"For us, Hansa is a federation of cities who by their constitution, by the personal and civic liberty of their inhabitants, by the freedom of commerce and trades are to themselves and to Germany what England is to itself and the civilised world. The Hansa must not perish! "
Like hundreds of other minuscule political entities, the German city-states were used as bargaining-counters in the peace treaties of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. By 1810 the war of the French Republic against the European monarchies ironically had resulted in the end of all these old German republics. However, the three Hanseatic Cities of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen regained their independence in 1813/14, in spite of Danish and other designs on them. One reason for their survival was that they took the risk of putting troops in the field against Napoleon when most German monarchs were still siding with him. This is an attempt at the story of one of the more unusual and neglected aspects of the Wars of Liberation.
By area and population (Hamburg: 140,000. Bremen: 48,000. Lübeck: 40,000), the three cities were among the smallest of states, but as economic centres and Germany's main seaports they ranked much higher. They also had a rich cultural life, although Hamburg, the third-largest German city (after Vienna and Berlin) far outshone her sister-cities. During the late Age of Enlightenment, Hamburg achieved national and international importance through innovations like the world's first savings bank and the groundbreaking poor law administration of 1788. Books and newspapers were published here with perhaps fewer restrictions than anywhere else on the continent. For instance, until Napoleon took steps against the freedom of the press in Hamburg, Der Hamburgische Correspondent was one of the most respected and widely-read independent newspapers in Europe - in 1800 it had circulation of 30,000 (22,000 more than The Times).
The neutral cities became havens both for sympathisers with the French Revolution and those who had to flee France for political reasons. Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen were occupied in late 1806 and in 1810 they were annexed to France along with the Kingdom of Holland, the Duchy of Oldenburg and other coastal territories right up to the Danish border to enforce Napoleon's Continental System. Bremen became capital of the new département of the Weser Estuary, Hamburg that of the Elbe Estuary (which included Lübeck) and also the seat of a number of superior authorities. Most notable among the latter was the governor of the 32nd military division (the administrative unit consisting of the three départements on the north-eastern end of the new French border). Marshal Davout, the first, began by absorbing the local military formations into newly-raised French ones (127eme and 128eme Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne, 9eme Chevaulegers-Lanciers plus some coast guard artillery and mounted Gendarmerie).
Until 1810, the three cities had maintained a small professional force, the Stadtmilitair ("city military" - Hamburg ca. 2,000, Bremen ca. 550 and Lübeck ca. 500) which the citizens looked down upon as mercenaries. Upon disbandment, more than half the men were discovered to be unfit for field service. While the Stadtmilitair was not raised again, some efforts were made in 1813 to revive the old citizens' watch. Until 1810, Hamburg's Bürgerwache consisted of five regiments (11 companies each) named after the five parishes of the inner city. Except for two companies recruited in the suburb of St.Georg, people living outside the inner city were exempt from Bürgerwache duty. Bremen's Bürgerwehr consisted of 30 companies - 20 for the old town, 5 for the new town and 5 for the suburbs. Lübeck had 26 companies distributed according to the 4 quarters of the city. Theoretically, citizens had to prove they owned a musket and knew company drill before swearing their civic oath. In fact, they usually showed a borrowed gun and bought the necessary certificate from the city drillmaster without ever having handled it. When the Hamburg Bürgerwache was mobilised to quell the journeymen's strike of 1791, some men actually carried pikes and cudgels. Since only the officers wore uniforms and the guards on the city wall generally consisted of the less-well-off, they look like scarecrows in contemporary illustrations.
A Bürgercapitain (citizens' captain) officially was unpaid, but in practice he could make a tidy profit from the fines citizens paid to avoid the periodic guard duty. As some contemporaries noted, this gave them an unfortunate vested interest in people avoiding service and contributed to the low military worth of the Bürgerwache.
Note: In Hanseatic military parlance, "Bürger" = "(full) citizen" was always used in compounds applying to the militia (variously named Bürgerwache, Bürgergarde or Bürgermilitair) as opposed to the regular army. Thus e.g. Bürgeroffizier, Bürgerkavallerie and Bürgerjäger. But although this terminological convention seems to suggest it, neither did service in the regular army disqualify from citizenship, nor were all militiamen full citizens.
Clandestine Preparations and the First Liberation of Hamburg and Lübeck
"I am working with Ewald and others to raise a volunteer corps. The reawakening chivalrous civic spirit of the manly middle ages does not want to mingle with the wretched philistine system of the (rotten to the core) Bürgerwachen. Also, certain possible eventualities call for resolute and reliable people. [...] Under Hertzfeld's instructions, I armed myself with a stout cavalry sword - in the theatre!"
The Hanseatic Cities were very reluctant "bonnes villes de l'Empire". For one thing, they were sent spinning into deep economic depression because Napoleon did all he could to suppress the sea trade. Unlike many other German territories, they did not experience the replacement of their idiosyncratic and semi-medieval fundamental laws by the Napoleonic Code and constitution as that positive a change. True, outmoded restrictions on the number of citizens participating in politics (e.g. by excluding minority faiths and those living outside the city walls) were abolished. But only few benefitted and some middle-class groups lost their political rights and influence through the rigidly applied property qualifications of the Napoleonic system. The vote was worth less too, since the non-elected government in Paris and its bureaucracy made the important decisions.
The citizens also found the severe censorship, police methods and the military conscription hard to stomach, even if the cosmopolitan cities did not exactly become hotbeds of German nationalism. There were only small groups of active patriots who had connections to like-minded people elsewhere, especially in Prussia. In the winter of 1812/13, after news of Napoleon's defeat in Russia, they formed a clandestine group in Hamburg to prepare for war. They tried to contact the Czar's relative, the Duke of Oldenburg. A few artisans were secretly drilling under the direction of David Christopher Mettlerkamp, a maker of lead roofs and lightning-conductors. As French garrisons were drained of men to stem the retreat in the east, tension mounted and finally erupted in a spontaneous popular uprising (24 February, 1813) that still came as a surprise to everyone. The 500 remaining soldiers stood idly by as lower-class Hamburgers ran riot in the streets, disrupting the conscription and tearing down the symbols of the Empire. Both civil and military authorities decided the only way to restore order was to reassemble the pre-1811 Bürgerwache and calling in hussars from neighbouring Danish Altona.
