On March 7, 1815, near Laffrey on the road from Elba, a single regiment of the king's troops drew up across Napoleon's path with orders to stop him. He walked out ahead of his small band, alone and within musket range, threw open his grey coat, and called to them: "If there is one among you who would kill his Emperor, here I am." For a moment nothing moved. Then the muskets came down and the shout went up — "Vive l'Empereur!" — and the soldiers sent to arrest him changed sides on the spot. He retook France without firing a shot, carried back to Paris on the devotion this figure throws into the air.

The figure is pure motion — musket thrust overhead, the other arm flung up, head thrown back in the shout. He wears the white campaign uniform with blue coat and the bearskin, the dress of a guardsman on the march rather than the parade ground. He is made to be grouped into a crowd. Build the scene around the returning emperor: set Napoleon on Marengo riding through, add a second cheering guardsman with the Vive l'Empereur Cheering Imperial Guard, and raise the French Imperial Guard Eagle over the throng.

W. Britain model 36221. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.