The Landwehr Collection, Part IV: The Hungarian Insurectio

Part of the problem confronting the real Kaiser Francis I of the Austrian Empire (ex-Francis II of the now defunct Holy Roman Empire) was that the Hapsburg territories were composed of a hodgepodge of different Kingdoms, Duchies, and what not (hence the complex arms seen overlying the double eagle on Austrian standards), many with their own laws, privileges, etc. Such was the case with Hungary. The Kaiser asked the Hungarian legislature, or Diet, to approve the creation of a 50,000 strong Landwehr in Hungary. They refused, but the 1808 Diet approved the call out of 60,000 Insurrection troops for the next 3 years. Hollins states that about 21,000 Infantry in 20 units, most of 6 companies, were raised. The Cavalry of the Insurrection, mostly from the nobility, numbered some 18 regiments averaging about 1,000 men each, usually of six squadrons.

I wasn't really planning on raising any Hungarian Insurrectio troops. Honest! Indeed, while all the preceding troops were painted in 2008 and 2009, these guys were just done the end of 2010. I actually ran the battle of Raab at a small convention (Ellis-Con in Danielson, CT) in late 2009, which is where these troops would have been most useful, as that battle pretty much ended the Insurrectio as an effective force. Then I started looking at the picture in Hollins' book, and, well, these guys were just too cool not to add to my already almost 800 figure strong Austrian army. Sold on the fool idea, I looked for a manufacturer who actually made their unique hussar style uniform. No luck, at least in 25/28mm... and did I really want to spend up to $3 per figure for troops whose moment in the sun (or shadow, depending upon one's view point) was very brief? Probably not! Then it hit me - I had these old Minifigs Hungarian Infantry in Shako which I had painted as 1813 Landwehr in the dark grey coats and pants with facing colors of the regiment they were assigned to as 3rd battalions. I never really cared much for them and was hard pressed to even think of the last time I'd used them. 

Hah! These neglected soldiers would be reborn as Hungarian Insurrectio!  True, the uniform wouldn't be exactly right, but close enough. The Insurrectio did wear the shako, although not exactly the "double-billed" version of the Line - and the coats didn't have tails. Eh!  I bet the "regulation" uniform was pretty loosely adhered to at best anyway. Best of all the only cost would be my time to repaint them (I'm a cheap bugger, I am). Their uniform consisted of a medium to dark blue Hussar style jacket, with district specific facing colors on the collars and cuffs for the infantry (and for the fabric of the Shako for the Cavalry), with lots of light blue piping, lace across the chest, Hungarian knots, barrel sashes, etc. Interestingly, the leather work was to be natural "red" leather. The first 2 units shown are the Zala and Bihar insurrection Infantry.

The Zala, being from the district Below the Danube (or Trans-Danube) wear red facings, while the boys from Bihar wear grass-green facings suitable to units from the district Below the Theiss (Trans-Theiss). Hollins gives basic descriptions of several Insurrectio flags; this one is speculative, and has the Arms of the Kingdom of Hungary on one side, and the arms of the local district (in this case a falcon on a green field) on the opposite. Some flags are noted to have "flames" on the borders similar to the Line standards (and also, as we have seen, on the 1/EHK Legion and 1/Styrian Landwehr). As this unit would have the only flag for all of my Insurrectio, I chose the speculative red, green and white flames in the colors of the future Hungarian flag, which after all derive themselves from the original Arms of the Kingdom itself. Some flags a few decades later in the 19th century used this pattern. In any event, I think the effect is quite striking.

 These next three pictures are of the other 2 units of Isurrectio I "paint-converted", the Pest and Gomor Insurrectio Infantry (no, they didn't have a Soddom battalion. Humpf!).  Note the black/yellow barrel sashes on the officers, as well as the shako ornamentation.

The Gomor unit has light blue facings, being from the district Above the Theiss (Cis-Theiss), while the men from Pest have the bright yellow facings of units raised Above the Danube (Cis-Danube).

 This last picture shows the light blue lace on the chest, red-brown leather work, and brass buttons off quite nicely. The next time one of your buddies ask why you'd want to build an Austrian Army (they're so... boring!), throw a unit  of these guys on the table! Quite a change from the glare of all that Austrian white, eh? Of course, they'll probably retreat before long, but they will look so very dapper in the doing! Oh, I wasn't crazy enough to do Insurrectio Cavalry, but the uniform is basically the same as the infantry, and any Austrian Hussar figure would do (supposedly they wore the Pelisse, too - black fur on that). The only change is that the Shakos were in the District Color, Black replacing Yellow for the District above the Danube - Boo, hiss! Yellow Shakos would be... way cool!  OK, OK, I'll calm down and take my medicine now.

