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Apr 9 03 7:19 PM

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Hello

When a French conscript reported to the depot was he automatically posted to the fourth company? Did he work his way up through the third, second and then first. Were Grenadiers and Voltigeurs chosen then from the first company or were obvious candidates sent to these on arrival??

I hope this is not a stupid question

Sabretache
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Eclaireur

Brigadier

Posts: 1,193

#1 [url]

Apr 9 03 8:56 PM

ST,
the situation obviously varied from one recruit to another. But the following mught be typical, based on accounts I've read.
1. Jean is conscripted and reports at depot of Nth regiment. There he undergoes personal training and drill training. He belongs to 2nd company of the 4th Battalion.
2. Jean is ordered along with hundreds of others to march to join his parent regiment campaigning in Spain. He ceases to be in the 2nd Coy of 4th BN, and becomes instead a member of a 'Bataillon de Marche' or route battalion made up of conscripts of several regiments.
3. Half of the guys from the Nth regiment get picked off by other commanders in the way. But Jean makes it.
4. He joins the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion, Nth regiment.

If the entire regiment had been in its depot when jean was conscripted, it is possible that he might have gone to that company and stayed with it on campaign.
regards
EC

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#2 [url]

Apr 13 03 12:58 PM

Actually, this type of information could be discovered through routine research on the internet - why waste people's time with this sort of query.
This discussion forum should be used for serious queries and debates.

Lemmy

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#4 [url]

Apr 14 03 10:43 AM

Valid Discussions

Sabretache,

I agree mate. Your query most certainly would not be resolved by routine internet searches! the subject of recruitment, training and allocation of replacements to front-line units is a VERY complex one indeed (in any army and any period), and has frequently in history been a contributary factor in the performance of armies, from Napoelon's Grande Armee of 1813 to 21st Army Group in Normandy 1944. Please continue to ask away!

Lemmy,

You're entitled to your opinion (some might disagree with me), but it is not for any member of the forum to arbitrarily decide whose threads are valid or not. If you've got a problem, e-mail it off-forum directly to the administrator. In my opinion (and I have been on this forum since the day it opened), any thread is valid provided it is broadly on-topic and if anyone is prepared to answer it constructively! Both of my 'validity criteria' were fulfilled before you even made your comments - it was clearly a Napoleonic-related question and was one which I find to be interesting. Eclaireur (who has also been here from the start) clearly agrees with me - so much so that he took the time to answer the question!

I think it's important to remember that if you've been reading any forum for a while, the same questions tend to crop up with some regularity (not the case here, I hasten to add - it was an original and thought-provoking question). It might be 'old hat' to us, but to the 'Marie-Lousie' making the post, it is a new question. I have always considered it a matter of pride and honour to help out newcomers - as, I know, does Eclaireur, as well as many others.

I once visited a German-topic WW2 forum, where newcomers' questions were regularly shouted down with comments such as yours. I left that one in disgust (after some appropriate comments) and I for one will fight tooth and nail against anything of that sort happening here.

If you look back through old postings, you will find that we are a broad church. There is plenty of room for the 'FAQ' to live alongside the 'High-Brow'. We have members here who are just starting to read their first book on Napoleon and to paint their first figure, alongside those who regularly do their research in the British Library, Chateau de Vincennes and the Public Records Office and have written the books that the newbies are reading!

Everyone though is exected to obey certain rules of etiquette and manners - chief among these is that if you declare a disagreement or agreement with something, you'd better follow it up with some good, sound arguments, otherwise we end up in the world of Monty Python;

"This isn't an argument, it's just contradiction!"
"No it isn't!"

Anyway Lemmy, welcome to the forum... I look forward to many future discussions.

Cheers,

Mark

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#5 [url]

Apr 14 03 11:19 AM

Dear Mark

Thank you for your supportive remarks. I agree that it is a very complicated subject and I had certainly intended it to be a serious query.

I am thankful to Eclaireur and I hope for for more responses on this subject.

Regards

Sabretache
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Lemmy
I think that your response was rather blunt but nevertheless you are as entitled as any of us to express it. I think this is very important and that discussion forums such as this must remember this at all times.

I hope you continue to contribute to this discussion forum but perhaps you might consider moderating your tone a little.

Regards

Sabretache

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#6 [url]

Apr 14 03 12:08 PM

Mark,

My compliments for the sentiments expressed in your previous post.

It is also worth bearing in mind that, quite apart from the issue of newcomers, questions which are obvious to some will be far less so to others. Indeed, this is one of the wonderful things about this hobby - there are, literally, thousand of avenues of research and enquiry that one could pursue depending on one's particular interest. Whilst I am by no means an experienced wargamer or a Napoleonic expert, I have had a interest in the period for some 20 years - yet, it never ceases to amaze me how much there is out there that I know nothing about and indeed, have never even thought about - Sabertache's query on allocation of replacements being a case in point.

Orange

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#7 [url]

Apr 14 03 3:27 PM

Wasting peoples time by lemmy Anon

Hi Everybody

Well there we have it from Lemmy folks(Who must of spend the whole of his 1st day reading all the entries on the site to have such an insight into the type of questions being asked) people shouldn't ask questions that waste peoples time.

But what is a question that wastes peoples time?

Lots of questions asked on this forum could fall into this catagory depending on your point of view since no doubt with a bit of time and patience you could hunt down bits of information here and there.
I've seen questions on the forum that I've thought thats simple everybody must know that, but then again I've been interested and reading about the subject for the last 20+ years(and I'm still learning) and you tend to forget what it was like when you started.
lemmy's internet theory is fine upto a point but not all sources on the internet are in the language forum members speak and not all information on the net is accurate.And why hunt through loads of sites when we have this forum to help. being a self confessed fan of the Russian Napoleonics and WW2 I found a great WW2 site when looking up Information on hand held anti tank weapons(Missing from the rules I play) used by the Russians great pictures and diagrams but all the info was in Russian.I now know the Russians had this weapon but the rest of the info will need to wait until i learn the lingo.
With this forum ask a question and the chances are somebody will know the answer or can point the person in the right direction .
Asking a question doesn't waste anyones time ,do what I do I answer those questions that are of interest and which I feel i can add something worthwhile,and leave the rest for other members.
Answering peoples questions isn't a compulsory condition of being a member but like most people if I can help and have the time I'm willing to put the effort in otherwise whats the point.Considering the amount of questions asked hardly any get no reply at all.
Kutusov

Ps I look forward to seeing one of those "non wasting peoples time" questions from Lemmy in the future.

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