3rd Cuirassier Regiment (France)

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=3e Régiment de Cuirassiers


caption=
dates=1645-1815
1816-1919
1940
1952-1964
1968-1998
country= France
branch= French Army
type=Heavy Cavalry/Armored Cavalry
size=
command_structure=
garrison=
nickname=
motto=
colors=
march=
ceremonial_chief=
allegiance=
specialization=
current_commander=
battles =Thirty Years' War
War of the Spanish Succession
French Revolutionary Wars
Napoleonic Wars
World War I
Algerian War
notable_commanders=
anniversaries=

The 3rd Cuirassier Regiment ( _fr. 3e Régiment de Cuirassiers, 3e RC) was a cavalry regiment of the French Army, later reequipped as an armored regiment.

History

Ancien Régime

Timoléon de Sercourt d’Esclainvilliers inherits his fathers company of Light horse in 1635, he was three years old. The same year in May, Cardinal Richelieu decides to reorganize the French Cavalry, Esclainvilliers company becomes part of the Cardinal Duc regiment. It fought in the Battle of Rocroi as a part of that regiment. During this time the unit becomes the Esclainvilliers Cavalry, the ancestor of the 3rd Cuirassier Regiment.

The regiment distinguished itself fighting in Flanders in 1650. In 1652, under the command of Turenne, it fights against the fronders in Paris and is present at Stenay. The regiment is renamed the Commissaire General Regiment in April 1656.

The regiment sets up six companies in 1665 for the reconquest of Flanders. The regiment takes part in the siege of Maastricht in 1673, and then is garrison for a time in Franche-Comté before it returns to Flanders. It stays in Flanders during both the nine years’ war and War of Spanish Succession

The regiment joins the Army of the Rhine at Landan in 1742; with it the regiment distinguishes itself at Ratisbon. It is sent to the Army of the Alps in 1746, but the war ends the next year with the peace of Aux-la-Chapelle. During the Seven years’ war it is sent to Saint-Lô in 1762 to defend the French coastline. In 1791, the regt was renamed 3rd Regiment de Cavalrie. In 1802/03 the Regiment was renamed the 3rd Cuirassiers.

Napoleonic Period

Valmy (1792), Marengo, Austerlitz,Jena,Eylau,Friedland,Heilsberg. In 1807 a detachment was sent to Spain where it was combined with detachments from the 1st and 2nd Cuirassiers and the 1st and 2nd Carabiniers to form the 1st Provisional Heavy Cavalry (designated the 13th Cuirassiers at the end of 1808). Eckmuhl,Essling,Wagram,Ostrowono,Smolensk,Borodino,Dresden,Liebertwolkwitz,Liepzig,Champaubert,Fere-Champenoise. In the first restoration (1814), the regiment was named the Régiment de Cuirassiers du Dauphin. With the return of Napoleon in 1815, the regiment was renamed 3eme Régiment de Cuirassiers. It fought at Fleurus and Waterloo. It was disbanded with the restoration on 25 November.

July Monarchy and Second Empire

The final fall of the Bourbons and the establishment of the July Monarchy mean that the regiment once again becomes the 3rd Cuirassier Regiment. Between 1830 and 1869, the regiment is garrison in Lyon and Luneville.

When war was declared between France and Prussia in 1870, the regiment was garrison in Luneville. The regiment enters Haguenau on 2 August, then Reichshoffen, where it fights in the Battle of Woerth. There it took part in the great cavalry charge. The remains of the regiment withdraws in good order and arrives at Saverne on 7 August and after a short rest there marches to join the Army of Chalons-sur-Marne, which it does on 20 August 1870. After passing through Floing the regiment retreats to Sedan on 1 September, with the rest of its division.

In the evening of 4 March, the regiment is sent to Paris. The March Regiment becomes the 3rd Cuirassier Regiment again on 1 April 1871.

World War I

The regiment crosses the Franco-Belgian border on 6 August and takes part in the operations around Florenville. It takes part in engagements of the Great retreat and the following race to the sea. It then holds the trench lines until March 1918 in the North, Somme and Champagne, at that time the German had exhausted its last resources.

The regiment is part of the 4th Cavalry Division, which takes part in the offensive that brings victory to the allies, particular in July 1918 at Saint-Pierre-Aigle and in August at Montdidier. The regiment is at Detergheim in Flanders, when the armistice is signed on 11 November 1918. It takes part in the victory parade in Brussels ten days later.

The regiment receives two new inscriptions on the standard for its service during the war: “Belgique 1914-1918” and “Picardie 1918”. The regiment is dissolved in 1919 in the aftermath of the war.

Battle of France

The regiment is reformed on 16 May 1940 in the region of Fontevraud-Saumur, as a part of the mobilization for the war with Germany. It is equipped with Somua and H-35 tanks and becoming part of the 1st Cuirassier Division.

The regiment moves on Abbeville on 27 May, where it resists the Germany push, before being forced to retreat to Beauvais. During its retreat it fights rearguard actions at Cormonville and Cheverny. Hostilities are suspended on 25 June and cease fire orders are given to all units; the regiment is dissolved on 31 July 1940.

Algerian War

The regiment is reformed in 1952 and on 23 March 1956, the regiment disembarks in Oran, Algeria, first moving to Tlemcen then Sebdou. It takes part in the operations to maintain law and order, guarding the Moroccan-Algerian border. The regiment takes part in several operations in the area.

The regiment is reorganized to a reconnaissance regiment normally used in Algeria on 1 April 1957. It will be reorganized several more times during the war and in October 1962 it is attached to the 43rd Brigade, based at Mers-el-Kebir.

After eight years of service in Algeria, the regiment embarks for France on 4 June 1964. The regiment is dissolved on 15 June 1964 at Camp Sissonne.

Last reformation

The regiment is reformed in 1968 in Chenevières, France, as an armored regiment of the 8th Motorized Brigade in Lunéville. It is original equipped with AMX-13 tanks, but reequipped with the AMX-30 tanks in 1973.

The regiment is reorganized in 1992, when some regiments of the French Force in Germany are dissolved after the fall of the Berlin Wall and end of the Cold War. The regiment absorbs the 2nd Squadron of the 5th Cuirassier Regiment and the E.E.D. of the 57th D.B., a new squadron is also created and equipped with the AMX-30B tanks.

A squadron is sent to former Yugoslavia in 1994 as a part of the United Nations Protection Force; it is in Croatia for its four months deployment. The regiment also detaches some officers as observers for the UN to Western Sahara in 1997. The regiment is dissolved for the final time in 1998 in the reforms that sweeps the French Army.

Honors

Battle Honors

*Marengo 1800
*Austerlitz 1805
*La Moskowa 1812
*Champaubert 1814
*Belgique 1914-1918
*Picardie 1918

Decorations

*Croix de guerre 1914-1918 with a silver star

Lineage

*1645: D'Esclainvilliers
*1654: Commissaire Général
*1791: 3rd Cavalry Regiment
*1803: 3rd Cuirassier Regiment
*1815: Cuirassiers du Dauphin
*1815: 3rd Cuirassier Regiment
*1815: Dissolved
*1816: Cuirassiers d'Angoulème
*1824: Cuirassiers de Bordeaux
*1830: 3rd Cuirassier Regiment
*1919: Dissolved
*1940: 3rd Cuirassier Regiment
*1940: Dissolved
*1952: 3rd Cuirassier Regiment
*1964: Dissolved
*1968: 3rd Cuirassier Regiment
*1998: Dissolved

http://www.3rdcuirassiers.org/