"Wallmodens Corps 1813, A wargamers delight? " Topic

Like most wargamers it seems, I am easily distracted by new toys and periods. Have managed for the last year to stick with Napoleonics and painted Russians, Prussians and French for the 1813 campaign but have now gone and ordered some Victrix British. I remembered reading about the British and Hanoverian troops in Germany so have done a little research. The troops under Wallmoden included the British 74th Regiment and a number of Hanoverian units that wore British uniforms. There was also the Russo-German legion who wore Russian uniforms, the Prussian Lutzow freicorps and a number of other German units that wore Prussian uniforms. So looks like I can field all my different units in one army depending on how there painted.
May be not the best army quality wise but how's that for a diverse force?

Actually the British 73rd Ft. :)

A very interesting little army.

Cliff

That's what got me over the hump for my GASLIGHT forces.
A little bit of Foundry 7th Cavalry, a box or two of RAFM Soldiers of theQueen, a bag of 20th Maine, a few bags of Foundry Cheyenne, a sasquatch or two…

Cliff, thanks for the correction. Was at work so posting from memory. Cheers, Simon

Did'nt they have a RHA rocket battery too? I recall reading that there was one at Leipzig. Of course, I read that 20+ years ago….

Here is a nice little scenario from an excellent website with the OB for Wallmoden's Corp. It will give me a chance to have a break from painting for the peninsular wars.

link

Can anyone direct me to the appropriate 28 mm figure manufacturers for the hanoverians, prussians and russians in this corps. Know lots about british, french and portuguese but nothing about central european armies.

Thanks

John

Lutzow's Freicorps didn't wear standard Prussian Uniforms. They wore black.

John, In 28mm Calpe do the Prussian types, including the Lutzow Freicorp uniform. Front Rank do the Russians. The plastic British figures from Victrix and the Perry's when they arrive will be suitable for the Hanoverians. The Perry's are also promising Hanoverian figures in metal too.

Murvihill, I knew that the Lutzow Freicorp wore black. I meant that a number of German units can be represented by Prussian figures but in different colour schemes. Calpe actually make some very nice figures specifically for the Lutzow Freicorp.

Cheers, Simon

Thanks, Simon, sounds like I will get to try some different manufacturer, as all my peninsular french, british and portuguese are Front rank, foundry or elite.

I have always been curious about Calpe, so this gives me a chance to take a look. I presume the Hanoverians in 1813 wore a British uniform with a Belgic Shako, but with a black plume. Would the Russian legion wear standard infantry uniforms of the time?

Thanks,

John

John
AFAIK The Hanoverians wore stovepipe shako's. The uniforms were discarded British kit. Not sure about the plume, I think they were the same as British.
The Russian legion did wear standard Russian uniforms but the collar and shoulder straps were different colours. I think the horse artillery had a different uniform, Front rank do figures for them.
Calpe are really nice figures and you can still order them seperately too. They will fit in well with your Front Rank and Elite as there big figures.
Best wishes, Simon

Yes I'd like to back up whats been said about Calpe, the definate goto guy for Prussians. Been having a little production difficulty, I gather, but well worth any wait I promise you…

In Celle, Hanover there is an excellent museum that shows a large painting (and many KGL nad other atefacts) of Hanoverian Troops wearing WHITE Belgic shakos; apparently this tropical kit was issued to the newly equipped Hanoverian forces! I think the battle depicted was Gohrde.

I found a illustration on the web of a member of the Bennigsen battalion. He wears a British style red coat with green facings and a white belgic shako with a green plume.

Bennigsen battalion:

picture

The link doesn't seem to work

Simon,

Sorry, could NOT 'deleat' the post!?! I believe it is the picture you mentioned.

Try:

link

On the right of third 'row' of pictures.

Steve

Cheers Steve, its a different picture but same uniform.

Hi does anyone have an OB for Gohdre for the allied forces with the specifically the name of the regiment. I have this so far. It looks like some fun painting.

