OSPREY· MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES

13liichers rmy18(3-1815

Text by

PETER YOUNG

Colour plates by

MICHAEL ROFFE

MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES

EDITOR: PHILIP WARNER

~/iichers(' /frmy1813-1815

Text by BRIGADIER PETER YOU GDSO. Me. MA, ~-SA• .-.0111<-'., HU~"

Colour plates by MICHAEL ROFFE

OSPREY PUBLISHING Lll\·IITED

Publishcd in 1973 byOsprcy Publishing Ltd, P.O. Box 25,707 Oxford Road, Reading, Berkshire\tl Copyright 1973 Osprey Publishing Limited

This book is copyrighted under the BerneConvention. All rights reserved. Apart from anyfair dealing for thc purpose of private study,raearch, criticism or rcvicw, as permitted under theCopyright Act, 1956, no part of this publicationmay Ix: rcproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ortransmitted in any form or by any mcans, electronic,electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photo­copying, recording or otherwise, without the priorpermi5.5ioll of the copyright owner. Enquiries shouldIx: addressed to the Publishers.

ISUS 0 85°,),51175

I wish to pay tribute to the uniform plates andnotes of F. and G. Bourdicf, those of RichardKnOtcl and to the work of Illy old friend·the lateWinand Aerts. I am, in addition, much indebtedto my friend Marcus Hinton for permission to uS(:plates drawn for his series entitled Prints Mililairt.To my Wife, who since 1956 has typed all mydeathless prose, I can only arx)logize for inRictingyel another burden upon her.

PETER YOUNG

Printed in Great nritain.Monochrome by RAS Printers I.inlitcd,Wallop, HampshireColour by Colour Reproductions Ltd., Billericay.

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'lJliicl7el:S u1TI1Z)', 18fJ-18f5

1tJfrorluctiollIn the long struggle with Revolutionary France<Iod with apoleon, Prussia's share was by nomcans pre-eminent. In successive coalitions sheeither had no part at all or played second fiddle toAustria, Great Britain and Russia. But in thefinal campaigns from IBI3 to 1815 she threwcaulion and pedantry to the winds and fell uponthe French wilh all the fervour and energy of amodern blitzkrieg. This was due to one man aboveall, Field-Marshal Prince Blucher, 'the avengingthulldcrboll'. whose dynamic energy would havebeen remarkable in an officer of half his years. Themost pugnacious of generals, the mosl loyal' ofcolleagues, BlUcher led or drove his raw regimentsto the fight with relentless vigour. The fumblinguncertainty displayed b)· the Prussian HighCommand in 1806 was not for him. His army of1813-15, Ihough it contained perhaps half theofficer corps that had fought at Jena and Auer­stadt, was nothing like the creaking machine thatKarl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke ofBrunswick hadinherited from his uncle Frederick the Greal.The soldiers of the War of Liberation showed uppoorly on the parade ground, but they made up inenthusiasm for any lack of the old Prussianprecision in matters of drill and lurn-out.

This book docs not concentrate on the Waterloocampaign to the exclusion of the camp.aigns of1813 and 1814, for it was at Dennt:witz, on theKatzbaeh and at Leipzig that the Prussian Armyrecovered the self-respect which it had lost not SO

much on the battlefields of Jena and Auerstildtas in the shameful surrenders that followed. ThePrussian Army of 1813 was very different, not onlyin appearance but in spirit, from that of 1806. Butit was the same as that of 1815: it was in factBlUcher's Army. ffrather more dctail is here givenabout the campaign of 1815 than about those ohhe

War of Liberation it is because to the English­speaking reader lhe events of Napoleon's lastcampaign have an inexhaustible fascination. It ismoreoversalutary forthe British student of militaryalTairs to recall that in the majority of our greatbattles we have had the support of trusted allies.Could Marlborough have won Blenheim withoutPrince Eugene? Could '""ellington have wonWaterloo without Blocher? Those who have foughtagainst the Germans in this century have generallyacknowledged thaI they were resolute :lnd valiantenemies. It is as well sometimes to recall that intimes past they also showed lhemsdves to bedevoted and hard-fighting allies.

P.Y.

Napoleon reed..l... lhe Q,,"''' of Pna..la aC TU.h. Fro...che painw.e hy Nicola••Low••F.....90i. Co..eThe Treaty of Tn.it reduced Pru••la co ehe .cae.s of asecond..:.la•• powe..

3

Napoleon lands ncar Cannes.Ballies of Ligny and Quatre Bras.Battles of 'Vaterloo and 'Vavrc.Second abdication of apolcon.Combal al Versailles.

The Campaign of France.Abdication of Napoleon.

Scharnhorst dies of a wound receivedat Grossgorschen.Austria declares war.Dattle of Grossbeeren; Bernadottedefeats Oudinot.Baule of Ihe Kiltzbach; Blucher routsMacdonald.Battle of Dresden; Napoleon wins alaClical victory.Battlc of Kulm; the Allies annihilateVandamme's Corps.Baule of Dcnnewitz.The Battle of the Nations: Leipzig;Napoleon is heavily defeated.Battle of Hanau; . apoleon defeats'Vrede's Bavarians.The Allies cross the Rhine.

28 June

12 Aug.23 Aug.

26 Aug.

30--31 Oct.

6 Sepl.16- 19 0CI.

26-27 Aug.

21 Dec.

1814Jan.-Apr.II Apr.

18·SI Mar.

16JuneISJune22 JuneI July

Death of Queen Louise of Prussia.

GIlIY}//O!Of)'

The Convention ofTauroggen; Yorckwithdraws the Prussian contingentfrom Ihe Grande Armie.

Dattles ofJena and Auerstadt.Napoleon enters Berlin.BlUcher surrenders near Lubeck.

BaltIc of Eylau, General Lestocq'sCorps takes parl.

Schill's death at Stralsund.Battle of Wagram.

181323 Feb. Frederick William III determines 10

break with Napoleon.13 Mar. Prussia declares waron France.2 May Battle of LOlzen.20--21 May Battle of Bautzen; apoleon drives

Wiltgenslcin from the field.Balilc of Viloria (Spain).21 June

180614 Del.27 Oct.24 Nov.18078 Feb.

,8"'}'31 May5-6]uly.810IgJulyr8n30 Dec.

'Templin, P vldence'••806. The Pru..l.a.n Noble G...rdsharpe.. their ord" on the steps or the Fft..ch Ernbali.yla BerlIn. Wat colo.. r by F. de Myrhach

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'.'"':ll--<"" ._,. .

(9rgal1izatioJl'Organization is a necessary eviL'

VON CLAUSEWITZ

In 1806 the old Prussian Army inherited fromFrederick the Great was shattered. The baltlcs of.Jcna and Aucrstadt broke its body: with theshameful surrenders of Klislrin and other fort­resses it seemed that its soul also had fled. By theTreaty of Paris (18oB) the Prussian Army waslimited to a strength of 42,000.

In 1804 the King of Prussia had 9,752,731subjects living in his domains, ofwhorn 4,860,747were men. The Canton system of recruiting pc~milled numerous exemptions; but even S0, in1805, there were 2,320,''22 men liable to militaryservice. By the Peace of Tilsit (9 July 1807) thepopulation of Prussia was reduced to 4,938,000.The loss of rich provinces reduced her terricoryfrom 5,570 to 2,877 square miles. Of her fortressesonly Graudenz, Pillau, Kolberg, Glatz, Silbcrburgand Cosel had Prussian garrisons. The rest wereall garrisoned by the French. In less than a year

Queen LoW8a reviewing the Pru5s1an Army in 1806.Watercolour by F. de Myrbach

Prussia, from being the foremost among theGerman military powers, had become one of theleast.

The mobilization of 1813 began on 9 Februarywhen the royal authorities in the temporarycapital at Breslau declared conscription for theregular army. Earlier still, on 28 January [813an Armament Commission had been set up tosupervise Ihe mobilization and expansion of thearmy. Its members included Hardenberg, Scharn­horst and Hake. It was on that date that Scharn­horsl resumed his old POSI at the head of the WarDepartment.

Royal orders for mobilization were issued 011

[2 January, I February, and 2 and 18 March1813. The first, ironically enough, was in responseto a French request foi additional troops. It gavea pretext for bringing regiments up to establish­ment size and for calling up artillery, pioneers andreservists.

By an instruction of 7 Fcbruary it was laid downthat subalterns who had served in 1806 and 1807were eligible for immediate promotion, while anycapable cadet, or suitable N.C.O. could becommissioned forthwith.

5

On 3 February Hardenberg had announcedthe formation of Volunteer Jager units, appealingto the propertied classes, who were cxempted fromconscription, to volunteer. This measure broughtin young men of good family, who werc officermaterial. In the first months of 1813, 2,798volunteered and by the summcr the total hadreached 7.800. This was not enough to prove thatthe best of the nation were rising spontaneously10 throw off the yoke of Napoleon, but it wasquitc enough to provide a valuable pool ofsubaltern officers.

At first the Jager, who were required to equipthemselves, were given preferential treatment.But few commanding officers believed in anythingbut the strictest disciplinc, and they had thcVolunteers whipped with the same impartialitythat they bestowed on ordinary recruits.!

The reformers worked hard to cnsure thatevery able-bodied man should be liablc to con­scription, and achieved their cnd in the teeth of apopular press which declared Ihat the country wasnot ready for such a burden, and that the freePrussian lands wcrc bccoming a police state. Butso far as the military authorities wcrc concerned,a man was fit if his front teeth met firmly enoughlO enable him to bilc his cartridge.

Prince Eugenc de Beauharnais withdrew hisFrench troops from Berlin on 4 March. By thattime the alliance with Russia had been signed(28 February) and on 16 March King FredcrickWilliam felt bold enough to declare war on theFrench Empire. Next day he made his appeal,

6

An Mein Volk, by which he set the tone of the war.Henceforth the struggle was nOl dynastic butnational. In all these measures we may discernthe hand of Scharnhorst, who principally pavedthe way for Blucher's campaigns.

The opening of hostilities on 16 March 1813found Ihe Prussians with the following resources:

FIELD ARMY

1,776 officers; 66,963 men; 20,105 horses;213 guns.

MEDICAL, TRAIN AND TECHNICAL TROOPS

2,643 men; 3,625 horses.SECOND-LINE TROOPS

615 officers; 32,642 men; 650 horses; 56 guns.GARRISON TROOPS

398 officers; 22,277 men; 1,743 horses; 148train (Knechte).

Garde-Jiiger Baualion. Greenj red facing.; gold lace.(R. KnCS1el)

Left: Queen Lows. of Prussl ... ; rillbt: Frederick wnn.rnIII of Prussl.... (Enll ..... .,ed by T. Johnson)

The total amounted to 127,394.2 but half themen were recruits without much training. Therewas little artillery; muskets were hard to come by,and there were not enough horses. Flints formuskets were so scarce that the Berlin porcelainfactory was ordered to make trsal~ ones.

On 21 April a Landsturm force was brought intobeing. It was to be a guerrilla army, armed withflails, rakes, pikes and axes, and was to carry out ascorched-earth policy upon the approach of theenemy. It was not uniformed - indeed uniformfor the Landslurm was expressly forbidden.

Students of uniform will observe that whereasmost units of Bliicher's Army wore Prussian blue,many of their shakos and cartridge-belts had adecidedly English appearance. But arms are evcnmore important than uniforms and it is not loomuch to say that without English weapons thePrussian Army would have been on the samefooting as the Landslurm. By the end ofJune 1813British arms were arrivinR in the Baltic ports. By

15 July 40,000 muskets and 8~ million cartridgeshad been received. Cannon, powder, ball, wagonsand uniforms arrived in quantities. Altogether thePrussian Army was issued at least I 13,000 Englishmuskets in time for the autumn campaign of 1813.They were needed, for by June 1813 the PrussianArmy numbered nearly 150,000 men. TheLandwehr, recruiting vigorously, raised a total of120,000 men by mid-July;a Lithuania, East andWest Prussia to the Vistula, 20,000 men; Prussiawest of the Vistula, 6,620; Silesia, 49,974; NewMark, 7,941; Electoral Mark Brandenburg,20,560; Pomerania, 15,409.

In the 1815 campaign the Prussian Army wasorganized into Headquarters and four armycorps. There were no divisions. Each corps hadfour infantry brigades, each about thc same sizcas a French infantry division. Each corps had twoor three brigades of cavalry and between six andeleven batteries of artillery as well as a companyof pioneers.

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The corps varied in strength: t

I 11 III IVInfantry 29,135 '27,00'2 '22,275 27,459Cavalry 2,'75 4,47 1 1,981 3,3'2 IGunners 1,0.')4 1,501 999 1,3°7Guns 88 80 48 88Pioneers '°4 74 63 '5'Total 32,568 33,048 25,318 32,'23e

h will be observed that Thielmann's Corps (III)was much weaker than the other three.

'llieaCeatiersFELDMARSCHALL VORWARTS

TilE AVENGING THUNDERBOLT

(Das Heilige Don1/erwe/ler)

GEBHARD U;RERt:CHT VON Bl.UCHER (1742-1819)was a native of Rostock, brought up in Mecklen­burg. When he was 16 he obtained a commissionin the Swedish service, but was soon taken prisonerby the Prussian Colonel von Belling, who formed ahigh opinion of him and took him into his ownregiment. His piOllS commanding officer's prayerwas: 'Thou seest, dear Heavenly Father, the sadplight of thy servant Belling. Grant him soon anicc little war that he may bctter his conditionand continue to praise Thy name. Amen.' Itwould be strange if his attitude did not influencehis subalterns.

BWeher is said to have been of a quarrelsomenature and fond of drinking and gambling. Healso seems to have been somewhat heavy­handed and when stationed in Poland is allegedto have tortured a priest in order to extract aconfession. At a time when Frederick the Greatwished the Poles to believe him their benefactorllus was unwise. Blucher was passed over forpromotion and, resigning his commission, wastold by the King that he mighl go to the devil. Hesoon regretted his action and repeatedly appliedto return to the servicc; but in vain. Not untilFrederick died in 1786 was Bliicher, now aged 44,reinstated. He was given the rank of major in hisold regiment. In 1793 he was serving as a colonel

8

under Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, taking partin a number of sieges and skirmishes. In May1794, aged 52, he was promoted major-general.He was already known for his energy and his loveof excitement: 'from drilling his squadron, whichwas quartered at a distance, he would proceed to ahare hunt or a gay dinner and thai same nigln,perhaps, to a surprise attack on the enemy, or tothe laying of an ambush for the next morning.

