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 Post subject: The Saxon gendarme
PostPosted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 10:20 am 
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Joined: Fri May 25, 2001 1:53 pm
Posts: 283
Location: United Kingdom
Something a little different for the die-hard taverners to read:

As the size of the armies increased throughout the Napoleonic period, the area covered in any given theatre also grew. The need for all the corps to act in concert within the theatre required continuous communication with headquarters and sometimes between the individual corps.

In May of 1813, following victory at Lutzen, Ney was given command of a wing of the army and his orders took him more than a days march from the main body of the French army. Communication between Ney and his detached wing became more important. Communication also became more dangerous as, owing to the weakness of the French cavalry, there was little that could be done about the cossacks roaming the Saxon countryside almost at will.

Each corps had its own staff officers who served as couriers but, to increase the chance of successful delivery of dispatches in this environment, it was common to send multiple copies of communications. With several messages being exchanged each day, and the courier being away for 2 - 3 days, more couriers were required.

For the French, the additional manpower was recruited from the local population, as Saxony had not joined the Prussian war of liberation.

One such local was a Saxon gendarme called Lamprecht.

At 1 o'clock in the afternoon of the 16th May, Lamprecht left Imperial Headquarters at Dresden with an encoded letter from Marshal Berthier to Marshal Ney, last known to be somewhere near Luckau, a journey of about 100km. On his journey, the gendarme would have obtained information in Dobrilugk, that Ney was now at Kalau, marching, in accordance with his orders, on Spremberg. Lamprecht's journey had increased to 107km.

After travelling 24 hours the gendarme delivered the dispatches to Ney at Kalau. At one o'clock in the afternoon of the 17th May, Lamprecht left Kalau with Ney's reply to Berthier. His more direct return journey of 90km to Dresden took him via General Lauriston's V corps, part of Ney's wing of the army.

On the 18th May, still some 30km short of Dresden, Lamprecht was waylaid by Cossacks, near Konigsbruck. They stole his horse, his watch, his money, his weapons and some of his clothing. They also took and tore up the dispatches he was carrying back to Berthier, after which they left.

On the 19th May, Lamprecht finally arrived in Dresden, carrying as many of the pieces of the dispatches as he had managed to salvage. Imperial headquarters had left Dresden on the 18th May, so the gendarme reported to general Durosnel who commanded the city.

Although much of Lauriston's correspondence was missing, and all was a day out of date (having been superceded by subsequent correspondence), Durosnel reported to Berthier the actions of this gendarme who had shown <i>intelligence and fidelity</i> and requested a recompense for him.

Lamprecht - A man worthy of a place in VII corps.

GdD Eason
VII Corps - Saxon


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 6:31 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2003 10:08 am
Posts: 3722
That is pretty cool!! [:D][:D]

<center>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[url="http://www.scott-ludwig.com"]<b>Generallieutenant Scott Ludwig</b>[/url]

Kommandeur
[url="http://www.scott-ludwig.com/NWC/Prussia/3IFB.htm"]3. Infanterie-Brigade[/url]
I. Armee Korps
Heer am Niederrhein
Preußische Armee

Aide-du-Camp
I. Armee Korps
Heer am Niederrhein
Preußische Armee

[url="http://www.prussianarmy.com"]Preußische Armee Webmaster[/url]

Image

GroßHerzog von Saxe-Weimar
(Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar)
</center>


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