After Napoleon's second abdication, some elements of the army refused to give up, including the Armée de l'Ouest fighting an insurrection in the Vendée, the Corps of Observation of the Alpes, and the Imperial Guard (including the Minister of War, Maréchal Louis-Nicolas Davout, who retired westward to join the hastily formed Armée de la Loire.

Part of King Louis XVIII's plan to remove the imperial stain was to completely reconstitute the army on a new regional basis and destroy the imperialist esprit-de-corps.

[13] The line and light infantry battalion organisations were standardised to the class one grenadier, one voltigeur, and four fusilier companies by an order of 18 February 1808.

The carabinier's refusal to copy the less elite cuirassiers resulted in them being given special armor, with their helmets and cuirasses being sheathed in bronze for added visual effect.

Below is an abbreviated list of regiments (unless stated all formerly existed prior to 1803): Some of the most feared cavalry in the Grande Armée were the Polish lancers of the Vistula Uhlans.

Nicknamed Hell's Picadors or Los Diablos Polacos (The Polish Devils) by the Spanish, these medium and light horse (Chevaux-Légers Lanciers) cavalry had near equal speed to the hussars, shock power almost as great as the cuirassiers, and were nearly as versatile as the dragoons.

Real battlefield experience, however, proved that the Polish way of arming only the first line with lances while the second rank carried carbines instead was much more practical and thus was adopted.

Superb gun-crew training allowed Napoleon to move the weapons at great speed to either bolster a weakening defensive position or else hammer a potential break in enemy lines.

Besides superior training, Napoleon's artillery was also greatly aided by the numerous technical improvements to French cannons by General Jean Baptiste de Gribeauval which made them lighter, faster, and much easier to sight, as well as strengthened the carriages and introduced standard-sized calibres.

Superb organisation fully integrated the artillery into the infantry and cavalry units it supported, yet also allowed it to operate independently if the need arose.

Battery personnel included not only gun crews, NCOs, and officers, but drummers, trumpeters, metal workers, woodworkers, ouvriers, fouriers, and artificers.

They would be responsible for fashioning spare parts, maintaining and repairing the guns, carriages, caissons and wagons, as well as tending the horses and storing munitions.

Below is an abbreviated list of regiments (again, there were really only administrative units): The cavalry were supported by the fast-moving, fast-firing light guns of the horse artillery.

Below is an abbreviated list of regiments (again, there were really only administrative units): Of all the types of ammunition used in the Napoleonic Wars, the cast iron, spherical, round shot was the staple of the gunner.

[25] Prior to this, the French, like all other period armies, had employed contracted, civilian teamsters who would sometimes abandon the guns under fire, rendering them immobile, rather than risk their lives or their valuable teams of horses.

They may not have had the glory, but Napoleon clearly valued his pontonniers and had 14 companies commissioned into his armies, under the command of the brilliant engineer, General Jean Baptiste Eblé.

A single company of pontonniers could construct a bridge of up to 80 pontoons (a span of some 120 to 150 metres long) in just under seven hours, an impressive feat even by today's standards.

However, since the emperor had learned in his early campaigns (such as the Siege of Acre) that it was better to bypass and isolate fixed fortifications, if possible, than to directly assault them, the sapper companies were usually put to other tasks.

This name, which is still used today, was both a play on the word (jeu de mot) and a reference to their seemingly magical abilities to grant wishes and make things appear much like the mythical Genie.

The flying ambulance was designed to follow the advance guard and provide initial dressing of wounds (often under fire), while rapidly transporting the critically injured away from the battlefield.

The personnel for a given ambulance team included a doctor, quartermaster, non-commissioned officer, a drummer boy (who carried the bandages), and 24 infantrymen as stretcher-bearers.

[36] In 1807, the new 'Departmental Legions' were formed by decree on 20 March 1807 for the defence of the borders, and based in the following towns: Lille, Metz, Rennes, Versailles, and Grenoble.

[39] Throughout the Revolutionary Wars and early years of the consulate, the National Guard proved to be very good regional military police, and were able to be mobilised quickly in the event of invasion.

By the time of the War of the Fourth Coalition and subsequent invasion of Prussia, Napoléon ordered the mobilisation of 3,000 grenadiers and chasseurs of the national guard of Bordeaux to reinforce the coastal defences.

During the Hundred Days, the National Guard divisions were spread as follows: Napoleon had inherited 100 x companies of coastal artillery (Cononniers Gardes du Côtes) who manned shore defences, totalling 10,000 men.

They used infantry equipment, the cartridge box bore a brass badge of an anchor superimposed on a crossed cannon barrel and musket, and the sword knot was red.

After the shako was adopted in 1806, it was black with brass chinscales latterly with a red tufted pompom, and a plate bearing crossed cannon, anchor and branches of oak and laurel.

Due to the vulnerabilities of the line formations to flanking attacks, it was considered the highest form of military manoeuvre to outflank one's adversary.

Some of the more famous, widely used, effective, and interesting formations and tactics included: Unlike the armies of the Ancien Régime and other monarchies, advancement in the Grande Armée was based on proven ability rather than social class or wealth.

Maréchal d'Empire, or Marshal of the Empire, was not a rank within the Grande Armée, but a personal title granted to distinguished divisional generals, along with higher pay and privileges.