I came across the white shako for the Hanoverian troops myself. A couple of questions, does anyone know the names of the Hanoverian bats in the 3rd Div. What figures (28mm) would you use for the Jagers in the 1st Div and what regiments of Cossacks were in this Corps.

Allied Order of Battle
CC Wallmoden
1st Division Arenschildt (Russian German Legion)
1st Brigade Natzmer
1st RGL Line Inf 700
2nd RGL Line Inf 600
5th RGL Line Inf 700
2st Brigade Von Wardenburg
3rd RGL Line Inf 600
4nd RGL Line Inf 700
6nd RGL line Inf 700
Cavalry RGL ist Hussars 600
Artillery
RGL HA 6
RGL FA 6

2nd Division Tetterborn (Prussian)
1st Brigade Ratt
Prussian Jag 360
Prussian Jag 600
Prussian FreiKorps (2 Batt) 700
Cavalry Prus FreiKorps Hussars 420
Russian Cossacks (3 Reg) 990
Artillery
Hannoverian HA 6

3rd Division Lyon (Hanoverian-British)
1st Brigade Martin (Light)
Han 600
73rd Highland 480
Han 600
2st Brigade Halkett (Line)
Han 600
Han 600
Han 600
KGL Line 360
Artillery
Hannoverian FA 6

4th Division Dornberg (cavalry)
KGL 3rd Hussars 780
Hannoverian Hussars 180
Artillery
KGL HA 12
RGL HA 6
British Rockets 6

Wallmoden's Corps 10.viii.1813 (from Plotho, vol 2, Beilagen, pp 56-59)

GM baron Tettenborn
1 bat 2nd [Russian] Jaeger regt – ObLt Essen – 247 m.
Don Cossacks:
Grebtsov-2 – 336 m.
Komisarov – 368 m.
Sulin-9 – 314
Denisov-7 – 332 m.
2 guns from the 5th [Russian] HA comp. 31 m.

More to follow as time permits.

Steve

That is great Steve, I have spent about 4 hours on the internet trying to work out this. It seems like the 2nd Division was a combined Russian-Prussian Freikorp.

In respect to the Hanoverian line regiments, I found this interesting link link

The uniform of Von Benningsen batt is as prev described, but I am trying to work the image of Von Langrehr's Batt, it looks more like a light inf set.

John

John,

I forgot about my good friend Markus' posting.

Here is a listing from the same above source for the Hanoverians under GM Dorenberg:

1) Hansiatic troops:

…

2)Hannoverian troops:

1 bat Razeburg Infantry – M. Berger
1 bat Hannover 'Sharpshooters' – ObLt graf Kielmansegge
1 bat Luneburg Jaeger bat – N
1 bat Bremen-Verden Jaeger bat – N
1 bat Hannover Infantry-Jaeger – N
Oberst v Ersdorf:
3 sqds Luneburg Hussar regt – N
3 sqds Bremen-Verden Hussar regt – N

total 3000 men

John,

You might find this of interest:

link

If you can not access it, let me know and I will post it here.

Steve

the link is great Steve,

Many thanks,

John

Another nice bit:

link

Here is my updated OB for the Battle of Gohdre which of course only uses part of Wallmoden's Corp. Still a variety of uniforms. I used the 2 primary sources Steve Smith suggested and I hope it is about right. Does anyone have any idea what the Battalion of Reiche's volunteers is, as this is the only bit I am still not sure about. I am also not sure what figures to use for the Light Battalion's in the British Hanoverian Brigade. Thanks for the help.

