Austrian Grenadier 1813
Uniform Study
by Adrian George, UK
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As with all ‘German’ regiments, the figure depicted is wearing white breaches and black gaiters. Hungarian regiments however, wore light blue pantaloons, which tucked into black leather ankle boots. The pantaloons had two yellow and black braid ‘Hungarian knots’ to the front, and yellow and black braid along the outer seems. German regiments also had rounded cuffs while the Hungarians were pointed. Not visible in this illustration, is the unique shape of the bearskin. It was known by the French as the armchair (fauteuil) it had a raised front while the rear was much lower. Also at the rear was a cloth patch, originally in the regiments facing colour but by 1810 yellow with white lace was the regulation. The brass grenade device on the cross belt was a Grenadier distinction from around 1809, previously an ornamental brass match case was worn. He is also wearing the later issue square steel canteen; the earlier model was circular, made of wood with brown strapping. The Grenadier is armed with the 5/4 Loeth calibre 1798 musket, the forerunner of the much inferior 1807 copy, which had iron fittings and an overall lower quality fin-ish. He also has the 1777 short sabre. Austrian regiments normally comprised of two battalions, while the numerically stronger Hungarians had three. Often during times of war, the two Grenadier companies contained in each battalion, were grouped with those of one or two other regiments to form composite Grenadier battalions. Austrian Grenadiers had a fine fighting record; this was especially true at the battles of Aspern-Essling and Wagram where they showed grim determination despite heavy losses. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire # 80 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2005 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com |
An Austrian Grenadier private of
the 4. Regiment (Hoch-und-Deutscheister)
during the 1813 cam-paign
in Germany.