Jemima Fawr's Miniature Wargames Blog

This is the last part of my series on my 15mm Army of the Duchy of Warsaw.  In Part 1 I covered the infantry, in Part 2 I looked at Prince Poniatowski and some of his generals and in Part 3 I covered the artillery.  This time I’m looking at Poland’s powerful and spectacular cavalry arm.

As with the infantry in Part 1, I’m not going to go into great detail covering all the cavalry regiments of the army, but will simply look at the regiments I’ve painted, namely the 1st Chasseurs à Cheval, the 3rd Uhlans, 6th Uhlans, 7th Uhlans and 14th Cuirassiers.  If you want to go into great detail and/or look at the other regiments, get the superb ebook on the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw 1807-1814 by W J Rawkins from the author himself at The History Book Man.

[Edited 24 Feb 21: Sadly I’ve just heard on the grapevine that Mr Rawkins passed away in December 2020 and the website is no more, so I’ve removed the link. 🙁 ]

All the models here are 15mm AB Figures, painted by me.  The flags are by Fighting 15s (except for that of the 6th Uhlans, which I painted myself, back in the mists of time before printed flags were widely available). 

As previously discussed, my Napoleonic armies are organised for Napoleon’s Battles rules, where the smallest tactical unit is a brigade and the figure ratio is roughly 1:100.  Each ‘regiment’ here will therefore represent a brigade of two or three regiments on the table.  So with a small army such as that of the Duchy of Warsaw, I don’t actually need any more.  however, I may well paint some Duchy of Warsaw Hussars if Tony B ever does the figures… 

Speaking of which… The sainted Mr Barton for some reason has never got around to producing elite company figures for the Polish cavalry, nor indeed Eaglebearers.  I’ve done some Eaglebearer conversions which are shown below, but I’ve still not done any head-swaps for the elite troopers (I live in eternal hope that Tony might one day finish this range off).

IV Reserve Cavalry Corps 1813

As previously mentioned, I’m mainly building this army for the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, so need three cavalry brigades for Kellermann’s IV Reserve Cavalry Corps, one brigade for Dabrowski’s detached 27th Division and a weak cavalry brigade for Uminski’s Brigade of Poniatowski’s VIII Corps.  This equates to roughly the number of Polish cavalry at the Battle of Borodino in 1812.  There were other Polish cavalry units knocking around, but this is as many as were ever assembled for a single battle, so is really as much as I could possibly need… Yeah, like that’s ever stopped me…

A word on nomenclature: The Duchy of Warsaw didn’t group its cavalry regiments by type like the French and instead used a single numerical sequence for all regiments, much like the line cavalry numbering sequence of the British Army.  The 1st, 4th and 5th Regiments were Chasseurs à Cheval, the 10th & 13th Regiments were Hussars, the 14th Regiment was Cuirassiers and the 2nd, 3rd, 6th to 9th, 11th, 12th and 15th to 21st Regiments were Uhlans.

All cavalry regiments were initially organised along French lines with three squadrons (plus a depot squadron), each of two companies.  The 1st company of the 1st squadron in each regiment was designated as the elite company.  An additional squadron was added to each regiment in 1810.  The exception to this was the 14th Cuirassiers, which had only two squadrons throughout.

1st Chasseurs à Cheval (Strzelcy Konni)

Colonel & elite company, 1st Chasseurs

When first raised in 1807 the three regiments of Chasseurs wore a dark green ‘Spencer’ style coat with square lapels, fully coloured with the regimental facing colour (which in the case of the 1st Chasseurs was scarlet).  However, in 1808 the style of coat was changed to a dark green single-breasted habit-kinski with collar, pointed cuffs, front-seam piping and lace edging to the tail-turnbacks and pockets coloured in the regimental facing colour. 

Fringed epaulettes replaced the shoulder-straps worn on the old-style coat.  According to the source I used when I painted these, the epaulettes were plain white, though Rawkins states that they had facing-coloured crescents, while the top of the epaulette was covered in brass scales and was edged in the facing colour.  The elite company (i.e. 1st company of the 1st squadron) had scarlet epaulette-fringes.  Buttons were brass and and officers’ epaulettes and buttons were gold.

Breeches were dark green with a wide facing-coloured stripe at the side and worn with hussar-style boots, edged in facing-coloured lace and tassels.  On campaign green overalls were worn, again with a stripe or double-stripe in the facing colour.  Grey overalls were also used.

Headgear was a black shako, which in full dress had white cords and a green-over-red plume, over a green pompom… The observant will notice that I’ve painted black pompoms… That’s because I painted these before getting a copy of W J Rawkins’ excellent book and was instead referring to an internet source… sigh… The shako initially had an eagle-plate very much like the Uhlans, though this soon changed to a white rosette held in place with a white strap and brass button, as shown here.  A white cockade was fixed above the eagle/rosette.  The elite company had a black fur colpack with red cords, bag and plume (recorded as a hanging horsehair plume for the 1st Chasseurs).  Officers had gold cords and plumes or pompoms in either company colours or white.  By 1811 all officers wore fur colpacks and not just those of the elite company.  As mentioned above, AB still haven’t produced any elite company troopers, so I’ll add a fourth base to the unit when they do.  

Horse furniture was a dark green shabraque and round valise, edged in scarlet lace.  Officers’ shabraques were edged with a double row of gold lace.  Saddle-covers were white sheepskins, edged in scarlet dog-toothed cloth and as with the French, the sheepskin saddle-cover was often used on its own, with the shabraque saved for parade order.  Some sources show black sheepskins for officers, or none at all, just the shabraque.

Equipment consisted of a white cross-belt, supporting a black leather cartouche decorated with the regimental number in brass or a brass grenade badge for the elite company.  The sabre was carried in a steel scabbard and suspended from a white waist-belt.  Officers had black belts edged with gold and usually had black leather scabbards with gilded fittings.  Sword knots were white, with the elite company having scarlet and officers gold.

Trumpeters of the 1st Chasseurs wore a white habit-kinski with brass buttons and scarlet facings as for the rest of the regiment.  Epaulettes were the same as the rest of the regiment, with the addition of a mixed green & yellow aiguillette in full dress.  White colpacks were worn by the trumpeters of all companies.  These were decorated with a scarlet bag and cords, with scarlet-over-green plume or a scarlet pompom.   Breeches were initially green with scarlet stripes, though may have later changed to scarlet breeches with gold stripes and Hungarian knots.  Overalls were dark green with a double scarlet stripe.  Had I waited for the Rawkins book to arrive, I would have discovered that the trumpeters of the 1st Chasseurs typically had the same shabraques as the rest of the regiment, with black sheepskins (possibly having white shabraques edged red at some point).  However, I followed an internet source which suggested reversed colours of scarlet with a green edge… sigh…

As with their French figures, AB Figures don’t produce any Polish light cavalry standard-bearers, due to a general order from Napoleon, banning light cavalry regiments from carrying their standards on campaign.  However, Polish standards do look pretty spiffing and emphasise their ‘Polishness’, without which these chaps could easily be mistaken for French, Italian or even flippin’ Neapolitan Chasseurs!  So I made my own Chasseur Eaglebearer from a spare trumpeter figure, utilising a Polish Eagle taken from an old Battle Honours figure (also sculpted by Tony Barton back in the day). 

The photo above shows an unmodified trumpeter on the left and the donor Eaglebearer sans Eagle on the right, with the finished Eaglebearer in the centre.  I carefully cut away the trumpet and filed down the trumpet cord over the shoulder (I did some more filing after this photo, as it was still obvious) and then opened his hand to take the brass rod pole.  I then (badly) drilled the eagle and stuck the pole up its arse.  You can see the painted, finished Eaglebearer in the photos above.

3rd Uhlans (Ulani)

The standard dress of all Polish Uhlan regiments was a dark blue kurtka coat with dark blue, tight-fitting trousers, with facings and other details varying by regiment.  In the case of the 3rd Uhlans, the collar, lapels, tail-turnbacks and pointed cuffs were crimson, piped white.  the pockets and seams at the rear of the kurtka were also piped white, as were the rear sleeve-seams.  Buttons were brass.  Trousers normally had a double stripe in the piping colour, though the 3rd are recorded as having yellow trouser-stripes.

Shoulder-straps were dark blue, piped crimson, though the elite company wore scarlet fringed epaulettes.  Other regiments had brass scales on their epaulettes, though the 3rd are recorded as having plain red.  The other companies in the regiment at some point replaced their shoulder-straps with white fringed epaulettes.  Chelminski shows these as having brass scales and crimson crescents, but given that the elite company’s epaulettes are recorded as not having scales, I’ve stuck with plain white.  Officers had gold epaulettes.

The czapka was made of black leather with a blue cloth-covered ‘box’ and brass fittings.  The black lower part was separated from the blue upper box by a band of white lace.  The box was originally edged with white piping, plus a white ‘X’ across the square top, but this had changed by 1809 to black piping.  I actually painted the czapka top in a very slightly lighter shade of blue to make the black piping stand out.  The front of the czapka was decorated with a white metal eagle, standing on a brass crescent, on which was enameled the number ‘3’ in black.  A white cockade was worn on the front-left face of the box and was fixed in place with a brass button and white or brass cross.  Above the cockade was a black pompom or full-dress plume.  Full-dress cords were white. 

Officers had gold lace and piping on the ‘box’, silver cords and a gold cross on the cockade.  Plumes and pompoms were black for junior officer ranks and white for senior ranks.  After 1811 all officers’ pompoms were gold.

Uhlan elite company headgear varied quite widely from regiment to regiment, though that for the 3rd Uhlans is well-recorded, being a bell-topped shako, covered with black fur and fitted with a red ‘bag’ to make it resemble a colpack.  The front was decorated with the same eagle-and-crescent badge as the other companies, with a white cockade and scarlet pompom above.  In full dress the cap would be decorated with scarlet cords and a scarlet hanging horsehair plume.  However, as discussed above, AB Figures haven’t yet done any elite company troopers, so I live in eternal hope… 🙁 

Horse furniture consisted of a blue full-dress shabraque and round valise, edged crimson (gold for officers) and a white sheepskin saddle-cover, edged with crimson dog-toothed cloth.  As with the Chasseurs, it was often only the sheepskin that was worn on campaign.  

Equipment consisted of white leather belts, including a waist-belt for the sabre that was worn over the kurtka and secured with a large brass buckle.  Scabbards were steel.  Pistols were often carried instead of carbines, attached to the carbine-belt by the trigger-guard, as carbines tended to get in the way when fighting with the lance. 

Lances were officially natural wood, though the 3rd are recorded on one occasion as carrying lances painted with white and crimson spirals, barber-pole style!  I can only imagine that this was a special paint-job for a parade or honour guard for a special occasion and in any case, that would be a terminal ballache to paint, so I’ve painted mine dark brown!  Lances were wound around at the mid-point with a whitened leather thong, which formed a hand-grip and wrist-strap.  Two patterns of lance-pennants are recorded for the 3rd Uhlans: scarlet-over-white and dark blue-over-scarlet with a white ‘wedge’.  I’ve opted for the latter option, as I’d already used scarlet-over-white for the 6th Uhlans.

The elite company trumpeters are recorded as having white kurtkas with crimson facings and piping, with white fringed epaulettes.  Trousers are recorded as either dark blue with crimson stripes or the reverse, crimson with dark blue stripes (I opted for the latter).  Headgear for the elite company was a ‘proper’ colpack of white fur with crimson bag and white cords and plume.  Headgear for the other companies isn’t recorded, so I’ve opted for the most common pattern for trumpeters, which was a white-topped czapka, with scarlet lace and piping and a scarlet pompom.

Again, I converted some Uhlan Eaglebearers (and a Cuirassier Eaglebearer) from other figures and some donated Polish Eagles.  Fighting 15s don’t produce a 3rd Uhlans standard, but they do include some generic Polish standards without regimental numbers, so I used one of those and added a yellow Roman numeral III in the bottom corner of the fly, as that was a common way of indicating the regimental number.  I did the same for the 7th (VII) Uhlans and the 14th (XIV) Cuirassiers. 

6th Uhlans

I painted these waaaay back in the mists of time in the early 90s, when AB Figures had only just begun and they were still years off producing a range of Duchy of Warsaw figures!  They did however do these fellas – Vistula Legion Lancers.  They had originally been modelled as part of the Battle Honours range, but when Battle Honours went catastrophically tits-up, Tony B managed to hang on to these master figures as part of the new company’s range.

The uniform is basically the same as the 3rd Uhlans mentioned above, except that these are in campaign dress, so they’ve covered their czapkas with linen covers (black waxed covers were also common), have removed their pompoms and epaulettes and have reversed their lapels to reveal the dark blue reverse side (the lapels were completely detachable and could be reversed like this to protect the coloured facings).

Regimental distinctions for the 6th Uhlans were a white collar piped crimson, crimson lapels and cuffs piped white, dark blue turnbacks piped crimson and crimson piping on the rear of the kurtka.  Trouser stripes were crimson, as was the shabraque-edging.  Elite company headgear is not certain, though was probably a Chasseur-style fur colpack.  A trumpeter of the 6th Uhlans is described as having a white kurtka with light blue facings and no piping (I clearly didn’t know this when I painted mine!).  One other mistake I made is that the piping around the reversed lapels should probably be white, not crimson.

