November 1812: La Honte de la Garde Impériale¹

Moscow 1812²
Dmitry Nikolayevich Kardovsky
Source

The 57th entered Smolensk on the morning of the 9th. They had spent the night bivouacked outside the ruins of the city sheltering in what was left of a stage post along the Moscow road. A mounted officer encountered them upon moving inside the city gate.

"Hervé?"

Chef de Bataillon Lecerf looked up and exclaimed, "My God, is that you Gaston? You look well, my brother!"

Chef de Bataillon Lecerf embraced the man who dismounted in front of the column. Turning to Marais he called out, "Pierre, come and meet my brother who, lacking the stamina to be an infantryman, joined the cavalry!"

"Capitaine Gaston Lecerf, 12th Dragoons, at your service." He grasped Marais' hand and nodded, a broad smile upon his face.

The man was wearing a forage cap, having lost his helmet somewhere along the way, and his greatcoat was that of a Russian noble, fur lined and acquired before leaving Moscow.  He was something of a sight, looking more like a brigand than a cavalryman. His horse though, looked well groomed and cared for.

After shaking Marais' hand, Captain Lecerf turned to his brother, "I'm afraid things here are going badly. The Old Guard marched in last night and promptly began to loot the food stores. They have despoiled much of what they didn't eat by thampling through it all. The Emperor is furious. Berthier wants to have the men responsible shot, but the Emperor is not willing to go that far."

Chef de Bataillon Lecerf spat into the snow, "So the Immortals, who haven't fought a damned bit in the entire campaign, decide to have first choice of the supplies and be damned to the rest of the army?"

Marais shook his head, the "Immortals" was a nickname given to the Imperial Guard as a whole, but specifically to the senior infantry regiments of the Guard. The Grenadiers à Pied and the Chasseurs à Pied gained the nickname as Napoléon usually kept them as his ultimate reserve, they typically advanced only once the victory was assured.

The cavalry and the younger regiments of the Guard often saw hard action, but the Old Guard seldom fired their muskets, some men said that those worthies hadn't seen action since Marengo.³ They were detested by much of the army. Many soldiers desired entry into the Guard, but as many said, that gave them a better chance of surviving the wars!

"Is there any hope of resupply here?" Marais asked.

The younger Lecerf shook his head.

His older brother's shoulders slumped and he said, "Then we march when the order is given. Marais, take a party of men and find something for the boys to eat. You never know ..."

Night Bivouac of the Grande Armée
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (PD)

Berthier explained once more to the Emperor that there was no word of Kutuzov's army, his recommendation was to hold up in Smolensk for a week or more to let the army's stragglers come in and allow the men still with the colors to recuperate.

"Recuperate? How, how is that to be done? There is no food, my Guard has failed me, they destroyed the means by which I had hoped to resupply my army. Perhaps I should shoot some of those miscreants. But alas, they are as my children, I have spoiled them. We need to set out, I want to be back in friendly territory before mid-December."

"Then we must set out at once, Sire. Every delay makes the army that much weaker. We must strike for the Berezina and cross over. We have had no word on Russian forces but we have to assume that they will converge on this part of the army."

"Very well, we march, in stages. Let the men who need it most rest."

Berthier protested, "But Sire, we will then be even more strung out along the line of march."

"Issue the orders."

Leavitt sat with Marais, he had reported that the regiment was slowly fading away, the men were not deserting, they were dying. The young officer sat quietly, as if in deep thought.

"What are you thinking about, André? Perhaps a change in careers?"

Though the remark had been meant lightly, Leavitt turned and snapped, "What is the point of having an Imperial Guard? They get the best of everything. Their officers of the same rank as the line actually are to be treated as the rank above that of the line. A lieutenant is a captain, a captain a Chef de Bataillon. Even their Soldats are treated as corporals."

Marais nodded, "It is said that a mule in the Guard ranks as a horse in the line."

Leavitt stared at the older soldier for a moment, then he laughed. "I've heard that said. But really Pierre, why do we need them? The presence of those veterans would certainly help stiffen the ranks of some of the newer battalions."

Marais nodded again, then explained, "Back in the early days, generals would select picked men as bodyguards. There was no telling when some guttersnipe from Paris would show up and start 'advising' the generals on their duties. Many went to the guillotine if they displeased those députés en mission. So they had these picked men as protection. The Emperor had the same when he was First Consul."

Leavitt scoffed, "But does he need what is, in effect, an entire Corps d'Armée as protection?"

"Over time this accumulation of veterans, remember each member of the Guard is supposed to have three campaigns under his belt and have been decorated, served as a reserve force that could be thrown into action at the critical moment to snatch victory from the enemy's grasp."

"The Young Guard and the Guard cavalry have all proved useful in battle, but the Emperor refuses to commit the Old Guard. What on earth is he saving them for? They stood and watched at La Moscova when their commitment would have seen the destruction of Kutozov's army. The same army which stalks us now, waiting to pounce at the first false step!" Leavitt was visibly upset now.

"There is no guarantee of that, my young friend. The Guard could have advanced yes, perhaps they would have crushed the Russians. But you've seen how those bastards fight, the Guard may just as well have been cut to pieces. Then what does the Emperor rely on? And so far from Paris?" Marais thought that that would settle Leavitt, he was wrong.

"Us! He could rely on us! The regiments of the line, the light infantry, the cuirassiers, chasseurs à cheval, the hussars, and dragoons, he could rely on us, the soldiers of France!"

Marais sat, speechless, of course Leavitt was right, why hadn't he seen that for himself? Perhaps that's all acceptance into the Guard was, a reward for having survived multiple campaigns, a guarantee of survival to return to Paris. Service in the capital was guaranteed to the Guard, the line units were garrisoned throughout France, there was that reward as well.

Lecerf walked in, "Get your men ready, we leave at first light. We march to Krasnoi."

"Where on earth is that?" Leavitt demanded.

Lecerf looked at the young officer with some affection, "One step closer to the Berezina River, my boy. One step closer to home."

¹ The Shame of the Imperial Guard

² Though this painting shows the army looting Moscow, the looting in Smolensk may have destroyed Napoléon's last chance of victory in his Russian campaign.

³ A battle fought in 1800, well before Napoléon became Emperor. At that time they were known as the Consular Guard (Napoléon being First Consul at the time). It was also a much smaller organization.