearance as seen in his portraits.

Marshal Victor, Duke of Belluno (1764 - 1841)

Claude Victor Perrin, entered the artillery as a private age 17 and was noticed by a certain Colonel Bonaparte at the siege of Toulon in 1793 for his leadership qualities soon rising to the rank of General de Division in 1797.

If Jourdan represented the old guard of revolutionary generals, then Victor certainly represented the new generation of ambitious young officers who were able to ascend to to high command under the patronage of Napoleon.

He particularly distinguished himself at the battle of Marengo and was present at the battles of Jena, Pultusk and Friedland where he again gained the notice of the Emperor whilst leading I Corps and was created a Marshal soon after.

http://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/friedland-or-the-consecration-of-marshal-victor/

Victor led his I Corps d'Armee into Spain in 1808 defeating Blake's Spanish army at Espinosa and together with the Emperor spearheading the attack through the Somosierra Pass leading to the capture of Madrid.

In 1809 he he won decisive victories over Spanish forces at the battles of Ucles and Medellin where in the latter he he defeated General Cuesta's 35,000 men with just his own corps of 16,000.

Uniform of a French Marshal

By the time of Talavera, Victor had won for himself a reputation for outstanding bravery and impetuosity which goes much of the way to explain how he came to have his way over the weak willed Joseph and the cautious Jourdan.

However Victor had never fought the British and he seems to have been totally oblivious about their tactics or abilities and his troops paid a heavy price for his ignorance and impetuosity.

For my model of Victor I chose to use the AB model of Marshal Ney as a suitable stand in as another of Napoleon's rather impetuous commanders.

Alongside the commander of I Corps can be seen a senior staff officer drawn from the ranks of the 2nd Hussars

French 2nd Hussars were part of the Light Cavalry brigade under GdB Beaumont in Victor's I Corps

General de Division Sebastiani (1771 - 1851)

General Horace Francois-Bastien Sebastiani commanded IV Corps at Talavera. Like Napoleon, he was a Corsican and was commissioned into the army in 1789.

Sebastiani served as the future Emperor's cavalry commander in the Army of Italy during his Italian campaign and saw action at Marengo. After the campaign he was sent on his first diplomatic missions to Turkey and Egypt before promotion to General de Brigade in 1803.

In 1805 he was wounded leading a cavalry brigade at Austerlitz and was subsequently promoted to General de Division.

He then returned to the diplomatic corps serving as Napoleon's ambassador at Constantinople, before returning to the army in 1808 to command an infantry division in Lefebvre's IV Corps as part of the Emperor's Grand Armee for the invasion of Spain.

He saw action with his division at Zornosa in October in pursuit of Blake's Spanish army and at the end of the year was promoted to command IV Corps when Lefebvre was sacked for continuously disobeying orders.

In early 1809 he and IV Corps were deployed south of Madrid observing General Cartaojal's Army of La Mancha which in the March he successfully attacked and routed at Cuidad Real.

However the Spanish troops soon rallied after their defeat  and Cartaojal was replaced by General Venegas who was supposed to have detained Sebastiani and his corps whilst Wellesley and Cuesta moved against Victor at Talavera. He however skilfully slipped away from Venegas to bring his troops along with those of King Joseph to fight at Talavera.

Sebastiani was more suited to leading a cavalry charge than high command. His corps acted with little cohesion during the battle, with the German Division becoming disorientated during its advance and attacking first when it was supposed to have attacked last in a plan to refuse the French left flank. However it was Sebastiani's own division that came the closest to winning the battle for the French.

Uniform of a French General de Division

I have modelled Sebastiani using one of the AB French general officer models accompanied by an ADC displaying the red brassard of an aide serving a General de Division.

Uniform of a French General de Brigade

Alongside the senior French commanders are the balance of five French General de Brigade to complete the command of the French forces.

If you have enjoyed reading this post then add to your enjoyment by popping over to the "Talavera 208 Just Giving" page using the link below and make any contribution you care to, towards a great cause, Combat Stress, and enjoy the warm feeling that will come knowing you have added to the good in the world; not to mention the thrill when you see these command bases in action in 2017, and a message from me thanking you for your support. After all we are in that season when giving is what it's all about.

Cheers all 

JJ

Just Giving - Talavera208

Other sources referred to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Bonaparte
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Jourdan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Victor-Perrin,_Duc_de_Belluno
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_François_Bastien_Sébastiani_de_La_Porta
Osprey Campaign, Talavera 1809 - Chartrand & Turner
Talavera, Wellington's First Victory in Spain - Andrew W. Field