"Company flags in WSS battalions?" Topic

Hi all,

I saw someone on here mentioned the other day that WSS battalions had company flags, and that they massed at the center of the unit prior to an advance. I was looking for some confirmation on that, plus if anyone has them any schematics of battalion deployments on the level of individual soldiers that show where NCOs, musicians and officers would have stood. I'm going to put together a 1:1 WSS or GNW battalion one of these days and was thinking of different ways I could do it.

Also, it might be asking a lot, but does anyone have any pics or idea where pikemen would have deployed in the early WSS relative to the rest of the battalion? Would a block of pike in the middle with musketeers on the wings (like in the TYW) be appropriate? Or could the pike be spread out evenly as a back rank, or even front rank?

And as a very basic question, does anyone have a list of how many ranks the various countries used during the WSS and GNW? I haven't been able to find such a list.

Thanks!

Pikes in the WSS are an open question, some claim they did, some claim they had been left behind at that point. If they had them they would be in the centre with wings of muskets.

As to Battalion layout, Chandlers The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough is the book you want.

Fredd Bloggs,

Thanks! I took a look at the book and will be ordering it online later today. I also did some research and found the following website on the colors of the day:

tmg110.tripod.com/royfr4.htm

So, there were up to 1 flag per company plus the colonels color at different times. Man, that's a lot of flags in a battalion, and it should look great at 1:1, with all 13 companies put out there. I need to find out where exactly the flags would have been placed, and if they ever massed. That would be really interesting.

FMS – I had also heard of the flags supposedly being massed at the centre of the Bn but not sure that it makes sense.

The main point of company flags was to have a rallying point close enough for a discouraged soldier to see and move toward so that a Bn that had been dispersed would not completely fall apart, just form into company 'clumps'.

Possibly as the Bn became the main battlefield unit their necessity declined and, in the last years when such flags were fielded, they were used differently – for display/intimidation.

I also think that, for most units the Colonel's colour would be the company colour of his company rather than an extra. Not sure about those units that had Leibfahne or monarch's colours – they may have been extra.

GF, thanks for the info, quite interesting…
Thinking on the new MM 3mm WSS figs (which is of course why I'm suddenly interested in the period), it occurred to me that one could do a ~3:2 ratio regiment with each company composed of 4 strips of 8 figs each, in 4 ranks, per 20mm base, with a flag on each. Each base would be a company… and apparently there's a lip one can shave off on either side of the figs, so you could have enough space on one flak to place a single NCO to stand between the companies. The total frontage of the battalion would be the same 3:2 ratio as well. Very tempting. And it would work out to 1 bag per battalion with a bunch of extra figs left over for NCOs.
Hmm…

I had also heard of the flags supposedly being massed at the centre of the Bn but not sure that it makes sense.

The main point of company flags was to have a rallying point close enough for a discouraged soldier to see and move toward so that a Bn that had been dispersed would not completely fall apart, just form into company 'clumps'.

The practice of massing the colours within the pikes was well known since at least the late 16th Century – and certainly during the TYW and ECW. This was done, in part, to protect the colours, but also because the pikes tended to be the main rallying point for musketeers who were threatened by horse. Remember that each company was composed of of pikemen and musketeers, even into the WSS era, so the individual companies would be split up for battle anyway. Also, prior to the WSS, it was common for small detachments of musketeers to be posted away from the main body of the unit.

You are right that the Colonel's colour was the one for his own company, and was not an "extra" in any way. It was usually distinctive, either having a white field, or being a solid colour with no company distinctive marks (but possibly having the Colonels heraldic symbol). Units of household troops did occasionally have an extra monarch's colour (even though the monarch was often also the Colonel); for example, the British 1st Foot Guards had an extra colour of plain crimson with the Royal Cypher (the Queen's Company of the Grenadier Guards still has one today; it is buried with the monarch when he/she dies and a new one is presented by whoever succeeds).

I had the same question, here as I solved at 1:1 ratio