"On Swedish infantry" Topic

Recently, following a small discussion on the different theatres of the napoleonic saga, Sweden came to mind.

Of what little I knew about the subject, the sole word I remembered to help my research was "indelta", which proved enough of a start.

But evidently, info on such a minor power during the period is hard to come by and I've been left wanting…still, something really caught my eye.

Apparently, following the war against Russia around 1809 and the loss of Finland, Sweden would have completely disbanded its light infantry in favor of their jaeger detachments and…Cross-training for line infantry, effectively enabling them to do both line and light duty.

So I figured this would be a fair place to ask if this was indeed the case, as well as see if anyone can offer information on the subject or give a good link.

From "The Swedish Army in the Napoleonic Wars" by Magnus Olofsson which was posted on the Napoleon Series Website link

"Every battalion was to have a jägare-force, though the jägare were not a part of the peacetime establishment. They were selected from the men of the line companies and formed into a separate unit only on mobilization. Only the infantry of the Swedish army formed jägare-detachments; the infantry of the Finnish army never did so. Originally, each infantry battalion was to form a 53 men strong platoon (one officer, two NCO's, two corporals and 48 privates) but in 1806 this was doubled to a 106 men strong jägare-company per battalion. In the 1813 regulations, the number of jägare per battalion was lowered to a platoon with 58 officers and men (one officer, two NCO's, four corporals, one bugler and 50 privates). The employment of these jägare-units varied; sometimes they were used as skirmishers for their parent battalion, sometimes merged to a regimental jägare-company or battalion, 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. (It was several such converged brigade jägare-battalions that participated in the storming of Leipzig on the 19th October 1813). Obviously, the size of such a converged brigade light infantry battalion varied with the number of battalions the brigade had."

Sources given as:
Olofsson, M., Svenska infanteriets stridsdoktriner 1784-1813, unpublished bachelor thesis, University of Lund 1998, pp.32-33;
Philström, A., Kungl. Dalregementets historia, vol. 5-6, Stockholm 1911, pp.16-17;
Kongl. Maj:ts nådiga förordning och reglemente för regementena til fot. Dat. Den 10 Februari 1813, pp.70-73.

Note the Jagere were not rifle armed.

Make sure you do regiments in either dark gray or white trousers.

Interesting link to napoleon series website, had mostly missed it.

Finally found another article to corroborate the "line infantry cross-training as skirmishers" affirmation, this time from northern wargaming…I suppose that's a pretty reliable source.

"The introduction of regimental jaegers followed Sweden's war against Russia 1788-1790. The efficiency of light troops in broken terrain resulted in an increased Swedish focus on light infantry action. Not only were all line infantry to be trained in fighting in dispersed order but also every Swedish battalion was to have a platoon of jaegers selected from suitable men of the battalion. Originally, each infantry battalion was to form a 53 men strong jaeger platoon (one officer, two NCO's, two corporals and 48 privates) but in 1806 this was doubled to a 106 men strong jaeger company per battalion. In the 1813, the number of jaeger per battalion was again lowered to 58 officers and men (one officer, two NCO's, four corporals, one bugler and 50 privates)."

Full link: link

Ah yes, also found this concerning jaegers and rifles:

According to the regulations, Swedish jagare were equipped with a rifle. There existed three major types of rifles in the Swedish Army at the time. The two older types were the "Sprengportenska" models of 1776 and 1788 which had both originally been designed for the Savolaks Jagarregiment in Finland. These had a caliber of 19mm with eight rifle grooves. The weight of the 1776 model was 4.73 kg.

The newer type rifle was of Helvig's design (1803). It had "musket-caliber" (20.04mm) and four shallow rifle grooves. A very handy weapon, it weighed only 4 kg and, according to tests carried out at Stockholm in 1804, it had good accuracy up to 300 meters. At these tests a conical bullet proved to be much more effective than the standard, spherical one, but in spite of this Helvig's rifle was not introduced into the Swedish Army during the Napoleonic Wars and the Swedish jagare fought at Leipzig armed with the two older models.

Full link: link