NA459
King & Country
Marching forward, musket and bayonet held at waist level as they advance on the enemy.
“Long Live The Emperor!” might well have been the cry of the soldiers of Napoleon’s own Italian Grenadiers of the Guards when the regiment was founded just after the Italian Republic was transformed into the ‘Kingdom of Italy’ in 1804 as The Emperor Napoleon became Italy’s first monarch.
Previously Italy had been a client state of France with its capital in Milan. Now, this new Italian Kingdom ruled over most of northern Italy and its army was to be reorganized along strict French military guidelines which included regular line infantry, light infantry, dragoons and light horse... similar to Hussars.
The new formation soon acquired Chasseurs, elite mounted Gendarmes and Royal Grenadiers of The Guard.
Many of these new regiments wore a ‘green’ coat instead of French ‘blue’ ones however their general style and cut was copied directly from the French military fashion of the period.
Here are K&C’s own ‘Grenadiers of The Guard’... As they would have appeared performing ‘Drill & Musketry’ exercises during the Napoleonic era.