The Esterhazy Houzards regiment was created on February 10, 1764 in Phalsbourg by Count Valentin-Ladislas Esterhazy (1740-1805) from a squadron of each of the three existing hussar regiments (Bercheny, Chamborant and the Royal Nassau), but also from Alsatian and German volunteers.
On January 1, 1791 it became the 3rd Hussars by decree of the National Assembly, which removed the names given to the regiments to assign them numbers.
In 1793, belonging to the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees, it distinguished itself at the Battle of Froeschwiller where Major Armand Lebrun de La Houssaye (1768-1846) captured with two squadrons nearly 1,500 Hungarian grenadiers and 28 cannons.
The 3rd Hussars commanded by Kléber joined the services of the Army of Sambre and Meuse from 1794. In 1800, it took part in the occupation of Mainz and then remained on the Rhine until the Peace of Amiens. During this revolutionary period, its headquarters were successively set up in Compiègne (1803) then in the Army of the Coasts (1804). On October 14, 1805, the 3rd Hussars took part in the Battle of Elchingen. Under the command of Colonel Louis Pierre Alphonse de Colbert (1776-1843) and alongside the 10th Chasseurs à cheval, it charged a corps of Austrian cuirassiers and two infantry battalions before capturing more than 2,000 enemy soldiers. During the 1807 campaign, it fought at Eylau and Frieland. Sent to Spain in 1808, it remained there until 1813.
Under the Restoration in 1814, the regiment became the Hussars of the Dauphin
On June 27, 1815, it overthrew a formation of 4,000 Austrians in front of Belfort. This feat was repeated on July 2 on the bridge of Sévenans.
Dissolved in November 1815, it was immediately recreated under the name of Hussars of the Moselle.
In 1825 it became the 3rd Hussar Regiment
During the Second Empire, the 3rd Hussar Regiment took part in the Algerian campaigns (1861-65; 1875-76), stationed in Lyon and Verdun (1876), in Senlis (1914) and in Strasbourg (1919).
At the mobilization of 1939, garrisoned in Strasbourg, the regiment formed six reconnaissance groups: the 15th and 16th GRCA, the 32nd, 46th, 62nd and 94th GRDI.
In 1940 it resumed its name of 3rd Hussar Regiment in the armistice army in Montauban.
November 1942: it was dissolved a second time.
1943: Creation of the squadron group of the 3rd Hussar Regiment in the South-West maquis.
On 1/1/1945 it was reconstituted in Nancy.
In 1947 its troops joined North Africa (Morocco and Algeria)
December 1962: Its troops returned to mainland France
1962: it was dissolved in Lunéville.
1963: The regiment was reborn in garrison in Pforzheim, Germany (1963) and constituted the only reconnaissance regiment of the 2nd Corps of the army.
From 1996 to 2011: it was integrated into the Franco-German brigade of Immendingen, a town located 20 km east of Donaueschingen in the nascent Danube valley.
Since 2011: It is stationed in Metz (where it replaced the 2nd engineer regiment, dissolved, at the Séré-de-Rivières barracks).
For a return of hunchbacked Alsace to Lorraine (which is culturally, linguistically, historically, and geographically part of Lorraine).. For more information
Office du Tourisme du Pays de Phalsbourg
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