Ever wondered what actually happened to most soldiers in Napoleon's army? I've just finished going through the individual service records for the hard-fighting 33e Ligne regiment (14,829 entries) through a decade of warfare. Here are the headlines: 1/ - ThreadSky

graemecallister.bsky.social • 26 days ago

Ever wondered what actually happened to most soldiers in Napoleon's army?

I've just finished going through the individual service records for the hard-fighting 33e Ligne regiment (14,829 entries) through a decade of warfare.

Here are the headlines: 1/

Comments

graemecallister.bsky.social•26 days ago

The 14,829 entries represent 14,812 individual soldiers recruited up to the Bourbon restoration of 1814 (with 17 false or double entries).

651 were soldiers of the early Revolution.
736 were replacements or substitutes.
120 were volunteers.
13,305 were conscripts. 2/

graemecallister.bsky.social•26 days ago

The records aren't perfect in saying what happened to men - in many cases, once the man was detached from the regiment there was no further information about his fate. But the main reasons given for leaving were:...3/

graemecallister.bsky.social•26 days ago

Died: 2,459
Last seen in hospital: 1,433
Wounded: 1,026
POW (includes many men missing after defeats): 3,814
Discharge (mostly medical): 2,071
Transferred: 1,559
Promoted to officer: 154
Deserted: 1,396
Discharged late 1815: 237
Missing: 153
Condemned: 29
Replaced: 88
Long absence: 46
Other: 364
4/

graemecallister.bsky.social•26 days ago

There are huge nuances, but here's a tiny bit of detail.

Of 2,459 men recorded as dying in service:
393 killed in battle
193 died of wounds
1260 died of illness
574 no cause of death recorded
12 'killed'
9 drowned
8 accidents
6 'suddenly'
21 as POW
4 suicide
4 in prison
5 in lodgings/en route 5/

graemecallister.bsky.social•26 days ago

The deadliest battles were:

Austerlitz - 17 KIA
Jena-Auerstadt - 10
Czarnowo - 6
Eylau - 89
Friedland - 3
Eckmuhl - 19
Aspern-Essling - 10
Wagram - 56
Smolensk - 9
Borodino - 83
Krasnoi - 25
Nollendorf - 7

Others died in smaller or unrecorded actions. 6/

graemecallister.bsky.social•26 days ago

The POWs include more or less any man not explicitly recorded as killed, wounded or returned from Russia in 1812, and almost all men lost in 1813 if their exact fate was not known.

The 3,814 listed only includes those who never returned to the regiment. Many probably perished. 7/

dandan-noodles.bsky.social•26 days ago

what does 'last seen in hospital' refer to? do they just disappear from the records after being hospitalized?

graemecallister.bsky.social•26 days ago

It usually means they'll have spent months in hospital, often on campaign when the regiment will have moved on. So they might have recovered and been sent to continue service in another unit, been discharged from the army, or died - but nobody told the 33e what had happened to their soldier.

maniagnosis.bsky.social•26 days ago

What was the (rough) size of the unit at any given time?

graemecallister.bsky.social•26 days ago

It started off at about 1,200 men, and expanded to around 5,000 by the start of the Russian campaign in 1812. For most of the period it would have been 2-3,000 men in the regiment at any one time.

maniagnosis.bsky.social•26 days ago

Thanks!

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