The 3rd Cuirassier Regiment () was a cavalry regiment of the French Army, later reequipped as an armored regiment.

Ancien Régime

Timoléon de Sercourt d’Esclainvilliers inherited his father's company of Light Horse in 1635, when he was three years old. The same year in May,

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

decided to reorganize the French cavalry, Esclainvilliers' company became part of the Cardinal Duc regiment. It fought in the

Battle of Rocroi The Battle of Rocroi, fought on 19 May 1643, was a major engagement of the Thirty Years' War between a French army, led by the 21-year-old Duke of Enghien (later known as the Great Condé) and Spanish forces under General Francisco de Melo ...

as a part of that unit. During this time the regiment became 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 Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne (11 September 161127 July 1675), commonly known as Turenne (), was a French general and one of only six marshals to have been promoted Marshal General of France. The most illustrious member of th ...

, it fought against the

fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in the Kingdom of France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The government of the young King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition ...

rs in Paris and was present at Stenay. The unit was renamed as the Commissaire General Regiment in April 1656. The regiment provided up to six companies in 1665 for the reconquest of Flanders, took part in the siege of Maastricht in 1673, and then served as a garrison for a time in

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou dialect, Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; ; also ; ; all ) is a cultural and Provinces of France, historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of France, departments of Doub ...

before it returned to Flanders. It stayed in Flanders during both the

Nine Years' War The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between Kingdom of France, France and the Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg), Grand Alliance. Although largely concentrated in Europe, fighting spread to colonial poss ...

and the

War of Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish ...

. The regiment joined the ''Army of the Rhine'' at Landan in 1742 and distinguished itself at Ratisbon. It was sent to the ''Army of the Alps'' in 1746, but the war ended the next year with the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. During the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

it was sent to Saint-Lô in 1762 to defend the French coastline. In 1791, the regiment was renamed as the 3rd Régiment de Cavalrie. In 1802/03 the Regiment was retitled the 3rd Cuirassiers.

The Revolutionary Wars

During the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

and the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, the regiment fought in the battles of

Valmy Valmy () is a rural Communes of France, commune in the Marne (department), Marne Departments of France, department in the Grand Est Regions of France, region in Northeastern France. In 2020, it had a population of 282. Geography The town stands ...

, Marengo.

Napoleonic Wars

It took part in the battles of Austerlitz,

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, Eylau, Heilsberg and Friedland. 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 as the 13th Cuirassiers at the end of 1808). From 1809 on the regiment served in the battles of Eckmühl,

Essling Essling
Essling entry in the Viennese government's history wiki (German) () is a neighbourhood ...

, Battle of Wagram, Wagram, Ostrowono,

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

Borodino The Battle of Borodino ( ) or Battle of Moscow (), in popular literature also known as the Battle of the Generals, took place on the outskirts of Moscow near the village of Borodino on 7 September 1812 during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. T ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, Liebertwolkwitz,

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Champaubert, Fère-Champenoise. During the

First Restoration The First Restoration was a period in French history that saw the return of the House of Bourbon to the throne, between the abdication of Napoleon in the spring of 1814 and the Hundred Days in March 1815. The regime was born following the victo ...

(1814), the regiment was given the designation of the Régiment de Cuirassiers du Dauphin. With the return of

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

in 1815, the regiment was renamed the 3eme Régiment de Cuirassiers. It fought at

Ligny Ligny (; ) is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Sombreffe, located in the province of Namur, Belgium. Previously its own municipality, a 1977 fusion of the Belgian municipalities made it an '' ancienne commune'' of So ...

and

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

. It was disbanded with the Second Restoration on 25 November.

July Monarchy and Second Empire

The final fall of the Bourbons and the establishment of the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...

mean that the regiment once again became the 3rd Cuirassier Regiment. Between 1830 and 1869, the regiment was in garrison in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

and

Lunéville Lunéville ( ; German : ''Lünstadt'' ; Lorrain: ''Leneinvile'') is a commune in the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It is a subprefecture of the department and lies on the river Meurthe at its confluence with the Ve ...

. When

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

was declared between France and Prussia in 1870, the regiment was garrisoned in Lunéville. The regiment entered Haguenau on 2 August, then Reichshoffen, where it fought in the

Battle of Wörth The Battle of Wörth, also known as the Battle of Reichshoffen or as the Battle of Frœschwiller, refers to the second battle of Wörth, which took place on 6 August 1870 in the opening stages of the Franco-Prussian War (the first Battle of W ...

. There it took part in the great cavalry charge. The remains of the regiment withdrew in good order and arrived at Saverne on 7 August and after a short period of recovery there joined the ''

Army of Châlons The Army of Châlons () was a French military formation that fought during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Formed in the camp of Châlons on August 17, 1870, from elements of the Army of the Rhine which the formation was issued from, the Army of ...

'' on 20 August 1870. After passing through Floing the regiment took part in the Battle of Sedan on 1 September. Together with the rest of its division, the regiment then became prisoners of the Prussian army. Following release, the regiment was sent to Paris on the evening of 4 March 1871. Although designated as a "marching regiment" (ad hoc unit) it became the 3rd Cuirassier Regiment again on 1 April 1871.