Slloe.ian RUloe Battalion. Gr_n, black facinc_ with roedpJpinS, yoellow ...oetal buttons. Fro... 180<} to 18u tboebatt.alion wall in garrJSOft at UepLltz. The Siluian RJBeBattalion wa. evidently an excellent unh. It had beenforDled in 1808 from certaJn Ught c:ompanioe. whJcl& haddefended Glatz in 1807. In 181J Jt .aw a sreat d_1 offigbting, notably at Kulm, wbere It took two Fnftcbcolour•• At VaucbamplI in 1814 two compaoJes undoerCapt.ain (later Adjutant-General) VOn Neurn.a.n.o fi..ed.word-bayonet. and- repulsed a ",uperJor force of tbecavalry of Napoleon'. Guard. In 1815 the SUe..lan RUle.served in Zieten'. (I) Corp... (R. Knlhel)

Having temporarily silenced the enemy he wouldenjoy himself at Frankfort gambling or going tothe theatre.>~ By 1801 he was a lieutenant-general.

In 1802 Prussia was granted a slice of thebishopric of MUnster, and Blucher was givencommand of the occupying force. Baron Stein, thefamous statcsman and reformer, was president ofthe organization commission, and between themthey made such a good job of their unpopulartask that the estatcs and the ecclesiastical authori·tics asked the King of Prussia to make Blucherthcir governor. Somewhat surprisingly they hadbeen impressed by the old hussar's 'knowledge oflocal aA"airs, his honesty and uprightness, hisamiability and charitableness, his cleverness andpcnctration, and his ability to keep the peacebetween soldiers and civilians'. $

When in 1803 Mortier occupied Hanover,BlUcher hastened to Berlin, only to find to hisdisgust that his government's attitude was onc ofindifferencc. 'All thc misfortuncs of Germany andof the Prussian monarchy', he was to declare later,'are traceable to this event, at the moment soinsignificant.' From this time the words, 'Wemust fight France', were constantly on BlUcher'slips.

At Auerstadt (14 October 1806), at the head ofhis squadron, he had his horsc shot under him.After extricating himself he asked the King to lethim lead the Gendarmes to the charge. No soonerhad he been given permission than a counter­Qrder bade him cover the withdrawal of Hohen­lohe. This he succeeded in doing. When Hohenlohesurrendered at Prenzlau Bhicher fought on,cutting his way through to the Hansa city ofLUbeck, where after a stiff fight he was compelledto surrender, though he was soon to be exchangedfor General (later Marshal) Victor.

Scharnhorst, who had been with BlUcher in theretreat to LUbeck, had discerned in him thehighest military qualities. No other general, inhis opinion, was fit to head the army of resurgentPrussia. 'You arc our leader and our hero,' wroteScharnhorst, 'even if you have to be carriedbefore or behind us on a litter.' But, afflictcd bythe disasters of 1806, BlUcher fell sick in body andmind. Boyen tells us that he 'actually believedthat he was pregnant with an elephant', to whichScharnhorst's retort was that BlUcher 'must lead

Feldmar.cball Gebhard Leberll'chc von BlUcher, Princeof Wahl.tadt. Engraving by G. Kruell

though he have a hundred elephants inside ofhim'.

In 1809 Major von Schill, one of the heroes ofthe defence of Colbcrg (1806) rose against theFrench. He was defeated and killed at Stralsund.Eleven of his officers were court-martialled andshot. A number were sent captive to France,branded and compelled to serve in the galleys.Blucher, though in his public utterances hedisavowed Schill's action, took some goo of thesurvivors under his protection and in consequcneewas reprimanded by the King. For a second timehe resigncd from the Prussian service.

To Gneisenau he wrote:'God knows with what grief I quit a stale andan army in which I have becn ror fifty years. Itbreaks my heart to abandon a master for whom Iwould have given my life a thollsand times. Butall the same, by God in Heavcn, I will stand nomore slights! I will not be treated as a super·annuated commander. YOllng~r men shall not beplaced ahead of me! If the King docs not makeup his mind, if we take no steps to break our

9

Scharnhorst. Froan a anedalllon by L. POlich

chains - well, those who will may wear them,not I! I have sacrificed everything ror the state;1 leave it as one quits the world, poor, naked,and barco But I shall go, wherever it be, with aquiet conscience and accompanied by manyhonest rolk.'

It is said that he actually oncred his sword to theAustrian Archduke Charles, but the King assuredBlUcher orhis COIHinucd conlldence and promotedhim gencr.d or cavalry. Gradually the old man'swrath subsided. Still, throughout 1809 he wasurging the King to throw in his lot with Austriaand arter Wagram he did not hesitatc to reproachFrederick William ror not having dOlle so.

During the debacle or 1806 and all the misror­tunes that rollowed, Prussian morale, albeit areebte flame, had been sustained to some extentby the grijcious, brave and charming QueenLouise, who was twice the marl lhat FrederickWilliam was. Her sad and early death deprivedthe Prussian court or its chid ornamcnt. It pro­voked a characteristic explosion rrom GeneralBlUcher:'I am as ir struck by lightning! The pride orwomanhood has departed rrom the earth. Godin Heaven, it must be that she was too good forus! ... How is it possible ror such a succession ormisfortunes to rail un a state! In my presentmood I should be pleased to hear that the earthhad caught fire at all four corners!'

10

At this time Blucher was in command atColberg, busy with the fortifications and wilhtraining reserves. The French consul at Stcuindiscovered that he had 7,000 men 1110re than hewas allowed and apoleon's ambassador de­manded his dismissal. On II November 1811 theKing wrote explaining this in as rriendly a rash ionas he ventured to, sending him 2,000 thalers rorhis travelling expenses, and adding, 'I have it inmind to place yOll in a position to renew youractivity so soon as there shall be an opportunity.'At 6g BlUcher can scarcely have thought it likelythat he would be re·employed.

BlOcher withdrew to Stargard where he spentthe winter or 1811-12. While the French wereinvading Russia he remained unemployed, com­plaining that, with Prussia subjected by treaty toFrance, 'All is lost and honour too .. .' But withthe ncws that the Grande Arnde had been crippledexcitement rosc. Early in January 1813 Blucherwrote [Q Scharnhorst:'I am itching in every finger to grasp thesword. If his Majesty, our King, ir all the otherGerman princes, if the nation as a whole do notnow rise and sweep rrom German territory thewhole rascally French brood together with

tapoleon and all his crew, then it seems to methat no German is any longer worthy or thename. It is now the moment to do what I wasalready advising in 1809; namely, to call thewhole nation to arms and to drive out those orthe princes who refuse and who place them­selves in opposition even as we shall drive outBonaparte. This is not a question or Prussiaalone but or reuniting the whole GermanFatherland and rebuilding the nation.'

What Blucherwas bluntly expressing in hissoldierlyprose, was already being SLing by the pacts or theWar or Liberation, among them Moritz Arndt:

II path for freedom! Purify the soil!The German soil, oh deanse it with thy blood!At first Frederick William hoped to preserve

peace with France on the principle or 'Live andlet live', but by 23 February Scharnhorst,Hardenberg and others had made up his mind rorhim. He would venture to break with Napoleon.Three days later he wrote to Blucher:

'I have determined to place you in command ofthose troops that are to be the first to take the

•

field. ] order you accordingly to mobilize hereas speedily as possible. The importance of thecommission thus entrusted 10 you will convinceyou of the confidence I feel in your militaryex~rience and in your patriotism.'

Blucher's Army of Silesia look the field early inApril, drove in the French outposts, crossed theElbe and set up his headquarters in Dresden.From the first bartle of the campaign, LOtzen(2 May), his mixture of iron nerve and dash builtup rhe Blocher legend.

'Blucher, with the utmost im~rturbability, re­mained, for the mOSI part at points of more orlessdanger, indefatigably smoking his pipe. Whenit was smoked to the end he would hold it outbehind him and call "Schmidt!" whereupon hisOl·derly would hand him one freshly filled andthe old gentleman smoked away at his case.Once we haired for a time quile ncar a Russianbattery and a shell fell right in front of liS.

Everyone shouted: "Your Excellency, a shell!"'''Well, leave the hellish thing alone!" said

BlOcher calmly. There he stood until it burst;then and not till then did he change his position.'About 4 o'clock he led a desperate attack on the

corps of Ney and Marmont and in the fightingthat followed his horse was shot under him and hewas hit in Ihe side by a bullet. As the surgeonexamined the wound BlUcher feared the worst,but, learning that it was 110t serious, scarcely hadthe patience to let himself be bandaged beforemounting and dashing back into the fray. In thelast cavalry attack, made after dark by a man of7_who had been in the saddle since dawn, he gotwithin 200 yards of Napoleon's command post,and so imposed upon the Emperor's imaginationthat he let the Allies depart unmolested. LUtzenwas not much of a victory for the French, who lost22,000 men to the 11,5°0 casualties of the Allies.As Blucher elegantly expressed it, 'The Frenchmay make wind as much as they please; they arenot likely to forget the 2nd of May.'

The Tsar, full of admiration, bestowed theCross of St George upon Blucher for his serviceson this occasion, speaking of his 'splendid habit ofalways being present at the point of greatestdanger... .' But despite his bravery at LOtzen,Bautzen and Hanau the old gentleman had hiscritics. He was too old; he was out of date; he had

been out of his mind; he had little experience ofhandling large forces; he knew little of strategyor tactics. He could not converse with his Russiancolleagues either in Russian or French. He wasfond ofgambling and of the bottle.

Even if all or some of these charges containedan element of truth BlUcher's virtues outweighedthem. He alone had the will-power, the drive, theoptimism, the sheer guts to carry his raw armyforwards. His quickness ofdecision, his presence ofmind under fire, more than made up for his con­tempt for planning and cartography. With a Chiefof Staff like Gneisenau to work out the details itwas a positive advantage to lhe Prussians thatBlUcher did not concern himself with the minutiaeof military administration.

'Gneisenau, being my chief of staff and very re­liable, reports to me on the manceuvres that are

..... ~~";";'_~-!:''''''_''''''_oLil.'f!!j- ...;';,

The Bnuo.deDb","I: Cwratlsler RepmeDI. The "sUneDt wasraised a'ter Tn.i, rro.... the r ...maiDS or.u. heavy cavalryrepmeD'S, and (ousht In the campaJ'1lII o( .81) .....d 18t4at Baul>len, n ......den, Kuhn, Lelpzi. and elsewhere. I .. (ulld..-a a whJte coa'ee waa worn. On campaJp office... wo"th... blue jack...t kao_ aa the l~ib,oclc .Itd the men wo" ablue litn»lca, with rtd (adn.a. With the white coat"U.hl btue raci.roa:s were worn. The ...ddle-doths are redwith }""-lIow lri....mi..... CR. Knl>tel)

II

to be executed and the marches that are to beperformed. Once convinced that he is right Idrive my troops through hell towards the goaland never stop until the object has been achieved- yes, though officers of the old school maysulk and bellyache to the point of mutiny.'

Above all Blocher had the great virtue that,while he detested Napoleon, he was not impressedby him. 'Let him do his worst: said he afterBautzen, 'he is really nothing but a dunderhead.'

Blucher for his part was not merely a blunt5abreur. Arndt, who met him in April 1813, sawconcentrated in his face 'the cunning of a hussar,the play of features sometimes extending up intohis eyes, and something of a marten listening forits prey'.

Wenzel Krimer (1795-1834), an Austrian whofought in Lutzow's Freikorps at Lutzen andBautzen tells us something of Blucher's techniqueof command.

Trooper, Ufes:uard, 1&09- White u.uform, red (adaS_ aDdsrey ove.... lIs. From a d ....win. by I. Wolf, en.....ved byF. Ju.el

12

' ... Blucher, although he might readily over­look indiscipline among brave soldiers, camedown very severely on weaklings and usuallypunished them by his caustic humour or bypersonal example. Thus it frequently happenedthat, if he met stragglers along the line of march,he would dismount and proceed on foot, withthem walking in front of him. Or he would orderthem to stick wisps of straw in their shakos andthey would then be escorted by cavalrymen totheir regiments, decorated as men of straw.

'Whenever he passed a battalion which heknew to be a brave one, he would not allow hisstaff to take up the middle of the road. So as notto impede those on the march, he preferred toride to one side, and he greeted everyone cordi.ally and made enquiries about everything. Ifthere was a shortage of rations, we were certainto find an adequate supply all ready laid out inthe open street in the next village: every man ashe passed by was allowed to help himself as heliked.

'BlOcher's usual greeting was "Good morning,children!" even in the evening. To this thesoldiers would respond with, "Hurrah, FatherBlOcher!"

'He had his weaknesses, certainly, but thesedid little damage to his many virtues. It oftenhappened that, as soon as evening came or whenotherwise in bivouac, a drum had to be broughtover, and he would throw dice with the firstofficers who came along. Ifhe won a few thalers,he was as delighted as a child and would strokehis grey moustache and grin; while if he lost(and he often lost a great deal of money) hewould laugh at himself. But, strange to relate,the very thing he himself did so passionately heforbade to the soldiers: they were not allowedto play for money or, at least, must never becaught doing SO,'1

Captain Fritz --, a fellow Mecklenburger,who had been at Auerstadt, with the King'sGerman Legion in the Peninsula, and had theCross of St George and the scar of a lance woundas souvenirs of Borodino, was well received whenhe called on Blucher early in 1813.

"Vhen I called on our old hussar general, hewas cheerful as always and displayed that rarejoviality with which he always knew how to win

the hearts of those around him. He was justhaving a good breakfast of bread and ham and afew bottles of Hungarian wine, to which he hadinvited several Russian generals under hiscommand, when I was permitted to enter.

'''It is indeed a great pleasure, Captain, to seeyou again. How the deuce did you acquire thatmemento on your check?" He talked in thisfriendly manner and shook my hand vigorously."Take your things off and drink a glass of winewith us and tell us what you have been doing inthe world since I last saw you. You are said tohave got around quite a bit", he went on, givingme a large glass of the Hungarian wine. "Drinkup!" he urged. "This is good wine, such as wedo not have the chance of tasting every day."He introduced me to the Russian generals as thegrandson of an old comrade in arms and the sonof an officer of his regiment who had been a dearfriend of his. I had to sit down at table and tellthem about Wellington and the English, and itwas so cheerful and pleasant that the few hourswhich our breakfast took slipped by very quicklyfor me. The General was still the same manwhom I had known before; rank, fame and yearshad not affected him in the slightest. He laughed,joked and also swore like any good hussar officer,and for everyone, high or low, general or cor­poral, he had a coarse joke, an apt jest, but also,if he thought necessary, a rebuke. This un­affected joviality, which nothing put off, was ofinestimable value to the Army of Silesia andhelped substantially to improve it and to 6t itfor great deeds.'

