"best book on prussian uniforms" Topic

Hi so just following my query about the reserve infantry – what overall if any is the best single book available on the prussian infantry and cavalry of the period? is there one such work.

I ask this as it seems like i am going all over the place for bits and pieces of info on their uniforms – certainly the Napoleon Series site has superb info, but is there a volume/book or series that would have all the uniforms depicted to some extent?

The Osprey prussian line infantry book is a bit lacking i have found, limited images and it barely gives any info on the reserve infantry

The Prussian Army by David Nash
It's put of print but cam with luck be found on line
There are minor corrections even out there, on TMP even I think, but for 40 years old it can't be beat

thanks i will try and find a copy!

I have a copy of Nash's book published by Almark Publications. Its falling apart and must try and get it rebound.

The website "Napoleon, his army and enemies" is a good source as are the Osprey series, one each on Line Infantry, Light Infantry and Reserve Infantry. There are two on Cavalry but in my opinion they are not as good as the Infantry books.

The main sources should be primary documents and images; so maybe you start here with the uniform series I published until today at link

… or you may check all images which I added the "Preussen" at link

… and some articles regarding the Prussian army of 1808ff could be found at link

Greetings from Berlin (and merry christmas)
Markus Stein

I did some updates to Nash on this site with help from various contributors. Here's a link to the first one. You can search for the others using an abbreviation of the title.

TMP link

Currently, in English, the best books on the Prussian army uniforms are those by Peter Hofschröer, including the one on the Army of the Lower Rhine in 1815. The latter contains a lot of info taken from regimental histories.

Stanislav Lyulin's two volumes "Prussian Cavalry: 1808-1840" are also based on reliable German sources, and contain a lot of contemporary drawings and paintings as well as original items. He published a third one on Landwehr and free corps, and others on the rest of the army are to follow.

Here a glance at the Landwehr volume:

aerospaceproject.ru/u36

Sanctions against Russia make it hard to get these books here. Import of paper from Russia is forbidden, and the German customs say that books are made of … ?

I would bow to Markus Stein & Oliver Schmidt on this.

Other useful items are the various Heer und Tradition plates.

George Nafziger's Trilogy:
The Prussian Army During the Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815) (volume I) The Infantry
(volume II) The Guard & Landwehr
(volume III) The Cavalry & Artillery

Osprey Warrior 62 – Prussian Regular Infantryman 1808 – 1815
Author: Oliver Schmidt

Peter Hofschröer – Prussian Landwehr & Landsturm 1813-15

Rosenberg…LOL…that's what I had to do to my copy many years ago!

My copy was falling apart 40 years ago, photo copy every page for my own use and was only copy I had until not long ago found a one line version and managed to get it in my tablet kindle.

Thanks for the images – i love that Uniform des Nationalkavellerieregiments Schlesiens

i dont mind if the book is not in english – german is fine

So Nafzigers volumes were they ever published?

Prince of Essling – where exactly are all those plates from? what is Heer und Tradition? is that a book series or Journal/zeitschrift?

My main query was really whether there was a single work that might be a great all in one resource – i prefer physical texts to online if possible, so i know there are online sources aplenty,

The Knoetel uniform plates are good but i can never remember what exactly is the work in which they can be found

Most plates by Richard Knötel were published from 1890 to 1914 in his Uniformenkunde:

link

From 1892, there was an accompanying journal named Mittheilungen/Mitteilungen zur Geschichte der Militärischen Tracht. You will find some or maybe even all volumes on Google books. Here the first volume:

link

George Nafziger did publish his trilogy – but again shipping costs from the USA are prohibitive! You need to find second hand copies nearer home.

The Heer und Tradition plates or "Uniformbogen" or "Brauerbogen" were a series of individual prints published between 1926 and 1962 covering in the main German military uniform subjects (but some other European States) of the 18th and 19th Centuries.

