Jump to content
News Ticker
  • I am now accepting the following payment methods: Card Payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal
  • Latest News

    francophile50

    For Deletion
    • Posts

      45
    • Joined

    • Last visited

    Everything posted by francophile50

    1. Hey, Theodor. I think I remember you from years ago. Didn't your wife ask you why you bought such things? If you are the same person who was on the now defunt Military Collectors Forum , you had quite a collection and had been collecting Bulgarian stuff for years. It's nice to hear from you again. I hope all is well and you still have your amazing collection. Scott
    2. I saw this auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/International-Unknown-Badge-/350430217608?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item519744c588 and thought it was similar to the teardrop patches of the nany. Scott
    3. Thanks Hunyadi. I bought it on a whim not knowing what size it was from the son of the officer who owned it. It was his backup uniform. He was burried in his best uniform with all his medals and full ceremony. His son came acrossed this uniform when he was clearing out his fathers old clothes years later. I got the tunic breeches and belt for less than $100. The hat which is an enlisted soldiers hat dated 1944 was three times the price. When I got the uniform I was amazed to find that it fit me and I'm no small guy either. Of all the uniforms I own it is my favorite. I think it is the most beautiful design and everytime I wear it out I get complements. Scott
    4. Wow! Peter if that was your Grandfather's uniform all I can say is what a great man he must have been. Thanks for sharing. Scott
    5. So Scott - does this mean we all have more competition for Hungarian Militaria!??
    6. Thanks Paul. I just wish I knew more about it. It is quite attractive.
    7. I already know of the Combatleadership award but not the other. Scott
    8. I asked my friend and he hold me: "The text on this badge is written in Slav (possibly in Czech language) and it referencing two Hungarian (until the end of WW1) cities, namely Szekelyudvarhely and Mihalyszallas.I think this badge was issued as some sort of an acknowledgement of participation in a Transylvania (Hungarians call it Erdely) campaign. It is possible that the Hungarian Government issued it to Czech officers who supported the Hungarian causes in that campaign."
    9. I haven't a clue as to what these were for. Does anyone here? Scott http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=260746017599&si=OF6e2bIA%252BkTnApYFJL3s7DXRs7E%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT Hungarian WWII medal (helmet shield, riffle and sword) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=270714188477&si=OF6e2bIA%252BkTnApYFJL3s7DXRs7E%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT WWII Hungarian medal Sword and shield
    10. Thanks Guys. It makes sense that these are dug up. In pretty good shape for being unearthed. I just thought they looked a little ruff and eMedals has a few negative posts so I was just wondering. Scott
    11. Not that I want to purchase these. I already own both versions but I wasn't sure if they made them in this low quality before or are they now getting around to faking these medals. Scott http://cgi.ebay.com/Hungary-WWII-Two-Medals-/260642265441?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item3caf7d5961
    12. I want to put up a display for Hungary. I just met someone close to me that has a connection. I also am friends with an ex cold war Hungarian Airforce soldier. So the prices are fair? Good to know. Thank you for letting me know. I have all the campaign medals but would like some other differint ones too. I have an standing invitation to visit Budapest and a cabin close by. Maybe if I go you can let me know of some military places of interest to visit. Thanks again, Scott
    13. Hunyadi, Thanks for the reply. Now I know. BTW what do you think is a fair price for these? Sincerely, Scott
    14. Thank you Uwe. I kinda thought it looked Belgian. BTW is there a place where one can ask to identify insignia when they don't know the nationality? Scott
    15. I have come acrossed this insignia in multiple auctions. Many think it is Belgian. If so can anyone tell from what branch and date? Scott
    16. Dear Sir, What is the distinction of the silver sword? Sincerely, Scott
    17. If I may ask any of the well informed here that wish to reply, What is the difference between the Order of Vite’z with a bronze/gold sword anf that of a silver sword? Is it a case of 2nd class and 1st class? I have also seem some without a sword. Is that a non-combat version? Scott
    18. This article was sent to me recently and translated from French: Napoleon and telecommunications (Article of QUENNEVAT Jean-Claude) Postal service under the Empire the air telegraph under the Empire transmissions in the Large Army The constant territorial expansion of the French Empire could only make increasingly acute for Napoleon the problem of the transmission as fast and as easy as possible of any written message of an end to the other of Europe. Here, as in good of other fields, we will see the Emperor making as well as possible with the still antiquated means of the previous century, whereas the new inventions all of the XIXe century remain unemployed by him, fault of time to develop them and draw from them the practical applications necessary. To treat of this problem of telecommunications under the Empire, we called upon the particular competence of the conservation of the Postal Museum. For this reason, Mr. R. Rolland, exposes us, in a first article, the operation of the imperial post office, which it acts of the letter post, of the system of the estafettes or the post office to the horses. He reveals us how the requirements of transfers of funds to the army gave birth to the first "mandates", and, in all objectivity, evokes the "black cabinet" with the censure touching mainly the letters coming from abroad. What, in my opinion, does not deserve wrongly to be interpreted like a mark of political despotism since France, under the Empire, was in a state of war in a permanent way, would be this only against England. The same specialist treats then air telegraph of the brothers Chappe, invention recent to which the First Consul, then the Emperor, will pay a very detailed attention and of which it will highly encourage the development on a scale more than national, from Amsterdam in Venice and Brest in Vienna. We will retain however that this telegraph will remain the property of the government, never not being able to be used for private telecommunications. Following the two articles of Mr. R. Rolland, specialist in the postal history, we, tried ourselves to analyze the various means of military telecommunications used with the Large Army. He comes out from it the paramount importance of the drums and the trumpets as regards transmission at short distance, of the gun for the messages at long distance, and the capital role and very personnel played by the aide-de-camps