Jemima Fawr's Miniature Wargames Blog

As discussed last time, I’m booked to put on a 10mm American Civil War game at Warfare 2021 in November, so I’ll have to put my 15mm Seven Years War project on hold for the moment while I paint a load more Blue & Grey and build the scenery.  However, I did this week manage to finish off all the Hanoverian infantry in my lead-pile before moving on to the ACW.  Once Warfare is out of the way I’ll come back to this army to do the cavalry, artillery and generals and with luck I’ll be able to play a French v Allied SYW game in early 2022.

In Part 1 of this series, I mentioned that I’m building a ‘Western Allied’ army for the Seven Years War.  This British-funded army was mainly Hanoverian, though also included contingents from Great Britain, Brunswick, Hessen-Kassel, Schaumburg-Lippe and Prussia.  I’m using the order of battle for the Battle of Minden as my immediate ‘to do’ list and have already completed the British infantry contingent for that battle (i.e. Von Spörcken’s 3rd Column, shown above), as well as the Hanoverian Foot Guards, the Sachsen-Gotha Regiment and Von Scheele’s Hanoverian Brigade from the Prince of Anhalt’s 4th Column.

Above:  I’ve now completed the three battalions of Wissembach’s Brigade, which formed the second line of the Prince of Anhalt’s 4th Column at Minden, so here’s the whole formation in all its glory.  Scheele’s Brigade (which I covered in Part 1) forms the first line, while Wissembach’s Brigade forms the second line.

Above:  Prince Carl Leopold of Anhalt-Bernburg is commonly referred to as the ‘Prince of Anhalt’ in most English language accounts, which leads to all sorts of confusion, as there were seemingly dozens of princes of various branches of the Anhalt family (the House of Ascania), including one who at Minden was commanding a brigade on the French side!  Prince Carl Leopold of Anhalt was also known by his family name of von Bährnfeld.

On the eve of the Battle of Minden, Prince Carl Leopold was commanding the 4th Column of the Allied army, consisting of the brigades of Scheele and Wissembach.  However, the Prince proved to be derelict in his duty as General of the Day, when he failed to adequately establish a picquet-line in front of the Allied army.  Consequently, the French were able to form up completely unobserved in the early hours of the morning and even a warning from a group of French deserters failed to stir the Prince into action until it was too late! 

The Commanding General, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, later alleged that the Prince of Anhalt had failed to execute his orders to attack.  However, in the Prince of Anhalt’s defence it would seem that no such orders were ever issued by Prince Ferdinand.  Nevertheless, Carl Leopold undoubtedly failed to act on his own initiative and allowed the French to occupy key terrain.  In exasperation at Carl Leopold’s inaction, Ferdinand eventually ordered General Scheele to take command of the Prince of Anhalt’s division and it was therefore Scheele, not the Prince of Anhalt who led the counter-attack to relieve Spörcken’s beleaguered command.

Above:  Prince Carl Leopold of Anhalt-Bernburg held a commission in the Army of Hessen-Kassel and was Chef of the Hessen-Kassel ‘Prinz von Anhalt’ Infantry Regiment.  There was no prescribed uniform for Hessian general officers, so he wears the uniform of his regiment, namely a dark blue coat with red facings and silver lace edging to the lapels, cuffs, cuff-flaps and hat.  As in the Prussian Army, general officers probably had white ostritch feathers along the upper edge of the hat. 

This is a 15mm Prussian general officer figure by Blue Moon (Old Glory).

Above:  Wissembach’s Brigade.  This consisted of three single-battalion infantry regiments; the Hanoverian ‘Stolzenberg’ Regiment, the Hanoverian ‘Estorff’ Regiment and the Hessen-Kassel ‘Erbprinz‘ Regiment.

Above:  The Hanoverian ‘Stolzenberg’ Regiment changed hands several times over the course of the Seven Years War.  From 1756 to 1759 the inhaber was Friedrich Ludwig von Stolzenberg, though shortly after the Battle of Minden, Stolzenberg retired and the title passed to Carl Detlev von Marschalk.  However, Marschalk died in October 1760 and the title changed again to Georg Christian von Craushaar.  Some time after the Seven Years War the regiment was given the designation 4-B.  As discussed last time, many histories of the Seven Years War refer to these post-war regimental numbers (as well as the post-war Prussian and Austrian regimental numbers), even though they were not in use at the time, as it enables the reader to more easily keep track of regiments whose titles kept changing.

