Prussian Bosniak Summer Dress Post-1762

Something of a novelty unit, the Bosniaks originated as a single squadron attached to the 5th Hussars in 1745. They were lancers raised in the Ukraine by an Albanian jeweller named Stephen Serkis and initially offered to the Saxons, who refused to employ them so they were offered to Frederick instead. Although increased to 10 squadrons in 1763, they were never very successful and reverted to squadron strength after the war.

The fur cap may have been introduced as late as 1780 but some sources suggest it was introduced in 1762. As I don't like the early turban cap, I've chosen to show the fur cap.

The summer uniform for other ranks was all red with white lace; the brown fur cap had a red top, white (or light green) cords and white plume. Black stock. The shabraque was black with red dog-tooth edging. (Some sources suggest that a separate pistol holster and cover was also carried, in the same colours and with the FR cipher.) The lance was painted alternately red and black. The pennon was of different colours to distinguish the squadrons; Bleckwenn shows all white, all black, all crimson, all red, all yellow and all light green, light green over red, light green over white, white over red, and black over yellow.

Last 12 French Infantry Flags

The last 12 French infantry flags can now be found here: http://www.woodward.toucansurf.com/SYW/Last12FrenchInfantryFlagsDM.zip

The 3 Irish flags cover Dillon, Bulkeley and Clare (one flag with exactly the same pattern but differentiated by the colouring), Roth and Fitzjames. The 3 Swiss flags are Diesbach (with the motto) and 2 which cover some of the wide range of "variations on a theme" carried by Swiss infantry. The 4 German flags are Royal Pologne, Bentheim, La Marck and Royal Bavière. Finally there are 2 more variants of native French infantry flags. The filenames identify the units except for the more generic flags.

The above coloured sample snapshot shows from left to right Roth (Irish), Diesbach (Swiss), Royal Bavière (German) and Bentheim (German).

French infantry flag update: 12 final flags coming soon

Update Friday 14th March: 12 new flags now virtually done, apart from the process of the final checking, then converting them to png files, zipping them up, uploading them, etc.. But all that will now have to wait until the weekend as I have jobs to do this evening. There are 3 Irish flags, 4 German flags, 3 Swiss flags and 2 more native French infantry flags; above is a snapshot of the uncoloured templates. The top left 4 flags are German infantry; the top right 2 flags French; the bottom left 3 Swiss and bottom right 3 Irish. So - watch this space!

Preview of next few French infantry flags

The German, Irish, Swiss, etc. flags are progressing well; here is a snapshot showing the flag of the German regiment Royal Pologne on the left and the Irish regiment Dillon on the right. I hope to post another batch of flags by the end of the week.

New batch of 12 French infantry flags now available

The next batch of 12 French infantry flag templates can be downloaded here: http://www.woodward.toucansurf.com/SYW/FrenchSYWInfantryFlags2DM1.zip

More French infantry flags on the way...

These will be coming along sometime this week plus more, including those rather splendid flags of German and Irish regiments in French service... The German flags will take longer to produce as they are much more fiddly to draw. This next batch of 12 flags are nearly completed; many of them are of regiments disbanded or amalgamated into other regiments in 1749. It seems that having an attractively different flag was almost a guarantee of disbandment!

Also coming soon, a Bosniak, and Russian and Austrian hussars. (For Jean-Louis there'll also be a Polish konfederatka cap.) I'm still messing about with generals' uniforms, too, but haven't been able to produce something I like the look of yet. The inspiration is missing on them, I'm afraid. Ho hum...

12 French Infantry Flag Templates

Here are 12 French infantry flag templates, from the very basic to rather more complex. More to follow, hopefully, some time next week.

The blank templates are zipped up as one package here: http://www.woodward.toucansurf.com/SYW/FrenchInfantryFlagsSYWTemp%5blatesDM.zip as I didn't want to mess about doing one post here for each one.

This thumbnail image gives an idea of what can be done; these represent authentic French infantry flags (even if we cannot always be sure of the exact shades of the colours used!). A few are flags which went out of use in 1749 but they seemed to me too attractive to reject because of that sad little fact. :-)

Russian Infantry Flag 2

This is one of the battalion flags of the Azovski Regiment, showing the coat of arms in the centre and a different crown above from the previous two flags I have posted. The original was red, with yellow flames in the corners, and the central shield design was gold. The coat of arms had a sky blue background, with silver fishes, crescent and cross.

