HORSE-LEGERS LANCIERS 1st regiment When he entered Warsaw in December 1806, Napoleon was escorted by a guard of honor made up of Polish nobles whose superb appearance won him over. Also, from March 2, 1807, the Emperor ordered the formation of a pulk, or body of Polish cavalry, of four squadrons intended to form part of his Guard.
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- Polish Lancer of the Guard
Any Pole, whether free peasant, noble or bourgeois, could enlist. The total strength of the regiment amounted to 968 men, including staff, who received the name of Polish light horses. Arrived in France, they took up residence in Chantilly. After the campaign of 1809 and the adoption of the lance, the regiment took the title of “Polish light horse lances”, commonly that of “Polish spearmen”. On March 11, 1812, a fifth squadron was created. On October 8 of the same year, the regiment was increased to 1,500 mounted men, without increasing the number of cadres.
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- Polish Lancers officer
The brilliant exploits of the Polish lancers are innumerable. At the battle of Somosierra, where they dislodged, with a single squadron, 15,000 Spaniards well entrenched and armed with cannons. Sowing their deaths by the dozens, throughout a painful escalation, they will return to only fifteen, but victorious. At Wagram in 1809, they had improvised spearheads by snatching their spears from the Austrian Uhlans in order to better pursue them afterwards.
After the defeat of 1814, one hundred and twenty Polish lancers accompanied Napoleon to the island of Elba. During the Hundred Days, the survivors who remained in France formed with those from the island of Elba a squadron which kept the denomination of Polish Lancers and fought valiantly at Ligny. The Polish Lancers were always part of the Old Guard.