Monday, July 27, 2015

Back to the Prussians





IR22 Grenadier, NCO, Officer and Musician Uniforms (Bleckwenn)


I have been paying too much attention of late to my SYW Minden Austrian army (1:20 ratio), having added a regiment of cuirassiers (Anhalt Zerbst), artillery (3 x 3-pdrs and 1 x 12-pdr, plus ammo wagons) while my nephew Alex (Erbprinz Alex) has painted 2 battalions of the Wied infantry regiment and has another regiment of cuirassiers and dragoons in queue for my army.

So it is time to switch back over to the Prussians and add a few more units of infantry and cavalry to that army (bless them). I selected IR22 the Prinz Moritz regiment, which was "massacred at Kolin and heavily suffered at Zorndorf", in the words of Christopher Duffy. Dorn & Englemann indicate that the regiment lost 80% of its roster at Kolin: 26 officers and 1,165 men from its two battalions. I am inferring that some of these men were likely captured, as a number of them were exchanged in 1758, when the regiment was restored to full strength.


In 1758, it was part of the Pommeranian corps that joined Frederick's army at Zorndorf, where it fought on the right wing under the command of Dohna. In October of that year, the regiment was a part of the force that relieved Kolberg.

The regiment missed the battle of Kunersdorf, but later was part of the force that reinforced the King's shattered survivors of that battle. 

In 1760, IR22 served with the King's army again and took part in the unsuccessful siege of Dresden. It also fought at Torgau, although was mostly in a reserve role, thankfully. The regiment remained with the King's army during the 1761 and 1762 campaigns.

The regiment was a Pomeranian regiment and its garrison was at Stargard in Pommerania.

The uniform is shown in the Hans Bleckwenn uniform plate above, which depicts a typical Prussian blue coat, Prussian cuffs (tight) and red lapels. I was thinking that they had white breeches and waistcoat, but I was wrong. The small clothes are straw yellow. I really wanted a unit with white breeches to give me one with a classic Prussian uniform. I may switch over to IR20 Bornstadt, which was also at Kolin and suffered heavy losses there.

Below is a picture of the regimental colors and details of the grenadier mitre. I assume that the gentlemen pictured is Prinz Moritz.

IR22 Standard and Grenadier detail (Bleckwenn)





As of today, my Prussian (Minden) army has 6 battalions of musketeers, 2 battalions of fusiliers, 1 battalion of grenadiers, 1 jager regiment, and 2 battalions of IR/15 the Guard. I don't plan to use the Guards in many of my battles, so I need a couple of battalions to replace the Guards, so IR22 was my choice. I also need to add one battalion of grenadiers.

13 comments:

  1. Jim,

    You've mentioned bleckwenn a couple of times on the blog now... what is this fantastic resource thatvi keep seeing snippets of? There appear to be a lot of books that cite him on abebooks and a lot in German. It would help to know the title!

    Thanks,

    Rob

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    1. There is a four volume set of paperback booklets that contain pictures of every Prussian infantry, cavalry and technical regiments. The books come as a set of four small books in a boxed set. They are written by Hans Bleckwenn, a noted authority on the Prussian army of the SYW. The title is

      Die Friderizianischen Uniformen published by Biblio Verlag in Osnabruck in 1984. I think Ken Trotman Books has copies or On Military Matters in the USA.

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    2. The books are in German, but the pictures are easily identified.

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    3. Berliner Zinnfiguren in Berlin probably keeps a few copies on hand. I think that is where I bought my first copy ( I have two sets, one unopened and still in cellophane, in case I lose a set or wear it out from usage).

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    4. Thanks for the info, and for the advice as to where to find it.

      Rob

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  2. Also, have you ever considered doing a Prussian painting tutorial for the blog? You get wonderful results and it would be fascinating to see a step by step guide of your painting. Just a suggestion!

    Rob

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    1. Sure, I can do that on my next Prussian unit, Prinz Moritz

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  3. Rob,

    You can glean bits and pieces of information from German text given the similarities with English even if the rest does not make sense. Don't get rattled by the funny letters and word order. These Blackwenn books are worth tracking down and buying if the price is right. Wonderful references to have in your library.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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    1. Stokes, someone should do a blog entry that covers some of the basic German words that one might encounter while looking at a military history book with German text. Hint hint.

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  4. Great idea to do a blog on basic German military terms...Bill

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  5. Salut again,

    for the prussian regiments sometimes shown with white waistcoats and breeches, also in different colours of that straw yellow its most times no mistake, more a development of fashion taste.
    Many folks knowing Menzels work of FR II army but he used not the colours of uniforms of seven years war (or before) he used the collection (in parts still existing) of the uniforms of 1786, and 'shape' style of late 1770's. So some folks arguing Menzel was wrong, but no, its only a different period of the uniforms (Bayerischer Erbfolgekrieg 1778/79)
    Par example your chosen regiment had in the last years of FR II reign nearly white waistcoats but during seven years war still the straw colour (That colour must not be dyed, its a slightly bleeched linen).
    That 'straw' colour is mostly seen for the 'old' regiments, the musketeers. During the 18ct the colour gets more and more light until white. Similar to the cuirassiers. First also the cloth colour should look like leather, later in 18ct it became white.

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  6. After taking a few weeks break from painting, and hobby related things in general, it is comforting to come back to this site to help inspire me. Thanks!

    Pat L.

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    1. Thank you Pat. Now get those brushes fired up. :)

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