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The4th Hussar Regiment (4e régiment de hussards) is ahussar regiment in theFrench Army, raised and embodied in 1783 and still in existence.
It was created as thehussards Colonel Général on 31 July 1783 for theDuke of Chartres, by taking one squadron from each of theBercheny,Chamborant,Conflans andEsterhazy regiments ofhussars. On 30 May 1788 it was reinforced by a contingent of soldiers taken from the régiment de Quercy, régiment de Septimanie,régiment de Nassau,régiment de La Marck, régiment de Franche-Comté and régiment des Évéchés, all then cavalry units. The new hussar regiment would enter combat multiple times during the War of the 1st and 2nd Coalitions. Such notable battles include,Valmy (1792), Croix-aux-Bois (1792),Maastricht (1793), Hondschoote (1793),Flerus (1794),Stockach (1799),Second Battle of Zurich (1799), andHohenlinden (1800).
The hussars also played a prominent role as cavalry in theNapoleonic Wars (1803–1815), serving in campaigns in Austria (1804 & 1809), Prussia (1805 -1806), Poland (1806), Spain (1809 - 1813), Germany (1812), France (1814 - 1815), and Belgium (1815) before being disbanded by the Bourbon Restoration.
Aslight cavalrymen mounted on fast horses, they would be used to fight skirmish battles and for scouting. Most of the great European powers raised hussar regiments. The armies of France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia had included hussar regiments since the mid-18th century. In the case of Britain, four lightdragoon regiments were converted to hussars in 1806–1807.
Hussars gained notoriety in theGrande Armée after theinvasion of Egypt. At the Battle of Salalieh in August 1798, brigade commanderAntoine Charles Louis de Lasalle fought "like a demon" and solidified his reputation as a maverick rider upon returning to France and receivingWeapons of Honour. At the ceremony (in a remark often mistakenly attributed to Napoleon), Lasalle quipped "Any hussar who isn't dead at age 30 is a layabout."[1] The hussars of Napoleon's army created the tradition ofsabrage, the opening of a champagne bottle with a sabre. Moustaches were universally worn byNapoleonic period hussars, the British hussars were the only moustachioed troops in theBritish Army – leading to occasional taunts of "foreigner" from their brothers-in-arms. French hussars also worecadenettes, braids of hair hanging to either side of the face, until the practice was officially proscribed when shorter hair became universal.
The uniforms worn by Napoleonic hussars were unique to each regiment but all featured thedolman – a colourful, braided stable jacket – and thepelisse, a short fur-edged jacket which was often worn slung over one shoulder in the style of a cape and fastened with a cord. This garment was extensively adorned with braiding (often gold or silver for officers) and several rows of multiple buttons.
On active service the hussar normally wore reinforced breeches which had leather on the inside of the leg to prevent them from wearing due to the extensive time spent in the saddle. On the outside of such breeches, running up the outside was a row of buttons, and sometimes a stripe in a different colour. Ashako or furbusby was worn as headwear. The colours of dolman, pelisse, and breeches varied greatly by regiment, even within the same army.
The French hussar of the Napoleonic period was armed with a brass-hilted sabre, a carbine, and sometimes with a brace of pistols, although these were often unavailable. The British hussar was armed, in addition to his firearms, with thePattern 1796 light cavalry sabre.
A famous military commander in Bonaparte's army who began his military career as a hussar wasMarshal Ney, who after being employed as a clerk in an iron works joined the 5th Hussars in 1787. He rose through the ranks of the hussars in the wars of Belgium and the Rhineland (1794–1798) fighting against the forces of Austria and Prussia before receiving his marshal's baton in 1804 after the EmperorNapoleon's coronation.
On theFrench Revolution, it was numbered as the5th Hussar Regiment during the army reorganisation of 1 January 1791, as the fifth oldest cavalry unit in the French army, before being promoted to 4th Hussar Regiment in 1793 after the previous holder of that title. In 1814, just before the fall of theFirst French Empire, it was renamed therégiment des hussards de Monsieur, though it resumed the title of 4th Hussar Regiment during theHundred Days before being disbanded on theBourbon Restoration which followed. After Napoleon returned from exile and invaded Belgium, the 4th Hussar Regiment would enter combat at the final battles ofLigny, andWaterloo, in which Napoleon would be defeated.
