Flags of French Volontaires de Flandres probably 1749-1762

Created 1749 from amalgamating regiments Arquebusiers de Grassin Fusiliers de la Morliere and the Volontaires Bretons. Composed of three brigades of 4 companies each, 2 of infantry of 40 men and 2 of cavalry of 20 men each, not including officers.

Divided into 2 regiments in 1757, the Volontaires de Flandres and Volontaires du Haynault, consisting of 6 companies each; the company was of 70 men, 40 infantry and 30 cavalry. By Ordonnance of 25th February 1758 each of the two regiments was increased to 600 men by adding 2 new companies and 5 mounted men to each of the 6 companies. Total was therefore 8 companies of 75 men each, 40 foot and 35 cavalry.

In 1762 the regiment was amalgamated with the Volontaires du Dauphiné and renamed the Légion de Flandre, which was disbanded in 1776.

The flags are variously described but I know of no contemporary depiction. Charrié says at the centre was a lion in natural colours from 1749-1762. But the lion of Flanders in heraldry was anciently depicted as a black rampant lion. I have therefore created 2 versions, one as described by Charrié (Variant 1) and one with the traditional heraldic Flanders lion (Variant 2).

Service (mostly from Kronoskaf as I have no independent history):

1757: Army of the Lower Rhine; July 26th battle of Hastenbeck with the vanguard which attacked the left flank of the Hanoverians in the woods

1758: In Clermont's Army; at the battle of Krefeld June 23rd then with the Army of the Lower Rhine under Contades and with Chevert's Corps which turned the allied left flank at the battle of Lutterberg October 10th

1759: Various advanced corps actions including being forced to retire into woods near Fritzlar by the advance of an allied corps on the 17th August

1760: Similar advance corps activity and then at the battle of Korbach as part of Saint Germain's detachment on July 10th, reaching the battlefield only after a forced march. From November 17th part of the garrison of Göttingen.

1761: 25th March mounted troops of the regiment along with those of other Volontaire units and the Orléans Dragoons under M. de Montchenu drove the allies out of the village of Mengsberg and then successfully attacked the allied rearguard.

1761: Part of the corps of Prince Xavier which was attacked by Luckner on July 13th and the French corps lost 150 prisoners. On August 15th as part of Caraman's Corps, and along with Nicolai Dragoons and Chamborant Hussars, it was part of  a successful attack near Dringenberg on allied troops, taking 2 officers and 60 men prisoners. The Corps was attacked on August 18th by allied forces under the Hereditary Prince but retired in good order having lost 30 men and having taken about 30 prisoners.

1762: Army of the Upper Rhine under Soubise; June 24th battle of Wilhelmstahl. July 10th involved in an attack on allied troops at Uslar and took over 500 prisoners in the woods nearby. Eventually they were forced to retreat by the arrival of Luckner's Corps.

And this was the infantry uniform in the SYW:

Flags of French regiments disbanded 1749: Flags of French Infantry Regiment Auxerrois 1692-1749

First raised 1692. One battalion strong. Named after the province.

This is one of my favourite French flag designs, which was unique to this regiment and was not seen again in the French army after the regiment was absorbed into the Regiment de Flandre in 1749. Flags of this pattern were carried for the whole existence of the regiment 1692-1749.

Service (from Susane):

On the coasts and in Germany to the Peace of Ryswick 1697
1702: Army of Germany
1703: Sieges of Brisach and Landau; combat of Speyerbach
1704: Army of Bavaria; battle of Hochstedt (Blenheim)
1705-1708: Army of the Rhine
1708: To Flanders; Scottish Expedition
To 1712: Manning the Lines of the Lauter
1713: Sieges of Landau and Fribourg

Given to many different proprietors to 1745 when given to Louis-Joseph de Saint-Véran, Marquis de Montcalm

1744: Army of the Alps; passage of the Alps by the valley of Spino; conquest of Piedmont
1745: Combat of Rivarrone
1746: Battles of Plaisance and Tidone
1747: Camp of Briançon; combat of the Assietta; camp of Tournoux
1747-8: Campaigning in Nice

Absorbed into the Regiment de Flandre 10th February 1749; the grenadiers went to the Grenadiers de France.

