The regiment was formed on 13th of February, 1809. It was mainly made up of captive soldiers and officers of the regiments of Asturias and Guadalajara. The officers of these regiments were arrested and the soldiers were united in the regiment, which was named “Joseph Napoleon”. French officers were appointed to command positions in the newly created regiment.
The personnel staffing of the captive soldiers wasn’t easy. Spanish
men didn’t want to fight for Napoleon. However, the incentive was found
for them. It was announced that everybody who was inscribed to the
regiment, as a part of its new division, would return to Spain.
By October 1810 all four combat battalions of the regiment had been
formed. Totally, the personnel of the regiment with the replacement
battalion were made up of 95 officers and 3,806 enlisted men.
The regiment was consisted of five battalions: 4 combat and one spare.
In 1812 the regiment was ready to launch the offensive against faraway
Russia. The Command, fearing unrest Soldiers, shrewdly withdrew the
regiment in half and each half was placed in a separate building - away
from each other.
So, the 1st and the 4th battalions of the regiment, consisting of 35
officers and 1,294 enlisted men, settled in the 1st Brigade of the 14th
Infantry Division, under the command of Major-General Count Zh.B.Bruse
of the Fourth Army Corps. This part of the regiment was under the
command of the second Major Jean B. Doreye.
The second and the third battalions under the command of Colonel Baron
Jean Batiste MJ de Tschudi settled in the 3rd Brigade of 2nd Infantry
Division, Major-General L.Friana of the First Army Corps. On June 25th,
1812 there were 47 officers and 1,678 enlisted men.
Despite the reluctance of soldiers to fight and die for other
interests, desertion in the regiment had not taken so indiscriminate
nature as in some other parts. It should be noted that the exclusion of
men from the lists of the personnel of the regiment was not usually
associated with combat losses.
In August 1812, just before the Battle in Borodino there were 1760
people. There were 990 soldiers and officers in the 2nd and the 3rd
Battalion, and 770 soldiers and officers in the first and the third
Battalion.
The actions of the soldiers of the regiment "Joseph Napoleon" in Borodino and in Krasny were spotless. Also the soldiers showed their best during the crossing Berezina. Several times they went to the attacks along with other regiments, and there weren’t recorded any cases of cowardice or pusillanimity. Only 190 soldiers and officers of the regiment survived after the Russian campaign. The 1st and the 4th Battalions gathered in Glogau, and the 2nd and 3rd Battalions gathered in Stettin. In 1813 the regiment was reorganized into two battalions of Spanish pioneers.
The regiment "Joseph Napoleon" took part in the following battles: in the Battle of Borodino, in Mozhaisk, in Krasny and the crossing over the Berezina. After 1812 the fighting way of the regiment was through Lutzen, Bautzen, Leipzig, Hanau and Glogau.
Infantry Regiment Joseph Napoleon (Spanish)
Buttons were made by casting followed by pressing on them with the initials of the figure "JN" that represents the capital letters of the Regiment "Joseph Napoleon". Around the circle there is the inscription "INFANTERIA ESPANOLA".
The number of buttons on the uniform of the soldiers of the regiment reached up to 40 pieces. The shako sign was also made in a unique style, which was different from the classic French. The sign of the shako was made of brass by stamping and it didn’t have the form of diamond. It had got the form of trapezoid.
A huge number of soldiers of the Grand Army were not killed in the battles, but simply during the retreat. Many of them were captured and left at homes of local residents as the labor force.
During and after the war, the Cossacks, capturing a large number of prisoners, often sold them to landlords as tutors and servants.
The buttons of the soldiers of the Grand Army were the necessities for peasant farming and for a long time they were worn on clothes by the local population. It was believed that wearing the officer’s gorget of a trophy uniform was a special chic.
These are the reasons why a large number of different buttons were found in some places of old villages and farms.
The buttons of the Infantry Regiment "Joseph Napoleon" are rare, so the rarity scale from 0 to 5 can be assigned to R 3.
It’s important to remember that the buttons of a bigger diameter on the uniform were far less than of smaller one, thus they were rarer. The officers’ buttons are found only in single copies and their rarity can be evaluated only approximately.
Buttons are made by casting, followed by pressing on them figure with
the initials "JN", which are displayed in capital letters the name of
the regiment "Joseph Napoleon." A circle is the inscription "INFANTERIA
ESPANOLA".
Eyelet to his uniform made in the form of a truncated cone with a 4 - ring holes - "crab".
Buttons are made by casting, followed by pressing on them figure with
the initials "JN", which are displayed in capital letters the name of
the regiment "Joseph Napoleon." A circle is the inscription "INFANTERIA
ESPANOLA".
Eyelet to his uniform made in the form of a truncated cone with a 4 - ring holes - "crab".
Buttons are made by casting, followed by pressing on them figure with
the initials "JN", which are displayed in capital letters the name of
the regiment "Joseph Napoleon." A circle is the inscription "INFANTERIA
ESPANOLA".
Eyelet to his uniform made in the form of a truncated cone with a 4 - ring holes - "crab".