In 1816 therégiment des hussards du Nord was formed and in 1825 this unit took the title 4th Hussar Regiment. They will garrison the cities of Orlèans and Poitiers. After a newSecond Republic or Second French Empire overthrown the Bourbon Monarchy (seeBourbon Restoration), the 4th Hussar Regiment was stationed at Sedan. They took part in the Crimean Wars, specifically at the Battle of Kanghil, capturing several Russian guns. They would enter action in theFranco- Prussian war, becoming part of the Army of the Rhine.
In 1880, the 4th Hussar Regiment, now one of the most experienced of the French Army, took part in the colonization of Tunisia. In World War I, the regiment would be based inVerdun, and suffered heavy casualties fromimpeding German attacks. During the World War II, the regiment tried, and failed to defend Luxembourg from German annexation. It took part in the Battle of France, when it was disbanded after the French defeat. After theliberation of France and parts of Belgium by theWestern Allies, on 15 February 1945 a new 4th Hussar Regiment was formed by splitting-off elements of COABC 405. On 30 October 1945 the new unit was disbanded and turned into the2nd Hussar Regiment.
On 15 July 1956 the 4th Hussar Regiment was again recreated, this time from elements of 251e B, before being disbanded again in 1958. It was re-created yet again on 1 April 1959 from elements of31st Dragoon Regiment, surviving until 1964, taking part in the Algerian War. It was disbanded to become the8th Dragoon Regiment and immediately recreated from elements of1st African Chasseurs (1er régiment dechasseurs d'Afrique) and from the instruction centre of the6th Dragoon Regiment. This unit was disbanded atLaon, with its colours being entrusted to the GMR/6-4e RH).
In 1991 the 4th Hussar Regiment was yet again recreated, becoming the support regiment to the RMD-NE/CMD Metz. In 2000 it took the name of 4th Hussar Squadron Group (4e Groupe d'escadrons de hussards or4e G.E.H), which it still holds to this day.
• Count of Montreal (1779)
• Marquis du Chastelier-Dumesnil (1783)
• Colonel Drouot de la Marche (1791)
• Colonel Miezskowski (1792)
• Barbier Brigade leader (1793)*Colonel General title withdrawn*
• Boyè Brigade leader (1794)
• Flosse Brigade leader (1794- 1796)
• Chef de Brigade Merlin (1796)
• Lieutenant Pajol (1797 -1800)
• ColonelAndrè Burthe (1804 - 1811) * Colonel General title restored*
• Colonel Christophe (1811- 1815)
• Colonel Blot (1815)
• ColonelCharles Oudinot (1816 -1822)
• Colonel Merssemann (1822 -1829)
• Colonel Louvencourt (1829)
• Colonel Richard (1830)
• Colonel Antoine Fortùne de Brack (1832 -1838)
• Colonel Lesparda (1838 - 1840)
• Colonel Dormoy (1841 -1850)
• Colonel Gallais (1850- 1854)
• Colonel Simon Mortière (1855- 1864)
• Colonel Choury Virgerie (1864 -1870)
• ColonelCousin Montauban (1871–1875)
• Colonel Bauviaux (1875–1879)
• Colonel De Poul (1880)
• Colonel Colinet Labeau (1886)
• Colonel Gaudin (1888)
• Colonel Moine le Margon (1895–1900)
• Colonel Duprat (1900–1907)
• Colonel Renaud (1907)
• Colonel Joubert (1911–1914)
• Colonel Dollfus (1915)
• Colonel Parrot (1916–1925)
• Colonel Bonnet (1925–1929)
• Colonel Langlois (1929)
• Colonel Bessey Contenson (1931)
• Colonel Poulof (1934)
• Colonel Rupied (1934–1938)
• Colonel Chiappini (1938–1940) *Regiment was dissolved*
• Colonel Reboul (1945) *Regiment re-formed*
• Colonel Finaz (1945–1956)
• Colonel Duboster (1956)
• Colonel Giraud (1957)
• Colonel Oddo (1959)
• Colonel Noe (1960)
• Colonel Heraud (1962)
• Colonel Burin (1964)
• Colonel Barry (1964)
• Colonel February (1966)
• Colonel Gonneville (1968)
• Colonel De Lassus (1970)
• Colonel De Zelicourt (1972)
• Colonel Chevallereau (1976)
• Colonel Jacquot (1978)
• Colonel Voinot (1980)
• Colonel Rocolle (1982 -1988)
• Colonel Boulery (1988)
• Lieutenant Colonel Lhomme (1991)
• Colonel Valet (1993)
• Colonel Enguilabert (1995)
• Colonel Colombel (1997)
• Lieutenant Colonel Joannes (1999)*unit demoted to squadron*
• Lieutenant Colonel Pillet (2001)
• Lieutenant Colonel Martin (2003)
• Lieutenant Colonel Salsedo (2005)
• Lieutenant Colonel Maurin (2007)
• Lieutenant Colonel Rocolle (2009) *unit now enters policing service*
These are one of many notable people that come from this regiment.
°Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke,Napoleon I's future War Minister and Marshal. (joined the regiment in 1784)
°Michel Ney, a future Marshal of the First French Empire. (joined the regiment in 1787)
° Charles Marie Augustin De Goyon, a future Major General of theSecond French Empire, and was an aide de camp toEmperor Napoleon III. (joined the regiment in 1832)
°Patrice de MacMahon, future president of theThird French Republic. (joined the regiment in 1830)
°Jean Compagon, a French General. (Commanded the 4th Hussar Regiment during 1937–1940)
Original article in French:
•Battle of Valmy (21 September 1792) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Croix-Aux-Bois (1792)
•Battle of Aldenhoven (1794) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Hondschoote (1793) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Wattignies (1793) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Flerus (1794) Result: French Victory
• Skirmishes at Langenhiem (1795)
•Blockade of Mainz (1796) Result: Austrian/Coalition Victory
• The crossing over theRhine at Neuwied (1797)
° Minor skirmishes in the Northern Frontier (1798)
•Battle of Stockach (1799) Result: Austrian/Coalition Victory
•Battle of Winterthur (1799) Result: Austrian/Coalition Victory
•Second Battle of Zurich (September, 1799) Result: French Victory
• Minor roles, part of the defense of the flanks of the Army of the Rhine (1800)
Battles inAustria/modern dayCzech Republic:
•Battle of Austerlitz (1805) Result: French Victory
Battles inPrussia and modern dayPoland:
•Battle of Schleiz (1806) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Jena-Auerstedt(1806) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Lübeck (1806) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Liebstadt (1807) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Mohrungen (1807) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Friedland (1807) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Alcañiz (1809) Result: Spanish/Coalition Victory
•Battle of Belchite (1809) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Chiclana (1811) Result: Coalition Victory
•Battle of Saguntum (1811) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Ordal (1813) Result: French Victory
Battles in modern dayGermany:
•Battle of Gross Beeren (23 August 1813) Result: Coalition Victory
•Battle of Leipzig/Battle of the Nations (16–19 October 1813) Result: Coalition Victory
Battles inFrance:
• The 4th Hussar Regiment becomes part of the 7th Cavalry Corp. They will clash against Austrian troops near Bourg, then was pushed back by Austrian counterattacks in Macon. (1814)
• TheBattle of Limonest took place, in which was followed by the abdication ofNapoleon I. (20 March 1814) Result: Coalition Victory
Battles inBelgium:
• Following the return of Napoleon, the 4th Hussar Regiment was among the amphibious Invasion force that swept through southern Belgium. This force would ultimately be routed atWaterloo, and Napoleon finally ended his military career.
•Battle of Ligny (1815) Result: French Victory
•Battle of Waterloo (1815) Result: Coalition Victory
• The regiment would be reduced to agarrison sized force, and initially was stationed inOrlèans, and in 1848, was stationed atPoitiers. Throughout 1850, the regiment would be stationed at Sedan.
• In the Crimean Wars, the regiment took part in the Battle of Kanghil (1855) and won fame, capturing multiple Russianartillery pieces. After the Crimean Wars settled down, there was the new threat of Prussia in mainland Europe.
• The 4th Hussar Regiment took part in the defense of France, moving fromPhalsbourg, toBelfort, toReims.
Notable battles:
•Battle of Sedan (1870) Result: Prussian/German Victory
• The 4th Hussar Regiment would take part in the campaign of colonial French troops, based inTunisia, leading to the expansion in colonial territory.
• At the start of World War I, 4th Hussar Regiment's transport Corp was based in thecity of Reims, with the rest of the regiment inVerdun, but did not stay at Verdun, which means that they did not participate in theBattle of Verdun.
Notable battles:
•Battle of Guise (1914) Result: German Victory
•Second Battle of Belgium (1918) Result: Allied Victory
Notable services:
•Phony Wars (1940) Result: Bought the Germans valuable time to gather up forces
•Battle of France (1940) Result: German Victory
•Liberation of France (1945) Result: Successful
• The most recentarmed battles of the 4th Hussar Regiment took place inAlgeria, where they kept order in the French protectorate until its independence in 1962.
Other French Hussar Regiment pages: