The Austro-Hungarian Army of the Napoleonic Wars

AT-ARMS SERIES

CJhe ~stro-:J£Ungarian cv1rmy ofthe apoleonic mrs Text by

ALBERT SEATON Colour plates by

R. OTTENFELD

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MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES \tARTI:" \\"I~DRO\\" ALBA:" BOOK SERVICES

EDITOR:

Cj1ie ~stro-:J£Ungarian ~myofthe

apoleonic'Wars Text by

ALBERT SEATON

Colour plates by

R. OTTENFELD

OSPREY PUBLISHIXG LHIITED

Published in 19i3 by Osprey Publishing Ltd, P_O. Box 25, 707 Oxford Road, Reading, Berkshire Copyright t9i3 Osprey Publishing Ltd This book is copyrighted under the Berne Convention. All rights rescr.ed. Apal't from any fair dealing for the purpose of pri\-ate study, research, criticism or rcview, as permitted under the Copyright Act, 1956, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, 01' transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, elcctrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers. In the preparation of the plates, illustrations and text acknowledgment is made to Die Osle"ti,hisdlt Armu by O. Teuber -ienna 1895-1904). All the photographs are reproduced by courtesy of the Keeper, the Library of the \'ictoria and Albert ~luseum (Photographer Berkhamsted Photographic, Ikrkhamsted, Herlfordshire). bll:-;

° 85045 147 7

Primed in Creat Britain by Jarrold & Sons Ltd, :\'orwich

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vltmdt/ctiol1 The Austro·Hungarian Empire dated from only 1804_ Before then, the Emperor Francis I had been Emperor Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire, not of Austria·Hungary. Whereas France and Britain were homogeneous states and Spain had a form of traditional unit)', the AUSITO· Hungarian Empire had nonc. For it embraced Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Croats, Ukrainians, Paid, Russians, Rumanians, Italians, and Belgians with no bond except that of a common emperor.

Officer in. Roquelor eo-t, "90

:JiaPPJ' dustria makese3r(arriages Habsburg, because of his lack of authority and pretension, was elected as King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor, and from 1440 onwards it became customary to elect an Austrian Habsburg to Ihe throne. The regal and imperial titles, usually held allhe same time, \\'ere, however, largely without substance, for although the Empire was said to be derived from the Roman Empire of Charle· magne or, more correctly speaking, from the German Empire of Otto the Great, succession depended on the votes of the German electOral Austria originated as a tiny German castern princes; the rulers of the many hundreds of frontier duchy in Charlemagne's Ostmark, and German states within the Empire were in fact Vienna, its capital, had no significance until the independent. The imperial title had merely a tenth century. Its earlier rulers, the Habsburgs, traditional and prestige value. were (ortunate in that they enlarged their domains Yet, by the end of tile fifteenth century, Austria usually by clever marriages. In 1273 Rudolf of was already the most powerful single state within

3

thc bordcrs of thc old Empirc, for Uppcr and Lo,,·cr Austria had joincd with Styria, Carinthia, and thc Tyrol. Advantagcous foreign marriages brought Austria, Burgundy, and the Netherlands and finally, under the Emperor Charles V, Spain, :\Iilan, Sardinia, and the Two Sicilies (SoUlh Italy and Sicily). When Charles abdicated in I SS6 he split the Habsburg's Spanish and Gcrman possessions, allouing the first to his son and the second to his brother. But even this did not limit the power or fortunc of thc Austrian Habsburgs since the brother Ferdinand, already Archdukc of Austria, succeeded to the imperial title and became a successful claimant by marriage to thc twO elective kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary. By 1648, the datc of the Treaty of Westphalia, Austria held as

Hu••ar .addlery .howluS holsten, 1790

~h,

shabnck, IU:td p;stol

part of its hereditary lands about a third of thc tcrritory within the German Empirc, and included Bohemia, l\'!oravia, and Silcsia. The greater part of Hungary had been occupied by the Ottoman Sultan for a century and a half, until 1699, but whcn thc Turks were finally forced back south of the Danube and the Sava, Transylvania was arbitrarily detached from Hungary and ruled directly from Vienna. Hungary re· maincd as an independent kingdom, but the only kings elected werc in fact Habsburgs. Hungary itself had a multi-racial population. The main element was Hungarian or l\lagyar, a race with no affinit), to German or Slav, but the '·cry largc forcign indigenous or immigrant minoritics, Rumanian, German, Pole, Ukrainian, and 4

