Although it is relatively easy to dig up information on the major armies of the Napoleonic period, this does not apply to the armies of the Austrian Empire. Despite the fact that the Osterreich consistently raised the largest armies of the coalitions, she is passed over. Any books that give details are very hard to find. Living in Washington and having The Library of Congress at hand, you can believe me! It is especially infuriating when one tries to find how to paint the screening light infantry, because if you wait til you find the info, your line and gunners will be shot to pieces. Rather than let that happen to any far-flung Austrian field marshals, archdukes, etc., I have tried to put together the basics you will need to paint any light infantry you may have. This research was done originally for my army which is patterned on the 1809 - 1813 army.

First of all, there are two main areas for the Austrian light infantry: the Landwehr types (reservists) and the regular formations.

Landwehr Light Infantry

The Landwehr light formations, called freicorps, just are not capable of being cataloqued. There were altogether too many, they weren't organized, and no designated uniform existed for all. If the knit was not sponsored by a wealthy individual, a town, or not able to beg borrow or steal uniforms from a nearby depot, then the citizens turned up in their Sunday best. Those that were lucky enough to be set up in uniforms and weapons had the regular uniforms, a gray overcoat, and either the Jager hat or the raupelhelm. The first was a sort of bush hat turned up on the side, and the latter was a helmet left over from the Austrian line which looked rather like a dragoon helmet.

The uniform was usually dyed in the peculiar gray of the landwehr. This is not an axiom though: as the Vienna Freicorps Schutzen had white pants and some had blue, green, or brown tunics and trousers. The facing colors were uaried, red being fairly common, as in the case of the Vienna unit, and was on collars, cuffs; turnbacks, and edges. All leather was black.

There were many freicorps units, but they weren't generally very effective since they lacked discipline. Another type of reserve light infantry had a little better luck but they were backed up by regulars. Among the reforms of Archduke Charles was one that brought a light unit into the battallion-regimental structure in answer to the French organization. All the Austrian line regiments had two full strength regular battalions and one landwehr battalion that was called up in time of war. Before 1808 this third battalion was drilled as light infantry. Their uniforms were exactly the same as line infantry, with the tunic of medium gray, the pants either white with black gaiters for the German troops and blue for the Hungarian, the facing color being that of the parent regiment. These are the two major types of irregular lights and about as much of the uniforms data as I have been able to dig up on them.

Regular Light Infantry

The regular light infantry fit into more definite types.

There were one minor and two major organizations that were represented in the Austrian field armies. The first was a sort of National-Schutzvereine which had been originally set up in the early 1790's and was composed of about 12 battalions at maximum strength. They had the raupelhelm, a dark to medium gray uniform, black leather, and different facing colors for each battalion. So far I have ascertained that red, dark green, and medium and dark blue were used for four of the battalions. There is an illustration of this type in Preben Kannick's Uniforms of the World. After 1808, when the Jagers were formed, many of these were turned into Jagers and by 1813 probably less than four units were left.

The Jagers were an extremely good formation with a very high morale, and had been raised to counter the French Voltigeurs. Their uniforms were cut in the regular line pattern and they wore the Jager hat. This was black with a green plume and a dark green band around its base which was almost as high as a tophat. The colors of the different regiments were varied but not nearly so hard as the freicorps to find out about.

Most Jagers had an all green uniform and all but a few of these had red facing colors, green being the next most common facing color. The Tyroleans had a medium gray uniform with green facings. One regiment had white pants, blue tunic, and yellow facings. There were other variations such as brown tunics or blue pants but green or grey uniform with red or green facings definitely were worn by the vast majority. In 1809 there had been 9 Jager battalions of about 850 men each, and by 1813 a total of over twenty raised.

Grenzer Light Infantry

Now we come to the last, and best, light infantry force of the Austrian Empire. The Grensers. The Grenze was the military border that was set up after Suleiman the Magnificent overran Hungary and the Balkans. The Christians of those countries he conquered fled to the Hapsburg lands for safety and were placed in the area between Austria and occupied Hungary, as a buffer state from 1527 onward. With additions as time went on the border increased until it was capable of raising enough men in the Seven Years War to comprise a quarter of the Imperial forces. By 1809 there were 17 field regiments of 3,000 men each but when Napoleon toot Croatia away after Wagram, only 11 were left. The border infantry fought as lights in the frequent small wars that continuously were waged within the border's rough terrain. They were declared to be lights by Maria Theresa prior to the Seven Years War, but because of their high dedication, trustworthiness, toughness, and cruelly they made excellent shock troops.

In 1813 the regiments were No.5 Crautzer, and No.6 St.Georger, in the Warasdin Districk; 7-Broader, 8-Gradiskaner and 9-Peterwardienert in the Slavonian Grenze; 12-Deutschbantisbhes, and 13-Wallachisch-Illyrisches, in the Bonat; and 14- and 15-first and second Szeckeer, 16- and 17-First and second Wallachisches, were in the Siabenburg (Transylvania) District.

The uniform and shako had the same style as the regular line infantry except that the pants were a trifle lighter. The trousers were light blue, the tunic was white except for regiments 6, 12, and 15 which had light brown, the leather being white, and the buttons yellow for 5,8, 9, 14, and 16, white for the remainder. The facing colors were red for 5 and 6, light red for 7 and 8, light grey for 9 and 13, light blue for 12, bright red for 14 and 15, and green for 16 and 17.

Not only did the border provide most of the regular light infantry, but each regiment brought along in war many irregular troops, or borderers. These had a hooded red cloak, a red stocking cap, and dark blue trousers and shirt. They were a motley crew that would rarely do any stand up fighting but were great for terrorizing the neighborhood, scouting, and skirmishing. They were an interesting body due to their arsenal of weapons and well known rapaciousness. Also, because of their varied origin, it was not unknown for mohammedans to be signed up. It must have been something of a shock for the first time you heard a high, piercing "Allah-il-Allah- akbar" from the enemy skirmishers, after all, weren't the Turks allied to the French?

Also, their peculiar over and under rifle-musket eventually reached about 10% of the Grenzers by 1813 and this gave them a nice advantage in the firefight.

Cavalry

In organizing your army, each division should have one brigade with a regiment of hussars or lancers and a force of light infantry in it. This force should either be a Jager battalion or a Border regiment. Now and then one or two Freicorp were thus assigned.

This allowed for great flexibility in operations as each heavy wing of infantry, a brigade of the line had two line regiments, and usually its own light screen. In this way a mobile reserve was always available to bring immediate aid to the line infantry in the tight spots--if the divisional commander had sufficient ability.

After this formation was entered into, no Austrian Army ever suffered a rout by Napoleon's hands. I believe this organization, with many guns attached, took advantage of all the strengths of the different Austrian arms and was instrumental in the battles later fought.

In ending up I don't think that it is un-wise to say that the Grenzers and Jagers certainly were the best infantry of the Austrian army. The fact that they were the vanguard, rearguard, and shock troops of the army is the best evidence I can advance for this.