Those of you still awake and not having taken an impromptu holiday to northern Italy to get away from this blog will no doubt be overjoyed to see this, the 4th instalment of my Austrian army! 🙂
This time I’m looking at the militia forces: The Austrian Landwehr and the Hungarian Insurrection. All the models are by AB Figures.
Above: A battalion of the Lower Austrian Landwehr. The Austrian Landwehr were initially raised in 1808 as a conscript militia, to serve as a reserve for the regular army and as garrisons for towns and fortresses while the regular army was away on campaign. By early 1809 there were over 100,000 men serving in the Landwehr and later that year, with the French invading Austria, the Landwehr were called out to reinforce the army in the field. The Landwehr battalions serving with Archduke Charles’ main army came from Lower Austria, Bohemia and Moravia. However, their combat record was extremely poor and they suffered huge losses due to desertion.
The Landwehr were organised on a provincial basis and each province had its own coat colour, facing colour and cockade colour. The rank-and-file in the main wore peasant coats and were poorly equipped, though officers and NCOs, as well as a few complete units and some individuals could be far better dressed. Some units also included Volunteer Jäger who would equip themselves and would again be generally better-dressed.
The Lower Austrian Landwehr wore coats coloured ‘Ash Grey’ with red facings, topped off with a Corsican hat (Corsehut), turned up on the left side. The provincial cockade was yellow-within-sky blue, though this was not often worn and the national yellow & black cockade could also be seen.
Above: A battalion of Moravian-Silesian Landwehr. Most Moravian Landwehr wore brown coats with red facings. However some units, especially from the Austrian Silesia, wore light blue facings, as shown here. The provincial cockade was red-within-white. The officer’s mid-blue breeches also seem to have been a popular item of dress.
Landwehr battalions were authorised to carry flags. These were officially to have the Imperial eagle on the obverse and the provincial arms on the reverse. In addition, many carried hand-me-down Ordinärfahnen from the local infantry regiments. However, I haven’t given mine flags; partly because at the time of painting I had no idea as to what their flags looked like but also because AB Figures don’t produce any Landwehr standard-bearers.
Above: A battalion of Bohemian Landwehr. The Bohemian Landwehr were remarkably well dressed. The coat was a brown jacket with red facings and red braid across the chest, worn with bright blue breeches (some with red Hungarian knots on the thighs) and tall leather boots, all topped off with a ’round-hat’ (what we might call a top-hat). The city and university Landwehr units from Prague were even more lavishly dressed, with plumed shakos!
Above: A battalion of Hungarian Insurrection Infantry from ‘below’ (i.e. south of) the Danube.
Unlike the Austrian provinces, the Kingdom of Hungary did not have a standing Landwehr and instead relied upon the Hungarian Diet (council of nobles) voting to raise an Insurrection during times of national emergency. This had been done in 1797 and 1800, but in 1805 the fickle Hungarian nobles decided NOT to call out the Insurrection to oppose Napoleon’s invasion. Nevertheless, in 1809 around 60,000 Insurrection troops (roughly 40,000 hussars and 20,000 infantry) were successfully raised.
Two regiments of hussars volunteered to fight with Archduke Charles’ Main Army (more of those later), though the bulk of the Insurrection fought with the Army of Inner Austria against Prince Eugène’s invading Army of Italy in a number of small actions across Hungary before finally being comprehensively smashed at the Battle of Raab on 14th June 1809.
Above: A battalion of Insurrection Infantry from ‘above’ (i.e. north of) the Danube. In 1809 the regulation uniform for the Insurrection infantry consisted of a short blue tunic and breeches, decorated with brass buttons, light blue ‘hussar’ lace and Hungarian trefoil knots (see the period print at the top of this article). The exact shade of blue is debatable; Dave Hollins describes this uniform as ‘dark blue’, but then the accompanying plate shows an officer dressed in the same shade of sky-blue as the pantaloons of regular Hungarian or Grenze infantry. I’ve hedged my bets and opted for a ‘middle blue’, which seems to be what was depicted by Ottenfeld in 1895.
