"Brunswick Avant Garde" Topic

Hello,

Couple of questions, am I right in thinking that the Advant Garde are separated into light infantry and Jaegers? The light infantry in black uniforms and the Jaegers in grey. Both with green facings, but the jaegers have rifles? Forgive my ignorance.

See the Mont St Jean site, in particular the page about the Brunswickers link and click on the "Uniformes" link.

Jim

Thank you

I think you have confused the Avant Garde Battalion with the ordinary Brunswick light infantry battalions. The latter wore black as their basic uniform color. The Avant Garde was divided into jaeger and light infantry companies, but both wore gray uniforms, with minor distinctions between the companies. Also, this only pertains to the reformed Brunswick Army after the French were ousted from the Duchy of Brunswick. When the Brunswick-Oels Corps was serving the British in the Peninsular War, it consisted of only one battalion of infantry (which included two or three companies of riflemen), a regiment of hussars, one squadron of uhlans (lancers)--maybe also a battery of artillery, but I don't remember for sure about the artillery.

You are right. While at Waterloo there were three Brunswick light infantry battalions (Black uniforms in shako) in addition there was an Avant Garde Battalion consisting of two companies of light infantry (black uniforms faced green and a "Corsican" hat) armed with muskets and two companies of Jager (grey uniforms faced green and a "Corsican" hat) armed with rifles. It was not unusual for German light troops to have a mix of muskets and rifles as the musket armed soldiers protected the slower loading riflemen.

Funny how in games the Avant Garde always ends up as the rear guard.

The way I remember it, all companies of the Avant Garde wore grey uniforms. Check back tomorrow; hopefully by then I will have time to look up my reference.

No, the OP has it right as Glengarry5 notes. The Avant Garde had 4 companies, 2 of "Gelernte Jager" (the ones in gray uniforms and armed with rifles) and 2 of light infantry wearing a black dolman with dark green collar, cuffs and shoulder straps, the dolman braided in black. Trousers and gaiters were black with a dark green stripe down the outer seam of the trousers. They wore the same hat as the Gelernte Jager but with a white metal hunting horn badge.

Yup, I checked my source, and it agrees with Glengarry5 and Mr. Krashos, so my memory was playing tricks on me. Sorry about that.

Philip Haythornthwaite says on page 126 of his "Uniforms of Waterloo in Color (New York City: Hippocrene Books, 1974) that the Avant Garde Battalion suffered casualties of 4 officers and 52 enlisted men out of 672 at the Battle of Quatre Bras.