Above:  The ‘Stolzenberg’ Regiment had black facings (lapels and cuffs) with white buttons and lace (silver for officers).  However, like the other black-faced regiments of the Hanoverian Army (such as the ‘Reden’ Regiment discussed last time), the waistcoat, coat-linings and flags were of a different colour, which in this case was straw.  Hat pom-poms were red-over-black.

These are Eureka Miniatures 18mm British infantry figures.  I discussed the generic details of Hanoverian infantry uniforms and the differences with British uniforms in part 1.  The flags are by Maverick Models.

Above:  The ‘Stolzenberg’ Regiment had three lace buttonholes on each tail-pocket.  The Regimental Colour was straw-coloured, matching the colour of the regiment’s waistcoats and coat-linings, which are here visible as tail-turnbacks.  The Colour had an intricately-painted scene, showing the seated Greek goddess Athena offering a laurel wreath to an armoured knight on foot, all contained within a large blue laurel-wreath.

Above:  The ‘Stolzenberg’ Regiment’s grenadiers had the usual mitre caps, though these differed slightly from the normal pattern, in that the ‘face’ of the cap was red, rather than the the facing colour (black).  Instead the false ‘flap’ was coloured black and was decorated with the ‘GR’ cypher in white, along with other white lace decoration.  The face of the cap was decorated with more white lace and a large electoral crest badge in white metal.  This was all topped off with a white tuft.

Above:  The rear of the ‘Stolzenberg’ Regiment’s grenadier caps were also non-standard, having a red band instead of the usual facing-coloured band.  This was however, decorated in the standard manner, with white piping and a white metal grenade badge.

Above:  The Hanoverian ‘Estorff’ Regiment actually started the war as the ‘Brunck’ Regiment, having Heinrich Joachim von Brunck as its inhaber.  However, he retired in 1759 and the title passed to Ludolph von Estorff.  The regiment was later assigned the number 12-B.

Above:  The ‘Estorff’ Regiment had grass green as its facing colour and the regiment’s waistcoats and coat-linings were coloured the same, as was the Regimental Colour.  Buttons and lace were white (silver for officers).

These again are Eureka Miniatures 18mm British infantry figures and the flags are again by Maverick Models.  Note that Maverick Models usually refer to the initial name of the regiment, so this one is listed as ‘Brunck’.

Above:  The ‘Estorff Regiment’ had two lace buttonholes decorating each tail pocket.  The Regimental Colour was again decorated with an elaborate painted scene, showing a rocky island in a blue sea, being struck by bolts of lightning coming from grey clouds in an otherwise white sky.  This was then surrounded by a green palm wreath and topped with a blue scroll and crown.  The corners were decorated with crowned ‘GR’ cyphers.

Above:  The grenadiers of the ‘Estorff’ Regiment had mitre caps with the front face, ‘flap’ and headband in the facing colour.  The face was decorated with a large white metal electoral crest, while the flap featured the running horse of Hanover; probably embroidered in white.  The back of the cap was red with white piping and the whole lot was topped off with a white-over-red tuft.

Above:  The Hessen-Kassel ‘Erbprinz‘ Regiment.  The regimental Chef was Prince Frederick, the Hereditary Prince (Erbprinz) of Hessen-Kassel.  In 1760 the Prince succeeded his father Landgraf William VIII of Hessen-Kassel to become Landgraf Frederick II and the regimental title was changed to the 4th Guard (Vierte Garde) Regiment.

Landgraf Frederick II of Hessen-Kassel

Hessian infantry regiments were initially single large battalions, each of ten companies totaling 950 men at full strength.  This therefore translates as a large unit of 16 figures for ‘Shako/Tricorn’ (like the Hanoverians).  Each company included a corps of eight grenadiers, which on campaign would be formed into a detached grenadier company of 80 men and grouped with other such companies to form ad hoc grenadier battalions of variable strength. 

However, in 1760 the new Landgraf Frederick II (who also happened to be a serving Prussian general) reorganised the army along Prussian lines, splitting each infantry regiment into two small battalions of five companies apiece.  The grenadier component was expanded to two full companies.  In wartime the two grenadier companies would now be paired at the start of a campaign with the grenadiers from another regiment, forming one of six permanent, Prussian-style grenadier battalions.

