page_title: Grenadiers à Cheval de la Garde Impériale
section_title: Origins and organisation
hierarchical_section_title: Grenadiers à Cheval de la Garde Impériale / Origins and organisation
caption_attribution_description: French horse mounted grenadier of Napoleon Guard. From book of P.-M. Laurent de L`Ardeche «Histoire de Napoleon», 1843
context_page_description: The Grenadiers à Cheval de la Garde Impériale constituted a heavy cavalry regiment in the Consular, then Imperial Guard during the French Consulate and First French Empire respectively. They were the senior "Old Guard" cavalry regiment of the Imperial Guard and from 1806 were brigaded together with the Dragons de la Garde Impériale.
  A part of the Republican Consular Guard, the Grenadiers became the senior "Old Guard" heavy cavalry regiment when the Imperial Guard was founded, in 1804. Their maximum official complement was just over 1100 officers and troopers, commanded by a general of division or a seasoned general of brigade, with some of the most famous cavalrymen of the time as commander.
  Rarely committed to battle during the Napoleonic Wars, they were usually kept in reserve, alongside the Emperor, during the most significant battles of 1804-1815. When sent into action, such as during the battles of Marengo, Austerlitz, Eylau, Hanau or Waterloo, as well as during a number of actions of 1814, results were usually impressive. The regiment was disbanded in 1815, after Napoleon's downfall and the second restoration of the Bourbons.
context_section_description: The origins of the Guard Horse Grenadiers dated back to the Constitution of the Year III, which provided for the organisation of a guard for the French Directory. Within this guard, a cavalry regiment was formed and most cavalrymen were drawn from the 9th dragoons. However, the horse guards would only take service in 1796 and a 1797 regulation stated that the guards were to be called 'grenadiers'. The next major reorganisation came with the French Consulate, just days after the 18 Brumaire 1799 coup d'Etat. This reorganisation reshuffled the general staff of the regiment and gave its command to chef de brigade (colonel) Michel Ordener,  assisted by three chefs d'escadron (squadron commanders). Further reorganisations in 1801 and 1802 were conducted under the supervision of General Jean-Baptiste Bessières, bringing the regiment to four squadrons of two companies each and integrating it in the newly created Consular Guard, with the general staff of the regiment also expanded.
  On May 18, 1804, with the creation of the Imperial Guard, the horse grenadier regiment was integrated in this newly created unit. A decree from July of that year stated that the general staff of the regiment was to be extended to 32 men and that the regiment would be organised in four squadrons of two companies each, with 123 men in each company, for a total of 1016 officers and men. The next year, two squadrons of vélites, totaling 800 men were added, as well as a major en second (deputy commander). The two vélite squadrons would only be disbanded in August 1811, with the men being reshuffled in a 5-squadron regiment, totaling 1250 men. A further reorganisation was operated just before the Russian campaign, bringing the number of squadrons back down to four. In January 1813, after the Russian disaster, the regiment was once again reorganised, with the addition of a fifth and then a sixth squadron of 2 companies each. These two squadrons were both considered Young Guard and were also known as the 2nd Grenadiers à Cheval regiment. Throughout the War of the Sixth Coalition the regiment would fight in this format, with each of the four Old Guard squadrons being formed of 2 companies, 124 officers and men each.
  Following the abdication of the Emperor Napoleon I in 1814, the restored Bourbons planned to erase the identity of this regiment by asking Marshal Michel Ney to disband and then reorganise the men into a new regiment called cuirassiers de France (cuirassiers of France), which included 4 squadrons. The men that had formed the original 6th Young Guard squadron were apparently all transferred to the Carabiniers-à-Cheval. With the comeback of Napoleon during the Hundred Days, the regiment was once again transformed into the Horse Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard and after the fall of Napoleon, the regiment was permanently disbanded on November 25, 1815.
caption: A Horse Grenadier
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