The collar and cuffs were coloured by region: Crimson = ‘Above’ the Danube. Yellow = ‘Below’ the Danube. Light blue = ‘Above’ the Theiss. Grass green = ‘Below’ the Theiss. Of course, there is no guarantee that in reality, the mobilised Insurrection was dressed in anything like the official regulation uniform and it may be the case that many men were wearing civilian clothes or uniforms from earlier incarnations of the Insurrection, which had far more varied uniform colours, more reminiscent of the regular Hussar regiments.
The shako was black and plain apart from a yellow & black national cockade-pompom. Belts were red leather. Boots were black leather and hussar-style. Officers do not appear to have worn metallic lace and instead wore more elaborate light blue lace. However, there is the odd modern picture of Insurrection officers wearing metallic lace and these might be senior officers or perhaps an honest mistake.
The Insurrection are known to have carried flags. Dave Hollins describes these as normally having the provincial emblem on the reverse, with a religious symbol such as the Madonna on the obverse. Cavalry flags were swallow-tailed. However, with only vague descriptions of flags and the lack of a standard-bearer figure, I’ve opted to go without.
Above: A Hungarian Insurrection Hussar Regiment from ‘Below’ the Danube. The regulation uniform for Insurrection Hussars was very similar to that of the infantry, though according to Dave Hollins the lace was white instead of light blue and instead of having provincial facing colours on the dolman jacket, the shakos were instead coloured by province. These colours were the same as for the infantry facings, though regiments from ‘above’ the Danube had black shakos instead of yellow. They were also issued with a blue pelisse, again decorated with white lace and edged with black fur. Shabraques and sabretaches were black, edged in red and bearing the Imperial ‘FI’ cypher in white. Belts were red leather and the shako had a black plume with a yellow base (apparently much more black than the regular army plume).
As mentioned above, two regiments of Insurrection Hussars fought with Archduke Charles’ Main Army in 1809. These were the Neutra Hussars and the Primatial Hussars and I wanted to depict these regiments. However, the Primatial Hussars are something of a mystery. They were privately raised as a volunteer regiment by Archduke Charles Ambrosius, the Archbishop-Primate of Hungary and were therefore a somewhat different animal to the conscripted county Insurrection regiments. There is no record of their uniform, though Dave Hollins has suggested that as a Volunteer regiment they might have worn red pointed cuffs on the dolman, which were the mark of the Austrian Volunteers (a mystery surviving hussar uniform from an unknown unit does have red pointed cuffs).
Of course, this did give me carte-blanche to go absolutely nuts and invent my own hussar uniform… Archbishop Purple would be nice… However, I decided to be sensible and paint a known Insurrection Hussar uniform instead. As the Archbishop Primate of Hungary’s residence was in the town of Gran, which is ‘below’ the Danube, I opted for that region’s colour of crimson as the shako-colour.
Note that the Primatial Hussars are regularly confused in many books and publications with the regular Hussar Regiment #12 ‘Palatinal’. The Palatinal Husars were at this time fighting in Poland with the VII Korps and were definitely not the same regiment. However, they had once been an Insurrection Hussar regiment from the 1800 muster, having been ‘regularised’ in 1802.
Above: A regiment of Insurrection Hussars from ‘above’ the Theiss.
The other Insurrection Hussars regiment with Archduke Charles was the Neutra Hussars. The city of Neutra is ‘above’ the Danube and should therefore have a black shako… Which is rather boring… So I opted instead for the light blue shako of regiments from above the Theiss… 🙂
At Aspern-Essling, the Neutra and Primatial Hussars were brigaded together under the command of Generalmajor Kerekes in Wartensleben’s Light Cavalry Division of the Reserve Korps. However, they broke immediately when faced with a French cavalry attack on 22nd May, prompting Archduke Charles to write in his post-action report that “The two regiments of insurrection cavalry… are good for nothing.” By Wagram they had been split up, with the Primatial Hussars being sent away and brigaded with Hussar Regiment #10 ‘Stipsicz’ under Generalmajor Frelich in the Avantgarde Korps. However, they did no better at Wagram than they had at Aspern-Essling.
That’s it for now. Next time it’ll be the artillery and general staff.
