Napoleon's German Allies (2) : Nassau and Oldenburg

43

OSPREY· MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES

:Afr!poleon's german ufllies (2) :Ni!Jsau and r9ldenburg Text by

OTTO YO. I PIYKA Colour plates by G. A. EMBLETO

~IE:'\-AT-AR~IS

SERIES

EDITOR: t\IARTIN WIXDRO\\"

:J\((1}oleon's german ~llies (2) :Hr!Jsau and eldenburg

T,xl by

OTI"O \'0:\ PIVKA

Colour plaits by

G. A. EMBLETO:\T

OSPREY PUBLISHING LIMITED

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:J\&}oleolls qermall ruIll/ies (2) : ~J(llI alltl (9!dellbltrg

11le (9rgfl/lizfltioll 0/ J'..0,SflllS 71YJops 1806-1815

NOSJ(//I US;lIgm lsi (lLib) B%ilton: Based 011 one old company in

WiC'Sbaclen. .jtll

01U' old company ill Bichrich. hal\aliOIlS lx-came the 1st Nassau

lJo/lji!fan: Based on

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Illfanlcric-Rcgimclll in r>.lay ISoH

In 1806 Nassau consisted of twin duchies ~assau-Usingcn and Nassau Wei Iburg. These lands were the rutl1pofthcducal possessions which existed up to thai point; those lands on the west bank of the Rhine and many of those on the cast bank having been taken by France or by the newly founded Grand Duchy of Berg (sec .Vapoleon's German Allies (I) in this series). Among lhe lost provinces were Nassau-Saarbruckcn and ~assau-Oranicn. As compensation for these losses, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Nassau Wcilbllfg received the districts of Limburg and Ehrcnbrcitslcin (opposite Koblcnz 011 the Rhine Moselle junction). It was traditional under the old Holy Roman Empire of German Nations that the various states of 1\assau banded together 10 provide part of the infantry regiment knowll as th~ 'ObelThcinisehes Kreisregimellt' together ";th the troops of the micro-statcs Hohenzollcrn igmaringen, Hohcnzollcrn-Hechingcn, Isenburg, Lichtenstein and von der Leyen. Prince Carl Wilhelm of Nassau Usingen was compensated for his tcrritoriallosses by part of the lands of the old Electorate of Mainz including the districts of Konigstcin, Croncnbcrg, H6chst, Hochheim, Castel, Eltvillc and Riidesheim, the old Cologne Electoratc districts of Linz and Deutz, and the old Hessen Kassel district of Braubach. These new territories each brought with them smaller or larger bodies of troops of varying states of efficiency and the composition of the four infantry batlations which the united houses or Nassau now (1803) raised was as follows:

Baron Co.. nod Rudolph yon Schi.f!'~r, Olajo... p;~n~nol and cOOlD1andu of !.he Nusa.. bripde in Spai... (Thi. portnoil .how. un.iforn> of a li~ulV)a"l_g~n~nol in Ihe army of the G ......d Duchy of Baden, 10 which ...,rvic~ h~ lra.n.ferred in ,8'3.) Of Swedish e.t....ction, von Schiff"r wall born al Hagen-Ollen, Hanow:r, i.. '770. In '784 he lIerved i.. Ihe .oth Hanoy"ri.n Cavalry (Princ~ of Walu'.. Lighl Dragoon.. ), lran..ferri ..g 10 the .. ~rvic~ of M.iru i.. '799> a. a captain in Ihe .."wly_rai.ed Jag~rkorp•. Thi... nil was lake.. into Ihe ..ervice ofNaH5au-U.;nllen in .lkY.land yon Schaffer relained his Ihe.. rank of major. The ....il bec:an>~ l.h~ 3rd U.iiller) Baltalion of Na.AU'. tiny army. On 28 May .l\o.f he wa.. promOled lieulenanl..,olonel, lakinll com Oland of the N...... u brigad~; rillinll 10 colonel On 17 Seplemlnr .806, h~ di.. tinguished himself in Ihe ca"'F~ allain.1 PruHllia of Ihal y~ar.On sJanuary.ao, he rea.ved Ihe c ......11 oflh~ ~on of Honour, and a y~ar lal~r w.s promOled brigad;er'll~neral. [n '808-9 he foullht in Spain and h"ld .... riO..1I lIlaffappoinl_ Olent. under Marshal 1A.f"by~. H~ wa .. invalided hoRte to N....a .., handing over com.mand oflhe bripde to YOn Kru .. ~ and l.kinll an appoinlRtent in Ihe war dqJartmenl afler his recoyery. He retired in ,833 and died in .8,]8. Th~ Baden uniforRt iII..., .... led is dark blu~ f.ced N:d wilh Ilold bultonll a ..dembroidery.