And this was the uniform in the 1740s:

Further Generic Standards For French Cavalry With No Known Emblems - Aurore and Ponceau Red

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:

Flags of French Volontaires du Dauphiné probably 1749-1762

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):

Flags of the Palatinate in the War of the Spanish Succession: Leibstandarte Venningen Gendarmes and speculative dragoon guidons

The Palatinate Venningen Gendarmes und Karabiniers were first raised in 1695. From 1704 they were in Imperial pay.

The Triomphes Louis XIV records two cavalry standards of this regiment captured in an action at Speyer (or Speyerbach) on the 15th November 1703. This is the Leibstandarte. The two dragoon guidons are speculative but based on written descriptions.

Effectives November 1704: 424 men in 9 companies and 372 horses.

Actions:

1702: Siege of Landau
1703: June to July covering the Stollhofen Lines
1703: 15th November skirmish at Speyerbach [where they lost the two standards recorded in the Triomphes Louis XIV of which the Leibstandarte depicted here was one]
1704: Capture of Altenstadt; Landau siege September to November
1708: Battle of Oudenarde; Raid on La Bassée; siege of Lille
1709: Battle of Malplaquet; siege of Tournay; siege of Mons
1710: Siege of Douai; siege of Bethune
1711: Bouchain raid

And this was probably the uniform in 1707:

Flags of Austrian Infantry Regiment Alt-Starhemberg in the War of the Spanish Succession (and probably before)

Reputedly the oldest regiment in the Austrian army, Alt-Starhemberg was probably first raised in 1642. There is a great deal of detail on the 17th century history of the regiment on the Kronoskaf WSS website.

4 battalions strong in the War of the Spanish Succession. The flags show the insignia of Emperor Leopold 1st, who was Emperor from 1658 and died in 1705, so may well have been carried before 1700 as well as in the WSS.

Service in the WSS:

1701: Sent to the Tyrol for the Invasion of Northern Italy. By mid-June 3 battalions of the regiment were with Prince Eugène's army. 9th July Combat of Carpi where the grenadiers distinguished themselves. 1st September the whole regiment fought well at the battle of Chiari.
1702: 15th August battle of Luzzara
1704: Battle of Crescentino
1705-1706: Still on campaign in Italy
1707: Campaign against Toulon
1708-1712: In Piedmont and Savoy
1713: Defence of Freiburg/Breisgau then moved to the Netherlands where it stayed until 1728

And this was the uniform in 1710:

Uniform and flag details from August Kühn and Robert Hall: Materials On The War of the Spanish Succession 1701-1714: The Imperial Regiments of Foot 1701-1714 Part 21. Historical details from the Kronoskaf WSS website. Note that the uniform details on the Kronoskaf site are totally different and no flag details are given.

Flags of French Infantry Regiment Lyonnais 1635-1791

First raised 1616. Two battalions strong and ranked 15th in 1756. These flags were carried from at least 1635 to 1791. As usual, a simple pattern reflects the unit's antiquity. The fancy flags tend to go with the Johnny Come Lately regiments!

The regiment had a long and pretty distinguished history. Full details can most easily be found in the Kronoskaf entry on the regiment (or, if you wish to practice your French, in Volume 4 of Susane's Histoire de l'Ancienne Infanterie Française which can be found here: https://archive.org/download/bub_gb_L1zWAAAAMAAJ/bub_gb_L1zWAAAAMAAJ.pdf. ). Here I shall concentrate on the Seven Years War history - which was not perhaps the most distinguished episode in the long regimental history but the French army in general was going through a bad patch in that period.

My translation of the Susane extract on the regiment in the SYW Volume 4:

The regiment left Valenciennes in the spring of 1756 to go to Rouen. Several months later it was intended to be part of the 24,000 men which the king intended to send to the aid of the Empress Maria Theresa. This plan was abandoned and Lyonnais spent the winter at Strasbourg. In 1757 it was part of the Army of Germany and found itself at the battle of Hastenbeck, at the capture of Hameln, of Minden and of Hanover. After the violation of the Convention of Closterseven it left the camp of Halberstadt to march to Zell and it fought on the 25th December to force a passage over the river Aller. Placed in garrison at Minden, it was attacked before breaking winter quarters and forced to surrender on the 14th March 1758 with its lieutenant colonel M. de Bruslard. M. de Villeroy, its colonel, spent the winter at court.

Exchanged soon after, the regiment left Germany and went to serve on the coasts during the following campaigns. It contributed in 1761 to the defence of Belle-Isle-En-Mer against the British; captains Tarnaud and Durbois were badly wounded there.