Today’s riveting blog instalment is a 
Above: Some Jäger (literally ‘Hunter’ – skirmishers armed with rifled carbines). The uniform for all nine regular army Jäger battalions was the same – a simple ‘Pike Grey’ (Hechtgrau) uniform with ‘Steel Green’ (Stahlgrün) facings and black Corsican hat, with black leather belts. The regular Jäger battalions did not carry flags.
Above: Grenze Infantry Regiment #9 (Peterwardeiner). This regiment had ‘Light Pike Grey’ facings and yellow metal buttons.
Above: Grenze Infantry Regiment #12 (Deutsch-Banát). This regiment had ‘Light Blue’ facings and white metal buttons.
Above: Some skirmishers from Grenze Infantry Regiment #13 (Wallach-Illyrian). This regiment had Light Pike Grey facings with white metal buttons. I’ve also got a formed version of this unit, which was painted some 25 years ago and is looking a bit battered…
Above: The 1st Battalion of Vienna Volunteers. The Austrian Army of 1809 fielded a number of Freiwilligen (Volunteer) infantry units and these were usually used to beef up the light infantry element of each Army Corps. Most numerous among these were the battalions of the Archduke Charles Legion, followed by the Vienna Volunteers and the Moravian Volunteers. While the battalions of the Archduke Charles Legion and Moravian Volunteers were spread (like the Landwehr militia) across the entire field army, four battalions of the Vienna Volunteers were concentrated in VI Korps, hence this choice of unit.
As mentioned 
Above: Kürassier Regiment #7 ‘Lothringen’. I had originally intended to paint Kürassier Regiment #6 ‘Moritz Liechtenstein’, but unfortunately mis-read the uniform facing colour table and painted the wrong regiment… KR #6 had black facings, not blue… But what the heck… In 1809 KR #7 was fighting alongside KR #5, with the VII Korps in Polish Galicia. Note that the Kürassiers displayed their facing colour on a patch either side of the collar, so from the rear the collar appears white; unlike the Dragoons and Chevauxlegers, who had fully-coloured collars.
Above: Chevauxleger Regiment #3 ‘O’Reilly’. This regiment was one of the white-coated Chevauxleger regiments (Regiments #1, #2 & #4 wore green coats, while #3, #5 & #6 wore white) and the only way to tell them apart from an identically-uniformed Dragoon regiment was the horse’s bridles, which in the case of Chevauxlegers had straps crossed to form an ‘X’ over the horse’s forehead. The regiment had Poppy Red facings and yellow metal buttons. One mistake I made with these was that the sheepskin shabraques had by 1809 standardised on black wool, but I referred to an earlier image and did them with white sheepskins (with only the officer having black). At Aspern-Essling the regiment served with Provenchère’s Advance Guard Brigade for II Korps. At Wagram the regiment had been transferred to Wartensleben’s Light Cavalry Brigade, in Nostitz’s Division of the Reserve Korps.
Above: Chevauxleger Regiment #5 ‘Klenau’. Again, this was one of the white-coated regiments and had light blue facings with yellow metal buttons. At Aspern-Essling this regiment served in Vécsey’s Brigade, as part of Fresnel’s Division of I Korps. At Wagram they were serving under Stutterheim, though still under the same division and corps.
Above: Hussar Regiment #4 ‘Hessen-Homburg’. This uniform is probably one of my favourite Napoleonic uniforms, probably due to the contrast between the bright blue shakos and the yellow and black cockades. So good I photographed them three times. They looked even more garish in their full dress of carmine breeches (see the print on the right), but sadly these are in grey campaign overalls.
Above: Hussar Regiment #10 ‘Stipsicz’. This regiment had another striking colour scheme, this time of a light blue pelisse with grass green shako and yellow metal buttons. Hussar Regiment #7 ‘Liechtenstein’ had an identical uniform, except they had white metal buttons and silver officers’ lace. At Aspern-Essling this regiment served under Frelich’s Brigade of Klenau’s Division of IV Korps. At Wagram they were still commanded by Frelich but had been assigned to Nordmann’s Avantgarde Korps.