Croat, wcre in some are>lssoon to bccome majority nationalities. Long Turkish occupation, poor education and the existence of a feudal-type aristocnlcy, c.xempt from taxation and military service, had left the country primitive and divided. ,\fter the \\'ar of the Spanish Succession, in which Austria played a major part, the Habsburgs were ceded by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1715 the Spanish :\etherlands, Naples, Sardinia, and l\lilan. Austria ranked with France and Britain as one of the most powerful states in Europe. In the seventeenth century thc Austrian hegemony within the German confederation had sulTered a set-back by the cOIl\'ersion of much of north Germany to the Protestant religion and by the Thirty Years War. Yet the only principalities in a position e,·en to challenge Austrian leadership were Bavaria, Saxony, and Brandenburg; of these Brandenburg was generally considered to be the weakcst. During the course of the century, how· ever, Brandenburg attracted to its .\lark and to its newly won territories in East Prussia immigrant populations from Holland and the Rhineland. Even so, its total population did not exceed four million. But energctic and capablc Prussian rulers reorganized the government, finance, agriculture, education, and the army. In 1701 the Elector of Brandenburg, with the prior agreement of the Austrian Emperor, had himself styled King of Prussia, and by 1740 felt strong enough to challenge the Austrian primacy in Germany. The nature of the challenge was made clear by the invasion of the Austrian province ofSilesia by Prussian troops. The Austrian Emperor, Charles VI, being without a son, had succeeded in persuading the principal German rulers and the major European powers to agree to the Pragmatic Sanction, the succession of his daughter, Maria Theresa, to the Habsburg hereditary lands. The Elector of Bavaria was the only objector. But as soon as Charles died, Frederick the Great, the newly crowned King of Prussia, disregarding any earlier understanding made by his father, demanded Silcsia as the price of his agreement to r..laria Theresa's succession. The demand came at the same time as his troops crossed the Silesian border.

CJliec:Silesia/l

mrs

When Frederick the Great occupied Silesia, with the support of France, Bavaria, Saxony and some of the nonhern princes, he hoped to present Austria and Europe with a fail accompli. He had misjudged, however, the temper and capabilities or tile new Austrian ruler, a young married woman of twenty-three years of age. For ~Iaria Theresa was by far the most outstanding monarch Ihe House of Habsburg c\"cr produced, determined, brave, far-sighted and astute, just and compassionate, absolute yet enlightened. The Eleclor of Bavaria had himself crowned as Holy Roman Emperor, Silesia was lost and a Franco-Bavarian force, welcomed by IlHtn}' of the Czech nobility, inndcd Bohemia. The Austrian position appeared serious. Immediately Maria Theresa appealed as Queen of Hungary 10 the Hungarian Diet for aid, and this was readily forthcoming, Hungary finding over 60,000 IroOpS for Ihe Austro-Hungarian Army. For othen"ise Auslria was wilhout allies excepl for Britain, and British effon was absorbed in a maritime and colonial war, its eRort in Europe being limited to the paymenl of an annual subsidy to Vienna and the waging of intermittenl land operations between Hanover and the Nelherlands. In 1742 Maria Theresa came to terms with Frederick the Great in order to dri\'e a wedge between her enemies, and she agreed to the cession ofSilesia. Prussia then went out of the war, laking Saxony with her. This left Austria free to deal with the French and the Bavarians. Bohemia was soon

cleared and the new E.mperor Charles Albert was driven out of his own ~'!unich capital; an Anglo· Hanoverian force together with the Austrians won Dettingen, and France was forced back on the defensive. Austrian Iroops Ihen prepared to conquer Alsace. Since Frederick distrusted the readiness with which 11aria Theresa had ceded occupied Silesia, he had no wish to sec France conquered or forced OUI of Ihe war, for this would, he bdievcd, leave him without allies to face Austria alone. So, waiting until the Austrian forces \,'ere committed in Alsace, he invaded Bohemia and took Prague. This was the start of the econd Silesian \\"ar. Austrian Iroops were withdrawn from Alsace to invade Bavaria. Frederick entered Saxony and \'ainly attempted a march on Vienna, winning baltic after bailie, holding doggedly on to Silesia but being unable to overcome thesupcrior strength of the Auslrians. The war spread to the :\ether· lands and haly and laned umill]48 when ~Iaria Theresa was forced to reaffirm the cession of Silcsia 10 Prussia.

