Austrian Light Infantry: The Croats

The Grenzer or Frontier infantry consisted of the Serb, Slavonic and Croatian peoples who inhabited the military border regions adjacent to the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans. They made a considerable impression on Frederick during his disasterous 1744 campaign in Bohemia, harassing supply lines and ambushing retreating Prussians. The French and Bavarian armies encountered a similar experience during their retreat along the Danube in the War of Austrian Succession.

Prince Joseph Sachsen-Hildburghausen created a fixed establishment of Grenzer troops in 1745 with 2 regiments of Warasdiners, 4 of Carlstadters, and 3 of Slavonians. Two Banal regiments were added in 1750. These regiments consisted of 16 companies of fusiliers, 2 companies of grenadiers, and 2 companies of sharpshooters.

In addition, each Grenze regiment included one squadron of 130 "hussars". These companies were divided into 2 battalions of six companies of fusiliers and one company of sharpshooters each, and one battalion of four fusilier companies for depot or garrison duty. The grenadiers were posted to ad hoc grenadier corps formed before each battle. Christopher Duffy mentions that some Croat units were armed with light 1 lb., 2lb, 2.5 lb. cannon and 4 lb howitzers. These were generally ineffective and were later removed, although Duffy told our tour group that the Croats employed a 1 pounder at Kolin and that its noise did an admirable job in shaking up the nerves of the Prussians, even though the projectiles did little damage.

The Grenzer troops were generally armed with smoothbore muskets, though some sources make mention of "Croat Rifles", which were probably the sharpshooter companies. Uniform colors varied from regiment to regiment and I encourage everyone to consult a copy of the excellent painting guides published by William Biles for a detailed description of their uniforms. Common uniform traits included a tall black felt hat that looked like a hussar's busby, a long red cloak that could wrap around the entire body, and Hungarian style trousers and short coat.

Austrian Jagers

The Austrians also produced a short-lived unit of Jagers, called the Deutsches Feld-Jager Corps. These were forest game-keepers armed with rifled weapons. General Lacy raised a unit of 400 men in 1758 and it eventually reached an establishment of 10 companies or 1,(X)0 men in total. Jagers wore a pike grey uniform with green cuffs and collar and a black leather casquet helmet. Duffy states that the unit distinguished itself at Torgau and was disbanded at the end of the war in 1763.

Austrian Freikorps Units

The Austrians did not rely on freikorps troops to the same extent as the Prussians for the simple reason that they could meet their manpower needs through convention means and recruitment. These units were probably employed as rear-echelon forces guarding supply routes, manning garrisons and other non-combat duties. One unit raised during the War of Austrian Succession was Trenck's Pandour Corps (1741-1748), whose disreputable career of pillage and freebooting brought considerable disrespect to the name "pandour". They wore a green uniform and sported shaved heads, save for a single scalp lock and were a fearsome sight to behold according to Duffy.

In the SYW, General Loudon raised a two battalion regiment that fought with some distinction at Kunersdorf, Landeshut and Liegnitz and was disbanded in 1763. They were clad in green coats, waistcoats and breeches, with red facings and cuffs.

General Beck raised a battalion of Silesian Volunteers clad in green uniforms with buff cuffs and lapels. They fought well at the defense of Neider-Arnsdorf in 1760 and were disbanded in 1763.

Duffy cites a unit known as Corps Otto raised by Captain Otto in Saxony in 1759. They were a single company of sharpshooters accompanied by cheveau-legers and hussars. Green coats, black cuffs and yellow breeches.

Other sources mention a Company Lacy dressed in white uniforms with yellow lapels and cuffs, and sporting a jager-style casquet helmet. Little is known of them, but they may have been employed as jagers.

Prussian Light Troops

With the exception of the regular hussar regiments and the foot jagers, there were no light troops in the Prussian army; at least none that could contend with the Grenzer troops of the Austrian army. Frederick relied on a number of Freikorps battalions to fulfill the role of light infantry. Frederick's thinking seemed to be that trained regulars were too valuable a commodity to be wasted on light infantry duty, especially given the risk that such soldiers were likely to desert if allowed to operate beyond the pale of the regular army.

Light Infantry Forces Austrian - Prussian SYW Theatre

Introduction
Austrian Light Forces
Prussian Light Forces
Austrian Grenzers Illustration (slow: 86K)
Prussian Frei Korps Illustration (slow: 96K)

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