Above: Uhlan Regiment #2 ‘Schwarzenberg’. All four Austrian uhlan regiments wore the same uniform, which started out in the 1790s as ‘Grass Green’, then changing to ‘Steel Green’ and becoming ‘Dark Green’ by 1815. I’m not sure which stage they were at in 1809, so I’ve played it safe by going for the ‘middle period’ of Steel Green. Facings were Poppy Red with yellow metal buttons and a yellow & black girdle. Regiments were identified by differently-coloured tops to their czapka caps. Uhlan Regiment #2 had Grass Green as their distinguishing colour in the early period, but Dark Green later, so I’ve assumed that they matched the colour of the uniform (I’ve seen others do them with a bright grass green top, contrasting with a dark green uniform). Uhlan Regiments #1, #3 and #4 had Emperor Yellow, Poppy Red and White respectively. Note that some sources show the lance-pennants to have narrow opposing stripes of black and yellow in the centre (see the print on the right), but I went for the easy option of plain black over yellow, without the fiddly stripes.
I was going to post up some more Cold War stuff this week, but Erik Salvador has been prodding me on Facebook to post my Austrian Napoleonics, so here they are, starting with the Infantry Regiments.
Above: Infantry Regiment #1 ‘Kaiser Franz’. The facing colour for this regiment was Pompadour Red (‘Pompadour Rot’) and the button metal colour was white. At Wagram this regiment served in Lilienberg’s Brigade, as part of St Julien’s Division of III Korps. The regiment was not present at Aspern-Essling.
Above: Infantry Regiment #7 ‘Karl Schröder’. The facing colour for this regiment was Dark Brown (‘Dunkebraun’) and the button metal colour was white. I used Humbrol 29 Dark Earth for the facing colour, but upon further reading it should probably be more of a dark red-brown, akin to the coats of Grenze infantry (Humbrol 160 German Camouflage Red Brown). At Wagram this regiment formed part of Grill’s Brigade, in Vukassovich’s Division of III Korps. The regiment was not present at Aspern-Essling.
Above: Infantry Regiment #8 ‘Erzherzog Ludwig’. The facing colour for this regiment was Poppy Red (‘Ponceau’) with yellow metal buttons. At Aspern-Essling this regiment formed part of Grill’s Brigade of Neustädter’s Division of IV Korps. At Wagram the brigade was commanded by Swinburne and was part of Rohan’s Division of IV Korps.
Above: Infantry Regiment #12 ‘Manfredini’. The facing colour for this regiment was Dark Brown (‘Dunkebraun’) and the button metal colour was yellow. Like IR #7 above, the brown could probably do with being a shade darker. At Wagram this regiment served with Grill’s Brigade of Vukassovich’s Division of III Korps. The regiment was not present at Aspern-Essling.
Above: Infantry Regiment #22 ‘Koburg’. This regiment’s facing colour was Emperor Yellow (‘Kaisergelb’) and the button metal colour was white. This regiment was brigaded with IR #8 (above) at both Aspern-Essling and Wagram.
Above: Infantry Regiment #38 ‘Herzog Ferdinand von Württemberg’. This regiment had Rose Pink (‘Rosenrot’) facings and yellow metal buttons. At Wagram this regiment formed part of Bieber’s Brigade of St Julien’s Division of III Korps. The regiment was not present at Aspern-Essling.
Above: Infantry Regiment #46 ‘Chasteler’. This regiment had Dark Blue (‘Dunkelblau’) facings and yellow metal buttons. At Aspern-Essling this regiment formed part of Riese’s Brigade, of Reinhard’s Division of IV Korps. At Wagram it was still part of Riese’s Brigade, but that brigade was on temporary attachment to Nordmann’s Avantgarde Korps, which came under the command of IV Korps.
Above: Infantry Regiment #50 ‘Stain’. This regiment had Violet (‘Violett’) facings and white metal buttons. To be honest, I’d have preferred a deeper, more purple shade of violet, but Humbrol don’t do a decent purple. I do have a stash of Vallejo acrylic purples for jobs like this, but I think I was being lazy on the day in question… The regiment was absent from Aspern-Essling, though at Wagram served as part of Weiss’ Brigade, in Radetzsky’s Division of IV Korps.
Above: Infantry Regiment #56 ‘Wenzel Colloredo’. This regiment had Steel Green (‘Stählgrun’) facings and yellow metal buttons. This regiment was absent from Aspern-Essling, though at Wagram formed part of Grill’s Brigade of Vukassovich’s Division of III Korps.
