Ken Bunger's article on the "Armies at Fontenoy" in Volume VII, Number 4 of the Courier sparked my interest in the Dutch. I wrote to Mitch Allen whom Ken mentioned in his article. Mitch very kindly provided what information he had. The bulk of Mitch's information related to uniforms and came from the work of Bob Clifford of England; although Mr. Clifford did discuss a few colors and standards. Being assigned to the Netherlands, I decided to "tap the source" so to speak.

I wrote and visited the Dutch Army Museum in Delft, and I wrote to the Dutch military miniature collectors society, De Tinnen Tafelronde. Unfortunately, all was to little avail. To quote J. van Roo of the Dutch collectors, "I must warn you that your interest in the uniforms of the 1740's will lead to disappointments because so very little is known ... an evolution [in Dutch uniforms] not dictated by official regulations, but carried out by the regimental commanders with their tastes and purses." This was borne out by the Dutch Army Museum which wrote, "With this the state of information of uniforms, there did not appear much hope for colors and standards," although, during my visit to Delft I was able to locate the colors of one infantry regiment.

Triomphes and Failures

Nevertheless, experience has shown that one should not give up! A series of booklets on The Dutch Army during the War of Spanish Succession used a work entitled Triomphes XIV as its source for Dutch colors and standards of the early 18th century. In one of the booklets I came across a reference to a similar work for the early wars of Louis )CV, Triomphes LouisXV located in die Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. After a great deal of time and effort I was able to get access to this work.

The Triomphes Louis XV illustrates colors and standards captured by the French from 1735 to 1748. It is in fact two documents or folios. The first and largest appears to have been an attempt to merely catalog the appearance of all captured colors and standards. There is no attempt to indicate the date and place of capture, the regiment or nationality. The second folio is smaller in terms of the number of colors illustrated, but the date and place of capture, as well as the regiment, nationality or, in the case of the Dutch, province are indicated.

This folio seems to be an attempt to provide some order to the First. Unfortunately, it only covers the period from 1735 to the capture of Brussels in February 1746. Nevertheless, a number of Dutch colors and standards arc illustrated, and this has aided identification to some extent.

The Triomphes Louis XV contains many Dutch infantry colors, but only a few cavalry standards and dragoon guidons. This is understandable when one considers that there were many more sieges than field battles during die campaign in the Low Countries. Most of the Dutch colors were lost as a result of sieges, particularly during 1746. The surrender of Audenarde, Brussels, Mons, Charleroi and Namur resulted in many Dutch regiments becoming prisoners of war with the result that many colors fell into French hands.

On the other hand, the period saw only three major field battles: Fontenoy, Rocour and Laeffelt. Only at Rocour were the Dutch heavily engaged, performed well, but still lost a few colors to the French. Of the seven standards and guidons in the work, only three were taken on the battlefield (Laeffelt). The other four were lost as a result of sieges.

In associating the colors and standards to various regiments, I have relied on Volume IX of the Austrian General Staff work, osterreochoscher Erbfolge-Krieg 1740-1748. Both the text and annexes provided detailed information on the order of battle for garrisons of fortresses and Field armies.

Finally, I would like to thank Mitch Allen, Bob Clifford, Bruce Weeks and Juan L. Sanchez Martin of 'Searching the Seven Years' War" who have helped in one way or another in die development and writing of this Article. It was truly a joint effort; nevertheless any errors are mine done.

Descriptions

Dutch cavalry standards, dragoon guidons, Zeeland colors
Gederland colors, Utrecht standards
Friesland colors
Overijssel colors