Being a uniform and flag design service to wargamers and to the imaginary crowned heads of 17th and 18th Century Europe, especially of the Seven Years War period - now By Appointment to the Court of Saxe-Bearstein! (But please note that the uniforms and flags presented here are not fictional - they are genuine 17th and 18th Century uniforms and flags that are as authentic as I can make them from my sources.)
I was looking through the list of French cavalry regiments which served at Warburg 1760 and in the list are two with no known emblems but whose colours are a bit unusual - so Descars Cavalry had standards with aurore as the base colour and Espinchal Cavalry had ponceau red as their base colour. I thought I'd better add them to my list of generic standards so here they are, each in the two different styles I previously posted:
and:
Created by the Ordonnance of 30th December 1748 from amalgamation of the following units:
Volontaires de Gante's 1746
Company Chasseurs de Sabattier 1747
Chasseurs de Colonne 1747
Volontaires de Lancize 1747
At the beginning of the SYW the unit consisted of only 120 men in 6 companies of 20 men each, five of infantrymen and one of dragoons.
In 1758 the unit was increased to 456 men, with 6 companies each of 40 men and 30 dragoons plus 6 officers. In April that year an additional company was added. By 1759 the unit was 1006 strong, consisting of 1 grenadier company, 8 fusilier companies and 8 dragoon companies.
The flags are problematic. Modern authorities e.g. Charrié describe the infantry Ordonnance flag with a single dolphin at the centre of the white cross and the light blue flames in the corners, as in my flag set one at the top. But the 1759 État Militaire (which generally does not describe the flags, if any, of light units) does give a description of both the infantry flags and the dragoon guidon as seen below:
I have recreated two possible versions of the infantry flag according to that description; no doubt others are possible!
And this was the dragoon guidon:
Notable service in the SYW:
1757 In garrison at Grenoble
1759: In Western Germany as part of Beaupréau's Corps. As part of the French offensive the unit was involved in skirmishing between the light troops of both armies. On June 15th they, along with Turpin Hussars and the Volontaires De Château Thierry, were attacked by Hanoverian hussars and jägers. On July 9th they raided the country towards Nienburg. On August 1st they were in the battle of Minden occupying an advanced post at Eichhorst while the dragoons were maintaining communications between two of the army's corps.
1760: Part of the vanguard of Broglie's army. July 10th the battle of Corbach deployed in a wood left of Corbach. The dragoons of the unit along with Beaufremont Dragoons defeated a charge by two squadrons of British dragoon guards, capturing a standard. On August 2nd they were sent with other troops to dislodge the Légion Britannique from some woods which the Légion then abandoned without resistance. Holding Zierenberg along with the Volontaires Étrangers de Clermont Prince, they were attacked by a force of 5 battalions and 150 highlanders and 8 dragoon squadrons of the Allies. In the attack the Warburg gate was taken and the unit lost 231 prisoners. The Allied force then left as quickly as they had come.
1761: The unit was part of Fischer's Light Brigade at the battle of Vellinghausen on the 16th of July.
1762: Attached to the Army of the Lower Rhine, under the Prince de Condé, they were part of a force that captured 100 men and 3 officers of Scheither's Corps, including Scheither himself, on July 4th. They were singled out for praise in this action along with Chapt Dragoons. In August they fought at the battle of Nauheim as part of the vanguard. At the end of the war this was one of the units which was ordered to stay in Germany.
Later in 1762 the unit was absorbed into the Volontaires de Flandres which was renamed the Légion de Flandres.
And the infantry uniform was like this in the SYW (with the dragoons dressed rather similarly):