The Hamburg patriots tried to exploit the situation by offering the municipal authorities to raise a "citizens' reserve" battalion (Bürgerreserve) which they actually intended to employ against the French forces later. Mayor Abendroth, a member of the former city Senate, could give them the necessary permit because the prefect had a nervous breakdown and the commandant, General Carra-St.Cyr, was afraid he might not be able to quell another major uprising. Jonas Ludwig von Hess, a doctor and statistician, was put at the head of the reserve because he had a smattering of military experience as a former Swedish officer. The company commanders - Mettlerkamp, the lawyer Ferdinand Beneke, the famous publisher Friedrich Perthes and the merchants F.G.Ewald and J.A.Prell - did their best by hastily adapting the French and Hamburg infantry manuals (the latter dated from 1794) for their men. However, as they nominally raised the Bürgerreserve under French auspices and they could not publicly proclaim their true purpose, the new unit was widely distrusted. The patriots decided to disband it a few days later rather than risk alienating the populace. A similar fate befell a voluntary cavalry squadron raised by the wealthy citizen Gerhard von Hostrup.
As things got too hot for Carra-St.Cyr, he abandoned Hamburg on March 12th, taking with him all military and paramilitary forces of the département (less than 1500). Five days later, Tettenborn's raiding force of about 1400 Cossacks and Russian regulars arriving before the city and forced things to a head. Until then, the patriots had appealed in vain to the members of the old Senate to re-establish Hamburg's pre-1811 authorities and defy Napoleon. Now they had to do this in a hurry, because otherwise Colonel von Tettenborn threatened to treat them as enemies. He and his riders were received with great cheer by the population the following day - somewhat against the will of the Senate.
On the 19th, Lübeck also joined the cause and Tettenborn issued a call for volunteers for a military unit to serve in the field against the French, the Hanseatic Legion. The two liberated Hanseatic cities meanwhile were to be defended by new Bürgergarde (citizens' guard) units. However, they were not officially assembled in Hamburg until weeks later, when 4000 men appeared on muster on April 4th. Lübeck raised a Freiwillige Bürgergarde consisting of three companies, a Jäger corps and a small mounted force, but that apparently did not see action.
The new uniforms broke with tradition. Until 1810, the infantry and cavalry had worn red with light blue (Hamburg) or white (Lübeck and Bremen) facings. The Hanseatic Legion was dressed in Russian dark green and the Hamburg Bürgergarde in dark blue, both with light blue facings. This new green-blue dichotomy between regulars and militia was then retained until 1868. The formations raised in the spring of 1813 also introduced a new symbol, the Hanseatic Cross. At a time of rising religious feelings, the cross had become a popular symbol among the enemies of Napoleon, and it was gladly taken up now. It was always rendered in red on white ground, since red and white were the colours of the old Hanseatic League (and also of all three cities' arms). The actual shape varied, with Maltese and Latin crosses being documented as well as intermediate forms such as a Maltese cross with an extended lower arm. Maltese crosses were most commonly used, most notably on the new cockade (which survived until 1918).
The raising of the new forces was aided by Danish neutrality and a wave of rebellions in northern Hanover. But the Allied advance had reached its high-tidemark - Carra-St.Cyr could not be dislodged from Bremen. The continual skirmishing soon forced the new Hanoverian formations to move their depots to Hamburg. Napoleon set in motion about 35,000 soldiers - two divisions from Wesel under Vandamme and another from Saxony under Davout - against about 10,000 Allied field troops on the lower Elbe (including those just being raised). Only the superior Russo-German cavalry attacking French lines of communication helped delay the inevitable. Wary of new revolts and blinded to the true state of affairs because long-range reconnaissance was practically impossible, the French did not take Harburg (on the south bank of the Elbe opposite Hamburg) until April 29th.
Raising the New Hanseatic Forces
They were young men, animated by the best of wills, but unacquainted with all matters military; among their first teachers, the officers, only a few were competent for their task, and there was a total lack of experienced NCOs. (J.L. von Hess: Agonieen der Republik Hamburg (1816) p.129.)
The Hanseatic Legion was divided into contingents from the two liberated cities, Lübeck's consisting of the 3rd battalion and the 5th and 6th squadrons. As there were not that many native professional soldiers, most officers were foreign aristocrats. A few of them had settled in Hamburg and Lübeck before 1812, but most came from the Allied armies and in particular from the exiled Germans on Tettenborn's staff. (At the same time, a number of Hanseatic volunteers permanently joined Tettenborn's HQ). The bourgeois Hamburg and Lübeck officers soon adjusted to their new surroundings, including unfortunately their aristocratic comrades' propensity for fighting duels.
The rank and file also contained quite a few foreigners. 200 Prussian veterans served in the 3rd battalion, while the 2nd contained 50 Saxons who had gone over to the Allies with their captain after the skirmish of Ottersberg (April 23rd). Three Hamburg squadrons were in the majority foreign: the 4th, the 7th (which General von Dörnberg originally had raised for the Duke of Brunswick) and the 8th (independently recruited in Berlin by Lieutenant von Pfeil). The entire Legion had to swear allegiance to the Czar so soldiers would not be shot as rebels if captured. In fact, Napoleon did issue an order on May 7th to execute all Legion officers and send the rest to the galleys, but it was not carried out, possibly because of Allied threats of reprisal.
Within the formations, distinct social differences soon became apparent. The first and to some extent the second squadron, where many volunteers supplied their own horses, were almost clubs of "sons of good family". However, Tettenborn had refused their request to form an élite volunteer squadron, both were sprinkled with soldiers of fortune and other "proletarian" elements. The third squadron was raised and financed single-handedly by the Hamburg capitalist Johann Joachim Hanfft, who served as its second-in-command as a Stabsrittmeister (junior cavalry captain) and later rose to full captaincy. He was a butcher's son and his squadron contained mostly young middle-class men, especially journeymen butchers. In the infantry many of the more educated and wealthier volunteers recoiled from the "impure" lower-class and foreign elements and tried to get into the volunteer rifle detachments. Hamburgers and Lübeckers of all classes did not suffer gladly the harsh tone and rigidly enforced discipline of the Legion's professional officers and NCOs which offended their sensibilities as free citizens of a republic. Consequently, more than a few decided to join the Bürgergarde instead.
The Legion's most striking feature was its high proportion of cavalry - a full third of the total. This was held against Tettenborn by some authors, because cavalry equipment then was in rather short supply and it took longer to equip and train a cavalryman. However, even 2,000 more infantrymen would not have offset the massive French superiority and even after 10,000 muskets arrived from Britain, there were not enough even for the existing units. Yet while plans to equip all Legion troopers as mounted Jäger had to be scrapped, those without carbines could still add to the Allied cavalry superiority as lancers. It turned out that the Hanseatic troopers could well stand up against the ill-mounted survivors of 1812 and raw recruits the French had in Northwest Germany.
Hamburg's new Bürgergarde was officered by respected citizens and consisted of men from all walks of life who could or would not leave town. On paper it was organised into 8 battalions (of 8 companies each), the first 6 from the inner city, the other two from the suburbs of St.Georg and Hamburger Berg (today's St.Pauli). In addition, there was an artillery company, a Jäger company and a small cavalry squadron (successor to Hostrup's unit). Bürgergarde organisation proceeded from the nucleus of the former Bürgerreserve, and, not surprisingly, von Hess became its commander, with Perthes and Beneke serving as majors on his staff, and Mettlerkamp and Prell lieutenant-colonels commanding battalions. Hess's military experience lay decades back, most other were rank amateurs and all were hampered by the old Bürgerwache, which somehow coexisted with the new militia.
On Easter Monday (19 April) several thousand men at least partly dressed in new Bürgergarde uniforms paraded before Tettenborn to the accompaniment of a band of 50 of the city's best musicians. At least 6000 were enrolled in the citizens' guard, but even after British arms arrived in late April, only about half of them could be equipped with muskets (leading to the organisation of a provisional battalion of pikemen). Hess received scant help from Tettenborn and the Allies and the battalion organisation largely broke down as the situation deteriorated. In the chaos of frequent alarms, ad hoc companies of 100 men each were formed and rushed to the Bürgergarde posts front as soon as sufficient numbers arrived at the arsenal - never mind what units the individual men really belonged to. Bürgergarde detachments guarding the dykes outside the city were sometimes simply forgotten by high command and left for days without relief or supplies. All this lowered the men's morale and as time wore on fewer and fewer answered the calls to arms. The use of the Bürgergarde was also limited because it was expected to serve only on Hamburg territory - which e.g. only included a small part of the Elbe islands south of the city.
The Spring Campaign of 1813
The history of the Hanseatic League shows [...] it won a respected position for the entire German urban middle class (Bürgerstand) against princes and aristocracy, that it above all others strongly protected dear old German liberty when un-German serfdom deceitfully intruded, providing it with an inviolable sanctuary in the cities [...]. (From Beneke's anonymous pamphlet Heer-Geräth für die Hanseatische Legion, distributed among the men in April 1813)
Parts of the Hanseatic Legion were hastily dispatched to the front while the rest was still being assembled in and near Hamburg. First in action were 20 Jäger and 10 cavalrymen of the Lübeck contingent who were repulsed when they attempted a reconnaissance across the Elbe at Zollenspieker on April 6th. A detachment of 200 Lübeck infantry even got as far as Lüneburg on April 10th. That day, the 1st and 3rd squadrons set out with Benckendorf's Cossack force for operations outside Bremen. They fought in a few skirmishes and took some 100 prisoners near Rotenburg on the 22nd. They only just made it back to Hamburg a week later, getting their order to retreat from the French main offensive when it was almost too late.
During the ensuing weeks, the French concentrated on gaining the Elbe islands. The 1st battalion of the Hanseatic Legion and some of its artillery were part of the forces on the Wilhelmsburg (the largest of the islands), the 2nd and 3rd battalion guarded the north bank east of Hamburg with the cavalry and the Bürgergarde in reserve. The first days saw a number of small amphibious skirmishes also involving the Hamburg "navy", which consisted of the old Admiralty Yacht at the harbour mouth and the armed cutter Der Kosack off Bergedorf. Vandamme's first serious assault on the Wilhelmsburg in the night of May 9th quickly ejected the inattentive Lauenburg Jäger from the redoubt on the island's southern edge.
That incaution cost the Legion two of its 3-pounders and the Bürgergarde a 24-pounder. The Legion's first battalion and two companies each of Mecklenburgers and Hanoverians counter-attacked, the opposing forces meeting head-on in two long columns hemmed in on a raised road across marshy ground. The untidy fight resulted in an orderly French retreat. A subsidiary attack by 1500 Frenchmen on the Ochsenwerder north of the Elbe made some headway against the 2nd battalion, only to be thrown back by a flank attack by the 3rd battalion and the Lauenburg battalion. Lt. von Holleben and 12 men of the 7th squadron surprised 80 Frenchmen, freeing 80 Lauenburg prisoners. At the end of the day, the Legion had lost 245 killed and wounded out of an Allied total of just under 300 (the French lost more than 500).
In spite of this success, Tettenborn pulled back his island forces the next day to the Veddel (the island between the north branch of the Elbe and the Wilhelmsburg). This was criticised as a bad move and so he attempted to retake the Wilhelmsburg on the 12th. Tettenborn entrusted the main thrust to Lieut.-Col. von Beaulieu (a forestry official with no military experience) with the 1st Legion battalion, 400 Danes and Mecklenburgers and 150 Bürgergarde volunteers. After some initial success against Gengould's light infantry, this force of less than 1100 men was repulsed by French reinforcements personally led by General Vandamme. Soon the Allies were thrown into disarray - at one point, Hamburgers fired at Danes, mistaking them for Frenchmen. Retreating to the Veddel the 1st battalion lost 50 prisoners (including the commander, Captain von Stelling) who were left stranded on the wrong bank. The subsidiary attack by the 2nd battalion from Ochsenwerder ended in catastrophe. Pushed back to its landing ground by Prince Reuss' brigade, it found itself without enough boats. Civilians from St.Georg rushed to the scene with theirs, but too late. About 300 men under battalion commander von Glöden were forced to surrender when their ammunition ran out. Apart from the prisoners, the Allied forces lost some 130 killed and wounded including 50 from the Legion and 14 from the Bürgergarde. It was small comfort that the following night 100 men of the 3rd Legion battalion and 200 Lauenburgers wiped out 220 Frenchmen who had landed on an islet off Zollenspieker (on the southern tip of Ochsenwerder island), losing only 21 killed and wounded themselves.
In two battles, the Hanseatic Legion had lost more than 600 infantrymen. The remaining hundred of the second battalion had to be incorporated into the first and the Lübeck battalion was renumbered as the second. The French set up batteries on the Wilhelmsburg and after Denmark pulled out its troops on the 19th, they began to bombard the city. Since Wallmoden and the Crown Prince of Sweden (Allied commanders on the lower Elbe) did not send sufficient reinforcements, the situation became hopeless. On May 29th, Tettenborn had to order the evacuation of Hamburg and the Bürgergarde was disbanded. Many militiamen loudly protested, firing guns into the air in frustration or destroying them. Mettlerkamp led a few men out of the city and into exile, following their fellow citizens in the Legion. Because the treaties of the Allies with Sweden awarded Norway to Sweden, Denmark now returned to its alliance with France. Danish troops took part in the French occupation of Hamburg (May 30) and Lübeck (June 3). Plenipotentiaries arrived on the 9th announcing the armistice concluded at Pläswitz on the 4th, by the terms of which the outpost lines of June 8th became the armistice line. This was more cause for melancholy (and an acrimonious post-war controversy sparked by von Hess' Agonieen der Republik Hamburg), as it was widely, but probably errnoneously believed that Hamburg might have been saved had it been more strongly supported and defended less than two weeks longer.
Napoleon imposed a huge punitive contribution on the rebellious cities and had Marshal Davout transform Hamburg and neighboring Harburg into a gigantic double fortress linked by a new bridge across the marshy islands of the Elbe. This was accomplished among other things by turning thousands of civilians into forced labourers. Holding Hamburg became the top concern for French operations in Northern Germany, overriding all other concerns of Davout's corps in the year to come.
Reorganisation During the Armistice
Citizens of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen, you who inhabit the cities of the old Hanse and their territories, arise! Prove yourself worthy of your ancestors and of liberty. Escape the chains of tyranny and do not let yourselves be abused as tools of the oppression of your German brothers. [...] We set a good example to the German people! Strokes of ill fortune have delivered us again to the enemy; but they must not weaken our courage! For it is the freeman's cause to fight oppression as long as he lives and never, under no circumstances, to lose his trust in God and good men, his courage and his hope.
The dejected Hanseatic Legion marched into summer quarters in Mecklenburg to reorganise as part of General Count Wallmoden's corps. On 22nd July it went into British pay under a convention signed at Goldberg; although the oath to the Czar was not replaced by one to King George. However, the cavalry officers - who had successfully resisted the appointment of Count Nostitz as their new commander - called for some changes. Their spokesman, Captain Hanfft, concluded the revision of the treaty at Grabow on August 1st. Count von Westphalen reorganised his squadrons so that each one had around 100 men. The 1st and 2nd squadron were amalgamated under Capt. Leppien. The 3rd squadron was split, half the men going into von Hobe's new 2nd (which also contained men from the old 1st and 2nd), while Hanftt now led the remainder.
On August 2nd, Major von Arnim was appointed the regiment's new commander. This stern Prussian veteran (he had won a Pour le mérite fighting at Soldau in 1806 with the Death's Head Hussars) exercised the squadrons anew and grouped them into two battalions under von Hobe and von Stein. Westphalen went on leave because he did not want to serve under Arnim. The 1st infantry battalion went through a succession of provisional commanders, including Captain von Glöden (after his escape from French captivity). On August 15th, Major von Delius, a former Hanoverian captain, was permanently appointed. The Lübeck contingent lost most of its officers who were ordered to rejoin the Prussian army; it seems unlikely that the order applied to the Prussian other ranks, since otherwise the unit's strength would have been halved. Major von Mach now commanded the Lübeck infantry, Captain von Bassewitz the 5th squadron and Captain Seefeld the 6th. The artillery received some British pieces, although Spooremann's horse battery only fielded two six-pounders and two howitzers.
Meanwhile, a few exiled Hamburgers and Lübeckers were organising a new formation, the Corps der Hanseatischen Bürgergarden (Corps of Hanseatic Citizens' Guards). For this effort Lieut.-Col. Mettlerkamp in Güstrow and the Cities' envoys to the Swedish Crown Prince's HQ in Stralsund had to overcome differences with other leading exiled politicians. The first 55 men were sworn in at Güstrow on July 14th and throughout the armistice the unit grew to just over 200. The new Bürgergarde was a peculiar unit, even for the time. It jealously guarded its independence, refusing to enter into another government's pay even though that entailed personal hardship. (They did not refuse arms, uniforms and equipment from British arsenals, though). The leaders of the Bürgergarde also pursued aims beyond the liberation of the Cities. This was indicated by the oath of allegiance to the Hanseatic League - which had ceased to exist over 150 years earlier! - and that some found hard to reconcile with their Hamburg or Lübeck citizens' oath. It was the brainchild of the quartermaster, Christian Kosegarten, a lawyer and political romantic. With the arrival in Güstrow of other, more forceful, realistic and experienced politicians, Kosegarten was ousted from his position as Mettlerkamp's right-hand man and left.
From the beginning, the Hanseatic Bürgergarde was tied up with the Directorate of Hanseatic Affairs, which performed the functions of a government in exile because the exiled senators did not dare set up one themselves. It consisted of the Cities' two envoys to the Crown Prince's HQ, syndics (senior civil servants equivalent to cabinet ministers) J.M.Gries of Hamburg and C.G.Curtius of Lübeck, their secretary Karl Sieveking of Hamburg and Mettlerkamp, Perthes and Beneke.
They were later joined by pastor Johann Geibel of Lübeck and the young merchant Peter (Pierre) Godeffroy. Godeffroy came from a Hamburg Huguenot family - one of his brothers, Charles, was a French supply administration bureaucrat, while another, Jean, died of wounds as a cavalry officer of the Hanseatic Legion. Mainly guided by Beneke and Perthes, the Directorate tried to win support among the Allied governments for their cause and framed plans for political reforms in the Hanseatic cities after liberation. To initiate these, an independent military force of their own, the Bürgergarde, would be extremely useful. Some members of the Directorate therefore did not want to risk it in front-line service too early, especially as it contained a very high proportion of family men and fathers. The politicised military organisation also became manifest in that Beneke and Perthes were appointed staff majors not least to enable them to travel more freely through the war zone.
As fewer recruits were forthcoming than needed to fulfil Mettlerkamp's optimistic plans for expansion, the Bürgergarde then rather resembled a modern-day re-enactment society! As a listing from 3 September 1813 (Hamburg State Archives: Perthes I 6) attests, it was rather "top-heavy" with 14 officers, 1 Auditeur (Judge-Advocate), 12 NCOs and corporals, 198 privates, 2 secretaries and a washerwoman. It contained miniature sub-units such as a Jäger and cavalry lieutenant in charge of respectively 18 and 5 men, and a lone artillery sergeant. From the beginning, the men of the new force were coveted by the recruiting officers of the Hanseatic Legion. In August, Mettlerkamp almost came to blows with Hanfft when the latter attempted to turn the guardsmen away from him. Lieutenant Flügge was dismissed from the Bürgergarde for participating in this "conspiracy".
The Autumn Campaign on the Lower Elbe
The cavalry presented a strange sight, trousers and coats of all colours were to be seen and the colour and cut of the old uniform could only be discerned in few of them. The kurtkas had been robbed of their tails and used up for repairs. The riders were mounted in big peasant boots, some even wearing shoes, some with spurs, some without; the infantry and artillery were in the same sorry state.
Wallmoden could ill afford a defeat as his corps was somewhat inferior in numbers and definitely so in infantry. He was thus unable to prevent Davout from occupying Schwerin on August 23rd. But no major battle developed. Davout was again prevented from realising Wallmoden's true weakness by the superior Allied cavalry and wary of venturing too far from the strategically important fortress of Hamburg. So when Oudinot's Armée de Berlin was repulsed at Grossbeeren, he felt justified in not straying outside his strong position on Lake Schwerin. The Bürgergarde was attached to General Vegesack's division, which formed Wallmoden's right wing. Part of Vegesack's task was to guard the Baltic ports and the
Bürgergarde was used as a second line unit stationed in Rostock (from 22nd August), Wismar (from 6th September) and Grevesmühlen (from 3rd October). The Hanseatic Legion nominally also was part of Vegesack's division, but most of the time Wallmoden employed it as part of his general reserve and rarely as one unit. The Hamburg infantry and artillery first operated with Wallmoden's main force south of Schwerin and only arrived in Vegesack's front-line sector before Rostock early in September. Their roundabout march (anticipating a rapid French advance) had taken them as far back as the border of Swedish Pomerania.
The cavalry linked Wallmoden's main body with Vegesack's division and formed part of the corps screen. It clashed with the enemy in a few small skirmishes: On August 27th, Captain Pfeil and 30 riders brushed aside a numerically superior force near Maltow only to run into an infantry division. On September 1st, six squadrons charged a French flank detachment of 3 battalions and some artillery at the village of Hohen-Viecheln on the northern tip of Lake Schwerin, but the position was too strong for unsupported cavalry. The Lübeck standard-bearer was killed, but the standard retrieved by the Haltermann brothers, two NCOs who were later commissioned for their valour. Next day Davout - probably despairing of any progress on the Berlin front and annoyed by cavalry raids behind his Schwerin position - decided to retreat to a stronger position. Wallmoden attempted to attack his left wing that day, but he struck too late.
A few Legion patrols could only inflict losses of around 150 (mostly prisoners) on the retiring French. A more substantial action occurred on the 4th when seven Legion squadrons reached the small town of Schönberg on the Maurine river. Arnim attempted to take the town with his dismounted skirmishers (those armed with carbines), but was foiled when the French set fire to the town and bridge. Detached squadrons achieved some success, in particular the 5th and 6th who took more than 400 prisoners from a column retreating on Ratzeburg. The following day the French left wing retreated all the way to Lübeck. That evening, in sight of the city towers, Arnim was killed by a French cannonball. In spite of his imposing nature, the one-eyed disciplinarian had won the respect of his men and was about to have been given the Legion's brigade command.
On this sad note the pursuit ended. Davout was entrenched in a strong line between Lauenburg and Lübeck, protected by the Stecknitz and Wakenitz rivers and Lake Ratzeburg. Wallmoden now expected Davout to march off to Saxony and he ordered the Hanseatic Legion to concentrate at Camin on his own left. There Westphalen returned to command the cavalry regiment and the Legion at last got a brigade commander in the shape of Colonel Baron Karl August Friedrich von Witzleben. Born in Thuringia, he had been in the Prussian and Berg armies, serving on the French side in Spain and Russia. Outwardly friendly, he was a somewhat devious character who got into into conflicts with many of his subordinate officers, most notably the tremendously popular captain Hanfft whom he seems to have regarded as a threat to his authority. His dubious financial dealings and military mediocrity also kept his standing low among the men.
During the preceding weeks the Lübeck battalion and a detachment of 50 men from all squadrons under Lt. Dorfmaier had been posted on Wallmoden's extreme left at Dömitz. Along with Kielmannsegge's 200 Hanoverian Jäger they were ready to strike at Davout's communications to Magdeburg on the left bank of the Elbe. On August 18th a mixed Legion detachment crossed the river, destroyed some field fortifications and struck at Dannenberg. Colonel von Beaulieu began a more enterprising raid in the night of the 25th with the cavalry, the Lübeck and Hanover Jäger and 2 cannons. They took the small military posts in the area, capturing at least 140 prisoners and numerous supplies. In the days that followed, Dorfmaier's troopers got as far as Uelzen and Salzwedel (the latter town was also reached by the Lübeck Jäger). All Legion troops were finally marched to Camin on September 7th to be re-united with their comrades.
Wallmoden now learned that a French detachment of 3000 under Pécheux had set out from Hamburg to operate against Allied raiders and restore communications on the left bank of the Elbe. Wallmoden immediately took the larger part of his corps across the Elbe to surprise it in the area of woods and heath known as the Göhrde on the 16th. Pécheux managed to extricate half of his force despite being outnumbered five to one, although he lost an Eagle and all six pieces of artillery. Spooremann's horse battery was the only Legion unit involved and it distinguished itself. After Göhrde, the French on the left bank of the Elbe had to confine themselves to defending the bigger towns. When Wallmoden returned to Mecklenburg, he left Tettenborn behind, adding Spooremann's battery to its strength. Tettenborn immediately began with a vigorous program of raids as far afield as Lüneburg, Celle, Harburg and Bremen.
The rest of the Legion was part of the screening force left behind to hide Wallmoden's absence from Davout. From the night of the 14th, it encamped near Roggendorf before Davout's centre around Ratzeburg. The night before the battle of the Göhrde, 200 Hamburg infantry attacked a French post in Schlagsdorf to keep Davout on his toes. The 3rd and 5th squadrons had remained in and near Boizenburg on the Elbe to observe Lauenburg, along with 50 Lützow infantrymen. After repulsing an attack by 7 to 800 Frenchmen on the 16th, they were relieved by Cossacks and rejoined the Legion at Roggendorf. On the 18th, a Danish and French reconnaissance in force threw the Lützowers out of Zarrentin. The Legion's 6th, 7th and 8th squadrons under von Stein skilfully covered the retreat to Wittenburg against numerically superior Danish cavalry, even retrieving two cannons the Lützowers had lost. Davout did not follow up on his transient minor success and soon both sides resumed their previous inactivity. This was interrupted only by sporadic outpost fighting and a half-hearted attack towards Ratzeburg by Wallmoden beginning October 6th. In that operation the Legion cavalry lost three officers in a skirmish near Mustin.
On October 9th, Tettenborn set out with 770 Lützowers (330 were infantry), 400 Cossacks, Reiche's Jäger and Spooremann's horse battery on a daring raid to Bremen. He arrived in the early hours of the 13th, driving the Franco-Swiss garrison back to the walls. The Hanseatic gunners blasted them from the outworks and sped them into the city through the Ostertor. The French spirit of resistance broke the next day after a Lützow rifleman shot dead the commandant, Colonel Thuillier. His successor immediately agreed to Tettenborn's offer of unhindered retreat for surrendering the city. Contrary to the terms of surrender, the French took three light cannons with them, but Spooremann captured them the following night. He took his limbers through the French picket-line without being recognised, simply replying "Transport militaire!" to their challenge, and then making off with the three prizes (now in the stores of the Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte). Tettenborn refrained from re-establishing the pre-1810 authorities as he knew his time was limited.
