3rd French Foreign Infantry Template - Fusilier of the German Regiment Alsace

A very old regiment, raised in 1656, Alsace saw much action in the SYW, and was present at Hastenbeck 1757, Cassel 1758, Bergen and Minden 1759, and Warburg 1760, to name only the most famous actions.

It was one of the first regiments to wear lapels, in the very narrow form shown here.

8th French Infantry Template - Grenadier of the Grenadiers de France

Well, it's not a Hessen-Darmstadt grenadier or a French German Regiment infantryman (they'll be along shortly) but it is another French infantry uniform, illustrating a more modern style of French uniform with lapels.

Created in 1749 from the grenadier companies of infantry regiments disbanded after the War of the Austrian Succession, the Grenadiers de France had a busy SYW. At Minden, a British eyewitness called them "as fierce and terrible looking fellows as I ever saw".

1st Reichsarmee Template - Musketeer of the Hessen-Darmstadt Infantry Regiment

05.05.09 Coloured template added and both revised, especially adding the aiguillete hanging from the right shoulder.

06.09.07 This template now revised and improved!

I'm taking a little holiday from the mess of contradictory information that makes doing the French templates such hard going and starting the Reichsarmee templates with one of my favourites. This single battalion regiment was reckoned to be the best infantry unit in the Reichsarmee; Soubise called it "excellent" (Duffy, Prussia's Glory). Prince Georg of Hessen-Darmstadt was also the best general in the Reichsarmee; a former Prussian officer, he had left the Prussian service and joined the Reichsarmee at the command of his father Landgraf Ludwig VIII. For a sympathetic and detailed account of the travails of the Reichsarmee and the doings of the estimable Prince Georg in the 1757 campaign leading up to Rossbach, see Duffy's wonderfully readable Prussia's Glory. I'd happily ramble on about it here but I'm not sure I could do the tale justice without spending too much time and space on it.

Mollo and Knötel show 2 different variants of the collar on this uniform, very unlike the normal type of collar shown by Pengel and Hurt, so I've done two variants for those (like me!) who are niggled by these things; P and H's more conventional collar-type is on the left, the one in the middle is Mollo's and the one on the right is Knötel's collar. I've now revised some of the detail on this template and improved it slightly.

Does anyone have a good detailed image of the front of this regiment's grenadier mitre cap? The best I can find is the picture in Mollo, which is not really large and detailed enough for me. Please contact me via comments if you do and can let me have a copy. Thanks.

Next time I'll be back to the French German units, once I've got the Hessen-Darmstadt grenadier done.

2nd French Foreign Infantry Template - Grenadier of Swiss Regiment Diesbach

The fur cap was not systematically used by French infantry grenadiers until after the SYW but many regiments wore fur caps of differing designs at the whim of their commanders, just as grenadiers sometimes had the distinguishing mark of grenade symbols on the turnbacks, a distinction that lasted until well into the 19th century.

1st French Foreign Infantry Template - Private of Swiss Regiment Diesbach

This was one of the few allied regiments to distinguish itself at Rossbach 1757, when Frederick of Prussia routed an army of French, Austrian and Reichsarmee troops twice the size of his with minimal losses to the Prussians. Swiss troops served the French for several centuries, by special treaties with the cantons which were regularly renewed. During the SYW there were around 20,000 Swiss serving with the French army. They wore uniforms of regular French cut but in red.

All French Infantry Templates revised

I wasn't happy with the collars and the hats, especially the cockade, so I've revised all the French Infantry Templates and uploaded the new versions.

7th French Infantry Template - Regiment Languedoc

And here is the last of the series of French Infantry variants; a private of the Languedoc Regiment. It had a very similar history to La Reine. The main feature of the uniform is the pattern of 6 buttons on the pocket flap.

The next French Infantry templates will be Swiss and German Infantry.

