With a flurry of 1809 games last year and a hankering to do the Battle of La Souffel 1815 and some 1814 battles, I had a sudden urge to paint some more Württemberg troops. Thanks to painting Von Hügel’s brigade at 1:20 ratio for the AB Figures Eggmühl mega-game in 1999, I already had FAR more light infantry, artillery and jäger in my collection than I could ever possibly use in Napoleon’s Battles (and that’s despite having already given half of them away!). I posted them on here a few years ago. However, my Württemberg army was sorely lacking in generals, cavalry and line infantry, especially for those later battles on the Allied side, so needed some balancing.
There are some quite significant uniform changes through the period, so I decided to peg them to the uniforms they were wearing in 1812, as that’s when I anticipate that I might get the most mileage out of them. However, my uniform sources very pretty limited, so I was heavily reliant upon internet sources… And we all know where that leads…
And yes, I know they were wearing shakos from 1813 onward, but a. I already have helmet-wearing Württemberg line infantry, b. AB don’t do the shako-wearing figures (though Tony says that they are on the way) and c. I have no shame… I generally don’t buy armies covering all the uniform-changes throughout the war unless they’re radically different (e.g. 1806 & 1813 Prussians or early and late French Carabiniers).
Württemberg infantry wearing the 1813 uniform and two variations of shako (IR6 ‘Kronprinz’ on the left and IR2 ‘Herzog Wilhelm’ on the right)
As to my choice of units; I already had a single Württemberg flag-sheet by Fighting 15s, which covered the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 9th Regiments. I’d already used the 2nd Regiment and didn’t particularly want to buy another flag-sheet, so decided to go with the 3rd, 4th & 9th Regiments, leaving the 1st Regiment for later (I hate painting yellow facings).
Above: Linien-Infanterie-Regiment 3 ‘Phull’. This regiment had been known as ‘Camrer’ until 1809, when it became ‘Phull’ (the title ‘Phull’ being held by IR1 prior to that date). Württemberg infantry regiments consisted of two field battalions, each of four companies, with 173 men of all ranks per company. The companies were numbered through the regiment, so the 1st Battalion had companies 1-4 and the 2nd Battalion had companies 5-8.
The 1st Company was designated as the Grenadierkompanie (also sometimes referred to as the Leibkompanie). This meant that only the 1st Battalion in each regiment had grenadiers with their distinctive transverse-crested helmets (see the pic on the right). As each unit in Napoleon’s Battles represents a whole brigade or large regiment, I paint one unit to represent the whole brigade. I’ve therefore shamelessly included grenadiers in each one, so these are all 1st Battalions! 🙂
Above: Linien-Infanterie-Regiment 3 ‘Phull’. This regiment initially had white facings, white piping and white ‘metal’. The facing colour was displayed on collar, half-lapels, cuffs, shoulder-straps and turnbacks, all edged in the piping colour (which here made no difference, being white on white), with the front seam also being piped from the bottom of the half-lapels to the bottom-seam of the coat. From 1809 the lapels of all regiments became plain blue, matching the colour of the coat, piped in either the piping colour or the facing colour, depending on regiment.
Above: Linien-Infanterie-Regiment 3 ‘Phull’. So far so good… Now we get to the sad part… While looking around for information on uniforms, I saw that someone had painted this regiment in their later uniform with grass green facings, which I thought looked rather spiffing. The chap stated that this was adopted during the 1811 uniform changes (which changed the colourings and details of a few Württemberg regiments). I noticed that he’d painted the lapels green, which I knew must be wrong and that should have prompted me to dig further, but no… So I painted the facings green… Only then to discover that this change didn’t actually happen until 1813, when the regiment was also adopting the shako instead of the helmet… And to make matters worse, I’ve since got my hands on a copy of the last Rawkins book, which states that the piping on the front of the coat was green, not white… Ah well… As mentioned here many times before, this blog serves mainly as a warning to others… 😉
Oh at least the flag is right! It remained turquoise throughout all the uniform changes. 🙂
Franquemont
Above: Linien-Infanterie-Regiment 4 ‘Franquemont’. This regiment kept the title ‘Franquemont’ throughout the Napoleonic Wars.
The regimental inhaber (colonel-proprietor) was Graf Friedrich von Franquemont, an illegitimate son of Duke Charles-Eugène of Württemberg, who became arguably one of the very best generals serving in the Confederation of the Rhine. Commissioned in 1787 aged 17, he volunteered for overseas service with the Württemberg Cape Regiment, which was contracted to the Dutch East Indies Company and served in South Africa, the Dutch East Indies and Ceylon, being captured there by the British in 1795.
Released in 1800 he returned to Württemberg and joined the regular army, rising quickly to Colonel by 1807. In 1808 he was promoted to Major General and he then commanded an infantry brigade during the Danube Campaign of 1809. He was fortunate to avoid being sent to Russia in 1812, but in early 1813 and now promoted to Lieutenant General, he assembled a new Württemberg Army which then became the 38th Division of Napoleon’s resurrected Grande Armée, being assigned to Bertrand’s IV Corps.
