First campaigns of the Empire

When they crossed the Rhine for the German campaign in September 1805, the Guard's horse artillerymen numbered 286 men.^[7] Under the command of Colonel Joseph Christophe Couin, they were present at the Battle of Austerlitz on December 2 of the same year, with a strength of 298 soldiers.^[8]

In 1806 and 1807, the Guard's horse artillerymen took part in the Prussian and Polish campaigns. At the Battle of Jena, they supported Marshal Ney's attack on Prussian positions. The enthusiastic Ney soon found himself in the middle of the enemy lines, and artillery support was decisive when Prussian general Hohenlohe decided to counter-attack with his entire cavalry.^[9]

The horse artillery once again distinguished itself at the Battle of Eylau, pounding the Russians under the command of General Lariboisière, head of the Imperial Guard artillery. Throughout the day of 8 February 1807, it supported the center of the army with a 40-gun battery.^[10]

Mounted artillerymen also took part in the Battle of Friedland under the command of generals Lariboisière and Sénarmont. While General Latour-Maubourg's cavalry galloped forward to repel a Russian charge, a 30-gun battery was quickly deployed, inflicting heavy losses on the Russians.^[11]

Spanish Civil War

In 1808, Napoleon personally intervened in Spain at the head of the Grande Armée. The Guard's horse artillerymen took part in the capture of Madrid on December 3, where four of their officers were wounded. The unit bivouacs at Chamartin, on the outskirts of the capital. Lieutenant Bosc writes to his family: "The officers are housed with the soldiers in their quarters. There's not a single piece of furniture, no bed, no chair, no bench. We sleep on the floor. I like the bivouac where I am today about as much as this kind of accommodation. I don't need to tell you that we're not all comfortable in Spain".^[12]

On 6 January 1809, a two-piece convoy of Guards horse artillery commanded by Bosc was attacked by the Spaniards and had to withdraw, leaving three dead and two wounded.^[13]

Austrian Campaign

The two artillery regiments of the Guard (horse artillery and foot artillery) were brought together under General Lauriston to take part in the Austrian campaign of 1809, notably at the Battle of Wagram, where the artillery played a decisive role in the French victory.^[14]

After Marshal Masséna's troops suffered heavy losses on the morning of 6 July 1809, and were forced to retreat, the Austrians decided to reinforce their wings, de facto weakening their centre. Napoleon then decided to use his artillery in the centre to prepare his counter-offensive, and ordered General Lauriston to concentrate all his batteries there. The Guard artillery deployed forty-eight guns, twenty-four of them mounted, and was soon joined by the line artillery for a total of one hundred guns on a 1,400-meter front. These combined efforts opened a breach in the Austrian centre, into which Macdonald's troops rushed, cutting the Austrian army in two and forcing Archduke Charles to retreat to Moravia with an army reduced by around 50,000 men. During the battle, the French artillery fired some 96,000 cannon shots and used around 250,000 pounds of gunpowder.^[15]

Russian campaign

The Guard's horse artillery also took part in the Russian campaign with General Grouchy's 3rd Cavalry Corps. It distinguished itself at the battles of Moskova and Berezina.

On 5 September 1812, the regiment witnessed the attack on Chevardino by General Compans, at the head of the 5th division of Davout's 1st corps, which sounded like a festive tune to Major Griois: "A superb sky and the setting sun reflected in the rifles and sabres added to the beauty of the spectacle. From their positions, the rest of the army followed these marching troops with their eyes, proud to be the first to be called to the honor of combat, and accompanied them with their cheers".^[16]

On the night of 6–7 September 1812, Griois moved his artillery pieces forward to join Eugène de Beauharnais' 4th Corps on the left flank, in preparation for the battle ahead. He had great difficulty crossing "the steep, muddy ravines that had to be crossed without a guide, sometimes in the deepest darkness, sometimes in the midst of bivouac fires that dazzled them and made them lose all direction".^[17] Artillery played a decisive role at Moskova, where no fewer than 60,000 cannon shots were fired by French and Allied artillerymen, according to an official report drawn up by General Lariboisière, the Grande Armée's inspector general of artillery. Based on 50,000 Russian cannon shots, this gives a figure of three cannon shots per second for the ten hours of battle.^[18]

Campaigns in Germany and France

The Guard's horse artillerymen again took an active part in the German campaign of 1813 and the French campaign of 1814.