In theory the infantry regiments were each expanded in 1760 by an additional 200 men, but in reality this strength-increase was totally absorbed by the massively-expanded grenadier component and the infantry battalions remained weak.  There was therefore absolutely no tactical advantage gained from splitting the regiments into two battalions and Ferdinand of Brunswick actually commented that it made absolutely no difference if the Hessian regiments fielded one or two battalions.  In wargame terms, I’m therefore happy fielding the pre-1760 16-figure battalions to represent Hessian regiments right through the whole war and don’t plan to paint a separate late-war Hessian army.  I will however, need to add extra grenadiers for the post-1760 army (though I haven’t yet painted any Hessian grenadiers).

Above:  The ‘Erbprinz‘ Regiment initially had dark blue coats with lemon yellow lapels, cuffs, collar, turnbacks and hat pom-poms, with white metal buttons and white lace edging around the lapels, collar and hat.  There were also three pairs of lace buttonholes on each lapel, three buttonholes below each lapel, four buttonholes on each sleeve, three buttonholes on each tail-pocket and two buttonholes wither side of the small of the back.  Waistcoats were lemon yellow, neck-stocks were red and belts were white.  In common with other Hessian regiments, breeches were initially dark blue with white stockings visible above the gaiters (which were black on campaign and white on parade).  At some point during the late 1750s, the breeches changed to lemon yellow, though I’m going with the dark blue ‘look’ for all my Hessian regiments.

These are Eureka Miniatures 18mm Prussian infantry figures and the flags are again by Maverick Models.  Not much is known about Hessian flags of the period, but they didn’t adopt the ‘Prussian’ style (carried during the American War of Independence) until well after the 1760 reorganisations and in most cases, probably not until well after the end of the Seven Years War.  Maverick’s reconstruction of the flags features the cypher of Landgraf William VIII.

Above:  A rear view of the ‘Erbprinz’ Regiment.  Some sources suggest that the turnbacks may have been red rather than yellow.  Hessian drummers are known to have worn reversed colours during the 1740s and early 1750s, but by the time of the Seven Years War had changed to the standard blue regimental coat, with the addition of red and white lace.

With the reorganisation of 1760, the regiment adopted a new uniform to go with the new title.  The facing colour was changed from yellow to rose-pink, the lace edging was removed from the collar and lapels and the number of lace buttonholes was reduced (three pairs on each lapel, a pair below each lapel, a pair on each sleeve and one either side of the back).  The waistcoat and breeches became white.

Ab0ve:  Wersabé’s Hanoverian Grenadier Battalion (shown on the right) forms up alongside Maxwell’s British Grenadier Battalion (shown on the left).  As discussed in my article on the British Army, the Allied grenadiers at Minden were all massed into a single brigade as part of Wangenheim’s Corps and the Hanoverian grenadiers were all massed in a single battalion under the command of one Lt Col Wersabé.  I’ve not found any information on the composition of this battalion, but it was known to be an ad hoc unit, simply formed from whatever grenadier companies were present, apart from those of the Fuβgarde, who were always used as headquarters guards.

Above:  Hanoverian Grenadier Battalion ‘Wersabé’.  As mentioned previously, Hanoverian grenadiers battalions of the first half of the war were ad hoc affairs, formed from whatever was available on a given day.  They were therefore of extremely variable strength and composition and this is therefore a conjectural wargames unit, comprising a figure from each of the six line regiments painted thus far, plus another six selected at random from the nine other regiments present at Minden.  It’s possible that all fifteen regiments were represented and a large 16-figure unit might therefore be more appropriate, but I’ve kept it as a conservative 12-figure unit.

Above:  Hanoverian Grenadier Battalion ‘Wersabé’.  From 1759, the Hanoverians formed three permanent Grenadier Battalions at the start of each campaign, though these proved to be rather weak (roughly half the strength of a line infantry battalion), so in 1760 the strength was fixed at 500 men per battalion.  In 1762 a massive increase in the strength of each regiment’s grenadier company enabled an increase to six grenadier battalions.

Above:  A rear view of Hanoverian Grenadier Battalion ‘Wersabé’.

