The Tirailleurs du PôNote: the "Pô" is only in the French version of the spelling, English and Italian versions only have "Po". () was a specialist light infantry corpsHaythornthwaite, p. 7 of the French Imperial Army, forming part of the Italian Corps of the Foreign Troops Contingent. Though a short-lived unit, the Po Tirailleurs would, along with the Corsican Tirailleurs, serve with distinction in the early campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars. Actions included the Battle of Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau, Heilsberg, and Wagram, where both units were notably engaged. Following a reorganisation of the independent foreign units in 1811, several battalions were merged to form the 11th Light Infantry Regiment, which the Po Tirailleurs continued into.
Formation Following the dissolution of the old Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, the old Piedmont territory was handed over to the French Empire, and Napoleon immediately took advantage of the situation by recruiting local Italian and French soldiers. Therefore, on 20 April 1803, the Expeditionary Piedmontese Battalion (Bataillon Expéditionare Piémontais) was formed in Turin. The new battalion was formed entirely (minus senior officers) of Northern Italians, the majority of those coming from the Alps and Northern Apennine Mountains. In December 1803, the battalion was retitled the Tirailleurs du Po (Tirailleurs of the Po), named after the Po river, which ran straight through the recruiting grounds (roughly correlating to today's Piacenza, Parma, Lombardy, and Piedmont).Dempsey, pp. 669–674Smith, Napoleon's Regiments, p. 191
Soon after formation, a regimental recruiting centre and depot were set up in Turin and its establishment was 1,000 men but had only raised 700 men by July 1804. The battalion itself was composed of eight chasseur companies and one of carabiniers.
The battalion's uniform was similar to that of the light demi-brigades (soon to be redesignated as Régiments d'Infanterie de Ligne). Black bicorn with a large red downwards drooped plume with two small red tassels on either end of the bicorne, 'imperial blue' jacket and trousers, red epaulettes, facings, reserves, turnbacks, and cuffs (all with white trim), and white buttons. Carabiniers wore an un-crested bearksin bonnet.Humbert & Leinhart, Plate 70Haythornthwaite, pp. 11–16
Third Coalition Unlike the many other foreign battalions in service, or being formed throughout Western Europe by Napoleon, the Po Battalion was immediately sent to the front, arriving in Bavaria by mid-1805.
After arrival, the battalion was grouped with a fellow light infantry unit, the Tirailleurs Corses (Corsican Tirailleurs) and joined the 3rd Division in Maréchal d’Empire Jean-de-Dieu Soult's IV Corps. When Napoleon reviewed the battalion at Ulm at the end of October 1805, he noticed that the unit was in a serious state of disorganisation and decided to take swift remedial action. Napoleon turned to the commander of IV Corps, Marshal Soult and requested to know the name of the officers. Soult replied "Sire, I know just the man, take Hulot". Hulot was initially held in suspicion because of his young age and, but Napoleon and Soult knew he would be perfect, made better by the fact he was in fact a Piedmont.Smith, Napoleon Wars Data Book, p. 214
Several weeks later, Napoleon once again reviewed the battalion quickly noted his satisfaction at the excellent appearance of the unit and the transformation of the men. The new commander quickly became well known in the battalion, and was known to be a good officer, and even spoke Italian to comfort his men. Furthermore, while arriving in Austria the men were surprised to learn Hulot had specially ordered large amounts of polenta, a favourite and local food which they had been deprived of when on campaign. This continued for the remainder of the time Hulot was in command, and became a common place meal when available.Chandler, Campaigns of Napoleon, p. 666
On 16 November, the corps along with the V Corps and Reserve Cavalry [Corps] intercepted a small Austrian-Russian force near Hollabrunn. Both units distinguished themselves and both were noted as "[they] rapidly became a crack battalion". At Hollabrunn, the battalion suffered one officer wounded.
Austerlitz
On the morning of 2 December, the Tirailleurs du Po were still part of the 3rd Division in Marshal Soult's IV Corps and would play an important role that afternoon. During the night, the corps was discretely moved towards the extreme right flank and was deliberately extended. Legrand's Division was itself split between the villages of Kobelnitz, Zokolnitz, and Tellnitz. The division itself was also extremely spread out, though was assigned a role which they needed to carry out in-order for the battle to go according to Napoleon's plans. The division was tasked with holding back the anticipated Austrian attacked until Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout's III Corps could come up to its aid. At the same time, the French left would push forward and shift the entire line clockwise.