Lance-pennants are recorded as either scarlet-over-white or as scarlet-over-blue-over-white.  All other details were as for the 3rd Uhlans.  The officer is wearing a crimson Morocco-leather cover over his cross-belt in order to save the expensive gold trimmings from the elements.  This was a very common item among cavalry officers of the Napoleonic Empire. 

Also note that back in those days printed flags were a lot less available than they are now and the internet didn’t exist, so we had to paint our own flags… And then lick road clean wi’t’tongue before father would cut us in two wi’t’breadknife and dance about on our graves singing ‘Hallelujah’…

7th Uhlans

Senior Officer of the 7th Uhlans with an ADC

I must confess here that the 7th Uhlans didn’t take to the field in 1813, as the shattered remnants spent the campaign locked up as part of a fortress garrison.  However, they fought in 1812 and I do like the colour scheme, so what the heck…

Once again the 7th Uhlans wore the standard pattern of Uhlan uniform described above, with the following regimental distinctions:

Collar, cuffs, lapels and turnbacks were yellow piped scarlet.  The trousers should have been striped in the regimental piping colour (scarlet), but they are recorded as having atypical yellow trouser-stripes, like the 2nd and 3rd Uhlans.  Some sources describe the epaulettes as being yellow, though I’ve stuck with the standard white.  

Shabraques were edged yellow, as were the sheepskin saddle-covers.  Officers are shown as having black sheepskins.

There are no specifics recorded for the uniform of the elite company.  Lance-pennants are recorded as being either scarlet-over-blue-over-white, or as yellow-over-blue-over-scarlet.  I’ve opted for the latter version, as it fits with the yellow theme.

Trumpeters are described as wearing a white kurtka with yellow collar and cuffs piped scarlet, scarlet lapels and turnbacks without piping and all other piping scarlet.  Epaulettes were scarlet with yellow crescents and brass scales.  The czapka had a white ‘box’ with scarlet lace, piping and cords and a scarlet plume or pompom.  Overalls were dark blue with a double yellow stripe.  Saddle-covers were made of black sheepskin with a yellow cloth edge.  Trumpet cords were mixed scarlet and white or mixed scarlet and yellow.

14th Cuirassiers (Kirasjersky)

Officer, 14th Cuirassiers

The magnificent Polish 14th Cuirassiers were something of a pet project for Poniatowski, who had long desired such a regiment as part of the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw.  However, Cuirassiers were a very expensive class of cavalry and only two squadrons were formed.  Napoleon was not impressed, as he would ultimately have to pay for them.  He ordered Poniatowski to convert them at once to a light cavalry regiment. 

As fortune would have it, it was 1812 and the build-up for Napoleon’s invasion of Russia was rapidly gathering pace.  Poniatowski procrastinated long enough for the 14th Cuirassiers to be included in the order of battle of the Grande Armée.  They were brigaded with the Saxon Garde du Korps Regiment and Zastrow Cuirassier Regiment, under the command of General Johann Thielmann (part of Lorge’s 7th Cuirassier Division of the IV Cavalry Corps).  This superb brigade, possibly the best heavy cavalry brigade in Napoleon’s army, won eternal fame during the Battle of Borodino when it stormed the Great Redoubt on horseback; a feat arguably unmatched in all the wars of the age.  

However, the regiment had suffered grievous losses at Borodino and worse was to come during the long retreat back to Poland.  Nevertheless, the survivors, amounting to 20 officers and 77 men, finally made it back to Warsaw and joined with their depot squadron and new recruits to rebuild the regiment.  However, as Poniatowski rebuilt his army during the first half of 1813 it was clear that the regiment could not reform as Cuirassiers.  It kept the title, though lost the iconic steel cuirass and was now classed as a regiment of light horse, being brigaded under General Uminski alongside the newly-raised regiment of Krakusi.  Uminski’s Brigade would form the cavalry element of Poniatowski’s VIII Corps for the coming campaign. 

Krakus Cavalry 1813

At the commencement of operations in August 1813 the brigade totaled around 1,000 men, of whom only 240 or so belonged to the 14th Cuirassiers, the remainder being Krakusi.  The intense scouting, flanking and rearguard actions fought by the corps south of Leipzig rapidly whittled down the strength of the brigade and by the time of the start of the Battle of Leipzig the brigade had lost around a third of its strength.  By the end of the battle, the regiment had ‘covered itself in glory’, but had virtually ceased to exist.  When disbanded on 29th December 1813 there were only 3 officers and 36 men left with the standard. 

In modelling and gaming terms, I could never field a full ‘brigade’ of Polish Cuirassiers, as there were never more than around 300 of them.  In 1812 their brigade mostly consisted of Saxon heavy cavalry, so they would definitely be more representative of that brigade (and I’ve already painted the Saxons!).  In 1813, their brigade was only one-quarter to one-third Cuirassiers and the rest Krakusi, so the Krakusi would be more representative.  However, AB Figures don’t make Krakusi… There are Krakusi available from other manufacturers and Sho Boki‘s Krakusi are rather nice… But they’re not AB…  However, AB don’t make a Cuirassier figure without cuirass, which is what you’d need for the 14th Cuirassiers in 1813, so I’ve simply painted them as the 1812 regiment, even though I’ll be using them for 1813… But that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make, as I love Cuirassiers and I have no shame… 🙂 

AB’s new(ish) range of Late Cuirassiers are perfect for the 14th Cuirassiers, as they’re wearing the shorter-tailed coat.  However, they don’t do a late Cuirassier standard-bearer, so I’ve used an Early Cuirassier figure for that job (again modified with a Polish Eagle).

The uniform was VERY similar to that of the French Cuirassiers; namely a dark blue, single-breasted habit-kinski with scarlet collar (piped blue), scarlet tail-turnbacks and scarlet piping on the tail-pockets.  Cuffs were also scarlet (piped white) with a blue cuff-flap piped scarlet, though these last details were normally hidden by white gauntlets. 

The back-and-breast cuirass was of French pattern and was polished steel, with brass rivets and brass-scaled straps.  This was lined with scarlet cloth, which showed at the neck, waist and arm-holes and was piped white at the edge.  The helmet was again of French style, being polished steel with a black leather peak, black bearskin turban, brass crest and chin-scales, black horsehair mane, black houpette crest and in full-dress, a scarlet plume worn at the left side. 