There was also a Croatian Insurrectio, and no I'm not planning on raising any of them, either. Per Hollins, the Sabor, or Croatian Diet, called out the Insurrection as well, raising 10 battalions and 2 hussar regiments, the infantry wearing a dark brown, laced Croatian jacket, light blue waistcoats, Croatian cut trousers in light blue with light blue knots, black shakos and red/natural leather work. The Hussars wore uniforms like the Line, with the Personal Regiment having madder red shakos, light blue dolman, pelisse, and pants with white buttons whilst the Banderial regiment wore black shakos, dark blue pelisse, dolman, and pants with yellow/black cords on the shako and braiding on the dolman, pelisse, and knots on the pants.

Finally, Siebenburg (aka Transylvania - Bleah!) called out is own insurection of about 7,000 Infantry in four regiments plus a Hussar Regiment of about 1500 men. Even Hollins gives minimal information as to their uniforms!

So, my friends, this concludes the Landwehr Collection portion of the blog. If you have any interest in the subject you really must buy Dave Hollins' excellent Osprey on the subject, Men-at-Arms #299, Austrian Auxiliary Troops, 1792 -1816. In addition to covering all the units we've talked about, it also covers the Grenz, and irregular troops of the other campaigns as well. Unfortunately, it is out of print, but maybe Osprey could be persuaded to reissue it?

I'll probably slow down a bit in posting for a while, as I really do need to get back to work on finishing the publication that the blog takes its name from, Blunders on the Danube, 1809, a scenario book for the Field of Battle rules by Brent Oman and Piquet. I do plan to post more units, as well as pictures and descriptions related to a number of the 1809 battles we ran at Historicon 2009 and/or playtested for the book, and other things not necessarily 1809 or even Napoleonic. Auf Wiedersehen!

The Landwehr Collection, Part 3: Bohemia and Moravia

Well, here we are already on the penultimate chapter of this little photo-treatise of the irregular troops of 1809, which will deal with he troops from Bohemia and Moravia (including Silesia). The unit above is Landwehr from the city of Brunn, near where the great battle of Austerlitz was fought in 1805. Officially, these troops from the Northern provinces of the Austrian Empire were to wear grey coats with light blue facings, which these chaps pretty much adhere to. The shield bears the Arms of Brunn, of course!  I chose a light blue field because it matched the facing color - no factual basis beyond that.

 Frontal view of the same troops from Brunn. For reasons unclear to me, more Landwehr were raised from these provinces (55 battalions) than any other.

 Despite the "official" regulation noted, quite a few units from this area, especially Bohemian ones, wore brown coats instead. So it is with this unit of  Prague Landwehr. It is also noted that many units took the facing colors of their local Line Regiments. I saw a reference somewhere to green facings, so I chose them for this unit. The crest once again is that of the city of Prague, and the justification for the green field is the same as for the troops from Brunn.

 Anyway, I like the bright green facings on dark brown coats. And remember, I am their Kaiser, after all!

 Frontal pic of the Prague Landwehr; they don't look at all tired after scaling that slope, do they?

OK, I'll fess up; these guys are my favorite of the whole collection... the 1st battalion, Erzherzog Karl Legion. The reverse of the flag, bearing the White Lion of Bohemia (the unit was raised in and around Prague) on a red field with white ":flames" around the edge of the flag is based on the description in Hollins' book. Once again probably a bit over bold, but I just love it! This one is completely free-hand painted.

Update May 21 2011:  From a thread on TMP today, Mr. Hollins comments: "a pic of the flag has surfaced recently – the lion is actually within a red shield against a white background with red flames on that side. The 2nd battalion [EHK Legion]  [flag] had yellow over blue 5 stripes with a black Doppeladler and I think it was the 4th, which had the red flag with the city arms [as depicted] in MAA299."

  9 battalions of the EHK Legion, all volunteers, were raised in all, but the First was composed of skilled weapons handlers, often hunters and gamekeepers, and was usually referred to as the Waltrich Jagers, after the Major commanding the unit. Employed as Light infantry, they were heavily engaged at Teugen-Hausen and Eggmuhl, and fought at Wagram as well, by then being down to only about 300 men (out of about 600 to start).

One last shot; note the green plumes, regulation for the EHK (Archduke Charles) Legion, and the red trouser stripe, also mentioned in Hollins for some units, and the Corsehuts, also probable for the First battalion (shakos were regulation for the others).

Although technically this unit should be the 8th battalion, EHK Legion, the last 3 battalions, raised in Moravia, were re-designated as Moravian Freikorps, this being the 2nd battalion of same. It was also raised from volunteer marksmen around Olmutz and Prerau. They still wear the grey trousers assigned to the Legion, but alas, no stripes. Like all units of the EHK Legion, their officers were permitted to wear the black and yellow sashes that were the hallmark of Austrian officers below field grade; no other volunteer or Landwehr units were allowed this distinction.