Despite his affability Blucher could be heavy­handed, as the Saxons were to find when theymutinied in 1815.

The most perceptive analysis of Blucher'scharacter comes from General Karl von Muffling(1775-1851), the Hanoverian who was to play animportant part as liaison officer with Wellington'sHeadquarters at Waterloo.'Despite a sharp, penetrating intellect Blucherhad received no systematic education; only incontact with other people, finding himself ongood. terms with everyone, acting firmly andwith great tact, his inexhaustible cheerfulnessand his modest, good-natured behaviour wonhim friends wherever he went. He never despised

G~Dadi~r, Fooc Guard., 1809. Blue uniform, red CacbtS',dark «rey breec:he•. From a d ...wlnl by I. Wolf, eUI",vedby F. JUlel

knowledge, nor did he overestimate it. He talkedfrankly about the neglect of his upbringing, buthe also knew very well what he could achievewithout this education. His imperturbabilityin dangerous situations, his tenacity in misfor­tune, and his courage which grew under diffi­culties were based on an awareness of his physicalstrength, which he had often used in hand-to­hand fighting during earlier campaigns. In thisway he had gradually convinced himself thatUlere was no military predicament from whichone could not ultimately extricate oneself byfighting, man to man. He had no very highopinion of any officer who did not share tillsview.

'In his opinion courage produced a military.reputation, and it seemed to him impossible that

/3

Officer, C ...rd F...ilie.r Sattallon, 18ol}. The tulifonn J.bl..e with red faclalJ. aDd silver lace. From a priot of theperiod drawD by I. Wolf aDd IrDlJrtlVed by F. JalJd

a brave man could lose such a reputation. Hewas never troubled by the slightest apprehensionthat a retreat or a lost battle could take away hisown reputation. Thus the wish to command largearmies was quite alien to him: as a field-marshalhe put himself at the head of a squadron asreadily as at the head of an army.

'He trusted the officers of his staff only whenhe considered them entcrprising; but once theyhad earned this trust he gave it unreservedly.He allowed them to put forward their plans formarches, positions and battles, he graspedeverything quickly, and if he had given them hisapproval and signed the relevant orden he wouldaccept no outside advice, and no expressions ofalarm made the slightest impression on him.... '

We have now arrived at the dawn of the cam-paigns which made Blucher's reputation. Fromthis time his history is that of his army. Suffice it

14

to add that he was made a field-marshal afterLeipzig and inJuly 1814 - despite his own opposi·tion - Prince Blucher von Wahlstadt. 'Everything',he wrote, 'will depend on the sort of principalityI am to receive in Silesia. Under no circumstanceswill I consent to add one more to the horde ofsickly, hungry princes:GENERAL HANS DAVID LUDWIG YOReK VON WARTEN·

BURG (1759-1830). Yord was commissioned inthe Prussian Army at the age of 13, but got himselfcashiered before he had had two yean' service. Heaccused a brother officer of stealing while oncampaign. This delicate case in military law wassummarily dismissed by no less an authority thanFrederick the Great, who wrote, 'Plundering isnot stealing. Yorck can go to the devil' - a casehistory that soldiers would bc unwise to take as aprecedent.

Lieutenant Yorck was now compelled to seekhis fortune abroad, and served in Ceylon with aFrench regiment in the pay of the Dutch EastIndia Company. On Frederick's death he rejoinedthe Prussian Army, rising to command a Jagerregiment, and was noted as an expert trainer.With his customary 'awkwardness' he declinedthe coveted order Pour Ie Mirite saying that hewanted to win it on the field of battle and not on aparade ground.

In 1806 Yorck, badly wounded, was takenprisoner in Blucher's defence ofLubeck.

When apoleon invaded Russia a Prussiancontingent under Yorck served under MarshalMacdonald in his advance on Riga. He can·eluded the Convention of T:'lUroggen with theRussians (30 December 1812), and by so doingmade thc first move in the War of Liberation, inwhich the people of Germany lhrew off the yokeof Napoleon.

Beyond question Yorek was a difficult customerand, though competent and upright, a badsubordinate. He was known to the men as der ailehegrim, which, though it means 'lhe old man withthe iron helmet', is the centuries·old nicknamegiven to the wolf in German folklore. He wasmerciless to looters, stragglen and camp·followers.

Lieulenant·Colonel Ludwig von Reiche gives abalanced picture of this remarkable officer.'Ahhough General Yord could often be bad­tempercd and even harsh, he could also be just

as kind, and really charmcd peoplc in this way.He had a high degrce of subtlcty in his mind,and a tinge of slyness cxpressed itself in hisspiritcd facc especially when he was in a goodhumour and his peculiar sarcastic smile showeditself. Yet he had a tender heart susceptible tofriendship.

'As a subordinate, however, Yorck was verydisobedient and difficult to handle, which with acharacter like his is not to be wondered at.'That Yorck was admired and could be quite

charming" is exemplified hy an incident during theFrellch retreat to the Rhine after Leipzig. ColonelCoullt Henckel von Donnersmarck, the com­mander of Yorck's advance guard, with tworegimcnts of cavalryd rescued 200 Austrianofficers and 4,000 men, taken at Dresden, whowefe being marched into captivity by two Polishbattalions. When he reported to Yorck, theGeneral took offhis cap and said to his entourage,'Gentlemen, let us give Count Henckel a cheed'

'These words,' wrote the Count, 'spokcn at thismOment and by this man, I valued more than if Ihad been decorated with some order.'

BlOcher, who had to put up with a good dealfrom 'the Wolf', said of him: 'Yorck is a waspishfellow; he docs nothing but argue, but when heattacks, then he gets stuck in like nobody else.'

Not too bad an epitaph for deT alte Isegrim.

GENERAL WILIIELM BULOW VON DENNEWITZ (1755­18t6). Colonel Hermann von Boyen (1771-1848),who was at one lime his Chief of Staff, describesthe General thus:

'Bolow had a vcry keen glance and an excel­lent memory; a bold self·confidencc guidcd hissteps, but this made him mostly an opponent ofhis superiors and a rather uncomfortable sub­ordinatc. Without being strictly trained as ascholar, the General had acquired a respectablefund of knowledge in many fields. He had apassionate love of music and had established areputation as a composer.... The General hadunderstood the events of the time in a liberalspirit; his views on war were mainly derivedfrom the Seven Years War and our earliermilitary institutions [i.e. the legacy of Frederickthe Great) and therefore he had been among the

opponents of Scharnhorst even before the war.However, his practical understanding led himalmost unconsciously to grasp the nature 01" thisnew war [of 1813]. Although very susccptibleto fame, he placed very littlc value on outwarddistinctions, he was not self-seeking, and heesteemed people irrespective of their opinions.'v

In the Watcrloo campaign the other threecorps commanders were:

I. Lieutenant-General Hans Ernst Karl Grafvon Zieten II (1770-d1413). He had com­manded a division in the Leipzig campaign.

II. Major-General George Dlibislaw LudwigPirch I. He was 52 :lIld came ffom Magde­burg.

III. Licutenant-General Johann Adolf Freihcrr\'on Thielemann. He was 50 and had led theSaxon cavalry fighting for Napoleon atBorodino in 1812.

It is well known that Wellington cared bUl littlehow his officers dressed when on campaign, andsaw nothing objeclionable in Sir Thomas Picton'staking his division into action top hat on hcad andumbrella in hand. It does 1I0t seem that Blucher's

Frederick Wilhelm BUlow von Oennewitz. From anengraving by T. Jobn..on

IS

staff was much more 'dressy'. His own turn-out,with cloak and forage cap, was practical ratherthan showy. A great differencc had crept in sincethe days of 1806 when Yorck had taken the fieldwith his kit packed in a wagon and a light chaise.He took with him two extra uniforms, ten pairs ofgloves, four pairs of trousers and waistcoats, anextra hat, cloaks, an abundance of personal cloth­ing, four pairs of leather breeches, fifteen pairs ofstockings, eight nightgowns, five nightcaps, threetable-cloths, thirty-six napkins, a mattress, fivepillows, a red silk bcd-cover, two bedpans, a set ofchina and silver, cooking utensils, a coffee-grinder,eight razors, twelve glasses, and twenty-fivebottles of liquor. 1o

On 5 October 1813 an incident took placewhich illustrates the new attitude towards turn-outand what is now vulgarly known as 'bull'. Boyenis once more our aul1lOrity.

'While they were marching through Dessauthere occurred another source of annoyance forthe Crown Prince. Bnlow look very little troubleover his dress, in glaring contrast to the CrownPrince, who devoted every possible care to thissubject. We had 110 idea Ihat the Crown Prince,who had never once bothered about the troopsthroughout the campaign or shown himself tothem, was proposing to make an exception here.And so Riilow, wearing his sel'vice ovcrcoat anda rather dilapidated field-cap, rode at the headof his troops on a small Polish horse. Suddenlywe heard that the Crown Prince was waiting afew yards away in the slrcets of Dessau in orderto let the corps parade past him. With the bestwill in the world there was no time to altcr any­thing. llnlow drew his sword and, just as he was,led his troops past the Commander·in-Chiefwithall possible honours of war.

'However, this was a stab through the heartfor the Crown Prince. He regarded it as a per­sonal slight to the respect due to him, but insteadof saying so direct he called me over and, in avoice which everyone round could hear, hemixed reproaches about this clothing offencewith the old recital of all Bulow's real or allegedsins. As can' well be imagined, 1 found myself ina most embarrassing situation, and when hereverted to the sartorial error I replied a triflerudely that this had been the service dress in om

16

army since the time of Frederick the Great,whereupon I was dismissed. In fact, part of myanswer was a lic, because the Prussian officerhas only our present monarch to thank for thedress specially made for campaigning.'ll

Thc Crown Prince was, ofcourse, Jeall·Baptiste­Jules Bernadotte, one of Napoleon's marshals,who was now at the head of the Swedish Army.

GENERAL AUGUST GRAF NEITHARDT VON GNEISENAU

(1760-1831). Born in Saxony, the son of a lieu­tenant in the artillery, Gneisenau joined theAustrian service, then, transferring to that ofAnspach-Bayreuth, was sent to America in 178210 fight for King George III against his rebelliouscolonists. Too late for the war, he returned toEurope, where in 17B6 he joined the PrussianArmy as a staff captain. In IB06 he commanded abattalion at Saalfeld and at Jena. In IB07 hegreatly distinguished himself by his tenaciousdefence of the fortress of Kolberg, an exploitwhich won him the highest Prussian order,Pour Ie Meritt, and soon became legendary inGerman history - Hitler had a film made of itwhen the tide turned against him in the SecondWorld War.

Gneiscnau hated the Russians and mistrustedthe English, but he got on splendidly widlBlOcher who needed someone to do his staff work.Friedrich von Schubert, an officer in the Austrianservice, tells us that Gneisenau

'was a highly gifted and clever man of spiritand energy. He virtually commanded the Armyof Silesia, yet he could not have done this in hisown name. For one thing, he was not yet seniorenough in rank; for another, public opiniondemanded that BlUcher's name, celebrated inPrussia, should be at the head.... Relationsbetween Bli.icher and his Chief of Staff were mostexcellcnt. ... Both men were fired by hatred ofthe French. But the one who could only conceiveof "Vorwar{s", had complete confidence in theoutstanding abilities of the other, to whom he leftall arrangements for the advance, and acceptedpersonal responsibility for this.'In 1814 the University of Oxford conferred on

Blncher the honorary degree of doctor. At adinner given in his honour the Field-Marshalsaid: 'Now, if you have made me a doctor, then

Gnellu,n"u. From" med"lUon by L. POIIc:b

Gneisenau must be made at least an apothecary.'Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769"""1860), a Professor of

History and Philology, writes:'Gnciscnau was a man of fifty-two when I firstsaw him during the winter of 1812, but he lookedlike a thirty-year-old in bearing, walk andgestures. His figure was imposing, his limbs likethose of a lion, and he had broad shoulders andchest. From the hips to the soles of his feet every­thing was strong, roundcd and, wherever itshould be delicate - the feet andjoints-dclicatclyand supply formed. He stood and movcd like aborn hero. A noble head crowned this powerfuli\­built body of above average height: the browwas open, broad and serene, his dark hair grewthick, he had the most beautiful, large, blueeyes, which could look and nash with equalfriendlincss or disdain, a straight nosc, full lips,a round chin, and an expression of manliness andbeauty in all his features. The forehead bore along, hcaled-up scar. "This scar", he used to saywith a smile, "often makes me angry or bored,when people want to know in which battle Ireceived the wound, and 1 have to send themaway with the dusty answer: 'A foal was the herowho scarred the lad.'''

'This fine man had a passionate and fierynature, and bold impulses and thoughts flowed

incessantly to and fro within him. And if he didoccasionally - a rare occurrence for him - fallinto a half-dreamy, brooding state of exhaustionhis face likewise radiated a bubbling, spiritualanimation which seldom left his features inrepose. Consequently, the very handsome facewas difficult to take in and portray in its mostpeculiar, positive significance, and anyone whokncw Gneisenau was dissalisfied wilh anyportrait or engraving of him.'Another intellectual, Henrik Steffens (1775­

1845), who served on his staff, found Gneisenau 'ablend of noble pride and real humility, of confid­cnce and modesty' _ He discerned in Gneisenau arespect for higher intellectual training, butthoughl he lacked the agility of mind, the readywit and the pungent irony which distinguishedmany of the outstanding senior officers ofhis day.12Gneiscnau was a stern and unbcnding warrior,but not lacking in heart. On 19 October 1813 hisA.D.C., Captain Stosch, rode with him across thecorpses of the Silesian Landwehr un the battlefieldof Mockern which Yorck had taken on the 16th:'I watched Gncisenau's solemn face, :md as hesaid to me, "Victory was bought with Gcrmanblood at gre:'l1 cost, at vcry great cost", a teartrickled down from his eye. It was the only lear Iever saw him shed. u He was made it count for hisservices in Ihc Leipzig campaign.

Gneisenau played a decisive pari in Ihe 1815campaign and by his relentless pursuit of theArmie du Nord on the night aftcr Waterloo showedhimself as much a man of action as a staff officer.The pursuil he described as die reine Klapperjagd,a mad chase, and laler declared that it was Ihemost glorious night of his lifc. Gncisenau died ofcholcra in August 1831.

MAJOR-GENERAL KARL VON CLAUSEWITZ (1780­1831). Clausewitz was born at Magdeburg onI June 1780, and entered the ()russian Army as aFalmenjunker (cadet) when he was 12. He servedon the Rhine in 1793 and 1794 and afler the siegeof Mainz was commissioned.

