| Augie the Doggie | 29 Jun 2014 11:17 p.m. PST |
Did Hessian soldiers wear moustaches during thenAWI period? By "Hessians" I mean the ones from Hesse Kassel. I don't care about The contingents from Brunswick, Anhalt etc. Someone told me that they were clean shaven, so I looked at my Troiani plates and he has centre company musketeers clean shaven, whilst grenadiers have moustaches . Augie |
| ciaphas | 30 Jun 2014 2:32 a.m. PST |
As far as I can tell all grenadiers excepting Rall's were all mustached. jon |
| passiveaggressive | 30 Jun 2014 2:54 a.m. PST |
"I don't care about The contingents from Brunswick, Anhalt etc" You should. They will be lonely. |
| comte de malartic | 30 Jun 2014 4:42 a.m. PST |
Rall's, as a Grenadier Regiment, should have had moustaches as well. Also, this did not apply to officers and they were all expected to be clean shaven. From what I have read about the Prussian Army in the Seven Years War it was
up to the Colonel whether the Regiment (Musketeers, Fusiliers) had mustaches or not (Grenadiers were expected to, and if you couldn't grow one you painted it on). Based on the watercolors of Hessian soldiers on the Von Donop website, it appears that moustaches were out of favor for musheteers and fusiliers by that time. My "gut feeling" is that the ommission of a moustache for Rall was
a mistake on the part of the artist. v/r Joe |
 DWilliams  | 30 Jun 2014 6:25 a.m. PST |
Here's the link from the Von Donop website, in case you don't have it … link |
| historygamer | 30 Jun 2014 6:43 a.m. PST |
I believe fusiliers and musketeers were clean shaven, with grenadiers wearing mustaches. I think this also followed the French fashion as well. |
| 95thRegt | 30 Jun 2014 7:24 a.m. PST |
Members of Ralls regiment were CLEAN shaven. Bob |
| John the OFM | 30 Jun 2014 8:34 a.m. PST |
Rall was … different. It is the exception to every rule. |
| Tom Collins | 30 Jun 2014 11:10 a.m. PST |
In the Rall Grenadier Regiment the five (5) ordinary grenadier companies were clean shaven. Rall's sixth (6th.)elite right flank grenadier company wore mustaches! If you are doing the converged Koehler grenadier battalion it's mustaches. In 1788 the Land Grenadier Regiment (ex Rall) & the 2nd. Garde Regiment & Leib Grenadier Regiment match the same pattern of clean shaven ordinary grenadier companies and the sixth grenadier company wearing mustaches. |
| Redcoat 55 | 30 Jun 2014 5:24 p.m. PST |
I had asked a friend who did a top notch Jaeger impression about the mustash issue, he said only Hessian grenadiers had them during the AWI. |
| Augie the Doggie | 30 Jun 2014 6:16 p.m. PST |
This is all great information, thank you gentlemen. One other question : did the Hessians wear the pig tail or did they get rid of that in North America? Augie |
| comte de malartic | 01 Jul 2014 7:55 a.m. PST |
Apart from the watercolor, what is the source for the one through five companies of Rall's not having mustaches. Just interested--not trying to start a fight. v/r Joe |
| John the OFM | 01 Jul 2014 9:06 a.m. PST |
I can believe that.
According to TMP lore…
The Rall regiment was originally a converged grenadier battalion of garrison regiments that somehow became "regularized". BTW, that COULD explain why they have no lapels, but that is just a guess. Now the real guesswork begins.
So, you have a whole regiment that wears tall pointy metal hats, but it is a "regular" regiment. It now has the normal companies (and flags!), and a single elite company that gets stripped off.
So, the "regular" companies follow the regulations and have no moustaches, while the elite company does have moustaches. How did I do? |
| Tom Collins | 01 Jul 2014 10:31 a.m. PST |
@ John the OFM , Excellent. The Land Grenadier Regiment(Rall) was formed from the Hesse Kassel Militia Regiments and fought in the 7YRS war. The Rall Regiment was uniformed and treated like a second class Garrison unit. A give away that it was not thought of as a 1st.class unit was it's sixth grenadier company was converged into the fourth battalion with the other grenadier companies from the three Garrison Regiments. British Colonel William Faucit of the Guards inspected and mustered in to British service all 19 Hesse Kassel Battalions at Bremen. Colonel Faucit reported the "Rall Regiment to be clean shaven callow farm lads".
Besides the watercolor on the Donop web site. There are the 1788 paintings in the Brown University Library showing the same pattern of clean shaven regular grenadiers and sixth grenadier company with moustaches for the Land Grenadier Regiment and the two other grenadier regiments in the reformed Hessian Army. |
| comte de malartic | 01 Jul 2014 11:23 a.m. PST |
Tom, Thanks for the source--I guess the Perry's need to modify their figures for Rall. v/r Joe |
| Winston Smith | 01 Jul 2014 12:24 p.m. PST |
MY Rall regiment was made from the Foundry SYW Copplestone figures. Frei Korps grenadiers without lapels. |
paints brigs for the British fleet.