Above:  The military-minded Count William of Schaumburg-Lippe was nobody’s fool and knew that if his tiny country were to go to war, it would always be as part of a coalition and there was therefore no point in building a balanced army of all arms.  The core of the Army of Schaumburg-Lippe was therefore built around a small though excellent Artillery Corps, serving guns designed by the Count himself. 

Count William of Schaumburg-Lippe

Supporting the guns was a single battalion-sized infantry regiment, titled the ‘Schaumburg-Lippe-Bückeburg’ Infantry Regiment.  This regiment consisted of seven companies, with a theoretical full strength of 800 men, though in reality fielding 675 men (this discrepancy may be due to infantrymen being detached to serve the guns).  At Minden the regiment was tasked as artillery guards, though it fought as infantry in the line of battle at a number of other engagements.

Some sources state that the regiment included two companies of grenadiers, wearing Prussian-style Füsilier caps.  While the Grenadiers certainly existed, they were actually completely separate units, being deployed as headquarters guards and in support of the Schaumburg-Lippe Carabiniercorps engaged in the petit guerre.

Above:  The Schaumburg-Lippe-Bückeburg Regiment had a relatively simple uniform consisting of an unlaced dark blue coat with red Swedish cuffs, turnbacks and collar and white metal buttons.  The hat had white lace edging and red-over-white pompoms with a black cockade (silver lace for officers).  Neck-stocks were red, smallclothes and belts were white and gaiters were black.

These are Eureka Miniatures 18mm Prussian infantry figures.

Above:  By sheer luck, just as I was painting the Schaumburg-Lippe-Bückeburg Regiment, two gentlemen, Boris Brink and Volker Scholz posted their reconstruction of the regiment’s flags on the excellent Kronsokaf website and I was able to adapt their superb drawings into a set of flags that I could print on my laser-printer… Then they changed their designs, so I printed them off again and stuck them on my figures… And now they’ve changed the design again, in line with their latest research! 🙂 

But never mind, I’ll leave these flags as they are! 🙂

Anyway, that’s it for now!  Back to the ACW…

“Hanover wins, the Frenchman lies down.”

As mentioned recently, I’m presently building a British-Hanoverian-German Allied army for the Seven Years War, using the order of battle for the Battle of Minden 1759 as my initial ‘To Do’ list.  Having finished the British infantry, I’ve now moved on to the Hanoverians, by way of some other allied contingents.

Hanoverian Infantry Uniforms

At first glance, Hanoverian infantry uniforms look identical to the British, but there were quite a few subtle and not-so-subtle differences and I know a few people who have used Prussian and/or Austrian infantry figures instead of British infantry figures to represent Hanoverians.  Eureka don’t do specific Hanoverian figures and none of the available options are perfect, but the big cuffs with deep v-shaped slashes, the voluminous coat-tails, the buckled cross-belts and the officers with sashes over the shoulder make British infantry the nearest match (I can live with the belly-boxes).

Button and Lace Colouring: In the British Army, only the officers (and sometimes the NCOs) followed the regimental ‘metal’ colour; either silver or gold.  The rank-and-file always had white metal buttons and white hat-lace, regardless of regimental ‘metal’, while the coat-lace followed a regimental pattern and colouring, which was often quite intricate.  In the Hanoverian Army, the buttons of all ranks followed the regimental ‘metal’ colour and the other ranks’ lace on both hat and coat was either plain yellow or white accordingly.

Lace:  Hanoverian coats and waistcoats were initially laced very heavily, in much the same manner as the British.  However, in 1759 they removed all the lace from the waistcoat as well as all the lace edging from lapels, cuffs, cuff-flaps and pockets, plus around one-third of the buttonhole lace, leaving only three pairs of buttonholes on each lapel, a pair of buttonholes below each lapel, one buttonhole in the top corner of each lapel, two buttonholes above each cuff and two or three buttonholes on each tail-pocket.  From an aesthetic point of view, this does make the facing colours of Hanoverian units really stand out when compared to the British, whose heavy lace tends to blur out the facing colours.

Waistcoat:  British waistcoats were invariably coloured red and were heavily laced, but Hanoverian waistcoats were usually coloured to match the regimental facing colour and in 1759 they removed all the lace.  A few Hanoverian regiments (mainly those with black facings) had waistcoats of a different colour.