John

Allied Order of Battle
CC Wallmoden
1st Division Arenschildt (Russian German Legion)
1st Brigade Natzmer
1st RGL Line Inf (V Schaper) 600
2nd RGL Line Inf (V Fircks) 600
5th RGL Line Inf (V Dobschutz) 600
2st Brigade Von Wardenburg
3rd RGL Line Inf (V Tiedemann) 600
4nd RGL Line Inf (V Horn) 600
6nd RGL line Inf (V Natzmer) 600
Cavalry RGL 1st Hussars (V der Goltz) 600
Artillery
RGL HA (Monhaupt 9pdr) 12

2nd Division MG Tetterborn (Prussian)
1st Brigade Ratt
Battalion of Reiche 400
Prussian Lutzow's FreiKorps 400
Cavalry Russian Don Cossacks Komisarov 368
Russian Don Cossacks Sulin 314
Russian Don Cossacks Denisov 332

3rd Division MG Lyon (Hanoverian-British)
1st Brigade Martin (Light)
Light Bremen-Venden (Deveaux) 400
73rd Highland Light 480
Light Anhalt Desgaw 400
2st Brigade Halkett (Line)
Hanoverian Line von Lauenberg 600
Hanoverian Line von Bennigsen 600
Hanoverian Line von Langrehr 600

4th Division Dornberg (cavalry)
KGL 3rd Hussars (Kuper) 780
Bre-Ven/Luneberg Hussars (4th Han) (Estorf ) 180
Artillery KGL HA 6pdr (Bruckman) 12 guns
British Rockets 6

Das Reichesche "Ausländische" Jäger-Bataillon: Major v. Reiche's "Foreign" Jaeger Battalion – formed from former Confederation of the Rhein troops. It appears to have been a cut above the other "Foreign" battallons. It was later merged with several other units to form the Prussian Elb Infantry Regiment.

Several observations:

Instead of 'division' I would use 'column' the word used in the various reports.

The RGL infantry were batallions (1-6). These were formed into two (2) regiments: 1-3 1st; 4-6 2nd regiment. The 2nd was under the cmd of ObLt v. Stulpnagel.

The Hannoverian troops were in batallions.

The numbers after the Don Cossack Cmdr names are important, as they designate the correct unit i.e Sulin-9 = the regiment of Sulin the 9th [in the list of officers named Sulin].

Tettenborn (note the spelling) was an Austrian in Russian service.

'Verden' not 'Venden'.

'Dessau' not 'Desgaw'.

Thanks Steven,

So I think you are saying that the Reiche's Battalion was made up of foreign troops in Prussian Jager uniforms. Thanks for the spelling corrections the print of the old books was quite hard to read and I am not familiar with Central European spelling.

I appreciate all the help you have given with this.

John

The following is from the Osprey MAA192 by Peter Hofschroer
'Kapitan von Reiche formed a foriegn Jaeger batalion from volunteers in Berlin and later on the lower Elbe. They wore a green Jaeger uniform with green shoulder straps, and were armed with infantry muskets; the volunter jaegers had rifles'
For figures I guess Prussian fusiliers would be best for the musket armed troops. Calpe do specific figures for volunteer Jager.

Thanks Simon Boulton, I was curious have you or were you going to assemble the whole 20,000 man Wallmoden's Corps.

John

John, I use General De Brigade rules so at a scale of 1:20 I don't think I'll manage the whole 20,000!
Cheers, Simon

Little easier maybe at 1:50 using LFS.

John

The Perry miniatures website has been updated and the workbench section shows 6 command figures for Hanoverian light battalions. Very nice they look too

link

Yippee! And Brits too! A proper Bicentennial is assured methinks.

Coming back to Reiche's for a moment, "foreigners" in this context means subjects of German states other than Prussia. Most of them were from Rhenish provinces which fell to Prussia under the Congress of Vienna Act, so much of the unit remained in Prussian service.

Was this entire corps at Leipzig?

73rd Highland,
As far as I know these were a regular line battalion and not light troops. They had abandoned the kilt in early 1800's and wore regular line uniform.

Interestingly the Majority of the battalion at this time were English (50% if I remember rightly) as it had taken a large number of recruits from English Militias. It also had more Irish men than Scots at this time aswell. English and Irish would often volunteer for highland units if they didnt have to wear a kilt.

I believe one of the reasons many units abandoned the kilt was because it made recruitment easier.

Widowson, IIRC the corps was facing Davout in North Germany, therefore never reached Leipzig.