Rear view shows the equipment to be well worn, but the soldiers appear ready. The reverse of the flag, by the way, shows the arms of Moravia, a red and yellow Eagle on a blue field. One of my gaming buddies refers to this flag, obviously painted free-hand, as the "Checkered Chicken", LOL!

And a final view of the 2nd battalion, Moravian Freikorps. The black leather equipment was regulation for the Legion. Once again an old Ordinarfahne was used for the obverse of the standard (free download from Napflag.com).

So that's 12 units of 12 figures so far - 144 figures. They were made up from 5 different bags of 30 Landwehr figures each, all from Old Glory (28mm). Obtained with the 40% discount, the whole lot cost less than $100 (unpainted, of course) - can't beat that price! With coats in Grey, Green, and Brown, they certainly break up the occasional monotony of the "White Menace!"  So, add a few Landwehr units to your Napoleonic Austrian Army today!  :-)

Update May 21 2011:  From a thread on TMP today about another unit, the Lobkowitz Jagers:

"Raised in May (1809) from the Prague Garrison by the Bohemian magnate family, the Lokowitz Jager were kitted out as a volunteer formation under Major Germain. 430 men in four companies saw action at Wagram; their uniform details are unclear, but probably similar to the Legion."  From: Austrian Auxilluary Troops, 1792 -1816, Osprey, by Dave Hollins.

Mr Hollins added: "All that is definitely known is that the drum has survived in Prague Museum. However, there is a French account (from ? Hourtoulle), which is in the right sector and mentions a unit in hechtgrau trousers and brown jackets with orange facings."

The next and final chapter up will deal with the Hungarian Insurrectio. Thanks for reading!

The Landwehr Collection Part 2: Upper and Lower Austria

Continuing with our photographic exploration of the irregular troops of the 1809 campaign we come to those of Upper and Lower Austria. The Upper Austrian Landwehr had a particularly undistinguished history, deserting in droves, with only a single battalion remaining by Wagram! The Lower Austrian Landwehr were made of somewhat sterner stuff. Both were officially to wear grey peasant smocks, but some were issued line pattern coats and others had line great coats.  I'm sure more than a few wore little more than rags as well!

These fellows are rather well equipped with the red facings (if any) seen on all Landwehr of these regions on both their collars and cuffs, as well as regulation black "corsehuts" (turned up hats rather like the Austrian Jager hats of the same era). The officer has even added a very non regulation plume and red "sausage"-like plume to his hat... out to impress the fine ladies in Vienna, I'm sure. The flag bears the ancient crest of Austria - red- white -red.

Although you can't see it in these photos, these dandies have even added a thin line of red stitching close to the outsides of their white straps, further reinforcing their locale of origin. I've labeled these simply as "Manharstberg" Landwehr - the Lower Austrian Landewhr were mostly in groups by district ("viertel" - I'm passably familiar with in German although hardly a scholar or even fluent) with the kind of endless appellations that inspire a love of bureaucracy in the German soul (sorry, Ingo, and my other German friends - please realize that is both tongue in cheek and affectionate at the same time), so this unit would technically be something like the 3rd "viertelunterdemManhartsberg" landwehr. Gill, who has a great list of all of the Landwehr raised (theoretically, at least) in volume 3 of "Thunder on the Danube", wsiely abbreviates this to 3rd UMB, which is efficient if a bit characterless!

This next unit is simply labeled "Lower Austrian Landwehr"; let us suppose it is the 2nd "vierteloberdemWienerwald" Landwehr. Sometimes you'll see this translated as "Vienna Woods" Landwehr, but really it means the district "over" the Vienna Woods, not literally from the Woods themselves. Again Gill would make this the 2nd OWW. Sounds painful, if you ask me, but I suppose if I had to write out as many Orders of Battle as he has in his books (an absolute Godsend to the wargamer - BUY these great, great books!), I'd go for the abbreviation, too.

Anyway, these guys still managed to scrounge some red fabric for their collars, but they wear non-regulation (gasp) brown floppy peasant hats and black leather work. Herr Oberst will not pleased be! Anyway, the reverse of the flag once again has the ancient arms of Austria, this time borne on an imperial doppeladler - a bit fancier, perhaps by way of compensation for their less inspiring attire, eh?