From 1801 10 1803 he was a student at theBerlin Military School, then under Ihe directionof General Scharnhorst, who was struck by hisability. Clausewitz for his part took Scharnhorstas his model. He passed out first wilh the General

17

reporting on his breadth of vision, and obtaininghim a posting as A.D.C. to Prince August ofPrussia.

At the battle of Auerstiidt Clausewitz led abattalion in the assault on Poppel.

Prince August's battalion was with PrinceHohenlohe's rearguard in the retreat that fol­lowed, and when surrender was imminent triedto fight its way out. Arter beating off severalFrench cavalry attacks it was trapped in a bogand taken. Prince August and Clausewitz wereprisoners of war until 1809.

On his return from France Clausewitz wasappointed to Scharnhorst's staff and played a panin'his reorganization of the Prussian Army. At thisperiod he became a friend of Gneisenau. In 1810Clausewitz became a member of the PrussianGeneral Staff and a professor at the MilitarySchool, as well as military instructor to the CrownPrince of Prussia, later King Frederick William IV.

In 1812, when Napoleon took a Prussian corpsto Russia, Clausewitz along with some 300 of hisbrother officers resigned their commissions andjoined the Russian service, where he was A.D.C.

18

to the Prussiall General Ernst von Pfull (1779­1866). He was at Borodino and was with Milora­dovich's rearguard covering the Russian with­drawal. In Napoleon's retreat from Moscow,Clausewitz served with General Wiugenstein'sCorps. It fell to his lot to playa decisive part in thenegotiations with Yorck that led to the Conventionof Tauroggen.

In 1813 Clausewitz, still in the Russian service,was liaison officer at Blocher's headquarters, andin 1814 he was Chief of Staff to General Wal­moden's Corps. In 1815 he re-entered the PrussianArmy and served as Chief of Staff to GeneralThielemann (Ill Corps) at Ligny and Wavre.

In 1818 Clausewitz was promoted major­general and made Director of the Berlin MilitarySchool, an appointment which gave him time todevote himself to his writings. In 1830 he wastransferred to the artillery at Breslau and inDecember of that year, when war with Franceappeared imminent, he was appointed Chief ofStaff to Gneiscnau. They were both victims of thecholera epidemic of 1831.

This is not the place to analyse Clauscwitz'stheories on the art of war. In addition to his greatwork, On War (3 vols.), he wrote studies of TheIlalian Campaign, q¢-97; The Campaigns inSwitzerland and Italy, 1799 (2 vols.), the cam­paigns of 1812, 1813 and 1814; and The Wa/eTlooCampaign. Among a number of papers on thecampaigns of Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne,Luxembourg, Frederick the Great and others, themost important was one on the debacle of 1806.This was published by the German General Staffin 1888.

The German hlil~krieg of 1939 and 1940followed the classic German strategy hammeredout by Blucher, but recorded, analysed anddeveloped by Clausewitz, and handed down bythe elder Moltke and by SchlieRen. Yet Clause­witz wrote not only for soldiers but for Slatesmen,and his legacy is lO be found enshrined not onlyin Bismarck's policy of Blood and Iron, but inHitler's A'(ein Kampf.

GRAF AUGUST LUDWIG FERDINAND VON NOSTITZ

(1777-1866). Blocher's A.D.C. was Graf Augustvon Nostitz. The son of a Saxon cavalry general,

he had served in a dragoon regiment. As a captainhe was with BlOcher at Leipzig, and accompaniedhim to England in 1814. As a lieutenant·colonelhe coolly rescued the old field-marshal when hewas pinned under his dead horse at Ligny.Nostitz, aged 75 and by then a general of cavalry,carried Blocher's baton at Wellington's funeral in1852. He kept a diary which has been published.

Nostitz showed his presence of mind not onlyat Ligny but at Leipzig, when (on 18 October) theAllies were entering the city and Blocher wasleading up troops from a Russian corps wilhimpatient cries of'Vorw;irts, vorw;irts, Kinder!'

'A Russian general, of whose bravery BHicherhad no great opinion, protested about thepersonal danger to which BlOcher was exposinghimself; but Blucher paid no attention, andrenewed his shouts of "Vorwarts!" inspiring histroops to advance more rapidly still. At thismoment my horse shied: it had been hit by abullet. The Russian general, noticing this,drew Blucher's attention to the fact as a proof ofhis earlier assertion that BlOcher was withinrange of bullets.

'BlOcher turned peevishly round and asked,"Nostitz, is your horse wounded?"

'''I'm not aware of it", was my reply.'At the gate the General remarked, "That was

clever of you, Nostitz, telling a lie about yourhorse's wound. If you had said 'Yes', then ourgood friend would probably have gone topieces."'lt

STAFF

The Headquarters Staff under von Grolmannnumbered only six officers. The remainder of theArmy Staff numbered forty·nine and ineluded theofficer commanding the artillery, the commandantof Headquarters, surveyors, surgeons, an auditor,the provost·marshal and others. In all thePrussian Headquarters amounted to fifty·eightofficers.

A corps staff comprised about twenty officersand a brigade staff about five.

The officers of the Army Headquarters includedLieloltenant-Colonel Count von Nostitz, Blocher'sA.D.C. who gallantly rescued his general atLigny, Maj~r von Winterfeldt, who was severely

wounded when, while taking an importantmessage to Wellington, he imprudently rode toonear the French outposts; Captain von Wussowand Captain von Scharnhorst.

At Leipzig Yorck's staff included ColonelKatzcler, Major Count Brandenburg and Majorvon Schack. In the same battle Gneisenau'sA.D.C. was Captain Stosch.

The three armies engaged in the 1815 campaignwere led respectively by a gunner, an infantryofficer and a cavalryman. Each showed a decidedpenchant for his old arm. Bhichcr was the cavalry­man, and, despite his years and his heavy res·ponsibilities as Commander-in.Chicf, thoughtnothing of leading cavalry charges in person - awcakness which nearly brought complete disasteron at least one occasion.

InJune 1808 the Prussian cavalry was 12,871strong, including 535 officers and 1,766 N.C.O.s.Since the whole army only numbered 50,°47 thiswas a reasonable proportion of mounted tfOOPS,but since 4,634 of the men were on more or lesspermanent leave, U the regiments can scarcelyhave been in a very high state of efficiency. Whenin 1813 the Prussian Army was expanded to some'100,000, serious difficulties were encountered. Of

Narrow eBcape of Blucher at Ul(ny. Trapped under biBdead horBe, he BeeB the 9th Cuirassiers charl(e paBt him.Hi. A.D.C., Graf Nostilz, haB dlBmounted to defend him.From a print by Wolf and von Maner

19

At regimemal and squadron level, cavalrytactics in Blucher's Army were much the same asin those of his contemporaries. Their tasks may besummed lip as rcconnaiss<Ulcc: and outpost duty on

campaign, ilnd mounted action as might beappropriate during a pitched oattle.

In two ways the Prussian cav.dry dilfcred fromlapoleon's. It had not a large body of heavy

cavalry equipped with the cuirass. This wasperhaps no grcat deprivation, and indeed none of\\"ellington's heavy cavalry wore body armour.The other diflcrence was fundamcntal. WhilcNapoleon kept a mass of reserve cavalry which wasnot affiliated to any corps d'armie, all the Prussiancavalry was distributed to the various corps. Itseems to the present writer that Napoleon'ssystem, which permitted great strokes by a fullyco-ordinated mounted arm upon tire ficld of battle,was vastly superior. Although Ney's series ofattacks recoiled from Wellington's squares atWaterloo, we have only to study other Napoleonicbattles, Eylau for example, to see what theFrench reserve cavalry could do.

Blucher was an inspiring leader, but his bestfriend could not describe him as a clear-mindedmilitary thinker. It seems that he had not reallythought out the best organization for his cavalry.

Friedrich Ge01"l Ludwit;: von Sohr. Conunanded a brlpdeat Llpy and rose 10 be GenertlUeulntlnl.

Effutives2,175

4,47 1

l,gBt3,321

'9

ISquadro1ls

33

took part In the

49Total

The Prussian cavalry which1815 campaign comprised:

RegimentsHussars 9Uhlans 8DI·agoolls 5Freiwillige.J iiger

Landwehr 12Landwcllr

cavalry 15

Cavalry TotalNapoleon 20,000--22,000 125,000Wellington 14,000 c. 110,000

Blucher 11,948 123,172

Moreover Blucher's cavalry was all allotted to hisvarious corps. Unlike apoleon he had no truereserve cavalry. The proportion ofcavalry in eachcorps varied very considerably.

Corps Squadrons

1 3'II 36III 24IV 43 .,.

these the worst was the lack of horscs. It actuallyprovcd impossiblc to mount all thc vctcrancavalry troopers available. Farm and draughthorses which no self-respecting cavalry officerwould have looked at in 1806 were pressed imothe service - but it must be conceded that theFrench were in similar straits.

Despite every difficulty the Prussian cavalryheld their own pretty well during the 1813-15period, though it would be idle to pretend thattheir l>est units were as good as the ilite regimentsof Napoleon's cavalry. Nor were they anythinglike as well mounted or equipped as the Britishand King's German Legion cavalry of the day.

I n the Waterloo campaign Blucher's cavalrynumbcrcd I 1,948. This was not a particularlyliberal provision.

20

OfficersN.C.O.sMusiciansSurgeonsTroopsMen on leave

Nor did he have any great cavalry commander athis disposal. He lacked a Seydlitz to take a grip onthe whole mass of his mounted arm. Men likeSohr and Henckel von Donnersmarek were first­class at the regimental level, but Blocher hadnobody who could co-ordinate the movements ofthe cavalry as Uxbridge did for Wellington at\Vaterloo, and as Murat had done for apoleonin the great days of the Empire.

The consequence of all this was that Blucheroccasionally took it into his old hussar head to leadcavalry charges himself. Thus it was that at about8 p.m. on 16June 1815, when he could see by theselling sun nOlhing but ruin and a breach in hisline filled with the bearskins of the Old Guard,he galloped forward at the head of ROder's fiveregiments. The Prussian cavalry, mel by volleys atpoint-blank range, only succeeded in strewing theground with the bodies of men and horses.Milhaud's Cuirassiers and the Dragoons of theGuard supported the French squares and theypressed on towards the windmill of Brye.

Undaunted, Blucher led his last remainingsquadrons in a desperate charge. His horse washit, and galloped wildly on, until suddenly it felldead, crushing its aged master. Graf ostitzdismounted to protect the Field-Marshal as the9th Cuirassiers ebbed and flowed past them in thedim light, little knowing the prize that lay withinIheir grasp. It fell to some Prussian uhlans to haulIhe old gentleman from under his dead horse, andto the charger of an .C.O. of the 6th Uhlans 10carry him back amidst the flood of departingPrussian soldiery.

While Blucher was playing Ihe hussar, CountGneisenau was working out the next move - andgetting it right. So it may be said thai if BlOcherdid not always behave precisely as a commander­in-ehiefshould, at least he had managed to select achief of stafr who eould carryon in his absence.

1HjilllflJIWhen Prussia took the field against Napoleon in1813 she was desperately short of trained man­power. This was largely due to the restrictions

laid down by the Treaty of Paris of 8 September1808.

Strength of the Prussian Army includingreserves: 18°7,53,523; 1808,52,142; 18og, 45,897;1810,62,609; 1811, 74,553; 18Et, 65,000."

It is true that under a programme attributed toScharnhorst there had been an attempt to trainreserves. The success of the KriimjNr syuem hasbecome part of Prussian legend, but the assertionthat 15°,000 reservists were available in t8t3 restsonly on the mistaken idea thai the new unitsformed that year consisted entirely of reservists.This was not so; they were built on a nucleus oftrained officers, N.C.O.s and men, to whichrecruits were added.

That this was not easy is evident from thefollowing figures:

Strength orthe Prussian Army inJune 1808:

hifaTltry Artillery Cavalry Total

1,079 147 535 1,76 (3,264 503 1,766 5,533

659 35 '99 893227 27 86 340

10,025 2,161 5,651 '7,83717,396 1,653 4,634 23,683

Total 32,650 4,526 12,871 50,047,We see that the Prussian Army, some 50,000

strong in 1808, comprised only 1,761 officers and5,533 N.C.O.s.u There was a serious shortage ofexperienced officers and literate .C.O.s. On theother hand there was a source of potentialofficers In the Volunteers (FreiwiiJige ]iiga), whocame forward in substantial numbers. They were,however, r.'1r from being imbued with Ihe spiritof the old-style Prussian martinet. One of them,Count Christian Stolberg (lSI EaSI PrussianRegiment) wrote on 8 October: 'I am no soldier,but a fighter for the Fatherland; and when peacecomes I shall return home. To be a soldier for itsown sake will always be abhorrent to me,'l'

Major Karl Friedrich Friccius (1779-1856), ofthe 3rd Battalion of the East Prussian LandwehrRegiment, lells us that in order to brin~ the unilup to strength they had tu take m;I1lY men under1 7 or over 40.'Even fathers of families, if the lottery hadpicked them, could seldom be exempted, and

21

MO_I~ offia:r, Fool Artill.. ry or tb.. e ... rd, 1801). Blue...Uonn with n!d plpins: aro_d collar and cuff•• R~lininc 10 jacket and .,rip" down overall•. Cold la_. Fro...• corueonpo"'ry print d ...w .. by I. Wolf a ..d e...C....vedby F. Jille.1

very often the town had to assume carc of thewivcs and childrcn. Whcrc SO many ways re­mained opt:n of escaping from military service,and when the promised advantages appeared someagre, and above all when it had not yet beensettled whether privileges promised to volunteerJiig~r should also be granted lo l.mulwdtr volull­leers, voluntary cnlistmCll1 ill lite J,andwdlr hadgreater merit than later 011. In spite of all this,thc Battalion had over one hundred sllchvolunteers. Of tht' many boys who oflcred theirservices, we only look as many as we could uscfor drummers and buglers. All the rest wererejected....