A Grenadier of IR4 ‘Franquemont’
Franquemont’s 38th Division fought at Lützen and was then distinguished at Bautzen, where they launched a remarkably successful assault against fortified Allied positions, though resulting in Franquemont being wounded. Following the Armistice, Franquemont’s Württembergers fought again at Gross-Beeren, Dennewitz and Wartenberg, again proving themselves as among Napoleon’s best infantry. However, Franquemont was increasingly disgruntled and disillusioned at having to serve French interests and by the time of the Battle of Leipzig his division had almost ceased to exist. Franquemont then took what was left over to the Allied side during the battle.
Following Württemberg’s defection to the Allies, Franquemont was promoted to General of Infantry and served as second-in-command to Crown Prince William of Württemberg throughout the 1814 Campaign, where he typically commanded a de facto army corps-within-a-corps. This command arrangement was repeated again in 1815, when he fought his last battle, suffering an ignominious defeat at La Souffel.
Following the war he became Württemberg’s Minister of War and died in 1842, aged 71.
Above: Linien-Infanterie-Regiment 4 ‘Franquemont’. This time I actually seem to have got the uniform right! 🙂 The regiment’s uniform distinctions remained basically unchanged throughout the war, being rose-pink with white piping and white metal. From 1809 the half-lapels became dark blue with white piping.
Above: Linien-Infanterie-Regiment 4 ‘Franquemont’. Note that the metalwork of the headgear was always brass, regardless of the regimental ‘metal’ colour. This regiment is known to have had a helmet-plate that was roughly triangular in shape, though other regiments used different shapes and even a simply brass band with a separate small badge above, rather like the Bavarians. Chinstraps initially had brass scales, though these were eventually replaced with simpler (and more comfortable) black leather straps. Grenadiers usually had a much larger plate on the front of their helmets and usually had a ‘comb’ with fluted brass sides, whereas the rank-and-file of other companies had a plain black leather comb.
Above: Linien-Infanterie-Regiment 9 ‘Ezdorf’. This is a rather controversial choice of regiment to paint, as not all sources agree that it existed! As mentioned above, I only painted it because I had the flag (it also looked very easy to paint and I was running short of time before the La Souffel game… I was young, naive, needed the money, etc…). According to a number of reputable online sources such as The Napoleon Series and Histofig, this regiment started life in 1801 as the Garnisons-Bataillon (‘Garrison Battalion’), becoming Garnisons-Bataillon ‘Bendes’ in 1807 and Garnisons-Bataillon ‘Ezdorf’ in 1809. In 1811 it was apparently expanded to a full regiment, becoming briefly Füsilier-Regiment ‘Ezdorf’ before finally becoming Linien-Infanterie-Regiment 9 ‘Ezdorf’ in the same year. The regiment was then disbanded at the start of 1813 and the regimental number 9 was taken a year later by the newly-formed Jäger-Regiment, which was formed from the two hitherto-independent Jäger Battalions.
Above: Linien-Infanterie-Regiment 9 ‘Ezdorf’. However… I’ve just this last week got my hands on a copy of Rawkins’ last booklet and he devotes a short chapter to demolishing this idea as ’19th Century confusion’ regarding the black facings of the amalgamated Jäger-Regiment 9. He definitively states that the Garnisons-Battalion remained as a single-battalion unit until 1814, when it was expanded to a full regiment, titled Garnisons-Regiment 12 (the amalgamated Leichte-Infanterie-Regiment taking the 10th slot and the new Scharfschützen-Regiment taking the 11th slot). The Garnisons-Bataillon had a coat with red collar, cuffs, turnbacks and yellow metal, without lapels. White piping was added in 1811 and this uniform continued to be used by Garnisons-Regiment 12. The blue flag is correct for Garnisons-Regiment 12, though wasn’t issued until 1814.
Above: Linien-Infanterie-Regiment 9 ‘Ezdorf’. Ah well, I did mention that I have no shame, yes…?
Anyway, if you want to go with the ‘traditional’ approach like me, the regiment allegedly had very easy-to-paint black facings, with black piping and yellow ‘metal’.
Above: Linien-Infanterie-Regiment 9 ‘Ezdorf’. I took this rear view to show what the obverse side of Württemberg flags looks like; namely the crowned ‘FR’ cypher of King Frederick I of Württemberg.
However, while we’re looking at them, we may as well discuss sword-knots. These had a white strap and the knot itself was coloured by company; 1st = white, 2nd = red, 3rd = yellow and 4th = light blue, 5th = white with black ring, 6th = red with yellow ring, 7th = light blue with red ring & 8th = yellow with white ring.
Above: Linien-Infanterie-Regiment 9 ‘Ezdorf’. I’ve done this rear view to show the brass ‘comb’ of the Grenadiers’ helmets.
Drummers wore very simple distinctions, being ‘swallows’ nests’ in the facing colour, edged with lace in the regimental ‘metal’ colour and two crossed lace chevrons resembling a ‘W’.
Officers coats had longer tails and fringed bullion epaulettes and contre-epaulettes in the regimental metal colour (the combination of which depended on rank, like the French) and all helmet metalwork was gilded. The officers’ helmet had a bushier bearskin ‘raupe’ and in full dress had a tall white plume with a black base. Officers’ sashes were silver, shot through with gold and red.
As often mentioned before, this blog often serves as more of a warning than a guide…
More Württembergers to follow… I’ve hopefully got them right this time…
