The Army of Augustus The Fat: My SYW Saxons (Part 2)

Prince Xaver of Saxony

As discussed in Part 1, I recently painted the first of two Saxon brigades that fought during the Seven Years War as part of Prince Xaver’s exiled Saxon Corps.  All the details of organisation, etc, can be found in Part 1, so go have a look if you haven’t already.

I still have to paint another nine battalions (plus some more artillery) to complete the corps with all its organisational permutations.  That’ll give me all the options for their battles during the Seven Years War.  However, I think I’ll probably HAVE to do the green-coated ‘Rochow’ Fusiliers and the red-coated Leibgrenadiergarde (on the right in the plate above) in their anachronistic pointy caps, rather than boring tricorns!  They only wore those caps up until the surrender of 1756, but I’m planning to expand the army and also use it for first two Silesian Wars of the 1740s, for which those caps are perfectly correct.

With the 1740s in mind, I’ll then add second battalions to all the single-battalion regiments, as well as six ‘pointy-headed’ grenadier battalions, five cuirassier regiments (plus one base of four figures for the Garde du Corps), four dragoon regiments and a load more artillery, so we can refight the epic Battles of Hohenfriedburg, Soor and especially Kesselsdorf.  I could also use four regiments of uhlans, but finding decent uhlan figures might be something of a challenge!  I might have to use hussars or cossacks, which will be a shame.

But coming back to the present, here are some more painted battalions.  These are all 18mm Austrian infantry figures by Eureka Miniatures, with flags designed by Frédéric Aubert of Ad Hoc Editions, printed on my own laser printer.

Above:  The ‘Fürst Lubomirsky’ Infantry Regiment was one of the ‘New’ Regiments of Prince Xaver’s Saxon Corps.  The regiment was indeed a relatively new regiment, being first raised in 1742 as the ‘Stollberg-Rosla’ Regiment and having only fought in the First & Second Silesian Wars.  The regiment was re-titled ‘Fürst Lubomirsky’ in 1752 and in 1756 it surrendered along with the rest of the Saxon Army at Pirna, being then conscripted into the Prussian Army.

Above:  The ‘Fürst Lubomirsky’ Infantry Regiment, following the surrender at Pirna, was dragooned into the Prussian Army as the Fusilier Regiment ‘Hauss’ (IR 55).  The regiment’s grenadiers were absorbed into Grenadier Battalion ‘Kahlenberg’ (GB 52/55).  Interestingly, the ‘Hauss’ Fusiliers were one of only two ex-Saxon regiments to avoid disbandment and successfully remained in existence until the end of the Seven Years War.  They were also the only ex-Saxon regiment to see action as part of Prussian field armies, fighting at Kunersdorf, Meissen, Strehla, Doebeln, Teplitz and Freiberg.  The ‘Kahlenberg’ Grenadiers however, suffered heavily from desertion and were disbanded in August 1757.  However, as the regiment didn’t escape en masse, a whole new ‘Fürst Lubomirsky’ Regiment therefore needed to be created for the reformed Saxon Army.

Above:  The re-created ‘Fürst Lubomirsky’ Infantry Regiment in 1757 was classed as a ‘New’ Regiment and therefore consisted of a single battalion and a detached grenadier company.  However, as discussed in Part 1, the grenadier company was one of two such companies formed from ex-gunners and in 1758 was disbanded in order to create a new artillery company from donated French ‘Swedish’ 4-pounders.  A new grenadier company was formed in 1761, though it mattered little, as the grenadiers were always detached from the parent regiments as combined grenadier battalions.

Above:  The ‘Fürst Lubomirsky’ Infantry Regiment wore a uniform that was basically identical to that of the ‘Prinz Friedrich-August’ Regiment discussed in Part 1; namely a white coat with yellow cuffs, collar and turnbacks, white shoulder-strap and no lapels.  The waistcoat was yellow to match the facings, though breeches were white (yellow for officers, which I got wrong!).  Neck-stocks were red and hats were decorated with white lace and yellow-over-white pompoms.  The only difference was that the regiment had white metal buttons and officers’ hat-lace.  Drummers had coats of reversed colours with white lace.

