.gif)
12th Cuirassier Regiment (France)
Encyclopedia
The 12th Cuirassier Regiment was a French cavalry regiment, first formed in 1688 under the Ancien Regime. It distinguished itself in the Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars
, notably at the battles of Austerlitz
(1805), Jena (1806) and Borodino
(1812). Their symbol is a white dolphin on a blue shield, and their motto "In periculo ludunt" (Amidst danger, they play).
The writer Louis Ferdinand Céline volunteered for this regiment in 1912. After having been a garrison force at Müllheim
in Germany for a long time in the post-1945 period, it was amalgamated in 1994 with the 6th Cuirassier Regiment
to form the 6th-12th Cuirassier Regiment
, based at Olivet
in Loiret
.
In 2009 the two units were delinked and the 6th Cuirassiers deactivated; the 12th Cuirassiers was re-established as an individual unit.
* These officers became generals de brigade after this.
(*) Battle honour on this regiment's flag
Colonels killed and wounded in command of the 12e Cuirassiers:
Officers killed and wounded whilst serving in the 12e Cuirassiers during the 1805-1815 period:
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, notably at the battles of Austerlitz
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...
(1805), Jena (1806) and Borodino
Battle of Borodino
The Battle of Borodino , fought on September 7, 1812, was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia and all Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties...
(1812). Their symbol is a white dolphin on a blue shield, and their motto "In periculo ludunt" (Amidst danger, they play).
The writer Louis Ferdinand Céline volunteered for this regiment in 1912. After having been a garrison force at Müllheim
Müllheim
Müllheim is a town in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It belongs to the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald. Müllheim is generally considered to be the center of the region known as Markgräflerland.-History:...
in Germany for a long time in the post-1945 period, it was amalgamated in 1994 with the 6th Cuirassier Regiment
6th Cuirassier Regiment (France)
The 6th Cuirassier Regiment was an ancient French cavalry regiment. It has since merged with the 12th Cuirassier Regiment to form the 6th-12th Cuirassier Regiment.-Ancestry:...
to form the 6th-12th Cuirassier Regiment
6th-12th Cuirassier Regiment
The 6th-12th Cuirassier Regiment was an armoured cavalry regiment in the French Army. It was the armoured component of the 2nd Armoured Brigade.-History:...
, based at Olivet
Olivet, Loiret
Olivet is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.-Geography:Olivet is located in the septentrional bend of the Loire, which crosses from east to west. Olivet belongs to the vallée de la Loire sector between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes-sur-Loire, which was in 2000 inscribed by...
in Loiret
Loiret
Loiret is a department in north-central FranceThe department is named after the river Loiret, a tributary of the Loire. The Loiret is located wholly within the department.- History :...
.
In 2009 the two units were delinked and the 6th Cuirassiers deactivated; the 12th Cuirassiers was re-established as an individual unit.
Lineage
- 1668 : Raised as a regiment under the name of the Régiment Dauphin - Cavalerie or, in English, Dauphin's Regiment (Cavalry).
- 1791 : Became 12e régiment de cavalerie
- 1803 : Became 12e Régiment de Cuirassiers
- 1815 : Dissolved at NiortNiortNiort is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France.The Latin name of the city was Novioritum.The population of Niort is 60,486 and more than 137,000 people live in the urban area....
- 1854 : Became Régiment de Cuirassiers de la Garde ImpérialeImperial Guard (Napoleon III)The Imperial Guard of Napoleon III was a military unit in the French Army formed by Napoleon III as a re-establishment of his uncle Napoleon I's Imperial Guard, with an identical uniform and almost the same privileges...
- 1855 : Became 1er régiment de cuirassiers de la Garde Impériale (1st Regiment of Cuirassiers of the Imperial Guard) after the creation of a second regiment of Imperial Guard cuirassiers
- 1865 : Merged with the 2e régiment de cuirassiers de la Garde impériale (2nd Cuirassiers Regiment of the Imperial Guard) to form the new Régiment de Cuirassiers de la Garde Impériale (Regiment of Cuirassiers of the Imperial Guard)
- 1871 : Became the 12eme Régiment de Cuirassiers again after the fall of the Second French EmpireSecond French EmpireThe Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
- August 1914 : The 12eme Régiment de Cuirassiers was assigned to the 6e brigade de Cavalerie (6th Cavalry Brigade), which was itself attached to the 7e division de cavalerie (7th Cavalry Division).