NflJ)(/1i IV,ilblirg

2/1d !Ja{ailllJn: Carrisoll(,d in Wei Iburg. 3rd (]ii,err) B(//flilhlll: Garrisoll('d in Deulz and Lillz.

Each infantry battalion had two threc.poundcr 'regimelJtal cannon'. In May 1808 these two battalions I)('came the ~md Nassau InfalllcrieRegiment. 'l'here was also a company of garrison troops in the Marxburg fortress. On 17 ~'lay 1803 Fi-irst (Prince) Friedrich August succeeded to the throne of Nassau Usingen and when, 011 16July 1806, the houscsof ~ass.'\u joined ~apolcon's Confederalion of the Rhine, Friedrich August became HerJ;og Duke" of Nass.... u and Fiirsl Friedrich Wilhelm of ~assau Weilburg was confirmed as Prince of i\assau. Friedrich Augusl was thus head of state ofi\assau and he was charged, undcr thc terms of the Ircaty of the Confederalion of the Rhine, with co-ordinalillg .... nd organising the militar) efforts

The Duchy of

of all the tiny states prcviollsly mentioned as well as those of Frankfurt, Arembcrg and Salm. This remained a pious hope. however; Frankfun remaincd independellt until 1866 and Arembcrg and Salm untillBlo, when lhe}'were incorporated into Metropolitan France. One unit was newly raised at the time of the t804 reorganisation of ~assau's lands: this was a regiment of Jiig~r ..:u 11~rd~ (mounted rincs or Chasseurs a Cheval also often referred to as the 'R~iund, Jiig,". Tlil' bas
Russia and )wC:lml' pal'! of lhl' loth Inf;U1II'y Division of (;('ncl'al I.l'dl'll ill Mar~llal Ncv's III Corps of l!ll' Dr(ll/{It ,Irml" The olher units'oftllt' III CorpS\\l'IT:

10th Inf(ln/~1' J)/r;J;on 21'h LfHh(' rFrt.:nch li/ollil illf division had the following units: 1St Regimelll of N"assau (or 3rd Rllt.'inbund-Rt.:gimCIll) Oberst Pollnitz 4th Rheinbulld-R(,gillll'lIl (Saxon DuclliL'S) sth Rheinbund-Rcginlt"lIl (Anhalt and I,ippc) 6th Rheinbulld-R('gilllt'nl (Schwar7.bufg, Reuss and Waldeck) The Nassauers did nOt come into action during this campaign but wcre part of the garrison of Vienna from 22 Junc until 21 October r809. During this time, Napoleon gave the regiment two cannon (taken from Vienna's arsenal) and ordered that a regimental artillery company should be formed. This step had already been taken by the French infantry or the Army of Germany before the bnttle of \\lagram - arcmarkablc tactical 'gimmick' which had been ~enerally abandoned ill nil European armies al the turn of the century. The Nass;1lI regimelll's artillerymen received their own uniform, with red plumes, epauletles. collars and cuffs.

t...i~Bal.iUon YOO Tod~nwarth, ,806 - • Knol,,1 pl.I" illu... Iratin!': th" uniform wOrn in Ih" war of ,h.1 y~.r. Th" hi!,:h bta"k I~.lh~r h~lm"t wilh y"Uow m"I.1 fu ....ilur" ....d Sluffed bla"k wool e~t;s _imilar, bUI nol id"olie.1 with th.t w .... byth~ Da..... ria .. ca....lryoflheday. Th~u..iform i. inlh~u" 1 Nanau dark II:~ bUI wilh red r..d ..S_ ....d yellow bultons ....d pip"'S; Ih.. f..cinS_ "h....«ed 10 bl.d
"

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, /.,. '/' 'Th" Happy Hunter' _ a cartoonist·'s view of Napol_n after

~::s~:ttl=.t0(~~p~~n~~13~1~:.~et.. ta~(~~~:~:\=~~: catm and unruffled; He's nOt the ......t or WOMit beeau_ he haA shot (?); If his _pression is not too happy, II's becaUH he smell.. the soat's tail.'

al_ys Slays

19

.JIh nriplldf (Licutf'llant.Coloncl Wissf'l) Landwi'hr-Batailloll Hannover Landwehr-Batailloll Uelzcn l.anclwehr·Bataillon Neustadt l.andwehr·Bataillon DiepllOlz