Today marks the 223rd anniversary of the surrender on 24th February 1797 of the French Légion Noir (‘Black Legion’) to an outnumbered and rag-tag force of Welsh Yeomanry, Militia, Royal Navy, Volunteers and armed civilians on Goodwick Sands, near the port of Fishguard in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Later immortalised as the only Battle Honour to be won by the British Army on British soil, the ‘Battle’ was in fact a relatively bloodless comic-opera…
Following the failure of the twin Japanese offensives against India in 1943-44 (
On 24th February, General ‘Punch’ Cowan’s 17th (‘Black Cat’) Indian Division (understrength, with only two brigades), with 255th Indian Tank Brigade under command, broke out from the bridgehead and drove hell-for-leather for the central Burmese city of Meiktila, which served as a vital road, rail and air transportation hub for the occupying Japanese. The assault on the city began on 28th February and was complete only four days later. With the local airfields captured, Cowan’s 99th Indian Brigade was flown in, along with Squadrons of the RAF Regiment, who would be responsible for defending the airfields and keeping them open for further reinforcement and resupply.
However, the Japanese were swift to respond and the reinforced 18th and 49th Divisions were moving to eject Cowan’s ‘Black Cats’ from the city. Very quickly, strong Japanese forces cut 17th Indian Division’s lines of communication with the Irrawaddy Bridgehead and started forming up all round the city to pave the way for a major assault. Cowan was determined not to passively wait for the Japanese to attack him and instead launched several strong mechanised columns out from the city to attack the new Japanese strongpoints; most critically those to the north-west, blocking the line of communication with the Irrawaddy Bridgehead.
Above: The 2nd Battalion of the Japanese 106th Infantry Regiment digs into the lakeside village of Wetlet.
Above: Some of the houses have been fortified to become pillboxes and house heavy machine guns. A 37mm anti-tank gun is hidden in the red-roofed house and the Battalion HQ sets up in the orange house, ready to call for supporting fire from the 75mm regimental gun section, which is set up to the rear of the town.
Above: In the woods around the town the Japanese have also established a few log bunkers.
Above: Covering the western approaches to Wetlet, the Japanese 7th Company takes up position along the treeline, covering the open, dry paddy fields.
Above: The Japanese 5th Company continues the line on the right of 7th Company, covering the northern road into town. In front of them, in the middle of the open paddy is a fortified farmhouse. A 37mm anti-tank gun covers the gap where the road passes through the belt of woodland.
Above: The 6th Company forms a second line to the rear, reinforced by the 70mm battalion gun section. The Regimental Transport Platoon stands ready to the rear. [In game terms, around a quarter of the Japanese units are ‘dummy’ stands, whose existence will only be confirmed when they move, fire or are spotted by the Allies]
Above: Led by the armoured cars and carriers of the 16th Light Cavalry, Lt Col Stedding’s main column arrives on the southern road. As ‘D’ Company of the 9th Borders moves forward across the open paddy, the Borders’ 3-inch mortar platoon sets up and prepares to give supporting fire.
Above: On the northern road, the Sherman V tanks of the 9th (Royal Deccan) Horse advance warily through the trees, flanked by ‘C’ company of the 9th Borders and followed by the OP Carrier of a Forward Observation Officer from 1st Indian Field Artillery Regiment.
Above: Skirting the swamp at the northern end of the lake, the 16th Cavalry cover the treeline with their machine guns as ‘D’ Company advances into the woods.
Above: Rifle fire suddenly rings out from a camouflaged bunker and a section of ‘D’ Company is cut down by the ambush! The Japanese 7th Company also opens up from the treeline and both sides are soon pinned down in a tremendous firefight.
Above: Over on the Allied left flank, ‘C’ Company emerges from the trees and spots the fortified farm. There is no fire coming at them, but to play safe, they call up the Deccan Horse, who speculatively (and very effectively) shell the farm into rubble. Meanwhile, although he can’t directly spot the Japanese 7th Company, the firefight erupting along the distant treeline is enough for him to call down a fire mission in support of ‘D’ Company on the right.