'As the men of the Battalion werc drawn froma large town, they were better acquainted withthe pleasures of life and perhaps weaker inphysique. but they wcre also more experiencedand skilful, and were imbucd with greater claimsto justice and honour. They were a strange

22

mixture, drawn from the most varied walks oflife and age groups. Beside a grey-haired manyou might find a boy of seventeen; beside aworthy family-man, who had never conceivedthe idea of taking up arms while in the quietcircle of his civil profession, might be a gayadventurer; beside an educated young man. whohad broken away from the happiest circum­stances so as to fight for the Fatherland with highideas of duty and honour, stood a raw youth.The othcr battalions of the province wererecruited from the villages and small towns,where onc found a greatcr uniformity in age,better physique, more contentedness and respectfor their superiors, but less experience anddocility.'11

The equipment left much to be desired. When20,000 Austrian muskets were issued to theSilesian Landwehr it was discovered that themanufacturers had failed to bore touch-holes~

Many of the soldiers had linen wallets instead ofknapsacks. On 30 October 1813 Ernst Janke, ayoung Prussian officer, wrote to his family: 'Butno one in Berlin will believe just how ragged ourarmy is. The men's clothing is rotting off theirbodics. What will be the outcome of it all?'

Yorck, describing the state of his corps afterLeipzig, tells us that of 106 guns he had inSeptember only 42 remained serviceable. Despitepicking up a number of French muskets many ofhis men were unarmed.'The troops who had taken part in the Russiancampaign in Courland were still wearing theclothing issued to them in 1811. The SilesianfAndwthr's patrol jackets made out of coarsecloth had shrunk so badly as a resull of wetbivouacs and rainy weathcr that they were toonarrow fore and aft, and too short on top andbelow. We were approaching a wintcr campaignand the men still had no cloth trOllsers. Theadage about ten patches for OIlC hole foundwidespread application on the tight-fitting coats.

'Thcre was a great lack of shoes, although onthe march from Leipzig any new or worn foot­wear to be found had been requisitioned. Many,and not only Landwehr men but also Jiigervolunteers, marched barefoot. There was ashortag~ of cloaks too, but here and there peoplchad taken them off prisoners. The horses for the

artillery were worked very hard and many ofthem became unusable. What is more, the regionwe had marched through since leaving Hallewas very poor in horses, so we had been able torequisition only a few:"The spirit of the Landwehr sustained them even

when they had to march without shoes. But theshortage of food, lack of straw and firewood, andgenerally indifferent administration took its toll.In the eighteen days ending t September 1813Yorck's Corps dwindled from 37,700 to 25,300,thf.: losses among thf.: Landwehr far f.:Xcef.:ding thoseof thf.: line regiments."

umber of Regular and Landwf.:hr infantryrf.:giments in each corps:

1815I II ll/ IV Total

Regular 8 8 6" 4 26

Landwehr 4 4 6 8 22

Total '2 12 '2 >2 48

By way of making life morf.: difficult for themilitary historian every Prussian regimf.:nt hadtwo numbers. This was because they had aprovincial as wf.:11 as an army number. Thus the21st was also the 4th Pomeranian Regiment, the5th was also the 4th East Prussian; and so on.

The regimf.:nu werc of thrf.:f.: battalions, each offour companies. The first and second battalionswf.:re musketeers, the third was a fusilier battalion.The strength of a regimf.:llt was approximately60 officers, 2,460 men and 54 musicians.

The infantry of the Prussian Army of 1806fought in much the same style as the British Armyof the same date - that is to say before the Penin­sular War and the tactical improvements intro­duced by Sir John Moore and the Duke ofWellington. Both fought with their battalions inline, and met the French tiroilJeurs with a rathermeagre proportion of light infantry. Nor is itstrange that the two armies employ~d the sametactics since Ceneral Sir David Dundas (1735­1820), UPOII whose Principles oj Military MIIlJf.menls,chitfJy applicable 10 Infantry (1788) most Britishinfantry training was still based, had borrowed hisideas from the Prussian Army.

Blucher's men manreuvred in much the same

style as their French opponents, since with rawtroops it was, gencrally speakinR, much simplerto manccuvre battalions and regimellls in column.The men were not suniciclltly well drilled to fightin line as Frederick's had done and Wellington'sstill did. The British relied primarily 011 fire­power; on controlled volleys. The Prussians, atthis period, believed in hand-to-hand fighting.BlUcher, who, as we have seen, had no very highopinion of an officer who did not think thatfighting man to man would solve practically anymilitary problem, had managed to imbue hisarmy with the same spirit. An incident at Mockern(16 October 1813) illustratf.:s the point. Majorvon Hiller of Yorck's Corps was already underfirf.: 'when old BlUcher came galloping up and,pointing at random, shouted to me, "There is thepoint you must hold!" I receivf.:d no furtherorders from anyone and led my battalion straightaway into the blue or rather into the bullets,because we were met with a dense hail of firefrom MOckf.:rn.' It was the custom in the PrussianArmy for battalion commanders to take part in abayonet attack on horseback, thus giving targetpractice for enemy marksmen. This von Hillerthought folly, but he did it just the same. Hf.: wassoon hit, but he remounted and led his battalionsuccessfully into MOckern. 'The battle swayedto and fro, we were driven out and then foughtour way in again, four or even five times.' Thiswas the sort of fighting that took place when ont8June 1815 BUlow's Corps stormed Plancenoit.The attack was made by the 15th Regiment ofPrussian infantry (16th Brigade) under Majorvon Keller, supported by some battalions ofSilesian Landwehr. They were opposed by theGuard and it was a desperate struggle with littlequarter given. n

If the Prussians lacked the iron discipline ofWellington's Army we must remember that themajority of the rank and file wcre far less experi­enced. It is trlle that at Waterloo many ofWellington's troops saw action for the first time.But even in the battalions that had not been inthe Peninsula the majority of the mcn had hadfive years' service. In consequence they werethoroughly well drilled. This is not to say that thePrussians could not put on an impressive perfor­mance upon occasion. Take for example the

23

LANCE PENNONSw· Whit. 8L· 8'"" y- V.llow 'I-Red a·G.-.

Colo/lrJu:y B· 8lack II Bl-Ugh! blue B· Bleck O-o..nllfl C· c.rl""UHLANS Squadrons LANDWEHR CAVALRY Squadrons, J • , , JKUAMARK - - ~1 Rlgl.

~W

~w /EAST

PRUSSIA

Rogu'.'

~Itz"',

2 Reo,t.

~SIL£SIA

NEUMARK, "

~~3 R"!II8AA."l[}£NBURG

I POMERANIA, ,.~~

5~1.

~ WESTP,,,,, ' ,--A--J

1-6 Regt

~ +ElBE

.,,:,m~ "...tOFBREMEN

7 Reg1. " ... , JNo I."ces SILESIA

P3: ....SCHILL "SHELlWIG 6,hHUSSARS HUSSARS

BAegl, , J

SllESIA

~~I'0_ VBLUMnE"

J4GER

GREEN AND BLACK HUSSARS OF THE SAXONRUSSO GERMAN LEGION UHLANS

advance of Bulow's Corps at Leipzig (18 October1813), as described by Lieutenant Krctzschmer.' ... A low line of hills in front orus hid the enemyfrom our view and also concealed our approach.Beyond the ridge light artillery and cavalry weresparring with the French and covering ouradvance. Cannon thundered on all sides andindicated that our countrymen and allies mustalready be engaged in fierce fighting.... On ourside of the ridge Bulow's corps formed up, withKrafft's brigade on the right, Borstell's in thecentre, and the Prince of Hesse-Homburg on ourleft.

'When everything was ready in battle orderas on a parade ground, the first word ofcommandwas heard: "Brigade - march!" Like an echo

came the commands: "Regiment - mardI!Battalion - march!" The columns advanceduphill as if parading past the King.

•At this moment the sun broke through thedark clouds as if to light our path to victory andto witness our battle; bayonets glinled in thesunshine and spirits rose. The Kolbcrg Jagerand those from the Crown Prince's Regimentbegan singing the folksong Heil dir illl Sieger­krantz/ with enthusiasm, and all the regimentalbands joined in. As we gaily climbed the hill thehymn sounded from a thousand throats. '23

BlUcher's infantry may have been inexperiencedand poorly administered but they were more thana match for the conscripts Napoleon conjured upto replace the Army which had died in Russia.

24

Feldjiisu, 18092 Prince Bliicl>er (FeldrnanchaU)' r8133 Ge,unl on tbe Staff, 1813

A

R

Officer, ..Ih SII...la.. Reilinunl, 181J-15:z Officer, Sn...la.. Nado...l Cavalry (Hu•••r) Res!",e..I,

181J-15J T .....npe' ..r, S••on Hu.sars, 181"

I Trumpeter, 6th (Neumark) D,-,soon., 1813:t Officer, u' (K6rnsin) DrasoonllO, 1813-IS3 O.-...oon, sth B.-.nd"nburJ: ReplneDl, 1814

c

n

Trooper, 4th Squadron. 7t.b 5"'OD Rqlment J813-lS::I Officer, ut Sqo.uodron. 7th Repmenf, 181)-15) Adjuu.nt of Cavalry, 181)-15

_t_..

,Drummer, a.tth (4th Brandenburr) Re,i ...."'nt, 1811-15

2 Officer of F..tlliert, 22Dd (UI Rhine) Re,tment, 1811-153 Officer of the repmentalttaff, Itt Elbe ~e,i....enl, 1814

F

Officer, 3rd Sl.Iesian Re«ionerll, 18n-15::a Trooper,::and Neuonark Rqioneut, 18'3-153 Tnunpeter, lSI Poonerarol.an Resloneal, 18,.

1 Officer. nl Pomerardan Resimenl. 1813:z Privlue. UI We.lphaUan Reelme.>!. 18133 D....mmer. 3rd Elbe ReSI...enl. 1814-15

G

I-l

CaJlnODoter, SUe_'-n 8ripde, ,813-152 Tnunpeter, LubOw'_ Corp-, Batte..,. No. '<t, 18153 Offieer, 8raadenb....., 8ripde, ,815

ru1rtiflerJ! andPi011eers a most uncomfortable night. 'When day broke ...the general was horrified to find that my batterywas alone, without any escort, right under thenoses of the enemy's advanced piquets. Duringthe night the rest of the troops had all receivedorders to retire; but I and my guns had beencompletely overlooked! We would have faredbadly indeed had the enemy made any attemptupon us under the cover of darkness.'

Von Reuter was ordered to fall back and takeup a position near the windmill at Ligny. Thereabout midday, while Wellington and Blucherwere in conference on a near-by eminence,General von Holtzendorff, the commander of thePrussian artillery, rode up, and ordered NO.1 gunto fire a round. This, they were told, was thesignal that Blucher had decided to accept battle.

Between 2 and 3 p.m. von Reuter was orderedto take four of his guns and support the 14th.Regiment (7th Brigade, II Corps) in its advanceon St Amand. The other two guns and the twohowitzers 'took up a position opposite Ligny, soas to be able to shell the open ground beyond thevillage, and the village itself, too, in the event ofour not being able to hold it'. Von Reuter wentinto action about Goo paces from St Amand,engaging French artillery in position on the highground opposite. The enemy returned 'a well­sustained fire of shells' inflicting heavy casualties.The 14th Regiment, 'without ever thinking ofleaving an escort behind for us', pressed gal­lantly forward and seized part of the village, in­deed the captain thought they had occupied thewhole of it. He had been in action for some hoursand was expecting orders to follow up the move­ment of the 14th Regiment, when he becameaware of two strong lines of skirmishers whichwere apparently falling back on the battery fromthe direction ofSt Amand. Reuter imagined theywere Prussians and 'hastened up to the baueryand warned my layers not to direct their aim uponthem, but to continue to engage the guns opposite'.The skirmishers were now within 300 paces.'I had just returned to the right flank of mycommand, when our surgeon, Zinkernagel,called my attention 10 the red tufts on the shakosof the sharpshooters. I at once bellowed out theorder, "With grape on the skirmishers!" At thesame moment both their lines turned upon us,

2S

Men (including492 pionem)

1,2581,5751,0621,458

Guns

I " B8II 10 80III 6 4BIV " B8

Total 3B 30 4 5.353

It is perhaps prudent to rely on these figures,which were based on those of the great Belgianscholar, Winand Aerts, rather than the higheroncs given by Major Becke.

To serve this formidable number of pieces therewere only 4,861 artillerymen, and they had to bereinforced by infantrymen.

The Prussian artillery fired 4,800 rounds alWaterloo.

A PRUSSIAN BATTERY IN IBI5

Captain von Reuter commanded Battery No. 6which was armed with six 12-pounders and twohowitzers.

On 25 May 1815 the battery was ordered tojoin Zieten's Corps (I) and move to Soirlen nearCharleroi, where it lived a quiet country life, untilon IsJune the rumbling ofdistant guns fell on vonReuter's ears as he was at breakfast, sipping hiscoffee, in the Chateau de Soirlen. By 2 p.m. thebattery was on the march and towards eveningit was in position on the far side of the village ofFleurus and on the left of the road. There it spent

The artillery was commanded by General vonHoltzendorff, who was hit at Ligny. He wassucceeded by Lieutenant-Colonel von Rohl.

There were between thirty-eight and forty-onebatteries. The foot and horse artillery bauerieseach had six guns ahd two howitzers. The siegebatteries each had eight howitzers.

There were approximately one hundred andsevcllly-four 6-pounders, fifty-four 12-poundersand ninety-two howitzers, making a total ofthree hundred and twenty artillery pieces in all.