Breeches & Gaiters:  In the British Army breeches were usually red (blue for Royal regiments).  In the Hanoverian Army they were invariably buff.  They were also described as ‘Chamois’ or ‘Straw’, though were a deeper yellowy shade than the ‘straw’ facings.  The Hanoverians also seem to have used white canvas gaiters for all forms of dress, including campaign dress, whereas the British adopted darker colours for campaign dress (settling on black by 1759), retaining white gaiters purely for parade dress.

Hats:  As mentioned above, Hanoverian hats were laced according to button colour.  The cockade was black.  Unlike the British, Hanoverian hats were decorated with three very small pompoms; one above the cockade and one at each side-corner.  Although British infantry figures don’t have these decorations, their small size meant that I found it easy enough to simply represent them by adding a blob of paint of the appropriate colour at the top of the cockade and in the corners of the hat.  A sprig of oakleaves (or other greenery) was also often added as a field-sign, but these would not have been universal (certainly not in winter!), so I’m not bothered if it’s not there.

Equipment:  Personal equipment was much the same as the British, consisting of a pale buff leather cross-belt buckled at the front, a buff waistbelt and a black cartridge box.  However, unlike the British, all companies were armed with a ‘hanger’ (short sword) and not just the Grenadiers.  They also don’t appear to have used belly-boxes like the British, which is a pain when using Eureka British figures!.  The lack of a hanger on the figures isn’t obvious, but the belly-box is impossible to hide and I just have to live with it.  However, Hanoverian muskets were banded, so the wrongly-banded musket on Eureka’s British infantry actually fits! 🙂

Grenadier Distinctions:  Like the British Grenadiers, Hanoverian Grenadiers wore mitre caps and brass match-cases on their cross-belts as a mark of their élite status.  In most cases the caps roughly conformed to the British theme, having the front-piece and headband in the facing colour, the ‘bag’  in red and the piping and tuft in the lace colour.  However, some regiments diverted from that theme, having the front-piece and/or band coloured red instead of the facing colour.  Some regiments decorated their caps with a lot of metalwork, with at least one regiment having a Prussian-style all-metal front-piece.  Also note that while the British Grenadiers adopted shoulder ‘wings’ during the early 1750s, the Hanoverians do not appear to have followed suit.

Officers’ & NCOs Distinctions:  Hanoverian officers followed the general theme described above, though with expensive metallic gold or silver lace.  A yellow sash was worn over the right shoulder and a gorget was worn at the throat (which was gold for all regiments).  Hanoverian officers would also be clean-shaven, while the rank-and-file (unlike the British) had moustaches.  Hanoverian NCOs didn’t wear sashes like their British counterparts, but wore straw-coloured gloves and carried polearms as their ‘badge of office’.

Drummers’ Livery:  Hanoverian drummers, unlike their British counterparts, did not wear reversed colours.  Instead they wore the standard regimental uniform, with the addition of facing-coloured ‘swallows’ nests’ on the shoulders and lace decoration down the sleeves.  They did not have ‘false sleeves’ on the back of the coat.  They also wore standard hats and did not wear the short mitre cap worn by British drummers (grenadier drummers presumably wore standard grenadier mitre caps).  I’ve therefore used Prussian drummers for my Hanoverians.  Drums were brass, often decorated with the Badge of Hanover and with hoops painted in diagonal stripes of red and the regimental facing colour.

Above:  The Foot Guards (Fuβgarde) Regiment.  This regiment was unique in the Hanoverian Army for having two battalions, though after the war the line infantry regiments were also paired up to create two-battalion regiments.  As discussed last time, at the Battle of Minden, the Hanoverian Foot Guards were grouped with the British infantry under the command of Lord Spörcken’s 3rd Column.  The Hanoverian ‘Hardenberg’ Regiment also somehow became attached.  This combined force carried out an astonishing unsupported attack against the French army and then ripped the heart out of the French cavalry counter-attack.  The Foot Guards and ‘Hardenberg’ Regiments captured numerous French cavalry standards during the action. 

Above:  The Foot Guards Regiment had dark blue facings and waistcoats with yellow lace and ‘metal’.  Pompoms were yellow-over-white.  I haven’t painted any grenadiers for this regiment, as they were perpetually assigned to the security of headquarters and baggage and were never assigned to a combined Grenadier Battalion in the field.  