Here's a lini to the Knotel plate of Reiche's Jager Battalion.

picture

Terry

Here's a link to the Knotel plate for Reiche's Jager Battalion.

picture

Terry

Wallmoden's Corps included other forces at times:

GLt v Begessak (sp) Swedish Division

5th Swedish Bde- Oberst Bergenssrale (sp)
Smaland IR (1 Bn) 471
Jonkopngs IR (3 Bn) 505, 478, 490
South Skanska IR (1 Bn) 629
Konigs IR (1 bn) 517 (Kungens eget värfvade regemente?)
Morner Hussars (1 sqdn)76
Skanska Karabiner Rgt 493
Art Btry (Mendes Rgt) 8 guns

Mecklenburg Bde- GenMaj v Fallois
Mecklenburg Grenadier Garde Bn 468
Mecklenburg IR (2 bn)644
Fuss Jager Rgt (1 bn) 616
Hs Jager Rgt (4 sqdns) 572
Art Btry – 2 guns
Schill's Hussar (2 sqdn) 243

Hanseatic Bde -
Hamburg Bn 878
Lubeck Bn 709
Hanseatic Cavalry Rgt (8 sqdn) 1280
(half) Hs Btry (4 guns)
(half) Ft Btry (4 guns)

The British infantry contingent also included these units:

MajGen Gibbs
4/1st Foot Royal Scots- 986
2/25th Foot- 364
2/33rd Foot- 647
2/54th Foot- 486
2/73rd Foot- 530
2/91st Foot- 446

All the returns shown were based on a mid-August report.
The comment on the Highland Rgts. regarding the change to trews for all but 3 regiments (42, 79 and 92) was due in great part to the shortage of recruits williing to wear Kilts was correct. The change was initiated in 1809.

The 73rd (Perthshire) Regt in this campagin was the 2nd btn, – in actual fact all Nottingham lads! :o) I think they wore Tartan trews. A real b*gg*r to paint! And dont forget the diced band around the headgear……. :o)

As well as the differences already mentioned the Russo-German troops had grey trousers instead of white/green in the Russian army.

Hanoverians had very different flags to Brits, and there were detail changes yo uneed to be careful about. Also uniforms changed in 1813 when received back under Brit control once again. Certainly Brit uniforms by 1814, but which you use in 1813 is open to interpretation. Most Uniform sources for Hanover seem to go directly to the 1814/1815 uniform….. which may be incorrect for 1813.

You could probably do no better than acquire the Osprey Men at Arms book (no. 206) for your source – written by Hofschroer and only a tenner.

For anyone doing this in 15mm, I use Brunswick Guard figures for von Lutzow's corps: shako, dangly plume and Litewka – all in black. As well as having a compnay of Jaeger per btn, one of the battalions themselves should be 25% Jaeger (Brunswick Advance Guard figure). You can use Lutzow's Freikorps all over the place, including with Austrians in 1809, and at Ligny/Waterloo in 1815. An interesting corps which is easy to paint and field.

"The following is from the Osprey MAA192 by Peter Hofschroer
'Kapitan von Reiche formed a foriegn Jaeger batalion from volunteers in Berlin and later on the lower Elbe. They wore a green Jaeger uniform with green shoulder straps, and were armed with infantry muskets; the volunter jaegers had rifles'
For figures I guess Prussian fusiliers would be best for the musket armed troops. Calpe do specific figures for volunteer Jager."

Actually, I think the uniform mentioned was KGL based.

I meant to put in the Lutzow's Freikorps X factor tune in my previous post: They seem to enjoy a sense of notoriety!

"Was glänzt dort vom Walde im Sonnenschein?
Hör's näher und näher brausen.
Es zieht sich herunter in düsteren Reih'n,
Und gellende Hörner erschallen darein,
Erfüllen die Seele mit Grausen.
Und wenn ihr die schwarzen Gesellen fragt:
Das ist Lützow's wilde verwegene Jagd."

This would be a good way for me to go after the next round of painting, I have half already. I ask is it that critical to have exact units or is close enough good enough?
I'm solo, but I try to get spot on, but figure's don't always comply