Recalled the same year to the Rhine, Lyonnais found itself on the 16th July at the battle of Vellingshausen. It was part of the reserve of the Prince de Condé which protected the retreat of the Marshal de Broglie. On the 23rd July 1762 it was at the combat on the Fulda; Captain Lestrade and a lieutenant were wounded there. On the 9th August the regiment took revenge at Ellemberg for its previous failures and totally routed a Hanoverian Corps which was entrenched on a peninsula of the Fulda.

Following on from the reforms of 10th December 1762 the regiment of Nice, first raised 1678, was incorporated into Lyonnais, which was therefore increased to four battalions. It was then in garrison at Alais and Saint Hippolyte. It moved from there in
May 1763 to Thionville, then Dunkirk in August 1765.

And this was probably the uniform in 1756:

Flags of French Volontaires Étrangers de Clermont-Prince 1758-1766

The complicated history of the creation of this unit of horse and foot can be found on Kronoskaf.

First raised in 1758, the unit was supposed to consist of 1000 infantry and 800 cavalry but in reality rarely rose near that total. Having become the Legion de Condé in 1766, the unit was disbanded in 1776.

During the Seven Years War, in 1759 the Volontaires were attached to Broglie's Corps in Germany and had a fairly checquered career. In 1760 they were part of a corps of Broglie's army which drove the Légion Britannique from woods on the left of Broglie's Corps on 2nd August. They then suffered a fairly dramatic reverse on 5th September that year when, posted with the Volontaires de Dauphiné at Zierenberg, they were attacked overnight by an allied force and the colonel M. de Comeiras, his entire staff and 161 privates were all captured.

In 1761 on 21st March they were at the Engagement of Grünberg then, on the 25th along with other French units, drove the allies out of the village of Mengsberg, before pursuing the allied rearguard. On June 22nd they were part of an assemblage of French units that stormed Lünen, taking 300 prisoners. On July 16th the unit was at the battle of Vellinghausen. In September,along with the Volontaires de Soubise, they burned several magazines in the County of Dinklage and a large magazine at Osnabrück.

In 1762 the unit was initially part of a detachment posted near Wesel then was attached to the Army of the Lower Rhine under the Prince de Condé. On June 21st a successful attack was made on the allied Scheither Corps at Schermbeck, who were driven back and lost 50 men captured.

The Volontaires were amongst the units chosen to stay in Germany until the final evacuation by French troops.

The uniform, like the flag, was in the livery of the House of Bourbon-Condé, chamois with red. The infantry uniform was something like this (taken from the NYPL: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e4-3ec7-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 ):

Flags of Two Franconian Circle Infantry Regiments in the War of the Spanish Succession

As with the previous Swabian Circle Infantry Regiment flags I posted,  I have absolutely no information on the operational use of these troops in the War of the Spanish Succession and the little uniform information I have seems fairly confusing, so all I can offer here is this sheet of flags; they are attractive flags, anyway!

 

The Brandenburg Onolzbach battalion flag was captured by the French at Friedlingen in 1702, which is why we know its design. Oddly I cannot find it in the Triomphes Louis XIV MS which I have (as a PDF from a French official source), despite that MS recording some flags captured at Friedlingen. I suspect there may be two different versions of the Triomphes as I have seen for sale a version online that appears to have different flags. As so often in this subject, there are frequently more questions than answers!

Flags of Swabian Circle Infantry Regiments Baden-Durlach and Baden-Baden in the War of the Spanish Succession

I have absolutely no information on the operational use of these troops in the War of the Spanish Succession and the uniform information seems fairly confusing, so all I can offer here is this sheet of flags; they are attractive flags, anyway!

Three Austrian Cuirassiers' Standards of the Late 17th/Early 18th Century

Two of the three are of unknown regiments. The bottom standard is that of Taafe's Cuirassiers and a summary of its history is given below. (Information mostly from Kronoskaf WSS website.)

Austrian Taafe Cuirassiers:

First raised 1636.

