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"SYW Austrian Generals" Topic


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Comments or corrections?

DHautpol02 Dec 2023 9:43 a.m. PST

Gentlemen,
I am hoping that someone will have a reference in answer to a question I have regarding the uniforms worn by SYW Austrian generals; in particular, cavalry generals excluding any hussar generals.

Both Summerfield and Kronoskaf are in agreement regarding the uniforms:
Feldmarschall (FM) Wavy gold lace on front of coat (no lapels) and on cuffs and pockets.
Feldzeugmeister (FZM) (General of Infantry) One broad straight gold lace and one narrow straight gold lace on front of coat and lapels, three broad straight gold lace on cuffs and two broad and two narrow straight gold laces on pockets.
General de Cavallerie (GdC) (General of Cavalry) One broad straight gold lace and one narrow straight gold lace on front of coat (no lapels), three broad straight gold lace on cuffs and two broad and two narrow straight gold laces on pockets.
Feldmarshall Lieutenant (FML) (Lieutenant General) One broad straight gold lace on front of coat and lapels, two broad straight gold lace on cuffs and three broad straight gold lace on pockets.
General Feldwachtmeister (GFWM) (Major General) One narrow gold lace on front of coat and lapels, one narrow straight gold lace on cuffs and pockets.

So FMs and GdCs had no lapels. We can ignore probably FMs as being a rank commanding all arms. However, full Generals of Infantry and Cavalry wore similar lace but the GdC were distinguishable by having no lapels.

My question is did the FMLs and GFWMs who commanded cavalry formations wear the same coats as their infantry counterparts or were they also distinguishable by having no lapels?

Nafziger's OOB for Leuthen shows GdC Graf Serbelloni having FML Prinz Hohenzollern and GM (GFWM) Carl Stampach under his command.

Frederick Supporting Member of TMP02 Dec 2023 1:39 p.m. PST

I might be wrong but I believe that infantry and non-hussar cavalry officers had the same uniform (except for the boots – cavalry officers had high black boots)

One small fly in the ointment was that the 1751 regs also allowed senior officers to wear regimental uniforms – which is how I have painted up General der Cavallerie Nádasdy in the uniform of his old regiment

DHautpol03 Dec 2023 12:14 p.m. PST

Thanks for your thoughts but I think I may have solved my own question. I had a look through the Austria list in the Personalities section on Kronoskaf. Most of the portraits show the individuals later in their careers when they had achieved more exalted ranks than during the SYW. But I did alight on Jean-Antoine-Joseph, Comte de Saint-Ignon. He appears to have spent his entire career as a cavalryman having entered the Saint-Ignon Kuirassiers (possibly an uncle as he married his cousin named Marie-Appoline de Saint-Ignon).

The portrait is dated as 1762 when he was still GFWM and depicts him in a coat with the appropriate lace for a GFWM, but with no lapels. It would be bizarre to think that FMLs would have lapels if GFWMs and GdCs did not, so I think this can be taken as a strong indication that Austrian cavalry generals did not wear lapels on their coats.

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