The 6th Regiment of Dragoons (''6e Régiment de Dragons'') is a French regiment of

dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat w ...

cavalry formed under the

old regime Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...

, and dissolved in 1992.

Creation and renames

September 14, 1673: Creation as the ''Régiment d'Hocquincourt'' (Regiment of Hocquincourt) * 1675: Renamed to ''Régiment de Dragons de la Reine'' (Dragoons of the Queen) * 1791: Renamed to ''6e Régiment de Dragons'' (6th Regiment of Dragoons) * 1814: Renamed to ''Régiment de Dragons de Monsieur'' (Dragoons of Gentlemen) * 1815: Renamed back to ''6e Régiment de Dragons'', dissolved after the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoratio ...

* 1815: Recreated as ''Régiment de Dragons de la Loire'' (Dragoons of the Loire) * 1825: Renamed to ''6e régiment de dragons'' * 1940: Dissolved * 1951: Recreated as ''6e régiment de dragons'' * 1963: Dissolved * 1964: Recreated as ''6e régiment de dragons'' out of the 3e Algerian Spahis Regiment * 1992: Final dissolution

Regimental Leaders

Until the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

, the regimental leader were called '' mestre de camp'', who owned the regiment they commanded. Beginning in 1791, the leader was referred to as a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

. In reality, only the first dragoon regiment leader had this quality, his followers, being only ''mestre de camp-lieutenant'', corresponding afterwards to

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

. * 1673: Gabriel de Monchy * 1675: Mestre de Camp de Brizay, Viscount of Enonville * 1685: Mestre de Camp Nicolaï, Knight of Murçay * 1692: Mestre de Camp Texier, Marquis of Hautefeuille * 1704: Mestre de Camp Riencourt, Marquis of Orival * 1731: Mestre de Camp Lamber of Herbigny, Marquis of Thibouville * 1734: Mestre de Camp Chabannes, Marquis of Chabannes-Pionsac * 1740: Mestre de Camp Durey of Sauroy, Marquis of Terrail * 1748: Mestre de Camp Charles, Marquis of Morand * 1762: Mestre de Camp Grossoles, Earl of Flammarens * 1780: Mestre de Camp Franquetot, Knight of Coigny * 1784: Mestre de Camp Grammont, Duke of Guiche * 1788: Mestre de Camp Machault, Viscount of Machault * 1791: Colonel Louis-Marthe of Gouy d'Arsy * 1792: Colonel Marc Pierre de la Turmeliere * 1792: Colonel Blaise Duval "Duval de Hautmaret" * 1792: Colonel Adelaïde Blaise François "le Hare de la Grange" * 1792: Colonel

Jacques Louis François Delaistre de Tilly Jacques-Louis-François Delaistre de Tilly (2 February 1749, Vernon, Eure – 10 January 1822, Paris) became a general officer in the French army during the French Revolutionary Wars. He led a cavalry division in a number of battles during th ...

* 1793: Chef de Brigade François Philibert Michel Pelicot * 1794: Chef de Brigade François Jourdan * 1794: Chef de Brigade Vincent * 1794: Chef de Brigade Jean-Louis-François Fauconnet * 1797: Chef de Brigade Jacques le Baron (Colonel in 1803) * 1807: Colonel Cyrille-Simon Picquet * 1809: Colonel Pierrre Alexis de Pinteville * 1813: Colonel Claude Mugnier * 1814: Colonel Jean-Baptiste Saviot * 1815: Colonel Dornier * 1823: Colonel Podenas * 1830: Colonel Lacour * 1834: Colonel Scherer * 1845: Colonel Beltramin * 1852: Colonel Robinet des Plas * 1855: Colonel Jean Jacques Paul Félix Ressayre * 1863: Colonel Bourboulon * 1869: Colonel Tillion * 1870: Colonel Fombert de Villiers * 1876: Colonel Maréchal * 1881: Colonel Rapp * 1887: Colonel Brossier de Buros * 1893: Colonel of Lestapis * 1898: Colonel of Sesmaisons * 1899: Colonel Faure * 1908: Colonel Trafford * 1912: Colonel Champeaux * 1914: Colonel of Champvallier * 1918: Colonel Joannard * 1925: Colonel Yvart * 1931: Colonel Barbe * 1933: Colonel of the Perrier de Larsan * 1936: Colonel Jacottet * 1951: Colonel of Soultrait * 1953: Colonel Ameil * 1956: Colonel Renoult * 1958: Lieutenant-Colonel Bonnefous * 1961: Lieutenant-Colonel Boileau * 1963: Lieutenant-Colonel Jeannerod * 1964: Lieutenant-Colonel le Diberder * 1967: Colonel Fournier * 1969: Lieutenant-Colonel O'Delant * 1971: Lieutenant-Colonel Maillard * 1972: Lieutenant-Colonel Carabin * 1974: Colonel Delcourt * 1976: Colonel of Cotton * 1978: Colonel Thiébaut * 1980: Colonel Burel * 1982: Colonel Winckel * 1984: Colonel Cailloux * 1986: Colonel Lefebvre * 1990: Colonel Françon * 1991: Lieutenant-Colonel Riediner