for the port of the higher orders on the battle fields. Lastly, we made follow the article on the post office of a series of extracts of the Imp?rial almanac of 1809 in order to deliver to the curiosity of the reader an equivalent of our current calendar of P and T, at one time when the French Empire was going to reach its apogee. Postal service under the Empire. ROBERT ROLLAND When, May 18, 1804, the Empire is proclaimed, the postal service is directed by Antoine Marie Chamant de Lavalette, general manager of the Stations. All devoted to the Emperor, Lavalette remains at this station until 1814. To the time chief of an administration and collaborator of the Emperor, Lavalette directs his service with all the authority necessary to ensure the speed and the permanence of the postal communications. And it post office is all the more essential as the telegraph, in spite of the unquestionable advantages that it comprises, is not yet, far is necessary some, able to compete with the Post office. The TRANSFORMATIONS OF the POST OFFICE SINCE 1789 Strongly disturbed by the Revolution, the post office was completely transformed in its administrative and legal structures. Considered since the 17th century a monopoly of State, the post office was put in farm: i.e. the postal exploitation was entrusted to a company of financial which paid with the Royal Treasury a royalty fixed by a lease renewed every five years. The Farmers general of the Stations, very as much as those of gabelles and other taxes, benefitted vast from the postal exploitation. But the Farm of the Post offices disputed is maintained however until the 25 frimaire year VIII (December 16, 1799): it is then replaced temporarily by an interested control before becoming a Directorate- General of the ministry for Finances. The Post office is then placed, and for nearly one century, under the authority of the Minister for Finance (1). The postal regulation into force was published in 1792 in the form of a general Instruction on the postal service: the drafting of this important text was entrusted to the secretary-general Legrand, old agent of the Farm of the Stations and which remains secretary-general until 1816. It is him which at the sides of Lavalette directs the postal service. The monopoly of the transport of the letters was defined by the decree of the consuls of the 27 meadow year IX (June 16, 1801). Lastly, the 14 flor?al year X (May 4, 1802), a new tariff for the Letter post was published. Thus the new general manager Lavalette is with the head of an administration which rests on solid legal bases, with a qualified personnel, using tested methods and techniques. Two great services are subjected to the authority of Lavalette: the Letter post on the one hand, service of the Relays on the other hand. The LETTER POST It is the service of transport and distribution of the correspondences. We are far then from the traffic which the Post office knows today which conveys each day of the million letters. In 1789 approximately 30 million letters had circulated in France by the intermediary of the mail service. In 1821 the traffic rose to 45 million letters. This progression also appears by the number of the offices which passes from 1284 in 1791 to 1.630 in 1815. The personnel counts only a few hundreds of agents: 3.588 in 1815. The letter, to be also rare more only formerly, is yet widespread in the layers of the population. Only easy people can receive letters. Because the port is paid by the recipient and not by the shipper, like that is done generally today. The tariff is following it for the simple letter weighing less than 7 grams. Up to 100 km............... 2 ten-per-cent taxes 100 to 200 km............... 3 ten-per-cent taxes 200 to 300 km............... 4 ten-per-cent taxes 400 to 500 km............... 5 ten-per-cent taxes 500 to 600 km............... 7 ten-per-cent taxes 600 to 800 km............... 8 ten-per-cent taxes 800 to 1.000 km............... 9 ten-per-cent taxes above 1.000 km...... 1 frank This tariff, fixed by the law of the 27 frimaire year VIII will be modified by the law of the 14 flor?al year X bringing back to 6 grams the weight of the simple letter. Finally the law of April 24, 1806 previously establishes eleven zones of taxation instead of eight. How to send letters? Either by depositing them at the office nearest, or as in Paris by throwing them in the boxes laid out in certain streets. Paris has eight offices and, in 1810, 308 letter boxes were installed in the streets. In winter, the boxes are raised 5 times per day and 5 distributions are assured. In summer, from March 30 at October 1, the number is changed to ten. The inhabitants of the Parisian suburbs are less privileged: only one lifting and only one distribution per day. In province certain communes have a post office and the departure of the mails is variable, but in general one counts a departure every two days. The letters for the foreigner must be freed at the beginning: the shipper goes then to the post office where stamping will be calculated according to the country of destination. Postal conventions which govern the tax on the foreign letters are negotiated between the various postal offices. The regulation in force also specified the price to be paid for the registered letters, the samples, the books and also the articles of money. For the port of the money or gold matters, the rule in force since 1791 was to make pay a tax equivalent to 5 percent of the value of the sending. But the administration of the Stations was responsible, in the event of loss, of the totality of the sum. The trunks of mail thus transport often of the important money sums. However it is interesting to note the measurements taken in favour of the soldiers. A payment, February 17, 1808, envisaged the suppression of the material transport of the money sums addressed to the soldiers in Shift. The accountant was to preserve the money in case and to address to his colleague of the destination office a payable mandate at sight. Only the sums lower than hundred franks per sending could be addressed according to the system which, initially held to the soldiers in Shift, 1812 was extended to all the soldiers in garrison. These provisions which ended into 1815 were taken again in 1817 but, this time, were applied to all the users and either only with the soldiers: this is why the generally quoted date of creation of the mandate is 1817, whereas the system created at the post office with the armies dates from the First Empire. ESTAFETTES If the creation of the mandate under the Empire did not strike the spirits, on the other hand the development of the service of the estafettes is much more known. According to Lavalette, the Emperor himself paid all his attention to the correct operation of this service: "It is at the time of 1805 that I made use into large system of the estafettes that the Emperor ordered me to organize and whose bases belonged to him. He had felt the disadvantage of making cross with only one man of enormous distances. It arrived several times that exceeded of tiredness or badly been useful mails did not arrive at