This series of six plates were a gift from Tsar Alexander to the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III and were used to reform the uniforms of the Prussian army in 1808. They then became part of the Deutsche Heeres Bucherei collection in Berlin (Reference PW 45) until 1945 when they made their way into Ministry of War Library in Whitehall. There, in 1976, I had the privilege of identifying and cataloguing them (together with much other material) for the library. The collection has since been transferred to the National Army Museum library in Chelsea.

Plate 1: (left to right) Seated - dragoon, Zhitomir Regiment (red facings piped white, white buttons). Standing in rear - dragoon, Starodub (red facings, white buttons). Cuirassier privates, Regiments Gluchov (mid blue and white) and Military Order (black, yellow). Note the shoulder straps in the facing colour.

Plate 2: Jaegers (left to right):

Privates 3rd Regiment (red facings) 4th (grey) 26th (dark blue piped red); senior NCO, 23rd,(orange piped white); officer, 1Oth (black), two privates of an unidentified regiment (the colours are too faded to identify with certainty).

Plate 3: Light Cavalry (left to right):

Trooper, Isum Hussars, in the background are unidentifiable figures of a hussar and a lancer; Officer, Favlograd Hussars (the double eagle on the shako can clearly be seen); Officer, Polish Lancers (all lancer regiments wore dark blue tunics); they were differentiated by their facings and schapka tops (the characteristic, square-topped Polish headgear) as follows: Lithuanians (two regiments since 1803), A - dark blue facings piped raspberry, B - white schapka top piped raspberry, C dark blue shabraque edged raspberry, D raspberry lance pennant over dark blue. Tarters A dark blue piped raspberry, B - raspberry piped white, C - dark blue edged raspberry, D - raspberry over dark blue. Poles A raspberry piped dark blue, B - dark blue piped white, C - raspberry edged dark blue, D - dark blue over raspberry. All buttons were white. The two hussar figures were used by Professor Knoetel in his Plate 22, Volume IV of his Uniformenkunde

Plate 4: Cossacks ( left to right ):

Officer, Don Cossacks, Baschkir (seated in the red, furlined coat), Don Cossack (standing at right rear), two Don Cossacks (lying). Cossack 'uniform' was the national costume with very little uniformity, even as late as 1813. Dark blue and dark green were the most common colours for the long-skirted caftan and the baggy breeches; the Don Cossacks wore red bags to their fur caps, red waist sashes, red side stripes to their trousers and red edging to their dark blue shabraques. The Ataman's ('Leader's') Regiment of the Don Cossacks had light blue trim. The Ural Cossacks developed crimson trim. Officers wore silver waist sashes and ornaments to their bandoliers and pouches.

Plate 5: Line infantry (left to right):

Privates - Musketiers of the regiments Perm (white facings, raspberry shoulder straps), Ufa (camel facings, white shoulder straps), Grenadier, Caucasian Regiment (mid blue facings, red shoulder straps) note the moustache, plume and the grenade badge on the shako. In the rear, two senior NCOs of the St Petersburg Inspectorate (red facings), note the distinctive pompons, gold lace edgings to shako top band, collar and cuffs; the gloves and the cane. Company Officer, Schluesselburg Regiment (orange facings, turquoise shoulder straps); note the gold shako top band, the gold double eagles and chains to the sides of the shako, the very large silver gorget (held on a black and orange silk ribbon), thin silver waist sash and silver sword knot. In the background, two unidentified privates. The cartridge pouch lids of musketiers bore a round brass plate showing the double eagle; those of the grenadiers additionally had four flaming grenades (one in each corner) with the flames pointing towards the centre. NCOs wore smaller pouches than privates and on the fronts of their waistbelts. Musket slings were red. The men carried their kit in a cylindrical black leather portmanteau on a single, narrow white leather strap over the left shoulder. Above the shako pompon, musketiers wore a mushroom-shaped tuft in the same colours as the pompon.

Plate 6: Artillery (left to right):

Two gunners, a senior NCO, a gunner. The black, round wooden powder flasks had a round brass plate bearing the double eagle.

Main picture: Heavy Infantry of the Imperial Guard 1804-1808

All metal decorations for the Imperial Guard (buttons, buckles, cap and pouch plates) were in copper, for the line infantry, they were in brass. Jackets are dark green.

From left to right.

Sergeant of the Ismailovsky Footguards 1804-1806, distinguishable by his dark green collar. He wears the same equipment as the Sergeant of the Preobrajenski Footguards (see below) including the cane. The spontoon shaft is in the regimental colour, the white and orange tip to the bottle-brush plume and the gold lace to collar and cuffs as well as the quartered white, black and orange pompon and gold shako top band are all part of the insignia of rank. Pigtails were abolished in 1806.

Grenadier Private, Preobrajenski Footguards 1804-1806. The regiment is shown by the red collar & cuffs and grenadier cap bag. His equipment is the same as that of the grenadier of the Semenowski Footguards (see below). Note the bottle-brush crest around the cap front plate. The Prussian grenadiers of 1806 had similar decorations but less pronounced. The centre of private's white pompons were in the facing colour.

Musketeer Private, Semenowski Footguards, Parade Dress 1804 - 1808. This figure is based on the Wiskowatoff album. Recognisable by the light blue collar, cuffs and cap bag. After Wiskowatoff.

Grenadier Sergeant, Preobrajenski Footguards, Full Dress 1804 - 1808. Once again after the magnificent Wiskowatoff. His rank distinctions are as for the Sergeant of the Ismailowski Regiment, (see above).

The uniform regulations may have altered in 1806 but the Russian government did not have the money to order all old items to be thrown away overnight! The old clothing would have been worn out. It is thus certain that the vast majority of the Russian army in 1807 wore the dress of the 1806 model.

Collar and Cuff Embroidery

Officers of the Freobrajenski Footguards

This regiment was raised between 1683 - 1687 by Peter the Great and was the senior regiment of the three. The gold lace on the red collar and dark green cuff flaps were unique in design.

2 Collar and Cuff Embroidery, Officers of the Semenowski Footguards

This regiment was also raised by Peter the Great between 1683 - 1687

3 Collar and Cuff Embroidery, Officers of the IsmaDowski Footguards

This regiment was raised on 27 September 1730 in Moscow from a Ukrainian militia regiment. The officers were drawn from Lithuania, Estonia, Courland and from "other foreigners and from Russian natives". Their collars and cuffs were in the coat colour.

More Russian Army 1807

Russian Army 1807: Introduction and OOB
Russian Army 1807: Black and White Plates #1-7
Russian Army 1807: Black and White Plates #8-14
Russian Army 1807: Color Plates