After the disastrous defeat of the old Prussian Army in 1806-7, the establishment was drastically reduced, by order of Napoleon, to prevent the Prussians from taking up arms again, except at his behest. Napoleon is reputed to have once remarked "Prussia was hatched from a cannonball" which, if true, justifies the apprehension shown at the prospect of a strong Prussian standing army. Indeed, a military governor was appointed for Prussia, despite its status as a kingdom and client of the French Empire.

There were, of course, those who were already planning the rebirth of the Prussian Army - Schamhorst, Gneisenau, Clausewitz and Boyen - reformers who were not always to the liking of their unwilling king.

Some of the reformers, Clausewitz among them, found the inaction and frustration of planning an army of which there seemed little hope of bringing into being too much to bear, and resigning their posts, took service under the Tsar of All The Russias, Alexander I.

But, those who remained like Scharnhorst and Gneisenau laid the foundation of a new army revising the "Krumper" system of reservist service, under which men called to the colours were released, fully trained, after two years service into the army reserve, thus creating a pool of trained soldiers available for call-up in time of need (and also keeping the nominal strength of the standing army down to allay French concern).

This system like many others did not work perfectly: after all, not every commanding officer wished to part with his best men, and in this period of national depression, humiliation and antiwar feeling, recruits were sometimes hard to obtain. But by and large, when the ragged and demoralised remnants of Napoleon's Grande Armee returned to Western Europe in December 1812, and the astute General Yorck defected to the Russians with his carefully husbanded Prussian Corps at Tauroggen, the means of rapidly increasing the Prussian Army were to hand.

Already, small provincial detachments (Landwehr) were arming under the very eyes of the French administration, which did nothing to stop them recruiting - indeed, they were powerless to prevent the upsurge of nationalist feeling in East Prussia as they witnessed the defeated forces of Napoleon straggling through their land. The King of Prussia did nothing at this time, but early in 1813, was persuaded to leave Berlin for the province of Silesia, from which the proclamation to his people was made, declaring war on the French.

On the 1st of February, 1813, a Supreme Cabinet Order decreed that each of the regular Musketier, Grenadier and Fusilier battalions of the Prussian Army should contribute a cadre of five officers, twenty NCOs and sixty men towards the formation of a number of new battalions (Reserve Bataillonen). to be augmented in strength up to 800 men by the calling up of the "Krumper" reservists.

Makeshift Equipment

Equipment for these battalions was very makeshift - to quote the official history of the 20 Infanterie Regiment:

A standard uniform did not yet exist; for the moment each Reserve Bataillon required its recruits to bring "an unpatched and (if possible) good quality jacket, trousers of similar quality, a good coat and a pair of sound shoes" - these items were to be supplied by the parish if the reservist lacked them: similarly, the supply of arms was very varied, and consisted in part of French and English muskets.

Well before the mobilisation was completed, some of the Reserve Bataillonen saw action at the siege of Stettin under the command of Generalleutnant Graf von Tauentzien; others saw action along the river Elbe against the regrouping French forces near Magdeburg. The quality of the Reserve Bataillonen was on a par with most regular infantry units, and well above that of the Landwehr; despite their sometimes ragged appearance, these were trained soldiers with regular officers.

In the meantime, the tides of war had advanced and receded several times in Germany: first the remnants of the Grande Armee retreated westwards slowly through Prussia and Poland into central Germany, leaving garrisons at strategic points such as Danzig and Thorn. The returning soldiers carried with them tales of heroism and defeat - above all, defeat - and the memories of the often callous treatment meted out to Napoleon's German allies.

As the French had time to regroup, Prince Eugene took command of the forces in Germany to secure the line of the Elbe, withdrawing from Berlin, although not so far as to be able to reach it in three days march. The Russian army moved slowly behind them, repossessing their old provinces in Poland and Lithuania. The Cossacks ranging far and wide, and joining with small Prussian units to liberate places as far afield as Hamburg and Luneburg in west Germany, but not for long.....

Other Germans, for their part, stayed with the French for the present, and advanced with them back into Saxony in April, May and June of 1813. The Saxons themselves were hoping to remain neutral - at least, their King was intending to stay out of any impending conflict between the French and the Prussians and Russians - and April found his Army holding fortresses like Torgau against all comers. This annoyed Napoleon, who demanded that his "ally" resume his place at his side forthwith.

The King of Saxony, his negotiations with the Austrians and Russians uncompleted, had to give up his planned neutrality, order his generals to open the gates of their fortresses to the French, and resume their place in the new Grande Armee. The Austrians, who were not yet ready to take on Napoleon yet and had a family connection to the Bonaparte clan now in Empress Marie Louise, stayed clear. The time was not yet ripe.

