Reader's Reviews
Austrian Grenadiers and Infantry
1788-1816 (Osprey booklet)
Reviewed by John Cook
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Author Dave Hollins
This is Dave Hollins' second Osprey, the first being a Men at Arms (MAA) on Austrian Auxiliary Troops 1792-1816. It was due for publication last July but for a variety of reasons has been delayed until now. I was fortunate enough to obtain a pre-publication copy recently. Unlike the MAA series, which is largely oriented towards uniforms, the Warrior Series concentrate on the life of the ordinary soldier and after an opening preamble, which gives a chronology of significant events during the period, we are presented with a description of the social and ethnic groups from which the Army's infantry was drawn (the ethnic disposition of the infantry was extremely varied and not restricted to German, the largest group, and Hungarian), and how they were recruited. Interestingly, significant groups of skilled workers, including free peasants, along with the nobility, were exempt from conscription but for those not lucky enough to fall into one of the 'reserved occupations', the term of service was essentially life though, according to Archduke Charles, this resulted in an army that tended to be "over-age. Although we tend to be most interested in campaigns and battles, there is no avoiding the fact that most of the soldier's life was spent in the dreary day-to-day routines of life in barracks. It is evident that this was no different for 'Austrian' infantry and the description of the daily grind of cleaning uniform and equipment, inspections, drill and parades would probably have been familiar to those of most nationalities. Training concentrated, as is to be expected, on the battle drills necessary to enable the soldier's unit to move about as a body, and use its weapons to best effect. This last was the fire power of the musket, which could deliver, apparently, between 3 and 6 rounds per minute. The methods by which this was achieved, together with excellent diagrams by somebody called John Cook, take up a very interesting six pages, and is followed by discussions of the importance of the colours and leadership, which, for a change, gives equal coverage to the importance of the NCOs. Towards the end of the book is a description of life on campaign, amplified by a number of extracts from memoirs and the like, and illustrated with appropriate monochrome illustrations of life in camp, followed by a brief examination of Austrian infantry tactics which were developed to counter the enemies on the Empire's eastern borders, as much as they were to counter the French, together with descriptions of skirmishing, outpost duties and the experience of battle, through the words of some of those who have left their experiences to posterity. The final few pages deal with the treatment of casualties, prisoners and the aftermath of battle in general. Monochrome illustrations are well chosen, most of which I had not seen before, and they amplify the text (no 'padding' here). The colour plates comprise a number of scenes illustrating the life of the soldier, from various dates covered by this book, including training, camp life and in battle. The most useful, however, are the two showing details of items of uniform, equipment and weapons. This is well up to the standard set by Stuart Reid in his two volume study of the British Redcoat in the same series, and surpasses anything else on the subject in English by a very long way indeed. It will also complement the anticipated Osprey Campaign Series on Eckmühl, and will be a useful companion as the anticipated interest in the Marengo campaign gathers speed toward the bicentenary. As a final observation, it is extraordinary to note that this is only the forth volume on Napoleonic subjects in the Warrior Series, which now numbers some sixty or so. The others are Vol. 2 of Reid's Redcoat study, one on the British cavalry by Philip Haythornthwaite, which is well worth a look at, and a depressingly recycled volume on the Imperial Guard by the same author. Let us hope that volumes on the ordinary Prussian, Russian and French infantryman will follow in short order. More Reader Reviews
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