6th French Infantry Template - Regiment La Reine

The 1st battalion stayed in Europe; the 2nd arrived in Canada in 1755, where it served in many of the campaigns until it returned to France in 1760. The main distinguishing feature of the uniform is the pattern of 8 buttons on the pocket flaps.

5th French Infantry Template - Regiment Royal Roussillon

This was an old regiment with a distinguished history. Both battalions of this regiment had a fairly eventful time in the SYW. The 1st battalion arrived in Canada in 1756 and fought in various major engagements including Ticonderoga and the Plains of Abraham before returning to France in 1761. The 2nd battalion fought in Germany and was at Rossbach. The uniform had 6 buttons on the cuff with the common horizontal pocket with 3 buttons.

4th French Infantry Template - Regiments Bourgoyne, Cambis, Guyenne and La Sarre.

This is a somewhat refined version of the first French template I did; many regiments had this simple design of uniform, including four of the regiments sent to Canada: Bourgoyne, Cambis, Guyenne and La Sarre. Distinctive features are 3 buttons on the cuff and a horizontal pocket with 3 buttons.

3rd French SYW Infantry - Regiment Béarn

And here is the last French Infantry Template for today - a private of regiment Béarn. During the SYW the 1st battalion stayed in France and was mostly employed on coastal guard duties. The 2nd battalion went to Canada in 1755; it was involved in the capture of Fort Oswego in 1756, the capture of Fort William-Henry in 1757, the battle of Ticonderoga in 1758, the siege of Quebec and the battles of Montmorency and The Plains of Abraham in 1759, the battle of Ste. Foy and siege of Quebec in 1760, and it surrendered at Montreal in September of that year. The uniform is very similar to that of Berry (below) except that it has only 3 buttons on the cuff.

2nd French SYW Infantry - Regiment Berry

The 2nd and 3rd battalions of this regiment arrived in Quebec in late July 1757, although they were originally destined for India. They served at Ticonderoga in 1758 and at Ste. Foix, the siege of Quebec and the battle of Isle-aux-Noix in 1760, before surrendering at Montreal with many of the other French battalions on the 8th September 1760. The 1st battalion stayed in Europe. After the return of the remnants of the 2nd and 3rd battalions to Europe the regiment was reformed into 2 battalions in April 1761. Distinguishing features of this regiment's uniform are the 5 buttons on the cuff, the parallel vertical pockets with 3 buttons each and the collar.

First of the New French Infantrymen - Regiment Artois

And here is the first of the French infantry, a private of the Artois Regiment. The 2nd Battalion was part of the garrison of Louisbourg in Canada and was captured when it fell to the British in 1758. The 1st Battalion mostly served on garrison duty in France during the SYW. Distinctive features of this uniform are the cuffs with 6 buttons and the pocket flap with 9.

French uniforms of the SYW - what a nightmare!

The lack of postings here might suggest that nothing is happening but in fact I've been trawling through everything I can find on French infantry uniforms of the SYW to try to make sure I get them right. It seems that nothing is quite certain and the distinguishing features of the various regiments, especially the pocket flaps and their button patterns, the cuff buttons and whether or not they had collars, are, to say the least, very confusing to establish. It doesn't help that the regiments that served in Canada often had different uniforms there from those they wore in Europe! But putting what I've found together gives me something with perhaps a 70% chance of accuracy, which, in this complex mess of a subject, will have to do, I think. Anyone who disagrees can at least edit the templates to make them into something they think is correct!

The Next Templates...

Well, unless the Poll changes dramatically in the next 24 hours it looks as if the French are well ahead. (That fits rather well with my plans anyway! :-)) Next is the Reichsarmee.

So, the plan will probably be first to do variants on the basic French infantry uniform; someone would like versions of the uniforms worn by the French regiments in North America for a web article which has already used my single French infantry template http://www.immortels.fr/spip.php?article89 so I shall do those units as they make a good small and varied selection. Then I shall probably do some foreign units in French service - German and Swiss regiments, especially, as well as Grenadiers de France. That should keep me busy for a while!

For the Reichsarmee, I shall probably draw a selection of the best infantry regiments as identified by Soubise in 1757 (in Duffy, Prussia's Glory), otherwise there are simply too many from which to choose.

I haven't looked thoroughly into the SYW in India yet but do have some good material for it. It will be some weeks yet before I get there...

Prussian Grenadier IR12 or 18 with black eagle on mitre cap

Four Prussian regiments had a black eagle of some sort on the mitre cap - IRs 3, 11, 12 and 18. The variant here represents Regiment 12 or 18. The other two regiments had much smaller black eagles on the mitre front and different lacing on the coat.

Problems with Polls

There's a problem with Polls on Blogger at the moment so I had to use a workaround to delete the Poll on numbers of templates downloaded. My apologies to the one person who managed to vote; I have noted what the vote was!

3rd Russian Infantryman - Grenadier

The unusual grenadier cap was introduced in 1752 and changed for a more conventional mitre cap in 1763. The civic arms were carried on the front of the grenadier cap and also on the cartridge pouch carried at the waist.

2nd Russian Infantryman - Musketeer of the Observation Corps

The Observation Corps was a sort of "private army" (Duffy) set up by Shuvalov in 1756 in Poland, with a super-large grenadier regiment and a great deal of artillery. In the event it performed rather badly at Kunersdorf and was eventually absorbed into the main Russian army. The uniform differed from that of the regular army only in the wearing of cavalry boots by all ranks.

1st Russian Infantryman - Musketeer

And here is the first Russian infantryman - a musketeer. The Russians had an unusually simple standardised uniform in almost every branch of the army, with each regiment distinguished only by its regional badge. The uniform was also rather old fashioned by the standards of the Seven Years War, with a rather more generous cut as seen, for example, in the more ample skirts of the waistcoat.

After the Russians...

The improved hussar template drew so few votes in the previous poll that I was rather wondering what people might actually like done after the Russian infantry. I make no promises that I will actually do what people request (that way madness really does lie! ;-)) but I will take serious note of popular options. So - start suggesting! :-) (And no, I don't really feel like branching out into civilians at the moment, before anyone mentions it...)

3rd Highlander - Grenadier of the 42nd Foot (Black Watch)

As the title says! This type of fur cap was a development of the mitre cap - early examples were in fact mitre caps with fur added until eventually the fur covered the entire cap except (as here) for the front flap.

Russian infantry coming next!

2nd Highlander - Private of the 42nd Foot (Black Watch)

Unlike the short-lived Fraser's Highlanders, the Black Watch lasted as a regiment from 1740 until March 2006, when it became a battalion in a larger Scottish regiment under army reorganisation. It is one of the most famous units in the British army. As with most British units of the period the uniform had a complex lace, with small threads of different colour, which are almost impossible to represent in a drawing made into a low-resolution bitmap like this. Next will be a grenadier of the Black Watch with the fur cap which was adopted by grenadiers throughout the army in 1768.

1st Highlander - Private of the 78th Foot (Fraser's Highlanders) 1757-1763

And here it is at last - the first highlander template. It's a rather simple but quite elegant uniform, with little decoration. This regiment was short-lived and served exclusively in North America, where kilts were generally quickly changed for breeches and canvas gaiters. This is the feileadh beag or little kilt worn in the field and as worn today, not the full or belted plaid, the breacan-an-feileadh. As requested, I have left off the tartan pattern but will probably try drawing it at some point.

Highlanders later this week

Thanks to everyone who voted in the Poll about the highlanders and posted comments. I shall do all 3 but also get started on the Russians ASAP. I've been away for some days hence the absence of any posting since the middle of last week. I'm very busy until late Wednesday but then I should have some time to do the highlanders. As a number of people seemed happy to have them without the tartan I shall be able to speed up the drawing by omitting it. I may try doing it later though, as I quite like a challenge when I'm in the mood! ;-)