Bavarian Danube Legion
1813-1814
by John Cook, UK
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Mobilisation of the National Guard 2nd Class was authorised in February 1813. There were three classes of National Guard: 1st Class, which formed the reserve battalions of the regular army; 2nd Class, which was initially intended as a militia for home defense; and 3rd Class, which seems to have occupied a similar position to the Prussian Landsturm — it was not intended for service in the field and was not properly uniformed as this point.
Each of the 9 Kreis (districts) in the King-dom of Bavaria were required to mobilize up to 4 battalions of National Guard, known as the Mobilen Legion of the Kreis in question, each battalion consisted of 4 companies of 165 officers and soldiers.
Each Kreis was divided into 4 recruiting areas from which it drew men between the ages of 21 and 40 years. Some Kreis were more successful than others (as can be seen from the list below) but by mid 1813, 20 battalions has been raised, each being known by its battalion number within the Kreis hierarchy. The name Mobilen Legion later had unique Feld Bataillon numbers, as follows.
Mobilen Legion des Isar-Kreises Mobilen legion des Inn-Kreises Mobilen Legion des Salzach-Kreises Mobilen Legion des Iller-Kreises Mobilen Legion des Retzat-Kreises Mobilen Legion des Ober-Donau-Kreises Mobilen Legion des Unter-Donau-Kreises Mobilen Legion des Regen-Kreises The Danube Legion was most likely one of the battalions from either the Ober (Upper) or Unter (Lower) Donau (Danube) Kreis. The uniform and equipment was similar to that of the Regular infantry except that a bell-topped shako was worn instead of a Raupenhelm. The single breasted blue (usual Bavarian light blue colour) jacket had poppy-red collar, cuffs and piping to turnbacks, shoulder straps,
cuffs flaps and down the front of the jacket. Trousers were also blue and worn loose over the top of black gaiters. Belting was white with bayonet in a black scabbard on the left hip. The shako had reinforcing bands top and bottom with brass chin scales, unit title above the peak, and lozenge type plate, a blue and white cockade and small pom-pom in battalion colours.
1 battalion - Red
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The Danube (Donau) Legion was part of the National Guard, which had existed in Bavaria for several years.