In late June, Napoleon, unable to pin down or defeat the Prussians or the Russians despite two major battles at Lutzen and Bautzen, and a score of smaller actions, agreed to an armistice.

The armistice was to be a watershed in German participation in the wars of Napoleon; before it, only Prussia really opposed Napoleon, after it, Austria entered the ranks of the Allies, finally persuading many German states who still saw the ruler of Austria as German Emperor to defect as soon as it became politically expedient to do so.

The movement was encouraged not only by British gold and arms (which had been landing in northern Germany since early in the year), but by the news of the great victory won by the Duke of Wellington at Vittoria, prompting that most unmilitary of composers, Ludwig van Beethoven to compose his orchestral work "Wellington's Sieg" (Wellington's Victory). Overall, the tide was turning against the French, but victory in Saxony was months away yet. Napoleon remained confident of ultimate victory.

The Formation of the 8th Reserve Regiment

On July 1st, 1813, three Reserve battalions were united, by authority of the Supreme Cabinet to form the 8th Reserve Regiment. Thus:

2 Reserve Batallion, 1 Pomeranian Inf. Regt. became I Batallion, 8 Reserve Regiment
3 Reserve Batallion, 1 Pomeranian Inf. Regt. became II Batallion, 8 Reserve Regiment
and 3 Reserve Batallion, Colberg Inf. Regt. became Fusilier Batallion, 8 Reserve Regiment

Batallion commanders at this time were Major von Budritzki (I/8 Reserve Regiment), Major von Funk (II/8 Reserve Regiment) and Major von Kobel (Fusilier/8 Reserve Regiment). The army having regrouped after the July armistice, the Regiment was assigned to the IV Armee Korps under Generalleutnant Graf von Tauentzien besieging Stettin.

The siege of Stettin was to continue for some months yet (in fact, Stettin did not capitulate until November 21st, 1813, long after the campaign in Germany had been decided), but the 8 Reserve Regiment and Generalleutnant Grat von Tauentzien were to leave Stettin for the neighbourhood of Berlin and the defence of the capital itself as Napoleon sent first Oudinot and then Ney to capture it, forgetting all the lessons of 1812.

The exact whereabouts of the 8th Reserve Regiment during September are something of a mystery. The Regimental History has them " Leaving to join Bulow's Corps in the Army of the North, seeing service in the field for the first time at Dennewitz (6th September, 1813), and advancing to the middle reaches of the Elbe, at which river line the French forces had elected to stand. The Regiment's field experience was short-lived - they were now assigned with General von Dobschutz's Division to the investment of the fortress town of Wittenberg". Bearing in mind that the account in the Regimental History was not written until the 1880's, recollections of their location some seventy years before may be slightly hazy: the first evidence of the Regiment's presence in the ranks of Bennadotte's Army of the North appears on the 13th October, 1813, in a listing of Generalleutenant Graf von Tauentzien's IV Army Corps near Zerbst, 20 miles to the east of Wittenberg.

A great deal had happened since the victory at Dennewitz in early September: Ney had regrouped at Torgau, and spurred on by the closer presence of the Emperor himself, had withdrawn to the south bank of the Elbe and spread out his forces to prevent the Allies from crossing the Elbe. Bennadotte, after regrouping his forces, had sent Wallmoden west to keep Davout's forces in check - they had recently advanced into Mecklenburg on his northem flank and invested Wittenberg on the 24th of August. During this time, some probes were made across the Elbe at Acken, Rosslau and Coswig, but as no other Allied forces were near enough to cooperate (as agreed in the event of Napoleon himself being present), no aggressive action was undertaken until the first days of October, when Yorck's Corps of Blucher's Army of Silesia arrived at Elster, and almost immediately, crossed the Elbe to take on Bertrand's IV Corps around Wartenberg. Both Allied armies now crossed the Elbe (Bernadotte's Army of the North and Blucher's Army of Silesia) and there followed a period of confusion, during which French forces moving east to Leipzig cut into isolated units of both armies, and Napoleon himself attempted to bring Blucher and Bemadotte to battle, albeit unsuccessfully.

Blucher remained on the aggressive defensive, but Bernadotte, no doubt mindful of his widely spread command, retreated towards the Elbe. In the process, the siege of Wittenberg was raised between the 9th and 11th of October, and Tauentzien forced back between Coswig and Zerbst. This is the position the Regiment now found itself in on the 15th. Inside a week, the strategic position had changed completely.

MAP 1: Marching Across Germany

Returning to the Regimental History: "On the 23rd October 1813 (7 days after the battle of Leipzig), all besieging troops except ourselves and the Landwehr Regiments taking the heavy siege guns off to the investment of Torgau. The Regiment was quartered in the villages of Apollensdorf, Piesteritz, Braunsdort; Reinsdorf, Teuchel, Dobien, Schmilkendort; Trajuhn, Thiessen and Mochau.