By these plates my army colors are much darker. But then on line pictures can be lighter than reality.
They are what they are, 40 years if I didn't know won't hurt me

I downloaded David Nash's book from somewhere, as said it's on my phone and Kindle but don't remember what from.

It is strange that Nash comes up again and again, nobody mentions Stephen Summerfield – see

link

Also useful are the two volumes by Paul Pietsch "Formations und Uniformierungsgeschichte des Preussischen Heeres 1808 bis 1914"

summerfields work looks top-notch, however his books seem quite expensive

I have fortunately picked up a copy of Digby Smiths Prussian Army to 1815 today in an antique book store. Although it is not a book full of the kinds of plates shown earler in this thread, it is a dense book listing it seems every single prussian army unit of the napoleonic wars and a description of their uniforms and combat history. It does have a range of images some of which created from first hand witnesses by the looks of it.
I am yet to check but i hope it has some flag details too – that is another aspect i want to know about all the approximate flags used by the various units I

The Summerfield books are very good but are print on demand. The ones I ordered are very badly printed (like a photocopier that has run out of toner) and there are no colour pictures.m other than the covers. I appreciate that this isn't Dr Summerfield's fault. What makes it more annoying is I have seen nicely printed ones at a show. The message is, check first before buying.

While Digby-Smith's book is very useful, do be careful as some parts are not correct e.g. colour of flag poles (correct colour was pointed out by either Markus or Oliver – I cannot remember which one did so on another thread).

The earlier Prussian uniform plates in the book are taken from Kling's work.

okay – hmm i would like to know that thread regarding flag poles and what the correct colour is maybe markus or oliver can chime in here?

I haven't got the info about the flag poles at hand. But Peter Hofschröer's Men-at-Arms "Prussian staff and specialist troops" deals also with the flags and standards.

And, in German, by Markus Stein, the infantry flags of 1806:

link

This topic reminds me of a trip to Europe with my friend. During the trip, I had the opportunity to browse through a collection of historical books, including George Naftziger's Trilogy. My friend has an uncle who is autistic and has a passionate interest in history and book collecting. He knows every detail about uniforms, which is incredible. However, he wasn't inclined to share much about it with us. I had read an article such individuals, so I wasn't very surprised. As for this particular book, I'm not sure if he bought it or printed it himself… At that time, I wasn't very interested in history, being in my teenage years… But after the trip, I had a breakthrough moment in my perception of the world. Could you please tell me if such copies are available in free access?

@Gilbertlarsen,
You're fortunate to have the opportunity to read such a valuable specimen, although I probably can't tell you anything about its authenticity; I'd say it's more likely a no. Your mention of the article has inspired me to share one https://edubirdie.com/examples/autism/about as these are truly ingenious individuals. Nowadays, many well-known historical figures are described by modern researchers as possible carriers of autism or having certain autistic traits. One example could be Frederick II the Great, the Prussian king and philosopher of the 18th century. He is known for his great attention to detail, fixation on certain interests, introversion, and inadequate communication skills with others. However, scholars often argue about this.

I have publshed 11 books on the Prussian Army from the 7YW to Napoleonic. I find it strange that these are not mentioned. The Partizan Press books are now out of date and have for the most part been replaced by the works for Ken Trotman Publishing. Partizna Press agreed not to publish them and certainly not by print on demand. Thank you for informing me that he still is offereing them for sale.

Blow you can see my books that have been published to a high quality by Ken Trotman Publishing.
kentrotman.co.uk/?s=Prussian

MC-012 Prussian Staff of the Napoleonic Wars (with Dr Stanislav Lyulin) 2020
MC-008 Prussian Freikorps and the National Cavalry Regiments of the Napoleonic Wars (with Dr Stanislav Lyulin) 2019
MC-003 Prussian Guard of the Napoleonic Wars 2017
Prussian Landwehr of the Napoleonic Wars 2018

It is hope that my publisher will allow me to complete my work on the Line and Reserve Infantry plus the cavalry.

Stephen Summerfield