3° Reggimento Fanteria Leggera
3rd Light Infantry Regiment
History
This regiment was formed sometime between 1805 and 1808 from miscellaneous light units of the Cisalpine Republic. Its campaign history is summarised below:
- 1809 - Italy
- The third and fourth battalions are listed as serving on the Italian peninsula, presumably on garrison duty. They were not engaged in any of the fighting of this year.
- 1812 - Russia
- All four battalions were in Guillaume's brigade in Pino's Division of IV Corps. They fought at Malo-Jaroslavetz and were so depleted by the retreat that they only mustered 5 officers and 12 men (from an original strength of over 1000) at the end of December 1812.
- 1813 - Italy
- By August 1813 the regiment had been rebuilt and was defending its homeland as part of Belotti's brigade of the Army of Italy. This brigade was ambushed and heavily defeated at Tersain in Slovenia. The survivors fought at San Marco and Volano.
- 1814 - Italy
- The remnants of the regiment fought in General Mermet's division of the army of Italy, They were engaged at Pescheira.
Organisation
The regiment was organised into four battlions and a depot in line with the standard infantry organisation.
Uniform
The light infantry uniform was not formalised until 1811 when the following was specified:
- Headgear
- On campaign, all companies wore a French style shako with a white metal lozenge-shaped plate bearing the regimental number within a hunting horn. The shako bore a green, red and white cockade and a pom-pom that was green over white for cacciatori, green or yellow for volteggiatori and red for carabinieri. Shako cords were white for cacciatori, green and yellow for volteggiatori and red for carabinieri. for parade dress, the carabinieri wore a bearskin bonnet with a red plume and without a front plate, the red cloth patch at the rear bore a white cross. For undress wear, a green bonnet-de-police fatigue cap was worn, piped in the regimental colour (see below).
- Coat
- The coat was dark green and of the short tailed habite-veste pattern (the long tailed habit-coat was worn prior to 1811). Orange was the regimental facing colour and was used on the collar and cuffs and as piping on the pointed lapels, pockets, shoulder straps, cuff flaps and turn-backs. There is some evidence that turn-backs were white, but sources conflict. Instead of shoulder straps, volteggiatore wore green epaulettes with yellow crescents, carabinieri wore red ones. Waistcoats were green and piped with the regimental colour.
- Breeches
- Breeches were dark green and worn with knee-length black gaiters with white metal buttons. On campaign, green overall trousers were worn with a facing colour stripe down the outer seam.
Sources
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