All Hanoverian infantry regiments carried a Colonel’s Colour of a standard pattern, which consisted of a white field, with the Arms of Hanover on the obverse and the Arms of George II on the reverse, with a crowned GR cypher in each corner on both sides.  This was paired with a Regimental Colour, which in the case of the Foot Guards was a white field with the Badge of Hanover and crowned GR corner-cyphers on both sides.  However, I’ve no idea if the regiment had a single Colonel’s Colour carried by the 1st Battalion (German-style) or if each battalion had a Colonel’s Colour (British-style).  I’ve opted for the British style, with each battalion having a Colonel’s Colour and a Regimental Colour.

Above:  A rear view of the Foot Guards Regiment, showing the obverse of the Colonel’s Colours (note that the central device is now the Running Horse badge of Hanover rather than the Royal Arms).  The tail pockets each have two lace buttonholes.

Above:  The ‘Sachsen-Gotha’ Infantry Regiment started the Seven Years War as the major part of the Army of the Duchy of Sachsen-Gotha, though was organised along Hanoverian lines.  On 15th April 1757 the regiment was placed under Hanoverian command as an auxiliary regiment,  paid for by the British, though still formally belonging to the Duchy of Sachsen-Gotha.  The regiment at this time wore white coats with green facings and waistcoats, with white lace and metal.  However, on 25th January 1759 the regiment was formally transferred to the Hanoverian Army and received new red coats, still with green facings and white lace & metal.  The old white coats were turned into new waistcoats and so this regiment was one of the few whose waistcoat did not match the facing colour. 

At Minden the regiment acted as artillery guards with Major Haase’s 2nd Column.  After the war the regiment became half of the 9th Infantry Regiment, being designated 9-A.  As with many Seven Years War armies, the post-war regimental numbering system is often used anachronistically in histories, as it’s often easier than using regiment names which often changed (although as it happens, ‘Sachsen-Gotha’s regimental title never did change).

Above:  As discussed above, the ‘Sachsen-Gotha’ Infantry Regiment had green facings that are actually described as dark green.  However, artistic depictions often show them wearing quite a bright shade and that’s reflected in this Regimental Colour by Maverick Models.  I’ve therefore given them a middling shade of green, so that the flag doesn’t look too far removed from the facing colour!  Lace and metal was white and the pompoms were red-over-green.

Above:  A rear view of the ‘Sachsen-Gotha’ Infantry Regiment.  Note that the tail-pockets had two lace buttonholes.  The regimental colour featured a lion holding a sword in its paw, surrounded by a laurel wreath, with a white scroll above.

Note that Hanoverian battalions were very strong, typically fielding over 800 men (over 1,000 for the two ‘New Battalions’) and considerably stronger than their British and French counterparts.  Consequently, I’ve done these as 16-figure units (like Austrians) rather than the usual 12 figures typical of British, French and Prussian battalions in the field.

Above:  A Grenadier of the ‘Sachsen-Gotha’ Infantry Regiment.  Although they typically had much stronger battalions than the British, the Grenadier ‘corps’ of a Hanoverian battalion was far weaker, with only 65 men, equating to roughly a single figure in game terms (it wasn’t strong enough to be termed a ‘Company’).  In the early part of the war the Hanoverian Army just created ad hoc grenadier battalions from whatever was at hand (like the Austrians) and these varied wildly in strength from around 200 men to over 1,000 men.  From 1759 onward, three permanent Grenadier Battalions were formed for the duration of each campaign, though these were weak units, numbering only 400-500 men at the very most.  I think I’ll rationalise this for campaign purposes as two ‘normal-sized’ 12-figure units (I’ve encountered the same problem with the Swedish Army in Germany; four grenadier battalions, but each only 300-350 men strong).

Above:  The brigade of Major General Johann Daniel Victor von Scheele (also spelled ‘Schele’ in many sources) formed the first line of the 4th Column, which was in turn commanded by Lieutenant General Prince Carl Leopold of Anhalt-Bernburg.  The brigade consisted of three Hanoverian infantry regiments; ‘Scheele’, ‘Reden’ and ‘Hardenberg’.  However, as mentioned above, the ‘Hardenberg’ Regiment somehow managed to get itself entangled with Spörcken’s column during the approach march and was sucked into Spörcken’s attack. 