Kanoniu and officer or arliller)', 179'0-8. The kanoniu's teacher cas'" and P;I!l·laU, are ,flU ""Orn

5

duced into the Czech courts. German became the language of the administration and was compulsorily taught in Bohemian schools. These measurcs were in fact a violation of the autonomous rights earlier guaranteed to Bohemia. The situation in Hungary \\'as vcry different, for large numbers of lvlagyar troops had fought with great bravery during the Silesian Wars, and so Hungary was permitted to retain its own feudal social system (wherein the nobility continued to be exempt from taxation, tolls, and military sen.·ice) and itS own rather primiti,'e administration. It was in the field of diplomacy that Maria Theresa made her main effort to prepare Austria for a new war and she cJe\'erly contrived to isolate Prussia from the rcst of Europe while allying Austria to France and Russia. The British alliance I she regarded as of little value and was evasive to A field offic::er and coonpany office.- of «..cnadiers London proposals that Austria should provide some defence for the British monarch's Hanoverian The Peace of Aix-la·Chapelle was nOl binding territories against Prussian ambitions. So London as far as Maria Theresa was concerned and she turned to an agreement with Berlin and the remained as determined as c\"er to regain Silcsia. diplomatic somenault was complete. Frederick the Great, uneasy at his isolation, in She had been impressed with Prussian go\'crnmenial and military organization and efficiency, 1756, without warning and without consulting and she and her minister, von Haugwilz, re- the British, invaded Austria's new ally, Saxon)', organized both the Austrian civil and military since he was determined to strike a pre-emptive administration 10 bring it nearer the Prussian blow against the coalition which faced him. So model. Exemptions from taxation were abolished Prussia started a new European 'Var, the Third and the power to lax was vested in a single centra- Silesian War, also known as the Seven Years War. lized body, responsible for all the German prov- Russia, France, and Sweden entered at Austria's inces, Bohemia, and Moravia; graduated income side and during the course of the long and bittcr lax was taken into usc. These reforms trebled the fighting, Prussian Pomerania, East Prussia, and return to the c;'(chcqucr, permitting the raising of Brandenburg were invaded by Swedish, Russian, a peace-time standing anny of 108,000 mt.:n. Since, and Austrian forces. Berlin itself was twice however, this reformed tax system was not applic- occupied for a shoTt time fintly by Austrian and able to ~'Ii1an, the Netherlands, or Hungary, it then by Russo-Austrian troops. Yet Prussia, with resulted in Maria Thcresa's German and Czecho- a population of only fivc million, managed to Slovak subjects bearing three-quarters of the cost remain undefeated, Frederick was of course a gifted strategist and tactician and gained a of the military expenditure. Both the Bohemian and the Hungarian crowns number of important \·ietories. But he also lost were electi,·e. But since Maria Theresa had been a number of battles to both the Austrians and the much displeased at the display by the Czech Russians. He owed almoSl as much to the disunity nobility of anti-Austrian sentiment at the time of of his enemies as to his own brilliant qualities. The the foreign occupation, she had the Czech regalia French at this period had suffcred a military remO"ed from Prague to Vienna, in order to decline and achieved little of importance except emphasize the permanency ofthe Austro-Bohemian for the temporary occupation of Hano\·er. The union. Bohemian administration was centred on Austro-Hungarian troops were staunch but their Vienna and the Austrian code of law was intro- military leaden often lacked inspiration and

6

efficiency; the Russians were obstinale bUl their command was erratic. It \\'as lhe death of the Empress Elisabeth and the sudden withdrawal of lhe Russian armies which led to the rapid breakup of the enemy coalition. By I i62 rvlaria Theresa was isolated once more. The signing of the Treaty of Hubertusburg the next year finally lost Aust.;a the province of Silesia. And so 'a million men had perished but not a hamlet had changed its ruler'.

THE DIPEROR JOSEPH'S FOREIG'i A~IBITIO'iS ~Iaria Theresa's son, Joseph, became the joint monarch of the Habsburg possessions, ruling together with his mother until her death in I i80. At home he was a radical, almost revolutionary reformer; abroad he \\·as an old·fashioned im· perialist with an in~atiable appetite for territorial expansion. Joseph feared Catherine Ihe Great and distrusted Frederick, and he was determined either on the retu rn to Austria of Silesia or on territorial

An offic.. r of th .. I.... n.porl corp....·... rill&: Ih...... rli..r .lyl.. of b ...d-dnu, c. 171)8