Proprietors: From 1677 FML Franz Taafe, Mylord of Carlingford; from 1704 G.d.C. Philipp Count Leiningen-Westerburg; from 1705 Colonel Franz Thomas Count Reising; from 1706 Colonel Johann Adam von Pfefferkornrom; from 1707 until 1740: Colonel Johann Count Browne de Hautois

Notable service:

1636; Blockade of Hanau
1642: Battle of Leipzig
1645: Action at Jankau
1655: Campaigning against the Turks in Hungary
1664: Battle of St Gotthard
1683: Relief of Vienna

Service in the War of the Spanish Succession

1702: Siege of Landau
1704: 13th August Battle of Blenheim
1705: In Hungary; battles of Budmeritz and Schibo
1706-1709: In Hungary and Transylvania

And the uniform in the WSS was probably something like this:

Flags of French German Infantry Regiment Royal Pologne 1747-1760

A short-lived single battalion regiment, German infantry regiment Royal Pologne was first raised on 25th November 1747. It was ranked 113th in 1753. In the Seven Years War it seems to have seen relatively little active service. It was at Rossbach in November 1757 but the accounts do not seem to mention it. In 1759, as part of Broglie's Corps, it was in garrison at Giessen when the rest of the corps was at the battle of Minden.

Although generally referred to as a German regiment, Charrié oddly lists the regiment amongst the purely French units.

It was absorbed into Royal Suedois in 1760.

So, not a very distinguished or long history for this unit - but it did have very attractive flags!

And this was the uniform of a sergeant of the regiment in 1757 (from: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e4-3e4d-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99):

Flags of Würzburg in the War of the Spanish Succession - Cavalry Standards

This is my last post of details of Würzburg flags in the War of the Spanish Succession.

The standard shows the likely type carried by the cuirassiers. I have no details of their history.

Fechtenbach Dragoons 1703 - 1706

First raised 1688. 10 companies strong. 800 strong in 1701.

Proprietors: from 1688 Erhard Gustav von Münster; from 1701 Otto Heinrich von Schade; from 1703 Johann Reinhart von Fechenbach; from 1706 Johann Wilhelm von Wolfskeel (to 1717)

Notable service:

1702: Siege of Landau; 10th October fairly heavy losses at the battle of Friedlingen

1703: With Styrum's Corps in Franconia; fought at Dietfurt 4th March; capture of Neumarkt/Opf; 23rd March skirmish at Schmidtmühlen; August raised to five squadrons

1704: Heavy losses at the battle of Blenheim 13th August

1706: In Hungary fighting against the Rákóczi Uprising; 4th September foot assault on the redoubts of Nagy-Magyar; 27th September fight at the bridgehead of Karvá-Neudorf; October siege of Gran

1707: In several actions - Saz and Also-Mesteri

1708: On Heister's raid in the Bakony Forest; 3rd August battle of Trentschin

1710: capture of Sztropkö

1711: capture of Munkcáz; return to Würzburg then to the Netherlands

1712: June to July siege and capture of Le Quesnoy

And this plate shows the possible uniforms in the WSS:

(Historical information mostly from Kronoskaf WSS website; uniform and flag information from August Kühn Material On The War of the Spanish Succession Book 11 The Armies of the Imperial Circles of Swabia and Franconia as well as the Bishopric of Würzburg and the Margravate of Ansbach (Translated Dan Schorr and Pat Condray))

Flags of Würzburg in the War of the Spanish Succession - Infantry Flags 2

Here's my second sheet of infantry flags of Würzburg in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Regiment Eyb was raised as late as 1711, when the Würzburg infantry were reorganised into four regiments.  Colonel Heinrich Christoph von Eyb became proprietor of the regiment on the recommendation of Prince Eugene himself.

Successive proprietors of the regiment were: from 1711 Heinrich Christoph von Eyb;  from 1734 Carl Friedrich von Thüngen; from 1741 Christoph Carl von Bastheim and from 1755  Johann Ferdinand Balthasar von Kolb.

In 1757 the regiment became the first battalion of the new regiment Blau-Würzburg.

Notable service:

1712: June-July Siege of Le Quesnoy; 24th July defence of Denain where it lost heavily including the capture of Colonel von Eyb.

Regiment Bibra: First raised 1688 as Regiment Thüngen from garrison companies. In 1690 consisted of 10 companies each of 150 men.

