Flags of the French Gardes Suisses 1715-1762

The Swiss Regiment Galatty, first raised 1567, became the Gardes Suisses in 1616. Ranked behind the Gardes Françaises. If on campaign without the Gardes Françaises ranked behind the most senior French line infantry regiment present.

4 battalions strong, each of 600 men and officers.

During the War of the Spanish Succession were at Louvain 1701, Eckeren 1703, on the Rhine 1704, Nodoue 1705, Ramillies 1706, Oudenarde 1708, Malplaquet 1709, Douai, Le Quesnoy and Bouchain in 1712 and Landau in 1713.

During the War of the Austrian Succession was at the battles and sieges of Coutrai, Fontenoy, Raucoux, Lauffeld and Maastricht.

Began the Seven Years War war in Paris. Two battalions were sent to the Province of Aunis to defend against a possible British landing late in 1757 but were recalled on reaching Tours.  In 1758 two battalions went to the coast of Flanders to garrison Dunkirk and St Omer from March to December.

From 1759-60, 200 unfortunate men of the regiment were embarked on Thurot's squadron which ultimately headed for Ireland. They were captured when the three frigates of the expedition were encountered and taken by British frigates but returned to France in May that year.

In 1762 two battalions served in Germany under Soubise. They were at the combat of Schaffhausen in July 3rd, and on July 15th and 16th at the battle of Vellinghausen. In September they were at the siege of Meppen and then returned to France in October. In late May 1762 two battalions joined the Army of the Lower Rhine under Condé. They saw no action until the combat of Grüningen on 25th August. In December they moved to Landau when the French evacuated Western Germany.

[This is mostly a summary of the account in Kronoskaf as I have no independent source of information.]

And this was the uniform in 1757:

Flag of the French Volontaires de Wurmser 1762

Shock horror update! The previous flag was wrong, basically, as pointed out by Frédéric Aubert when I posted in Seven Years War Wargaming on Facebook; I had misread Pierre Charrié's text and, as Kronoskaf following Mouillard got it wrong the same way, assumed I had it right. It does not help not being a native French speaker! Lesson learned; always double check the French in Charrié... Correct flag now posted.

 

Volontaires de Wurmser first raised by decree January 1762, mostly from men of Alsace and with 1 grenadier company, 8 fusilier companies and 8 dragoon companies; total strength was 735.

Commanded in the Seven Years War by Dagobert Sigmund, Comte de Wurmser.

 

The Comte de Wurmser was informed in December 1762 that the Austrians wanted to take the regiment into their service and the unit was disbanded in March 1763, with most of the men joining the Austrian service.

In the Seven Years War the unit was initially attached to Soubise's Army of the Lower Rhine and was present at Wilhelmstahl in June that year. In August, in combat with Luckner's Freikorps, it lost 200 men and 5 officers and a cannon. On August 30th it fought in the combat of Nauheim, where it got something of its own back as it defended Freiberg and repelled an attack by Luckner Hussars. It was one of the units which Louis XV's instructions of November that year decided should remain in Germany until the army was finally evacuated.

[Details of the regiment's history and origins from Kronoskaf.]

And this is the hussar-style uniform for both infantry and cavalry depicted in Alfred de Marbot's Costumes militaires français depuis 1439 jusqu'en 1789:

Flags of the Two Battalions of Hamburger Stadtmilitär 1724-1757

When I posted the flags of the Lübeck Burgerwehr in June there was some enthusiasm for these somewhat odd and almost ImagiNation-style flags of German city regiments or militia. So I have here depicted the flags of the Hamburger Stadtmilitär 1724-1757, as recreated on this webpage of CRW Flags, based on German materials: https://www.crwflags.com/FOTW/flags/de%5Ehhcso.html

 

And these are some of the troops who would have carried these flags, depicted by Knötel:

Flags of Spanish Infantry Regiment Soria 1728-1768

Regiment Soria was descended from a tercio first raised in Naples in 1591, in part from a detachment of Regiment Saboya.

Saw much action in the 17th century and then in the War of the Spanish Succession, where it fought at the battles of Ekeren and Capell and then in 1705 at the siege of Huy. The 2nd battalion fought at Ramillies. The 2nd battalion returned to Spain in 1707 and then was sent to Africa. It returned to Spain in 1708. The 1st battalion returned from Flanders in 1710 and fought at Balaguer, Almenara and Zaragoza, where it was almost destroyed. In 1711 the 1st battalion fought in Aragon and Cataluña, and the 2nd was sent to Estremadura. The 2nd battalion fought in Cataluña in 1713 and 1714, and was at the fall of Barcelona, which it then garrisoned.

Renamed Regimento Soria in 1715. Fought in the War of the Polish Succession in 1734-5. Saw much service in the War of the Austrian Succession, in Savoie from 1741-4 against the Sardinians. In 1746 it fought at Piacenza, and afterwards embarked for Naples. It returned to Spain in 1749 for garrison duty at Cádiz.

Ranked 9th in the Seven Years War. In 1757 it was sent to Ceuta to defend against the Moroccans and returned to Cádiz in 1761. In October it relieved Nápoles Infantry in Mallorca where it remained until 1764.

[Summary of account in Kronoskaf.]

And this was probably the uniform in 1759: