The Prussian Army in the 18th Century Organization

The Prussian Army
in the 18th Century

Organization

By Alan Sapherson

I recently came across a book published in London in 1788, written by the Comte de Mirabeau. It is written in French, in five volumes; and is entitled "De la monarchic Prussiene." It gives an extremely accurate description of the kingdom of Prussia, down to the finest detail. To the military historian, the fourth volume is of the greatest interest, with over six hundred pages of information about Prussia's military affairs. The following information i8 extracted, and is a description of the Prussian armed forces in about 1786, just around the time of the death of Frederick the Great, and just a few years before the French Revolution.

THE INFANTRY

There were 55 Regiments of the Line, 12 Garrison Regiments and 4 Light Infantry Regiments. An ordinary Line regiment consisted of two battalions of musketeers, plus two grenadier companies. Each musketeer battalion had six companies. The grenadier companies of two regiments were paired to form grenadier battalions.

Regimental personnel

Total 1729officers and men

To increase the number of fighting men, Frederick ordered an augmentation of troops to the normal establishment. Twenty-seven battalions had an augmentation of 40 men per company, eighty-four battalions had an augmentation of 20 men per company.

There were a few regunents which did not have two musketeer battalions. Number 3, Leigziger and Number 15, the Garde zu Fuss each had three battalions, whilst Number 6, the Grenadier-Garde and Number 50, Troschke, were single battalion units. Of all the Line regiments, only Troschke did not combine its single grenadier company with any others, and the grenadiers usually formed the depot of the regiment. Regiment Number 49 had no grenadiers.

The regiments were:

Garrison Regiments

The twelve garrison regiments had a total of 36 battalions. They were not, however, all the same size. Numbers 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 each had four battalions, the remaining four regiments had only one.

The four-battalion regiments had the following establishment:

Total 2814 officers and men.

The Regiments

The single battalion units had a quarter of the strength of the larger regiments.

Grenadier Battalions

There were 32 battalions of grenadiers. Seven of these were maintained on a permanent basis, the remaining twenty-five were formed on the outbreak of war. They were not 'ad hoc' units, but were pre-ordained combinations, often of quite long standing.

The permanent grenadier battalions had the following establishment

Total 616 officers and men

The grenadier combinations were:

Battalion Number

The 9th and 12th Garrison Regiments apparently had no grenadier companies at this time

Light Infantry

There were four light infantry regiments. Each seems to have had a total of ten companies, with approximately 125 men per company. In 1787, all but Number 1 were broken up to form the Fusilier battalions which made up the light infantry of the Prussian army up to 1806.

The total infantry therefore, was:

Altogether, 148,891 infantry

Cavalry

There were four types of mounted troops; Cuirassiers, Dragoons, Hussars and Lancers.

Cuirassiers

There were 13 regiments of armoured cavalry. All but one had ten companies, formed into five squadrons. Number 13, the Gardes du Corps, had only six companies, in three squadrons.

Total 861 officers and men. The king paid for 740 horses in time of peace.

Dragoons

There were twelve Dragoon Regiments. Ten had five squadrons, two were double strength and had ten sguadrons each. These were regiments number 5 and 6. A dragoon regt of normal size had the following personnel:

Total 886 officers and men, with 740 horses at the king's charge

The Hussars

The hussar regiments were very strong, with ten squadrons each. They often served with the regiment split into two battalions, of five squadrons apiece. This also occurred with the two large Dragoon regiments. The Lancer regiment was classed with the Hussars and was numbered with them. The men were armed as Cossacks and were known as 'Bosniaks'. It had the same organisation as the Hussars.

The make up of a Hussar Regiment was:

Toral 1518 officers and men with 1440 horses at the king's charge.

The total of the cavalry was:

Altogether 37,578 officers and men.

The Artillery and Other Elements

There were four regiments of field artillery, plus 14 companies of garrison artillery.

1st Artillery 3 Bn. 2nd Artillery 2 Bn. 3rd Artillery 2 Bn. 4th Artillery 2 Bn.

Each battalion had five companies except 3/lst, which ahd only three. There were 6 guns with about 200 officers and men in each company. There were three types of arillery company. Heavy companies, with 121b. guns, Light companies, with 61b. guns, Horse companies with 6lb. guns. Two or three of the Heavy companies had six 7 inch howitzers rather than cannon.

In addition to the field artillery, there was a light gun attached to each battalion of the line infantry. The infantry guns were usually 3lbers. The total number of guns with the mobile army was therefore, about 368.

The number of guns with the 14 garrison companies varied from fortress to fortress.

There were 4 companies of miners, each with about 200 men.

The engineers were all commissioned officers, they numbered 55.

The king kept a company of mounted jagers as messengers and scouts, they numbered 72 officers and men.

There was also an Invalid and Veteran battalion, numbering 600 men. In the cadet school were 236 trainee officers and instructors.

The total of gunners, miners and other troops was 14,241.

Adding together all the troops available, it would appear that Frederick could call upon a force of something like 200,000 men, with almost 400 guns.

In the period 1787-1788, a total of twenty battalions of Fusiliers were raised, mainly from the break up of the light infantry Free Regiments and the disbandment of the Garrison Regiments.

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