On the 18th he had to leave again as French reinforcements converged on in Bremen. However, the French only returned for a week as they soon heard of Napoleon's decisive defeat at Leipzig. On the 26th the Allies returned for good, and soon new volunteer units were being recruited in Bremen. The sugar manufacturer Hinrich Böse raised a company of volunteer Jäger (85 officers and men), Baron von Eelking a volunteer cavalry squadron (157) and the city government a field battalion of 528 officers and men and a Wachregiment for home use. Major von Weddig was put in command of all field forces. These contained a very high proportion of foreigners - almost a third of the cavalry, more than every other Jäger and a full 70 percent of the infantry (cf. Boye pp. 143-144, Galperin p. 150; 46 Bremen citizens served in the Lützow free corps and other units).
Two Legion officers were dispatched to help in the organisation of the Bremen forces, but in fact the city government kept it totally separate from the Legion. One outward sign was that the Bremen troops were dressed in black (like the Lützowers), not in Legion green. By way of further disappointment, the Bremen field troops were not sent to join the forces besieging Hamburg in February (where they actually might have done some good), but to the Rhine. When they arrived in Brussels (March 31st), Paris had already capitulated and so they returned (June 16th) not having fired one shot in anger (however, nine infantrymen had died of various diseases). All this caused some bad blood and at one point Witzleben was about to order that the key representing Bremen should be cut out of the Legion's flags and standards.
November found the Bürgergarde with its lieutenant-colonel's position eroded. A false alarm had shaken the officers' confidence in Mettlerkamp and at a court-martial Beneke brought his full legal authority to bear against him to prevent a death sentence. (Beneke questioned whether as officers of what in effect was a voluntary association they had the authority to condemn people to death). Perthes gained a majority in the Directorate and to sway the officers to agree to amalgamating the Hanseatic Legion and Bürgergarde against Mettlerkamp's will. (Perthes resigned his major's commission immediately afterwards). At Gadebusch on 29th October the 200 Bürgergarde line infantrymen were designated the 3rd battalion of the Legion, its 30 Bürgerjäger joined the Lübeck Jäger, and the 12 cavalrymen the 1st Legion squadron.
The brigade remained in the Gadebusch area until Davout pulled in his outposts after news of Napoleon's defeat. On the 13th of November the Legion advanced towards Ratzeburg where the French had already destroyed the bridge. The next morning it marched south towards Mölln, where Witzleben ordered the infantry to attack the fortified positions. Although the soldiers displayed great bravery, losing 6 officers and 55 men, the assault failed. Witzleben tried to put a good face on things, writing: "The infantry fought like a lion in yesterday's fighting before the forest of Mölln. I am totally satisfied with it; it has revived the glory of the old Hansa!". But he was widely criticised for attacking without orders and without providing artillery support. The brigade stayed in the area until Davout finally retreated to Hamburg. On December 1st the Hanseatic Legion finally reached home territory again when it set up camp in the Lübeck enclave of Nusse west of Mölln.
Attention now switched to the north as Davout left his Danish Allies to fend for themselves. The Crown Prince of Sweden brought half the Army of the North from Saxony to secure his prize - Norway - by defeating Prince Frederick of Hesse's Danish field army. On the 2nd and 3rd the Hanseatic brigade drove Danish outposts from the villages south of Lübeck and on the 5th General Lallemand handed over the city to the Crown Prince. Sadly for the Legion, only Hanfft's 3rd squadron could take part in the Allies' triumphal entry into the city that evening, the troopers looking like Cossacks in their long beards and patched-up coats.
The rest of the brigade immediately set off in pursuit of the Danes, the 1st and 2nd squadron swimming across the Trave and attacking a retreating column near Reeke. The Hanseatic Legion participated in the Holstein campaign though not with too much enthusiasm as its men regarded Bernadotte's northern venture as a diversion from their prime task of liberating Hamburg. They also did not really see the Danes and Schleswig-Holsteiners as enemies. The infantry skirmished at Jevenstedt on the 8th and 9th December, and then the brigade became part of the army besieging Prince Frederick's Danes in Rendsburg. After the peace treaty of Kiel (January 14th, 1814), the brigade returned south, marching across the frozen Elbe west of Altona. It is a measure of their restraint in foraging that it was said to be the only unit the looked worse leaving Holstein than entering it. The Legion now was added to the force besieging Harburg, the southern of the two fortresses held by Davout. Presumably for fiscal reasons it was transferred from British to Hanoverian pay on January 25th. During the following weeks, Legion units were sent in rotation to Bremen to be re-equipped; and Witzleben complained about the increasing number of foreign nationals asking to leave the Legion to rejoin other armies.
The Siege of Hamburg 1813-1814
The Bürgergarde suffers of want! Want of the most basic needs. Part of my brave men walk barefoot, many have but one shirt and suffer from skin diseases. God knows: it is not my fault. I left no means untried to get help and up until now we have been put off with promises. May those bear the responsibility who could help but did not out of wretched, fainthearted considerations.
The Lübeckers in the Bürgergarde elected to stick it out until the liberation of Hamburg, even though they were no longer obliged to do so. Baersch organised a new Lübeck Bürgergarde, which officially only was formed on 12th January 1814. Mettlerkamp took advantage of the Crown Prince's presence in Lübeck and secured permission to join the forces blockading Hamburg with the Bürgergarde. He also did some recruiting and even though he did not get his cavalry back and the Jäger only returned later, he now claimed 380 men. Thus the Bürgergarde cut loose from the Legion after only a few weeks. By December 11th it was stationed in the Hamburg-Lübeck condominium of Bergedorf. Mettlerkamp began raising a new cavalry force from the local farmboys. The ranks were further swelled after Davout cold-bloodedly expelled 20 to 30,000 poor Hamburgers on Christmas day so he would not have to supply them in spring. On January 12th, Beneke noted in his diary that the Bürgergarde was around 1000 strong, and on the 28th the Crown Prince supplied arms and equipment for 600. Many Bürgergarde "veterans" had to be pulled out of the lines to train recruits in the depots at Oldesloe and Segeberg. But the Bürgergarde also went into action on the frozen Elbe: As part of Shemchushnikov's command it fought at Moorwerder (on the southern tip of Wilhelmsburg island) on January 20th and 21st in support of Stroganov's unsuccessful assault on Harburg.