- January 1918: Became 12eme Régiment de Cuirassiers à Pied and was reattached to the 2e division de cavalerie à pied (2nd Cavalry Division on foot)
Colonels / chefs de brigade
- 1791 : Charles Michel de Lanay de Vallerie - colonelColonelColonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
- 1792 : Francois Durand Tauzia de la Litterie - colonel
- 1793 : Vrigny - chef de brigadeChef de brigadeChef de brigade was a military rank, equivalent to colonel, in the French Revolutionary army, in command of a demi-brigade. Both that unit and that rank were created at the same time, in 1793. The two designations disappeared just before the institution of the French Empire, in 1803, with the...
. - 1793 : Jean-Baptiste Colart - chef de brigade.
- 1795 : Jean Verreaux - chef de brigade.
- 1 May 1796 : Jacques Renard Belfort - chef de brigade then colonel in 1803 (*)
- 27 December 1805 : Joseph Dornes - colonel (*)
- 1809 : Jean-Louis Matheron de Curnieu - colonel
- 1813 : Michel Jean Paul Daudies - colonel
- 1815 : Charles Nicolas Thurot - colonel
French Revolutionary Wars
As part of the Army of the Rhine from 1792 to 1800:- 1793 : Stromberg, Alzey, Brumpt, Haguenau, and Gambsheim
- 1794 : Rebutte, Spire and Schweigenheim
- 1795 : Frankenthal
- 1796 : Mindelheim, Friedberg, Ulm, battle of Biberach, fought at Müllheim
- 1797 : Crossing of the Rhine
- 1799 : Siege of PhilippsburgPhilippsburgPhilippsburg is a town in Germany, in the district of Karlsruhe in Baden-Württemberg.-History:Before 1632, Philippsburg was known as "Udenheim".The city was a possession of the Bishop of Speyer from 1371–1718...
- 1800 : Battles of Engen, Moeskirch and Hohenlinden
Napoleonic Wars
- 1805 : Wertingen, Elchingen, Hollabrunn, and battle of Austerlitz (*)
- 1806 : Battle of Jena (*)
- 1807 : Heilsberg and battle of FriedlandBattle of FriedlandThe Battle of Friedland saw Napoleon I's French army decisively defeat Count von Bennigsen's Russian army about twenty-seven miles southeast of Königsberg...
- 1809 : Eckmühl, Ratisbonne, Essling, and battle of WagramBattle of WagramThe Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...
- 1812 : Mohilev, battle of Borodino (*), and Winkowo
- 1813 : Bautzen, Reichenbach, Jauer, Dresde, Wachau, and Leipzig
- 1814 : La Rothière, Rosnay, Champaubert, Vauchamps, Valjouan, Athies, Reims, Fere-Champenoise, and Paris
- 1815 : LignyBattle of LignyThe Battle of Ligny was the last victory of the military career of Napoleon I. In this battle, French troops of the Armée du Nord under Napoleon's command, defeated a Prussian army under Field Marshal Blücher, near Ligny in present-day Belgium. The bulk of the Prussian army survived, however, and...
and WaterlooBattle of WaterlooThe Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
(within 2e brigade, called the brigade Travers, in the 13e division de cavalerie, called the division Wathier, in the IVe corps de cavalerie under général de division comte Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud, of the army reserve)
(*) Battle honour on this regiment's flag
Colonels killed and wounded in command of the 12e Cuirassiers:
- Colonel de Curnier : wounded 231 November 1812
Officers killed and wounded whilst serving in the 12e Cuirassiers during the 1805-1815 period:
- Officers killed : 25
- Officers died of wounds: 9
- Officers wounded : 57
Second World War
- January 1940 : Régiment de Découverte (Discovery Regiment) in the 3e division légère mécanique (3rd Mechanised Light Division), equipped with PanhardPanhardPanhard is currently a French manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its current incarnation was formed by the acquisition of Panhard by Auverland in 2005. Panhard had been under Citroën ownership, then PSA , for 40 years...
