Flags and uniform of Prussian Fusilier Infantry Regiment 47 von Wietersheim; later von Rohr and von Grabow

Chefs: From 16th August 1752 Major General Leopold Friedrich Ludwig von Wietersheim, who was transferred to the Saxon Rochow Regiment, which was absorbed into Prussian service involuntarily in 1756; from 20th October 1756 Colonel Caspar Friedrich von Rohr, who died 12th December 1757 of wounds received at Leuthen 5th December; from 5th January 1758 Major General Christoph Heinrich von Grabow to 1764

First raised August 1743; its core was a regiment taken over from the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. The officers were mostly sent to the garrison regiments and replaced by Prussian officers.

The regiment was with the King's army in the Pirna Campaign of 1756, then occupied Dresden until October 16th 1757. For the next few years the regiment was with the Saxon Corps. In 1759 the Corps advanced into Franconia to attempt to weaken the Imperial Army before the campaigning season began. On July 30th the regiment went with the King's Army and fought at Kunersdorf on August 12th. Fighting with the main army attack and under heavy grapeshot fire from the big battery on the Grosser Spitzberg, the regiment lost 600 men (Christopher Duffy, Army of Frederick the Great, 1st Edition, shows about 45% casualties). Only two officers survived unscathed. After the battle it joined Finck's Corps which reached Torgau in September and won the battle of Korbitz on September 21st and also the fight at Pretzsch on October 29th. Sent to cut the enemy communications, the Finck Corps marched to the plateau of Maxen through frost and snow where it was completely isolated. The Corps was forced to surrender on November 21st after losing half its number to a concerted attack by twice its numbers. The remnants of the IR47 battalion were amongst the prisoners.

In 1760 IR47's remaining battalion was in Stutterheim's Corps opposing the Swedes and protecting Berlin in October. At the end of October it joined the King but was not at Torgau.

In 7161 it was part of the defence of Kolberg under Württemberg; on November 14th it was part of the breakout to the west, fought at Spie and then withdrew to Stettin. An attempt to surround the Swedes in December failed.

In 1762 both battalions were with the army in Saxony and led the attack over the Mulde on May 12th. The regiment was not at Freiberg in 1762.

Christopher Duffy Army of Frederick the Great says of the regiment: "Taken over from the Holstein service in 1743. Heavy losses at Kunersdorf and the survivors captured at Maxen." Of the grenadier battalion (with Garrison Regiment No.7) he says: "In heavy fighting at Kolin and Domstadtl. Highly esteemed by Frederick."

And this was the uniform in 1756:

To complete all the Prussian infantry flags 1740-1763 I now have only IRs 15, 48 and 49 to do!

The Reichsarmee: Flags Of Franconian Regiment Ferntheil

During the Seven Years War the Franconian Kreis raised 3 infantry regiments of which this was one. Christopher Duffy in Prussia's Glory says that "the troops of the Franconian Circle were collectively the least reliable element of the Reichsarmee".

First raised 1682. Had 2 battalions each of 6 musketeer companies and 1 grenadier company, plus 2 3-pounder battalion guns and a theoretical strength of 1940 men. It had 20 separate contingents. Actual strengths were 1556 men in August 1757 and 1808 men in May 1758.

My previous post on Regiment Varell explains the curious history of the flags of the Franconian infantry regiments in the Seven Years War.

Soubise in 1757 rated it as Bad and "entirely Prussian in sympathy" (Duffy).

In 1757 the regiment was with the Reichsarmee in Thuringia and Saxony, and was present at Rossbach on November 5th. The eleven battalions of the six Reichsarmee regiments were deployed  in two lines on the right flank of the unwieldy column of French infantry, with Ferntheil on the right flank of the rear line.

Christopher Duffy in Prussian's Glory recounts what happened to Ferntheil in the battle. "The regiment of Ferntheil was attempting to form up in its vulnerable station on the right of the second line, where the beaten allied cavalry was streaming past its open flank. Lieutenant General Reinhard von Drachsdorff relates that the first battalion (unlike the second) was able to deploy but then "a troop of our defeated cavalry came up to the first platoon and one of the horsemen - nobody knows which - called out: "Friends, get away while you can! It's all up!"" Upon this the whole battalion made an about turn to the right and sank into dire confusion, without having seen any hostile forces to the front. Drachsdorff and his officers were able to restore the battalion to some sort of order, "however a number of Prussian cannon shot rang out, and the left wing of the first line simultaneously became disordered, whereupon the battalion turned about for a second time and ran."