Breeches were white buckskin, though grey cloth breeches were worn on campaign.  these were worn with tall black leather ‘cuffed’ heavy cavalry boots.  Belts were white leather and scabbards were steel.  Sheepskin saddle-covers were white, edged with scarlet dog-toothing.  Cloaks were white with scarlet lining.  In common with French practice, these would be stowed on top of the valise with the scarlet lining showing outward.

Thus far they looked just like French Cuirassiers, though there were some significant differences.  To start, the ‘metal’ colour of Polish Cuirassiers was yellow, whereas the French had white metal.  Thus the Poles had brass buttons and gold officers’ epaulettes, as well as yellow edging and grenade badges on their blue square shabraques and the number ’14’ in yellow, within a box of yellow lace on the ends of the square valises.  They also had brass scaling on the straps of their epaulettes.  Most unusually, officers had shabraques and holster-covers of a completely different colour; namely crimson, edged with gold.  As discussed above, they lost the cuirasses in 1813, though kept the other uniform details, including the helmets.

Officer, 14th Cuirassiers

Trumpeters initially wore a white habit-kinski with scarlet collar, turnbacks and cuffs, with white cuff-flaps.  The breast of the coat was decorated with five double strips of mixed scarlet & yellow lace, while the epaulettes were scarlet with yellow crescents and mixed scarlet & yellow fringes.  Trumpets had mixed scarlet and yellow cords.  The helmet was of the usual pattern, though with a scarlet mane, houpette and full-dress plume.  The shabraque and valise were scarlet with yellow decoration and the sheepskin saddle-cover was black with a scarlet edge. 

When the regiment was reformed in 1813 the trumpeters wore a plain scarlet habit-kinski with collar, cuffs and turnbacks in dark blue, with white epaulettes.  The helmet now had a white mane, houpette and crest.  There is a trumpeter pictured in this new uniform next to Poniatowski in the painting at the top of this article.

Right, that’s it!  My next post will be an American Civil War after-action report for a solo game I played recently of ‘Sickles’ Salient’ during the Battle of Gettysburg.  I never knew that playing with myself could be so much fun…

Duchy of Warsaw Horse Artillery at the Battle of Raszyn 1809

In Part 1 of this series I looked at some infantry regiments of the Duchy of Warsaw and in Part 2 I looked at Prince Poniatowski and his generals.  This time I’m going to look at the artillery.  All models are 15mm AB Figures, painted by me.

Foot Artillery

Foot Artillery 1809-1811

Polish Foot Artillery initially wore a dark green kurtka coat, of the same pattern as the infantry.  This had collar, half-lapels, cuffs and turnbacks in black, all piped scarlet, with additional scarlet piping down the lower breast and on the tail-vents and pockets.  Buttons were brass and scarlet fringed epaulettes were worn.  This was changed in 1811 to a French-style habit-veste in the same colours.  This had a cutaway at the lower breast, revealing a dark green waistcoat.

Breeches were white and worn with black or white gaiters.  However, white coverall trousers were worn on campaign, or heavier dark green trousers in winter.

Headgear was initially a black czapka of the infantry pattern (basically a square-topped felt shako), decorated in the same manner with a brass band above the peak surmounted with a metal eagle above and a white cockade.  Above the cockade was a scarlet pompom.  Scarlet cords and a scarlet plume were added in full dress.  In late 1809 the czapka was changed for a French-style black shako, with all badging and decoration remaining the same, though the pompom was now carrot-shaped.

Equipment consisted of two white cross-belts, supporting a sabre-briquet and a black cartouche decorated with a brass grenade badge.

Curiously the AB Figures Polish Foot Artillery are dressed in the early kurtka with the later shako.  Going by the dress regulations, this pins them to the period of relative peace after the end of the 1809 war with Austria, but before the start of the 1812 war with Russia…  Ah well, they look great… If you want to, you could use French Foot Artillery figures for 1812-1813 period.

Horse Artillery

Horse Artillery 1810-1813

Polish Horse Artillery were initially dressed  similarly to the Foot Artillery, in a dark green kurtka with black facings and scarlet piping and scarlet epaulettes.  However, the cut of the kurtka was of uhlan style with full lapels going all the way down to the waist and pointed cuffs, without flap and buttons.  The collar was decorated on each side with a scarlet grenade badge.  The scarlet epaulettes had brass scales along the strap.

In 1810 this coat was changed to a habit-kinski of the same style as the Chasseurs à Cheval, which had a different tail-turnback arrangement and instead of lapels had a single row of buttons and scarlet piping.  All other details were the same as before.

Breeches were dark green with a wide black stripe down the seam, piped with scarlet.  These were worn with hussar-style boots with scarlet lade edge and tassels.  On campaign dark green overalls were worn, again with a black stripe edged in scarlet piping and reinforced with black leather.

Headgear was initially a black uhlan-style czapka with white piping and cockade, scarlet cords, scarlet pompom, scarlet full-dress plume and badges very similar to those of the Foot Artillery.  This was changed in 1810 to a black fur colpack with green bag piped scarlet, scarlet cords, white cockade and scarlet pompom, topped off with a scarlet plume in full dress.

Equipment consisted of a brass-hilted sabre with steel scabbard, suspended from a white leather waist-belt secured with a large brass buckle.  The black leather cartouche was decorated with a brass grenade badge and was held by a white cross-belt worn over the left shoulder.

Guns

The artillery arm of the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw was initially equipped with captured Prussian guns, but soon began to receive French Year XI Pattern guns.  Following the 1809 war, they were also then equipped with a large number of Austrian guns.  Carriages were initially left in their original colours (light blue for Prussian and yellow-ochre for Austrian guns), but all were eventually repainted to French ‘Artillery Green’ and some captured guns were remounted on French gun-carriages.

If you’re interested, the recipe for French Artillery Green was 99 parts yellow ochre to 1 part lamp black, which also happens to be the same recipe as WW2 US Olive Drab.  So you can’t go wrong painting your gun-carriages the same as your Shermans…  In Humbrol Enamel terms that’s 155 US Olive Drab, but as a personal choice I like my French guns looking a touch greener, so use Humbrol 159 Khaki Drab, which is the colour I use for WW2 British vehicles.  Gun barrels were generally polished brass, though some captured Austrian guns might have been painted black.  Metalwork on the carriages was painted black.

That’s all for now.  In the fourth and final part I’ll look at some cavalry regiments.

A Note Regarding Bases

Someone was asking recently how I do bases.  There’s no great science to it and I don’t buy pre-made PDF or metal bases.  I simply use Daler-Rowney artists’ mounting board, which is cheap, is about 1.5mm thick and comes in a variety of sizes, but which I buy from my local art supplies shop in large A1-sized (roughly 2′ x 3′) sheets.  It’s coloured on one side and white on the other and can be easily cut with scissors.  It has the advantage of being far less prone to warping than ordinary cardboard when painted and then dried.