Regimental leaders killed or injured in combat

* July 23, 1675: Knight of Hocquincourt (Killed) * August 4, 1692: Knight of Murçay (Killed) * April 26, 1794: Chef de Brigade Vincent (Killed) * February 6, 1807: Colonel Lebaron (Killed) * July 22, 1812: Colonel Picquet (Wounded)

Garrisons

In March 1788, the Régiment de Dragons de la Reine moved to

Laon Laon () is a city in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. ...

in a newly built barracks, which, as new as it was, is assigned to it a merry-go-round, a quarry, and even a hospital. Dragoons are sworn to the nation and the King and Queen on August 1789. Becoming the ''6e Régiment de Dragons'' early in 1792 and this time, after swearing loyalty to the nation, the law, administrators of the executive, to maintain the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

with all its strength, never to abandon its guiding principles, to observe the rules of discipline and to live free or to die, the regiment nevertheless left the city the following year for the campaigns of the French Revolution and the French Empire. Laon was later destroyed by bombing during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, only a pediment inscribed on historic monuments remains. From the end of the empire in 1815 until the Franco-Prussian War, the regiment was mobile throughout the metropolitan territory and changed garrison almost every two years. After the fall of the empire, the regiment was dissolved while garrisoned at

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of ...

. It was reformed in 1816 in

Haute-Saône Haute-Saône (; Arpitan: ''Hiôta-Sona''; English: Upper Saône) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of northeastern France. Named after the river Saône, it had a population of 235,313 in 2019.Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglome ...

, Fonatinebleau, Sedan, Chalon-sur-Marne, Limoges, and Toul. In 1853, before leaving for the Crimea, it was stationed in Tarascon. After that, they were moved to Clermont-Ferran, back to Paris,

Saint-Mihiel Saint-Mihiel () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Geography Saint-Mihiel lies on the banks of the river Meuse. History A Benedictine abbey was established here in 708 or 709 by Count Wulfoalde and his wif ...

, Valenciennes, Lunéville, and Lyon. In 1870, the regiment was in Libourne, where they were at for a short time and then returned to Lyon. From this period, stability was established. From 1872 to 1880, the regiment was in

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chamb ...

, where it had already been in between 1867 and 1869, where it concurred

World War I

It took part in the

Battle of the Yser The Battle of the Yser (french: Bataille de l'Yser, nl, Slag om de IJzer) was a battle of the First World War that took place in October 1914 between the towns of Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide, along a stretch of the Yser River and the Yperlee ...

. It took part in the

Third Battle of the Aisne The Third Battle of the Aisne (french: 3e Bataille de l'Aisne) was a battle of the German spring offensive during World War I that focused on capturing the Chemin des Dames Ridge before the American Expeditionary Forces arrived completely in ...

World War II

It was dissolved in 1940.

The Cold War

It was raised again as the ''6th Dragoon Regiment'' in 1964 out of the ''3e Régiment de Spahis Algériens''. It was dissolved in 1992.

Honours

Battle honours

* Marengo 1800 * Austerlitz 1806 * Friedland 1807 *Kanghil 1855 * L’Yser 1914 * Picardie 1918

Decorations

* Croix de guerre 1914–1918 with 1 palm *

Croix de guerre 1939–1945 The ''Croix de Guerre 1939–1945'' (English: War Cross 1939–1945) is a French military decoration, a version of the '' Croix de Guerre'' created on 26 September 1939 to honour people who fought with the Allies against the Axis forces at any ...

with 1 palm {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragoon, 6th Dragoon Regiment (France) Dragoon regiments of France Military units and formations disestablished in 1992 20th-century regiments of France Regiments of the Bourbon Restoration Regiments of the French First Republic Regiments of the First French Empire Regiments of the July Monarchy Military units and formations established in 1791