According to F. &urdier there were onlythirty-eight batteries:

Corps Battuiu

Prunlan dragoonll capture a RUIlIl;an colour incombat at Ec:kau.From a watercolour by Richard KnUtel

gave us a volley, and then flung themselves onthe ground. By this volley, and the bursting of ashell or two, every horse, except one wheeler,belonging to the gun on my left flank, was eitherkilled or wounded. I ordered the horses to bctaken out of one of my ammunition waggons,which had been emptied, and thus intended tomake my gun fit to move again, while I mean-

26

while kept up a slow fire of grape, that had theeffect of keeping the marksmen in my front gluedto the ground. But in another moment, all of asudden, I saw my left flank taken in rear, from thedirection of the Ligny brook, by a French staffofficer and about fifty horsemen. As these rushedupon us the officer shouted to me in German,"Surrender, gunners, for you are all prisoners!"With these words he charged down with his menon the flank gun on my left, and dealt a viciouscut at my wheel driver, Borchardt (a goodartillery name, this), who dodged it, however, byflinging himselfover on his dead horse. The blowwas delivered with such good will that the sabrecut deep into the saddle, and stuck there fast.Gunner Sieberg, however, availing himselfof thechance the momentary delay afforded, snatchedup the handspike of one of the 12-pounders andwith the words, "I'll soon show him how to takeprisoners!" dealt the officer such a blow on hisbearskin that he rolled with a broken skullfrom the back of his grey charger, whichgalloped away into the line of skirmishers in ourfront. The fifty horsemen, unable to control theirhorses which bounded after their companion,followed his lead in a moment, rode over theprostrate marksmen, and carried the utmostconfusion into the enemy's ranks. I seized theopportunity to limber up all my guns except theunfortunate one on my left, and to retire on twoof our cavalry regiments, which I saw drawn upabout 600 paces to my rear. It was only when 1had thus fallen back that the enemy's skirmishersventured to approach my remaining gun. I couldsee from a distance how bravely its detachmentdefended themselves and it with handspikes andtheir side-arms, and some of them in the endsucceeded in regaining the battery. The momentI got near our cavalry I rode up to them andentreated th~m to endeavour to recapture mygun again from the enemy, but they refused tocomply with my request. I, therefore, returnedsorrowfully to my battery") which had retiredmeanwhile behind the hill with the windmill onit near Ligny. We there replenished our ammuni­tion waggons and limber boxes, and set to rightsour guns, and the battery again advanced tocome into action on the height. We had, how­ever, hardly reached the crest of tile hill when the

enemy issued from the village of Ligny in over­powering numbers, and compelled all our troopswhich were there with us to fall back. The move­ment was carried out with complete steadinessand regularity. It was now about eight o'clockp.m., and the growing darkness was increased bythe heavy storm clouds which began to settledown all round us. My battery, in order to avoidcapture, had, ofc04rse, to conform to this generalmovement. I now noticed that there was anexcellent artillery position about 1,500 pacesbehind the village of Brye, close to where theRoman road intersects the road to Quatre Bras.I made for this point with all haste, so that Imight there place my guns and cover with theirfire the retreat of my comrades of the other arms.A hollow road leading to Sombreffe delayed myprogress some minutes. At length I got over thisobstacle and attained my goal; but just as I wasgoing to give the word, "Action rear," VonPirch's (II) infantry brigade (2nd I Corps) beganto debouch from Brye. The general saw in aninstant what he took for a selfish and cowardlymovement of retreat on my part, dashed his spursinto his horse, and galloped up to me nearlybeside himself with passion, and shouting out,"My God! Everything is going to the devil!""Truly, sir," said I, "matters are not lookingvery rosy, but the 12-pounder battery, No.6, hassimply come here to get into a position fromwhence it thinks it may be able to check theenemy's advance." "That, then, is very braveconduct on your part," answered the general,at once mollified; "cling to the position at allhazards, it is of the greatest importance. I willcollect a few troops to form an escort to yourguns." While this short, but animated, discussionhad been going on his brigade had come up closeto where we were. He formed it up to cover us,and sent every one who was mounted to collect allretreating troops in the neighbourhood for thesame purpose, while, as they came up, he calledout to them, "Soldiers, there, stand your guns,are you not Prussians!"

'During the time that a sort of rear-guard wasthus formed, the battery had opened fire on theenemy's cavalry, which was coming up rathercautiously, and had forced them to fall backagain. Later on a 6-pounder field battery and

half a horse artillery battery came up and joinedus. The fight then became stationary, and as thedarkness came on, fighting gradually ceased onboth sides. During the course of the night thisrear-guard, which, meanwhile, had come underthe command of Major-General von Roder,continued its retreat unmolested by the enemy,crossed the Dyle on the 17th at Wavre, and therewe again found our baggage. During the retreatI had the good fortune to be able to horse threeguns of Meyer's battery [No.4- (Pomeranian)II Corps] which I found on the road unable toget along, and drew them off with me. YetCaptain Meyer, annoyed at still having to leavethree of his guns behind, was extremely rude tome because I could help him no further!'

During the withdrawal to Wavre (17 June)BlUcher rode up and chatted with von Reuter.Hearing that he had lost a gun at Ligny, all thePrince said was: 'There, now! Don't let that worryyou. We will very soon take it back from themagain.'

The battery spent an unpleasant night onground soggy from a heavy downpour whichextinguished every attempt to make a bivouacfire. Towards morning the rain abated. Thedisabled guns were sent off to Maestricht to berepaired.

About midday the French (Grouchy's Corps)put in an appearance and while III Corps stayedto hold Wavre, the rest of the Prussian Armymarched on Waterloo.

So bad was the road that it was not untilevening that Battery No.6 neared the battlefield.Von Reuter was ordered to push on with all haste,and mounted his detachments as best he could onthe gun carriages. Even so he could not cover thenext half-mile at a better pace than 'walk andtrot'. The other troops made way for him. Theywere in high spirits, their bands playing. Theygreeted the guns with cheers and shouts of'Hurrah! Here come our gallant 12-pounders!'

The moon was three days before fulJ and rosewell before sunset on the 18th.24 Von Reutertimed his arrival on the battlefield saying, 'atthis moment the moon rose'. The skies had rainedthemselves out and it was now as lovely a sortsummer evening as ever the Captain saw, thoughwith 'here and there a burning homestead'. As he

27

Left, H"ronann von Boy"n. A colonel In 181S, h" ros" to therank of S"n"ral. RJSht: Major von Liit20W. Froon a sketchby Giuseppe Longhi

advanced he sensed that victory was won. HerOfced his charger, snorting with terror, across ahollow way filled with dead men and horses, andlooked ror a battery position, but the ground wasthick with dead and wounded.

'The wounded, as we came rushing on, set upa dreadrul crying, and holding up their handsentreated us, some in French and some inEnglish, not to crush their already mangledbodies beneath our wheels. It was a terrible sightto see those faces with the mark of death uponthem, rising from the ground ar1d the arms out­stretched towards us. Reluctant though I was, Ifelt compelled to halt, and then enjoined my mento advance with great care and circumspection.And soon I saw that I could in any case have noshare in the glory of the day, for the enemy hadbegun to break and fly on all sides.'

He and Dr Zinkernagel spent the night tryingto alleviate the sufferings of the wounded.

Captain Cavalie Mercer, who commanded G

28

Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, at Waterloo, tells usthat a Prussian battery encamped near him on thenight of the battle, and that he prowled around,'not altogether liking their appearance'. When hewoke up on the Igth they had gone. He describes'their brass guns kept bright, and their carriagesencumbered with baggage'. It may well be that itwas Battery No.6 that had spent the night nextto G Troop.

On 27 June near Compiegne, von Reuter'sbattery was in action for a short time against asmall body of French troops. Zieten had given hisgun detachments permission to carry their knap­sacks on the gun carriages when on the line ofmarch. When the skirmish »>as at its height thebattery commander was suddenly startled when ahoarse voice behind him roared: 'But, CaptainReuter, I quite miss the old smartness I wasaccustomed to in this battery!' 'Imagine my con·sternation', wrote the captain, 'when I turnedround and saw General Braun,u who had

PIONEERS

uf0YriscellolZJ'

Blucher's Army was not liberally provided withengineers and pioneers. In 1815 each of the fourcorps had one company of pioneers. They variedin strength from 63 with III Corps to 204 withI Corps.

formerly been my commanding officer, and onwhom I now laid my eyes for the first time duringthis campaign.' He managed to convince the oldmartinet that Zieten had really given permissionfor this irregularity over the knapsacks - and hispromotion to captain was confirmed.

Somewhere near Charleroi, Captain von Reuterfound the gun lost at Ligny and with this incident,so pleasing to any good gunner, we will leave him.His narrative tells us more about the way BlUcher'sartillery went to work than all the tables of theircalibres, the returns of their ammunition expendi­ture and casualties, and even the pictures of theiruniforms.it

BlOcher's officers and mcn stood up to thesingularly unpleasant conditions of scrvice prettywell. Their stoicism in thc face of wounds anddeath was pretty creditable. Major von Hillerleading his battalion into a hail of fire at Mockernwas hit in the hand.'The surgeon wanted to take me out fromunder fire in order to bandage it properly."We've no time for that", I told him. "Justpat~h it up for the time being." And while he wasdoing so the poor devil was hit in the head andfell dead on the spot. So, still unbandaged, Iremounted and led my battalion successfullyinto Mockern. 'itThe damage that a single shell could do to the

c1ose-order formations of those days is horriblyillustrated by an incident earlier the same day_Wenzel Krimer, the senior surgeon of a battalionin Jagow's Brigade, was talking to a captainnamed von Pogwisch 'when a shell came overfrom ahead of us, exploded innantly, smashed anofficer and a sergeant in the chest and head, andbroke the legs of twelve men in the column'.Krimer himself had a narrow escape for a frag.ment went between his legs. He continues:'My company surgeons had run away. I hadplenty to do and ought to have carried out twelveamputations straight away, but I had to confinemyself to preventing the wounded men bleedingto death and then having them carried to therear. I was still hard at work when a second shellcame over, carried off the whole of the upperpart of the adjutant's body and decapitated

Pionters

2°47463

'5'

492Total

CorpsIIIIIIIV

THE WOUNDED

The lot of wounded men and animals at the timeof the Napoleonic Wars was extremely hard. Theweapons of the period were capable of inflictingthe most hideous wounds, and the medicalservices were not remarkable for their efficiency.Men like the celebrated Frenchman, BaronLarreY,I1 wcre few and far between. It was notonly that there were too few surgeons. There wasalso a chronic shortage of am bulances, stretcher.bearers, nurses, hospitals and even such simplenecessities as dressings. As for anaesthetics theywere virtually unknown.

CeD..rsl Scba.-.hont, nlortalty _o_ded at GnHI_S'ilr­-.;:hen. (:z May 1813), i. earried from th.. fi..ld. FrOID apaiati... by Rlk:b..IiDt: l..n the M ........... al L1it:ll;e...

29

Lit~wkll. and ••b ..e o(ao £a.t P .... ll.ian Vol.... teerNational cav,dryrnao, .8l3

three men. Then it rolled as far as the Silesianrifle-battalion drawn up behind us and causedconsiderable casualties there.'n

Most of the wounds were severe. On the same dayLieutenant Woyski was wounded in the ankle.'I showed my wound to the captain and then wentoff to find a carriage and get the wound properlydressed, although I had done this myself as best Icould on first being hit.' He limped back amidstcries of pain from the numerous wounded of bothsides lying in a cabbage-field. 'In several places Iactually saw blood running between the cabbagestalks.'

As he went back he was hit by a ricochet in theshoulder, and a third time on the inside of his

30

thigh. One of his company, who had beenwounded in the hand, helped him along, for hisfoot was becoming increasingly useless.

'We had gone only a few yards like this, side byside, when I suddenly heard a dull thud besideme. I fell to the ground, felt myself spatteredwith blood, and saw beside me a leg. Then Iheard the soldier calling, 'Friend, kill me, please!Kill me!' One of the many cannon-balls whichwere still rolling had struck him from behind andtorn off his leg just below the belly. I had to leavehim in this fearful condition, lying in the ditchwith only a few minutes to live.'JO

Another Leipzig casualty (16 October) wasLudwig von Gerlach (1795-18n), an officer ofthe 1St East Prussian Regiment, who was shot inthe thigh, fell to the ground and could not get up.His leg felt dead and was pouring blood. Twosoldiers of the Silesian Landwehr dragged him tothe road, where he lay in the ditch until aboutdusk. He was lifted on to a captured French gun,

'but could not endure for long the pain of beingjolted about, and so was SOOn carried into thedeserted village of Wahren. Here, in a farm­house filled only with wounded men, I wasattended by a company surgeon who was verypleased to sec me, because he had becomeseparated from his unit and hoped thai as anofficer I would vouch for the fact that he hadbeen bandaging wounds here. He extracted theball by means ofa cross-cut in my thigh and thenlightly dressed the wound.'

He spent the night on the floor, lying on somestraw beside a delirious hussar. Nexi day'a peasant arrived with a wheelbarrow and somestraw and carted me off to Schkeuditz, where 1spent the night in the town hall on a palliasse,alongside an officer who was dying from a headwound. On the following day, 18 October, I wastaken to Halle. 's,The aged Feldmarschall-Vorwarts was every

bit as laugh as his men. He had two hors<:s shotunder him at Ligny, and the second fell on topof him. Yet next day, sustained, they say, byschnapps, he was riding about and cheerfullyencouraging officers and men. On the morning of18 June the physician, Bietzke, suggested rubbingointment into the bruises he had sustained; all hesaid was that it was a matter of indifference to

him whether he went into Eternity 'balsamirt' or'nicht balsamirt'. 'But', he added, 'if all goes welltoday, we shall soon all be washing and bathing inParis.'

MUSIC

At the end of the day many of the survivors ofYorek's Corps, who had lost heavily in the captureof MOckern, sang Nun danlctt aile Goll - not un·naturally. Like Frederick's soldiers after Leuthenthey were elated by victory and grateful forsurvival.

On 18 October the Kolberg Jag« and those ofthe Crown Prince's Regiment began singing Heildj, jm Siegtrlc,antd with enthusiasm as Bulow'sCorps went into action at the battle of Leipzig,and the regimental bands joined in. This wascomposed by Heinrich Harries (1762-1802), aSchleswig pastor, in 1790 and published in 1793.It was sung to the same tune as God saoe the King.The Prussians struck up this song again whenBlUcher met Wellington at La Belle Alliance in thedusk of 18 June 1815. It was still popular in thePrussian Army of 1870.

HO OURS A 0 AWARDS

At the end of the 1814 campaign the King ofPrussia rewarded a number of his generals.

BlUcher, promoted field·marshal after Leipzig,was made a prince; Yorek was created CountYorck von Wartenberg; Kleist, Count Kleist ofNollendorf; BUlow, Count BOlow of Dennewitz;Taucnzien, Tauenzien of Wittenberg; andCneisenau was also made a count. It was a specialdistinction that several of these generals were giventitles which rccorded great fcats of arms.

The highest Prussian award, instituted byFrederick the Creat, remained the order Pour IeMirite; but for the rank and file the Iron Cross wasinstituted on 10 March IBI3.

French observers noted during the occupationof Paris that of all thc Allied troops only the Britishwere not liberally bedizened with medals. Stilllike Ludwig von Cerlach who was three timeswounded, subalterns certainly worked for theirIron Crosses in BlUcher's Army. Another youthfulhero was Lieutenant Karl Friedrich von Stein·

metz (lJ96-1877), nephew of the man whocommanded the 1st Brigade (I Corps) in 1815,who won the Iron Cross (2nd Class) at Laon on29 April 1814. when, thou'gh wounded, he re­mained al his post. Hc had lost a brother ncarCrossgoTSchen (2 May 1813) and anotherseverclywounded in the bloody fight for MOckcrn.Steinmetz lived to be a Gtntroljeldmorscholl and tocommand the First Army in 1870.

