Lazare Hoche
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Louis Lazare Hoche was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars. He won a victory over Royalist forces in Brittany. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 3. Richard Holmes describes him as "quick-thinking, stern, and ruthless... a general of real talent whose early death was a loss to France."
Lazare Hoche's birthplace in Versailles
Hoche by Jean-Louis Laneuville, c. 1801
Hoche at the Battle of Quiberon, by Charles Porion (1879)
French Guards Regiment
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The French Guards were an elite infantry regiment of the French Royal Army. They formed a constituent part of the maison militaire du roi de France under the Ancien Régime.
The Gardes Françaises and the British Guards confronted each other at Fontenoy in 1745. Lord Charles Hay, a British officer, reportedly said, "Tell your men to fire". The Count d'Auteroche, officer of the Gardes françaises, replied, "No, we never fire first".
Rebel Gardes Françaises (in blue uniforms at left and centre-right) took part in the storming of the Bastille and the arrest of its governor, the Marquis de Launay, shown above.
Gardes françaises at the battle of Fontenoy
Gardes françaises reenactors