Geschichte der Koniglich-Hanoverschen Armee by Gen-Lt. Von Sichart was first published between 1866-1871 in four volumes, in both cloth and leather editions. I consider it the "Bible" of the Hanoverian army organizational history.

Top (l to r): Legion Britannique Mounted Troop 3rd Sqdrn; Legion Britannique Mounted Troop 4th Sqdrn, Legion Britannique Mounted Troop 5th Sqdrn. From "Gmundener Prachtwerk."

Bottom (l to r): Hanoverian Mounted Jager and Foot Jager. From "Errichtung und Mondierung derrer Chur-Braunschw-Luneburgisch Trouppen" by Johann Jurgen Uhleubecker, Hannover, 1770 [from collection of Ken Bunger].

The incredible popularity of such volumes may be revealed by anecdote. Many times, especially in older volumes, one will find pages accidentally bound before being cut at the printers, making an envelope of unreadable text, which can only be accessed by cutting along the outer edge. This I had to do several times to the Sichart volumes at the library, being the first person to view these pages in over a hundred years.

The Book and Reader finally found each other after so much time and distance, and I must thank the purchaser of these volumes, who knew that some day they would be so useful to someone. It turned out to be especially so for studying Hanoverian light troops.

During the mid-eighteenth century, light troops were used to gather intelligence, scout ahead of the field army, keep outposts, seize key objectives in advance, harass the enemy at every opportunity, counter enemy light troops, protect communications and flanks, act as couriers, gather provisions, deserters, and prisoners, and as many other uses a commander could think of. The idea of using swarms of troops in open order ahead of advancing battle lines to absorb enemy fire does not seem apparent for our period, as it is for latter ones.

However, mid-eighteenth century light troops often did participate in grand battles. When present as small corps, they may often have been overlooked. For example, how many Orders of Battle for Dettingen mention the Hussars de Rosenburg, a corps of 50 Hungarian deserters fighting for the French? Of course, there were several types of light troops in the eighteenth century, and the term itself merely denotes those who do not do the bulk of their deployment in ranks. Thus, ironically, the term "light troops" encompasses what the nobility saw as both the best of an army and its worst. The Jager were highly valued and paid troops, epitomizing the trade of partisan warfare, whereas the freicorps were composed of those considered less reliable than the regulars, and often of less human worth; indeed, their classification as light troops may often be marginal. After all, the term "light troop" is a vast dumping ground for soldiers not easily categorized by conventional means.

Hussars were some of the most versatile light troops in eighteenth century armies, being involved in every sort of duty. In Prussia they were trained to fight in the battle line with the same order and determination as their larger cousins. Of special interest is the mixed corps, and we see this highly utilized in the western theatre. These combined horse Jager, foot Jager, and sometimes grenadiers or artillery. Light corps were often required to work well in advance of the main army, and therefore had to rely on their own resources for such necessities as horse, bayonet, and cannon support. The mixed corps was in many ways a miniature army.

As the Seven Years War progressed, the demands for light troops upon Hanover increased dramatically. From having no light troops at the beginning of the war, there existed, at the cessation of hostilities, a considerable body of such troops. I will attempt to illustrate this great growth, using Sichart's volume as my guide.

The numbers of men that will be shown do not represent roll-call returns, but rather "manpower" objectives, put in place to help control and regulate the various regiments and corps, to ensure that inhabers had the financial resources to pay for a desired amount of troops, the "etat" for a regiment. These numbers helped to promote accountability, uniformity, and mutually agreed upon goals.

Take for example a modern navy ship's company: usually under-staffed, sometimes over-staffed for certain rates, there is an agreed upon optimum, constantly striven for, determined by usefulness and finances. The major difference is, I believe, that the modern naval ship's captain does not control payroll funds. Hence, the double significance of "etat" head counts.

The most famous Hanoverian light corps was the Hussars. In 1757 Rittmeister Nicolaus von Luckner came riding out of Holland with a company for the Hanoverian service. His first officers were his Hungarian proteges, and most of the enlisted were foreigners of different sorts. Gradually, as the reputation of this corps started to grow, natives of Hanover began entering it, until eventually nearly the whole bunch consisted of natives.

The need for light troops had been shown in the War of Austrian Succession, where they had proved invaluable for the Austrians, French, and Russians for reconnaissance, raids, and sniping. Therefore, in May 1757, a corps of Jager was established by the vice-oberJagermeister Graf von Schulenburg. The Jager were chosen from hunters and marksman volunteers, and enlisted under very agreeable circumstances. Officers were chosen from the regular troops or from skilled foresters. Originally there were 200 zu Pferde [mounted] and 200 zu Fuss [on foot]. Their usefulness caused a rapid growth.