On 11 February 1814, they took part in the Battle of Montmirail. Colonel Major Griois describes his regiment's engagement as follows: "Some distance ahead of the town, we encountered the enemy vanguard. It was supported by numerous Russian and Prussian troops, and soon the affair became general, particularly to the left, where I was with part of the artillery".^[19]

They also took part in the battle of Montereau on 18 February 1814. At around 7 a.m., the horse artillery set off for Villeneuve-les-Bordes with the rest of the Imperial Guard, where Napoleon was to join them. Around 4 p.m., after a cavalry charge by Generals Delort and Pajol, a large-caliber gun was installed, and had time to fire six shots at the coalition forces on the Saint-Maurice plain before they were out of range. Napoleon himself pointed one of the pieces from two batteries of horse artillery in the direction of the Fossard road.^[20]

Belgium Campaign

Disbanded under the Restoration, the Guard's horse artillery was reconstituted in 1815 during the Hundred Days. During this period, it fought in the Belgian campaign at Ligny and Waterloo, under the command of generals Duchand de Sancey and Desvaux de Saint-Maurice, the latter being in charge of all the artillery of the Guard.

On 17 June 1815, Napoleon observed that the Quatre-Bras position so hotly contested the day before was now held only by Lord Uxbridge and the Duke of Wellington's rearguard, whose army had retreated in the direction of Brussels. The Emperor galloped there with the horse artillery of the Guard, which he had batteryed to cannonade the allied rearguard.^[21] Six artillery pieces marched to the front in pursuit of the retreating enemy, alongside Napoleon, who led the column on a small, very light Arabian horse.^[22] The Emperor is constantly with the guns, exalting the horse artillerymen of the Guard by his presence and his words, and more than once amid cannonballs and shells, he shouts to them with an accent of hatred: "Shoot! Shoot them! They're English!".^[23]

The following day, the horse artillerymen took part in the Battle of Waterloo. At around 5:30 pm, Napoleon detached two batteries to the left of the Haye Sainte farm, inflicting severe losses on the enemy. Nevertheless, with no cavalry or infantry support, no decisive results were obtained from two hours of deadly exchanges of shells and cannonballs.^[24] At around 7:30 p.m., the Guard's horse artillery took part with four batteries in the attack on the Imperial Guard on the Mont-Saint-Jean plateau. Before the fighting was over, General Desvaux de Saint-Maurice was killed by a cannonball.^[25]

After this final feat of arms, the unit was definitively disbanded following Napoleon's abdication and the return of the Bourbons.^[5]

Troops and non-commissioned officers

Officers (Figures 2, 3 and 4)

Officers' uniforms and dress uniforms are in the same style as those of the troops, but with a more attractive cut (Guards officers regularly had their uniforms made by private tailors) and a more sparkling look. All embellishments (collar cords and snowshoes, brandebourgs, Hungarian knots and other trimmings, small garment furs) are gold, as are the boot trimmings. The pelisse is trimmed with white fur. The sabretaches are brighter than those of the troop, red with gold trim and braid (see figures 2 and 8). The giberne band is red with gold braid and trim.^[29]

Officers are generally armed with "fancy" light cavalry sabers, with elaborate guards (see figure 7) and richly decorated scabbards.

Trumpets (Figure 4)

As was customary in the mounted troops of Napoleonic armies, trumpeters wore a distinctly more colorful uniform than that of the ranks. Like those of the officers, the trumpets' large and small uniforms are of the same cut as those of the troop, but sky-blue in color, with the flame and plume of the colback, and the saddle blanket and portmanteau of the same color. The colback is white and, as with the officers, all the trimmings and fittings on the large uniform are gold. The pelisse is red, trimmed with white fur, and the sabretache has a sky-blue background and gold trim.^[30]

• Uniforms
• Figure 1: Gunner by Hippolyte Bellangé.
• Figure 2: Officer by Tanconville. In the background, a postilion of the Garde artillery train.
• Figure 3: Artillery officers in full regalia, illustration by Job. They are wearing the rotunda coat and charivari trousers of the cavalry.
• Figure 4: Officer and trumpet, drawing by Victor Huen.

• Armament and equipment
• Figure 5: light cavalry saber under the Consulate and Empire.
• Figure 6: An XIII cavalry pistol.
• Figure 7: Imperial Guard horse artillery saber on display at the Musée d'art et d'histoire de Neuchâtel.
• Figure 8: General Desvaux de Saint-Mauriece's sabretache.

Horses and tack

The saddle consisted of a white and red chabraque, with a blue portmanteau with red braids,^[26] but other 19th-century military painters and illustrators, such as Édouard Detaille and Hippolyte Bellangé, depicted horses covered with a blue saddlecloth, braided in red and decorated with the imperial eagle in the points covering the hindquarters (see figure 1). Officers wore "fancy" panther-skin chabraques embellished with yellow braid edged in red and festooned in red, blue or gold (see figures 2 and 4). Harness, stirrup leathers and reins are made of black leather for the troops, studded or embellished with gilded copper parts for the officers.