At Bautzen an artillery veteran had the presenceof mind to extinguish the fuse of a French shellwhich landed wilhin ten yards of Ihe spot wherethe Tsar was conversing with the King of Prussia.The latter called OUI to him asking his name andlength of service. 'You shall be rewarded, mybrave fellow. Here on the spot I promote you 10 bean officer.' The gunner humbly thanked the King,but declined to accept his gracious mark offavour, saying that he would have b«n a corporalyears ago had he not been unlettered. However,

The Kolbe... Inlaoury Rel..me.u, 1811. Bh.e "n.lfonn wiLh..ed (acini. and yellow metal b"tton•• From lef110 rilht,I",Dadie"j on"'....elee.. i (".lUer. (R. Kn61el)

31

(a) The Iron Cro.. ; (b) Cro.. ofthl! ~d CIa... dl.lributl!dfor the Rnt clme 10 Pomerallian -.oldle" who were heroe.of Ihl! .<:dOD al Liit",burs in t813; (<:) Cro.. of the ntCIa•• made of blacl< .Uk ribbon, bordered with While;(d) Grand Cro..... <:ommolliy known •• 8tiic:her'. Star

he had the sense to add: 'Your Majesty, however,will not, I hope. be displeased, if I mention thatthe pay of an officer would make my family andmyself happy for life.' The King not only took thehint, but gave him an Iron Cross into the bargain,whilst the Tsar bestowed upon him the covetedOrder of 5t George.

Promotion was the reward of good service.Count Henckel von Donnersmarck, a colonel in1813. was a major.general commanding a brigadein 1815. Colonel von Hiller, who led the 16thBrigade at Waterloo, had been wounded as amajor, while gallantly leading his battalion atMOckern. Lieutenant-Colonel von Sohr who

32

commanded a cavalry brigade (II Corps) in1815, was wounded in the right arm as a majorwhile commanding thc Brandcnburg Hussars atLeipzig (16 October 1813). He had earned hispromotion, for at the end of the battle old Yorckhad said to him: 'To you alone lowe today'svictory, and I shall never forget yOll and yourgallant regiment.'

Bhicher's A.D.C., Cmf August von Nostilz, acaptain in 1813. was already a lieutenant-colonelbefore Ligny, where he displayed such splendidgallantry. Certainly Blucher's was an army inwhich a bold leader fared at least as well as aclever staff officer.

PRUSSIAN ORDER OF BATTLE,ISJUNE IBIS

It is not easy to arrive at a correct description ofBlUcher's Army as it was on the eve of Waterloo. Onthe whole Bourdier's list seems the best. It is based onthe researches of Winand Aerts, a Belgian scholar whodevoted years of his life to the study of every aspectof the \Vatcrloo campaign. But Bourdier seems to givemany of the omce~ named too high a rank. In thisrespect - but only this - MiHHing's list seems prerer­able, though it is not without palpable inaccuracies.Becke does not go into as much detail as Bourdier orMuffling and seems to give Blucher rather more gunsthan he actually had. In compiling the list thatfollows I have tried to steer a course between allthese various hazards.

STAFF

Commander-in-Chief:Field-Marshal Prince Blucher of Wahlstadt.

Quartermaster-General and Chief of Staff:Lieutenant-General Count von Gneisenau (I 760­183 1)

Chief of the General Staff:Major-General Karl Wilhelm Georg von Grolmann(1777-1843)

Representative at Wellington's Headquarters:Major-General Baron von Muffling

Artillery:General von Holt7.endorff (casualty), 16 .June

• Colonel von Rohl.

I CORPS

G.D.C.:Lieutenant-General Hans Ernst Kad Graf vonZieten II (I 770-1 84B)

GO.S.;Lieutenant-Colonel Ludwig von Reiche

INFANTRY

lSt Brigade. Major-General Karl Friedrich Franciscusvon Steinmetza~ (1768-1837)

12th Regiment (2nd Brandenburg)24th Regiment1St Regiment (Westphalian Landwehr)3rd and 4th Companies (Silesian Rifles)

2nd Brigade. Major-General Otto Karl Lorenz vonPirch l~

6th Regiment (1St West Prussian)28th Regiment2nd Regiment (Westphalian Landwehr)

:pd Brigade. Major-General von Jagow7th Regiment (2nd West Prussian)

29th Regiment3rd Regiment (Westphalian Landwehr)1St and 2nd Companies (Silesian Rifles)

4th Brigade. Major-General Count Henckel vonDonnersmarck

19th Regiment4th Regiment (Westphalian Landwehr)

CAVALRY

Major-General von Roder1St Brigade. Major-General von Treskow II

Dragoon Regiment, No. S (Brandenburg)Dragoon Regiment, NO.2 (1St West Prussian)Uhlan Regiment, NO.3 (Brandenburg)

2nd Brigade. Lieutenant-Colonel Ludwig Adolf Wil-helm, Freiherr von Liitzow (1782-1834)

1st Kurmark Landwehr2nd Kurmark LandwehrUhlan Regiment, No.6

Hussar Regiment No. 4 (Silesian). Attached toI st I nfantry Brigade

1St Landwehr (Westphalian). Attached to 2ndInfantry Brigade

ARTILLERY

Colonel von Lehmann12-pounder batteries, Nos. 2, 6 and 96-pounder batteries, Nos. 1,3,6,8, IS and 21

The ut and 2nd Silesian In(antry ReFment•. Blue uni_(orm. with yellow collar. and cuff•. The fusilieu hadwhite epauJette... traps, and the musketeers red. Greygreatcoats, forage cap. and j.cket. are worn. (R. Knotel)

33

II CORPS

Total

ANDlARTILLERY

I'IONEERS

ARTILLERY

Colonel von Rohl12-pounder batteries, Nos. 4 and 8fi.pounder batteries, Nos. 5, 6, 10, 12,34 and 37Horse Artillery batteries, Nos. 5 and 14

INPANTRY 27,002CAVALRY 4,471

III CORI'S

G.O.C.'Lieutenant-General Johann Adolf Freiherr vonThielemann

C.O.S.,Colonel Carl von Clausewitz £1780-1831)

glh Brigade. Major-General von Borck!'30th RegimentLeib Regiment, No.8I5.t Regiment (Kurmark Landwehr)

lolh Brigade. Colonel von Kampfen27th Regiment2nd Regiment (Kunnark Landwehr)

6th Brigade. Major·General von KrafftInfantry Regiment Kolberg. NO.926th Regiment1St Regiment (Elbe Landwehr)

71h Brigade. Major-General von Brause14th Regiment22nd Regiment2nd Regiment (Elbe Landwehr)

8th Bngade. Major·General von Bose"21St Regiment23rd Regiment3rd Regiment (Elbe Landwehr)

CAVALRY

Major-General von Wahlen-JOrgau. wounded LignylSt Brigade. Colonel von ThUmen, killed Ligny

Colonel von Sc.hmiedebergDragoon Regiment, No.6 (Neumark)Konigin Dragoner Regiment, No.1Uhlan Regiment, . o. 2 (Silesian)

:md Brigade. LieUlenant-Colonei von SohrHuss.ar Regiment, NO.5 (Pomerania)Huss.ar Regiment, NO.3 (Brandenburg)The 7th and 8th Brigades each had two squadrons

of the Elbe Landwehr Cavalry attached to them.:yd Brigade. Colonel Graf von der Schulenberg

Landwehr Regiment, NO.4 (Kurmark)Landwehr Regiment, NO.5 (Kunnark)

G.O.C.'Major-General Georg Dubislaw Ludwig vonPirch I

C.O.S.'Colonel Aster

IN PANTRY

CAVALRY

ARTILLERY

I'IONEERS

Howitzer battery. No. I

Horse Artillery battery, No. 10

Total

Volunteer Jiler Squadron oftbe Brandenbu... Culra••lerR~ment. Green uniform., ,old lace. The Jiiger in thelilewka (rigbt) b••• red coU.r. The otber t ....o 6pre.have cornflo....er.blue coll.u .nd cuff•• The centre 6predepici. Baron de la Moue Fouque (1711-180h ....bo ...dHrved a. a cul.....ierofficer. bUlaflertbe RII.i.oe can>paip...d re.lgned On the ground. of lIl.bnJth (1803)' He re_joined in 1813 and fouShl valiantly at Gros.g6....,blMl,....bere hi. bor.e _. kUled, brinllin. hi.... down in aFreocb &quare. In November 1813. bein••eriou.Jy ill. he_. I"'nled an bonou...ble dl.c......e with Ihe raDlr. ofIIlllfor. (R. Ko6lel)

INPANTRY

SIll Brigade. Major-General Graf von Tippels.kirch2nd Regiment (1St Pomeranian)25th Regiment5th Regiment (Westphalian Landwehr)

34

Pru••i.n Inf.ntry of the Line, 1811-15. Privatell. ThePrull"l.n inf.ntry d ..pieted h ..r .. belong In Ih.. 2nd SU...lanInfantry Regin>enl. Th..y w ...r u.nlforms of Pru"sUt.n blu..,witb y ..llow collars and cuffs, • black sh.ko with whit..•.nd.bl.ck Prusslan pompom, .nd grey br....ch... withblack gait..rs. Flgur..s from ldt to right .re ." follow,,:1. Gr..nadi..r,." th.. b ...." .....gl .. badg.. on his shako .ndthe taU bl.ck plum.. to bis sbako sbow. The belt••nd..t....pll of hill equipm..nt .r" whit...11 th..y .r.. on th.. n ..xtfIgur".2. Mullk..t .... r. ThJII i" indicated by th.. (.ct that hillIIhako ball no plum...nd in plac.. o( th.....gle be.u th..roy.1 monog....m o( th.. King of PrulI.i. in b .... llli. J. FUIII·Ii..r. HJ" IIb1"ko i" ..1.0 without plum....nd instead o( a

11th Brigade. Colonel von Luck u

3rd Regiment (Kurmark Landwehr)4th Regiment (Kurmark Landwehr)

12th Brigade. Colonel von Stulpnagel31St Regiment5th Regiment (Kurmark Landwehr)6th Regiment (Kurmark Landwehr)

CAVALRY

Major-General von Hobe1St Brigade. Colonel von del' Marwitz

Uhlan Regiment, NO.7Uhlan Regiment, No.8

badg.. it ha•• black...nd-whit.. cock..de with a bra"l1button in th.. c..ntr.. and whit .. b ....id running from th..pompom to t"" cockad... Th.. fUlliH ..r's crOlls-llt ....pll .ndp.ck••t ....ps .r...11 o( bl..ck I.... th..r. 4. Thill IIhowlI theb ..ck vh,w o( • mullk..t .... r in c.mpaign dr..SIl. Th.. roundplate on th.. black ammunition pouch ill of brallll .nd ha.th.....gl.. of Pru."ia IIlamped upon h. Tbi. platO! or badg..wa. worn by .n Pru••I.n line t·roop. on th..ir pouchell.A conc....ion 10 th.. rigours o( c.mpaign our figur.. isw ring .. pdr o( loose wbite trou...rllsom..dm....doptedbyth.. Prull.l.n. On ...rvlc... (Drawing. by G..rry Embleton,d ...cribed by Marcu. HJnton) .

2'ld Brigade. Colonel Grar von LottumDragoon Regiment, NO.7Uhlan Regiment, NO.5Hussar Regiment, NO.9Each in ran try brigade had attached to it two

squadrons or the 3rd or the 6th Kurmark LandwehrCavalry.

ARTILLERY

Colonel von Mohnhaupt (MOlling)Major von Grevent? (Bourdier)

6-pounder ballerie~, Nos. 7, 18, :20 and 35Horse Artillery batteries, Nos. 18 and 19

35

Volunteer J"ser duachnuDI of tlle ut Silesian HusllarRepJnent. Green with yellow fadn8s and silver lace. TheJnouoted officer's peUlllle ill lined with red. aDd Ihe stripelldown the o~rallllof both filurell llre red. (R. Knl.heJ)

CAVALRVGeneral Prince Wilhelm of Prussia

1St Brigade. Colonel Graf von Schwerin, killed 18JuneHussar Regiment, No. 10Hussar Regiment, o. 6 (2nd Silesian)Hussar Regiment. No. I (West Prussian)

:md Brigode. Lieutenant-Colonel von WatzdorfT, killed18June

Hussar Regiment, No.83'd Brigade. General von Sydow

Landwehr '0. I (Neumark)Landwehr No. '2 (Neumark)Landwehr No. I (Pomerania)Landwehr No. '2 (Pomerania)Landwehr No. I (Silesia)Two squadrons from the 2nd or 3rd Silesian

Landwehr were attached 10 each brigade.

14 and 21

Total

PIONEERS

ARTILLERYU

Major von Bardelebcn1'2-pounder batteries. Nos. 3. 5 and 136-pounder batteries, Nos. I, '2. II, 1'2, 13,Horse Artillery ballc:ry, No. I 1

INFANTRYCAVALRYARTILLERY

'2'2,'275l,gBl

1.06'2AND}

INFANTRVCAVALRVARTILLERY... IONEERS

Total

IV COR""G.O.C.,

General Friedrich Wilhelm Count Bulow yonDennewitz (1755-1816)

TOTALIN PANTRY 136 Battalions 105,87 1CAVALRY 135 Squadrons 11.948ARTILLERY 38 Batteries }

4.861304 Guns

PIONEERS 4 Companies 49'---

Total 1'23.1]2

13th Brigade. Lieutenant-General von Hacke10th Regiment (1St Silesian)2nd Regiment (Neumark Landwehr)3rd Regiment (Neumark Landwehr)

14th Brigade. Major-General von RyssclI Ilh Regiment ('2nd Silesian)1St Regiment (Pomeranian Landwehr)'2nd Regiment (Pomeranian Landwehr)

151h Brigade. Major-General von Losthin18th Regiment3rd Regiment (Silesian Landwehr)4th Regiment (Silesian Landwehr)

16111 Brigode. Colonel von Hiller15th Regiment: D.C. Major von Keller1St Regiment (Silesian Regiment)'2nd Regiment (Silesian Regiment)

36

71le PlatesTHE STAFF

AI FeldjiigerHe wears a green uniform, cut like that of adragoon, with yellow facings and braM buttons.He has grey overalls trimmed with red, and blackleather accoutrements. He wears an oilskin coverto protect his shako. His sabre, which hM a metalscabbard, is suspended from a waist-belt. Theofficers wore silver instead of yellow on theirepaulettc straps, and a silver sash as was usual inthe Prussian service. ]n other respects there waslittle or no difference between the uniform orsaddlery ofofficers and men. Schabracques. whichwere rather like those of the French hussars of theperiod, were trimmed with red.

The Fel4jiigtT were a corps whose duties weresimilar to those of the Royal Staff Corps in theBritish service or the various troops of Guides inNapoleon's Army.