compensations, and he tried, as best he was able, to set Russia and Prussia the one against lhe other. In 1769 and lijO he met Frederick the Great in Silesia, in spite of his mother's condemnation of 'the immoral game', in order to secure some spoils for Austria in the partition of Poland. As a result, in 1772 by the first partition, Austria gained Galicia. But joseph also co,·eted German territory. In • iii, when the Bavarian Elector died childless, he unsuccessfully tried to secure for Austria a third of Bavaria and the next year his troops crossed the frontier to enforce the claim. Prussia in return immediately inndcd Bohemia and the Peace of Teschen of I ii9 was brought about only on the insistence of Russia and France. Frederick the Great was so suspicious of joseph's designs thai in I is:. he formed the League of German Princes against him. In the south-east Joseph looked for territorial aggrandizement at the expense of Turkey and in •i87 went to the Crimea to meet Catherine the Great to discuss an alliance directed against the Sultan, having as its aims the partition of the Ottoman Empire. Before his death in 1790, however, Joseph lived to reap the harvest of his own internal refonllS. For, single-minded, honest, and uncompromising though he was, he lacked his mother's tact and higher moral virtues and, in spite of his good intentions, managed to alienate nearly all sections of the community \\·ithin his hereditary lands. A popular revolt broke oul in Belgium. He was unpopular in Hungary where he refused to have himself crowned and had had the Hungarian regalia brought to Vienna and consigned to a museum which he said was 'its proper place'; in consequence, lhe Hungarians called him 'the king with a hal'; he made German the official language instead of Latin. And when he tried to impose on Transylvania the Austrian census and tax system this led to peasant dis· orders. In 1788 the Turks attacked the Austrians as the allies ofSt Pelersburg and defeated them. \\'ithjoseph's death, the new Emperor, Leopold, inherited a war with Turkey and revolution and discontent in Belgium and Hungary. Leopold was a gifted and capable Illan and he soon brought peace to his dominions, although this lost him a measure of Hungarian support. For he relied overmuch on the secret police and the paid

7

agitator and, since he was determined to keep in check Hungarian nalional aspirations, he used to Austria's advantage minority groups, Serbs, Rumanians, and the German Saxons, against tbe r..lagyars. He died after only two years of rule and was succeeded by his son, Francis, who was to rule for the next forty rears, a man of different stamp from Leopold or Joseph, a primili\-e patriarch and reactionary bureaucrat whose activities in the early part of his reign were much taken up with unearthing and suppressing real and imaginary radical conspiracies.

CJl7e

~olZlfiol1a'J'

mrs

Although the French kingdom was, at least in outward appearance, nourishing, it believed itself to be threatened with bankruptcy. In Europe the fashion, set by l\laria Theresa and Frederick the Great of Prussia, was one of enlightened absolutism, it being believed, with some reason, that progress came from above and reaction from below. Louis XVI of France, who had come to the throne in '774, was, howevcr, entirely unfilled for monarchy, for, merely seeking popularity, he was incapable of directing events. In 1789, follo\\'ing the storming of the Bastille, what remained of the old forces of government were overthrown and the king and queen (a daughter of )'laria Theresa) were held by the Paris mob.

8

There were already grounds for war between re\-olutionary France and the Austrian Habsburgs. Even in royalist France the Austrian Queen had not been popular. Marie Antoinettc, now under restraint, sent messages to her brolher pleading that he summon a European congress to deal with the French Revolution by armed force, and in August '791 Leopold, together with the King of Prussia, issued at Pilnitz a joint declaration ,,'arning France of the consequences of any maltreatment of its monarch. Leopold had reason, 100, to complain of French encouragement to the rebels in Belgium_ Yet Leopold was cold and crafty, quick to meddle and threaten but slow to take any irre\-ocable step. For he knew that Catherine the Great wished to embroil both Austria and Prussia in the affairs of France so that she might have more elbow-room to deal with Poland. If he had interfered he might have done so effectively; but, on his sudden death, the challenge was immediately taken up by Francis, and in April 179'2 the French Girondins, drunk with power and intent on identifying revolution with patriotism, tried to isolate Austria by occupying Belgium. The war, said to be 'Ia guc:rre aux rois et la paix aux peuples', proved to be Louis's death-warrant. A Prussian force, under the Duke of Brunswick, mo\-ed into Lorraine and captured the fortresses of Longwy and \'erdun and, in July, the Austrians entered France from lhe Netherlands and besieged Lille. But in September the Prussians were repulsed at Valmy in the Argonne by unlrained and undisciplined revolutionary levies

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which had, however, the support of the royalist artillery; the Prussians withdrew into Germany, and the French followed up, occupying ~Iainz, \\'orms, and FranHurt, The French commander, Dumouriez, relieved Lille and, im'ading the Netherlands, defeated the Austrians at Jemappcs, Brussels fell and the whole province was overrun, Another French army, attacking Piedmont and the kingdom of Sardinia took Sa,'oy and :\ice. Although news of the French Re\·olution had at first been welcomed in Britain, the massacres, the deposition of Louis X"I, the Edict of Fraternity aimed at inciting rebellion abroad, and the opening by the French of the Scheidt estuary to thc shipping of all nations soon rc\·j,·cd old fears. The Dutch were bclie,'ed to be threatened. In Fcbruary 1793 the French declared war on Britain and Holland and shortly afterwards Spain was added to the anti-revolutionary

belligerents, In the First Coalition formed that August there were no fewer than fifteen member states. These, howe,'er, were disunited and split by jealousies and there was bad feeling between Austria and Prussia over the second partition of Poland. Both Prussia and Austria had underestimated lhe effect of the French nalional revival on the morale of the revolutionary forces and both were distracted by a common fear of the Russians to the rear. Austria was involved with the Turks. But in 1793 the Austrians in the ~etherlands attacked Dumouriez, who had meanwhile advanced into Holland, defeating him at Xeerwinden, Dumouriez then deserted the revolutionary cause and ,,'ent over to the enemy, .-\ British force under the Duke of York, joining up with the Austrians in the Low Countries, invaded France and invested Dunkirk, The Spanish

