‘Hannover Siegt, Der Franzmann Liegt’ (Part 11: Hanoverian Reinforcements)

And now, in this thrilling instalment, I add yet more units to my Seven Years War Hanoverian Army!  Please try to control your excitement.

These were mostly added for our recent Battle of Corbach game, but will also come in handy for our Battle of Wanneminden game at Christmas, for which I’ve now finished the first eight battalions of Saxon infantry and am currently working on a load more French cavalry, including the much-needed Royal-Carabiniers.

Above:  First up are some Hanoverian Artillery, consisting of a pair of 6-pounder position guns.  I did cover the powerful Hanoverian artillery arm back in Part 4 of this series, so I won’t repeat myself here with regard to organisation and uniforms.

Above:  The Hanoverian Artillery are among of my favourite units on the table, simply due to their very striking colouring.  They certainly do add a splash of colour!

Above:  Nobody makes Hanoverian Artillery in 15/18mm scale, so these fellas are 18mm British artillery crew figures by Eureka Miniatures (with one Blue Moon 15mm British artillery crew figure – they mix perfectly), with Eureka Miniatures British 6pdr guns.

Above:  The ‘Schulenburg’ or ‘Freytag’ Jäger-Corps.  I painted these chaps for our second refight of the Combat of Sanderhausen in September.  It’s not known exactly which unit was involved and the battle isn’t mentioned as one of the Hanoverian Jäger-Corps’ engagements, but it seems fairly likely that at least part of the unit was there.  In any case, it was a good opportunity to get the unit painted, as I will need them at some point.  I will also eventually add more, as it was a very large unit.

I used figures from the lovely Blue Moon AWI Hessian Jäger pack, which is ideal for most SYW jäger units, provided you paint the long ‘American Trowsers’ as breeches and gaiters, which is easy enough.  The pack includes 20 figures and I’d already used twelve of them for the Hesse-Cassel Jäger-Corps, so had these fellas spare.

Graf von der Schulenburg

Above:  The ‘Schulenburg’ Jäger-Corps was raised in May 1757 by Count Christian Günter von der Schulenburg, initially consisting of two companies each of 106 Mounted Jäger and 156 Foot Jäger.  The rank-and-file were armed with rifled carbines and were mainly drawn from foresters, game-keepers and hunters; men who would be familiar with fieldcraft and the use of such weapons.  In July a third company of Foot Jäger was added, followed in August by a fourth company.  In 1758 the fifth and sixth Foot Jäger companies were added.

The unit up to this point was known as the ‘Schulenburg Jäger Corps’ for the name of the corps’ Inhaber (i.e. colonel-proprietor).  However, the septuagenarian Schulenburg was permanently absent and unable to take an active role in the leadership of his corps and in 1759 command was therefore passed to the second-in-command, Wilhelm von Freytag.  The corps was therefore known as the ‘Freytag Jäger Corps’ from that point forth and is best known under this name.

Wilhelm von Freytag

In February 1759, Freytag raised a third company of mounted jäger, which meant that the corps could now be deployed as three equal ‘brigades’, each of one mounted company and two foot companies.  Each brigade was also now supported by a 4pdr gun detachment.

These brigades were each denoted by a colour, with the 1st being the White Brigade, the 2nd being Yellow and the 3rd being Red.  These colours must surely have been displayed in some manner, but it’s not clear where.  Perhaps marker-flags?  Shoulder-straps?  Sword knots?  The unit’s hat-cockades all seem to have been green (the common badge of Allied light troops), so it can’t have been that.

In 1760 three more mounted companies were raised, which meant that each brigade now had two companies each of foot and mounted jäger and the total strength of the corps was around 1,883 (roughly 620 men per brigade).  However, the attrition of continual campaigning meant that by the end of the war in 1763 the organisation had fallen back to three mounted companies and four foot companies.

As with all light ‘free corps’, the corps was heavily engaged from the outset in the Petit Guerre or Kleinekrieg of scouting and raiding.  In particular on 5th August 1759, just after the Battle of Minden, Freytag’s Jäger to capture the French army baggage, including the entire escort of 800 men, the Saxon war chest andall of Marshal Contades’ headquarters correspondence!  The corps also frequently operated in close support of the main field army, being engaged in the battles of Hastenbeck, Krefeld, Bergen and Emsdorf (and probably provided the detachment mentioned as being present at Sanderhausen).

Above:  The uniform of the ‘Schulenburg’ or ‘Freytag’ Jäger-Corps was very simple, consisting of a dark green coat with lapels, cuffs and turnbacks in the same shade of green.  The waistcoat was also in the same shade of green, though breeches were white.  Buttons were of white metal.  Belts were white, though some illustrations show red leather rifle-slings.  Scabbard and cartridge-pouch was black (note that belly-boxes are not shown as part of their equipment, but my figures are stuck with them).  Gaiters are variously shown as grey, white, off-white or black, though grey seems to be the most common interpretation; with or without a black garter-strap.