A2 Prince BlucherBlucher's campaign dress, like Wellington's, wasseverely practical, designed for comfort ratherthan show. The picture on page 19 which showshim at Ligny with a galaxy of orders on his coatis romantic rather than accurate. The Feltf­morschall wears an unstiffened cap, not unlikethe caps which officers, both German and British,wore in the trenches in 1914 and 1915. Bernadottewould not have liked it (see p. 16)! Over a simpledouble·breasted jacket with scarlet facings andgold lace Blocher wears a regulation greatcoatwith a cape, very similar to those worn by Britishgencral officers of the pcriod. Like other Prussianofficers the Prince worc a silver sash round hiswaist; his sabre, as normal with Prussjan generals,was of the light cavalry type with a Jilver sword·knot and a yellow metal scabbard. His saddle·clothwas red, trimmed with gold.

AJ Gmeral an the StaffThis figure calls for no special comment except tosay that Prince Blocher's coat, details of which areconcealed by his greatcoat, is of the same cut. Likethe Ftldjiiger the general wears an oilskin shakocover.

HUSSARS

At this period Prussian hussar uniforms had muchof the variety that one finds in the Grande Armie. Anotable exception is that onc docs not find thekolpak, or busby, as worn by the compagnie d'ilite inFrench hussar regiments.

HI Officer, 4th Silesian RtgimtntIn ulis regiment the dress ofonieers and men wasvery similar, though Bourdier's uniform platesshow (plate 9) an N.C.O. wilhout the pelisse.Other ranks had silver instead of gold lace ontheir yellow collars, and their sashes were yellowand silver, alternatcly, as opposed 10 the silver ofthe officers. The sabretaehe was red with whitetrimmings and the schabraeque was trimmed withred (see figurc H3). The saddlery was much thesame as in the Frcnch service. A Ciulteen wascarried on Ihe back of the saddle.

B2 Offiur, Silesian National Cavalry (Hussar) Regi­ment, 181j-/5

This well·decorated officer, who wears the IronCross among his medals, is based on one ofRichard Knotel's plates (Unifomltnkundt, BandXIV. No. 27), which in turn was based on an oldgouache painting. In theory Silesian cavalry weresupposed to have yellow collars and culTs, butevidently stocks of yellow cloth werc inadequate,and from the outset the 3rd and 4th Squadronshad red facings. Again, in theory, the buttonswere supposed to be covered with red worsted.However, a sketch dated 19June 1814, belongingto the Elberfeld Manuscript in the collection ofFreiherr von Lipperheide, showed red collars andyellow metal bUllons. It is as well 10 be remindedfrom time to time that regimcnts do not alwaysconform to the Dress Regulations, especially inarmies which arc raised at short nOlice!

B3 Trumpeter, Saxon HussarsIn the Prussian service it seems that the trum­peters wore a uniform of the same colour as therest of the regiment, their normal distinctionbeing the special form of cpauletle which one seesfor example in the dragoon (figure C3).

37

Captain vOn Hdlwlg's Stnifcorps. Thi. unit w .... formedby ... cav... lry officer In 1813 as a .ort of reconnaJ.sancecorps. hs unJfonnll CaD1e from Enltland. The blUlli... rs badred unJfonns with blue collars, cuffs and busby-bag.;Ibe offic..u had gold lace and the men white. Red .tri~s

to tbe overall. and trimn,inltli 10 Ihe .cb..hrac:que appe... red,and collar. and cuff. bad white pipIng. The I...nce ~nnonswere blue Over r ..d. IDfanl·ry unHOrD1fO were riOe greenwith black facing...

The unil fOerved in Ihe Low Countries in 1813 and 1814,and in 1815 was ...bfOorbed Into the 27,h Une Regimenland Ihe 71h Lanceu. (R. Knl.hel)

DRAGOONS

Sky-blue and green appear to have been the maincolours of the Prllssian dragoon uniforms. Therewere two quite distinctive styles of coat or jacket,the [itewka (figure C/) and the kolltt (sec figures C2and e3).

Cr Trumpeter 6th (Neumark) DragoonsThis trumpeter is wearing the litewka.

C2 Officer, 1st (Kiinigin) DragoonsThis officer is wearing the kollet style of jacket.

C3 Dragoon, jtlt Brandenburg RegimentOne would expect dragoons to be armed withcarbines as well as sabres, but this is a detailseldom shown in uniform plates. Bollrdier shows(plate 12) one of the 1st Konigin Dragoons, with acarbine slung over his right shoulder. The white

38

buff belt over the left shoulder was, it seems, forthe cartridge~box. The sahre was slung from thewaist-belt.

This regiment had sky-blue cloth schabracqueswith a black edging. The portmanteau was greyand the canteen was slung at the back of thesaddle on the lefl side. This was the normalarrangement among the dragoons, the scha­bracque and its trimmings following the coloursof the coat and its facings.

UHLANS AND STAFF

Generally speaking the uniform of Prussian uhlansresembled that of the Polish Lancers in Napo­leon's Army. For the most part officers and menwore the c<.apska, a short jacket and overalls. Thelitewka, though found in Liitzow's Corps, wasunusual. Instead of the czapska some regiments,which had formerly been hussars, retained theirshakos.

Dr Trooper, 4th Squadron, 7tlt Saxon RegimentThe officer's uniform was very similar, except thathe had silver epaulettes, and silver piping on hisczapska and his belt.

D2 Officer, lSi Squadron, 7th Regiment (Jormul.;'Hellwig's Hussars)A typical lancer uniform of the period, which callsfor no special comment.

D3 Adjutant of CavalryThis smart uniform, reminiscent of lhe Austrianrather than the Prussian Army, is that of a staffofficer of the cavalry. The young gentleman musthave fell somewhat conspicuous under fire!

LINE INFANTRY

The infantry of the linc worc a shako, a shortjacket - those of the officer!> had rather longertails - breeches and gaitcrs~ An occilsiollill varia­tion was while trousers. Prussian blue was thedominant colour, but the Silesian Ja/ler woregreen as one would expect, and grey and evenhlack arc sometimes found. Breeches were usuallygrey, and boots or gaiters black. Silesian infalllrywore a black shako with a white band round the

tOP, bcaring thc whitc·and-blaek Prussian pom­pom in frOIlt. The coat was dark Ilrllssian blueand had a yellow collar and cuAS; the shoulder­straps and the turn-backs to the coat-Iails wercscarlet, and thc cuff-slashes (Ihc venical stripsof cloth on Ihe cun') were the same colour as thecoat. The buttons on the front of the coat, on Iheshoulder-straps and the cuff-slashes were brass.Grey breeches were \~orn with black gaiters,EI Drummu, 24/h (41h Brandtnburg) RtgimmlHe wears a black oilskin cover over his shako,faslened with lies al Ihe back; his grealcoat isrolled round his body in much the same fashion aswith most Olher Prussian troops when on campaign,with a strip of brown leather 10 keep it tidy; hecarries a white knapsack 011 his hip for ralions,and he would also have a mess tin cncased in awhite canvas cover attached to the back of hispack by a lcather strap, His sword is carried in abrown leather scabbard with a brass tip; his drumis suspended from a white leather bcll bearing abrass platc with IWO sockets inlO which thedrulllslicks arc thrusl when nOI in usc.

E2 0ffiCir of Fusiliers, 22nd (UI Rhine) RtgimtntThe officer is in full marching order. His shako,covered wilh "Ill oilskin, would have a band ofgold braid round il with gilt eagles and a giltchain. As decoration the blael.:-and-sikcr cockadewould have a gold-braided loop and bulton,above which is a silver pompom with blael.: centre,The shoulder-straps 10 his coat arc red trimmedwith silver braid, and he carries a grey goatskinpack slung from white straps. The sword-scabbardis trimmed in gilt and the sword has a gilt hiltwith a silver sword-knot. The waist sash is silverwith two rows of black threads running lhrough it.

Ej Offiur of tile regimenlaf stalf, 1St Elbe RegimentThis gcntleman is exercising lhe 'Divinc Right' ofcommanders to dispense with equipment: nopack, no blankct roll and comfortable overallsinstead of tight boots.

LAI DWEHR CAVALRY

Most of the Landwehr cavalry wore the /ittwkaand weTe armed Wilh the lance.

FI Offi'u, 3'd Siltsian RegimentThis smart officer looks like a regular cavalryman.

The resemblance of the uniform to some of thePolish Lancers of the Gra/lde Armie dt Varsovie isremarkable. Bourdier shows a trooper of the samcregiment with an oilskin cover ovcr his r~apska

and wilh " yellow and red lance pennon. Theschabracquc was blue with yellow trimmings.F2 TroojJtr, 211d Neumark RtgimtntHis shako is thai of the regular dragoons.1-3 TrumjJttu, 1St Pomeranian RtgimmtHis shako looks much the same as Ihose worn byBritish light infantry orthe period.

LANDWEHR INFA TRY

The appearance of the Landwehr was, as mighl beexpected, ralher more casual tllan that of the line.The /itewka seems 10 have been a popular gar­ment; while both officers and mCl! worc trousersinstead of brecches and gaiters. Headgear variedfrom a cap, often with an oilskin cover, such asBlucher himself fowoured, to a shako like lhat ofthc regulars. Some of the shakos (sec figure G/)look as if they were of British origin.

GI Officu, lSI Pomeranian Regimt1l/

G2 Prioa/e, lSt Weslphalian Regiment

G3 Drummu,3rd Efbe Regimenl

THE ARTILLERY

The uniforms of the Prussian anillery were byno means all of Prussian blue with grcy trousers.Those of Li.ilzow's Corps wore a black litewka; theRusso-Gcrman Legion wore a shon g,'eell jackctwith black collar and cuffs, and red piping.HI CamlOllur, Silesiall BrigadeStlldenlS of uniform may be puzzlcd thai thecollar and CliO's arc of a diflcrCllt colour fmlll theepauleltc ~traps. The explanation is that the lalterarc of lhe Silesian colours: yellow. The Branden­burg Brigade had rcd epaulclte straps (sec figureflJ).

II:! TrumjJttu, Lii/<.ow's Corps, Balltry .No. 14

H3 0fficu, Brandenburg Bn"gadeThese IwO figures caJI for no further comment.

39

NOTES

I. William O. Shanahan, Prussian Military Riformsq86-18J3 (New York, 1945)'

2. ibid., p. 206.3- ihid., p. 219.

4. The various authorities differ considerably as tothe strengths of the Prussian units, and even as to thenames of brigade commanders. I have, on the whole,preferred F. Bourdier's statistics, which are based onthose compiled by Winand Aerts, 10 those of MajorA. F. Becke, J{apolnm and Walnloo.

5. E. F. Hrnderson. Bliklur and llu UpriJing ofPrussia against Napoleon ,806-,8'5. (London/New York,1911 ) p. 7·

6. ibid., p. 9-7. Krimer became surgeon of a reserve battalion

and served at Dresden, Kulm, Leipzig and in theWaterloo campaign. His book, En'Mtnmgen tinu allenLiit&wtr J4gns, 1795-1819. was published at SlUttgartin 1913.

8. The 2nd Regiment of Hussars and the SaxonChevaux*Ugers.

g. Antony Brett-James. Europe against Napalmn:The Uipdg Campaign ,813, from eyewitness ae'ormu.(London. 1970) p. 183.

10. Shanahan, op. cit .• p. 84. fn. 64.II. Brell-James, op. ,il., p. 1B4.12. ibid., pp. 49-52.13· ibid., pp. 145-6.14. ibid.• p. ~:1I8.

15. Shanahan. op. ,it., p. 175.16. ibid., p. '78.17. Bren-James. op. ,it., p. 43·lB. ibid., pp. 42-3.19. ibid.• p. !l81.20. ibid.• p. 44.21. Of which one (No. 32) was 'not formed'.22. Von Kneller again distinguished himself in the

pursuit entering Genappe when Napoleon waspassing through in his carriage. The Emperor justhad lime (Q escape on horseback, but his bagKage, arich booty. fell into Pl'lissian hands.

23. Breit-James. op. cit., Pl" 182-3·24. A. F. Ikeke, Napol,oll alld Waterloo. The Em­

/Jvor'sCampaigli with fhe Armce dll Nord. 1815: a strategi­cal alld tactical study. '2 vols. (London, 1914); revised andre-written edition, 1 vol. (London. 1936).

25. Presumably von Braun, who according toBecke (op. ,it.• p. 292) commanded the artillery ofIV Corps.

26. Condensed from Captain E. S. May. R.A.,'A Prussian Gunner's Adventures in 1815', UniudSeruiee Mag~j"e (October IBgI).

40

27. Author of Mirnoires de Chirurgie mililaire, e.campagnes . .. 4 vols., (1817).

28. Brett.James. op. cit .• p. 141.29· ibid.• pp. 130-1.30. ibid., pp. 146-7·3 I. ibid.• p. 148.32. A Hessian officer.33. Given in C. de M. [Baron Karl von MUfflingl,

History of Ihe Campaign . .. in tlu Year 1815 (London,1816). MUffling gives Colonel von Langen as thecommander of the 8th Brigade.

34· Regiment No. 32 had been assigned to thisbrigade. but was as yet unformed.

35. Becke (op. &it.) gives von Braun as the com­mander of IV Corps artillery. but as the officer ofthat name was a general (cf. von Reuter's narrative)he would have assumed command of the artiUerywhen Holtzendorff was hit. Since Colonel von Rohldid so. one mwt assume that von Braun was absentfor some reason.

The Elbe Nado...1 Hu...r Re,bn"'nl. G~n wlLh sreynv......lIl1. The mounleel hu••ar ha. cold I.ce and UCht bluecollar and cuff•• I.. 1813 the Pru..l..n pn;tvince•• Ea..stPru••I... Pornen..l.. and Silesla. .n rai.ed N..tionalCavalry Res:bnent•• The Elbe N..do....1 Hu•••r Rep.nentwa. Ihe la.t to be raJ.eeI. It wa. financed larcely by Lhe oldB......de..bu... landeel (anUlle•. It took part i .. the alCS" ofMacdebuI"I (181.), wa. me...ed i .. the loth Hu•••.n. andfouCht at Wavre in 1815. (R. Ka6tel)

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BRIGADIER PETER YOUNG retired from the Army in 1959 after a colour­ful career which included wartime service in Nos. 1 and 3 Commando Brigades,and the years 1953-6 as Commander of the 9th Regiment of the Arab Legion.From 1959 to 1969 he was Head of the Military History Department of theRoyal Military Academy. Sandhurst. His many books and articles have madehim one of the best-known British. military historians; and his reconstructionof Civil War battles at Marston Moor, Newbury, Cropredy Bridge and else·where have made him known to an even wider public.

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