by Phil Gaffney
The following illustrations and notes are supplementary to Urquhart's ANHOLT piece. To be honest, the uniforms were hard to research. I'm fairly happy with the results but would be happier if anyone can add to or correct these details. English language sources are sparce and contradictory; 1811 was a time of uniform transition and the bankruptcy of the Danish Crown makes it impossible to know which changes had taken place. Excluding the Guards, etc there were three types of Danish infantry during this period; Line, Jaeger and Sharpshooter. The 1st battalion of a line regiment comprised four Musketeer companies and a Grenadier company. The latter was replaced by a jaeger company in the subsequent battalions of the regiment. The Jaegers were armed with a rifle and swordbayonet, whilst the rest of the regiment had smoothbores and short sabres. The 'Independent' (my term) jaeger consisted of four companies per battalion. Half were armed with rifles, half with smoothbores. The Sharpshooters had five companies per battalion. They were armed with 'improved' smoothbores, which I am guessing to be good- quality muskets, or perhaps carbines (any ideas?) Shako with short white plume and yellow cords (both green for jaegers). Grenadiers wore an Austrian-type fur cap with a red bag lined white, and white plume with light blue tip. They all wore redcoats, with white turnbacks; (those funny things at the front of the coat) and regimentally coloured collar, cuffs, lapels and shoulder straps. (e.g. 1st Jutland-black piped white. Yellow metal buttons).The jaegers had black belts, the rest white. I am unsure as to the legwear though grey or blue gaiter-trousers, or grey breeches in black gaiters seems most likely. Drummers had swallow's nests in facing colour piped white. Officer's coats were of a different cut with long tails. They wore breeches in Hessian boots, epaulettes of button colour, and a yellow-gold and red striped sash. They also seem to have retained the bicorne. Independent jaegers and sharpshooters wore a practically identical uniform: Shako with green plume and cord. Green coat with black facings piped white (white turnbacks), yellow metal buttons, black belts and grey(?) breeches. SOURCESAnderson, S B Danish Auxiliaries of 1813 in MINIATURE WARGAMES no.87
Soren Andersen's article mentions a contemporary illustration by Turnbull showing 'Danish Troops' in action at Anholt wearing grey overcoats (i.e greatcoats)- Red for officers- calfskin packs and metal waterbottles. Back to Napoleonic Notes and Queries #5 Table of Contents Back to Age of Napoleon List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1992 by Partizan Press. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com |