Above: 25pdr HE shells soon slamming into the treeline, causing massive disruption among the Japanese infantry. However, the motto of the Indian Artillery is Sarvatra, which like the Royal Artillery’s Ubique, means ‘Everywhere’ or to everyone else in the Army ‘All Over The Place’… Shells also start landing among the left-flanking platoon of ‘D’ Company, causing serious disruption and much Cumbrian swearing! Nevertheless, the rest of ‘D’ Company is still moving forward and as a wounded sergeant shouts “Remember Arroyo! Gan git’em, marras!”, they successfully assault the bunker with grenade and bayonet. However, this sharp little action has cost them a third of their rifle strength.
Above: With the bunker eliminated, the 7th Company’s left flank is turned and the Borderers pour enfilading fire into the Japanese infantry. With road now clear, 16th Light Cavalry push on toward the village.
Above: With the Japanese 7th Company pinned down in front of them, ‘D’ Company launches a charge across the short stretch of open ground end kills or routs the enemy to their front.
Above: The 9th Borders’ Mortar Platoon finally gets a call to action as it fires a smoke mission to support ‘C’ Company’s advance across the open paddy. The 16th Light Cavalry Mortar Carrier however, remains silent.
Above: As the Deccan Horse Shermans fire HE in direct support, the 9th Border mortars drop smoke in front of ‘C’ Company (indicated by the rather unattractive templates – I should have used white fluff!). ‘C’ Company advances across the paddy, but gets rather bunched up as it bypasses the bunker. The Japanese commander wishes he had more indirect fire support elements…
Above: Nevertheless, he makes good use of what he does have… As the Borderers storm the Japanese positions they are hit hard by the Japanese 75mm Regimental Gun and suffer further casualties.
Above: As the 16th Cavalry pass clear of the woodland they are still hemmed in between the swamp and a stream, so are in the ideal spot for an ambush. Heavy machine gun fire rattles from the lakeside bunker and rings off the armour of the leading Carrier section, but only manages to suppress the Bren-gunners.
Above: “Guru Nanak on a Bike!” The Sikh cavalrymen are rather more shocked when a 37mm anti-tank gun opens up on them from the nearest building! The Bren-gunners decide to take their chances in the open rather than sit inside a tin can, waiting for the next round to come through the armour!
Above: As ‘C’ Company emerges from the smoke, they are extremely surprised to discover that the enemy has (mostly) gone! However, a lone group of Japanese anti-tank-bombers remain to be winkled out of the bunker. ‘C’ Company suffers the loss of one section during the assault on the bunker (their first casualties), but the Japanese hold-outs are eliminated and the bunker is taken. To the left of the road, one section of Borderers occupies the fortified farm, while two sections push on with supporting tank fire, weathering flanking HMG fire, to eliminate a Japanese rifle section belonging to 5th Company.
Above: As ‘C’ Company and the tanks push on through the woods, the Japanese 5th Company sallies out from the woods in an attempt to re-take the fortified farm. However, fire from the farm, the rearmost tank and hastily-drawn Webleys belonging to the Carrier crew throw back the Japanese attack in disorder.
Above: As they push on through the woods, ‘C’ Company is very pleasantly surprised to discover that the second Japanese line is a dummy, all save for one rifle section, which is eliminated in the open. Meanwhile, the leading Deccan Horse Sherman comes under fire at point-blank range from a camouflaged 37mm anti-tank gun, but the Sherman’s thick armour (thick by Far Eastern standards, anyway!) easily shrugs it off and the anti-tank gunners and their supporting infantry are quickly dispatched by the supporting Borderers.
Above: In front of ‘C’ Company there appears to be nothing but running Japanese infantry! However, they are now coming under fire from a 70mm Battalion Gun positioned in the treeline on their left and this might be a good time to pull back to the treeline and let the tanks, artillery and mortars do their work…
Above: The much-depleted ‘D’ Company meanwhile, has already run into trouble while attempting to push forward. Borderers are cut down in the open by previously unseen, bunkered HMGs and the remainder are pinned down. The Baluchis bring their Vickers MMGs up to the treeline ready to support the assault, but ‘D’ Company is now down 50% strength and is in no mood to press forward!