The shoulder-strap on the left shoulder is described as white, though I’m tempted to think that it might have been coloured according to brigade; one of the plates shown above appears to have a yellow shoulder-strap.

Hats were unlaced and had the green cockade common to Allied light troops; some sources also show green ‘pulls’ in the corners and a green ribbon that appears to function as a chins-strap (though tied up over the hat), as well as the usual sprig of oakleaves.  Kronoskaf shows white hat-lace (not described in the text), though I think this might be a mis-interpretation of the light shown along the edge of the hat in the period illustrations shown here.

The mounted jäger seem to have worn tall cavalry boots instead of gaiters, even though they were mainly geared toward dismounted action (perhaps they were made of soft leather?).  Some interpretations also show straw or buff breeches instead of white.  Gloves were straw-covered and these are also sometimes shown being worn by foot jäger.  Mounted jäger were armed with a curved light cavalry sabre and horse-furniture was plain dark green without lace edging.

Some sources show grenadier caps for the corps, suggesting the existence of such companies, though there doesn’t seem to be any evidence for these.  They are perhaps confusing them with the other two Hanoverian free corps; Stockhausen’s and Scheither’s?  The infantry of both those corps were very similarly dressed to Freytag’s Jäger and in both instances included a company or two of grenadiers, who acted as musket-armed support for the vulnerable rifle-armed jäger, whose weapons lacked bayonets and were slow to load.

The plate here on the right shows a grenadier and a jäger of Stockhausen’s Corps here, together with one of Freytag’s jäger, so perhaps that’s where the confusion stems from?  Scheither’s Corps was dressed very similarly, though with straw-yellow smallclothes, scalloped lace edging to collar and cuffs and bearskin caps for the grenadiers.

Ernst Philipp von Grothaus

Above:  The ‘Grothaus/Jung-Bremer’ Regiment of Horse was first raised in 1675 and saw action in the Franco-Dutch War, Nine Years War, War of Spanish Succession, War of the Quadruple Alliance and the War of Austrian Succession.  At the start of the Seven Years War, the regimental inhaber was actually Johann Friedrich Röscher, though before the regiment saw action this changed to Ernst Philip von Grothaus.  Grothaus owned the regiment through most of the war until 1760, when the regiment passed to Alexander von Bremer (the regiment was then known as ‘Jung-Bremer’, as there was already a ‘Bremer’ Regiment of Horse, which then became ‘Alt-Bremer’).

During the Seven Years War the regiment consisted of two squadrons, each of three companies, for a total full strength of 358 men of all ranks.  The regiment fought at Krefeld, Minden, Corbach, Langensalza, Vellinghausen and Nauheim.

The Swiss artist David Morier painted this trooper of the regiment during the 1740s.  The regiment was then known as the ‘Wrede’ Regiment of Horse.

After the Seven Years War, Hanoverian Regiments of Horse were paired up to make four-squadron ‘field’ regiments.  This regiment then formed half of the new 3rd Regiment of Cavalry and was therefore designated as 3C-A, being paired with the ‘Hodenberg’ Regiment (below), which was designated as 3C-B.

Above:  The ‘Grothaus/Jung-Bremer’ Regiment of Horse was uniformed in the standard pattern for Hanoverian regiments of horse; namely a single-breasted white coat without lapels or lace, though with cuffs and tail-turnbacks in the facing-colour, which for this regiment was crimson.  The horse-furniture was crimson to match and was edged in ‘fancy’ lace.  Buttons were brass/gold.  Hats had yellow lace, black cockades and were often decorated with a sprig of oak-leaves.  Neck-stocks were black.  Smallclothes and belts were buff.  Cuirasses has ceased to be worn by this time.

Above:  The ‘Hodenberg’ Regiment of Horse was first raised in 1645 and as such, was the oldest regiment in the Hanoverian Army.  The regiment fought in the War of Devolution, the Franco-Dutch War, the Great Turkish War, the Nine Years War, the War of Spanish Succession, the War of the Quadruple Alliance, the War of Polish Succession and the War of Austrian Succession, though in the last war had a reputation as an unlucky regiment, suffering the death of three inhabers.  Despite this reputation, Ernst Wilhelm von Hodenberg accepted the role of inhaber at the start of the Seven Years War.  His appointment seemed to break the curse, as the regiment kept his name until 1775.

David Morier painted the regiment during the 1740s, when it was known as the ‘Breydenbach’ Regiment of Horse.

During the Seven Years War the regiment fought at Hastenbeck, Krefeld, Minden, Corbach, Langensaza, Vellinghausen, Wilhelmsthal and Lutterberg.

After the Seven Years War, the regiment was paired with the ‘Jung-Bremer’ Regiment (above) to form the new four-squadron 3rd Cavalry Regiment.  As such, it was designated as 3C-B, while the ‘Jung-Bremer’ Regiment was 3C-A.