Successive proprietors of the regiment were: from 1688 Hans Carl I. von Thüngen; from 1690 Johann Erhard von Bibra; from 1705 N. von der Horst; 1706-1717 Johann Reinhart von Fechenbach

In 1757 the regiment became the second battalion new regiment Rot-Würzburg


Notable service:

1703: Part of the garrison of Augsburg, which was captured by the Franco-Bavarians on 14th December. The regiment then marched off to Würzburg as its winter quarters

1704: Served in the Margrave of Baden's army; suffered heavy casualties at the storming of the Schellenberg on 2nd July; September siege of Ulm; then siege of Landau which capitulated 24th November

1705: Manned the Lines on the Lauter River then the Lines of Stollhofen; September successful siege of Drusenheim

1706: Raid on Drusenheim; surrender of Hagenau

1708: With Prince Eugene's Army of the Moselle

1709: 11th September battle of Malplaquet; October siege of Mons

1710: Septemebr to November siege of Aire-sur-la-Lys

1712: With the two other Würzburg regiments at the battle of Denain 24th July

The uniforms in the WSS were probably something like this:

(Historical information mostly from Kronoskaf WSS website; uniform information from August Kühn Material On The War of the Spanish Succession Book 11 The Armies of the Imperial Circles of Swabia and Franconia as well as the Bishopric of Würzburg and the Margravate of Ansbach (Translated Dan Schorr and Pat Condray); flag information Wagner and Goldberg)

Flags of Würzburg in the War of the Spanish Succession - Infantry Flags 1

The Würzburg regiments fought with the Imperial army by treaties which the Prince-Bishop made with the Emperor. The promised subsidies were often delayed or latterly not even paid but the Würzburg troops continued to fight with the Alliance nonetheless.

Regiment Bimbach was first raised 1696 at a strength of 10 companies but at the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession totalled only 6 companies with 848 men. By a treaty of 1705 with the Emperor Leopold I it was increased to 11 companies totalling 1600 men. Reorganised to 6 musketeer companies and one grenadier company in 1711, it was disbanded in 1715.

Successive proprietors of the regiment were: 1696-1704 Ludwig Reinhold Fuchs von Bimbach; 1704-1705 Johann Philipp von Bettendorf; 1705-1708 Friedrich August von Stein; and 1708-1715 N. von Tastungen

Notable service:

1702: With the Margrave of Baden to the siege of Landau to its surrender in September
1703: Garrison of Augsburg with Bibra Infantry
1704: 2nd July Heavy losses at the storming of the Schellenberg; siege of Ulm to 11th September; siege of Landau
1705: Garrisoned the Lines of the Lauter River then the Lines of Stollhofen
1707: Retreat from the Lines of Stollhofen after attack by Villars
1708: Siege of Lille
1709: 11th September battle of Malplaquet ; siege of Mons
1710: Siege of Douai
1712: Abortive siege of Landrecie

On Regiment Dalberg I have little information except that it had been the Kreis regiment and in 1709 it was rented to the Emperor for 40 Gulden per head.

The uniforms in the WSS were probably something like this:

The '45: Jacobite Flag of either Cameron of Locheil or Cameron of Glendessary

Claimed as a flag of Cameron of Locheil's regiment, this may actually have been a flag of Cameron of Glendessary, according to Stuart Reid. The central panel does have the Cameron arms but the crest is not Locheil's sheaf of arrows; it is an arm and sword rising out of a helm. There is a 1689 reference to "Glendessary's ruddy banner". Locheil's own banner was probably the one I depicted earlier with red and yellow horizontal bars.

Further generic guidons for French dragoon regiments with no known emblems

I was asked if I'd mind doing white and yellow generic dragoon guidons to complete the set so here they are, plus Isabelline. They may be of some use to others too.

Generic standards for French cavalry regiments with no known emblems

As a follow on to the previous post with its sheet of generic guidons for French dragoon regiments with no known emblems on their guidons, I offer these two styles of standards which can be used for French cavalry regiments with no known emblems. Going through Charrié, I noted the commonest colours - red, crimson, yellow and green - and therefore these four represent 90-odd percent of those regiments at some point where we do not know the emblems on the reverse of the standards.

Generic guidons for French dragoon regiments with no known emblems

A fair number of French dragoon regiments, at periods between the 17th century and the Revolution, had guidons where we do not know the emblems they carried on the reverse. (Quite often in Pierre Charrié's book Drapeaux Et Étendards Du Roi we come across the term "motif inconnu".) As it is unthinkable that a regiment on the wargames table should not have a flag, it has become a sort of tradition that such regiments carry guidons with the sun in splendour motif on both obverse and reverse. These three versions allow such regiments to have a guidon.

I have noted in square brackets above the guidons an example for each of a regiment with a guidon of that colour and the period where the emblem is unknown.

A Polite Request...

I have recently seen a number of posts here and there (on Facebook, for instance) using my flags but without any acknowledgement of their origin. Some people do mention me and the blog, and I thank those who do.

