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 PRUSSIA |
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The Army
The Infantry - The Uniforms of the Volunteers and the Freikorps
The Freikorps and the Forreign Battalions - The emmergence of the Freikorps in 1813 evidenced the intense feeling of patriotism that existed at that time in Germany. Even in late 1812 there were tentatitve moves towards the recruiting of these volunteer units, and the first raised formations seem to have been the Westphalian Legion and the Pommeranian Freikorps, both of which were swallowed up in the reorganization of 1813.
The units of the Prussian Army that have not been covered so far in these pages come broadly under three headings __ they were recruited from either irregularly raised volunteers, or from non-Prussians, or the formation itself was of foreign origin. The organization, history and uniforms of the various units differed so widely that it is impossible to make any further generalization other than to note that most of these Freikorps, Legions and other formations were absorbed into the regular Prussian Army in 1815. Details relating to each of these units are set out below.
Freikorps, 1813-15 - (a) Hellwigsche Streifkorps, cavalryman. Dressed in a style of Hussar uniform described by the Germans as "English". (b) Hellwigsche Streifkorps, Fussjager, wearing a modified English Rifleman's uniform with a French manufactured shako. (c) Elb Infanterie-Regiment. This uniform is essentially an ordinary line infantry uniform but with different colouring and with cuff piping. (d) Jager Bataillon v. Reiche. Shown in a normal Jager uniform, on which the shoulder straps were made of bright green cloth.
Koniglich Preussusisches Freikorps von Lutzow
On February 9th, Majors Lutzow, von Helden and Petersdorff began to raise a special light corps, official backing for their venture being given on the 18th of that month. The Freikorps eventually consisted of three, four-company, battalions; five squadrons of cavalry and two batteries one horse and the other light foot. "Lutzow's Freikorps" as it became known, had a varied composition. Eleven of the infantry companies were Musketeer; the other, which was part of the 2nd Battalion, being "Tyrolean Jager". This unusual unit was raised by Lieutenants Riedel and Ennemoser, the latter having fought with Andreas Hofer in 1809. Their men were drawn from the Tirol and were dressed in the style of the Austrian Jagers. Of the cavalry, three squadrons were Hussars, 1st, 4th and 5th; the 2nd was mounted Jager and the 3rd were Uhlans. In June 1813, the 1st Squadron were converted to Uhlans. In the reorganization of March 1815, the Musketeer Battalions formed the new No. 25 Erstes Rheinisches Infanterie Regiment; three squadrons joined the 6th Uhlan Regiment and one squadron went to the 9th Hussars; the mounted Jager squadron was disbanded. The Musketeers were dressed in a black Litewka, the collar, Polish cuffs and shoulder straps of which were piped in red; the buttons were brass. They had black trousers with narrow red stripes down the outside seams; they were generally worn over short black spats. The head-dress was a Fusilier shako to which could be affixed black cords and a horse-hair plume. Usually a waxed cover was worn with the shako. The Tyroler Jager-Kompagnie were dressed in grey jackets with green Polish cuffs, collars, shoulder straps, lapels and turnbacks. Their trousers were also grey and had a wide green stripe running down the outside seams. Their head-dress was made of black felt and was modelled on the Austrian Jager pattern "Corsehut". To it was fitted a green plume, officers having a green and white feather Busch. The leather belts were blackened and a brace of pistols was carried in the waistbelt.
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