Dispatches
Letters to the Editor
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Rocket Companies The following is a response to Mr. Cunningham's letter in First Empire 57 of your magazine. These descriptions (with the exception of the post 1816 paragraphs) are from a book, which I am just finishing up upon the Danish and Norwegian Armies at the time of Napoleon. If the sources of this information are of interest, please contact me. Or if you want more information regarding the organisation, commanders, equipment, sources of personnel or history of this unit, I will be happy to respond to any further questions. The uniforms of the Danish Rocket Company (later called the Rocket Corps) went through several changes, especially during its first years. The Rocket Battery of the Danish Royal Artillery Corps was first formed on February 16, 1813 and at that time they wore the uniforms of the Danish Foot Artillerymen: The foot artillerymen wore a black French style shako, without cords, but mounting a dark blue pom-pom in the front attached behind a black cockade. The officers wore red cords on their shako draped from side to side and with a white plume mounted behind the black cockade. The foot artillerymen wore red short tailed coats with dark blue facing colour on their straight cuffs, collar, lapels, shoulder straps and turn backs. The coat had yellow metal buttons. The officers wore a long tailed version of the same coat with gold epaulets. The foot artillerymen wore a broad white cross body belt over their left shoulder supporting a black leather cartridge box. They also had a broad white leather waist belt from which hung three white leather straps, holding their sabre, which had a white sabre-knot. The officers wore a red and gold waist sash with horizontal stripes over the waist belt. The officers wore no cross body belts and had a red and gold sabre-knot. Their trousers were dark blue that buttoned over the tops of their black shoes. The officers wore black Hessian boots with gold trim and gold tassels. The foot artillerymen also carried a grey great coat. Due to the dirt and smoke residue of the rocket firings original the red coats were found to be impractical for field use. Danish Royal Resolution of 1813 #131 was then published which changed the uniforms of this newly formed organisation. This resolution specified: The headgear for the Rocket Company officers returned to the Danish Army's older style black felt bicorne with elongated down turned edges and trimmed with a black stain top edge. The tasselled tips of the gold "hat tightener" showed at the corners of the hat. Attached to the left of the hat was a light blue cockade over a gold cockade strap. The Rocket corps officers did not wear plumes on their hats. The Rocket Company officers now wore dark blue double breasted coats with light blue facing colours on their collars, cuffs and folded back lapels. The coats were trimmed with yellow metal buttons on their coat breasts, side pockets and a single button above the point of each cuff. Under their coats they wore Black leather throat stocks with white piping on them. The Rocket Corps officers did not wear epaulettes on the shoulders of their coats. They wore a dark blue vest under their coats. The waist belt and sword attachment straps were now black with gold buckles and fittings. The curved officer's sabre was in a black and gold scabbard. The trousers and footwear of the Rocket corps remained the same as with the rest of the Royal Artillery Corps. After the end of the Napoleonic wars many Danish Army uniforms underwent change, including that of the newly re-designated Rocket Corps, in 1816. I have no information regarding the headgear but it might very well have changed to the Russian style kiwer. The coat colour was changed to dark green until 1842. The facing colour of the cuffs, collar and lapels remained light blue until 1838, when it went to crimson red. The button colour stayed gold until 1842. 7he trousers went through several colour changes: grey until 182 1, dark green until 1823, dark green with gold edging after 1824. Their vests were changed to dark green until 1842. I hope that the above is of assistance to you. '188 years of History'
This coin found in a small Essex town and passed onto me by family friends, presents a good reason for an 'Austrian military specialist' or anyone with the necessary information to explain the descriptions of this coin. This Austrian coin, larger than a modern day £2 coin, but more flat shows the Archduke Ferdinand, with the mint date 1812, with extra words 'DI?.HISP.REX' and either side of the Archduke's head .J. and .8. (Perhaps Johan or Joseph?) The reverse shows many intricate details similar to the designs found on the Austrian army Flag, the reverse of the 'Ordinarfahne' Castles and Lions, surrounded by 'Swimming? type figures'. To discuss the life of Archduke Ferdinand is not really the debate of my question (We know he held important posts in the army, particularly in 1805) - but more the meanings of the motifs on the coin and the History of the coin itself. In my experience Napoleonic coins are incredibly hard to find, always Tudor and Roman, this is my first and treasured Napoleonic find. Please study these photos and hopefully someone will contact this magazine with more precise information about this find. Range of Articles Keep up the good work. I would like to see the range of articles extended to cover what could be termed "war and society" e.g. conscription, economic impact of war/occupation, interaction between negotiation and campaigning, social background of generals, role of ideology, what made people volunteer... Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #58 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com |
Dear Mr Watkins.