Having cut base to size, I stick a piece of magnetic vinyl on the underside that’s about 2mm smaller than the base, so that it doesn’t protrude from underneath the base on any side due to my usual inaccuracies in cutting.  The magnetic vinyl stops the troops from sliding around and damaging themselves in the steel tool-boxes I use for storage.  My dear departed signwriter mother used to use this for making removable vehicle signs and I would then get the off-cuts.  My stocks lasted for nine years after her death, but finally ran out last year.  There are companies selling magnetic vinyl directly to wargamers, but I bought a load from a company called First4Magnets, which works out quite a lot cheaper than dealing with a hobby middle-man.  I’ve also bought magnets for tank turrets and aircraft from them – all excellent and a hell of a lot cheaper than those sold by wargame companies.

I then stick the painted figures to the base using UHU contact adhesive, which takes about two hours to dry before applying the base-texture.  I then paint the base with slightly-watered PVA glue and dip into fine, DRIED sand (I used to use fine dune-sand off the beach, but now use supermarket play-sand, which was very cheap and one sack provides enough sand to last me decades.  The PVA and sand takes about two hours to dry at normal room temperature, but I usually stick them in a long biscuit tin and sit them on top of the radiator, which usually dries them in less than half an hour.  Then I paint the bases in Humbrol 29 Dark Earth and after drying, dry-brush in Humbrol 94 Brown-Yellow.  Once the paint is totally dry I paint irregular patches of well-thinned PVA and then dip into Woodland Scenics Blended Turf flock, which in the I buy from Hattons.  Done. 🙂

Napoleon and Prince Poniatowski at Leipzig 1813

In Part 1 I looked at some infantry regiments I’d painted for the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw, circa 1812-1813.  This time it’s the turn of the generals.  These are all AB Figures 15mm models, painted by me.

All my Napoleonic armies are organised and based for Napoleon’s Battles rules, which is a ‘grand-tactical’ game, where the smallest tactical unit is the brigade.  Divisional commanders are single figures based on a 25mm square and corps commanders are groups of figures based on a 40mm square.  I’ll sometimes use general of brigade or an infantry or cavalry Colonel in lieu of a general of division, just for a change of scenery.

As mentioned previously, my Duchy of Warsaw army is mainly geared for the latter part of the Duchy’s brief existence, namely the campaigns of 1812 and 1813.  In the case of the infantry there were some fairly major uniform changes between 1810 and 1813.  However, the uniforms of general officers did not change significantly, so these chaps are good for the entire period from 1807 to 1813.

Prince Józef Poniatowski

Prince Poniatowski

No person embodies the tragedy and heroic struggle of Poland’s fight for existence than the dashing but ultimately tragic figure of Prince Józef Poniatowski, the ‘Marshal of Three Days’.  Born into royalty in 1763 as nephew to King Stanislaw II Augustus of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (with whom he became a close and lifelong friend), he chose a military career and was initially commissioned into the Austrian Army in 1780.  Quickly reaching the rank of Colonel, he became aide-de-camp to Emperor Josef II during the Austro-Turkish War of 1788.  During this campaign, Poniatowski saved the life of the young Prince Karl Philipp von Schwarzenberg, who would become a lifelong friend and sometime ally, though frequent battlefield foe to Poniatowski.

Poniatowski

Poniatowski returned to Poland in 1789, receiving the rank of Major General and a military command in Ukraine.  By 1791 he had reached the rank of Lieutenant General and was commander of all military forces in Ukraine.  An enthusiastic supporter of political reform, he used the threat of military force to bring the Great Sejm to a conclusion, bringing about the 3 May 1791 Constitution, which (briefly) converted Poland to a British-style democratic constitutional monarchy. 

However, Catherine the Great’s Russia was never going to tolerate a resurgent, strong, democratic and stable Poland on its border and in May 1792 invaded.  Poniatowski’s army, outnumbered 4-to-1, mounted a bitter fighting retreat, inflicting a number of defeats on the Russian Army, most notably at Zielence, but were ultimately unable to stop the Russians from reaching Warsaw.  The Polish Army was more than willing to fight a last great battle at Wasrsaw, but the King was persuaded to sue for peace and ordered the army to stand down.  Poniatowski briefly considered mounting a coup to capture the king and force a continuation of the war, but then changed his mind at the last moment.  In 1793 the Sejm of Grodno, dominated by the pro-Russian Targowica Confederation party and corrupted by Russian bribes and entryism, cancelled the Constitution and brought about the Second Partition of Poland. 

Prince Poniatowski

Disgusted, Poniatowski and other Polish generals resigned their commissions and Poniatowski was forced into exile.  However, in 1794 Poland rose up against the Russians, led by General Kosciusko in what would become known as the Kosciusko Uprising.  General Jan Henryk Dabrowski, who had remained in the Army following the Sejm of Grodno, backed the insurrection, bringing a considerable regular cavalry force with him and frustrating Prussian efforts to join the Russians in crushing the insurgents.  Poniatowski returned to Poland to join the insurrection and again achieved success on the battlefield, though it was all for nothing and the uprising was bloodily crushed by Russian and Prussian armies.  Kosciuszko was captured and taken to St Petersburg and Poland was then partitioned for a third and final time and ceased to exist as an independent country. 

Poniatowski

Poniatowski was forced once again into exile, this time having his estates confiscated (they were later restored to him by Tsar Paul, though Poniatowski refused offers of a Russian military commission).  He went into something of a funk during these years, touring the palaces and salons of Vienna and Berlin, becoming a socialite and friend to Prussian, Austrian and exiled French royalty.  General Dabrowski meanwhile, initially tried unsuccessfully to win support from Prussia for the resurrection of Poland as an ally-state against Austria and Russia.  He then approached Revolutionary France with rather more success and in 1797 formed the first Polish Legions, who would go on to fight in France’s wars from the Carribbean to Moscow in the vain hope that France would back the recreation of Poland as an independent state.   

Dabrowski

In 1806 war broke out between Prussia and Napoleonic France, with the Prussian Army being swiftly defeated by Napoleon at the twin battles of Jena and Auerstädt.  Faced with complete collapse, King Frederick-William III of Prussia asked Poniatowski in early November 1806 to become governor of Warsaw, in the hope that a popular and well-known name might hold Prussia’s Polish possessions together.  Poniatowski accepted this post, seeing it as a possible route to a recreated Poland.  However, Dabrowski had been recalled by Napoleon from Italy, to lead a ‘Greater Poland Uprising’ against Prussian and Russian rule.  Dabrowski entered Poznan on 3rd November 1806 and declared the new uprising, which was enthusiastically supported by the Polish people, ironically just as Poniatowski was being installed as the Prussian Governor of Warsaw! 

Dabrowski

This conflict of interest between Poniatowski and Dabrowski could easily have caused major problems or even civil war, but Poniatowski was a very canny political operator and welcomed the French Marshal Murat when his cavalry arrived at Warsaw in December.  Poniatowski and Murat immediately warmed to each other (as is becoming clear, Poniatowski’s charm never failed to win him powerful friends) and Murat declared Poniatowski to be the military commander of all Polish forces, much to Dabrowski’s chagrin and indeed that of many Polish veterans, who compared Dabrowski’s record of leading the Polish Legions to that of Poniatowski, who spent that time touring the salons of the European elite.  That view was only reinforced when it was Dabrowski, not Poniatowski who led a Polish division alongside Napoleon’s army at the Battle of Friedland in 1807.  

Poniatowski

With Russian capitulation to Napoleon at the Treaty of Tilsit on 7 July 1807, followed by the subsequent Franco-Prussian Treaty two days later, the Duchy of Warsaw was created from most of the lands lost during the Third Partition of Poland.  However, it was not allowed to become an independent kingdom and was instead subordinate to the Kingdom of Saxony, who had held kingship of Poland for some time during the 18th Century and who had a tenuous claim on Poland following the death of King Stanislas II Augustus.  As disappointing as this must have been for the Poles, they largely saw the creation of the Duchy as a stepping-stone toward future independence and grabbed it with both hands, providing Napoleon with one of his most willing and able allied states and armies.  Cynics might therefore suggest that Polish independence was the last thing that Napoleon wanted, just as long as he could keep the hope of independence alive…

Poniatowski

Poniatowski was made Minster of War and commander of the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw, though Napoleon still did not fully trust him and left Marshal Davout in overall military command of the Duchy until mid-1808, when Poniatowski was granted overall command.  In 1809 a new war erupted between Austria and the Napoleonic French Empire and Archduke Ferdinand‘s Austrian VII Korps was soon advancing on Warsaw.  Despite being outnumbered 2:1, Poniatowski’s Poles fought the Austrians to a standstill at the Battle of Raszyn.  Nevertheless, Poniatowski was forced to retire and took the controversial decision to abandon Warsaw, instead falling back behind the line of the Vistula.  The strategy worked and successive Austrian attempts to cross the Vistula were defeated by Poniatowski and General Michal Sokolnicki.  Seizing the initiative, Poniatowski mounted a counter-offensive, liberating Lvov, Lublin and Sandomierz.  The Austrians eventually managed to re-take Sandomierz, but were forced to withdraw from Warsaw.  With Austrian resistance collapsing, Poniatowski arrived at Krakow to find the Austrians attempting to surrender to Poniatowski’s Russian ‘allies’, who until now had been conspicuous by their absence from the campaign.  Ignoring a roadblock of Russian Hussars, Poniatowski rode alone into the city to seize it for the Duchy of Warsaw.  At the successful conclusion of the war, Poniatowski saw the Duchy of Warsaw’s territory expand to incorporate those parts of Galicia that had been occupied by Austria and the army expanded accordingly.

Poniatowski at the Battle of Raszyn 1809

In 1812 Poniatowski led the V (Polish) Corps as part of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.  Poniatowski and the Poles distinguished themselves at the Battles of Smolensk and Borodino, but by the end of that disastrous campaign, only a shattered remnant of the Corps returned to Poland and Poniatowski himself was wounded.

Kellermann

Recovering from his wounds, Poniatowski rapidly assembled a new Polish army at Warsaw and remained loyal to Napoleon, resisting entreaties to come over to the Russian side as the Prussians had already done.  On 5th February 1813 Poniatowski abandoned Warsaw to the Russians and marched his army to Krakow, where he would continue their training.  Dabrowski meanwhile was raising another Polish division in Germany from the survivors of various units and fortress garrisons.  Consequently, the Polish Army was absent from Napoleon’s resurgent Grande Armée which stalled the Russo-Prussian advance into Germany at the Battles of Lützen and Bautzen. 

Kellermann with a Polish ADC and escort from the Polish 1st Chasseurs à Cheval

With the Russians approaching once again, Poniatowski left Krakow on 7th May and marched his army through Bohemia to link up with the Grande Armée.  An armistice had by this time ended the present round of hostilities and the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw was reorganised to become the VIII Corps and IV Reserve Cavalry Corps.  Poniatowski commanded VIII Corps, while command of IV Reserve Cavalry Corps was given to the French General Kellermann, a superb cavalry leader and son of the French Marshal of the same name.  However, Dabrowski’s newly-numbered 27th Division, while officially part of VIII Corps, remained independent.  It’s been speculated that friction between Poniatowski and Dabrowski had finally spilled over into mutual loathing, hence the separation of their commands.  I can’t find anything to back up that theory, but there doesn’t seem to be any other good reason to keep Dabrowski separate, especially as VIII Corps was woefully understrength (consisting of a single infantry division of three brigades and a weak cavalry brigade). 

ADC to Poniatowski

With the recommencement of hostilities in August 1813, Dabrowski was operating on the northern flank near Berlin.  Poniatowski meanwhile, found himself under the command of his old friend Marshal Murat, on the southern flank in Upper Saxony, covering the passes through the Bohemian Mountains.  His other old friend, the Austrian Feldmarschall Schwarzenberg now commanded the Allied Army of Bohemia and Poniatowski’s task was to prevent the Grande Armée from being surprised by Schwarzenberg emerging from a mountain pass behind their right flank.  Even though Poniatowski theoretically only commanded VIII Corps, Kellermann and his cavalry frequently came under Poniatowski’s command as a combined Polish army-wing.  

Sokolnicki

Eventually, as the Grande Armée was pushed back by the converging Allied armies into a pocket around Leipzig, Schwarzenberg finally emerged from the mountains and Poniatowski’s Poles fought numerous small delaying and rearguard actions against Schwarzenberg’s advance-guard.  Murat’s wing formed a defence line south of the city, from Markleeberg in the west to Liebertwolkwitz in the east, with the Poles being responsible for the Markleeberg sector.  The Poles were only lightly engaged during the Battle of Liebertwolkwitz on 14th October 1813, but immediately following this action, General Kellermann was elevated to command a cavalry wing consisting of his IV Reserve Cavalry Corps and General Pajol’s V Reserve Cavalry Corps.  To replace Kellermann, the Polish general Michal Sokolnicki was elevated to command IV Reserve Cavalry Corps. 

Sokolnicki, with escorts from the 3rd Uhlans

A most significant promotion followed on 16th October (some sources say the 15th), as Napoleon awarded the Marshal’s Baton to Prince Poniatowski, who became the first and only non-French Marshal of the Empire.  However, there was no time for Poniatowski to enjoy his new status, as the titanic Battle of Leipzig erupted that same day.  The battle commenced with a general assault by Schwarzenberg’s Army of Bohemia against Murat’s command, around the villages of Liebertwolkwitz, Wachau, Markleeberg, Dölitz and Connewitz.  Poniatowski’s Poles, defending these last two villages, were assaulted by vastly superior numbers of Austrian troops and suffered horrific casualties as they doggedly held a number of river-crossings. 

Sokolnicki

The Poles lost over half their number in three days of bitter fighting as they slowly gave ground and fell back on Leipzig.  At last on 19th October, Napoleon ordered the army to withdraw through the city, crossing the Weiss-Elster river by means of a single bridge.  The battered but unbroken remnants of Poniatowski’s command formed part of the rearguard and resisted attack after attack while waiting patiently to cross to the west bank.  However, the unthinkable happened as a French engineer panicked and blew up the bridge while it was still packed with troops and while a considerable number, including the Poles, were still on the eastern shore!  As resistance completely collapsed in Leipzig, thousands of troops attempted to swim the river in an attempt to escape, among them Poniatowski.  However, being badly wounded and exhausted from days of constant combat, the Marshal of three days tragically drowned in the attempt.

Poniatoswki meets his end crossing the Weiss-Elster 19th October 1813

Duchy of Warsaw Generals’ Uniforms

Generals of Division

Polish general officers’ dress was very similar in style to that of their French comrades-in-arms, though with a Polish flavour.  As a general rule, their coats were dark blue, facings were crimson, metalwork was silver and horse-furniture was dark blue, edged silver.

There was a variety of coat-styles from the kurtka for cavalry generals’ full-dress, to lapelled and heavily-laced coatees, to simpler double-breasted coats and the very plain single-breasted surtout.  Collar, cuffs, turnbacks and lapels were typically crimson, though there were variations, as can be seen in the portraits above: the collar would typically always be crimson, though the other facings could be dark blue, sometimes piped in crimson.  Waistcoats were white.

A Cavalry General of Brigade

Collar, cuffs, lapels and tail-pockets were typically decorated with zig-zag silver lace indicating rank – a single row of lace for Generals of Brigade and a double row for Generals of Division.  Rank was also indicated by gold stars on the silver epaulettes – one star for Generals of Brigade and two stars for Generals of Division.  A silver aiguillette could also be worn in full-dress.

Breeches were crimson, with a silver stripe down the seam and Hungarian knots on the thighs.  Generals of Division had wider lace strips and larger knots.  For cavalry generals these could be replaced with uhlan-style crimson trousers, edged with two parallel silver stripes. 

Cavalry generals wore hussar-style boots with silver lace edge and tassels, while infantry generals wore tall boots.

A General of Division and a Cavalry General of either rank

Headgear was typically a black cocked hat.  This had a silver cockade and cockade-strap and would be edged in either a strip of black silk or scalloped silver lace.  It was crested in split ostrich-feathers, which were black for Generals of Brigade and white for Generals of Division.  Cavalry generals could alternatively wear a czapka with a dark blue top and silver decoration.  This would usually have a white egret-feather plume with a black base.

Sashes were mixed silver and crimson for both general officer ranks and were not coloured by rank like French generals.

Czartoryski, wearing a surtout

For my Duchy of Warsaw generals I’ve used AB Figures’ French generals, which fit the bill well enough, though if you want lapels on the coat, you’ll have to paint them on (as I’ve done with one figure).  I’ve also used one spare French Guard Lancer officer, which isn’t 100% correct in terms of uniform details due to the sunburst-plate on his czapka, but he looks the part from a distance.

AB Figures do a truly superb Poniatowski figure, in a set that also includes one of his ADCs.  As can be seen from the portraits above, Poniatowski wore a uniform based on the regulation style, but which was mainly a confection of his own devising, including a magnificent brown bearskin cloak, lined with crimson silk.  The details of Poniatowski’s dress vary from painting to painting and it’s possible that all were correct at some time or another!  When I painted my Poniatowski (about 20 years ago) the reference picture I was using showed a sky-blue shabraque, which is different to the ones shown here.  As can be seen from Dabrowski’s equestrian portrait, other Polish generals were also not averse to embellishing the dress regulations! 

Poniatowski’s ADCs wore a unique hussar-style uniform in crimson, sky-blue and silver, as shown above.  Other Polish ADCs wore a far plainer uniform, as modelled alongside Kellermann and shown in the background of the General of Brigade painting above.  This was a relatively plain uniform in Chasseur à Cheval style, consisting of a dark blue habit-kinski with sky-blue collar and crimson piping down the front and around cuffs and turnbacks.  Buttons and epaulettes were silver.  This was worn over a crimson waistcoat, decorated with silver hussar-lace.  Trousers were dark blue with crimson side-stripes and the shabraque was dark blue, edged crimson.  Belts were black, edged silver.  this was topped off with a black fur colpack with crimson bag and sky-blue pompom.  The AB Figures Polish Chasseur à Cheval officer figure is perfect for as an ADC.

Enough for now!  Polish artillery next time and then the cavalry. 🙂   Oh go on then, have some more generals…

Since this lockdown started I’ve been looking forward to the games I’m going to have once it’s all over and that has served as an impetus to my painting, as well something to keep my mind occupied and positive. Consequently, I’ve been attacking the North Face of the Lead Mountain like a man possessed (don’t tell Mrs Fawr, but I’ve got about 3,000 unpainted Napoleonics… and the rest…).

With luck (and if we’re spared) my first game is going to be the Battle of Liebertwolkwitz, which was fought on 14th October 1813, being a major cavalry clash and precursor to the titanic Battle of Leipzig (the southern portion of which was fought over the same ground two days later). I’ve played the scenario before, but not for a VERY long time and I do recall it as being a fun, ding-dong of a game. It’s also quite a cosmopolitan battle, with Russians, Prussians and Austrians all present on the Allied side and a large Polish contingent fighting on the French side, which all adds interest and tabletop ‘colour’.

