Thursday 30 April 2020

Rossbach Prussian Flags Project - Flags of Prussian Infantry Regiment 9 on Wickeradt

Here's the next set of flags in the ongoing Prussian Rossbach flags project; IR 9 von Wickeradt:



First raised 1679 in Lippstadt (with links to troops raised by 1646) this Westphalian regiment was at Lobositz in 1756 where Frederick placed them on the Lobosch hill to fight the Austrian pandours; Frederick said of them "The Westphalians are rather crude... but they are good soldiers and will defend themselves." The regimental chef Lieutenant General Johann Christian Rulemann, Baron Quadt von Wickeradt (who sounds rather like a music-hall German) was killed by artillery fire. The new chef was Major General Friedrich Ludwig von Kleist. At Prague on May 6th 1757 the regiment lost 20 officers and 550 men, half its number, in the attack along the Rokenitz Brook. At Rossbach it was in the centre of the main Prussian infantry line. Its new chef von Kleist was killed at Breslau on the 22nd November 1757. The grenadiers were knocked about at Kolin on June 18th 1757. In 1758 the regiment was with the Saxon Corps under Prince Henry, the grenadiers elsewhere in Upper Silesia. In 1759 IR 9 was in the defeat at Kay July 23rd against the Russians and there lost its commander Colonel Johann Gottfried von Kikol. At Kunersdorf 12th August it was luckier than many units, losing only about 20%; its new chef Major General Friedrich August von Schenckendorff led the advance guard. On November 21st 1759 it was captured at the disastrous (for the Prussians!) Finckenfang of Maxen, where a whole detached corps of the Prussian army was captured by the Austrians. Unlike many of the units captured there, which Frederick held in contempt thereafter, IR 9 fought hard and well and so was forgiven. Consequently there was only one battalion in 1759-60; Westphalia was occupied by the French and replacements were impossible. Only the grenadiers were at Torgau in 1760. For the rest of the war the regiment was mostly involved in moving hither and thither and not in any major actions, although the grenadiers were at Freiberg on October 29th 1762.


And this is the uniform of a musketeer of IR 9 in the Seven Years War:





(I had planned and started the unusual flags of IR19 but have had all sorts of problems with them, and wasted vast amounts of time and effort on them, so will have to start them again. Sometimes the gremlins just seem to run riot...)

16 comments:

  1. Good to "see" you, David! Hope you and yours are holding up reasonably well during all of this Covid-19 craziness. Very handsomely rendered flags. Eager to see what you turn out for IR19. If I am remembering correctly, that's the unit with a large white Maltese cross, correct? Stay well.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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  2. Blogger David said...
    Thanks, Stokes. Hope all's well with you and your family in these trying times. We're OK, thanks; Vanessa is working at home and my life is not much different as I was already working at home anyway. Our little black cat Tink is pleased to have both blobs around to run around after her every day! I had hoped to get out much more this year to nature reserves and mediaeval churches etc. and am looking forward to the day that is possible again.

    Yes, IR 19 is the one with the maltese crosses, maroon and white. I'll try to do them next! The work on them so far has been completely jinxed...

    All the best,

    David.

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  3. Great to see another couple of your excellent flags on show David. Keep up the fantastic work!

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  4. Thanks for an interesting post and lovely set of flags!

    Ed

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  5. Thanks, Ray. Glad you like them. Next time I'll post those flags of IR 19 I mentioned - this time I'll get them right, hopefully!

    Hope all's well with you in these peculiar times we're going through...

    All the best,

    David.

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  6. Thanks, Ed. Glad you like them. I confess my sympathies lie more with the Austrians but the Prussian flags are certainly very attractive and often so much more varied and appealing than those of the Austrians in the SYW period!

    Hope all's well with you and your family.

    All the best,

    David.

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  7. Jut wanted to say that I love what you do here. I have "borrowed" your templates to provide flags for my French regiments and hope that it is ok with you.

    Cheers
    Peter

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  8. Hi Peter,

    Glad you like the blog and its contents! Thanks for letting me know. Yes, I'm perfectly happy that you have borrowed the French flags to make flags for your troops. Do let me have pictures of them in action, if you have some, please, as I love to see them in use! Thanks.

    Cheers,

    David.

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  9. Sir David, Great work as usual. Stay safe and healthy...captbill

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  10. Hi David

    Here's my latest output using your flag templates.
    https://thequarantinechallenge.blogspot.com/2020/05/from-peterd-syw-auvergne-regiment-in.html

    Peter

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  11. Thanks, Bill. We're getting by OK. Hope all's well with you, your wife and cats.

    All the best,

    David.

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  12. Hi Peter,

    Thank you very much for that! The troops and flags look good. :-) Are you planning many French regiments?

    All the best,

    David.

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  13. Thanks David
    I’m up to five and would want at least 8, maybe 12. But it will be a long process to get there.
    Peter

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  14. Good luck with the work on the next French regiments, Peter. I look forward to seeing progress, both troops and flags!

    All the best,

    David.

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  15. really nice addition

    Ronald

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  16. Thanks, Ronald. Glad you like it. :-)

    I've added uniform images for Forcade IR23 and Winterfeldt IR1 now, and I've nearly finished doing IR19 Markgraf Karl with its very striking flags. I hope to post them later today or certainly tomorrow if not. There's still the text to finish and that always takes a fair amount of time and effort.

    Cheers,

    David.

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