1526 men were registered as lost from the three Franconian regiments, of whom 9/10 were listed as missing and the majority of those were probably deserters. The Reichsarmee fled for miles after the battle. Duffy again: "The whereabouts of the regiment of Ferntheil were unknown for several weeks and on the road Mollinger [secretary to Prince Georg of Hesse-Darmstadt, one of the few highly competent and professional senior officers with the Reichsarmee] happened to encounter its colonel, Franz von Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, "who had three colours of his regiment with him, one carried by himself, another by his huntsman, and the third by his runner, without a single armed man to accompany or escort them"."

The regiment was with the Zweibrücken Corps in 1758-9. The second battalion was one of the two Reichsarmee battalions which surrendered Leipzig on 13th September without firing a shot; most of the men then joined the Prussian service. On September 21st the first battalion may have been in the combat of Korbitz. I have found no information on the regiment's activities for the rest of the war.

And this was the uniform in 1756:

The Reichsarmee: Flags Of Franconian Regiment Varell

During the Seven Years War the Franconian Kreis raised 3 infantry regiments of which this was one. Christopher Duffy in Prussia's Glory says that "the troops of the Franconian Circle were collectively the least reliable element of the Reichsarmee".

First raised 1682. Had 2 battalions each of 6 musketeer companies and 1 grenadier company, plus 2 3-pounder battalion guns and a theoretical strength of 1940 men. It had 30 separate contingents, ranging from 1 man to 145 men. Actual strengths were 1399 men in August 1757 and 1720 men in May 1758.

Soubise in 1757 rated it as Bad and "entirely Prussian in sympathy" (Duffy).

In 1757 the regiment was with the Reichsarmee in Thuringia and Saxony, and was present at Rossbach on November 5th. The eleven battalions of the six Reichsarmee regiments were deployed  in two lines on the right flank of the unwieldy column of French infantry, with Varell in the centre of the rear line. When Trier in the first line fled after firing a single volley, they collided with Varell in the second line and, as Christopher Duffy says, "carried away all but sixty-three of its files" (Prussia's Glory) and knocked it entirely out of the action. 1526 men were registered as lost from the three Franconian regiments, of whom 9/10 were listed as missing and the majority of those were probably deserters.

The regiment was with the Zweibrücken Corps in 1758-9. It was probably at the battle of Korbitz in 1759 and at the battle of Wittenberg in 1760 but probably was little involved in the action. At Freiburg in 1762 it was on the far right wing and again appears to have been little engaged.

 

The flags: The flags of the Franconian Infantry Regiments have a curious history. In 1757 it was decided that each battalion would carry three flags. The old flags (whose design we do not know) were "well known to be reduced to the staves, for which one is exposed to the laughter of other troops" (this quotation and others from the detailed account of all this in Klaus Roider, Die fränkischen Kreistruppen im Siebenjährigen Krieg, Nuremberg 2009; translation courtesy of Stefan Schulz). The new design had the double headed eagle on one side and the interlocked initials FC (Fränkischer Creis or Circulus franconicus). Previously they had been made of double-layered silk but now were to be of single-layered fabric so the emblems were embroidered on canvas and sewn onto the fabric. However, the flags were not nailed to the staves until long after the war so were not actually carried in action in the Seven Years War. The problem was that Protestants and Catholics in the units insisted that the nailing ceremony should happen according to the rites of their own church and so, as they could not agree, the ceremony did not happen. This was the reason given in a report of 1775. A report of 1759 from the Ansbach envoys gives a different reason; it claims that the regimental colonels wanted to have "some pomp and feasting on this occasion, and to have the costs thereof paid by the district" but the district wanted the colonels to pay for any such festivity. No agreement could be reached so again the nailing ceremonies did not happen.

The colours had been ordered by the middle of 1757 and by the end of the year the embroiderer Christina Andrae delivered them (it is fairly unusual to know who actually created the flags in this period!). The regiments received the new flags in January 1758 but, although the colonels repeatedly asked for advice on how to proceed with them because of the impasse over the religious ceremonies, the district council repeatedly refused to dictate what should be done and so nothing was done at all. In May 1759 the Cronegk Regiment returned its new flags and their staves to the arsenal, even though only two of its six old flags were usable.

In the event, the flags were not finally issued and carried by the units until the next mobilisation of the Reichsarmee, against Revolutionary France in 1793! There seems to have been no problem about the nailing of the flags to their staves then.

The FC monogram is as authentic as I can make it as it is taken from a surviving flag in the Bavarian Army Museum.

And this was the uniform in 1756: