The legendary Dutch 'Red' Lancers - the 2nd Light Horse Lancers of Napoleon's Imperial Guard - were formed in 1810 after the emperor annexed Holland and its army to France. The former hussars of the Dutch Royal Guard got a handsome new uniform, a new weapon, and a hard-driving new colonel in Baron Edouard Colbert. His lancers distinguished themselves in Russia in 1812, at huge cost; in Germany in 1813, and in the Low Countries in 1814. When Napoleon returned from exile in 1815 the Red Lancers were with him until night fell over Waterloo. Ronald Pawly is the world's leading expert on the archival and pictorial record left by this regiment; his detailed text is illustrated with rare portraits and photographs, and eight glowing colour plates of a surprisingly wide variety of uniforms.

From Royal Guard to Imperial Guard - the background and creation of the regiment, 1810-11 · Officers & men - careers - regimental life in the Versailles garrison · Campaigns - Russia 1812 - Germany 1813 · Belgium 1814 - division of the regiment into Old and Young Guard units - General Maison's Antwerp campaign · Uniforms & weapons - full descriptions from unpublished Dutch sources

RONALD PAWLY, born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1956, is a member of several international societies for Napoleonic studies. His forté is research in the field of military portraiture. He contributed to two major French reference works, Répertoire Mondial des Souvenirs Napoléonien and Dictionnaire des Colonels de Napoléon. In 1998 he published his first major work, The Red Lancers - Anatomy of a Napoleonic Regiment. A contributor to the Osprey Journal, he is the author of MAA 355 Wellington's Belgian Allies 1815, MAA 371 Wellington's Dutch Allies 1815, and MAA 378 Napoleon's Guards of Honour.