the liking of its impatience. It was not advisable to him either to put between the hands of only one man of the news whose prompt reception could have a serious and sometimes decisive influence on the most important events. I thus organized by his order the service of estafettes which consisted in making pass through the postilions of each station the dispatches of cabinet wrapped in a wallet of which we had, him and me, each one a key. Each postilion transmitted to the following station a booklet where the name of each station was registered and where the hour of the arrival and the departure was to be reported. A severe fine and sorrows, according to the repetition, punished the loss of the booklet and the negligence of the postmaster to register the hour of the arrival and the departure. I have much sorrow to obtain the execution of these formalities. But with an active and constant monitoring I out of wines with end and this service was done during eleven years with a complete success and extraordinary results. I could return to me one day account of delay in the space of 400 miles. The estafette left and arrived tous.les.jours of Paris and at the points most moved away, Naples, Milan, the Mouths of Cattaro, Madrid, Lisbon and consequently Tilsitt, Vienna, Presbourg and Amsterdam. It was a relative economy besides, the mails cost by item 7 F 50, the estafette did not cost 3 franks. The Emperor received the eighth day the answers written to the letters in Milan and fifteenth in Naples. This service was very useful for him. It was, I then the statement without vanity, one of the elements of its successes ". The POST OFFICE AND the POLICY it is seen, the correct operation of the Post office was essential for the Emperor. Sometimes the Post office becomes for him an instrument of government. The continental Blockade is declared in November 1806. Article 2 of the decree suspended any correspondence with the British Isles: "Any trade and any correspondence with British Isles are prohibited. Consequently, the letters or packages addressed or in England or to an English, or written in English language, will not have course at the Stations and will be seized (article 2)". The correspondence of Napoleon shows all the importance which the Emperor attached to the execution of this article. It thus writes in Gaudin the Minister for Finance on which the Post office depended: "Made a circular and take measures so that, in the extent of the Empire, all letters coming from England or written in English and by English are put at the reject. All that is extremely important, because England should absolutely be insulated ". Napoleon If the monitoring of the letters for England were, starting from the 1806, official control of the correspondence by the Black Cabinet was it less. The Black Cabinet, old institution functioned under Ancien R?gime and of many personalities had had to complain about the violation of their correspondences. Also, July 27, 1789, Stanislas de Clermont Tonnerre wrote in the name of the French National Assembly: "the French nation rises with indignation against the violation of the secrecy of the post office, one of absurdest and the most infamous inventions of the despotism". However in spite of this proclamation, the Black Cabinet continued its work in spite of many declarations of intents. And the 27 pluviose year IV, the Minister for Finance addresses to the administrators of the Letter post: "great reasons, Citizens Administrators, urge the Executive Directory to temporarily establish a secret office in the Administration of the Stations to check the Letters there going and coming from abroad...". Under the Empire, the office workers secret continued to treat the letters of the foreign ministers and many personalities, without forgetting certain members the imperial family. A report/ratio, called "foreign Gazettes" arrived daily at the Emperor without this one attaching to it more importance than one did not have because, said it, "seldom the conspiracies are treated by this way...". Metternich, which him also, used of the postal censure, was hardly made illusion on the use that one made of the letters addressed by the Post office. It wrote to the director Stations to communicate to him a print of its new seal: "I have the honor to point out to you that my seal has, by misfortune, receipt a blow of punch. Please thus make some as much with yours so that I continue to see me nothing ". The CONQUERED DEPARTMENTS the political and even diplomatic problems thus did not fail to influence on the operation of the post office. The territorial conquests oblige the administrators of the Stations to adapt the organization of the mail service. The new territories were divided in departments. The postal administration will thus come to form part of these new administrative structures. The same rules of operation will be of use on all the territory of the Empire. For that, the regulation was represented to be able to be better included/understood populations and of the personnel charged to apply it. Thus the general instruction of 1808 was translated into Dutch and a bilingual edition published in 1810. In general the personnel of the Stations in the conquered departments was selected among people of the country; generally the agents remained at their station, which facilitated the correct operation of the Stations in the annexed territories. The POST OFFICE WITH the HORSES a second great service was placed under the authority of the general manager of the Stations: service of the Relays, i.e. administration of the Post office to the horses. The relays of station were used initially for the mails of the administration of the Letter post: they found there mountings fresh that the postmaster was held to reserve to them. Under Ancien R?gime, the ma1tres of station enjoyed many privileges, in particular out of tax matter. The Revolution removed them, which involved a reaction of the postmasters who threatened to give up their service to launch out in the companies of private transport become very remunerative. It was necessary to increase the pledges of the postmasters, to raise the tariffs of hiring of the horses. But competition with the transport remained sharp. Also measures they were taken to improve the situation of the postmasters whose maintenance was essential with the correct operation of the communications. Contractors of public cars, even if they did not use the horses of the postmasters were held to pay them for each one of their cars 25 centimes per horse and station (i.e. approximately 4 books). In addition, the development of the service of estafettes supported the postmasters who placed their postilions at the disposal of the administration to assure the transmission of the urgent folds of the government. All the regulation concerning the postal service to the horses, the tariffs, the nomenclature of the various relays were indicated on the books of station, called officially "general State of the roads of station". These directories which allowed the travellers item some (2) to establish their route as well as the price to be paid