9

Russia. Prussia, more interested in spoils to the cast than in fighting what it regarded as Austria's and Britain's war in western Europe, made peace \\'ith france b)' the Treaty of Basle, agreeing, at virtually no cost to itself, that France should remain in occupation of the west bank of the Rhinc; the loss of the small Prussian territories on the river \\'as to be compensated by the gift of other lands, the property of German princes. Of the First Coalition, only Britain, .\uSlria, and I)iedmonl remained in the war.

CJl7e ~e ofJVi!poleon An ufficu, nun-curnrniniuned ufficer and a suldier (in raLi~u~ dr. . .) ur G~r... an wanlry

entered south-\\'cst France and British sailors occupied Toulon. Defeat, howevel', only made the revolutionaries redouble their cOons and brought the fanatical extremists to the fore. General conscription for military ser..ice was introduced for the first time and nearly half a million men were called to the colours. This was a departure from the methods by which professional armies had been raised up to this time and was to revolutionize warfare for the next century and a hal[ In a series of offensives from the autumn of t793 onwards the revolutionaries drove the Spanish and British out of France and overran the Austrian Netherlands once more. The Duke of York was defeated at Hondschoote and the Austrians at Wanignies and Fleurus. Moving into Holland, the French then captured the Dutch flect which was imprisoned in the ice. Holland capitulated and was virtually incorporated into France as the Batavian Republic. In 1795, by the third partition between Russia, Prussia, and Austria, Poland had disappeared from the map of Europe. Austria already held Galicia (from 1772) and now shared with Prussia the ethnologically Polish territories. Kurland, Lithuania, Volhynia, and Podolia had gone to

10

In July 1794 Robcspierre and the Jacobins had fallen to Barras and the Directory offive members. That October Barras called upon a young French general of artillery, Xapoleon &naparte, who happened to be in the capital, to quell the Paris mob. Murat was sent at the gallop to Sablons for the artillery, and with his celebrated whiff of grape-shot, Napoleon blew the mob out of the re,·olution for c'·er. As a reward he henceforth enjoyed the support of Barras, was made general of the interior, and was gi\'cn the Italian theatre of operations. Britain, by virtue of its command of the seas, was unass6 The pattern of the uniform worn by Hungarian and German infantry was similar in most respects except that German line soldiers wore white trousers and black buttoned-up cloth gaiters which came right up to the knee. Hungarian infantr)' almost invariably wore the pale blue trousers, dose fitting at the knee and calf, usually with light bluc facings on the frock-coated tunic. The general service shako was similar for officers and other ranks except that officers wore broad (and non-commissioned officers thin) gold stripes I'ound the top brim of the cap. In addition, officers had a larger cockade and a thin gold

32

Hunan in plain smock tunic and cap (Int..oduced c. 181S) and In pa...de field service uniform

special reserve under the regimental commander's hand. In 1769 all grenadier companies ,,"ere removed from infantry of the line and reorganized as grenadier baualions, nineteen in all, and these served as the basis for the latter-day grenadier regiments and dh·isions. In addition, the grenadier retained his specialized grenadethrowing function. The distinctive feature of the grenadier was his tall cap, bordered with fur with a cockade to the right and a metaJ badge plate to the front, the lining at the back being of the same colour as the collar facings. The short infantry sabre was always carried by grenadiers additional to the bayonet even though, from 1798 onwards, it was in the process of being withdrawn from German infantry of the line. On the chest of the broad shoulder-bell was the capsule case for the slow-match for igniting grenades.

The horse-furnishings and shabracks for both the mounted Jagtr and the light dragoons were identical. In IBoI, howe,"er, the light dragoons were split once more to form dragoons and dltl:aux-ligtTS. CI JagtT Solditr, c. IBog

SUmmtT fitld

Itn:irt

unifoTm,

The former Aolktf had recently been replaced by the black Corsihut (shown in this plate) with the leit brim turned up and the cockade to the front. The uniform colouring was htchtgrall

