Wednesday, 5 July 2023

Infantry Flags of the British/Hanoverian Légion Britannique - speculative version

As my Légion Britannique flags have been popping up here and there (used by people who have had the sheets emailed to them by me) and there has consequently been more interest I thought I'd make the infantry flags more easily available here on the blog. We know that the Légion used British style flags but have no images of them so I created my version based on British flag regulations of the Seven Years War. There is also a sheet of dragoon guidons, but it is too big a file to be put on the blog, so if anyone wants that they will still have to contact me so I can email it to them.

The Légion Britannique was raised for service in the Hanoverian Army in 1760. It was paid for by the British government and carried flags of British pattern, although its officers were Hanoverian. It consisted of 5 battalions, each of 4 infantry companies and a dragoon squadron; the strength of each battalion was intended to be 500 infantry and 101 dragoons.

As the Légion was raised from deserters, foreigners and sometimes prisoners of war, its quality can be imagined, and losses from desertion and capture were many. Despite its inauspicious make up, units of the Légion were capable of distinguished service, as with the 3rd battalion which fought well in the defence of Hamm in 1761 and the 2nd battalion which was overcome at the defence of Meppen only after a fierce resistance. French prisoners taken at Warburg in July 1760 were later enlisted in the Légion's light companies. Near the end of the war the Légion was taken into Prussian service, which cannot have pleased many of its troops!


And here is the dragoon guidon sheet, in very low resolution; the actual sheet is nearly 4 MBs and too big to post here. If anyone would like a copy, please let me have an email address via the Contact Form (don't put your email address in the comments as you really don't want it to be picked up by bots and to be spammed!).



10 comments:

  1. ore fantastic flag goodness, thanks for sharing david.

    Willz.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Willz. :-) I think I'll post a low resolution preview of the dragoon guidons too so people can see what they look like before asking me to email them...

      All the best,

      David.

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  2. Very nice and really useful to have them all in one place:).

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    1. Thank you, Steve. :-) When I can find the time I would like to do more British flags; one advantage is that the basic pattern is the same but with different details. I do love flags like that; it makes my life so much easier (unlike, say, Hanoverian flags - ouch).

      All the best,

      David.

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    2. I can see these being useful for my sort of HEIC troops, as the 'Union' flag looks pretty good as is. From my limited research and surviving examples, there was not much continuity to the designs, so I can be somewhat liberal in my approach!

      BTW the guidons look brilliant:).

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    3. Thanks, Steve. :-) That's good. If you use them, please do send pictures. I gather the HEIC were pretty much a law unto themselves about most things! But a lot of their flags were similar to regular British ones.

      All the best,

      David.

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    4. I've seen 3, if not 4 versions of Company flags, excluding the Presidencies which again, have different versions depending upon where you look. Once I have figures painted I'll put them up on my Blog and of course credit you with the flags:)!

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    5. Thanks, Steve. :-) If you can point me at some information on HEIC Army flags I'd be grateful; I have very little and can fnd next to nothing online! Thanks.

      All the best,

      David.

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  3. Nice! I especially like the cavalry guidons.

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    1. Thanks, Jon. :-) Yes, I do too; one day I shall tackle British cavalry guidons of the period too, as I now have most of the elements created for them...

      All the best,

      David.

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