for their voyage was updated and published each year. Post with the horses, Letter post, throughout all the imperial one, the postal communications are maintained thanks to the efforts of the administrators and the vigilant authority of the Emperor. Napoleon said that it was necessary to judge the prosperity of a country to the accounts of his diligences. From this point of view, the accounts of the post office under the Empire offer the example of a happy country. The air telegraph under the Empire. ROBERT ROLLAND On November 9, 1799 a telegram was transmitted to announce that the Bonaparte General was named ordering force armed in Paris. The following day, the executive power was entrusted to three Consuls: Bonaparte, Si?y?s and Roger-Ducos. Claude Chappe then submitted to the three Consuls a project of dispatch to announce this nomination, but the communication could not take place because of the bad weather. Between these two dispatches, one transmitted, the other remained to the state of project, there was all the ambiguity of the air telegraph: this remarkable instrument of communication had a great weakness, that to be tributary of the atmospheric conditions. Concerned Napoleon of effectiveness in his strategy, always carried a keen interest to the development of the telegraph collections, without, however to grant an absolute and final confidence to this system which could be abruptly lacking to him. The BRILLIANT INVENTION OF CLAUDE CAP the first official telegram was transmitted on August 16, 1794 to announce the resumption of the city of Quesnoy by the French troops fights the Austrians so much. Filled with enthusiasm by this invention, the Conventional ones ordered in Claude Chappe the construction of a second line towards the East, the first connecting Paris in Lille. The telegraph network thus included/understood, with the day before of the proclamation of the Empire three principal lines Paris-Lille, Paris-Strasbourg by Metz, Paris-Brest, this last line belonging to the ministry for the Navy, while the two others depended on the ministry for the War. This telegraph which had been spread in a few years on the country had been developed by Claude Chappe, young physicist born in the Sarthe. Having initially thought of using electricity to transmit communications, Claude Chappe presents a project of air telegraph at the French National Assembly which authorizes it to try a first experiment of communications between two established stations one in M?nilmontant, the second with Saint Martin of the Hillock. The Lakanal deputy attended the experiment and wrote a favorable report/ratio: Cap was then charged, with the title of "engineer th?l?graphe" (sic) to build a line between Paris and Lille. In spite of many financial obstacles or techniques which they met Cl Cap and its collaborators succeeded in concluding their mission and the telegraph started to function in August 1794. Of what thus did consist this telegraph whose invention was cordially greeted by Bar?re in front of Convention? The Chappe telegraph was a system of remote control of signals carried out by apparatuses located at suitable distances along a line. Each apparatus was composed of three mobile arms: the regulator and two indicators laid out on the ends of this one. These mobile arms connected by cables to the levers laid out inside the station could take 196 different positions. It was then enough to establish by convention a correspondence between each one of its signals and their significance. The first dispatches were transmitted letter by letter. But it very quickly appeared necessary to establish a code in which each signal would represent a word or a group words. The first code, established by Leon Delanoy was composed of 9.999 words. Then the Chappe brothers used three codes: the vocabulary of the words (8.464 words of everyday usage), the vocabulary of the sentences (8.464 sentences or expressions used also in a usual way) finally a geographical vocabulary of 8.464 geographical places. The transmission of the dispatches was done in the following way: when two stations in direct relation were in operating condition the transmission started. The movement of the apparatuses was given by an agent called stationary. This one was satisfied to transmit signals without knowing the significance of it, only the translators in possession of the code could carry out the transcription. The rules of transmission laid down into 1795 were used until 1830. Each indicator could take 7 different positions, multiplied by the 7 positions of the other indicator, 49 combinations were obtained when the regulator was in driving position and 49 when it was in horizontal position. That represented on the whole 98 signals of which 6 were reserved for special indications. The transmissions could thus be ensured thanks to 92 signals representing figures 1 to 92. The telegrams were thus quantified: each figure corresponded to one of the 92 words laid out on each 92 page of the vocabulary. Let us recall that there were three different vocabularies. The message thus indicated as a preliminary which vocabulary was to be used to decipher the dispatch. The transmission of the message started then: each stationary took note of the signals and a little further repeated then the dispatch for another station located. Gradually, the message was transmitted: with the arrival it was deciphered by a translator in possession of the code. Although enough complexes, this system allowed, when the best conditions were met, a very fast transmission: thus on the line Paris Lille it took 2 minutes to transmit a short dispatch and 6 minutes and half on the line Paris Strasbourg. Mr. Henri Gachot whose studies on the Chappe telegraph in Alsace are very important gives the following example: "With the Director of the Telegraph in Strasbourg: answer your last dispatch the army beat the enemy completely ". "These 18 words, says Mr. Gachot, could be conveyed by the air route by using the three following groups 4/55 - 53/21 and 12/13, is six signals for 18 words". (the air Telegraph in Alsace - Strasbourg 1968). The stationary ones ended up acquiring a great dexterity in the handling of the apparatuses. However related to the atmospheric conditions, with the length of the messages, the solidity of the apparatuses, the transmission was in general longer. And especially, it could be stopped abruptly by a technical hitch or the sudden rise of a layer of fog. In addition, the night, no communication could be carried out. The FIRST CONSUL AND the TELEGRAPH These difficulties did not fail to aggravate Napoleon who was eager, above all, to have a fast and sure information system. Also the Emperor will always keep a certain mistrust with respect to the air telegraph. However, as of the Consulate, Bonaparte takes measures so that the air telegraph is placed at its disposal. The First Consul even intends to have exclusiveness in it. A decree of the 4 vend?miaire year IX (September 26, 1800) stipulates that "the Citizen Cap, engineer telegraph, will not be able under some pretext, even for the details of its service to make any transmission by the telegraph according to the order signed by the First Consul". At that time Claude Chappe had proposed that the telegraph is placed at the disposal of the public. This measurement which would undoubtedly have caused a great development of the process is refused. It is only into 1851 that the administration of the telegraphs will be authorized to transmit private dispatches. However, Claude Chappe, who notes with bitterness the reduction by the First Consul of the appropriations of management assigned to the telegraph, makes accept the principle of the weekly transmission of the results of the Lottery. The telegraph thus remains exclusively with the service of the government. Thus the First Consul gave the order to urgently install a telegraph line between Paris and Metz so that it could communicate with the plenipotentiary ones joined together in Lun?ville for the diplomatic Congress which was to with it to be held. Thirteen days after the beginning of work, the line was in operating condition. What showed well that the team animated by Claude Chappe had acquired a great effectiveness. The EXTENSION OF the TELEGRAPH NETWORK UNDER the EMPIRE In spite of the often provided evidence of its effectiveness and its utility, the telegraph did not have, under the Empire, a development as large as one could suppose it. On the one hand, Claude Chappe, his inventor, disappeared. In spite of the success which its invention had obtained, Claude Chappe suffered much to be able to give to his work a larger extension. He had had in particular the project to carry out a European network of telegraph collections connecting the large ports: Cadiz, Amsterdam, London, Calais, etc. He would have also liked to create a daily telegraphic bulletin giving each day in the large cities of the Empire the principal news. He had also continued his research to improve the telegraph collections. Napoleon in addition had charged Abraham Chappe with seeking the means of establishing a telegraph collection of day and night between the coasts of France and those of England. Napoleon thought, at that time, to proceed to an unloading of his armies in England. One can think that if it is Abraham which was in charge of this task, this one did not fail to require of his/her Claude brother to take part in the research tasks which were not continued because of the abandonment of the project of unloading. Claude Chappe was then reached this nervous disease which was to lead it to the suicide. After the death of Claude Chappe, his brothers who since the beginning, had been associated to him, continued his work. Ignace and Pierre Chappe were named administrators, while Abraham was, on his request, attache with the general staff of the Large Army. Abraham had presented itself to provide these functions near the Emperor. The Director of the Telegraph in Boulogne with his Majesty the Emperor and King, Lord, I have the honor to ask Your Majesty to create a place of Director of the Telegraph, attache to your Staff, the purpose of following you everywhere where DOUS would order it and to translate the telegrams which you would like to transmit or who would be addressed to you. In addition to the advantage, for Your Majesty, to be able to communicate of all the places where there are telegraphs, it will result that not to be obliged to entrust to an unknown Director of Your Majesty, dispatches which can require a great confidence in that which is charged to translate them. If this project deserved the approval of Your Majesty, I will dare to claim your kindness the occasion to convince you of my zeal and my entirety devotion. I have the honor to be with the deepest respect, Lord, of Your very humble, very obeying and very the subjected Majesty prone one. A. Cap Its request having been approved, Abraham Chappe was named, 30 August 1805, "directing of the telegraphs" near the Large Army. For this reason, it was charged "to translate the telegrams that the Emperor, his lieutenant and his Major G?n?ral will want to transmit or who will be addressed to him". Abraham will occupy these functions until 1814. It was, in addition, charged to visit the installations of the Paris-Strasbourg line to see whether they were in state. The telegraph took more and more importance and Napoleon paid a very detailed attention to his development. Thus, undoubtedly informed the creations carried out in nearby countries as England where an air telegraphic system had been set up, the Emperor requires of the minister Navy, the admiral Decr?s of the precise details on the new systems used in France "Make me a short report and well clearly, which makes known me which are the new telegraphs which you have just established. Are this combinations of letters of the alphabet, like the ground telegraph or of the signals? Can one send by these telegraphs the order to the squadron of Cadiz to make a mouvemen, or to prevent it exit of a squadron of Toulon or Brest? "it is seen, Napoleon would have agreed to have a network which enabled him to direct from Paris of the strategic operations, putting moving its armies or its squadrons of North at the South of Europe. Various measurements are taken in this direction: the line of North is prolonged in 1808 to Antwerp and with the entry of the mouths of the Scheldt to the port of Flessingue. This line will reach Amsterdam in 1810. Towards Italy, the Paris-Lyon line is prolonged to Turin in 1805, Milan in 1809 and finally Venice in 1810. Napoleon took care personally of the development of the network as its correspondence testifies some. March 16, 1809, he writes to the Minister of Interior Department: "I wish that you make complete without delay the telegraph line from here in Milan and that in fifteen days, one can communicate with this capital". April 10 of the same year, he writes to Prince Eugene, to viceroy of Italy, to specify to him that "the 15, the telegraph must communicate with Milan, he delays me well to know that this communication is open". In 1810, the telegraph network reaches its greater development: from Amsterdam in Venice, from Brest in Vienna, the telegraphic stations multiply and ensure the fast communications increasingly necessary as the Empire increases. In fact, the telegraph network is used in a way complementary to the other means of information: the mails with horse, the estafettes which the Emperor affectionnait continued to transport the urgent messages, sometimes even on portions of temporarily stopped telegraph lines. On the Vienna-Strasbourg line the telegraph system Cap which could not have been installed, it was necessary to be satisfied to transmit signals made up with flags of various colors. With the return of the Countryside of Russia, the Emperor ordered the prolongation of the Paris-Strasbourg line to Mainz. Work was carried out in two months and on May 29 the 1813 first dispatches were transmitted. The TELEGRAPH DURING the HUNDRED DAYS the return of the Emperor and his unloading to the Juan Gulf were announced to the government by a telegram coming from Lyon. The progression of the Emperor was followed, hour per hour, thanks to the