The 4th Battalion under Louis Clavel was detached to the Right Wing Division of the Army of Italy and fought at the Battle of Castelfranco Veneto where three officers were wounded.

[3]Following the disaster at Maida, the populace of Calabria (a fiercely pro-Bourbon province of the newly created Kingdom of Naples) rebelled against King Joseph Bonaparte.

The incident, involving upwards of 20,000 inhabitants driven to insurrection by the abuses of the occupying French forces, gave the Swiss a taste of the type of action they would encounter again in Calabria.

Because of its reliability in the field, Joseph Bonaparte of the new Kingdom of Naples conceived a plan of transferring the 1st Swiss Regiment into its own nascent Neapolitan Army and even persuaded Napoleon to permit that.

The Grenadiers, Voltigeurs, and battalion artillery of the regiment were consequently included in the elite force that stormed the island of Capri in October 1808 and captured the British garrison commanded by General Sir Hudson Lowe.

The 1st Swiss suffered some combat casualties as a result of these endeavours, but the real enemy turned out to be the malaria that was endemic around the Bay of Naples, which killed nearly 800 men (including some who became so depressed by the disease that they committed suicide).

That plan was abandoned after two Neapolitan battalions made their way to the shores of Sicily and were captured en masse, and the various components of the 1st Swiss were dispersed to a variety of garrisons and duties in lower Calabria.

Finally, in July 1811, the 1st Swiss received a reprieve from its hard labours in the form of a summons to re-join the main French armies after an absence of over five years.

The French are more impetuous in an advance, but if it comes to a retreat, we can count on the calm and courage of the SwissIn the afternoon, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Swiss Regiments were called upon to play a small but important role in the action when General Wittgenstein launched a bold cavalry charge to stabilise his deteriorating position.

The Marquis de Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, who was riding in a carriage because of a wound he had suffered, was nearly captured when his transport was upset but was saved by the 3rd Swiss Regiment.

Daily life here, however, was far from perfect, because a lack of fresh food and clean water led to outbreaks of dysentery and other diseases that ravaged the strength of the Swiss regiments.

Simultaneously, another 12,000 Russians under General Stengel advanced along the Dvina's south bank in a flanking attack designed to cut off the French retreat.

The Swiss fought until their ammunition was used up, then broke through the surrounding enemy forces in a desperate bayonet charge, leaving 150 dead behind while not abandoning a single wounded man.

Colonel Castella of the 2nd Swiss Regiment reported that 33 of the 50 officers of his unit present with the colours at the start of the day were killed or wounded.

[8] On 19 October, the very day that Napoleon began retreating from Moscow, the battered Russians rested for the most part, waiting for their flanking movement to develop and provide more decisive results than they had been able to achieve on the battlefield.

The French retirement through the town of Polotsk and across the bridges over the Dvina was favoured by a thick fog and was handled so discreetly that the Russians at first failed to notice what was happening.

Marshal Sainte Cyr recognised in his report that he owed the escape of his baggage and all of his guns to the Swiss, although he did chide them for the 'excessive' courage that had led to such fearful losses on the 18th.

Napoleon himself mentioned the stalwart performance of the Swiss in the 28th Bulletin published on 1 November, and the four regiments were awarded thirty-four Legion of Honour decorations.

[8] After Polotsk, the Swiss and the II Corps' other remaining units retired slowly towards the French main body returning from Moscow.

They were stunned when they finally met up with the ragged remains of the Grande Armée on the banks of the Berezina accompanied by a tired-looking Napoleon wearing his traditional grey overcoat.

[8] The Emperor subjected the Swiss to an impromptu review on 27 November, then dispatched them across the improvised bridges with the all-important mission of protecting the French line of retreat from the forces of General Pavel Chichagov's 3rd Western Army.

After a restless night spent bivouacked in a gloomy forest, they awoke to the unexpected sound of a traditional Swiss patriotic hymn sung by Lieutenant David Legler and a chorus of officers and men.

Attacked by eight full regiments of infantry, the Swiss fired off all their ammunition and then, under direct orders from General Merle, advanced with the cold steel to drive the enemy back.

[8] The astonishing effort of the Swiss alone might not have been enough to win the day for the French, but it was matched by those of the other foreign troops in action and surpassed by that of Domerc's cavalry division.

As soldiers on both sides collapsed from exhaustion at 22:00 hours, the French knew that they had held their position and had prevented the Russians from trapping the Emperor and the last remnants of his army.

No exact count of casualties was possible in the circumstances, but the Swiss were virtually wiped out as a fighting force, although each of the four regiments had preserved their Eagles.

There were also small detachments of Swiss serving in several fortresses (including, most notably, Custrin) held by French garrisons when their main force retreated from the Duchy of Warsaw and East Prussia.

By Spring 1813, all four of the Swiss regiments were assigned to General Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor's independent Corps of Observation of Holland charged with defending the Dutch departments of the French Empire.

The voltigeur company under Captain Segesser was assigned to dispute the possession of the town's eastern suburb, and a French official who observed the combat noted that the Swiss "shot with such marvellous accuracy that any enemy soldier who showed himself was soon dead or wounded".

A single battalion was formed in that regiment and served in General Vandamme's III Corps during the Waterloo Campaign, notably at the Battle of Wavre where it was wiped out.