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Miniatures Adventure => Age of the Big Battalions => Topic started by: juergen c. olk on March 20, 2016, 03:03:31 AM

Title: Polish troops in Haiti.
Post by: juergen c. olk on March 20, 2016, 03:03:31 AM
This is for you Shipka. Polish troops used in putting down Haitian revolt.
Title: Re: Polish troops in Haiti.
Post by: grant on March 20, 2016, 07:16:33 AM
That rebel on the left seems to be ahead of his compatriots in holding back the Polish troops....
Title: Re: Polish troops in Haiti.
Post by: has.been on March 20, 2016, 08:03:42 AM
No.  he is merely showing what happens when you assemble your plastic Napoleonic figures with inferior super-glue.
Title: Re: Polish troops in Haiti.
Post by: carlos marighela on March 20, 2016, 08:42:56 AM
Bloody ventriloquists! Nina Conti aside, I can never abide the buggers.
Title: Re: Polish troops in Haiti.
Post by: AlyMorrison on March 20, 2016, 12:20:41 PM
If you want to learn a bit more about the Haitian revolution I would recommend listening to Mike Duncan's Revolutions podcast ...

http://www.revolutionspodcast.com/

He has also covered the French Revolution , The American war of Independance ,The English Civil War and a seperate podcast on the History of Rome.

All the best.  Aly
Title: Re: Polish troops in Haiti.
Post by: AWu on March 20, 2016, 06:13:24 PM
2nd and 3rd Polish demi brigades, renamed in Haiti as accordingly 113 and 114 French demi brigades.

5280 men most of whom perished in Haiti Only around 700 of whom returned to Europe, 400 other fought on the Haitians side, as war for slavery wasu npopular. There are still polish names on Haiti and some people of traceable Polish-mix breed and blue eyes.

Some of the officers succumbed to piracy and tried to establish colony in Florida :)

Very interesting conflict.
Title: Re: Polish troops in Haiti.
Post by: Shipka on March 22, 2016, 10:50:29 AM
Trent Miniatures produce some for the period
Title: Re: Polish troops in Haiti.
Post by: gustav on March 24, 2016, 05:21:28 AM
have always though that those Polish troops fighting in Haiti were incongruous to the extreme.
 
Title: Re: Polish troops in Haiti.
Post by: janner on March 24, 2016, 07:11:12 AM
have always though that those Polish troops fighting in Haiti were incongruous to the extreme.
 

Yes, it's a bit like deploying Indian battalions to France or sending Australians to fight in North Africa  lol
Title: Re: Polish troops in Haiti.
Post by: Vanvlak on March 24, 2016, 07:54:31 AM
Or Maori sappers in Gallipoli - one of them is buried here in Malta, poor man, so far from home.
His name is recorded simply as Pakeha, and he died a hundred years ago last February.
Title: Re: Polish troops in Haiti.
Post by: AWu on March 24, 2016, 12:29:45 PM
Yes it is bitter part of Polish alliance with Napoleon, and one that we are not very proud of. We prefer to talk about those soldiers that had gone to Haitian side and settled there after the war. (What is interesting polish forces that deserted for Haitian side were spared in white people massacres of 1804)

But to French defense i have to say that they chose their fate themselves (Poles)

They refuse to go to service of Kingdom of Etruria - citing their republican convictions, so Nepoleon wanted to remove them from the picture as unreliable -But poles accepted colonial service and preferred them to enrollment into Etrurian army.

On trivia worth noting is that while never leading Polish troops in Santo Domingo - first Pole here was Gen Jablonowski - most senior Afro-Polish (is this right word   :) in history of Polish armies. He commanded Artibonit Division but he died due to illness before any polish troops arrived, so he commanded only French units and fought against and destroyed Coutreau force.