Napoleon's Gardes D'honneur

After the disastrous Russian campaign in 1812, Napoleon was desperate to scrape together a new army to resist the inevitable Allied offensive in Germany. Particularly short of cavalry, he levied four complete regiments of "Guards of Honour" - totalling no less than 10,000 men - from the upper classes of Europe. This title details the history, organization and uniforms of this cavalry corps raised by Napoleon's last dazzling campaigns in 1813 and 1814. Supported by quotes from period letters and memoirs, and illustrated with portraits and photographs of surviving items of their hussar-style uniforms, it looks at these troubled troops' successes and failures.

About the Author
Ronald Pawly, born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1956 and still living and working in that city, 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. Patrice Courcelle was born in northern France in 1950 and has been a professional illustrator for some 20 years. Entirely self-taught; he has illustrated many books and magazine articles for Continental publishers, and his work hangs in a number of public and private collections. Patrice lives a few miles from the battlefield of Waterloo with his wife and son.