Soldiers always name a uniform, and the men of the Neuchâtel Battalion were "les Canaris" — the Canaries — for the bright yellow coats you see here. They came from an unusual place. In 1806 Napoleon carved the small Swiss principality of Neuchâtel out of the map and handed it to his chief of staff, Marshal Berthier, as a personal fief; Berthier in turn raised this battalion from his new princedom to serve France. The Canaries fought in Spain and then marched into Russia in 1812 where, like so much of the Grande Armée, the battalion was all but destroyed by battle, cold, and hunger. Few of the yellow coats came home.

The eight-figure set marches in column — six grenadiers with muskets shouldered, an officer, and a drummer beating the step, in the yellow coats and red-plumed shakos that named them. It builds a marching diorama of Napoleon's foreign contingents. Fall it in beside the 3rd Swiss Regiment, another of the foreign battalions that marched into Russia in 1812, extend the column with the French Line Infantry Marching, and set it under the eye of Napoleon's Headquarters — where Berthier, the Canaries' own prince, stands at the map table.

Tradition of London model 728. 54mm, white metal, hand-painted in gloss enamel. Eight-figure set — an officer, a drummer, and six grenadiers, 1812. Supplied in the Tradition Classic Red Box. Allow 2–3 weeks delivery.