Wednesday 6 July 2016

2/95e Regiment de Ligne


The 95e Regiment de Ligne were involved in the Peninsular War from the start of the first French invasion when the regiment provided a battalion as part of the 6th Provisional Line Regiment in Marshal Moncey's Corps d'observation des Cotes de l'Ocean.

French Corps d'observation des Cotes de l'Ocean, lst January l808 - Source Oman
Commanding Officer: Marechal Moncey

2nd Division: General de division Gobert
lst Brigade: General de brigade Lefranc
5th Provisional Line Regiment (Battalion)(Officers/Men)
l03rd Line Infantry Regiment (l)(8/44l)
64th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(l0/409)
39th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(8/507)
94th Line Infantry Regiment (l)((9/4l6)
6th Provisional Line Regiment
70th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(l0/5l2)
27th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(8/374)
lllth Line Infantry Regiment (l)(7/324)
95th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(l0/343)


The activities of French forces involved in this first French invasion can be followed in the previous posts on other regiments by following the link.
2/63e Regiment de Ligne


With French forces driven back behind the River Ebro and Napoleon's forced intervention, the 95e Regiment de Ligne was brought up to full war strength with all three of it's first line battalions forming the second line regiment in General Pacthod's brigade in Marshal Victor's I Corps d'Armee.

French Army in Spain, 15 November 1808 - source Oman
Commanding Officer: Emperor Napoleon
I Corps: Maréchal Victor
3rd Division: Général de division Villatte
Brigade: Général de brigade Pacthod (Battalions)(Officers/Men)
27th Légère Regiment (3)(50/1,527)
63rd Line Regiment (3)(44/1,246)
Brigade: Général de brigade Puthod
94th Line Regiment (3)(54/1,627)
95th Line Regiment (3)(47/1,428)



As covered in the post about it's fellow brigade comrades the 94e Ligne, from November 1808 to the March of 1809 the brigade would see three very successful battles against the Spanish at Espinosa, Ucles and Medellin.

2/94e Regiment de Ligne



With such a run of success against the Spanish and with no experience of fighting the British, the veteran battalions of the 95e Ligne could be forgiven for any overconfidence they might have felt as they marched into the line at Talavera in July 1809.



My 2/95e Ligne are composed of figures from AB supplied by Fighting 15's and the battalion fanion is from GMB Flags.

This is the penultimate battalion of the twenty four required to fit out Victor's I Corps, so the 3/95e Ligne will be followed by a Corps parade before we move onto the next stage.

20 comments:

  1. Looking forward to that Corps level parade!
    Excellent work

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    1. Hey thanks Nigel. Me too, hard to believe that this part of the project has taken a year to get done!

      Nice to see C&G got a mention in Wargames Illustrated this month with the game at Legionary.

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  2. Wonderful brushwork! I too look forward to a Pass in Review of Victor's Corps.
    Does a sustained queue of painting Frenchmen ever become a chore for you? Your dedication to churning out fine Frenchmen is admirable. I need a bit more variety when pushing figures across the workbench.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Jon. There have been occasional "off piste" moments but I find that cracking on with a big job like this is helped by the continuity in that I know my way around an AB French line infantryman with my eyes shut which has enabled mr to paint them in an "unconsciously competent" manner with just the need to focus on the various regimental variations.

      However once the French are done I intend to have a bit of fun painting a 28mm short project for a friend before I get stuck into the Spanish

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  3. Excellent work my friend 😉.
    Regards Gav .

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    Replies
    1. Cheers Gav, nice to have people along on the journey with a big project like this
      JJ

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  4. Very nice looking battalion!

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  5. More great work, getting close now.
    Our next Talavera refight has slipped to next January so more time for me to start and hopefully finish the 4th Division.

    Tony.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Tony, I am really looking forward to finishing this bit. Will has suggested we have a celebratory curry night once the last battalion is done!

      Keep on painting. I think my roll out will be a bit behind yours and I am now a month behind schedule after the Vietnam expedition. Good job we do this stuff for fun!

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  6. Congratulations! Looking forward to the parade.

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    1. Cheers Bill. I am working out how best to do a parade, as I was thinking of getting the whole Corps out, light cavalry, artillery, the lot, which might be fun. I might have a go at doing things a bit different.

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  7. Very nice looking unit really looking forward to seeing the corps artillery cavalry and the infantry in it's fall glory

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    1. Thanks Stephen, me to. Nothing like seeing French infantry en mass, with all their supports. You can almost imagine the beating of the pas de charge!

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  8. Replies
    1. Cheers Rupert, no feeling quite like bringing a project to a conclusion.

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    2. Eye starting to wonder to the next..?! The River Coa...Bussaco :-)

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    3. Ah ha you've spotted the plan. That is the intention, plus a bit of campaigning, with some work on the Roman/Dacian collection in between.

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  9. Replies
    1. Thank you, the AB sculpts are a real joy to work with

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