"Austrian use of the oberrock coat" Topic

I am curious how far up the Austrian chain-of-command that use of the oberrock coat would likely have gone. Sources note that it saw wide use in the field, so could a high-ranking member of the aristocracy on field service be seen wearing one? Or was there another type of long-coat (short of a heavy caped overcoat) that also saw use?

Not sure about Austrians, but Prussian officers fairly high up to General seem to take to easy uniforms used by troops. Hats were often by rank but officers do what they do and like easy it seems to me.

Given pragmatic realities I suspect that the oberrock would be used not uncommonly by big hats especially in inclement weather

Osprey 223 (Philip Haythornethwaite, Austrian Specialist Troops of the Napoleonic Wars" describes the General Officers' service dress as "a pike grey Oberrock of a shade officially like that of the facings of Infantry Regt. No. 49 (a slight grey shade), with red collar and cuffs. (P38). Pike Grey (Hechtgrau) is a pale blue grey.

Cheers,
John

Thanks for the Haythornethwaite quote, that pretty clearly answers it. Also sounds like a good time to pick up a copy of Osprey 223!

The people who do replica's seem to think Very dark grey link
which is the colour of most of the illustrations i've seen.

I think the darker colour is appropriate for infantry officers. The Haythornethwaite referenceI cited was specifically for generals. Osprey 176 "Austrian Army of the Napoleonic Wars (1): Infantry" (also Haythornethwaite) (P.17) describes the infantry officers' Oberrock as dark grey, and that its "colour varied from dark grey to almost black." So that would be correct for the reenactors, but the Hechtgrau would be correct for generals.

Cheers,
John