UNIFORM AND EQUIPMENT

One of the greatest pleasures of King Gustaf IV Adolf was to occupy himself with uniform regulations. This passion was shared by the Life Grenadier Regiment's first commanding officer.

Things were complicated for the regimental commander by the fact that the `roteh†lls' division's uniforms were owned by the crown while the `rusth†lls' division's were not. It was thus not until five years after being converted to infantry that the `rusth†lls' division had their cavalry boots replaced by shoes and gaiters.

During the summer maneuvers of 1805 the regiment was ordered to cease the practice of powdering the hair and to cut off the queues. This was just in time for the departure to the continent for the 1805-06 campaign against Napoleon.

A regimental order dated February 5th, 1793 stated that "No soldier may be without a moustache. Those without must use paint or a false moustache." This applied throughout the Napoleonic wars.

During this period the Life Grenadier Regiment wore two different models of uniform; the first they received in 1802 and the other in 1806.

UNIFORM AND EQUIPMENT 1802 - 1806

Headgear:

The regiment wore a high felt hat with peak and an imitation bearskin crest running from side to side It had a white plume, a red bag with a white tassel hanging down over the right shoulder and a brass hat band.

Clothing:

The grenadiers wore a dark blue double breasted coat with red facings piped in white on lapels, and cuffs. The collar and turnbacks were both white, the collar being piped in red. They wore white breeches with long black gaiters coming up over the knees. They were issued a dark blue cape without sleeves.

Equipment:

A three inch wide shoulder belt of whitened leather was worn over the left shoulder to carry the plain black leather cartridge pouch. A narrower belt, also of whitened leather, with a rectangular brass buckle was worn around the waist and carried a short sword on the left hip. Attached to the rear of the pouch was a bayonet scabbard, although bayonets were traditionally carried fixed in the Swedish army.

The grenadiers were originally armed with muskets of mostly of models 1762, 1775 and 1799 although some model 1725 were still in use. The muskets were bound in brass and had red leather slings.

UNIFORM AND EQUIPMENT 1806 - 1814

In October 1806 the King was ready with a new uniform model for his Life Grenadiers, which was issued both to the troops on service in Swedish Pomerania and those at home. It was hoped that these would be fully issued by the end of the year. The Swedish army could not work that fast, although they were mostly ready in time for the outbreak of war in 1808.

Headgear:

According to the uniform regulations the regiment was to wear a hat which shall be 9" high with brass hat band with the ™stg"ta coat of arms, and a grenade badge of brass with a crest of horsehair and a higher plume.

The ™stg"ta coat of arms was coloured red. The crest was first placed at an oblique angle across the top of the hat, but was later altered to run from side to side. The plume was 15 inches high, of white goose-feathers, and worn on the left side with yellow bow and cords. The crest is sometimes referred to as a chenille.

This type of headdress was also worn by the Life Guard (Lifgardet) and the Life Regiments Grenadier Corps (Lifregementets grenadj„rk†r). Research is somewhat confused in that the Life Regiment's Grenadier Corps changed to wearing the crest fore and aft while the Life Guard never changed, always wearing the crest at an oblique angle.

Clothing:

The grenadiers wore a single breasted blue coat with 10 white metal buttons (silver for officers). The collar, cuffs and shoulder straps were scarlet with white piping. The turnbacks were white. The collar and cuffs had white lace (silver for officers) in the form of two button holes. These button holes were horizontal, even on the cuffs which was unusual.

It is unlikely that epaulets were worn prior to the model 1814 uniform, issued after the war, when the epaulets were red. All the available evidence, with the exception of one print, point to the use of scarlet shoulder straps. Shown standing in the background of this print is a grenadier with red collar and white epaulets. He stands beside a correctly uniformed grenadier from the Life Regiment's Grenadier Corps with white collar and white epaulets. As no other work corroborates this, it is probable that the artist confused the two grenadier units.

The white breeches were replaced by dark blue long trousers. With these were worn short black gaiters which reached half way up the calf. On the front of the breeches were two Hungarian knots which reached half way down the thigh. These were 3 cm wide, of red lace with a white stripe running down the middle. The same lace ran all the way down the outside edges of the trousers. The trousers may originally have been worn inside the gaiters, but this was soon changed to outside.

