cavalry cuirass shot through by a cannonball

Rust needs cannons.

A nine-pounder by the looks of it.

This armour cuirass belonged to a François-Antoine Fauveau of the French Carabiniers-à-Cheval - an elite heavy cavalry unit within Napoleon's army. It suffer the debilitating damage during the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, where the Cararbiniers were ordered to repeated charge British and Allied infantry squares during Napoleon's last ditch efforts to regain power.

British artillery maintained fire on the French cavalry as they charged before pulling back in the last moments to the safety of the formed infantry squares. A cannonball from one of these volleys fatally penetrated the cuirass in question, killing its wearer instantly.

The steel cuirass worn by heavy cavalry at the time were proofed against sword cuts, pistol fire, and the occasional spent or glancing musket ball - but definitely not a shot from a field cannon which could tore through and decimate the ranks of a tightly clustered cavalry or infantry formation. The above example has been gilded in brass plating.

#Napoleonic_wars #Cavalry #Armor