B .\/ounttd Jagtr and Light DTagoon, sUmmtT jitld stTVire uniform, c. IlkxJ

In 17gB all dragoon regiments and the (htl:auxligtrs regiments (which were themselves the successors of the horse-grenadiers and carabineers of Maria Theresa's reign) were amalgamated to form light dragoons. They retained the dark green coat of the former horse-grenadier. The collar and cuff facing for I and 4- Regiments of Light Dragoons were scarlet (as shown in the plate), for '2 and 14 gold, 3 and 5 orange, 6 and 8 pink, 7 sulphur yellow, 9 and 15 black, 10 and 1'2 sky-blue, and I I and 13 pompadour-red. Where two regiments wore the same coloured facings, one worc yellow and thc otller white bUllons, by which it can be deduced that tile soldier on the right of Ihe plate came from 1St Light Dragoons. The soldier on the left came from the Jager-Regimenl zu Pfcrd Graf Bussy, a regiment which owed its origin in the ca,·alry of the former Fui KOTPS, for the regiments Bussy, Rohan, Carneville, and Bourbon were amalgamated in 1]98 to fonn a single regiment of mounted JigtT, eight squadrons strong. This regiment took part in the Italian campaign of 1799 both as ca,"alry and mounted infantry. The uniform colouring was li(hlhtthtgrau with grassgreen facings and linings, yellow buttons, green helme~ crest, and black leather accoutrements.

A carpenter of artillery, pouibly from the IIfHullflnlUditnst

33

so-called light infantry. In 1801 they were all disbanded. The Jiigrr was the skirmisher and SCout who formed part of advance and rearguards and manned the outpoSt line. He was in no way an irregular. The distinguishing feature of the Jiigtr \\'as his green collar, cuffs, and linings. His uniform could be sky-blue or huh/grau, and the trousers were sometimes light green. Shoulderstraps were black with black and green tassels banging forward on the left shoulder. He was equipped with a riAe, a long sword-bayonet and a powder-horn. Otherwise the Jiigrr equipment is similar to that of infantry of the line.

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with the usual green facings and linings. The Jager officer's uniform was similar except that he was expected to wear the Sthijfhut, but in fact he often appeared in the Corsihut with a plume (Ftdtrbusch), either erect or hanging, fixed on to a gold ]agdhorn, with a gold clasp (Agraffe) on the turned·up brim of the hat. The officers' coats were supposed to be dunktlhtchlgrau, but many retained the sky-blue pauern, wearing gold epaulettes (which were forbidden to Jogtr officers) with black tassels and a green fringe. Officers wore gold buttons, gold AchstLKhnure, a simple yellow metal guard to the sabre, with a green and gold sword-knot. When officers wore the light green trousers they usually sported a dark green double stripe. Officers' waiSlcoats were white, fastened with hooks, their black necker· chief stand-up collars being colloquially known as 'parricide' (Va/trmordtr). Officers' greatcoats were grey with black cuff facings and black collars. C2 German Jiigtr Aon-Commissioned O.fficer, summer firM srrvia uniform, c. 180S The Jager was entirely distinctive and separate from the German light infantry, which \\'as born from an amalgamation in 1798 of the many Frri Korps units of fooL into fifteen battalions of the

34

A pioneer in field .emce DUl.n;:hiro.a: orcler, earryiDa: an enea.ed trenclUna: .pade

The 181S cavalry Bintlock carbine,luer C:ODvened 10 lake

a perc:....iOD ap

Soldier of G~rman Infon/f)', summlr fi~(d uniform, c. 18<J4 This Ccrman infantryman wears the traditional white, with black gaiters and straw-coloured facings and linings. The pigtail (Zopf) disappeared in 1804 and the 1798 new-pattern head-dress (Kosktt) remained in general service until 1808. The greatcoat was dark grey. The plate is particularly illustrative since it shows the detail of accoutrements, bayonet scabbard, water-bottle, haversack, pack, and cylindrical waterproof valise (badly slung and positioned). The black leather ammunition ,arrouchier~, nOt visible in lhe plate, is worn on the right-hand side.

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quets, escorting and convoying, and deep raiding. He never carried a lance but was armed with a carbine, a pair of pistols and a lightpattern sabre with the single Biigtl guard. At the turn of Ihe century there had been liule change in lhe traditional dress of the hussar except that he had taken the bUlloned-up overall trousers into use, these being worn over the boot. The shako, used by infantry and other arms, had also been adopled either additional to, or instead of, the fur cap and coloured bag. The circumference of lhe shako was grealer at the top than at the lower hatband so that it presented a funnel-like effect; officers and non-commissioned officers wore the customary gold-edged peak and gold stripes round the tOP of the cylinder. All hussars D Trooper oj Hussars, summer field servia uniform, continued to \\'ear the dolman, sabrttacht, and c. 1806 The hussar, who originated in Hungary as a leather ammunition pouch. The hussar horseborder fighter, continued to be the mainstay of furniture comprised the regulation leather saddle the Cerman and Hungarian light horse, for he set on a horse-blanket, with a pair of pistol could be used as line cavalry and yet apply holsters, cloak or greatcoat strapped across the himself to a dozen specialist lasks, in particular, pommel, and the water-boule and spare blanket scouting and reconnaissance, outposts and pic- attached to the cantle. The whole was covered by C3

s~rvice

35

thc colourcd shabrack and a lamb's-wool pelt, bcing secured by a leather surcingle stnpped ovcr pelt, shabrack, saddle, and girth. The carbine shoulder-strap fitted "'ith a metal swiHl, continued in use.

