Napoleon Series Archive 2020

Re: Dutch Experience of the Campaign of 1812

I've had some discussions with Mark previously about this, and I agree with the general thrust of his work (namely that, overall, there were more Dutch survivors in the French Army that participated in the Russian campaign than many Dutch historians of the 19th and early 20th century made out to be) but I'm still not fully convinced by his arguments. My nigglings are the following:

- He only considers the 'nominally Dutch' Regiments, which were formed in 1810 from the existing Army of the Kingdom of Holland, that is, the units formed from volunteer/professional soldiers (Louis Napoleon never instituted conscription in Holland) in computing his initial total number of Dutchmen in the French Army for the Russian campaign of 1812. Units such as the 123eme-126eme Infanterie de Ligne, 33eme Infanterie Legere, 14eme Cuirassiers, 11eme Hussards etc. He does not include other units that were formed later (between 1810 and 1813) and also included large numbers of Dutchmen, notably the Regiments that were set up in 1813 that were composed of men from the Garde National Cohorts and the Compagnies Departementales (4 Regiments in the 136eme-156eme de Ligne series, 37eme Legere), and the 'voluntary' Gardes d'Honneurs, as well as the units of coastal artillery, Hautbords and other naval detachments serving on the Dutch coast and in its fortresses.

- He is very sketchy in his delineation of when he considers the Campaign of 1812 over. Sometimes it ends in 1812, sometimes in 1813, when he is computing numbers of survivors, especially survivors of drafts of conscripts that were hastened to the front late 1812/early 1813 as reinforcements/replacements.

- By 1812, the Dutch Departments also provided quantities of conscripts for other units of the French Army, which were not 'nominally Dutch', as can be seen at http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/abstract/military/army/france/conscription/1811/c_conscripts18.html and they have not been included.

IMHO, a more comprehensive study needs to be undertaken before his conclusions can be fully accepted.
But, on the positive side, this work already covers a lot of ground.

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Dutch Experience of the Campaign of 1812
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Re: Dutch Experience of the Campaign of 1812
Re: Dutch Experience of the Campaign of 1812