I read with great pleasure the article by Mr. Grove on the 1848 war, published in MWAN No. 34 (Italy in Revolt, Volume 6 Number 6, Page 8). About the Piedmontese Army's organisation there are some observations to make. Each line infantry regiment was made up of three battalions of four companies of about 250 men. The 1st and 2nd battalions had one company of grenadiers and three of fusiliers. The 3rd battalion had four companies of Chasseurs. These last were light infantry only nominally. As a matter of fact they fought as line infantry and were not trained to act as light infantry. In his article Mr. Grove mentioned a lack of information regarding Real Navi and Parmense uniforms. Following is some information on the Real Navi's uniform. The Parmense will follow in a separate article in the near future. REAL NAVI'S UNIFORMS A black shako as for the line infantry. With full dress it had a crimson falling plume. With field dress the plume was removed and replaced with a crimson pompom. A brass anchor plate was on the front, with medium blue cockade. Chinstraps were black. The tunic was as for the line infantry. It was double breasted, deep blue with crimson collar, squared cuffs and piping to the waist. Brass shoulder straps with yellow fringes were worn instead of wings. Buttons were brass. Trousers were deep blue with crimson stripe. Armament and equipment were as for the line infantry. From October 1848 the line infantry received a new uniform. The stove pipe shako was replaced with a lower one, red with black crown and peak, green, white and red cockade, yellow loop on the front. On the field it was covered with a black waterproof cloth. The tunic was single breasted, deep blue. Distinctive regimental facings were abolished. All regiments had red collar and piping. Deep blue cuffs with red piping and patches. The wings were abolished. Trousers were deep blue with red stripe. Later, light grey-bluish ones were introduced. Real Navi conformed to this new style retaining crimson collar and cuffs. Trousers were deep glue. Shakos were covered with black waterproof cloth with a yellow anchor painted on it. Officers dressed as their men with a medium blue sash on the right shoulder. They had gold lace, pompom and, plate on the black shako. The brass hilted sword had a steel metal scabbard.  ROYAL CARABINEERS' UNIFORMS The Corps of Royal Carabineers have to be added to the horse regiments. Three squadrons of Royal Carabineers acted as escort to the King and the General Staff. On one occasion, at the battle of Pastrengo, they were employed as a fighting force too, when they successfully charged the Austrian infantry. They have to be classified as an "elite" force. They wore a black bicorne with blue cockade and silver loop. The coat was long tailed, double breasted, deep blue with white fringed epaulettes, white chevrons on the red collar and squared cuffs. Turnbacks and piping were red. Buttons were of white metal. White gloves were worn . Trousers were deep blue with a broad red stripe. All belting was white. The giberne was black with silver grenade on red field. Armament was a brass hilted sabre with steel scabbard and a carbine. Shabraques were squared, deep blue with red edge and white grenade. A black fur was worn on it. Officers wore the same uniform as their men with silver fringed epaulettes, embroidery on the collar and buttons. Headdress was a bicorne with falling red and blue feathers. Belting was silver. A medium blue sash was worn around the right shoulder with medium blue knots and gold fringes. FIGURES For Piedmontese line infantry use Minifigs Crimean War range 32K. Minifigs did Piedmontese infantry in Crimea as wearing a tunic instead of greatcoats, introduced for fields operations after the 1848-1849 war. This mistake gives us figures suitable for 1848 Piedmontese Line infantry. The only fault is these figures have fringed epaulettes instead of wings. Fringed epaulettes are good for Real Navi but not for Line Infantry. Purists can remove them and add wings with glue and wire segments. For Bersaglieri and artillery try Freikorps 15 Italian war range, ITA 3 for Bersaglieri and ITA 9 for artillery. For Carabineer use Minifigs Spanish Napoleonic Dragoons (7SPC) or Early Napoleonic French cavalry in Bicorne, 53FC. Typed by Dave Latz Back to MWAN # 41 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1989 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com