Above:  The ‘Prinz Joseph’ Infantry Regiment was another of Prince Xaver’s ‘New’ Regiments.  However, the regiment had very old origins, having originally been formed in 1673, becoming the ‘Prinz zu Sachsenhalle’ Regiment in 1689, ‘Schoning’ in 1692, ‘Bornstedt’ in 1693, ‘Königlicher Prinz’ in 1700, ‘Kronprinz’ in 1729 and Leib in 1733.  The regiment was combined with the Leibgrenadiergarde in 1737 to become the five-battalion Königliche Leibgarde zu Fuß, though the two regiments were split again in 1740 as the re-created Leibgrenadiergarde and ‘Königin’ (former Leib) Regiments.  During its existence, the regiment had been present at the Relief of Vienna and had fought in the War of the Grand Alliance, the War of Spanish Succession, the Great Northern War, the War of Polish Succession and the first two Silesian Wars.  However, in 1756 the ‘Königin’ Regiment went into the bag along with everyone else at Pirna.

Above:  The ‘Prinz Joseph’ Infantry Regiment.  When the captured Saxon regiments were conscripted into the Prussian Army, the men of the ‘Königin’ Regiment refused to swear an oath to King Frederick II of Prussia.  As a consequence, they weren’t simply re-titled and re-uniformed as a Prussian regiment and instead were split up across various units.  Needless to say, many of these men deserted from Prussian service and in 1757 were formed as a new regiment in exile.  However, the former regimental inhaber, Queen Maria Josepha died in November of that year and so the regimental title now passed to Prince Joseph of Saxony.

Above:  The ‘Prinz Joseph’ Infantry Regiment in 1757 was classed as a ‘New’ Regiment, being therefore organised as a single battalion and detached grenadier company.  This seems odd at first glance, as the regiment could trace its lineage back to 1673.  However, unlike the three ‘Old’ Regiments, it had not mutinied and marched out of Prussia service as a coherent unit and therefore had to be rebuilt from scratch, and was therefore classed as ‘New’.  The detached grenadier company was formed from former members of the Leibgrenadiergarde.

Above:  The ‘Prinz Joseph’ Infantry Regiment wore the standard Saxon white uniform coat, with cuffs, collar, turnbacks and shoulder-strap coloured ‘cochineal’.  Cochineal dye can be used to make everything from deep, dark reds, to various shades of crimson and pink and was the dye used to create the crimson facings of Polish units in Napoleon’s army.  It’s usually interpreted in this instance as being a deep pinkish crimson shade.  Waistcoats were a matching shade of cochineal and breeches were white (cochineal for officers, which I’ve again got wrong).  Buttons were brass.  Neck-stocks were red and hats were decorated with white lace (gold for officers and NCOs) and cochineal-over-white pompoms.  Drummers had coats in reversed colours, with yellow lace.

Above:  The ‘Prinz Clemens’ Infantry Regiment was another of Prince Xaver’s ‘New’ Regiments.  The regiment was originally raised in 1704 as the ‘Herzog Johann Georg von Weissenfels’ Regiment.  In 1705 it became ‘Prinz Johann Adolph von Sachsen-Weissenfels’ and kept that title until 1746, when the regiment passed to Prince Clemens of Saxony (who was also Bishop of Augsburg and Regensburg).  The regiment fought in the War of Spanish Succession, the Great Northern War, the War of Polish Succession, the Austro-Turkish War of 1737-1739 and the first two Silesian Wars, before finally surrendering along with the rest of the Saxon Army in 1756 and being pressed into Prussian service.

Above:  When transferred to Prussian service, the ‘Prinz Clemens’ Infantry Regiment became the Fusilier Regiment ‘Flemming’ (IR 58) and was assigned as the garrison of Halberstadt.  However, the regiment suffered heavily from desertion and was disbanded in October 1757.  The regiment’s grenadiers were absorbed into the Prussian Grenadier Battalion ‘Bähr’ (GB 50/58), which rapidly melted away due to desertion, being disbanded at the end of July 1757.

Above:  The re-created ‘Prinz Clemens’ Infantry Regiment, like the ‘Prinz Joseph’ Regiment above, was classed in 1757 as a ‘New’ Regiment, as it had to be reformed from scratch.  It therefore consisted of a single battalion and a detached grenadier company.  The detached grenadier company was drawn from dismounted former members of the Garde du Corps.

