"Swedish Light Infantry and Jager Battalions" Topic

According to my research, the Swedish Napoleonic army had two regiments of Light Infantry and four regiments of Jagers. I'm wondering if they might have been one and the same and this is simply a translation error? If not, what would be the difference, if any, between the Light Infanty and the Jagers?

Also, can anyone point me to a description or an illustration of their respective uniforms in 1813? The figures that I have are wearing a Russian Kiver shako with plumes but no epaulettes.

Thanks.

Jager battalions were just that. Light battalions were composed of Jager platoons that were pulled from the line infantry and formed into combined/converged battalions.

Do you have a reference for that? I hadn't come across that before. Thanks.

Swedish infantry battalions each formed a "jägare" force. The jägare were selected from the men of the line companies and formed into a separate unit only on mobilization. In the 1813 regulations, the number of jägare per battalion was a platoon with 58 officers and men (one officer, two sergeants, four corporals, one bugler and 50 privates). Sometimes they were used as skirmishers for their parent battalion, sometimes merged to a regimental jägare company, but most often they were removed from their parent battalions and formed into a light infantry battalion held at brigade level, as in Wellington's Peninsular army.

The above applied also to the "Svea Lifgarde" and "Andra gardesregementet". These wore green coats with each regiments' light-yellow and scarlet-orange (respectively) distinctives.

Knöttnel illustrates a jäger of a "Leibregiment der Konigin" (sic?), which might be the "Kungens eget värfvade regemente"

Compare :

Here (on the right) are jägare of the Lif-Regementets Grenadier-Corps :

Although other, separate, standing, mostly Finnish "jägare" units existed before the loss of Finland, for 1813-1815 there was the Vermlands fältjägare-regemente under the command of Öfverste-Löjtnant (20.VII.1813 Öfverste) Johan Jakob Holmstedt (1770-1819). This unit was of 2 "värfvade" battalions, each battalion of 3 companies, each company of 2 platoons – total 600 jägare.

on the left at Leipzig : "tenue de campagne" as seen by an eye witness

1814

1814 in center

1815
link

See :
runeberg.org/mjantreg/0385.html
link
link
link
link

Excellent explanation by Michman. The only thing I can add is that there seem to be little or no difference in uniform for the Jägers of some of the national(indelta) regiments, While some had hats with crests some only had some green detail on the uniform. The Swedish Defence Museums provides 3 free pdfs of uniform overviews here:

PDF link

PDF link

PDF link

I am also currently planning forces for the Great Sortie from Stralsund in 1807 and the Battle of Leipzig 1813 (Grimma Gate) as we ll as the battle of Bornhöft 1813.

My main problem is to find suitable proxies for the Engelbrecht Regiment and the Swedish Pomeranian Landwehr as I wrote in my previous post:

TMP link

Ray Johnson, in his book "Napoleonic Armies" states that Sweden has two regiments of Light Infantry and four regiments of Jagers.

I'm wondering what the difference was, if any, both in terms of uniforms and function?

In the publication "Militärhistorisk tidskrift 2015:1" Martin Skoog write an article called "Epoque i Svenska Krigsväsendet": Etableringen av det sengustavianska lätta enhetsinfanteriet

This is an excellent summary of the development och Light infantry and Jäger units and tactis in the late 18th century and continuing into the Napoleonic period. It is unfortunately only in Swedish but a brief summary is that Light Inf and Jägers were supposed to employ Light Infantry tactics, ie skirmishing in a dispersed formation called Jägarkedja (translates to "a chain of Jägers"). Light Inf had smoothbore muskets while Jägers had rifles. The latter also had adapted uniforms, often with green or dull colours. After the war with Russia in Finland 1808-1809 the Light Infantry disappeared and there were mainly Line Infantry and Jägers. The latter organized as Michman describes above. Both Line and Jägers should be able to use "Jägarkedja" tactics by 1813, therefore the need for Light Infantry disappeared.
I can only guess what Ray Johnson refers to but I guess the two Light Inf are Savolax and Uleåborgs Light Inf Bat and the Jägers Savolax, Nylands, Karelens and Värmlands Jäger Bat. In the links I provided in my previous post you can find most of the relevant uniforms.

Travellera, I appreciate the distinction between the Swedish Light Infantry and Jagers.

Some of the pictures above showing Swedish Jagers in dark green jackets and white pants make them look like Russian Jagers.

Travellera, I appreciate the distinction between the Swedish Light Infantry and Jagers.

However, I am a little confused about the links you provided. When I click on the links they take me to pages about the Swedish infantry, etc. in the early 20th century.

Also, some of the pictures above showing Swedish Jagers in dark green jackets and white pants make them look like Russian Jagers.

The links are to a 40 page pdf outlining the history of Swedish uniforms. Maybe this link works better:

PDF link

White pants were sometimes worn in Germany. Which battle or war are you planning for?

It is very hard to find any general pattern for the uniforms of the Swedish army of this period. There were several regulation changes with new models in 1792, 1802, 1806-1807 and 1810. As Sweden had financial problems the changes to the new uniform models took time and uniforms could be mixed with older models. In addition captured uniforms were also used, especially shakos. If you have specific units for a specific year I can try to help you to decipher the most probable uniforms

Thank you. It's not a specific battle so much as a general time period. All of my Napoleonic armies are 20mm. No one makes Swedish infantry in their kasket helmets so I am using Russian infantry in Kiver shakos.

I'd like to find a color picture of a Swedish jager in Kiver Shako. I've seen photos showing them with plumes and without plumes. Did they wear white pants or green?

The original links you provided were good. I mistakenly thought that they were about 20th century Swedes, although the article on the infantry does seem to end in mid-sentence.

As I wrote, there is no jäger uniform that would fit the general time period. The reguation changed several times and old uniforms remained in use. The regulation change to shako, some of the Kiwer type, did not happen until 1815 regulaion change and was not implemented until earliest 1816. In some images the Värmland Jägers are shown in shako with the year 1814 but that seems to be incorrect. The shako was not introduced until 1816 according to the regimental history by Major Axel Kindberg:

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As can be seen in this image, trousers could be white, primarily used in the summer or alternatively green. Grey older pants were also in use. I am afraid it is hard to find Swedish Jägers go to war in dressed in Kiwer shakoes…

That's interesting. According to "The Army of Sweden 1802-1814" by W. J. Rawkins, the Varmland Jagers adopted the Kiver Shako in 1813.

Here is a re-enactor group from Sweden :
link

They base their 1813 impression on archival equipment lists from individual soldiers mustered out late in that year. Their research for 1813 led to the exact same result as shown in the eye-witness illustration from Leipzig linked above.

They indicate both green and white pants were per regulation. Russian Jäger also had both : white linen for summer, green wool for winter.

They indicate kiver by 1816, but provide no specific date for introduction.

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The Vermlands fältjägare-regemente was a very small unit : 600 jäger at full strength, and much smaller by 1814.
Per Mr. Nafziger's orders of batttle :
15 August 1813 : 471 men
30 November 1813 : 455 men
18 January 1814 : 251 men
14 April 1814 : "detachment"

Seems to be a misunderstanding but they did adopt a sort of shako before Leipzig as can be seen from this image:

url=https://postimages.org/]

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"a sort of shako" – yes, I think that is right
a Russian style "kiver" – not in 1813

The Kiwer was part of the uniform regulation called m/1815:

link

Case closed 😎

Cased opened!

although the Liwer and French shako was not regulation until 1816. Swedish infantry used captured shakoes during the 1813 campaign in Germany.

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From the Osprey MAA on Scandinavian

Well …. by the end of the 1814 campaign all the Allies were looking a little worn, not just the "poor" Swedes/

A typical Russian infantry soldier might have :
--- a forage cap
--- a faded & patched uniform coat, possibly with the tails missing
--- a French pack
--- no crossbelt for the always fixed bayonet
--- "bloomer" pantaloons of the-Lord-knows-what clothe tied at the waist and ankles
--- the tops of the short boots cut off to use to make re-soles
--- the rags remaining of the greacoat cut/re-sewn to make a blanket

For the usual inspections and parades, Russians were :
--- sending men without decent uniforms to other units to hide during inspections
--- using green and white paint on faded and soiled uniforms, and keeping the painted uniforms as far as possible away from the reviewers
--- handing decent uniforms from unit to unit after passing in review

The light infantry were part of the Finnish portion of the Swedish armed forces, so ceased to exist after Finland was ceded to Russia.

Tavastehus regemente (Tavastehus Regiment) – Finnish Unit
1791 rusthållsbataljon (functioned as light infantry) added from Tavesthus & Nyland Cavalry Regiment when unit converted to infantry.
1809 disbanded.

Nylands regemente (Nyland Regiment) – Finnish Unit
1791 light infantry battalion added from Tavesthus & Nyland Cavalry Regiment when unit converted to infantry.
Subsequently Nylands infanteriregemente (Nyland Infantry Regiment)
1809 disbanded.

Apart from the jagers in line battalions, the jager units were – though most were disbanded on the ceding of Finland:

Stackelbergska regementet (Stackelberg Regiment) – Finnish Unit
1799 renamed Jägerhornska regementet (Jägerhorn Regiment)
1808 disbanded after the Russian capture of Sveaborg.

Värmlands fältjägarbataljon (Värmlands Rifle Battalion)
1788 unit raised though not fully formed until March 1790 with 3 companies. The battalion was subordinated to the Närke-Värmlands regemente.
1812 became Värmlands fältjägar regemente (Värmlands Rifle Regiment) – 6 companies.

Savolaks jägarregemente (Savolak Rifle Regiment) – Finnish Unit
6 companies
1805 increased to 10 companies; then 1 company converted to Savolaksbrigadens artillerikompani (Savolak Brigade Artillery Company) & remaining troops reorganised into 8 companies.
1809 disbanded.

Karelska jägarcorpsen (Karelian Rifle Corps) – Finnish Unit
1789 had four companies of 550 numbers and was split in 2 battalions with 4 companies each of 150 men. Actual strength never exceeded 860.
The corps was disbanded after the war but re-established one year later with 2 companies of 100 men each.
1805 had 4 companies.
1806 companies expanded to 150 men each.
1809 disbanded.

Nylands jägarbataljon (Nyland Rifle Battalion) – Finnish Unit
Unusually comprised 2 companies of varvade & 2 companies of indelta troops.
1809 disbanded.

Kajana bataljon (Kajana Battalion) – Finnish Unit
In theory part of the Österbottens regemente
1809 disbanded.

Adlercreutzska regemente (Adlercreutz Regiment) – Finnish Unit
Until September 1804 Nya Jägarregementet or Finska värvade fotjägarregementet (Finnish Rifle Regiment) – 13 companies formed into 4 battalions. One company with 200 men, remainder with 150 men. In 1805 the 200 strong company was divided into 2 companies and transferred to the Nylands jägarbataljon.
1809 disbanded.

Above extracted from my notes on the Swedish Army at link