Wednesday, 17 June 2009

Musketeer of Hessen-Darmstadt Landbattalion Fock

First raised 1699. Commander: General-Leutnant von Fock (or Foch).

Hessen-Darmstadt supplied a very fine battalion of infantry to the Reichsarmee which distinguished itself at Rossbach and served throughout much of the war (see elsewhere on this blog for the template). The 2 cavalry regiments saw no active service in the SYW, it seems, but there are suggestions that the other infantry units, including Landbattalion Fock, were involved. Unfortunately I can find no information on organisation of this unit, nor on operational use in the SYW, or on any of the other Hesse-Darmstadt units. If anyone has information on this unit or the others, I'd be grateful to know it. Thanks.

Posted by David Morfitt at Wednesday, June 17, 2009

18 comments:

  1. Capt Bill17 June 2009 at 23:35

    Hessen-Darmstadt has always been one of my favorite units. Thanks for the wonderful image...

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  2. David18 June 2009 at 15:43

    Thanks, Bill. :-)

    Hopefully we'll find out more about them sometime soon...

    All the best,

    David.

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  3. old john19 June 2009 at 17:47

    this from a German pal

    "At the beginning of the Seven Years War, there were effectively three militia battalions which names were Wurmb, Gundlach and Freywald (beside the Land-Grenadiers) In 1760, when the new landgrave Friedrich II reorganised the army, the three former militia regiments were reorganised into three "Garrison Battalions" of 4 coys each, and one standing battalion of "Garrison Grenadiers" of 4 coys"

    have asked him for more info on H-D troops in SYW, will pass on asap,
    cheers old john

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  4. David Morfitt19 June 2009 at 23:44

    Thanks, Old John. Very helpful! Look forward to hearing more. :-)

    Cheers,

    David.

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  5. old john20 June 2009 at 14:27

    Hi David,
    i've been skimming through your blog, which i found extremely useful in getting uniform details, and noticed you mention as sources, Duffy, Pengel & Hurt,Sturm Cards and i was wondering what other sources you use as i've collected, over many trips to Germany, Austria and Hungary in past, quite a few books etc on SYW uniforms and i was wondering if could be of any help in your researches. Examples of what's in my library, Bleckwenn, Menzel, Dorn and Engelmann, colour plates by Herre und Tradition plus many, many more, i also have contact with German uniformologists who are very happy to answer my queries and offer guidance on books etc, eg through them i was able to obtain 2 very handy books on the Saxon and Hanoverian Armies in SYW (all in German but illustrations tell a thousand words), if can help in any way please just ask
    cheers old john

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  6. David Morfitt20 June 2009 at 19:40

    Hi Old John,

    Thank you for the kind offer. I have quite a long list of books, including German language books like Bleckwenn on the Prussian Army, Dorn and Engelmann (various), too long to list immediately. I'll dig through and make a proper list, and then post it here. I should anyway have given a list of my sources on the blog some time ago, so people can see what I'm using.

    It will take me a while but I'll post soon, I hope. Thanks again.

    Cheers,

    David.

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  7. old john21 June 2009 at 17:34

    just sent by German pal, hope this what you are looking for

    http://books.google.de/books?id=jUYoWM5QNuwC&pg=PA167&dq=hessen+siebenj%C3%A4hriger+krieg&lr=&as_brr=1

    http://books.google.de/books?id=E7sRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR2&dq=hessen+siebenj%C3%A4hriger+krieg&lr=&as_brr=1

    cheers old john

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  8. David Morfitt22 June 2009 at 02:10

    Thanks, Old John. I'll chase those up and see if I can work my way through. My German is very poor so hopefully my wife can help as hers is much better!

    Cheers,

    David.

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  9. old john22 June 2009 at 07:53

    hi David, i too have the same difficulty in translating even though i speak a fair bit of German particularly as these books are written in old High German script, best of luck

    this link is for a German seller of CD-Roms of German uniform plates which might be of interest,
    http://www.historischer-bilderdienst.de/index.php

    cheers old john

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  10. David22 June 2009 at 12:24

    Thanks, Old John. We'll see how I get on with them! :-)

    Thanks for the CDRom link too.

    Cheers,

    David.

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  11. old john23 June 2009 at 10:09

    this from another German friend, think you might know of the links he listed, as soon as he can access his files he'll dig out more for us

    "have no access to my files at the moment , but it seems to me that there is a mix up of Hesse-Kassel and Darmstadt.
    Also the Reishskontingent was NO part of the HD Army

    There was no Friedrich in HD, only in HK

    Hessen-Darmstadt
    1568–1596 Georg I.
    1596–1626 Ludwig V.
    1626–1661 Georg II.
    1661–1678 Ludwig VI.
    1678 Ludwig VII.
    1678–1739 Ernst Ludwig
    1739–1768 Ludwig VIII.
    1768–1790 0D Ludwig IX.
    1790–1830 Ludwig X. (ab 1806 als Großherzog Ludwig I.)"

    cheers old john

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  12. David Morfitt23 June 2009 at 14:41

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  13. David Morfitt23 June 2009 at 14:46

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  14. David Morfitt23 June 2009 at 14:48

    Hi Old John,

    Ah, I see - these last comments relate to previous comments by another of your German friends, not to anything I've posted on my blog. As I haven't used or checked on that information, I see that they probably do relate to HK, not HD, as suggested. HD supplied 1 battalion to the Reichsarmee, a template for which I've put elsewhere on the blog (and in which I refer to Ludwig VIII as ruler). LB Foch was, of course, not a Reichsarmee unit.

    Look forward to hearing more - thanks.

    Cheers,

    David.

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  15. old john28 June 2009 at 08:29

    Hi David, sorry about earlier confusion, my contact in his enthusiasm to help got it wrong, he sends his apologies, he has just sent me some pictures of H-D troops, by Knotel, Tritt and some others inc a pic of H-D artillery,(he also suggests Sturm cigarette cards, i think you already have these,) how do i send them to you? i can print them off and post or try and email
    also this German web site could be useful
    http://www.hessen-militaer.de/
    again in German but some English pages
    cheers old john

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  16. David Morfitt28 June 2009 at 16:35

    Hi Old John,

    Thank you - that's quite alright. :-)

    Do thank your contact for the pictures. You can email them to me at: morfitt [at] lineone [dot] net, please. Thanks.

    And thanks too for the weblink - I'll chase that up now.

    Thanks again for your help.

    Cheers,

    David.

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  17. Bob Blanchett19 March 2010 at 09:54

    thanks doe all this guys..
    My fiance is from a Village near Gieẞen north of Frankfurt.. in the land formerlz known as Landgraviate Hesse Darmstadt so asI already have Austrian and Prussian Armies adding HC and HD units for Might and Reason sounded like a good idea.

    keep it up!
    bloody good effort!

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  18. David Morfitt19 March 2010 at 11:43

    Hi Bob,

    Glad we could help. :-)

    I've not had chance to post much lately because of ill-health, mostly, but I hope to start again soon. I might try a few Hesse Kassel templates...

    Cheers,

    David.

    ReplyDelete

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