Little reliance on supply was a large part of what made Napoleon's armies faster than their opponents. However, this wasn't just a Napoleonic concept, most of the French Revolutionary armies post-1789 used a similar system. Instead of using a system of slow-moving convoys and depots, the French armies would "live off the countryside".

From David Chandler's The Campaigns of Napoleon, "French armies on the march were famed for one particular characteristic besides pillage, rape and arson: their speed of movement. The far more cumbrous forces of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire never proved a match for their opponents in this respect. One reason for this lay in widely differing concepts of logistical support. Through necessity, the French lived off the countryside for the most part, “making war pay for war,” but this at least freed them from the encumbrance of slow-moving supply convoys and a strategy based on the existence of prestocked arsenals and depots. They never carried more than three days’ supplies. The Austrians, on the other hand, habitually marched with nine days’ full rations in wagons. Small wonder that the French forces, properly led, proved capable of running rings around their slower opponents both strategically and tactically" (168).

Typically, the French troops would be ready to move between four and six in the morning, marching until about noon. Absent a battle, they would then have the rest of the day to rest and "forage". To keep this from getting out of hand, each division would get about 20 square kilometers of space to obtain supplies.

While this strategy allowed the French to be much faster than other contemporary nations, it did come with downsides. While the troops would occasionally pay locals for their foodstuffs, it wasn't consistent, leading to resentment among occupied peoples. Furthermore, during the invasion of Russia, Napoleon knew the Grande Armée wouldn't be able to live off the land. Thus, they had to go back to convoys, limiting one of their great advantages.

Another factor in Napoleon's brigades was that each would have its own band. Placed into three sections within the brigade, they would keep time on the march. Every hour, there would be a five-minute break where the band would play music. The last half-hour of the march would also be done to music. I'm not entirely sure if this was a uniquely French habit or if it had anything to do with the specific 120 beats/minute, though.

Branda, Pierre. “Did the War Pay for the War? An Assessment of Napoleon's Attempts to Make His Campaigns Self-Financing.” Cairn.info, Cairn, 2008, www.cairn.info/revue-napoleonica-la-revue-2008-3-page-2.htm.

Chandler, David. The Campaigns of Napoleon. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995.