Our outpost line was between Rothemark and Weinberge. "At first it was largely a question of mopping up points of enemy resistance outside the main fortifications. On our front, this consisted of the brickworks before the Castle Gate (Schlosstor) and the inn outside the Elster Gate (Elstertor)." "During the night of 1st/2nd December 1813, Hauptmann von Brosigke and 50 Fusiliers succeeded in taking the brickworks by a bold coup-de-main, while Premierleutnant von Gagern with the 1st Company took the aforementioned inn by surprise. Both officers received the Iron Cross for this feat of arms, the first in the Regiment to be honoured with this award."

Despite being assigned a less glamorous role, the 8th Reserve Reghnent was acquitting itself well - probably better than it was expected to, given its lack of service in the war so far. Instead of sitting out the siege, they had prepared the way for the final assault to follow.

"At the end of December, after the capture of Torgau, General Graf Tauentzien returned to Wittenberg, and once the heavy guns were in place, reopened the formal siege of the town." "Thus began a difficult time for the Regiment, in that the increasingly bitter weather conditions and the iron-hard earth made the digging of parallels and communication trenches very hard work indeed." "New Year's Day 1814 brought a new feat of arms by the Regiment: the taking of the hospital which was surrounded by earthworks made with stones outside the Castle Gate (Schlosstor), which had given the trench diggers a great deal of work to overcome. Hauptmann von Wengerski with 150 men of the 1st Company captured the work during the night, leaving no enemy soldiers outside the main walls at one point."

"Despite every ditficulty, the forward trenches drew nearer the main wall. On the 7th of January, 1814, the first riflemen reached the glacis; on the 10th, the building of a battering ram was started; on the 12th, the Scharfeneck Bastion was evacuated by the defenders. In the evening of the same day, the storming (of the walls) was ordered."

"In a snow storm and in total silence, the four columns of the Regiment which were to make the assault assembled in the parallels of our position, tense and impatient, on that night of the 13th of January 1814, full of expectation that the end of the arduous siege must be near. The signal was given at 1:30 a.m. All detachments succeeded in crossing the icy wastes from the trenches, and with the help of ladders ascended the ramparts.

Partly by surprising and overrunning the sentries, partly by a brisk barrage of fire, and despite an active defence of the Castle and nearby buildings, we arrived in the town streets with loud hurrahs at the charge, and in the morning the flags above the Castle and Town Hall told everyone that the town was in Pnussian hands. Two French eagles, a standard, 96 artillery pieces, as well as 75 officers and 1,800 men fell into our hands."

"The fortress had been dearly bought: the siege had cost 400 men, the storming 8 officers and 100 men. From our Regiment alone, which had distinguished itself both in the siege and the storming, we lost 3 officers killed on this night, and 4 wounded: the death toll in men is not known."

"The 11th Silesian Landwehr Regiment was established as the garrison of the fortress."

"Our Regiment left the fortress on the same day in the brigade of Generalmajor von Boguslavski to join the investing corps around Magdeburg. The entry into Magdeburg happened on the 24th May 1814; by this time the Regiment had left the besieging force. In March 1814, it was ordered to join the Reserve Corps in Westphalia under the command of Generalmajor von Jeanneret, and left Magdeburg on the 22nd."

The Regiment arrived at the Imperial Fortress at Mainz after a short stop at Munden near Kassel en route. Here it was allocated to the garrison, joining the 1st Reserve Regiment as the Prussian contingent under Oberst Krauseneck, the Governor of the fortress being the Austrian Feldmarschall-Leutnant Graf Frimont.

The rest of the year 1814 passed in peaceful activity, and "improving the skills of the soldiers by accelerated training". A change in appearance followed in early 1815: hitherto the Regiment had been "dressed in English jackets with short tails, the 1st Battalion blue with light green: the 2nd Battalion blue with red, and the Fusilier Battalion dark green with dark green collars and cuffs".

They were replaced by blue coats (rocke) with red collars, white cuff patches and shoulder-straps, grey cloth trousers and black cloth shakos. Mow they were fitted out as real line infantry, and in April a Royal Cabinet Order confirmed that the Reserve Regiments would be numbered as Line Infantry after their patron Regiments, i.e. as Regiments numbered 13 to 20. The 8th Reserve Regiment received the new designation: 20 Infanterie-Regiment. At the same time as this, the shoulder straps on the men's coatees changed from white to yellow.

The new 20 Infanterie-Regiment took its place in the III Army Corps under von Thielemann, from which, however, since belonging to the garrison of the Imperial fortress at Mainz, they were detached for garrison duty.

The Hundred Days

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