First raised under Louis XIV in 1684. 1 battalion.
Ranked 77th in 1756.
Flags carried 1684-1791.
The pattern of the colours seems a bit variable depending on the source; I have chosen to use the 1721 French manuscript volume as I feel it is probably more authoritative than many.
Saintonge was called, in 1755, to the camp of Aimeries sur Sambre. It was stationed at Brest at the beginning of the Seven Years War and was in Brittany for the duration of the war. In 1759, when France made its great effort to attack Britain on its home territory, it was embarked in the fleet of M de Conflans, who did not live up to the promise of such a mission. After a deplorable combat [presumably Quiberon Bay?] the expedition returned to Brest.
The ordonnance of 10th December 1762 put Saintonge in the service of ports and colonies. It had been sent the preceding year to Guiana and had lost several companies in an appalling shipwreck. Lieutenant Vicomte de Berlaymont had survived four days with some of his men in the open sea on the wreckage of a ship. The regiment left Guiana in 1766 for Guadeloupe and returned to Brest in France on the 11th of April 1768.
And this is the uniform in 1756:
[The text is largely from Susane again; I'm sure you will note the somewhat pro-French bias! :-) This is yet another French regiment which saw far more activity in the War of the Spanish Succession than in the SYW; it fought at Blenheim and Malplaquet, for instance.]
This is a very colorful design. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteIt is, isn't it? Very cheery! Having that flying over the battle line might be a very useful distraction from all the "hate" (to use a WWI expression) flying about.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment; glad you like this one too. :-)
All the best,
David.
Now that is a simple, but very bright and colourful flag design:)
ReplyDeleteDamn - that could well be another regiment to re-flag! Stop it will you? LOL..
ReplyDeleteThanks, Steve J.. I agree. :-) There are a couple of other regiments with the same basic design but using different colours. Will have to do those eventually too!
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
David.
Go on, Steve W! You know you really want to. I find myself becoming intrigued by regiments that fought extensively in the WSS but were perhaps not so active later in the century... ;-)
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
David.
The flag reminds of the Italian Arlecchino. It's a shame that I never intended to recruit that unit.
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed; harlequin it is! :-) But you can't recruit every regiment or your wargames army would be vastly too big to use!
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
David.