The commander of the besieging army, Bennigsen, attempted to destroy the communications between Hamburg and Harburg - to wit, Davout's bridge across the Elbe islands - through a concentric attack. The first attempt was made in the small hours of February 9th - four Bürgergarde companies (600 men) were the advance guard of General Tolstoy's column, which was to have attacked from Billwerder but did not see action as Tolstoy became completely inactive when he discovered water on the ice. Of the Hanseatic troops, only the 1st cavalry battalion of the Legion fought that day, on the Hohe Schaar west of Wilhelmsburg. The second attack on February 17th was slightly more successful, though it too had no lasting effects. Mettlerkamp led 680 Bürgergarde in the van of Tolstoy's attack on the Veddel from Billwerder, but they were checked by French fieldworks and Vichery's counter-attack. A further 40 men under Captain von Graffen acted as guides for Markov's attack from the northwest which burnt a minute (and easily repaired) gap into the bridge. The Bürgergarde had total losses of 30 to 40 dead and wounded.
Disciplinary problems arose, most notably in the first company. Their captain Engehausen, late of the Lübeck Stadtmiliair and the 127eme de Ligne, was the only professional officer in the Bürgergarde but not the most inspiring of leaders. He had been accused of retreating his company on January 17th without orders. On March 11th he could not hold back his men when they mutinied after being ordered to move quarters. In punishment, the company was demoted to 4th and ten ringleaders were condemned to 50 lashes and a dishonourable discharge. The problem was linked to the Bürgergarde having to absorb some 800 new recruits. While Mettlerkamp trained half his force in Bergedorf, the four "finished" companies were now transferred to the south bank. They were stationed in villages on the Elbe as part of Witzleben's brigade which guarded the south-eastern quadrant of the ring around Harburg. The Legion infantry and artillery plus four squadrons of cavalry were spread between Marmstorf in the south and Bullenhusen in the east.
While the Hanseatic troops were having hard times on the Elbe, their handful of comrades in Tettenborn's staff were advancing the cause on the Marne. In particular, Legion Lieutenant Redlich led a Cossack patrol that took prisoner one of Napoleon's couriers near Vitry on March 22nd. The captured letters - including one to Marie Louise - at a stroke laid open Napoleon's plans to the Allied command. Napoleon had declared he would not surrender the Hanseatic cities even if the Allied armies appeared on the heights of Montmartre - now a "rebel" from one of them was instrumental to make that actually happen on March 30th (cf. Varnhagen: Geschichte der Kriegszüge des Generals Tettenborn pp.184-5).
But while the war drew to its conclusion in France, around Hamburg it was by no means over. On March 29th, Davout began a series of vigorous sAllies from Harburg to resupply his men and burn down the nearby villages. As the Allies did not have a permanent bridge and the ice on the Elbe was breaking, the northern half of the besieging army could not easily support the troops before Harburg. The Hanseatic troops were forced on the defensive for the four days in which the French slowly gained their objectives through attack and counter-attack. When the fighting died down, Lyon's Hanoverian division was relieved. The Legion, which had been attached to it, first was put in reserve, then departed for Bremen on April 14th. When their marching orders for the new separation were prepared, Witzleben and his officers once again tried to persuade Bürgergarde men to join the Legion. They secretly got together with captains Engehausen and von Graffen and two lieutenants who promised to bring at least their two companies over with them. However, their attempt to talk their men to join the Legion April 14th failed miserably (only 13 men followed them) and the four renegade officers had to be content with lower ranks in the Legion. Although he had not been present in person, Mettlerkamp had succeeded in safeguarding the autonomy of the Bürgergarde. Shortly after, Mettlerkamp brought the rest of his men south of the Elbe.
The Second Liberation and After
The fighting was over bar the shouting - although the besiegers had to wait a little longer until Davout finally believed that Napoleon had really abdicated and Hamburg was finally surrendered by the new French government. Meanwhile, the 5th company and 6th line companies were broken up even though the Bürgergarde now reached its largest strength - evidently it was too difficult to replace the company officers who had deserted to the Legion. The Bürgergarde now consisted of 1262 all ranks: four companies of line infantry, one each of sharpshooters (armed with muskets) and Jäger (rifles), a cavalry and an artillery section plus a depot (cf. the list in Beneke's diary, Hamburg State Archives Beneke C 2/15).
On May 14th, the Bürgergarde recrossed the Elbe and on the 31st it led the Allied victory parade into the liberated city. Music was provided by the 54-piece band of the 1813 Hamburg Bürgergarde which had rematerialised somehow. The returning men were feted in the streets, but the official reception was cool, presumably because the Senators and other officials had for the most part cut a rather unheroic figure during the war. The Hanseatic Bürgergarde continued to serve for a while as the provisional Hamburg military and was finally disbanded on June 24th and 25th. After the colour had been ceremoniously laid up in St.Michael's church, the 1st company rioted. This got the government to cough up 24 Marks (ca. 36 Francs or just over £ 2) apiece for any man who asked to be compensated for his losses. Veterans of the war later were awarded the Hanseatic campaign medal and full citizenship in the cities free without having to pay the requisite 25 to 150 Mark charge. Few Bürgergarde leaders took a prominent part in the new city militias that were afterwards raised.
The Hanseatic Legion had to wait longer - in fact it was moved into new quarters in the Duchy of Oldenburg to keep the men away from the homebound route of the Davout's troops. The Allied command wanted to avoid riots and unpleasant scenes between the Hamburgers and the ravagers of their city. The conflict between Witzleben and his officers had deteriorated so much that he ordered Hanfft's squadron to be disbanded and the men distributed among the others.
This was seen as a personal slight on the popular captain and an insult to the volunteer troopers' esprit de corps he had done so much to promote. Hanfft was "banished" to the reserve squadron, successor to the depot. After loud complaints during an inspection by the Duke of Cambridge on April 23rd and amidst accusations of embezzlement, Witzleben was relieved of his command. The most serious charge was that he had pocketed a month's pay which the Legion had donated to support the Hamburg expellees. (It seems Witzleben actually did this twice, since the men never got the money the Crown Prince had sent to reimburse them for their generosity). His successor, Lt.-Col. Baron von Baumbach, who also was the new cavalry commander, was much more respected by his men. But the investigation was quashed and Witzleben was reinstated just in time to lead the Legion into Hamburg on June 30th (the Lübeck contingent reached their home town on July 5th).
