Flags and uniform of Prussian Infantry Regiment 14 von Lehwaldt

This is another Prussian flag set which fills in one of the remaining gaps in my coverage; once I complete IRs 15 and 16 I shall have done the complete sweep from IRs 1 to 43! There are some after 43 still to do after that but not many...

 

Chef: 17th August 1738 to 1768: Colonel Johann von Lehwaldt, later Field Marshal

Descended from a regiment first raised in 1626.

In the Seven Years War it was another regiment which fought almost exclusively against the Russians. In 1757 the regiment was stationed in East Prussia with the force under its 73 year old chef Field Marshal von Lehwaldt and fought on August 31st at the bloody battle of Gross-Jägersdorf. After the infantry attack faltered von Lehwaldt, having had two horses shot out from under him, grabbed an infantry flag and tried to lead the infantry forward again but in vain. After the Russians withdrew from East Prussia IR 14 went with the remaining Corps to take on the Swedes in Near Pomerania.

In 1758 it was part of Count Dohna's Pomeranian Corps and went to join the King's army at Alt-Güstebiese and crossed the Oder to meet the Russians. At the battle of Zorndorf it was on the right wing, which was held back at first but was then attacked by a large body of Russian cavalry. (Duffy Army of Frederick the Great 1st Edition (henceforth AFG1) gives the losses of IR14 as around 30%.) The bloody and ferocious battle ended with a stalemate, and with each army curiously occupying the position the other had held at the beginning of the battle. After the battle IR14 remained encamped with the Corps at Blumenberg, across from the Russians.

On July 23rd 1759 the regiment was with Wedell at the defeat of Kej (or Paltzig); the army failed to capture the Paltzig Heights held by the Russians. Each element of the Prussian army was crushed in turn by the well-emplaced Russians. On August 12th, three weeks later, IR14 fought at Kunersdorf in Finck's Corps, which attacked the Russo-Austrian position from the north. It lost 35 officers and 717 men attacking the Mühlberg and Kuh-Grund. (AFG1 gives the losses of IR14 as around 40%.) In early September it was part of the attempt to secure Saxony against much superior enemy forces. Then it was sent as part of Finck's Corps to hold a position at Maxen, where it was overwhelmed by a force three times its strength on November 20th. Even though it was one of the last Prussian regiments to hold out against the Austrian attack, along with IRs 21 and 29, the regiment remained one of those despised by the King for the rest of his reign. The remnants of the regiment went to Pomerania to join Stutterheim's Corps where it was refilled with recruits from Mecklenburg. Under the Duke of Württemberg it took part in the defence of Berlin from October 5th to 9th and then spent the winter in Mecklenburg. It was at Kolberg from June to mid-December 1761. Dorn and Engelmann claim its final action was at Freiberg in 1762 under Prince Heinrich but I can find no trace of it in any OOB for the battle.

And this was the musketeer uniform in 1756: