The NOT-Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Normandie

The NOT-Minden French Flags Project is an extension of the Minden French Flags Project which allows me to do other French flags of the SYW, especially now I have done all the easier and less complicated flags of the French infantry at Minden, and, like today, feeling weary late on a Wednesday evening, want an easy flag to post to keep things ticking over...

And so back to Regiment Normandie:

First raised in 1574 as the Bandes de Normandie which were created from the Vieilles bandes françaises, this was one of the six Vieux Corps and had 4 battalions.  The regiment was in garrison from 1757-1760 in Ostende and then various places in Artois. From 1760 it served with the army of Maréchal de Castrie; in October that year it was at the battle of Clostercamps where it initially distinguished itself but while in pursuit over open ground was counter-attacked by British cavalry and lost a flag. In 1761 it was at the battle of Vellinghausen but took no part in the action. At the end of that year it returned to France to guard the coast of Normandy.

The flags were as depicted from 1616 to 1791:

And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757:

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Aquitaine

Incorporated in the French army in 1625, although traditionally dating from 1604, this regiment was named Anjou in honour of the Duke d'Anjou in 1671 and then renamed Aquitaine in 1753. This was a two battalion regiment and gave its name to the brigade which also included the two battalion Vastan Regiment. The regiment was at Hastenbeck, the expedition against Zell (Celle), Krefeld, Minden, Sachsenhausen, Vellinghausen and Wilhelmstahl. At Minden it was in the first line of Guerchy's Division of left wing infantry and along with Auvergne distinguished itself.

The flags were as depicted from 1753 to 1772.

And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757 (with the blue on the Ordonnance flag shown much lighter than is generally the case):

Minden French Flags Project - Grenadiers Royaux

In April 1745 all militia grenadier companies were ordered to be detached from their parent battalions and grouped into 11 regiments of Grenadiers Royaux. Each regiment consisted of a single battalion. In January 1746 a decree stipulated that there would be a new company of grenadiers in each militia battalion, called Grenadiers Postiches. At the beginning of the Seven Years War the Grenadiers Postiches were detached from their parent militia battalions and incorporated into the 11 existing Grenadiers Royaux regiments, increasing them from 1 to 2 battalions each.

Grenadiers Royaux regiments wore the same uniform, distinguished only by different coloured collars and epaulettes on the right shoulder. All wore the tricorne laced silver.

Information summarised from Kronoskaf and the histories of the different regiments can be found at Kronoskaf here: http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=French_Army#Militias

Each regiment carried only ordonnance flags as shown below:

And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757:

 

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Piémont

First officially raised 1569 although dating from much earlier,  Piémont counted as one of the six regiments known as Vieux Corps. This was a four battalion regiment and gave its name to the brigade which also included the two battalion Dauphin Regiment. The regiment was at Rossbach, Lutterberg and Bergen as well as Minden. At Minden it was in the first line of Broglie's Corps. This was a famous unit whose performance in the Seven Years War was generally disappointing.

The flags were unchanged from 1569 to 1791. The simple flags of this and the other ancient French regiments illustrate the heraldic principle that simpler usually means older!

And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757:

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Champagne

First raised 1558 and counted as one of the Petits Vieux regiments. This was a four battalion regiment so was the only unit in the Champagne Brigade. The regiment was at Hastenbeck, Krefeld, Bergen, Minden, Langensalza and Wilhelmstahl. At Minden it was in the first line of the left wing infantry.

The flags were unchanged from 1569 to 1791.

And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757:

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Du Roi

First raised 1663 and counted as number 6 of the Petits Vieux regiments. The king was the colonel of the regiment but it was in practice commanded by the colonel-lieutenant, who from 1745 was Claude Louis François de Régnier, Comte de Guerchy. This was a four battalion regiment so was the only unit in the Du Roi Brigade. The regiment was at Hastenbeck, Krefeld, Minden, Corbach, just missed Warburg and was at Vellinghausen. At Minden it was in the first line of the left wing infantry.

The motto Par Decori Virtus was added to the flags in 1753.

And this plate purports to show the uniform and flags in 1757; again, the flag appears to be incorrect for this date, showing that contemporary images can often be wrong!:

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Condé

First raised 1644 and re-raised 1659 after being twice disbanded during the Fronde Civil War. This was a two battalion regiment. The regiment was at Rossbach, Halberstadt, Quedlinburg and Krefeld as well as Minden. At Minden it was in the first line of the left wing infantry as the senior regiment of the Condé Brigade, which also included the 2 battalion Enghien Regiment (already depicted below). On the extreme left of the French position at Minden it was badly mauled by the attacks of the Hanoverian troops and afterwards was sent to garrison Cassel.

The same pattern of colours as shown here was carried from at least 1659 to 1791.

And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757 - but with mysteriously different flags from all other sources:

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Vastan

First raised 1674. This was a two battalion regiment. At Minden it was in the first line of the left wing infantry as part of the Aquitaine Brigade, with the senior two battalion Aquitaine Regiment. It suffered heavy casualties at Minden; its colonel Aubery Marquis de Vastan was wounded and taken prisoner. The remainder of the regiment was sent back to France to be rebuilt and returned to Germany in 1761. On the 3rd October 1761 one entire battalion was captured at its camp at Oëlper near Brunswick in an attack led by Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick and Colonel Lückner, losing 250 men wounded and killed. Vastan himself was killed in the action. This was clearly an unlucky regiment! The remains of the regiment were then given to Marquis de Bouillé. It was renamed after the province of Vexin in 1762.

It seems likely the same pattern of colours as shown here was carried from at least 1749 to 1791.

And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757:

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Enghien

First raised 1706 for Louis de Bourbon, duc de Bourbon, duc de Montmorency (1668–1689) duc d'Enghien (1689–1709), 6th Prince of Condé, comte de Sancerre (1709–1710), comte de Charolais (1709) (titles from his biography at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_III,_Prince_of_Cond%C3%A9). On his death in 1710 it remained without an owner until 1788. This was a two battalion regiment which served at Hastenbeck and Krefeld as well as Minden. At Minden it was in the first line of the left wing infantry as part of the Condé Brigade, with the senior 2 battalion Condé Regiment.

It seems likely the same pattern of colours as shown here was carried from 1706 to 1791.

Unfortunately I have no 1757 illustration of these flags and the uniform. Basically the regiment probably had red cuffs with 5 pewter buttons, all else being French off-white until 1761 when it acquired a red waistcoat and collar; the pockets were double vertical ones with 5 pewter buttons.

P.S. I had fairly complicated sinus/polyp/nasal septum surgery on the 4th April and am really only now starting to feel properly recovered so I may be even slower than usual posting further flags etc.. This flag is on account for the moment! One sadly does seem to take much longer to recover from these things as one ages...

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Auvergne

First raised 1597 and known as one of the Petits Vieux regiments it was named after the province of Auvergne in 1635 when it became a permanent regiment in the French army. This was a four battalion regiment and at Minden formed a brigade of its own on the second line of the right wing. Its behaviour in the Seven Years War was generally distinguished; after Minden, along with the Anhalt Brigade, it covered the retreat of the French army.

The same pattern of colours was carried from 1636 to 1791.

And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757:

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment La Marche Prince

First raised 1684 and originally named after the province of Nivernais, this was a single battalion regiment and at Minden formed a brigade on the right wing with the 2 battalion regiment Rouergue and single battalion regiment Tournaisis. The name was changed to Comte de la Marche in 1753 and to La Marche Prince in 1759. In 1776 the regiment became Regiment Conti and the ordonnance flag became entirely different. This one was carried from 1684 to 1776.

There is some debate about the distribution of colours on this flag; I have shown what I think is the most likely and pleasing of the possibilities. The 1753 "État général" volume simply says "2 Drapeaux, dont un colonel blanc & un d'ordonnance bleu, feuille-morte [dead leaf colour] and isabelle [coffee brown] par bandes dans les quarrés, & croix blanche", which does not help greatly, although taking it literally one might assume the quarters were coloured, from the top, blue, then dead leaf, then Isabelle!

UPDATE Th07.04.2022: The French 1721 Manuscript confirms this design for the flags; the regiment was then called Nivernois.

Unfortunately I have no 1757 illustration of these flags and the uniform. Basically the regiment probably had blue cuffs, all else being French off-white until 1761 when it acquired a blue waistcoat and collar; the pockets were horizontal with 4 copper buttons.

These flags complete the flags of the first line of the right wing infantry of the French army at Minden. Next will be Auvergne which formed a 4 battalion brigade in the second line of right wing infantry. The rest of the second line consisted of 3 French German regiments totalling 4 battalions. I haven't yet decided if I'll do the flags of French foreign infantry units at Minden as they're vastly more work; for now, I'll be doing just the French regiments so after Auvergne I'll be heading to the French left wing.

Reported problem with "Contact Me" form on my blog

I've now had two people tell me that (and I quote from the second report) "your "Contact Me" widget blocks the left most several letters of each line of your text. It really makes the text hard to understand." Does anyone else have this problem? I cannot see it in either Firefox 19 or Internet Explorer 8; in both I have no problem except that the right-hand side of the Contact Me form itself is truncated but the blog text is fine.

If you do have a problem can you tell me what browser you are using on what OS and device (e.g. desktop computer, etc.) and with what settings, please? Thanks.


David.

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Tournaisis

First raised 1684, Tournaisis was a single battalion regiment and at Minden formed a brigade on the right wing with the 2 battalion regiment Rouergue and single battalion regiment Comte de la Marche.

The same pattern of colours was carried from 1684 to 1775.

Unfortunately I have no 1757 illustration of these flags and the uniform. Basically the regiment had red cuffs, all else being French off-white until 1761 when it acquired red waistcoat and collar; the pockets were horizontal with 5 copper buttons.

P.S. Flag plate updated 16.03.2013 - the original was lacking its pole retaining nails!

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment La Marche

First raised 1684, La Marche was a single battalion regiment and at Minden formed a brigade on the right wing with the 4 battalion regiment Picardie. It was highly distinguished in its conduct at Krefeld where alone it tried to stop the Allied flanking attack and for almost three hours delayed the Allied assault.

The same pattern of colours was carried from 1684 to 1762, when the regiment was disbanded.

Unfortunately I have no 1757 illustration of these flags and the uniform. Basically the regiment had red cuffs, collar and waistcoat; until 1761 the coat had elaborate double vertical pockets.

[I can't help feeling that this is one flag where the usual French elegance fails; the colours make a horribly ugly and messy mix!]

Request; photographs of my French flags in action, please.

I think I've spotted my French flags in action on a Russian wargamer's blog here: http://vasiliyl.blogspot.ru/2013/01/die-kreigkunst-deluxe-5-french-is-coming.html but otherwise have yet to see them in use. If anyone does use them for their French SYW army, can you let me have a link to a blog/website with pictures or send me photographs of them in action, please? (You can contact me via the contact form on the blog, in the left column.)

Thanks!

David.

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Rouergue

First raised 1667, Rouergue was a 2 battalion regiment and at Minden formed a brigade on the right wing with the single battalions of La Marche and Tournaisis. It was badly mauled at Warburg in 1760.

The same pattern of colours was carried from 1671 to 1791.

And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757:

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Talaru/d'Aumont

First raised 1673, this regiment began the SYW with the name Talaru but the name had recently changed to d'Aumont in January 1758. From December 1762 it was renamed Beauce after the province. (From 1673 when it was raised as d'Huxelles to Beauce 1763 it had altogether 10 different names.) A 2 battalion regiment, it was brigaded with Touraine at Minden (see previous entry below) where it was badly mauled. Its grenadiers wore the bearskin from 1753.

The same pattern of colours was carried throughout the regiment's history.

And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757:

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Touraine

First raised 1624, Touraine was a 2 battalion regiment and at Minden formed a brigade with the 2 battalion Regiment d'Aumont. Touraine fought very well at the battle of Krefeld in 1758.

The same pattern of colours was carried from 1657 to 1791.

And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757:

Does word verification deter people from posting comments?

A while ago Bluebear Jeff said he found it difficult to read the word verification image to post a comment and so felt disinclined to write comments on my blog postings. I don't know if others have felt the same but for the past few hours I've switched off word verification as an experiment to see if it helps. I may not continue this indefinitely as I've already had to deal with 3 spam comments but if it appears to increase the number of comments posts receive I might do so. We'll see!

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Belzunce

Belzunce was first raised in 1590. It was one of the Petits Vieux regiments which traced their origins to units first created in the 16th century. The regiment ranked 10th during the SYW.

The simple colours were carried from 1749-1762, after which the regiment changed its name to Flandres.

At Minden the regiment was 4 battalions strong and formed a brigade on its own which was in the first line alongside the Picardie Brigade.

And this plate shows the uniform and flags in 1757:

Minden French Flags Project - Regiment Picardie

And here at last is the first of the Minden French Flags Project's flags; the colours of Regiment Picardie, one of the oldest and most prestigious regiments in the French army. First raised 1558, it ranked first after the Gardes Françaises and Gardes Suisses and was one of the six French regiments known as the Vieux Corps. It fought at Hastenbeck and Krefeld as well as Minden. The very simple colours remained the same from 1569 to 1791.

At Minden Picardie was 4 battalions strong and in the first line of the main army, brigaded with La Marche infantry. (The brigade was named Picardie; it was the French tradition to name brigades after the senior regiment in them.)

The print below shows the uniform and flags of Picardie infantry in 1757:

A Happy Xmas and New Year To Everyone

Just a hasty message to wish you all a Happy Xmas and New Year. I was hoping to post one or two of the French Minden flags but that will have to wait until after Xmas now, I'm afraid. I've just run out of time, energy and all, before being submerged in the giddy and exhausting social round that is Xmas*. (Well, a very busy Xmas Eve awaits tomorrow, anyway.)

All good wishes,

David.

[* a somewhat exaggerated and satirical comment. ;-)]

New Generic French Infantry Template

I was never very happy with the first generic French infantry template I did. It was crude and anatomically rather odd - looking much as if the man was overweight and somewhat slumped! So here's an improved version looking rather more upright, slim and soldierly... His tricorne is also improved.

I shall eventually redo all the French uniforms for Quebec that were previously based on the poor first template, with all the appropriate pocket and cuff variations.

I've now added the template coloured (and slightly modified) to represent the French infantry regiment La Sarre, one of the Quebec regiments whose flags I have already posted on the blog.

First raised 1651, the 2 battalion infantry regiment La Sarre supplied its 2nd battalion for the war in Canada. It arrived in 1756 as part of the convoy carrying the new commander Montcalm. It was at the capture of Oswego 1756; the capture of Fort William Henry 1757; the French victory of Ticonderoga 1758; the siege of Quebec and battles of Montmorency and the Plains of Abraham; elements surrendered at Fort Niagara 1759; it was at the French victory of Sainte Foy and the siege of Quebec 1760; and finally it was on the retreat to and at the surrender at Montreal 8th September 1760. Only the ordonnance flag was carried in Canada and was burned before the surrender at Montreal.


Also now added below the French Infantry Regiment Guyenne, another Quebec regiment.

New mini project - French flags of the battle of Minden 1759

I really like the elegance and style (as well as pleasing simplicity of many) of the 18th century French flags. Having now finished doing the flags of the regular French regiments that fought at Quebec I think I may well take a stab at doing the flags (infantry, at least) of the French army at Minden 1759. Watch this space! :-)

Flags of French Béarn Infantry Regiment - French infantry in Canada series No.7

And finally, the last of the French (regular) infantry in Canada flag series.

First raised 1684, the 2 battalion infantry regiment Béarn supplied its 2nd battalion for the war in Canada. It arrived in 1755. It was at the capture of Oswego in 1756; the capture of Fort William Henry in 1757; the victory of Ticonderoga 1758; the siege of Quebec and battles of Montmorency and the Plains 1759; the surrender of Fort Niagara 1760 (detachment); the victory of Ste. Foy and siege of Quebec 1760; and finally surrendered with the others at Montreal on the 8th September 1760, where the colours were all burned to prevent capture. The captured battalion returned to France in 1760 and the regiment was disbanded on the 25th November 1762. Only the ordonnance flag  as depicted here was carried in Canada.