"The nature of Grün Loudon Grenadiers" Topic

Partly because I have some suitable figures & partly because I'd like a bit more colour in my Austrian SYW army, I'm thinking about "raising" a battalion of Grun-Loudon.

Are these troops line infantry or light?

Kronoskaf explains they were used to stiffen the resolve of the Croat units. Also, they didn't carry flags. This seems to suggest they fought in a heavier skirmish line?

Your thoughts?

As far as I know the unit was used as line infantry.

As line Grenadiers.
Kronoskaf makes it pretty clear they didn't fight as skirmishers, as do other sources (eg Summerfield). There appears to be some 'confusion' as to whether they wore tricornes or bearskins or both, with illustrations from different sources showing either. I'd give them bearskins, as it best fits their raison d'etre.

Grun Laudon were intended to be used as *formed* bodies of infantry, to support grenzer skirmishers. Doesn't mean that they couldn't skirmish themselves – grenadiers were often used as skirmishers in the 18th century. Grun Laudon were a freikorps, not on the regular establishment. Did other Austrian freikorps have colors?

Yes they were Freikorps. They were organized as line grenadiers and fought accordingly. So depending on what your rules permit for grenadiers, they either will or won't be able to occasionally skirmish as well. (But essentially they'd fight like line grenadiers.)

No bearskins. From Kronoskaf (BTW I am the individual who wrote the Kronoskaf entry): "The letter from Field-Marshals Harrach and Neipperg (dated March 13 1759) agreed fully with the proposal for a second battalion. They did suggest certain measures intended to cut costs- the use of hats instead of bearskins firstly because the name grenadiers and the wearing of the sabre was sufficient to distinguish the units from the line regiments, and second as a means of reducing costs"

That sounds pretty convincing to me. I wonder why the Bautzen manuscript (1762) had them in bearskins. Significantly, in Summerfield's book, he states that the Albertini (1762) plates (which shows the Grun Loudon in tricorne) are considered the most reliable by Pengel and Duffy. So I have to tip my hat to Altefritz there. :)

Regarding the Bautzen manuscript or any other contemporary illustrations, one must always be mindful of the possibility that some artistic license might have been made, which is why it is always good to have additional sources (2-3 more at least)to back it up.

Indeed. :)

Thank you, everyone, for your comments.

I've decided that I will model some of the Grun-grenadiers with bearskins & some with tricornes.

This may not be accurate but I think it a fair 'wargamer's shorthand' for a unit of such an ad hoc & irregular nature.

I also have them half in bearskin and half in tricorne. Since they were recruited from line grenadier companies and knowing how soldiers cling to their unique headgear,Ifeel sure some kept their bearskins. If I'm wrong, at least I have a cool looking unit.

On page 167 of Christopher Duffy's "By Force of Arms," he writes of an episode in the battle of Kunersdorf, 12 August, 1759, where the Prussian infantry had overrun the Russian Observation Corps, and the allies "formed a new flank behind the Tiefer-Weg, using the Novgorod and St Petersburg regiments from the Russian second line, and the Austrian regiment of Grun-Loudon Grenadiers." "the green-clad desperados of the Loudon Grenadiers indeed 'fought like lions,'…."and lost 24 officers and 472 men in the course of three-qaurters of an hour…"

Sounds like they earned their keep!

GdeP

My unit of Grun-Louden Grenadiers are based in close order like other units. I have one base with bearskins, the rest with tricorns. I tend to class them as grenadiers or superior which works ok.

I've also just started painting the Stabs-Infanterie battalion to add more colour as they wore blue.

to add more colour

Admittedly not as monochromatic as their later Napoleonic brethren, the SYW Austrians do lack a bit (thank goodness for the Croats). Certainly they're not in the same category as the French with their carnival air.

I love my French SYW army…..but even I think they fight inconsistently but looking fairly magnificent as they do so.

I thought the Austrian Stabs-Regimenter were usually broken up into detachments guarding the various headquarters. I wasn't aware they served as battalions in the line. Similarly the brown-coated Fusileer battalions served in detachments with the artillery, not as line battalions. But a brigade or two of Hungarian infantry in their colored small clothes brightens up an Austrian army, and you can add a brigade or two of blue-coated Bavarian or Wurtemburg allies.