dispatches which followed one another. The baron de Vitrolles made telegraph with Sir, brother of the king, a dispatch which shows the anxiety of the king well in front of the striking down walk of the Emperor "His Majesty orders that it leaves tous.les.jours two estafettes for Paris with all the details which one will have been able to join together and which the telegrams unceasingly follow one another the ones the others". March 21, the duke of Bassano dispatched with the prefects the following telegraphic circular which was transmitted on all lines "S.M. the Emperor entered to Paris yesterday, at eight hours of the evening, with the head of the troops which, the morning, had been sent against it, and with the acclamations of immense people". One half- century later, the electric telegraph knew, under the reign of Napoleon III, a spectacular development. The telegraph Cap, like diligences, disappeared and the poet Gustave Nadaud looked with nostalgia to stop the strange machines. Since the destiny gathers us Since each mode has its Achevons turn to die together At the top of your old woman L? tower as two old astronomers We will look at Passer proudly the things and the men top of our monument. (the old telegraph). Transmissions in the Large Army JEAN-CLAUDE QUENNEVAT Napoleon was certainly one of the largest innovators of the mobile warfare. The Campaigns and the operations "flashes" do not certainly miss all with the length of In spite of the absence of motorized means of transport, the battalions of the imperial army penetrated on the backs of the adversary with a celerity comparable with that of the "Panzers" of the last world war. Operate of Ulm: for each army corps an average of 350 km traversed in 20 days, in contact with the enemy! The Lassalle brigade sows panic through Prussia of 1806 by marking out 1.160 km in 25 days (either 46 km of average per day). Then how a chief is asked for as Napoleon could, with safety necessary, to also quickly move his pawns on the strategic chess- board, whereas it had neither air exploration, nor of the telephone, the telegraph or the radio? With first reflexion, the only transmission resources of the Large Army proved to be the human way and the port of a dispatch by a rider. We will see that in fact of other means were used. Nevertheless these two first belonged to the daily practice and it is them whom we will analyze initially. VOICE, TRUMPET AND DRUM Apart from the battle, it was enough to a quite assured voice to easily transmit the orders of the captain to all the levels of its company, because the distance from an officer to nearest to his sub- orders never exceeded ten meters, whatever the adopted formation. It went from there differently to the combat, because of the considerably noisy environment in which the soldiers were plunged. The deflagrations of the blasting powder, as well rifles than of the guns maintained a terrible din as we have evil to imagine "I smelled the ground permanently to tremble under me", writes a soldier wounded on the battle field of Moskowa. In Boulogne, in 1804, it is enough to some guns drawing with white in accompaniment from "Te Deum" sung with the church Saint Nicolas, to make steal in glare all the panes of the district. I could myself compare in 1969, at the time of the turning of film televised "the Large Army", the shooting in salvo of the "Arquebusiers de France" armed with rifles model 1777 with the shooting at will of a company of infantry of the quota, and I noted how much the modern automatic weapons proved less deafening that their elder. Under these conditions, one includes/understands how much the verbal transmission orders, with the combat, was compromised. It had been necessary to use, as in the navy, of the speaking pipe. But we do not know any example of such a use in the Armies; the instrument had been too cumbersome and especially less effective than its substitutes, namely the trumpet and the drum. Indeed, it is via these two musical instruments that with the full fire of the action the officers were likely best to pass an order and to immediately see it carrying out. The trumpet was the speaking pipe of the cavalry. In the order of battle, the colonel always had at his side a sergeant-trumpet ready to translate his command by a sound sentence good known of all. This one was taken again by eight grouped trumpets, placed under the command of an adjudant, together sufficiently powerful so that all the regiment can perceive the ringing. In this way, the colonel could order "the load, the retirement, the rallying, with the fields, with horse, moving"... More exactly, the trumpets did not replace the verbal order, but preceded it or followed it immediately, the sound phase amplifying in musical language what was stated in verbal language. In the troops with foot, the same role failed the drums. Like the trumpets, the latter chaired the functions day labourers of the military life: "the alarm clock, the Diane, let us rigodons them morning, for the flags, the honors with the Emperor, the extinction of fires"... With the combat they evolved/moved grouped on two rows, with fifteen steps behind of the first battalion of each regiment. What did not prevent them from being sometimes mown by the grapeshot, with all that that could have like repercussion in the transmission of the orders. Thus, when with the battle of Dresden the drums of the 3rd riflemen of the Young person-Guard are struck by a flight of bisca?ens, one sees the men suspending one moment their attack, each one wondering: "Which thus has just ordered: halt? "In connection with the drums, let us recall that this instrument was sometimes used as receiver accoustics: the case was posed with ground, the higher membrane amplified a remote noise of mousquetery or displacement of cavalry transmitted by the ground in an unperceivable way; it was thus enough to stick its ear to it to detect the proximity or the movements of the enemy. He comes out from what we have just said that not only each regiment of infantry or cavalry had, in addition to his brass band, his drums or his trumpets, but that it was the same for all the companies for the others weapons, that it is artillery, genius etc..., which proves well that to these musicians was reserved very an other role to beat or sound the load. According to the same principle, any staff of a officer-General included/understood, in more of the aide-de-camps, the permanent presence of a trumpet: the telephone of the General! Thus, drums and trumpets constituted, within each combat unit, a weapon with share: they were "the soldiers of the transmissions" before the letter. Their role with the combat required much cold blood, because the drums, only armed with a short sword, could hardly but box the blows without being able to return them; as for the trumpets, when they were confronted with the enemy, they acted of the kind: they nimbly gathered trumpet and reins in the left hand to release the right hand and to draw the sabre; in the event of surprised they struck the adversary while striking to the head with the held up instrument of the right hand. These "men of the transmissions" thus enjoyed rightly a consideration at least equal to that the other soldiers; many profited from a food and a housing warrant officer and touched a double pay of that of a simple rider or infantryman. Before the institution of "the cross", they had had right to the particular honors of the trumpets or rods of honor decreed by the First Consul. As would be a this as much error as an affront to confuse them with the brass band of the regiment, made up either musicians pledgers having contacted a military engagement, or of civil without balance entirely as of the load of the officers, therefore soldiers of occasion, such those of the infantry has Essling, fleeing with the first blows of gun to go to take refuge in the island of Lobau! The AIDE-DE-CAMPS the transmission of an order or a particular opinion could obviously be done only by estafette, i.e. by a light rider duly informed of the identity of the recipient. In the majority of the cases, the dispatch was written with the feather, sometimes with the pencil, therefore not always perfectly readable and quite interpretable for the recipient; however the omissions of punctuation constituted the source of the most serious errors there. Theoretically the sabretache (carried by all the light riders at the beginning of the Empire) was the satchel punt intended for the transport of the dispatch. In fact, adopted by the hussards of the King in the middle of the 18th century, it could easily play this part when originally it was suspended under the belt in contact with the left thigh; but the fashion having reduced it to height from the calf, its destination of letter-box became very badly convenient. One can conclude from it that under the Empire the estafettes hardly used it and placed the fold preferably to be carried in their belt or hidden under their shirt. This assumption seems confirmed well by the fact that the lawful uniform of the aide-de-camps of the officer- Generals, designed in 1803, did not comprise a sabretache. The principal function of the aide-de-camps was indeed to carry the dispatches, so much on the battle field, where it was necessary to face the worst dangers while threading between fires of battalion and while slipping between two loads of cavalry, which at the time of missions at long distance through an enemy territory. These aide- de-camps, being all of the soldiers tested with at least the rank of lieutenant, Napoleon preferred them with the professional mails that it judged "unable" because they did not give any explanation on what they had seen. The confidence of the Emperor was not likely besides to be disappointed, because these young at the same time generous and ambitious people, for the majority wire of family of the old nobility rejoined with glory, endeavoured to achieve their mission until the limit of their forces: Marbot connects Paris in Strasbourg in forty eight hours, and spends only three days to traverse the cinq-cent-vingt kilometers which separate Madrid from Bayonne; without changing horse, an officer of Davout covers cent-soixante- dix kilometers in nineteen hours in enemy country. With through Spain, threatened unceasingly by the guerilleros, these insulated mails risked much, and Marbot will write on this subject "I do not believe to exaggerate while carrying to more than two hundreds the number of the staff officers which were taken or killed during the war of the Peninsula". Each marshal had with his service at least a half-dozen of aide-de-camps (in 1809, for example, Lannes had eight and Mass?na sixteen of it). But it was not rare that at the evening of a great battle half of these courageous carriers of order were put out of combat. A transmission of good quality was thus paid extremely expensive at the time. As for the Emperor, it was not limited to send on mission its own aide-de-camps. It had set up, mainly for the dispatches of its cabinet, a service of estafettes specialized equipped with a large bearing leather satchel on a broad copper plate the mention "Dispatches of S.M. the Emperor and King". These mails of which most famous were Moustache, Cl?rice and Vidal, traversed the marked out imperial main roads of relay every eight kilometers. The POST OFFICE WITH the ARMIES As for the way in which the soldiers could communicate by letter with their family, the "payment on the Military postal service" specifies us that as from September 1809 there existed for them: -- inside the Empire, a correspondence by the intermediary of the offices of the garrison towns; -- and in Shift a service of transmission and handing-over ensured by mails and helped postilions of employees, under the monitoring of the police chiefs of war. The frankness is acquired for the mail from the soldiers to the armies during the Programs only. Each weapon has its paper with illustrated Iettre of a colored label, of naive invoice, representing a soldier in the corresponding uniform. They are the letters known as "cantini?res", because generally provided and sold by these last; those intended for the Imperial Guard add each side of the effigy of the combatant those of the Emperor and the empress in medallions. Verbal orders, drum rolls, ringings of trumpets, sendings of estafettes, such were thus the great means of telecommunications of the Large Army. However there were complements which one cannot cannot overlook. The GUN Initially the gun. Tie "with white", it could double the effect of the drum; it was the case in the camps like that of Boulogne, when for example it punctuated each day the alarm clock and the extinction of fires. In Shift, it announced the beginning of a great battle: three characteristic blows drawn with equal intervals by a company from the Guard. Another type of acoustic connection by the intermediary of the gun, this order of Soult a few days before Austerlitz: "In case where the adversary would make movements with the outposts it will be drawn four blows from gun of alarm by a battery established on the height of the Vault... and with this signal Vandamne Division will join at once that of Legrand to put itself in battle on the height located at...". And at long distance, that is to say 35 kilometers with flight of birds in this case, the connection envisaged between the Emperor and Davout on April 22, 1809: "If you are ready to attack, written Napoleon, draw at midday a salvo at the same time from twelve blows, similar to 1 a.m., another at 2 a.m." running Dans these conditions the large one of the army of Landshut will be able to surprise the adversary with Eckmuhl, at the precise moment where it will be strongly engaged against Davout, therefore compromised in its freedom to manoeuvre. The visual use of rockets of artifices seems to have existed under the Empire only in the war of seat. It had been however realizable without particular equipment and using specialized bomb disposal experts, since we know that any infantryman could, without any modification of his rifle, to send to several hundred meters in the sky of luminous stars. The example us is given by it by the evening from August 16, 1804 in Boulogne, during