"Whos who in SYW artillery" Topic

In Kronoskaf when they list the artillery batteries they just give the number of pieces and usually the caliber of the pieces. In the Allied forces the batteries could be Hessian or Hanoverian, different uniforms and different color for their artillery pieces. Any way to know which batteries are Hessian and which are Hanoverian, or, does it really matter?

It's even more complicated than that. As Hesse was over-run by the French for much of the war the Hessians, who started the war with a small artillery park, 'borrowed' guns from Hanover. The latter's field guns were really too heavy to be moved quickly and had to be replaced as the war progressed. The British started bringing over more and more guns as Ferdinand found himself continually under-gunned. Schaumberg-Lippe supplied a fine artillery park due to the personal interest of the ruling count. Then there were French guns captured.

I would assume that if an OOB states a Hessian battery then the crew would certainly be Hessian but the guns of any other state mentioned above. The same for Hanoverian batteries to a lesser extent and towards the end of the war. The colour of the carriages might be changed or might be left as is, we have little evidence either way.

To be 'uncomplicated' I paint the guns in my Hessian batteries dark blue and those in Hanoverian service dark red.

I guess it matters what scale you are using – Hanoverian gunners wore light blue coats with red cuffs, tricornes and buff breeches; at the start of the war the guns were mostly old fashioned and very heavy and over the course of the war were largely replaced with British or captured French guns; Hessian gunners wore dark blue coats with crimson trim, tricornes and white breeches; by report the Hanoverian gunners at the start of the war lacked training (witness the explosion of a powder barrel during the Battle of Hasetenbeck) but their performance improved over the course of the war

As to determining which were which, is there a particular battle you are interested in?

Check out the British Battles web site and then look up the WAS or SYW battle that interests you. There should be an OB for each army.

Christian Rogge's blog provides a lot of information on the guns, but less so for OBs in particular battles. Rogge mentions that Hanoverian equipment was grey with the iron bits painted red.

Another helpful blog is one called "Obscure Battles" and the gentleman gets very granular in his analysis of the elements in each army. I think that he has Minden as one of the battles that he analyzed.

I have the OOBs for most of the major battles and engagements courtesy Kronoskaf, often times Hessian and Hanoverian forces were mix n' match in the same wing or even the same brigade with some Hessian and some Hanoverian infantry and a large battery of between 5 to 12 guns. Now obviously all battalion guns would be attached to the specific battalion whether Hessian or Hanoverian. But there was often a larger battery of cannon and howitzers in support of the whole lot (example Bergen, all 3 columns are mixed Hanoverian and Hessian and each column has 1 or 2 larger gun batteries in support). Since the wing/brigade consisted of both Hessian and Hanoverian forces which of the two supplied the guns and gunners for the larger composite battery(s)? You can look at Kronoskaf under the
"Battles" sub-heading and it lists them all with complete OOBs and description of the action.
Or am I being too anal?