P178 armoured cars and Gnome et RhôneGnome et RhôneGnome et Rhône was a major French aircraft engine manufacturer. Between 1914 and 1918 they produced 25,000 of their 9-cylinder Delta and Le Rhône 110 hp rotary designs, while another 75,000 were produced by various licensees, powering the majority of aircraft in the first half of the war on...
motorcycles - Summer 1940 : Regiment preserved within the framework of the Armée d'Armistice, as a garrison force at OrangeOrange, VaucluseOrange is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.It has a primarily agricultural economy...
- 1942 : Armée d'Armistice dissolved
- 1943 : Regiment reconstituted as the Régiment de Chars (Tank Regiment) in North Africa, by the splitting of the 12e régiment de chasseurs d'Afrique (12th Regiment of Chasseurs of Africa), and added to the 2e Division Blindée (2nd Armoured Division).
Battle honours
- Austerlitz 1805
- Iena 1806
- La Moskova 1812
- Solferino 1859
- L'Yser 1914
- L'Avre 1918
- St Mihiel 1918
- Paris 1944
- Strasbourg 1944
Decorations
- FourragèreFourragèreThe fourragère is a military award, distinguishing military units as a whole, that is shaped as a braided cord. The award has been firstly adopted by France, followed by other nations such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal.- History :...
Croix de guerre 1914-1918 - Fourragère Croix de guerre 1939-1945Croix de guerre 1939-1945 (France)The Croix de guerre 1939–1945 is a French military decoration created on September 26, 1939, to honour people who fought with the Allies against the Axis force at any time during World War II.-Recipients:...
- Gold Medal from the town of MilanMilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
1859-1909 - Presidential Unit Citation (American decoration). (1945)
Quotations about the regiment
- 1776 : Prince de BeauvauCharles-Just de BeauvauCharles Juste de Beauvau , 2nd Prince of Beauvau , Marshal of France was a French scholar, nobleman and general...
:
- "This regiment, long known as one of the best trained cavalry regiments, entirely merits the reputation it has gained in that sphere." ("Ce régiment, qui depuis longtemps passe pour l'un des mieux exercés de la cavalerie, mérite toute la réputation qu'il s'est acquise dans ce genre.")
- 1918 : General Marie-Eugène DebeneyMarie-Eugène DebeneyMarie-Eugène Debeney was a French Army general. Several streets in his birthplace are named after him-Life:Marie-Eugène Debeney was born in Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain. A student at Saint-Cyr, Marie-Eugène Debeney became Lieutenant des Chasseurs in 1886...
:
- 1918 : General Marie-Eugène Debeney
- "A regiment of the highest morale and proudly held under fire." ("Régiment d'un moral très élevé et d'une superbe tenue au feu.")
- 1940 : General Maxime WeygandMaxime WeygandMaxime Weygand was a French military commander in World War I and World War II.Weygand initially fought against the Germans during the invasion of France in 1940, but then surrendered to and collaborated with the Germans as part of the Vichy France regime.-Early years:Weygand was born in Brussels...
:
- 1940 : General Maxime Weygand
- "Thanks to an elite personnel and despite heavy losses, it knew how to preserve a high morale and a magnificent aggressive fervor" ("Grâce à un personnel d'élite et malgré de lourdes pertes, a su conserver un moral élevé et une ardeur combative magnifique.")
- 1945 : General Charles de GaulleCharles de GaulleCharles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
:
- 1945 : General Charles de Gaulle
- "A tank regiment impregnated with the purest traditions of the cavalry, that distinguished itself by the rapidity and audacity of its actions" ("Régiment de chars imprégné des plus pures traditions de la cavalerie, qui s'est distingué par la rapidité et l'audace de ses actions.")