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The 1st Polish Light Cavalry Lancers Regiment of the Imperial Guard (French: 1er régiment de chevau-légers lanciers de la Garde impériale (polonais); Polish: 1. Pułk Szwoleżerów-Lansjerów Gwardii Cesarskiej (Polski)) was a foreign Polish light cavalry lancers regiment which served as part of Napoleon's Imperial Guard during the Napoleonic Wars.
Finally, the Polish cavalry detachments were also present in Haiti, where they helped the French administration to quell a slave revolt. However, perhaps the most notable success of the Polish cavalry in that period (and certainly the best known) is the Battle of Somosierra, a part of the Peninsular War.
The Polish Legions serving alongside the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars saw combat in most of Napoleon's campaigns, from the West Indies, through Italy and Egypt. When the Duchy of Warsaw was created in 1807, many of the veterans of the Legions formed a core around which the Duchy's army was raised under Józef Poniatowski.
The Polish hussars (/ h ə ˈ z ɑːr s /; Polish: husaria), [a] alternatively known as the winged hussars, were a heavy cavalry formation active in Poland and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1503 to 1702.
The army participated in numerous wars on the side of Napoleonic France, including in the War of the Fourth Coalition (1806–1807), Peninsular War, the War of the Fifth Coalition (primarily in the Polish–Austrian War) of 1809, and in the War of the Sixth Coalition (in particular, in the French invasion of Russia) of 1812–1813. [8]
During the Napoleonic Wars, the Duchy of Warsaw raised uhlan formations. Polish lancers serving with the French Army included the Legion of the Vistula and the 1st Polish Light Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Guard. The Imperial Guard lancers were armed with lances, sabres and pistols. [11]
Lancers of the Vistula Legion on patrol in Spain during the Peninsular War by Juliusz Kossak, 1875. On 7 February 1811 a second lancer regiment was raised, and on June 18 of that year, the two lancer regiments were removed from the legion and redesignated as the 7th and 8th Chevauleger-lancier regiments of the French line, with six converted French dragoon regiments being numbered 1 to 6.
In 1804, the Imperial Guard cavalry initially comprised three units: mounted grenadiers, mounted chasseurs, and mamelukes. Subsequently, other cavalry corps joined the Imperial Guard, such as the dragoons in 1806, the Polish lancers in 1807, the red lancers in 1810, the Lithuanian lancers and Lithuanian tatars in 1812, and the scouts in 1813.