Russian Infantry Flag 1

This was very similar in pattern to the dragoon standard posted earlier. This type was carried by those regiments which did not have a coat of arms. Each battalion had one of these flags with a coloured background; the other battalion flag had the Russian double-headed eagle motif on a white background.

Russian Dragoon Standard

This is the squadron pattern for those Russian dragoon regiments which did not have a coat of arms to display; it has the imperial monogram for the Empress Elizabeth instead. This can easily be edited out in e.g. Paint by those who wish to use this design for their ImagiNation.

French Berchény Hussar 1756

First raised in 1720, the second hussar regiment to be recruited for the French army and ranked as the 59th cavalry regiment, the Berchény Hussars was a famous unit but did not apparently perform very well at Emsdorff in July 1760.

Uniform: Red mirliton with sky blue wing, white lace, white plume and decorations. Black stock. Sky blue dolman and pelisse, white lace, white metal buttons, red collar and cuffs (cuffs with white lace). Pelisse edged with black fur and lined red. Red and white barrel sash. Sky blue breeches. Black boots with white lace top. Red sabretache with white lace trim and decorations. Brown leather sabretache and sabre belts. Red shabraque with white trim and decorations.

The template can be found here: http://www.woodward.toucansurf.com/SYW/FrenchBerchenyHussar1756DM1.png

Swedish Yellow Hussar 1756

Unit and uniform detail to follow...

Again, the real thing is on my webspace here: http://www.woodward.toucansurf.com/SYW/SwedishYellowHussarDM122011.png and the image here is merely a small thumbnail.

Swedish Blue Hussar 1756

Unit and uniform detail to follow...

As usual, because this is an image larger than c.30 kbs, I've had to put the real thing on my webspace here: http://www.woodward.toucansurf.com/SYW/SwedishBlueHussar1756DM1.png as the blog turns a small png file into a huge 16.7m colour image. The image here is merely a small thumbnail.

French Hussar Guidon 1758

This is the design of a guidon captured by the Prussian 5th Hussars from the French Polleresky Hussars in 1758.

Spanish Heavy Cavalry Style Standard

This is very similar in design to the French heavy cavalry standards (note the use of the Bourbon fleur-de-lys in the corners) but with a more cartoonish face in the centre. It can easily be edited to include the ImagiNation cipher or emblem in the middle.

Prussian Hussar Style Standard (until 1740s only)

To complete the Prussian set, here is a Prussian hussar standard of the early 1740s. They were not carried after the early years of the War of the Austrian Succession.

Prussian Dragoon Style Standard 2

And here's the 2nd variant of the oldest style of standard carried by Prussian dragoons.

Prussian Dragoon Style Standard 1

There were at least 5 variants of the standards carried by Prussian dragoons; this is the simplest version of the oldest type, which dated from the reign of Frederick II's father.

Musing on flags...

Having posted flag templates without the full details i.e. minus the ciphers and emblems, I wonder if I ought to post ones that are the complete Prussian flags, along with colouring details. Someone might find them useful? Well, we'll see what response I get! ;-) Comments, please.

Prussian Regular Infantry Style Flag (Regiment 9, 11 and many others)

And this really is the last for now; I couldn't resist adding it as it's one of the very commonest styles of Prussian infantry flag. I have now covered most of the Prussian infantry flag types.

Prussian Regular Infantry Style Flag (Regiments 19 and 34, Type 2)

And finally for now another unusual style of flag also carried by regiments 19 and 34.

Prussian Regular Infantry Style Flag (Regiments 19 and 34)

This is an unusual style of flag carried by infantry regiments 19 and 34.

Prussian Regular Infantry Style Flag (Regiment 39)

A flag of the type used by Infantry Regiment 39 and others.

Prussian Regular Infantry Style Flag (Regiment 23)

A flag of the type used by Regiment No.23, amongst others.

Prussian Garrison Infantry Style Flag of Regiments 1 and 2

And lastly for the moment here is the most complex of the garrison regiment flags, that of regiments 1 and 2, which is very similar to those of many of the line regiments.