At 07:00 hours Generalmajor Michael von Kienmayer's advance guard moved towards Tellnitz, and clashed with the garrison. At first all went well for the French, but a little later the bulk of the Russian 1st Column, commanded by Lieutenant General Dmitry Dokhturov (made up of 24 x battalions and around 13,730 men) loomed out of the fog and by 08:00 hours, the 1,2000 survivors of the 3rd Infantry battalion were forced to relinquish their hold on the village. Further north meanwhile, French Royalist General Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron and General Przyseweski were in the act of storming Zokolnitz. General Magneron's handful of the Tirailleurs du Po repulsed the first attack and were then reinforced by General Merle's 26th Light Brigade, bringing the garrison to a strength of 1,800 men and 6 x guns. But by 08:30 no less than 30 x enemy cannon had been brought to bear, and a renewed attack by 8,000 allies proved too much for the defense, and so Zokolnitz, in its turn, fell into enemy hands. However, away behind Tellnitz, III Corps commanded by Maréchal d’Empire Louis-Nicolas Davout arrived and was organising a counterattack towards the village.Chandler, Campaigns of Napoleon, pp. 669–670
The 54,000 men of General of Infantry Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden's wing were continually getting in each other's way during the early stages due to the fog, and this confusion undoubtedly assisted the sustained defence of Legrand's gallant division. But the fatal consequence of this was that the main attack absorbed every possible soldier that could be spared and deprived the allies of a formed reserve with which to meet unexpected crisis.Chandler, Campaigns of Napoleon, p. 688
During the battle, the Tirailleurs du Po were part of Brigade General Ferey's brigade, part of Division General Claude Juste Alexandre Legrand's Division, itself part of the IV Corps, commanded by Maréchal d’Empire Jean-de-Dieu Soult. The battalion totalled around 308 officers and men during the battle, making it the weakest in the entire corps (as far as infantry). Following the end of the battle, the battalion would be held in high regard and earned a reputation for gallantry for their defence of Napoleon's right wing. In total, the battalion had two officers wounded, along with 29 killed and 154 wounded out of a total strength of only 340.
Fourth Coalition Before the beginning of the impending conflict, Napoleon passed a series of decrees to set a new general uniform for the army, in addition to several of the new foreign regiments. The new uniform of the battalion was as follows: Dark 'Imperial Blue' tunic, pants, and collars, black shako with a red plume (yellow on top and red bottom for the carabiniers), red epaulettes, facings, cuffs, turnbacks, and small clothes, white shirt, buttons, and trim for turnbacks, and collars. Carabiniers wore an un-crested bearskin bonnet.Smith, Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars, p. 79
Prussian Campaign
Battle of Jena
In mid 1807, the battalion re-joined the IV Corps, and was placed under command of Divisional General Legrand once more in his 3rd division. When the War of the Fourth Coalition broke out, Soult's IV Corps advanced alongside Napoleon and his Imperial Guard through Saxony. At the town of Jena they met the advance guard Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen's first Prussian field army. The IV Corps, alongside the VI Corps and Bavarian Contingent advanced along the eastern roads towards the town, while the remainder of the army advance from the central and western plains. However, by the time of the beginning of the engagement at Jena, the IV Corps was the farthest, having been near Gera.
The IV Corps was the first (besides Marshal Jean Lannes' V Corps and the Imperial Guard), which had been the first to engage the Prussians. The IV Corps advanced through the town and had to climb steep tracks in-order to reach the plains where Lannes' V Corps had been advancing. By the time Napoleon had his main force move in, the Corps had been holding off Prussian Generalleutnant Julius von Grawert's Right Wing, and around 10:00, the corps secured the town of Closwitz, but was counterattacked on its right flank by Holtzendorff's Division. However, after a decisive charge by cavalry of the VI Corps, the IV Corps was once again able to hold their ground.Chandler, Campaigns of Napoleon, pp. 751–754
Napoleon then order an all out charge, with the IV Corps holding the far (right, by now the north) advancing easily through the Prussian Right Wing. At first, the Prussians kept good discipline, but it soon became a general rout. With the battle over, the Tirailleurs were able to rest, having been able to rout an entire army.Chanlder, Campaigns of Napoleon, pp. 759–761
North West Push
By 22 October, the two bridgeheads over the Elbe were taken and the Cavalry Reserve, IV, and VI Corps were closing into the fortress of Magdeburg. The battalion subsequently saw service at the Siege of Magdeburg (20 October–10 November), Battle of Rathenau (28 October), Battle of Waren-Nossentin (1 November), Battle of Schwerin (3 November), and finally the Siege of Lübeck (6 November–7 November). On 26 October I Corps, IV Corps, and Reserve Cavalry smashed the Reserve Army of the Prince of Hohenlohe, where he finally surrendered with 14,000 men at the Battle of Prenzlau.Chandler, Jena 1806, pp. 80, 83–84
Hot on Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's heels, the Reserve Cavalry, I Corps, and IV Corps (with some 35,000 troops), along with King Louis Bonaparte of the Kingdom of Holland and Édouard Mortier's VIII Corps advanced from the Rhine through Westphalia and French Hanover and encircle him at Lübeck. The next day, on 6 November, the French forces arrived and their men proceeded to put the hapless free city to the sack, with terrible atrocities being committed. Legrand's Division comprised some 9 battalions during the battle.Smith, Napoleonic Wars Data Book, p. 231
Poland and East Prussia As Prussian forces routed and surrendered en masse, Napoleon's Grande Armée continued moving east towards the Russo-Austrian-Prussian occupied region of Partitioned Poland. As Napoleon's troops arrived, they were seen as liberators, and soon after the Duchy of Warsaw was created, and IV Corps was quartered between Toruń and Warsaw.
In January 1807, Napoleon began his new campaign against the Russians and Prussians by moving east towards Białystok while both I Corps and VI Corps withdrew, drawing the Russians west towards Danzig and Poznań. IV Corps was sent north to try and encircle the Russian 1st Army. However, treacherous rains and tired troops caused slow progress. Napoleon's courier was caught by Russian cossack2and the Russians promptly withdrew.
Battle of Eylau