Napoleon Series Archive 2013

Grenz strength 1809

Following the 1808 reforms by Charles, the Grenz battalions (regiment being an administrative fiction), basically reverted to the pre-Mack organisation. Each regiment had 240 sharpshooters.

This is where my sources diverge. Some say that the sharpshooters were in addition to the strength, others that they were integral. Nor is it clear whether or not the Reserve and Landwehr battalions possessed any at all. As there anyone who can offer the definitive answer?

This is how it appears to me:

Regt = 2966 (inc 24 artillerymen + 240 sharpshooters @ 120 per Bn).
Regt = 2 field Bns + 1 Reserve Bn + (the 13 regular Regts only) 1 Landwehr/Insurrectio Bn.

Field Bn = (less 12 gun crew) 1471 in 6 Co.
Field Co = 245 including (?) 20 rifle armed sharpshooters.

Reserve Bn = 1437 in 6 Co.
Reserve Co = 239 men.
Sharpshooters? (Probably, given that many would be veterans. But if so, were they rifle armed? Was there enough spare equipment to go around?).

Landwehr Bn = 675 in 6 Co.
Landwehr Co = 112 (200 actually aimed at to cover desertion).
Sharpshooters? (I would have thought it unlikely given that the High Command appears to have assumed that the whole lot might desert at the drop of a hat, but you never know).