Thursday 13 May 2010

Hesse Kassel Foot Jägers - Variant 1

During the SYW there were 2 companies of foot jägers, to which were added 2 companies of mounted jägers in 1759. They fought in many small and large actions during the war, most notably at Sandershausen against the French in 1758 where, from their position on the right wing of the Allied army, they caused many casualties in the French infantry.

As with all Hesse-Kassel uniforms there seems to be much disagreement about the details. This is based on the version given by Pengel and Hurt and the Heer und Tradition Plate 91.

5 comments:

  1. By the end of the AWI, the illustrations I've seen have the hat plume white.

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  2. Another lovely design, David.

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  3. Thanks for the further comment, Robert. White seems excessively flamboyant for a jäger! Green seems far more sensible.

    I removed the 2nd jäger variant for the time being for further consideration but unfortunately that removed your comments too. I'll post them again with my reply in further comments on this post.

    Cheers,

    David.

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  4. Thanks, AJ. Glad you like it. :-)

    Cheers,

    David.

    P.S. I'd love to have a hardback copy of your Hetzenburg Chronicles but sadly suspect that the postage to the UK would be prohibitive. That being so, I must get round to buying a PDF copy; sorry to have been so tardy about it. It really is a most enjoyable tale.

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  5. Robert Sulentic posted a comment about the 2nd jäger uniform that I posted yesterday and in the light of his comments and my own misgivings about Trenkle's work on the Hessians I took that posting down again very quickly thereafter. Unfortunately that meant his comments and my reply were also lost to the blog so here they are again for anyone who might wish to see them:

    Robert Sulentic has left a new comment on your post "Hesse Kassel Foot Jägers - Variant 2":

    Trenkle is very suspect. I can't figure out what date his uniforms are supposed to be, and the painting on page 57 is perposterous.

    That said, your first variant is probably to be preferred, that's pretty much the uniform that was worn in the 1770's.

    After the acession of Landgraf Friedrich in 1760, I think the uniforms of the army under went a total 'Prussianization' to the extent that I think the Hessians were using the same contractors as the Prussians. In fact, being that a good chunk of Hesse-Cassel was overrun by the French for a portion of the war, they probably just got Prussian uniforms.

    I've seen a Heer und Tradtition plate for the Hessians in the SYW, and the uniforms didn't look any different from the AWI uniforms--I suspect that the information for the AWI was just back-dated.

    Posted by Robert Sulentic to Not By Appointment at 13 May 2010 03:46

    and I replied:


    Hi Robert,

    Thanks for your comments and information. Yes, I had rather gathered that Trenkle was very suspect but thought that at least if I do a few possible variants people have some choice in the matter! Witzel seems much more scholarly and dependable, especially for the Prussian period after 1760, although his illustrations seem to lack clarity and sharpness in some respects, unfortunately. (Until I get my copy of his book soon I've only seen parts of it on Google books.) Would you agree that Witzel seems more authoritative on late SYW Hessian uniforms than most material out there? As you say, much of what is given as SYW Hessian uniform does seem as if it is merely the AWI back-dated.

    I may well revise the versions I do/have done and omit the Trenkle version.

    Cheers,

    David.

    Posted by David to Not By Appointment at 13 May 2010 04:03

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