Most of the young volunteers of 1813 returned to civilian life, and anyway the post-war armed forces were scaled down. The gradual disbanding of the Legion was completed on September 1st and the colours and standards were laid up in Hamburg in the following weeks. The Hanseatic Cities had to provide a contingent to the army of the new German Federation which absorbed most of the foreign professionals among the veterans of 1813/14. However, many of the plum positions did not go to them, but to those with the better political and familial connections. The last commander of the Legion, colonel von Baumbach, resigned his commission complaining about the way the Hamburg authorities were treating the men. Significantly, when war broke out again in 1815, many of the volunteers would only return to the Hanseatic colours as part of the semi-independent Jäger companies. The new Hanseatic Contingent was almost entirely an infantry force; only Hamburg maintained an artillery company and about 60 lancers. A Hanseatic Brigade was mobilised with British subsidies for the 1815 campaign, but the Cities could neither agree on a commander (who was finally appointed by Wellington), nor on a common name: Lübeck and Bremen wanted the more Germanic name Hanseatisches Banner, while Hamburg wanted to revive the foreign but popular Legion. In any cas, it marched too late to become involved in the hostilities and only served as part of the army of occupation, stationed first on the Somme and then near Arras, before it finally returned home in January 1816.
The Hanseatic Legion April 1813
(after Boye pp 33-45)
(Unit Officers/Other Ranks)
Cavalry Regt: Maj. Joseph Graf von Westphalen
-
HQ: 7/0
1st Squadron: Capt. von Herbert 7/142
2nd Squadron: Capt. von Graf von Wulfen 6/140
3rd Squadron: Capt. von Hobe 9/200
4th Squadron: Capt. von Brandenberg 7/140
5th Squadron: Capt. von Dobeneck 7/106
6th Squadron: Capt. von Bornstedt 5/108
7th Squadron: Capt. von Stein 6/130
8th Squadron: Capt. von Donop 5/100
TOTAL: 59/1066
Cavalry Depot: Maj. von Katte 3/200
1st Inf. Bttn: Capt. von Stelling
- HQ: 4/0
2 Sharpshooter platoons (Scharfschutzenzuge) 2/94
5 line companies 18/892
TOTAL: 24/986
2nd Inf. Bttn: Capt. von Gloden
- HQ: 4/0
3 and 1/4 line companies 10/575
TOTAL: 24/986
3rd Inf. Bttn: Capt. von Lucadou
- HQ: 3/0
Jaeger Company (von Kaufman) 2/75
4 line companies 8/356
TOTAL: 13/431
Infantry Depot Capt. von Wintzleben 2/125
Infantry Band 25
Horse Artillery Battery: Capt. Spooremann 2/106
including train: four 3pdrs and 2 howitzers
Foot Artillery Battery: Capt. Wertheim PhD 2/148
Including train and Depot: four 6pdrs and 2 howitzers
| The Entire Hanseatic Legion | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cavalry | 62 officers | 1266 other ranks |
| Infantry | 53 officers | 2142 other ranks |
| Artillery | 4 officers | 254 other ranks |
| Brigade Staff | 7 officers | 0 other ranks |
| Frand Total | 126 officers | 3662 other ranks |
The Hanseatic Legion Spring 1814
(after Boye pp 209-217)
Brigadier: Col. Baron von Witzleben
Cavalry Regt: LtCol. Baron von baumbach
-
HQ and train: 11/14
Cossack Squadron (former 4th): Maj. von Braunschweig 6/142
1st Bttn: Capt. von Hobe (ad interim)
-
1st Squadron: Capt. Leippen 7/127
2nd Squadron: Capt. von Hobe 6/128
3rd Squadron (former 8th): Capt. von Pfeil 7/127
TOTAL: 20/382
2nd Bttn: Maj. von Stein
-
4th Squadron (former 7th): Capt. von Dufay 7/131
5th (Lubeck) Squadron: Capt. von Bassewitz 7/125
6th (Lubeck) Squadron: Capt. von Baersch 7/127
7th (Reserve) Squadron (former depot): Capt. Hanfft 7/151
TOTAL: 28/534
1st Inf. Bttn: Maj. von Delius
- HQ and train: 4/10
Jaeger Company (von Gloden) 5/130
5 line companies 21/818
Band 24
Depot Capt. von Wintzleben 3/100 TOTAL: 33/1082
2nd Inf. Bttn (Lubeck): Maj. von Mach
- HQ and train: 4/20
Jaeger Company (von Kaufman) 5/114
4 line companies 14/456
TOTAL: 24/986
3rd Inf. Bttn: Capt. von Lucadou
- HQ: 3/0
4 line companies 8/356
Depot Capt. von der Groben 1/50
TOTAL: 24/640
Horse Artillery Battery: Maj. Spooremann 6/118
including train: two 6-pdrs and 2 howitzers
Foot Artillery Battery: Capt. Wertheim PhD 6/172
Including train and Depot: four 6pdrs and 2 howitzers
| The Entire Hanseatic Legion | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cavalry | 65 officers | 1072 other ranks |
| Infantry | 57 officers | 1722 other ranks |
| Artillery | 12 officers | 290 other ranks |
| Brigade Staff | 9 officers | 0 other ranks |
| Frand Total | 143 officers | 3084 other ranks |
The Hanseatic Legion 1815-1816
(cf Galperin p151, Voigtlander pp 118-120)
Brigadier Col. Sir Neil Campbell (appointed 14 July 1815)
Brigade HQ and train: 4/33
Bremen Bttn: Maj. von Weddig
-
4 line companies and staff 25/610
Volunteer Jaeger Company (Thorbeck) 4/172
TOTAL: 29/811
Lubeck Bttn: Maj. von Winterfeldt (later, Capt von Wickede)
-
HQ and train: 6/17
2 Fusilier companies 10/394
Volunteer Jaeger Company (Sattler) 5/162
TOTAL: 21/573
Hamburg Inf. Regt: LtCol. von Delius
-
1st Bttn (4 companies): Capt. to der Horst 503 all ranks
2nd Bttn (4 companies): Capt. von Gloden 469 all ranks
2 Volunteer Jaeger Companies (Buhler) 314 all ranks
TOTAL: 1286 all ranks
Hamburg Lancer Squadron: Capt. Heinsen 1/77
Hamburg Foot Artillery Battery (6 guns): Capt. Wertheim PhD 6/150
Total all Hamburg troops: 1520 all ranks
Next issue: The uniforms of the Hanseatic Legion
More Hanseatic
-
Troops of the Hanseatic Republics 1813-1815 Part 1
Large Map of the Hanseatic Area (slow: 102K)
Jumbo Map of the Hanseatic Area (very slow: 230K)
Uniforms of the Hanseatic Legion
Letter to Editor: Hanseatic Legion (FE19)
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