officcrs and olher ranks being maintained on their own lists and establishments. They took command over each other according to rank and seniority, but a sapper officer could not transfer to the engineers without taking a special examination or having served as an instructor in the Engineer E/ Sapptr O.ffiur. summ~r fir/d sm'ice dms, c. /&>0 Academy. Sapper and miner officers could, admitThe dutics of cnginecr (/lIgrnieur) and sapper tedly, be posted to fill engineer vacancies, but this officers o'"crlappcd, yct both werc separate and could be done only as a temporary measure and distinct dcpartmcnts within the same corps, when engineer officers were nOI available. Before 1800 it had been customary to recruit other ranks b)' transfer from the infantry, and in consequence the sappers received the unfit or the unwanted; but from ISoI oll\\'ards new regulations demanded that new recruits. direct from civilian life, should be young and strong bachelors, at lean five feet four inches in height, and be able to read and write German fluently.

Infantry and a:renadi"r arma and accoutr"menta al th" lurn of Ih" c"nlury

36

E2 .\liller O.fJicer, summer fitld strvice uniform, c. 1800 Engineer, sapper, and miner officers wore a very similar uniform, a cornflower blue or dWUctlhtchtgrau tunic with cherry-red facings and linings, and straw-coloured trousers and waistcoats, the buttons being of yellow smooth pattern. Greatcoats were of the same colour as the tunics. All other cquipmcnt was of infantry pattcrn. ~'liner and sappcr officers worc thc ten-inch high black and yellow plume, whereas engineer officers wore a black one (it can only be assumed that the miner officcr in this plate is acting temporarily as an officer ofengineers). Theother ranksofboth miners and sappers wore the Cors/hut, similar to that of officers except that it was without the gold rankband and had no leather edge, buttons, or chinstrap. The rank and file of both sappers and miners were dressed in hechrgrau throughout, with cherry-red facings (1:.gaJisierullg), artillcry-pattcrn boots or twill gailers, and carried a muskel or a piSlOI in a black leather holster and an artillery sabre. The sapper sword was of a distineti"e pattern in that it was saw-toothed for a length of fifteen inches on the back edge of the two-foot blade and had a modified haft and guard so that it could be used as a saw. The Obermineur and Obtrsappeur wore pOrft-ipit. glo\·cs. a hazelwood cane, and a woollen border to the hat. In 1801 lhe companies of miners consisted or four officers, two FiJdwtbel, twO .IliTltllllltisttrl IWO J/inmjfihrtr {the

A Irll..nt;pon c:orps drivu le.dinS harniESt;ed and saddled, e. 181S

an.illf:ry

horses

sapper cquivalent ranks were Sappeumltisttr and all recruits being Bohcmian, thirty-five per cent Sappturfiihrtr), and Ober-, Alt- and ]ungmineur. In )"loravian, and only fiftccn pCI' CCnt Gcrman, its addition to their spccialiSl duties they \,'crc used on ranks bcing almost entirely tradesmen or specialists, carpcntcrs, masons, millers, ditchers, and a widc varicty of labour duties, gra\·cdiggers. The pontoniers had a strength of £3 Soldier oj the Pionur Corps, summtr field service six companies, but were not on the same tcchnical plane as the pioneers on whom they relicd for uniform, c. /800 assistance in bridge-,building; their only training The pioncers and the pOnloniers had both been raised later than the other Ihree engineer corps, was in elemcntary watermanship. and until 180g the pioneers were under the direction of the general staff (Gelleralqllort;trme;ster) and F Troo/Jer oj Uhf OTIS, JUll/J1ltr field StrV;cr dress, c. /8/5 not the Dircctor-General of Engineers, and The uhlan came to Europe by way of Turkey, for because of this had green and not cherry-red the word comes from tbe Turkish oghfoll, meaning facings, Thc pionccrs performed many of the tasks a child, and began its military use in exactly the done by sappers and their employment covered same way as the Italian iI!fo1l/erie. From the borderthe construction of earthworks, fortifications, fighting Turkish light cavalry, the use of the word roads, storm :lssaults, demolition, bridging, ob- and of the troops passed into the Polish Army, as stacles, flotation, construction of accommodation the distinctive pattcrn of the head-dress shows, and and field-ovens, and so forth, and they o\\'ed it to from there, in lhe middle of the eighteenth century, Radctzky, who had once served in a pioneer troop, it spread to Saxony and Austria, In the Silesian that thcy maintained an cxistence almost in oppo- \\'ars the uhlan was often a mounted irregular as silion to lhe sappcrs, Another reason, too, which the hussar \,'as before him, Eventually the uhlan enabled the pioneers to remain in bcing, was that became part or the regular forces (in the Russian, it was a Czecho-Slovak preserve, fifty pcI' cent of Prussian, Polish, and the Austrian servicc) and he