Above: On their right, the Japanese 37mm anti-tank gun is having a field day as a Carrier section is knocked out. The dismounted cavalrymen scramble for cover, but are targeted by lethal 75mm indirect fire and two of the three sections are eliminated! Frantic calls for smoke support from their mortar section goes unheeded.
Above: The Daimler Armoured Car section pushes forward, hoping to get close enough to effectively take on the dug-in AT gun, but all to no avail as the car suffers a direct hit and bursts into flames!
Here’s my re-scaled Musketry Chart:
To ease play and save on having to conduct (admittedly simply) mental arithmetic, I’ve made range-sticks out of 2cm-wide wooden beading, marked with the weapon-code and with the fire-points marked off in each range band. The width of 2cm equates to the clear gap of 1 ‘game inch’ that needs to be present in order for a unit to fire at a target. After making the sticks I had 24cm left over, so I also made a command-span stick, which comes in handy.
The car’s all packed and we’ll be heading off in the morning at oh-f@£&-hundred-hours to the Crusade 2020 show in Penarth. So I hope to see a few of you there! 🙂
Rodes’ Division at Gettysburg
Major General Robert E. Rodes had rather unusually, never served in the regular pre-war U.S. Army. He had been educated at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and upon graduation had been given a place on the VMI teaching staff. However, a senior professorship was denied to him when Thomas Jackson (later to be immortalised as ‘Stonewall’ Jackson) was selected for that post. Leaving the VMI, Rodes then embarked on a successful career as the senior civil engineer for the Alabama and Chattanooga Railroad Company.
On 1st July 1863, Rodes’ 3rd Division was the first formation of Ewell’s II Corps to arrive on the field of Gettysburg, emerging from the wooded Oak Hill to attack the right flank of the Union I Corps along the railroad cut and the Mummasburg Road. However, Rodes was uncharacteristically cautious during the pursuit of the broken Union formations and they were able to successfully disengage and reform on Cemetery Hill. Rodes’ Division then remained largely idle for the rest of the battle.
Above: Rodes’ 3rd Division of II Corps on parade. For this formation I used all Pendraken’s ‘marching’ poses, including the ‘Right Shoulder Shift’ pack.
Above: Brigadier General Junius Daniel’s 1st Brigade was the strongest brigade in the division, being formed from the 32nd, 43rd, 45th & 53rd North Carolina Infantry Regiments and the 2nd North Carolina Battalion (I’m not sure why this last unit was identified as a ‘Battalion’ – a reserve/replacement unit, perhaps?). This brigade arrived on the right of Rodes’ Division and was immediately thrown into some bitter fighting along the railroad cut, consequently suffering high casualties. Starting the battle with 2,160 men (11 bases in Brigade Fire & Fury), the division suffered 950 casualties, equating to 44%.
Above: Brigadier George Doles’ 2nd Brigade was formed from the 4th, 12th, 21st & 44th Georgia Infantry Regiments and started the Battle of Gettysburg with 1,325 men (7 bases in Brigade Fire & Fury). The Brigade suffered proportionately light casualties during the four days of the battle, losing 220 men or 17% of its strength.
Above: Brigadier General Alfred Iverson’s 3rd Brigade was formed from the 5th, 12th, 20th & 23rd North Carolina Infantry Regiments, totalling 1,385 men (7 bases in Brigade Fire & Fury). Being placed in the centre of Rodes’ line and thrown into the ‘angle’ between Cutler’s and Baxter’s Union Brigades, the brigade suffered proportionately heavy losses; 900 men or 65% of their strength.
Above: Brigadier General Stephen D. Ramseur’s 4th Brigade was yet another formation from North Carolina, comprising the 2nd, 4th, 14th & 30th North Carolina Infantry Regiments. The brigade started Gettysburg with 1,025 men and suffered the loss of 280, or 27% of its strength.
Above: Colonel Edward A. O’Neal’s 5th Brigade was formed from the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 12th and 26th Alabama Infantry Regiments (as mentioned above, Rodes had been Colonel of the 5th Alabama in 1861), for a total of 1,688 men (9 bases). The brigade suffered relatively high losses; 695 men or 41% of its strength.
Above: Lieutenant Colonel Thomas H. Carter’s Divisional Artillery Battalion comprised four batteries, each of four guns: