Thursday, November 6, 2025

Chevau-légers lanciers Brigade commander Tomasz Andrzej Łubieński

 Chevau-légers lanciers Tomasz Andrzej Łubieński

I had a few spare command figures over from the warlord boxes, the metal horses need pinning to stand, this one was snapped off at the hooves so I repined and also added a central pin, when basing came around I stuck flock to hide the pin, I think it looks effective. 





Tomasz Andrzej Łubieński 


Tomasz Łubieński (center, mounted on a white horse) fighting Austrian uhlans at the Battle of Wagram , July 6, 1809. Painting by Juliusz Kossak , 1867.


December 1806 the defeat of Prussia by the French, Tomasz Łubieński became second-in-command of the Polish honor guard tasked with welcoming Napoleon upon his entry into Warsaw. After the Battle of Pułtusk (1806) , where he served as the Emperor's messenger, he received the national order of the Legion of Honour .

April 7, 1807 He was assigned as a squadron leader to a newly formed regiment, the Polish Lancers of the Imperial Guard. In mid-June 1807, he commanded the first contingent of 125 light cavalrymen, assembled in Warsaw, which left the city for Königsberg , then Hanover ; from there, joined by a second detachment, his men marched successively to Paris, Chantilly , and finally Bordeaux , where they arrived in November 1807.

With his regiment, Łubieński participated in the Spanish campaign , in particular the Battle of Somosierra , November 30, 1808. At that time, he commanded the 1st squadron of Polish light cavalry of the Guard, the other three being led respectively by Jan Kozietulski , Ferdynand Stokowski , and Henryk Ignacy Kamieński. During this engagement, following the attack of the 3rd Polish squadron against the Spanish positions, Napoleon ordered Łubieński to lead a second charge at the head of his own squadron and a platoon of Guard cavalry. Although hampered in their advance by the aftereffects of the previous charge, Łubieński's cavalrymen reached the summit of the pass where, regrouped by their leader with the remnants of the 3rd squadron , they witnessed the pursuit of the routed enemy army by the last two squadrons of the regiment. Łubieński subsequently sought to be recognized, at the expense of Kozietulski, as the true victor of Somosierra .

At the beginning of 1809, as General John Moore 's British expeditionary force retreated before the French forces in Spain, Łubieński defeated a British squadron with only 29 cavalrymen . His squadron eventually left Spain inJanuary 1809, closely followed by the rest of the Polish light cavalry regiment. On April 5th He received the officer's cross of the Legion of Honour .


During the 1809 campaign against Austria, he participated in the Battle of Essling , May 22, then to that of Wagram on July 6th. To reward his courage, Napoleon made him a Baron of the Empire with a pension of four thousand francs, later increased to 6,000 francs. In 1810, he returned briefly to Warsaw and received the military order of Virtuti Militari . Disagreeing with Wincenty Krasiński, Łubieński submitted his resignation, but it was not accepted. At the beginning of 1811, he was sent to Sedan with the Vistula Legion ( Legia Nadwiślańska ), one of the main Polish Napoleonic legions; he was promoted to colonel and given command of the 8th Regiment of Light Cavalry Lancers .

March 1812 he led his regiment to Berlin , Grudziądz , Wystruć , and Vilnius , while Napoleon assembled the Grande Armée to launch his attack against Russia,  Łubieński's regiment was part of the reserve corps commanded by Marshal Nicolas Charles Oudinot . It participated in the battles of Filipow, Polotsk, Borisov; on the return from Moscow, during the crossing of the Berezina (November 1812), his regiment suffered heavy losses protecting the army's passage. At the end of 1812, Lubienski returned to Warsaw, which was about to be occupied by the Russian army.

In 1813, still at the head of the 8th Lancers , he took part in the German campaign , notably in the battles of Lützen , Bautzen , Dresden and Leipzig. January 19, 1814 colonel commanding the 7th Lancers Regiment with which he charged at Champaubert , Vauchamps and Reims. Promoted to brigadier general on March 15, 1814. He resigned from the French army on June 1st​ following the abdication of Napoleon


Cheers
Matt

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