World War I

The regiment crossed the Franco-Belgian border on 6 August and took part in the operations around Florenville. It also took part in engagements of the

Great Retreat The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army. The Franco-British forces on the Western F ...

and the following

Race to the Sea The Race to the Sea (; , ) took place from 17 September to 19 October 1914 during the First World War, after the Battle of the Frontiers () and the German Empire, German advance into France. The invasion had been stopped at the First Battle of ...

. At this early stage in the war it was still a horse-mounted formation wearing the plumed helmets and cuirasses of the Napoleonic period, with the colorful uniforms of peacetime. From November 1914 to March 1918 the 3rd Cuirassiers saw spells of service as temporarily dismounted ''cuirassiers a' pied'' in the trenches, in the North, the Somme, and Champagne. Except for these brief intervals, the 3rd retained its historic role as mounted heavy cavalry for most of the war, remaining in reserve behind the lines. Five of the other cuirassier regiments were fully converted to infantry after the opening stages of conflict.Francois Vauvillier, page 72 ''"Les Cuirassiers 1845-1918"'', Argout-Editions, Paris 1981 The regiment was part of the 4th Cavalry Division, which took part in the offensives that brought victory to the allies, particularly in July 1918 at Saint-Pierre-Aigle and in August at Montdidier. The regiment was at Detergheim in Flanders, when the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918. It took part in the victory parade in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

ten days later. The regiment received two new inscriptions on its standard for service during the war: "Belgique 1914-1918" and "Picardie 1918". The 3rd was dissolved in 1919 in the aftermath of the war, as part of a general reorganisation of the French heavy cavalry which saw the number of cuirassier regiments reduced from twelve to six.

Battle of France

The regiment was reformed on 16 May 1940 as an armored unit in the region of Fontevraud-Saumur, as a part of the general mobilization for the war with Germany. It was equipped with

SOMUA S35 The SOMUA S35 was a French cavalry tank of the Second World War. Built from 1936 until 1940 to equip the armoured divisions of the Cavalry, it was for its time a relatively agile medium-weight tank, superior in armour and armament to its Fren ...

and

Hotchkiss H35 The Hotchkiss H35 or was a French Tanks in France#Inter War, cavalry tank developed prior to World War II. Despite having been designed from 1933 as a rather slow but well-armoured light infantry support tank, the type was initially rejected b ...

tanks and became part of the

4e Division cuirassée The 4th Armored Division () was a short-lived armoured unit of the French Army. Formed on 10 May 1940 on the battlefield, it comprised mainly tank battalions. It fought without interruption for forty days and was initially commanded by Charles d ...

. The regiment moved to

Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...

on 27 May, where it resisted the German advance, before being forced to retreat to Beauvais. During its retreat it fought rearguard actions at Cormonville and Cheverny. Hostilities were suspended on 25 June and cease-fire orders were given to all units; the regiment was dissolved on 31 July 1940.

Algerian War

The 3rd Cuirassiers was reformed in 1952, and on 23 March 1956 the regiment disembarked in

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

French Algeria French Algeria ( until 1839, then afterwards; unofficially ; ), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of History of Algeria, Algerian history when the country was a colony and later an integral part of France. French rule lasted until ...

, first moving to

Tlemcen Tlemcen (; ) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran and is the capital of Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the port of Rachgoun. It had a population of ...

then Sebdou. It undertook internal security duties, guarding the Moroccan-Algerian border. The regiment took part in several operations in the area. The regiment was reorganized as a reconnaissance unit on 1 April 1957, normally for service in Algeria. It would be reorganized several times during the war and in October 1962 it was attached to the 43rd Brigade, based at

Mers El Kébir Mers El Kébir ( ) is a port on the Mediterranean Sea, near Oran in Oran Province, northwest Algeria. It is famous for the attack on the French fleet in 1940, in the Second World War. History Originally a Phoenician port, it was called ''Port ...

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

Last reformation

The regiment was reformed in 1968 in Chenevières, France, as an armored regiment of the 8th Motorized Brigade in

. It was originally equipped with

AMX-13 The AMX-13 is a French light tank produced from 1952 to 1987. It served with the French Army, as the Char 13t-75 Modèle 51, and was exported to more than 26 other nations. Named after its initial weight of 13 tonnes, and featuring a tough and re ...

tanks, but reequipped with the

AMX-30 The AMX-30 is a French main battle tank designed by Ateliers de construction d'Issy-les-Moulineaux (AMX, then Nexter, GIAT) and first delivered to the French Army in August 1966. The first five tanks were issued to the 501st ''Régiment de Chars ...

tanks in 1973. The regiment was reorganized again in 1992, when some regiments of the French Forces in Germany were dissolved after the fall of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

and the end of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. The regiment absorbed the 2nd Squadron of the 5th Cuirassier Regiment and the E.E.D. of the 57th D.B.; a new squadron was also created and equipped with AMX-30B tanks. A squadron was sent to the former

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in 1994 as a part of the

United Nations Protection Force The United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR; also known by its French acronym FORPRONU: ''Force de Protection des Nations Unies'') was the first United Nations peacekeeping force in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Yugoslav War ...

; serving in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

for its four months deployment. The regiment also detached some officers as observers for the UN to the

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

in 1997. The regiment was disbanded in 1998 as part of a general reorganisation of the French Army following the end of conscription.

Honors

Battle Honors

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

Decorations

Croix de guerre 1914-1918 Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort depa ...

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

References