May I repeat (as noted in the Template and Flag Copyright note in the left column) that as a small return for the free flags I offer "I  ask for an acknowledgement of the author (i.e. me, David) if you use them; please give a link to this blog on your blog or website [or Facebook page]."

The link is:  https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/

Thank you for your co-operation!

David.

Flags of the Spanish Walloon Foot Guards "Reales Guardias Valonas" 1750s

For regimental details, see the entry on the Spanish Foot Guards previously. The Walloon Guards were first raised 1704 and saw much distinguished service in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Like the other foot guard regiment, they saw minimal service in the Seven Years War.

The uniform was the same as that of the Spanish Foot Guards as shown in my previous posting. 

This flag set is also one of those commissioned by Lewis Simpson-Jones. :-)

There's a useful history of the Walloon Guards in the Spanish Service (in French) dated 1858 for free download here: https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_7mIOAAAAQAAJ

Flags of the Spanish Foot Guards "Reales Guardias Españolas" 1750s

There will be a number of extra Spanish flag sets coming along soon, of which this is the first. I was recently commissioned to produce Spanish infantry flags and cavalry standards by Lewis Simpson-Jones. We agreed that I would charge him less for the flag work and he would thus be happy for me to post them on my blog soon! So it is thanks to him that I am able to fill in some of the gaps in the coverage of Spanish flags sooner rather than later... :-)

The Spanish Household Troops included many purely ceremonial units (like the Halberdiers) but only the Spanish "Reales Guardias Españolas" and the Walloon Foot Guards "Reales Guardias Valonas" actually served in the field. Both regiments had 6 battalions each, with each battalion of one grenadier and six fusilier companies. This changed in 1759. In 1762 chasseur (light) companies were added.

The Guards regiments saw much action in the War of the Austrian Succession.

In the Seven Years War the Spanish Guards marched against Portugal with the army of the Marques de Sarria in 1762. Kronoskaf records that the chasseurs of the regiment were posted to protect a bridge of boats on the River Esla where the army would cross.

The flags in the War of the Austrian Succession were slightly more elaborate than these, which represent the flags carried in the 1750s:

And this plate from NYPL (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-996a-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 ) shows the uniforms as they probably were mid-century:

Flags of Austrian Infantry Regiment Osnabrueck in the War of the Spanish Succession

Raised 1701

Campaigns: In the Empire: Landau, Stollhofen Lines, Sendling. To Italy in 1706: Susa. To Spain in 1708: Balaguer, Almenar, Saragossa, Villaviciosa

A few strength details when in Spain:

1709: In May 3 battalions and 1593 men strong

1710: 27th July Battle of Almenar on the right wing 3 battalions strong; Confederate victory

1710 10th December at the battle of Villaviciosa on the right wing and 3 battalions strong; a possible tactical victory for the Confederate forces but a strategic defeat

1711: October 1402 men

1711: End of December 1461 men (by this stage each Austrian regiment had 3 battalions of 5 companies each and 2 grenadier companies)

 1713:  May In Catalonia 3 battalions strong with 1651 men

There seems to be much disagreement on the uniform in the WSS, although pearl-grey coat and green cuffs are often mentioned.

Flags of Brandenburg-Ansbach Regiment Cavenach 1712

Margrave Georg Friedrich I of Brandenburg-Ansbach raised the infantry regiment Ansbach of 9 companies (strength 1541). It entered the service of the Dutch in 1702 and was increased to 12 companies with a total of 2016 men. It was regiment Janus from 1701-1703. Later commanders were: from 1703 von Heydebracht; from 1705 von Seckendorff and from 1711 von Cavenach.

Regiment von Cavenach lost 300 prisoners and two flags to the French on 21st July 1712; these are the flags depicted here as shown in the Triomphes Louis XIV.

Service history:

1702: Siege of Kaiserswerth
1704: Storming of the Schellenberg and battle of Blenheim
1708: Battle of Oudenarde; siege of Lille
1709: Battle of Malplaquet
1710: Siege of Aire
1712: Battle of Denain

And the uniform in 1712 was probably something like this:

Flags of Cologne in the War of the Spanish Succession - Infantry Flags 2

These are famous flags, probably captured at Ramillies in 1706, and which may have belonged to the Leibregiment zu Fuss. (Anna Beek claims they were captured at Eckeren in 1703 but her attributions are often wrong.)

The Leibregiment had blue coats with red cuffs and linings.