I’ve already got enough ancient and battered models to play the scenario, but thought it would be nice to FINALLY re-base and re-flag my mate Jase’s old Russian army (which he left with me when he emigrated to New Zealand and which was still based for WRG rules, which we stopped playing in around 1991), add a load of new AB Figures units to my own Russian army, paint an Austrian corps in shakos and finally paint Poniatowski‘s Poles…

Let’s get one thing out of the way at the start; The Duchy of Warsaw was never a GRAND Duchy.  Nobody seems to know where or when this nomenclature started and it’s been refuted often enough, but the fictitious ‘Grand’ bit of the title is like a persistent weed that seems unwilling to die in wargames circles!  I’m glad I’ve got that off my chest…

Duchy of Warsaw uniforms are something of a bugger to research, with lots of contradictory sources.  I’ve gone with the information supplied in W J Rawkins’ latest booklet on the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw.  If you’ve never come across him before, he started out in the 1970s selling very useful photocopied booklets on every Napoleonic army under the sun (many of these were ripped off and sold by someone else for a long time).  He now sells them as ebooks or DVDs from his site The History Book Man and the advantage of doing them electronically is that he’s able to regularly update them as research develops.  Consequently, his new booklet on the Poles differs in details with the 1970s version I used to own.

[Edited 24 Feb 21: Sadly I’ve just heard on the grapevine that Mr Rawkins passed away in December 2020 and the website is no more, so I’ve removed the link. 🙁 ]

1st Infantry Regiment 1812-1813

Starting with the infantry, here’s the 1st Infantry Regiment.  I’ve dressed them in the regulation uniform stipulated for all Duchy of Warsaw infantry regiments from 1810.  They are recorded as wearing this uniform, though some sources also describe distinctly non-regulation sky-blue collar and cuffs and even yellow cuffs (these may all have been worn during successive years from 1810 to 1813).  Prior to 1810 the 1st to 4th Infantry Regiments had yellow lapels, scarlet collar and cuffs and brass buttons, though the 1810 regulation changed that to a uniform very similar to the French line infantry uniform, though cut in Polish kurtka style with half-lapels and using crimson as the cuff and piping colour instead of scarlet.

Here’s a close-up of the 1st Infantry, showing the post-1810 regulation uniform in detail: The half-lapels and turnbacks were white, while the collar and shoulder-straps were dark blue, all edged with crimson piping.  The crimson piping also extended down the front seam of the coat below the half-lapels.  Cuffs were crimson with white cuff-flaps and may or may not have been piped white.  Buttons were brass. 

Descriptions and depictions of drummers’ uniforms vary wildly from source to source, but I went with one described for the 1st Infantry, namely a white uniform (which were very common for Polish drummers and trumpeters), with scarlet lapels and shoulder-wings edged sky-blue, with sky-blue collar, cuffs and turnbacks edged scarlet and a scarlet shako, drimmed with yellow.

The infantry-pattern czapka headdress was essentially just a squared-off black felt shako, unlike the cavalry czapka, which was a heavier leather helmet topped with a cloth-covered square ‘box’.  All regiments had a brass band just above the brim, pierced with the regimental number.  This was then surmounted by a white metal eagle and a white cockade.  Centre company pompoms were sky-blue for most regiments and white cords were worn in full dress.

Elite company distinctions were very much like the French.  The Voltigeurs had green fringed epaulettes (some had yellow, scarlet or white crescents), yellow collars and yellow or green pompoms, topped off with a yellow and green plume and yellow or green cords in full dress.  The upper edge of the czapka was normally decorated with a band of yellow lace.

The Grenadiers wore scarlet fringed epaulettes (some had white crescents or even white epaulettes with scarlet crescents) and bearskins with brass plates and scarlet rear-patches, decorated with a white lace cross. White or scarlet cords and scarlet plumes were also added in full dress.

8th Infantry Regiment 1807-1812

Prior to the 1810 regulations, the 5th to 9th Infantry Regiments had crimson lapels, collar and cuffs with white piping and cuff-flaps, dark blue turnbacks and shoulder-straps with crimson piping and white metal buttons.  Chelminski recorded the 8th Infantry Regiment as retaining this uniform until at least as late as 1812, so I’ve dressed the 8th in this uniform by way of a change of scenery.

Some sources show the 8th Infantry as adopting the 1810 regulation uniform or a variant using rose-pink instead of crimson.  While that would certainly add a splash of colour, I wonder if the pink is a mis-translation of crimson from a faded picture or faded survivng uniform?

While I haven’t painted any of these regiments, the 9th to 12th Infantry Regiments originally wore uniforms with white facings with scarlet piping and brass buttons, though again, most adopted the 1810 regulation uniform or other oddities of their own making.

The 4th, 7th and 9th Infantry Regiments were detached to the French Army of Spain in 1808 and by 1809 supply issues meant that they were wearing uniforms of French/Confederation of the Rhine style; namely square-lapelled ‘Spencer’ coats (as worn by many German contingents) and cylindrical French-style shakos.  When these regiment returned to the Duchy of Warsaw in 1812 they continued wearing these French-style uniforms that were coloured roughly according to the pre-1810 regulations.  I haven’t done any yet, but I do intend to do the 4th Infantry Regiment, using AB Confederation of the Rhine figures and a transplanted Polish Eagle standard.  I’ll also do some Vistula Legion infantry using those same figures.

When a 13th Infantry Regiment was raised in 1809, it wore an esoteric uniform made from captured Austrian uniform cloth, being white with sky-blue facings.  I did want to paint this unit, but it doesn’t appear to have been reformed following the 1812 campaign and wasn’t therefore at Leipzig (the remnants ended up as a fortress garrison).  Nevertheless, I think I might have to paint the 13th one day, as it’s such a spectacular uniform.

15th Infantry Regiment 1810-1813

Here’s the 15th Infantry Regiment.  The 14th to 17th Infantry Regiments wore the 1810 regulation uniform, though once again some regimental variations crept in, such as some units allegedly replacing the crimson piping with scarlet.

One notable feature of the 14th to 17th Regiments is that their centre companies are recorded as having pompoms coloured by company as per French regulations: 1st – green, 2nd – sky-blue, 3rd – aurore (orange) and 4th lie-de-vin (violet).  Sky-blue pompoms with company-coloured tufts are also recorded.  Some of the 1st to 13th Regiments may also have used company-coloured pompoms.

In the 1st Edition of Mr Rawkins’ Army of the Duchy of Warsaw book, he stated that the tops of infantry czapkas were decorated with a box of lace tape around the edge and an ‘X’ of lace across the centre, very much like cavalry czapkas.  However, in the latest edition, he has revised this to ‘infantry regiments may have decorated the tops with piping or lace’.  However, give me an inch and I’ll take a mile… I like the look of the ‘X’ and it makes them stand out as being Poles not French, so I’ve painted it on all my infantry.

Anyway, that’s it for now.  Generals, artillery and cavalry to come.  All the figures here are 15mm AB Figures painted by me, with flags by Fighting 15s.