Being a uniform and flag design service to wargamers and to the imaginary crowned heads of 17th and 18th Century Europe, especially of the Seven Years War period - now By Appointment to the Court of Saxe-Bearstein! (But please note that the uniforms and flags presented here are not fictional - they are genuine 17th and 18th Century uniforms and flags that are as authentic as I can make them from my sources.)
A very old regiment, raised in 1656, Alsace saw much action in the SYW, and was present at Hastenbeck 1757, Cassel 1758, Bergen and Minden 1759, and Warburg 1760, to name only the most famous actions.
It was one of the first regiments to wear lapels, in the very narrow form shown here.
Well, it's not a Hessen-Darmstadt grenadier or a French German Regiment infantryman (they'll be along shortly) but it is another French infantry uniform, illustrating a more modern style of French uniform with lapels.
Created in 1749 from the grenadier companies of infantry regiments disbanded after the War of the Austrian Succession, the Grenadiers de France had a busy SYW. At Minden, a British eyewitness called them "as fierce and terrible looking fellows as I ever saw".
05.05.09 Coloured template added and both revised, especially adding the aiguillete hanging from the right shoulder.
06.09.07 This template now revised and improved!
I'm taking a little holiday from the mess of contradictory information that makes doing the French templates such hard going and starting the Reichsarmee templates with one of my favourites. This single battalion regiment was reckoned to be the best infantry unit in the Reichsarmee; Soubise called it "excellent" (Duffy, Prussia's Glory). Prince Georg of Hessen-Darmstadt was also the best general in the Reichsarmee; a former Prussian officer, he had left the Prussian service and joined the Reichsarmee at the command of his father Landgraf Ludwig VIII. For a sympathetic and detailed account of the travails of the Reichsarmee and the doings of the estimable Prince Georg in the 1757 campaign leading up to Rossbach, see Duffy's wonderfully readable Prussia's Glory. I'd happily ramble on about it here but I'm not sure I could do the tale justice without spending too much time and space on it.
Mollo and Knötel show 2 different variants of the collar on this uniform, very unlike the normal type of collar shown by Pengel and Hurt, so I've done two variants for those (like me!) who are niggled by these things; P and H's more conventional collar-type is on the left, the one in the middle is Mollo's and the one on the right is Knötel's collar. I've now revised some of the detail on this template and improved it slightly.
Does anyone have a good detailed image of the front of this regiment's grenadier mitre cap? The best I can find is the picture in Mollo, which is not really large and detailed enough for me. Please contact me via comments if you do and can let me have a copy. Thanks.
Next time I'll be back to the French German units, once I've got the Hessen-Darmstadt grenadier done.
The fur cap was not systematically used by French infantry grenadiers until after the SYW but many regiments wore fur caps of differing designs at the whim of their commanders, just as grenadiers sometimes had the distinguishing mark of grenade symbols on the turnbacks, a distinction that lasted until well into the 19th century.
This was one of the few allied regiments to distinguish itself at Rossbach 1757, when Frederick of Prussia routed an army of French, Austrian and Reichsarmee troops twice the size of his with minimal losses to the Prussians. Swiss troops served the French for several centuries, by special treaties with the cantons which were regularly renewed. During the SYW there were around 20,000 Swiss serving with the French army. They wore uniforms of regular French cut but in red.
Well, it's not a Hessen-Darmstadt grenadier or a French German Regiment infantryman (they'll be along shortly) but it is another French infantry uniform, illustrating a more modern style of French uniform with lapels.
05.05.09 Coloured template added and both revised, especially adding the aiguillete hanging from the right shoulder.