Jager corps (Schulenberg's, Freytag's)
Type\Year	August 1757	1758	1759	1760
Zu Pferde	2 coys X 106	2 coys. X 106	3 coys. X 106	6 coys. X 106
Zu Fuss	4 coys. X 156	6 coys. X 156	6 coys. X 206	6 coys. X 206
Staff	9	11	11	11
["coy" = company, followed by company strength. -Editor's note]

In May 1758 a new light corps was formed under Captain H. A. von Scheither, who came from the Grenadieren zu Pferde. His new command consisted of a chevaux-leger, a Jager, and a grenadier company (the chevaux- legers in this case may be considered as Jager zu Pferde in my opinion). Scheither's corps also contained artillery, most probably amusettes. In November, 1759, the chevaux-legers were increased from 103 to 300. During 1761, Scheither's Corps experienced a lot of wastage, and so they had to be completely reorganized. The new organization follows:

Staff: 16
Zu Pferde, 4 coy. X 106 424
Grenadiers, 2 coy. X 200 400
Jagers, 1 troop X 60 60
Total: 900

It appears that at some point a troop of uhlans was attached to the chevaux- legers, but their strength is unknown.

In early 1759 another body of light troops was raised under Major von Stockhausen, who was from Zastrow's Infantry Regiment (1B). It was known as the "Schutzen Battalion" and consisted mostly of expert marksmen from the countryside. They formed very quickly, experienced officers being drawn from the line regiments. The original estate consisted of 6 staff, 144 grenadiers, and 252 schutzen; the latter divided into two companies. In 1760, a 230-man mounted squadron was added to the corps.

In 1760, a freicorps was formed and called the "Legion Britannique." As with all freicorps, it was recruited openly without regard to nationality. This foreign legion was put under British pay and officered by Hanoverians. It was organized into five battalions which were recruited in Einbecke, Gottingen, Lemgo, and Soest. The ranks soon filled with deserters, foreigners, and occasionally prisoners of war, the latter of negligible value.

In other words, it consisted of men not considered to be material for the regular Hanoverian army.

It is not surprising that desertion and indiscipline plagued the Legion throughout its brief history. Initially, each battalion consisted of four infantry companies of 125 men each and a dragoon squadron of 101, giving a total of 601, but in 1762 the dragoons were amalgamated into one corps, and in December of that year, the Legion Britannique was transferred into the Prussian service under the command of Oberst von Beckwith. Only the first two battalions were retained, apparently keeping their original uniforms. Battalion I came under a Major Kruse, and the original Hanoverian Major von Adam retained command of his Battalion II.

The appetite for light troops during the Seven Years War was voracious. From having no formal bodies of light troops in the War of Austrian Succession, there was by 1762 in the allied army:

Jager Corps: 2497
Scheither's Corps: 900
Hussar Corps: 671
Legion Britannique: 3135
Attached English, Hessian, Brunswick, & Prussian Light Troops: 4974

Yet even these were still not considered enough, so in 1762 Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick raised another brigade of light troops, drawn from the line regiments. One of the new formations making up the brigade was composed entirely of Hanoverians, twelve of the line battalions coughing up 40 men a piece in order to form a 480-man "Jager battalion under Major von Quernheim. "Jager Brigade" (Lord Cavendish, G. M.)

New Unit	Commander	Nbr. of Btns. Contributing	Each Contributing:	New Unit's Total Strength
English Btn.	Maj. Fraser	12	40	480
Hanoverian Btn.	Maj. Quernheim	12	40	480
Hessian Btn.	Maj. Rall	8	50	400
Brunswick Btn.	Maj. Hortwig	8 musketeer 3 grenadier	40	40	440

Yearly Totals of Hanoverian Light Troops
Hussars	Jager Corps (Freytag's)	Schutzen Battalion
1757 - 54	1757 - 845	N/A
1758 - 184	1758 - 1159	N/A
1759 - 411	1759 - 1565	1759 - 402
1760 - 671	1760 - 1883	1760 - 632
1761 - 671?	1761 - 1883*	1761 - 1883*
* Freytag's and Stockhausen's were amalgamated in 1762 (2497)

Yearly Totals of Hanoverian Light Troops
Scheither's Corps	Legion Britannique
1758 - 421	N/A
1759 - 620	N/A
1760 - 620	1760 - 3005
1761 - 900	1761 - 3005
N/A	1762 - 3135

Grand Summary
Type	1756	1757	1758	1759	1760	1761	1762
Cavalry*	6094	6094	6094	6094	6094	6094	6094
Infantry**	20,351	20,351	22,801	25,641	25,641	25,641	25,641
Artillery ***	731	731	1,361	1,461	1,461	1,461	1,461
Light Troops ****	N/A	899	1,764	2,998	3,806	4,086	4,086
Freicorp Troops	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	3,005	3,005	3,005
Line Troops	27,176	27,176	30,256	33,196	33,196	33,196	32,716 *****
Light Troops	N/A	899	1,764	2,998	6,811	7,091	7,701 ******
Total "Etat"	27,176	28,075	32,020	36,194	40,007	40,287	40,417
% Light Troops	0%	3%	5.5 %	8%	17%	17.5 %	19%

*Includes Gardes du Corps, Grenadiers a Cheval, Reiters, & Dragoons.
**Includes the Foot Guards.
***Includes the Engineers, who numbered around 19.
****Includes hussars, Jagers, light corps grenadiers.
*****Minus 480 men of Quernheims Battalion.
******Plus 480 men of Quernheim's Battalion.

More Hannoverian Light Troops Illustrations (slow: 168K)

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