Prague Prussian Flags Project - Flags of Prussian Infantry Regiment 32

Chefs: Major General Joachim Christian von Tresckow, later Lieutenant General, 17th May 1747 to 25th June 1763

Newly raised in 1743, originally as fusiliers, from a garrison battalion and companies.

In 1756 the regiment was with Field Marshal Schwerin's Corps, taking part in the limited fortress attacks along the southern border of Silesia from mid-September to the end of October. In 1757 this Corps went to join the King's Army, which it met on May 6th at Prosek. At the battle of Prague the regiment was part of Hautcharmoy's second attack after the failure of the first line; after breaking through the enemy centre Tresckow took command after Hautcharmoy fell. There was murderous fighting in the Rokenitz Brook and Christopher Duffy, Army of Frederick the Great, 1st Edition, shows IR32 with about 25% casualties. As part of the forces investing Prague after the battle IR32 missed Kolin. After that, with the Duke of Bevern's Corps the regiment suffered badly and behaved ill at Moys on September 7th (as General von Winterfeldt was shot in the back here it is possible, as suggested by Christopher Duffy, that he was shot by his own men, perhaps from this regiment raised largely from understandably disaffected Upper Silesian Catholics!). The regiment then marched to Breslau, leaving that city on November 25th with just one battalion.

With the King's Army in 1758 it was at Domstadtl on June 30th, while the grenadiers under Tresckow had captured the fortress of Schweidnitz by April 16th.

In 1759 it was with the Pomeranian Corps and fought at the bloody defeat of Kay; its commander, Colonel Burkhard von Jagow, was killed there. With only one battalion left it was given the task of securing the Oder crossings to Kunersdorf at Göritz from 11th August. In mid-September the battalion, now under Finck, reached Wunsch's Corps at Torgau. On September 21st it took part in the victory of Korbitz.

In 1760 and 1761, restored to two battalions again, it was part of the garrison of Schweidnitz, its place in the field army taken by garrison regiments. On October 1st 1761 it was captured by Loudon's forces; the troops under the command of von Zastrow had been left by the King with far too few men for the task of holding the fortress.

The regiment was not restored in 1762 and was replaced in 1763 by von Horn's regiment, which had been in Saxony under Prince Friedrich August. In 1784 the King complained: "It doesn't amount to much."

Christopher Duffy says in the Army of Frederick the Great: "First battalion distinguished at Domstadtl but the regiment as a whole performed badly at Moys and Kay, due to the large element of Upper Silesian Catholics. Captured at Schweidnitz 1761 and replaced by the regiment of Horn (formerly no. 56)."

 And this was the uniform in 1756: