Napoleon's Scouts of the Imperial Guard

Napoleon's last 'Campaign of France' in 1814 proved to be one of his most brilliant during the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). He relied as never before on committing his elite Imperial Guard cavalry to battle. He raised three new regiments of crack Eclaireurs – 'Scouts' – which were attached to the Guard Mounted Grenadiers, Empress's Dragoons and Polish Lancers respectively which would counterattack the Cossacks and gather vital information. Each regiment had its own style of uniform, but part of each was armed with lances. Although they were short-lived, these Scout units greatly distinguished themselves in the last battles of the collapsing Empire.

RONALD PAWLY was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1956 and still lives and works in that city. He is a respected member of several international societies for Napoleonic studies, and an expert on 19th century military portraiture. He is the author of the monumental The Red Lancers: Anatomy of a Napoleonic Regiment (Crowood Press, 1998), and of a study of Napoleonic veterans' tombs in Belgium. He has previously written for Osprey Men-at-Arms 355, ‘Wellington's Belgian Allies 1815’; MAA 371, ‘Wellington's Dutch Allies 1815’; MAA 371, ‘Napoleon's Red Lancers’; MAA 378, ‘Napoleon's Guards of Honour’; and Elite 115, ‘Napoleon's Imperial Headquarters (1): Organization & Personnel’.