Above:  The ‘Hodenberg’ Regiment of Horse was dressed largely the same as all other Hanoverian regiments of horse, except that the facing-colour was scarlet and the ‘metal’ colour (buttons and hat-lace) was white.

Above:  As previously discussed, the weak two-squadron organisation of Hanoverian regiments of horse (as with those of Hesse-Cassel and most British cavalry regiments of the period) mean that a regiment consists of only six figures and I brigade two such regiments together to make a ‘game’ unit, as shown here.

Above:  Trumpeters and kettle-drummers of Hanoverian regiments of horse were dressed in coats of reversed colours, heavily decorated with lace.

Above:  Hanoverian cavalry carried one square standard per squadron; the 1st Squadron in each regiment carried a white Leib standard, while other squadrons carried coloured regimental standards.  Having two standards in a six-figure regiment would look rather ostentatious, so I only give them one standard and usually use a coloured regimental standard, as the white Leib standards look rather boring.

For Hanoverian cavalry I use 18mm British dragoon figures by Eureka Miniatures, which are largely ideal for the job.  The only slight niggle is that these figures have infantry-style cross-belts with the buckle on the front (as worn by British dragoons and dragoon guards), whereas Hanoverian cross-belts should look ‘flat’.

Above:  This regiment was raised in 1745, being initially known officially and uniquely as ‘The Fusilier Battalion’ rather than by the name of its inhaber.  However, by the start of the Seven Years War, it was routinely referred to as the ‘Halberstadt’ Regiment for the name of its inhaber, Hans Jürgen von Halberstadt until 1757.  In 1758 the inhaber changed to Johann Heinrich von Fersen and the ‘Fusilier Battalion’ title was officially dropped in 1759, so the regiment was officially known as the ‘Fersen’ Regiment from that point forth.  However, with Fersen’s death in 1760, the title changed again to the ‘Ahlefeldt’ Regiment for Siegfried Ernst von Ahlefeldt.

After the war, the regiment was grouped with the 2nd New Battalion (aka the ‘Wrede Regiment) to become half of the new 13th Regiment, being therefore designated as 13-A.

Note that when Hans Jürgen von Halberstadt moved on from the regiment in 1757, he became the inhaber of Regiment 6-B (the former ‘Dreves’ Regioment), which then took on the title of ‘Halberstadt’ (which it kept until 1761, then becoming ‘Linsingen’).  This is why it’s often easier to refer to the anachronistic post-war regimental numbers, when the titles kept getting passed around!

Above:  The ‘Halberstadt/Fersen/Ahlefeldt’ Regiment saw action for the first time in 1757 at the Siege of Harburg.  In 1758 it served for the first time in the main field army, fighting at Krefeld and Lutterberg.  However, Lutterberg proved to be a disaster for the regiment, which lost 9 officers and 216 men in the battle.  In 1759 the regiment fought again at Bergen and the Siege of Münster.  In 1761 the regiment fought in the Battle of Langensalza, the Siege of Cassel and the Battle of Vellinghausen.  In 1762 it fought at Wilhelmsthal and was again involved in besieging Cassel.

Above:  The ‘Halberstadt/Fersen/Ahlefeldt’ Regiment wore the usual British/Hanoverian style of red coat, with lapels, cuffs and tail-turnbacks in a medium blue shade.  Waistcoats were a matching shade of medium blue and breeches were dark straw.  At the start of the Seven Years War, Hanoverian infantry coats were heavily laced much in the British style, with lots of lace edging around lapels, cuffs and pockets, as well as lots of lace buttonholes.  However, in 1759 this was simplified to the style shown here, with seven lace buttonholes on each lapel, two buttonholes beneath each lapel, two buttonholes above each cuff and two buttonholes on each tail-pocket.  The colour of the lace matched the button colour, which in this case was white (silver for officers).

Above:  The ‘Halberstadt/Fersen/Ahlefeldt’ Regiment.  Other uniform details included white gaiters, secured by a buff leather garter (the Hanoverians don’t seem to have used darker colours as campaign dress), buff belts, yellow officers’ sashes, button-coloured hat-lace and small red-over-medium blue pompoms on the corners of the hat and above the black cockade/

Above:  The ‘Halberstadt/Fersen/Ahlefeldt’ Regiment.  In contrast to the elaborately-laced, reversed-colour coats worn by Hanoverian cavalry musicians, Hanoverian infantry drummers wore much the same uniform as worn by the rank-and-file, though with the addition of facing-coloured shoulder-wings and lace chevrons down the sleeves.

These are 18mm British Infantry figures by Eureka Miniatures, with flags by Maverick Models.

Well it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and thoughts turn to the annual Christmas Game…  This year it’s going to be a half-scale ‘bathtubbed’ version of the Battle of Minden (‘Halbeminden’?  ‘Wanneminden’?), so I’ve been filling some gaps in the collection, starting with Saxon infantry and French cavalry, including the oft-required Royal Carabiniers.  More soon…