With Spörcken heavily engaged and seemingly about to be be overrun by French cavalry, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick (the C-in-C of the Allied armies) ordered Scheele to take his remaining two battalions, as well as those of Wissembach’s brigade in the second line (the Hanoverian ‘Stolzenberg’ and ‘Estorff’ Regiments and the Hessian ‘Erbprinz Friedrich’ Regiment) in an effort to relieve Spörcken’s right flank, which was in danger of being turned (it’s not clear what the Prince of Anhalt was doing at this moment or why he’d just had his entire division handed over to Scheele!).

In the event, the French cavalry struck Spörcken’s left flank, not the right, yet it made little difference as the magnificent British and Hanoverian infantry held their ground until Wutginau’s Hessians stabilised the situation.  This remarkable action was one of the most celebrated infantry actions of the 18th Century and is still commemorated every 1st August by the successors of the British regiments under Spörcken’s command.

Above:  The ‘Scheele’ Infantry Regiment.  This regiment had actually been titled titled ‘Fabrice’ until 1757, when the former inhaber (Colonel-Proprietor), Colonel Georg Philipp von Fabrice retired and the regiment was passed to Major General Johann Daniel Victor von Scheele.  After the war the regiment became half of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, being designated 2-B.

Above:  The ‘Scheele’ Infantry Regiment had straw-coloured facings and waistcoats with white lace and metal and red-over-yellow pompoms.

Above:  A rear view of the ‘Scheele’ Infantry Regiment.  This regiment had three lace buttonholes on each tail-pocket.  The Regimental Colour matched the facing colour and featured piled trophies of war, surrounded by a laurel wreath.

Above:  A Grenadier of the ‘Scheele’ Infantry Regiment.  Note that for some reason, this regiment was one of a few which didn’t use its regimental facing colour for the front-piece of the mitre cap, instead using red.  The rear headband was coloured straw, however.

Above:  The ‘Reden’ Infantry Regiment.  At the start of the war this regiment was titled ‘Knesebeck’ for its then inhaber, Ernst Friedrich von dem Knesebeck, but the regiment was passed in 1758 to Johann Wilhelm von Reden, who owned it for the rest of the war.  The regiment was designated 3-A in the post-war numbering system.

Above:  The ‘Reden’ Infantry Regiment had black as its facing colour, with white lace and metal and black-over-red pompoms.  However, Hanoverian regiments with black facings invariably had waistcoats and coat-linings of some other colour and in this case the waistcoats were white, as were the coat-linings.

Above:  The ‘Reden’ Infantry Regiment‘s white coat-linings are visible here in the form of tail-turnbacks.  Note that this regiment had three lace buttonholes on each tail-pocket. 

As with the waistcoats and linings, regiments with black facings never had a matching Regimental Colour and in the case of the ‘Reden’ Regiment, the Regimental Colour was red.  The central device was an elaborate painted scene, showing an armoured knight standing on green grass, under a blue sky, in front of a fortress tower, from which a volley of flaming shells is being fired.

Above:  A Grenadier of the ‘Reden’ Infantry Regiment.

Above:  The ‘Hardenberg’ Infantry Regiment.  This regiment kept the same inhaber and title throughout the Seven Years War, namely Christian Ludewig von Hardenberg.  It was designated 6-A in the post-war numbering system.  As mentioned above, this regiment became tangled up with Lord Spörcken’s column during the approach-march to Minden and ended up fighting alongside the British infantry and the Foot Guards during their legendary engagement, capturing several French cavalry standards.

Above:  The ‘Hardenberg’ Infantry Regiment had orange facings and waistcoats with white lace and metal and red-over-orange pompoms.  The orange shade is described as ‘light orange, almost buff’.

Above:  The ‘Hardenberg’ Infantry Regiment had two lace buttonholes on each tail-pocket.  The Regimental Colour was orange and featured a lion, holding a curved ‘Falchion’ sword in its paw, standing on piled trophies of war, with a blue scroll above and a flower in each corner.

Above:  A Grenadier of the ‘Hardenberg’ Infantry Regiment.  This regiment’s mitre caps had a lot of white metal decoration on the front; the ‘flap’ was all metal and embossed with the running horse, while the main part of the front-piece featured the Royal Arms in metal.

Models & Flags

The figures above are all 18mm British infantry figures by Eureka Miniatures.  The flags are by Maverick Models.