37

DUJerenl type. of bebnf:1 ...d c:u.In.. WOrD by c:u.Iraulen

A~'lrian

was in fact a light cavalry lancer. The soldier without the guard, pontoniers with musket and sho\\'n in this plate is possibly from the Uhian bayonet and the artillery short sabre, while the Regimtnl Prin? von Coburg. miner had pistol and sabre and a heavy entrench· ing spade in a leather case. Non-commissioned GI Soldier of pion.urs, summer field stroice un.iform c. officers (hldwtbtl, Jleister, and Fuhrtr) were dis,/log tinguished from miners by the carrying of das This plate is particularly interesting in that, in spanischt Rohr. consequence ofthe'18og reorganization, the soldier has lost his tunic and has been put into the general G3 Fieltl-J/arshal, Parade Order, c. 1800 service frock·coat (Rock) worn by the other Until 175' general officers had freedom to choose engineer troops; he still retained his green facings. their O\\'n uniform and they wore what they He has, however, taken the new head·dress with pleased, and it was left to Maria Theresa to intro· the lengthened black and yellow Federbusch. duce a white half·length coat with rank designa· tion shown by a broad golden ribbon stripe on the G'2 Soldier of .\liners, summtr field sen'ice marching front facings and side·pocket flaps of the coat. order, c. 180fj This uniform remained virtually unaltered until This miner is wearing the ISog·pattem uniform the eighties, when the gold rank-bars were altered with the new infantry head-dress and longer plume, to a zigzag pattern and gold bunons, bearing an a uniform which, except [or the distinctive badges embossed star and an ornamented edge, intro· worn on the side of the turned-up brim, was almost duced. In t798 regulations for the first time made .identical for miners, sappers, and pontoniers. some distinction between field service (campagne) Sappers, however, were usually armed with mus- and parade (gala) uniforms. Greatcoats were ket and bayonet and the short saw·toothed sword, henceforth to be Jucntgrau, the same colour as

38

worn by the 49th Regiment Vesque (later Hess), field-marshals wearing red- and gold-embroidered collars and cuO"s. The gold-bordered black general officers' head-dress with the ten-inch-high green plume was to be worn only for parades. Generaladjutants had the traditional green coat originally worn firstly by the horse-grcnadicrs and then by the Emperor Joseph's Chcvaux-Icgers des Kaisers (afterwards Uhlan Rtgimtnt 16). By an imperial command of 1765 this coat was conferred on all general-adjutants; it had the red linings and facings of the original-pattern coat but with the addition of general officer's buttons. The generaladjutant wore a plain black head-dress with a general's green plume; his waistcoat was strawcoloured, with his rank shown by the broad gold

border stripes; the woollen breeches were of the same colour. Infantry field omcers' boots and a gold-mounted sword completed his uniform. Flugtladjutantt" (A.D.C.s - usually to the monarch) wore the same dress as GtntTal-adjutantt1l except that they had white buttons instead of gold, and a sabre instead of a sword. HI .llajor-Gentral, parade uniform, c. 1/kJf} The major-general wore the dress for German general officers, his rank being shown by the zigzag gold stripe on the cuff. Hungarian cavalry general officers wore an entirely dinerent dress, some\\'hat similar to that of a hussar, wilil a half-worn Pih., a Kalpak with a plume of heron's feathers, a red dolman, red trousers or overalls \\'ith a gfAl'\' LEGION

0". _

Piw

WOLFE'S ARMY Ct1.J#i Erd/". THE ROMA,'\' IMPERIAL ARMY MieN,,1 SUrtkUu THE GERMAI'J ARMY OF THE NEW EMPIRE 1870-1888 Aimf S«fWn

BRITISH ARMY OF THE CRIMEA

}. B. R. }tid.__ .."

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ALBERT SEATON (Retd.) is the authot of many books on Russian military history; his Tire Rwso·Gmnan WaT '941-45 is probably the only complete and authoritative account published in the free world, and has appeared in London, New York, and Frankfurt. Among his recently published works are Thl BaUlt for Moscow and several titles in the Men·at·Arms series; Stalin as Military Commantiu will be published in 1973, and he is at present engaged on the writing of StaJingTati. ISBN

0 85045 147 7