The 2nd Dragoon Regiment () is the only NBC Defense Unit of the French Army, stationed at Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, by Saumur in Maine-et-Loire. The current regiment is an amalgamation of the old 2nd Dragoon Regiment and the groupe de défense NBC, which took effect in July 2005. It incorporates the capabilities of the previous 2nd Dragoons, which was specialised as a reconnaissance unit, in a new mission as the sole French Army unit dedicated to combatting chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons.
Despite the recent formation of the regiment in its current configuration, it is the oldest French cavalry regiment, dating back to 1556. The regiment found fame as the personal regiment of Louis, Duke of Enghien and later Prince of Condé, from 1635 to 1686; in honour of the "Grand Condé", it is still called the "Condé-Dragons". The French Revolution gave it the designation of the second regiment of dragoons in the French Army, and with brief interruptions it has served under this name in successive French armies ever since.
History
Ancien Régime
Origins and the Grand Condé
The 2nd Dragoons trace their lineage to the formation of a compagnie d'ordonnance by Louis de Bourbon, head of the House of Condé, in 1556. At the time it numbered 50 lances fournies—50 knights, plus about 5 supporting men-at-arms each, for a total of about 300 men. In 1635, this company became the Régiment d'Anguien-Cavalerie, after its proprietor Louis, Duke of Enghien (the future Grand Condé), one of twelve regiments formed by a royal order of 16 May to fight in the war against the Holy Roman Empire. Enghien appointed the Chevalier de Tavannes as the commander (mestre de camp) of the regiment. It immediately was sent to serve in the Italian peninsula, where it probably operated as a collection of independent light cavalry companies. In 1636, it was sent to join the French campaign against Franche-Comté, and it participated in the unsuccessful siege of Dôle that spring. It was reduced to independent companies in July 1636, and restored to a full regiment in January 1638.
Sent to fight in the Pyrenees in the war against Spain, the Anguien-Cavalerie participated in the unsuccessful Siege of Fuenterrabía, during which their commander de Tavannes was killed. Under its new commander the Marquis de Livry, the regiment fought in the successful Siege of Turin in 1640. Following the siege, the regiment helped take several towns in Piedmont for the French, and in 1641 it fought in the siege of Coni.
During 1642 to 1643, the regiment fought in the Reapers' War under Marshal Philippe de La Mothe-Houdancourt, helping gain large sections of the Principality of Catalonia for the French–Catalan alliance. It joined the Duke of Enghien in Germany in 1644, fighting at Freiburg, Philippsburg, Mainz, and Landau. At the Second Battle of Nördlingen on 3 August 1645, the Marquis de Livry was killed. The Marquis de Lanques replaced him, and under his command, the regiment was among those at the vain siege of Heilbronn and the successful capture of Trier. The regiment was sent to the siege of Dunkirk, where on 26 December 1646 it was renamed the Régiment de Condé-Cavalerie, after Enghien became Prince of Condé on the death of his father. The Condé-Cavalerie was sent to Catalonia for two years, while Prince Louis was assigned to command the French and Catalan forces, where it took part in the unsuccessful second siege of Lleida.
Fronde and exile In early 1649, the regiment was called to join the blockade of Paris as part of the First Fronde, a rebellion of the French parliament and a section of the nobles, including the Prince of Condé. Little blood was shed in the resolution of the First Fronde, but the outbreak of the Second Fronde meant that the regiment was sent into battle against royalist forces again in early 1650, having moved to Berry. After the Prince of Condé reconciled with Cardinal Mazarin and the royal faction in February 1651, the regiment returned to the royal army. This only lasted until September, when the Prince of Condé was forced to flee France. He became a high commander in the Spanish army, and his regiment of cavalry fought for him as part of Spanish and Lombard forces. During this time, the Prince of Condé commissioned Noël Bouton de Chamilly, later Marshal of France, into his regiment; he served as its mestre de camp lieutenant in 1667–1682.
Return to royal service
The regiment returned to royal service on 7 November 1659, following the Treaty of the Pyrenees, reduced to a single "colonel's company", belonging to the Prince of Condé. The full regiment was reinstated in December 1665, and in 1667 the regiment took part in the French invasion of the Low Countries as part of the War of Devolution. In 1668 the regiment, now nine companies strong, was part of the Prince of Condé's incursion into Franche-Comté. In May 1668, the regiment was once again reduced to the colonel's company, until the 1671 reorganisation of the cavalry.
The regiment was sent to fight in the Dutch War in 1672, taking up winter quarters near Utrecht. It fought in the Siege of Maastricht of June 1673. On 11 August 1674, the regiment had a leading role in the Battle of Seneffe, a victory won by the Grand Condé which restored him to royal favour. In 1675 the regiment took Dinant, Huy, and Limbourg, and spent 1676 campaigning in the Saar valley and concluded the war fighting in the Battle of Kokersberg in 1677.
After being stationed in northern France in Artois and on the Saône, the regiment was sent to fight in Catalonia in the War of the Reunions, fighting along the river Ter and in Bernardin Gigault de Bellefonds' siege of Gerona. The Grand Condé died on 11 December 1688, leaving his princely title and regiments to his son Henri Jules. The regiment had been sent east already, where it fought in all the campaigns of the War of the League of Augsburg, in Flanders, on the Moselle, and on the Rhine. It fought with distinction at the Battle of Fleurus on 1 July 1690 and the Battle of Neerwinden on 29 July 1693, and fought in the 1697 siege of Ath, the final battle of the war.
