Failure in 1813: The Decline of French Light Infantry and its effect on Napoleon's German Campaign
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After Napoleon Bonaparte’s failed Russian campaign in 1812, the Grande Armée had already begun to reform in France. Napoleon, having already returned to Paris prior to the conclusion of the Russian campaign, initiated the rebirth of his once illustrious Grande Armée by ravaging French Corps in Spain, local militia units in the French suburbs, and by reallocating the survivors trickling in from Russia. Unfortunately, in his haste to amass line infantry regiments, as well as enlarge the artillery units, Napoleon allowed his infantrie-legere, or light infantry, to be stripped of men and supplies. Light infantry officers and men were dispersed to several newly formed heavy and line infantry units in order to bolster the French Army’s infantry backbone...