Uniforms

Most units were organised, uniformed and equipped along French lines. Most, but not necessarily all, had elite companies in the same style as the French.

4th Rheinbund-Regiment

These troops copied French style. The Saxe-Coburg troops of the 1st and 2nd Battalions wore green jackets with yellow collars and yellow cuffs, red turnbacks, and three white lace loops on the green cuff flaps. Breeches were light blue Hungarian style with yellow braiding and short black gaiters. Shakos were decorated with crown oval plates, white cords, a green and black cockade, and yellow plumes as befitting their light infantry status. (Haythornthwaite gives the cockade as being black and yellow, the colours of the Kingdom of Saxony.)

The Saxe-Meiningen troops (1st and 2nd Battalions) wore a dark blue jacket faced red, with white trousers, and probably looked very Prussian. Shakos had red pompons (plumes for grenadiers) and white cords, probably with crown oval plates too. These troops alone wore green and white cockades (and probably only before 1812).

The men of Saxe-Gotha in the 2nd Battalion wore a uniform identical to that of Saxe-Meiningen; blue jacket faced red, with white trousers. Shako cords were also white, but the plate was a brass lozenge. Cockade was black and yellow as for Saxe-Coburg.

The 3rd Battalion, combining the troops of Saxe-Hilderburghausen and Saxe-Weimar, wore a green jacket with yellow collar (or possibly only a collar patch), trousers of white in summer, or grey in winter. Shako cords were white, leather equipment was black. The cockade was black, green and yellow. The carabinier company wore an orange-red plume, the light company wore a green plume, and the musketeers green pompons.

All troops had yellow buttons except (there had to be an except) those of Saxe-Gotha, whose buttons were white.

5th Rheinbund-Regiment

The 5th also followed French patterns. The Anhalt battalion wore a green single-breasted jacket faced and piped a lovely rose pink, with white buttons, and grey gaiters. Leather equipment was black. The centre companies wore white shako cords, elite companies wore epaulettes, shako cords and pompons exactly the same as for their French counterparts. The cockade was green.

The Lippe battalion wore a white jacket, presumeably single-breasted like their Anhalt comrades, with white breeches and shako cords. Collar, cuffs, and jacket piping were green. The cockade was red-and-yellow for Schaumberg-Lippe troops and red-and-white for the chaps from Lippe-Detmold.

6th Rheinbund-Regiment

Lastly but not leastly, the 1st battalion of the 6th Regiment was dressed in dark green jackets with red collar, cuffs, turnbacks and piping, and yellow buttons. Breeches were grey, leather was black. The shako had white cords and a red plume, and the cockade was white and blue. The two Sonderhausen companies had green cuff flaps and brass octagonal shako plates while those from Rudelstadt had unflapped cuffs and a brass lozenge plate.

The Waldeck men of the 2nd Battalion wore a white jacket with dark blue collar, cuffs and lapels, yellow buttons, grey breeches, white leather equipment, yellow shako cords with a double pompon. The men of Reuss wore a white Austrian-style jacket with light blue collar, cuffs and Hungarian breeches with thigh knots and yellow stripe down the sides. Shako cords were yellow, plume was red and leather equipment was white. The cockade was red, black and yellow.

To my (very uncertain) knowledge grenadier and voltigeur companies only existed where indicated. Despite the lack of elites, what you have here are some of the most multi-coloured battalions you could ever hope to raise.

Flags

4th Rheinbund-Regiment

There doesn't seem to have been any flag issued to any of the troops of the 4th. Of course, I could be wrong, and would be pleased if anyone could correct me.

5th Rheinbund-Regiment

The flag of the 1st Battalion was presented in May 1807, measuring 80 by 70cm. It was white and bore an escutcheon of the arms of Anhalt and Saxony on the obverse (that's the front, with the pole on the left, to you and me). On the other side was just one word, "ANHALT". The stave was white. The old Chasseurs de Dessau Regiment had apparently been the previous owners of the flag's gilt finial. The flag was destroyed in Spain at La Bisbal on 4th September 1810, though portions of it were saved by the colour sergeant. A new flag was issued on 14th May 1811 and was almost exactly the same as the previous edition, even re-using some of the salvaged bits and pieces. A white ribbon bearing the "ANHALT" name was now draped across the arms, and both sides of the flag were the same. When the battalion surrendered along with the Danzig garrison in 1813 it was allowed to retain its flag.

The 2nd Battalion remained flagless until 23rd August 1812, when it was presented with a white flag 105cm high by 100cm wide. Both sides were virtually the same, but on the obverse, inside the central, gold lined diamond, were the words MUTH/UND/AUSDAUER, and four coats of arms, one per corner, representing the various contributing states. On the reverse the coats of arms were different. The stave was white, and was 256cm long with a 23cm spear-shaped finial on top. The flag was fortunate to survive the 1812 campaign and was returned to Lippe.

6th Rheinbund-Regiment

The Reuss contingent is not known to have carried a standard until 1814, by which time they formed part of the Allied army. No other troops in the 6th carried standards.

That, then, is that. The Rheinbund-Regiments took part in three of the main theatres of war during their short lives, two of those being among the most bitterly fought wars on record, so they deserve to be part of anyone's Grande Armée. Although their fighting ability may not quite be first class, they are still reliable German troops. As was shown in the hard fighting of the Peninsula War, they were more than capable of holding their own in a scrap, and they are a lot less likely to rout than most Neapolitan or Spanish forces.

Thanks

Thanks are owed to the ever kind Mr Watkins for his answers to my original queries, and to Tim Franklin for added information, some taken from Haythornthwaite. Other sources were Men-At-Arms No.43, and No.115 which have more detailed information on the regiments' Spanish adventures and flags respectively.

Confederation of the Rhine Continued

Introduction
Organization
Deployment

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