Lutzow's Freicorps Among Latest 28mm from Calpe

NEW FROM CALPE MINIATURES

(28mm Napoleonic Prussians)

LUTZOW'S FREICORPS (code PLZ)

Lutzow's Freicorps was an army in miniature. It encompassed a full regiment of infantry in three battalions, each supported by a company of volunteer riflemen. In addition, one of the four companies of the second battalion was made up not of musketeers, but of Tyrolean riflemen.. The mounted element was a mixed regiment of light cavalry made up of two squadrons of Uhlans, two of hussars and one of mounted jaegers. The corps also had a battery of nine guns.

This corps was raised primarily by Major von Lutzow following the Royal decree of February 3rd 1813 allowing the formation of these volunteer corps. The freicorps had a long tradition in the Prussian army dating back to Frederick the Great. Their function was to raid and harass the enemy lines of communication. Lutzow's corps is the best known, not only because it was the largest of these formations, but also because it attracted recruits from the artistic community. As a result poems and songs were written and pictures painted about the exploits of the corps. During the armistice of 1813, the corps continued its raids behind French lines. At one point the corps was cornered by Confederation of the Rhine troops and almost wiped out. Only some of the mounted troops managed to escape. Such was the reputation of this corps that it was soon back to full strength!

In 1815 the infantry was used to create the 25th infantry regiment. The mass of the cavalry was used in the formation of the 6thUhlan regiment. One Hussar squadron was used to augment the newly formed 9th Hussars.

The Heavy Infantry

This first release of figures is designed to form the three infantry battalions that were at the core of the formation. My advice is that you ignore the Tyrolean rifle company which formed part of the 2nd battalion and have three full strength battalions. When I release the light infantry later this year you can add a light company to each battalion making the light company for the 2nd battalion Tyrolean company. This is a more 'table friendly' arrangement for the gamer as it does not leave you with a weakened 2nd battalion and cuts down on the number of skirmishers which some rule sets dislike.

All uniform and equipment for this corps was black. The only other colour was the red piping on collars, cuffs and shoulder straps. The men liked to add extra little touches of red to their uniforms so they often changed the colour of their neck stocks to red or added red neckerchiefs. There was no regulation forage cap so men tended to provide their own. Most were militarised versions of civilian hats. The version I have chosen for the forage cap figure is from Patrice Courcelle's Ceux qui Bravaient L'Aigle – Les Planches De La Belle Alliance No. 2. I could have chosen several versions of forage cap but his was the one most readily accessible to those of you seeking painting references. No standards were carried by any part of the corps and there is no evidence that the infantry drummers used the swallow's nests prevalent in the rest of the Prussian army.

PLZ 1 - Mounted officer, shouldered sword. Wears the shako.
PLZ 2 - Mounted officer wearing the forage cap and rolled greatcoat. Holds sword down by right leg.
PLZ 3 - Foot officer advancing shouldered sword.
PLZ 4 - Foot officer advancing, sword.held across body, looking left .
PLZ 5 - Foot officer advancing shouldered sword, looking down.
PLZ 6 - NCO. The lace stripe across the strap is silver.
PLZ 7 - Drummer drumming.
PLZ 8 - Advancing, levelled musket.
PLZ 9 - Advancing, levelled musket, rolled trousers.
PLZ 10 - Advancing, musket held at high porte across body.
PLZ 10b - As above, head turned to the left.
PLZ 11 - Advancing, musket held at high porte and to the right if the body.
PLZ 11b - As above but facing right.
PLZ 12 - Enthusiastic figure. Two part casting.
PLZ 13 - Casualty figure, falling forward.
PLZ PK 1 - Versions of PLZ8 (bandaged head), PLZ9 (forage cap), and PLZ10 (bareheaded) $5.50 USD

PRUSSIAN LINE UHLANS (code PCU)

These figures are designed to represent the Line Uhlans as they would have appeared on campaign. My primary reference for these figures is Peter Bunde's Brigade plate on the subject (plate no. 124). This remains the most reliable and readily available source of information on the Uhlans. Some of the other plates mentioned below are now very difficult to acquire. Other sources of information are the plates by both Richard and Herbert Knotel, the Brauer Uniformbogen plates, the LTR plates on the Prussian volunteer jaegers and the Sturm-Zigarettenbilder- album cards.

The first thing I should point out is that the Uhlans have been sculpted wearing their dress coats, the 'Kollet', not the Litewka. Although the Litewka was issued, it is rare to see an illustration in which they wear this item of uniform. Peter Bunde finds a good explanation for this in his plate. He points out that they looked exactly like landwehr cavalry when they wore the Litewka. They thus avoided being confused for militia cavalry by wearing the Kollet even when on campaign.

The Kollet was Prussian blue with poppy red collar and cuffs. The cuffs came to a point and were adorned by a brass button just below the point. The turnbacks were the same blue as the jacket but were set off by a ribbon of poppy-red piping along the outer edge of the turnback. They also had a distinctive brass button at the 'join' of the turnback and one on the jacket beside the apex of the turnback and just below the sash. These are not shown on the Brigade plate (possibly the only omission) but they are shown clearly on the Knotel and Brauer plates. The distinctive Uhlan sash was the same colour as the jacket and was also piped, top and bottom, with the same red ribbon as on the turnbacks. There was a single centrally placed 'barrel' on the sash. It was also blue with red piping but with the pattern lines running vertically instead of horizontally as on the rest of the sash. The colour of the shoulder straps denoted the regiment – white/Westprusssian, red/Silesian, yellow/Brandenberg. No decorative cords were worn on either shako or Kollet when on campaign. Trumpeters had a line of gold piping along the upper edge of the cuff and the opening and lower edge of the collar. Their 'swallow nests' were red with gold piping. The trumpet cords were similarly coloured in red and gold.