THE NASSAUERS AT QUATRE-BRAS

The left wing of Wellington's army on the cve of Quatre-Bras was the 2nd Division of General Perponcher. in lhe arca ofGenappe. Frasnes and 1I11n1I01JH'l". countered the struggle raged back and forth for some time - the young and untried Brunswick rallying"point where the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd hussars being overthrown by the french Chasscurs Division was also in position. ~igillrall ended the ;i Cheval of Pire's command and the frenzied fighting. encrgies of the Prince of Orange contributing as (The dispositions of the Nassaucrs at Quatrc- much to the enemy's success as to lhat of his own Bras on 16 June may be seen on the Illap Oil troops. By the early evening, wilh reinforcemenlS page '21). At 6 am on 16 JUlle the Prince of all bOlh sides, the Allies had 37,000 men against Orange (who had arrived there during the night Ney's 21,000 on the battlefield. At 7 pm Ncy and assumed command) ordered von Normanll's broke on" his assaults and withdrew south 10 b.ltlalion 10 push south 10 Frasncs and recoil· f ....russian corps began deploying into combat formation on lhe eastern edge of lhe batllefield and advanced towards the French right rear at La Belle Alliance. They were opposed by Lobau's French corps and a fierce fight developed in the burning village of Plancenoit from which the French were ulti· mately dri\·en. Hauptmann von Rettberg, with the fOllrcompanies of the 2nd Regiment of Nassau under his command,joined in the Prussian assault on Plancenoit. ~'Iost accounts of the Battle of Watcrloo arc remarkably vague as to the correct state of affairs in I>apclotte and as to the actual participation in the battle of the 2nd Regiment of l'\assall. As its part of the booty taken after Waterloo, Nassau received fOllr 6-pounder cannon, two 7-

26

pounder howitzers and 12 train vehicles. As part of the reorganisation of the German mini-states which took place in 1815. Nassau had lost some land to Prussia and all inhabitants of this lost territOry became Prussians. Thus, on 28 November 1815,832 men of the 2nd Regiment were transferred to Prussian service and were replaced by 832 men of the Regiment of Orange-Nassau. The Regiment of Orange-:'\assau was disbanded on 3 January 1816, thc men going into the 1st Nassau Infantry Regiment or 10 Prussia according to their place of birth. The Landwehr Battalion of the 1st Regiment of Nassau was also disbanded, those N.C.O.s and officers who were transferred 10 it to help in the training returned to their parent unit. Ulltil 1820 the 2nd Regiment of Nassau (at a strength of three battalions) served with the Netherlands army and was then reduced to two baualions on returning home. The two N"assau infantry regiments were absorbed into the Prussian army in 1860 and assumed the titles: Das 11~ Herzogliche Nassauische Infi:\IlterieRegiment Nr 87 and Das 'lie Hcrzogliche Nassauische InfanterieRegiment Nr 88 The 2nd Regiment wore on its helmets the battle honours 'La Bellc Alliance', 'Medellin' and '!\'Iesa de lboI" until after the First World War. The 1st Regiment wore 'La Belle Alliance'. NASSAU ORDER OF BArrLE 1815 lsi "ifmllry Rfgimm( - Oberst von Stcllbt:n (7 r officers and 2,974 men)

Major von Weyhers Major VOIl Nallclldorf I\-bjor \'on Prcen :md Infanlry Rtgimffll Oberst Prinz Ikrnhard von Sachsen-Wcim;lr (Ialcr Major Sattler) (ag ofliccrs, 2,738 men) lSI /Jattalion Hauptmann Blisgen HI IJallalioll 2nd /Jallalion Lnndu·tkr /Jat/olion

2nd Battalion Major Ph. \'on Normanll l...alldwrhr Battalion Major Hegmallll This regimenl, logelher with the Regiment ofOrangeNassau, l'i)f1llcd Ihe 2nd Brigade of Lieu len ant Cenefill Peqxmcher's 2nd Division of the Netherlands Army. TIle Rrgilllrlli of Omnge NaSSfW (Nassal/-Omllil'lI) Tilis

was in Dutch Ikl~an c;eryicc and witi part the Netherlands Arm}. lSI Bal/a/ion } 39 officers, 1,4'27 men _"Bal/alion Fuiu:illigt Jag" Company 3 officers, 166 men To/alXossalilToops '93 offiUTS ond 6,832 mtn

~mcnt

From a letter by General von Kruse to the H.a.no\·crian Captain Bcmel Wicsbaden 7 January 1836 . The Ducal Nass.., u Brigade, consisting of two bIllry regiments was dispersed from 15~18 1815. The2nd Regiment had been in Dutch y since 1814; the 1st Regiment (which formed real :\"ass.'l.U contingent had only arrived a few ys pre\,iously and had not yel been alloned to a Corps. ntilthe 16th it lay dispersed in canlone1Dnll'i between Brussels and Lowen. o"dered and qUl'ucd ulltil 1806 7, Commander of this battalion was Major von Holb:lCh, and lhe unit was I"('cruitcd from the area or Usingell, 82 (;rmadi" S~rg~a,,/, 4th Battalion, lI'int" parad~ tlrrss, t80G This company of the battalion wore black shakos which appear to have been of the then-",m,,1\ '98(;

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