which were drawn, with the night falling, 45.000 cartridges with stars, illuminant during a few seconds the city and the roads of a light so intense that this luminous play was seen English coast. To close this study of the means of telecommunications of the Large Army, we will quote obviously the Chappe telegraph, which by its originality and its innovation was published to us to deserve an article with share in this number of our Review. Let us specify nevertheless that its military role very often supposed the complementary use of estafettes: it was the case on April 10, 1809 when, of Tileries, Napoleon wanting to communicate urgently with Berthier which was in Donauwerth, sent a telegraphic message from Paris in Strasbourg (disturbed in its transmission by the fog) and which the latter was taken again by a rider of Strasbourg with Donauwertll. Assessment: this missive of importance had spent five days full to cross 700 kilometers with flight of bird. MAIL SERVICE A PARIS UNDER the EMPIRE (I) (1) Extracts of the Imperial Almanac of 1809 - chapter of the Stations. JEAN-CLAUDE QUENNEVAT This service represents the "distribution in Paris of the letters of the departments, of those coming from abroad and the letters of Paris for Paris..., the distribution of the newspapers and the periodic works; the stamping from the letters for Paris, departments and the foreigner; lifting of the boxes in Paris and the subscription with the bulletin of the laws (our current Official Journal) in all France ". "This service divides in Paris, between ten offices whose functions and site will be indicated Ci after...". "the central office of the post office building is open tous.les.jours since 8 H of the morning up to 7 a.m. the evening. One distributes the addressed letters to it "postmaster address"; those in charge of the departments for Paris and those of Paris for Paris. One finds there for three months, as from the day of the arrival in Paris, the letters under address come from the departments. This office, one can free the periodic letters, newspapers and works for Paris ". Offices of distributions (which "divide the letters in authority of the Division of Paris, H?tel of the commune of Paris in about equal portions") leave the factors for the distribution the letters "the letters put in reject remain in deposit for three months as from the day of the arrival in Paris..., and it is, after this term only, which they are sent to the office of the head of the Division of Paris, Post office building, where they are classified alphabetically, and where the public can claim them for three months, and, passed which term, the general office of the rejects". "the unknown letters with the destination which they carry" are daily sent to the office of the letters in authority of the Division of Paris, Post office building, where they are classified by name alphabetically and where the public can claim them." The list of eight offices of the various districts of Paris follows, with for each office 1' addresses letter- boxes (about thirty per office), each box being numbered and this number corresponding to the number of the stamp of the post office. A table is posted on the door of all the offices of distribution like on the 200 boxes of Paris. It specifies: -- the hour of the liftings: October 1 at March 30: 5 liftings for Paris, the first of 6. 3/4 at 7 a.m. 3/4, the last of 7 H with 9 H of the evening, but only one departure for the departments (about midday). April 1 at September 30: 6 liftings for Paris, the first of 6 H with 6 a.m. l/2, the last of 7 H with 8 H of the evening, and always only one departure for the departments (around midday). -- the hour of the distributions: October 1 at March 30: 5 distributions for Paris, the first of 8 H with 9 l1 1/2, the last of 7 H with 9 H of the evening. April 1 at September 30: 6 distributions for Paris, the first of 7 H with 9 a.m., the last of 7 H at 8 a.m. 1/2. In small suburbs, four liftings and distributions per day some is the season. In large suburbs, only one lifting and distribution per day ("the factors regularly leave each day the offices of distribution to 1 a.m."). For the province, in general a lifting and a distribution each day of the week, or only three days per week according to the importance of the locality ("the public is prevented that it is very essential to put on the address the name of the department in which the commune is where one writes"). For the foreign countries the letters will be freed either by the recipient but by the shipper "under penalty of remaining with the reject". Stamping will be total until destination for the kingdom of Italy, the principality of Piombino, Rome, and of many German cities belonging to the Confederation of the Rhine and all Hanover. It will be partial for the colonies, to the seaport; England, to Dover; possessions of the House of Austria, to Strasbourg; Istrie and Illyrie, until V?rone; isles of Italy, until V?rone; the Mediterranean basin, to Marseilles; Switzerland, until Huningue or Pontarlier... One cannot free for the kingdoms from Spain and Portugal, for the kingdom of Holland. Stamping is optional for Prussia, while remaining partial until Cl?ves, Erfurt' Hamburg. Some examples of duration of the courses by relay of station in 1809: Paris-Antwerp....................3 days 1/2 Paris- Brussels............... 3 Paris-Lille days........................ 3 Paris-Lyon days........................ 4 Paris-Mainz days.................5 Paris-Geneva days....................6 Paris- Nantes days..................... 4 Paris-Strasbourg days..............5 Paris-Toulouse days.................8 Paris- Rouen days..................... 13 Paris-Caen hours.......................1 jours1/2 Paris-Bordeaux............... 5 days N.D.L R. -- This information, drawn from the Imperial almanac of 1809, leaves to dreamer the user of 1975. Indeed, on the one hand the five or six daily distributions in Paris are for a long time reduced to two. In addition, since the memorable strike of October- November 1974, the routing time of the letters of Paris to the province became strictly comparable when it is not lengthened. Progress is not stopped. (1) the ministry for the Stations and T?l?graphes will be creates in 1879. (2) To travel in station, to run the Post office, meant to use the postal services to travel. One could profit thus from many advantages: priority on the roads, reservation of horses in the relays, certainty to achieve the voyage within a time allowed in advance, possibility of circulating the night, postmasters having to ensure a permanence.
    19. I am creating a Imperial couriers uniform.This would have been from around 1807.There was a badge created that is displayed on a line drawing from Herbert Knotel.The drawing doesn't show definition,just placement of the badge.Can anyone recommend how I can research this badge?I need a picture or even just a description of it.Any help would be appreciated.Thanks,Sincerely Scott
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...

    Important Information

    We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.