On campaign the shako was always worn in its black oilskin cover and devoid of all ornamentation. The cavalry overalls were the usual grey with a thin strip of poppy red piping along the outer seam and black leather reinforcements along the inside and bottom of the leg. All leather equipment was black. There was no plate on the cartridge pouch with the exception of the officers who displayed a yellow metal 'Royal cipher' here. Officers also had yellow metal 'pickers and chains' on the front of their cartridge belts. Officers wore the appropriate rank epaulets not the men's shoulder straps (see the brigade plates for further information). The sword hilt and scabbard were polished steel for all ranks and the sword knot was black for troopers and the usual silver for officers.

The shabraque was the Prussian light cavalry sheepskin with a red edging. The usual accoutrements were draped about the shabraque including the canteen in a grey cover, the valise also in grey and the canvas forage bags.

ADVANCING FIGURES

PCU 1 - Regimental officer wearing bicorn and open Ubberock. This figure is taken from the Brigade plate.
PCU 2 - Squadron officer in shako and kollet. Shouldered sword.
PCU 3 - Trumpeter, resting trumpet on thigh.
PCU 4 - Trooper holding lance upright.
PCU 5 - Trooper holding lance upright. Slight turn to body, right shoulder forward.
PCU 6 - Trooper holding lance upright. Slight turn to the body, right shoulder back.
PCU 7 - Trooper holding lance upright. Looking left.
PCU 8 - Trooper holding lance upright. Looking right and down.
PCU 9 - Trooper holding lance upright and wearing the forage cap.
PCU 10 - Trooper holding lance upright, bareheaded.
PCU 11 - Trooper holding lance upright, bandaged head.

CHARGING FIGURES

PCU 12 - Charging squadron officer, sword arm raised.
PCU 13 - Trumpeter, blowing trumpet.
PCU 14 - Trooper charging, lance couched under arm.
PCU 15 - Trooper charging, couched lance, slight turn to the body right shoulder back.
PCU 16 - Trooper charging, holding lance away from body as if thrusting.
PCU 17 - Charging trooper, couched lance, looking left.
PCU 18 - Charging trooper, couched lance, looking right.
PCU 19 - Enthusiastic trooper, holds lance in outstretched arm.
PCU 20 - Casualty. This trooper is designed to fit horse 13. It looks better on the new horse 14 as he looks like a trooper struggling to control the rearing horse.
PCU21 - Charging trooper, couched lance, wearing a forage cap.
PCU22 - Charging trooper, holding lance away from body as if thrusting, bareheaded.
PCU23 - Charging trooper, couched lance, bandaged head.

UHLAN VOLUNTEER JAGER

These figures caused me considerable research problems. Initially I was going to sculpt the jaegers wearing the uniform as shown in the Brigade plate with a litewka and no carbine. However, at about the time I was due to start sculpting the jaegers I managed to buy an original set of the Sturm Zigarettenbilder cards. While leafing through this new purchase I came across a card showing a Uhlan volunteer jaeger wearing not the Litweka but the Kollet and very clearly holding a carbine. It then struck me that a volunteer jaeger without a carbine is a contradiction in terms. I now also had to ascertain whether the volunteers did wear the kollet on campaign. This took a considerable while as information on these Uhlan volunteers is particularly scarce. Eventually the balance of evidence pointed to the kollet and confirmed that a carbine was carried. Like the regular Uhlans, the volunteers did have litewkas but did not wear them for similar reasons. Do not forget that the some landwehr cavalry regiments did have their own volunteer jaegers that would have looked identical to the Uhlan volunteers had these worn the litewka.

Points to note on these figures are the carbine I have already mentioned but also the scale epaulets. These are show in most of the reliable illustrations of these volunteers. The epaulets were more than decoration; as light cavalry the jaegers would have generally encountered enemy light cavalry carrying sabres. The sabre was a slashing weapon generally used in a downward action. The epaulets would have provided some protection to the upper body from these sabre slashes. The trumpeter is speculation as I have found no illustrations of a Uhlan volunteer jaeger trumpeter. The only evidence for the combination of scale epaulets with swallow's nests comes form a picture showing a dragoon volunteer jaeger sporting this combination.

Please remember that all jaegers wore holly green coats. A customer recently sent me some pictures of beautifully painted Lieb Hussar jaegers in black Dolmans. All the figures in the pack below are in advancing poses. I decided this was best as these volunteers generally scouted or skirmished ahead of the regulars and would withdraw and reform behind the regiment they were attached to once the regulars went into action.

PCU PK 1 - This contains five figures; four troopers in different poses and a trumpeter blowing his trumpet. Do not forget to order an officer from the lists above as the volunteer officer's uniform was the same as the line officer's with the exception Of the holly green colour of the jacket. $9.00 USD

ADDITIONAL NEW HORSES (Code H)

SET III (DYNAMIC)

H 14 - Rearing horse. Both front legs off the ground
H 15 - Shying horse. Head turned to the left.
H 16 - Leaping horse, both front legs off the ground and gathered in, neck stretched.

SET IV (STANDING)

H 17 - Standing horse, head turned slightly to the right.
H 18 - Standing horse curved neck.
H 19 - Standing horse, neck down as if feeding.
H 20 - Standing horse, slight turn of the neck to the left. Left front leg lifted.