A new greatcoat was issued replacing the previous cape. It was knee length and wide, and had sleeves, an elbow length cape and a scarlet standing collar. It was initially made of dark grey cloth, but from 1810 onwards blue cloth was used.

Equipment:

The grenadiers now wore two shoulder belt of whitened leather; these were 3 inches wide. That over the left shoulder still carried the plain black leather cartridge belt, while that over the right shoulder now carried the short sabre. After 1806 this short sabre was no longer worn by the line troops, but was retained by the household troops, of which the Life Grenadier Regiment was a part. It was not probably taken on campaign, but only worn at home in peacetime. The waist belt had been replaced by a yellow cummerbund sash with two horizontal blue stripes.

The grenadiers carried a calfskin backpack with white straps. When going into battle, these were traditionally left with the regimental baggage, but towards the end of the Napoleonic wars these were usually carried even on the battlefield.

In 1807 the regiment ordered the new 1807 model rifle. Due to a misunderstanding these were not ready when they left for war in 1808, but were issued when the regiment was on the march. Unfortunately only half were the model 1807 rifle as ordered, the remainder being model 1799 muskets.

Officers:

The officers uniform was similar to the mens, and is shown in the print. Officers still wore the white waist belt, the with a silver buckle which bore the Swedish royal coat-of-arms in gilt. Since the 1772 palace revolution, Swedish army officers had worn a white silk brassard tied around their upper left arm. A general order discontinuing the wearing of the brassard was issued after the campaign of 1809.

Drummers:

Drummers wore the same basic uniform as the rank-and-file, but had scarlet swallows nest epaulets trimmed with white lace and four white lace chevrons on each arm - the top two facing up and the bottom two facing down. Drum aprons were of whitened leather. The drum was made of brass with the rims probably painted in alternating diagonal blue and yellow stripes although may have been plain blue.

Pioneers:

The pioneers (timmerm„n) wore the same basic uniform as the rank- and-file with a two-crossed-axes badge on their right sleeve. Their headdress was a tall bearskin cap with a brass plate. They wore an apron of white seal-skin. Pioneers were required to have full beards. They were additionally armed with an axe.

STANDARDS

The normal Swedish infantry regiment carried four colours (fanor), two per battalion. The King's colour (Lifkompanifana or Liffana) was carried by the King's company (Lifkompani), this being the first company of the first battalion. The other three colours were known as company colours (Kompanifana), an outdated name from when they were issued one per company.

The Life Grenadier regiment, which was in effect a double regiment, carried 8 colours (four per division, two per battalion), and was the only Swedish regiment to do so. Only one King's colour was carried; by the King's company of the `roteh†lls' division.

Special regulations existed for the colours of the Household troops of which the regiment was part. The King's colour was white and bore the Royal Swedish coat-of-arms in the centre. The company colours were also white and bore the King's monogram. During the 1805-06 and 1808-09 campaigns these should have carried the monogram of Gustaf IV Adolf and during the 1813-14 campaign that of Carl XIII. Both types were carried on a white staff. In all probability they were 1.8 m high and 2.2 m wide up to 1812, and 1.48 x 1.78 afterwards.

FURTHER READING

There are not many easily available works in the English language covering the Swedish Army during the Napoleonic wars.

Magazines:

By far the best English work is a pair of articles published in Tradition magazine (numbers 59 and 60) by W. B. Young.

An article published in the March 1988 issue of Military Modelling covered the Swedish Indetla Infantry. Although the Life Grenadiers were Indetla Infantry they were not mentioned!

The Elberfeld Manuscript contains examples of a Swedish Pioneer and a Mounted Life Guard (Lifgardet till Hast) which were included in an article in the May 1989 issue of Military Modelling. Back issues of these magazines are still quite easily available.

Books:

Osprey published a Men-at-Arms book covering the Scandinavian Armies of the Napoleonic wars. Osprey succeeded in confusing the Life Grenadier Regiment with the Life Regiment's Grenadier Corps. This is not up to the excellent standards of the current series and is now out-of-print.

The Army of Sweden 1802-1814 by W. J. Rawkins is the only work still in print. The origins and organisation of the Life Grenadier Regiment are totally wrong!

Swedish Life Grenadier Regt Organization and Campaigns