Subasta Bidspirit | [IMPERIAL GUARD]:

[IMPERIAL GUARD]: - [IMPERIAL GUARD]: An attractive manuscript document relating to Napoleon's Garde Imperiale , completed and signed by General A. Sels, one page, large oblong folio (18.5 x 14.5”), Gournay, 26 th August 1810, in French. The document is in tabular form and is subtitled Situation et force de la ci-devant Garde Royale Hollandaise (Translation: Situation and strength of the former Dutch Royal Guard ) at the head and provides details of the designation of the army, the names of the battalions or squadrons, the names and ranks of the commanders of the various corps, their location etc., totalling some 128 officers, 2,693 troops and 942 horses, and also including details of cannons and other ammunition, and of the number of absent soldiers, either as a result of death or desertion. To the verso appear further manuscript observations signed by Sels in which he details the numbers of soldiers who remained hospitalised in Mons, Cambray, Brussels, Utrecht and other locations. Some light creasing and minor age wear to the edges and with a thin strip of tape to the verso reinforcing the central vertical fold. About VG The Imperial Guard were originally a small group of elite soldiers of the French Army under the direct command of Napoleon, but grew considerably over time.   The Dutch Royal Guard were formed in 1808 when Louis Bonaparte, Napoleon's younger brother, ruled over the Kingdom of Holland from 1806-10. In 1810 the 3 rd Regiment of Foot Grenadiers, part of the Dutch Royal Guard, was incorporated into the Imperial Guard within the Middle Guard as the 2 nd Regiment of Foot Grenadiers. They would be disbanded in February 1813, only to be re-raised in April 1815, and finally disbanded in September 1815 following Napoleon's second abdication.