After the Grand Condé
During the War of the Spanish Succession, the Condé-Cavalerie fought in the Flemish and Rhine campaigns of 1701, and was present during the Battle of Friedlingen in October 1702. In 1703, it fought at the Siege of Kehl and at the Battle of Hochstedt. In 1704, the regiment fought at the Battle of Blenheim, a disgraceful defeat for the French. It continued to fight in Flanders and the Rhine valley for the rest of the war. In 1709, title to the regiment passed to Louis Henri, Prince of Condé and Duke of Bourbon.
On the outbreak of the War of the Polish Succession in 1733, the Condé-Cavalerie was sent to the Rhine valley, where it fought at the sieges of Kehl and Philippsburg, and the battles of Ettlingen and Clausen. After the war, the regiment was based in Brittany, with its main center of operations at Lamballe. During this time, the regiment passed to Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé on the death of Louis Henri in 1740.
In the early years of the War of the Austrian Succession, the regiment served in Westphalia, Bavaria, and Bohemia until its return to France in July 1743. It was then sent to Alsace to serve as part of Marshal François de Franquetot de Coigny's army, overwintering at Dijon before being sent to the garrison of Belfort. It then participated in the taking of Wissembourg, and in the defense of the lines of the Lauter, and then the takings of Augenheim and Philippsburg. After overwintering in Pontarlier, the regiment was part of the taking of Kronembourg near Strasbourg in 1745. Called to Flanders in 1746, it figured in the siege of Mons and the battle of Rocoux. It fought in the battle of Lauffeld in 1747, and the siege of Maastricht in 1748, at the end of the war.
Following the War of the Austrian Succession, the regiment was stationed in various towns in northern and eastern France and Westphalia. During the Seven Years' War, the Condé-Cavalerie served in Germany under Marshals Louis d'Estrées and Charles de Rohan-Soubise. In 1757, they fought at the Battle of Hastenbeck on 26 July, and the Battle of Rossbach on 5 November, where the French were resoundingly defeated by an inferior force but the Condé-Cavalerie were praised for their steadfastness. At the Battle of Krefeld on 23 June 1758, the men of the regiment fought fiercely, and helped put up a strong fighting retreat after the French defeat.
After 1762, the regiment continued to be moved between garrisons mostly in the north and east of France, until the Revolution. At Lille in March 1763, the Condé-Cavalerie was reorganised, partly through the incorporation of the former Régiment de Toulouse-Lautrec into it. The brilliant colonel of that regiment, the Count of Toulouse-Lautrec, had previously been chosen to serve as the mestre de camp lieutenant of the Condé-Cavalerie. While based at Hesdin in 1776, the regiment was designated as a unit of dragoons, the Régiment de Condé-Dragons, a name which still is the nickname of the regiment today. At the same time the 3rd Squadron of the Chasseurs de la Legion de Lorraine was incorporated into its ranks.
Revolutionary Wars When the French Revolution began, the colonel of the Condé-Dragons was François Jaucourt, who favoured the revolution and ended up joining the moderate Feuillant faction. On 31 August 1791, the regiment was one of the regular units called upon to suppress the Nancy Mutiny. On 1 January 1792, all the regiments of the French Army were given numbers in place of the names of their aristocratic patrons. The Condé-Dragons were designated the second-most senior dragoon regiment, and became the 2e régiment de dragons, even though they had been the eleventh-most senior dragoon regiment prior.Detaille & Richard 1885-1889, p. 87. Around this time, Jaucourt went into exile and command of the regiment briefly passed to Colonel Emmanuel de Grouchy, a future Marshal of France.
With the outbreak of the War of the First Coalition in 1792, the 2nd Dragoons were assigned to the Army of the Centre. After participating in the defeat of the Prussian Army in a number of small actions and then at the Battle of Valmy on 20 September, they were assigned to the Army of the Ardennes. The 2nd Dragoons were reported to have fought brilliantly at the Battle of Neerwinden on 13 March 1793, but owing to the lack of training of most of the French infantry, the battle was a defeat and resulted in the loss of the Low Countries by France. That year the regiment also fought at Wattignies and Cholet.
Following the Flanders campaign, the 2nd Dragoons were sent to put down the revolt in the Vendée in late 1793. After seeing service in the Vendée, the regiment was given garrison duties, and was probably split into two detachments, one in Douai and the other in west-central France. In late 1795, the 2nd Dragoons were assigned to the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, which was being prepared for a crossing of the Rhine the following year. At the time, the regiment was recorded having the strength of 485 horses.Detaille & Richard 1885-1889, pp. 94-95. The regiment distinguished themselves in the campaign of 1796, particularly at the Battle of Siegburg in June and the taking of Bamberg in August. In 1797, the regiment was made part of the Army of the West and then the Army of Mainz.
At the start of the War of the Second Coalition in 1798, the 2nd Dragoon Regiment fought in southwestern Germany as part of the Army of the Danube. In 1799, it fought in the Second Battle of Zurich, earning itself a battle honour. In 1800, the regiment was part of the Army of the Rhine, in Marshal Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr's Centre Corps, fighting at the battles of Biberach and Hohenlinden.Detaille & Richard 1885-1889, p. 99. From 1801 to 1805, the regiment was stationed at towns in the Flanders region and Picardy.
Napoleonic Wars