Above:  The ‘Prinz Clemens’ Infantry Regiment wore the usual Saxon white coat with ‘French blue’ cuffs, collar and turnbacks and white metal buttons.  Waistcoats were French blue and breeches were white (again, the officers had facing-coloured breeches, but I’ve got it wrong!).  Neck-stocks were red and hats were decorated with white lace (silver for officers and NCOs) and blue-over-white pompoms.  Drummers again had reversed colour coats with white lace.

Above:  The ‘Prinz Carl Maximilian’ Infantry Regiment (also known variously as the ‘Prinz Carl’ Regiment or the ‘Prinz Maximilian’ Regiment) was another of Prinz Xaver’s ‘New’ Regiments, but had actually first been raised in 1711 from two battalions of the Dresden garrison.  It’s not entirely clear who the inhabers were during the first few decades, though it seems to be referred to as the ‘Cosel’ Regiment in 1745.  In 1746 it became the ‘Friese’ Regiment and in 1755 became the ‘Prinz Carl Maximilian’ Regiment.  The regiment fought in the War of Polish Succession and the first two Silesian Wars, before finally surrendering at Pirna in 1756.

Above:  The ‘Prinz Carl Maximilian’ Infantry Regiment, following its surrender at Pirna, was absorbed into the Prussian Army as Fusilier Regiment ‘Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm von Preußen’ (IR 59), though as with so many of the dragooned Saxon regiments, they didn’t wear Prussian Blue for long!  The regiment was sent to garrison Wittenberg, then Leitmeritz, though suffered heavily from desertion and was disbanded at Pirna in August 1757.  The regiment’s grenadiers were  incorporated into Grenadier Battalion ‘Bornstädt’ (GB 51/59) and these too were disbanded in August 1757.

Above:  The ‘Prinz Carl Maximilian’ Infantry Regiment was re-created in 1757 was one of Prince Xaver’s ‘New’ Regiments and therefore consisted of a single battalion and detached grenadier company.  The grenadier company was formed from former members of the Leibgrenadiergarde.

Above:  The ‘Prinz Carl Maximilian’ Infantry Regiment wore the usual white Saxon infantry coat, with cuffs, collar and turnbacks in ‘Russian green’, white shoulder-strap and white ‘metal’.  Waistcoats were Russian green and breeches were white, though officers wore green breeches (which I’ve again got wrong!).  Neck-stocks were red and hats were decorated with white lace (silver for officers and NCOs) and green-over-white pompoms.  Drummers wore coats of reversed colours, with white lace.

Above:  Saxon Grenadiers.  As discussed in Part 1, Prince Xaver’s new Saxon Corps was born in 1757 with twelve grenadier companies (one for each regiment), some of which were formed from former members of the Leibgrenadiergarde, Garde du Corps, Cuirassier regiments and Artillery Corps.  The two companies formed from artillerymen were quickly disbanded in order to form two new artillery companies, leaving ten grenadier companies, which in the field were formed into two combined grenadier battalions.

Above:  Saxon Grenadiers.  I must confess that when I painted these, I didn’t have a clue about the origins of Prince Xaver’s grenadiers, so just decided to paint two grenadier figures for each regiment I was painting (not including ‘Lubomirsky’, as they were converted back to artillery)!  However, it’s entirely possible that the former members of the Leibgrenadiergarde, Garde du Corps and Cuirassiers did in fact wear white, infantry-style uniforms during this period, matching those of their new parent regiments.  White uniforms would certainly be a lot easier to source from Austrian stocks.

Above:  Saxon Grenadiers. When first formed, the new grenadier companies, instead of their old Prussian-style mitre-caps, wore cocked hats like the rest of the regiment, though these were decorated in ‘scalloped’ or ‘zig-zag’ lace.  In 1761 the hats were replaced by bearskins, variously-described as ‘French’ or ‘Austrian’ in style, with a hanging bag that was probably coloured to match the facing colour and tasseled (perhaps also piped) in the button colour.  Although my fellas are intended for the earlier part of the war (Lutterberg, Minden, etc), I decided to go with the later bearskins and used Austrian grenadier figures.

Above:  Saxon Grenadiers.  In 1761 the Saxon grenadiers were increased to twelve companies, organised into three battalions.  One battalion was designated as the Leibgrenadiergarde at this time and perhaps adopted the old scarlet uniforms with yellow facings (if they hadn’t already)?

So in a nutshell, this grenadier battalion is probably entirely wrong…