Now these natty looking gentlemen are the First Battalion, Vienna Volunteers. They were raised from the upper classes of the City, and paid for their own uniforms, giving them a bit more leeway as to style. Still the basic Austrian landwehr pattern of grey coat with red facings remains, but they are well enough off to have collars, cuffs, and even turnbacks. Being volunteers (Freiwilliger), they are entitled to wear *pointed* cuffs in place of the standard *round* ones of the ordinary Landwehr - oh, be still, my pounding heart!  Ahem... well, I'm sure they hoped the uniforms evoked something of that response in their sweethearts before marching off in the cold and the rain of April 1809, where they arrived just in time to retreat with the rest of the army after Napoleon's brilliant "Seven Days in April" reversal of Berthier's blundering.

The head of the column as it crosses a bridge, evocative perhaps of their gallant conduct in the fighting at the bridge over the River Traun at the Battle of Ebelsberg. The white hatbands are inspired by an illustration in David Hollins' invaluable Osprey on "Austrian Auxilluary Troops, 1792-1816", which is the source and/or inspiration for much of this material. Out of print - buy it if you can find it!  Thanks to Dan Beattie for pointing it out to me.  The illustration is for an NCO, so it may have been intended as a sort of rank distinction, the way the "Kaiserlicks" used bands around the tops of shakos, but I thought the look was classy and hardly a real expense for a privileged and famous unit. The standard reverse is obscured, but here I used the full arms of the city of Vienna on a grey field with a white border - pure speculative fancy on my part, I'll confess.

The last unit for this instalment is the 3rd Battalion, Vienna Volunteers, wearing a much simpler uniform, but still probably a sizable cut above the run of the mill Austrian militia. The reverse of the flag is the simplified and also ancient Arms of Vienna, "Gules, a Cross Argent". They also wear the cockade of (Upper/Lower) Austrian Landwehr, red-within-white.  A total of 6 battalions of Vienna Volunteers were raised in 1809.

Once again, the units are far too uniform in appearance compared with what reality would be. So shoot me, LOL!  For my own troops, I'm der Kaiser, and I want even my Landwehr to have some style, and for the units to readily distinguishable. Indeed, it isn't readily apparent from the pictures, but each of these four units is actually in a different shade of grey. OK, I know that's pretty obsessive... but that's a common trait for physicians like myself.

Next time - Bohemia, Moravia, and the Erzherzog Karl Legion.

The Landwehr Collection, Part 1: Inner Austria

Although I already owned a substantial Austrian army for 1809 (mostly Minifigs from 30 years back), one of the things the 1809 project required a was a substantial number of Landwehr, Volunteer, Insurrectio, and other non regulation troop types. I had quite a lot of fun with these. The flags for the units were based on descriptions and/or provincial/city coats of arms. I've probably been a bit bold with the designs, giving some of them an almost Renaissance feel, but I like the resultant effect.

These Carinthian Landwehr wear the "regulation" dark green coats of the Inner Austrian Landwehr, with the red facings that indicate Carinthia (Karniten). The flag bears the coat of arms of Carinthia on one side...
 and the Imperial Double Eagle on the other. Presumably, retired old model Ordinarfahnen were used as the basis for many Landwehr flags.

Next is the Landwehr of Carniola; once again they wear the dark green coats of Inner Austrian Landwehr, but this time with the light blue facings of Carniola (Krain).

 Although a bit obscured by the fold in the flag, the emblem is the Blue Eagle of Krain.

** update June 28, 2012: see comment by AK-8 below, who actually resides in Carniola, which includes a nice link to graphic of the heraldic Blue Eagle that can be used to make your own flag - prior to the 1840's, the background should be yellow ("or", in heraldic terms) rather than white, so this flag should really have the Eagle on a yellow field instead of a white one. **

Next we have one of the 4 Landwehr battalions raised in Salzburg, City of Mozart. The Salzburg Landwehr were noted to be particularly ill equipped, hence only the "Land" or 1st/staff company is wearing the regulation dark green Inner Austrian Landwehr coats, the rest of the men are in grey peasant smocks, although both have the Yellow facings assigned to Salzburg. 

Not a good photo, but again the flag bears the coat of arms appropriate to the unit, in this case those of the city of Salzburg. These guys fought like tigers in their first wargames battle, the initial playtest of Aspen-Essling

Concluding the Inner Austrian segment of our Landwehr Collection, here is the 1st battalion, Styrian Landwehr. The image here is of a local Saint, which was usual for Stryian flags.

The Styrians wear white facings on their dark green Inner Austrian coats. Again not a good picture, but this side of the flag has the heraldic White Panther of Styria; the border has dark green flames reminiscent of the Line standards. Can't you just hear Inspector Klussnach saying "I am Styrian, NOT Austrian!"

All of these 28mm figures are by Old Glory. Next time - Upper and Lower Austrian Landwehr.