prussian uhlans
The Prussian army had, before its rout
during the campaign of 1806, a single lance-armed regiment, the
Towarzcys (formerly Bosniaks), converted afterwards in two
Uhlan Regiments, 1st West Prussian and 2nd
Silesian, to which a third one, the
Brandenburg Uhlans, was added in 1809. Some squadrons of the
2nd and 3rd Uhlans, served in the Prussian Napoleon's Auxiliar Corps in
the 1812 Russian Campaign.
Only these three Uhlan Regiments fought in 1813-1814, since no new Uhlan
Regiments were raised during those years. However, after the Napoleon's
abdication, the amalgamation and conversion of several Prussian or
German cavalry units led to the formation of five new Uhlan Regiments
units, raising the total to eight Regiments
at Bluecher's disposal for the 1815 Campaign.
UNIFORMS
In 1813, the Uhlans wore a dark blue
'kollet'
(a hip-length double-breasted tunic) with
poppy red collars and 'polish' (pointed) cuffs and two rows
of buttons curveing slightly outwards to the top. The
lapels were piped in red and the
short
tails had a two-inch-wide red trim.
The dark blue wait sash was also
piped in red. The button colours and soulder straps were used to
distinguish the regiment, according to the following table.
| Regiment | Shoulder straps | Buttons | Lance pennants (1813)** | ||
| 1 | white | yellow | white over blue | ||
| 2 | poppy red | yellow | red over blue | ||
| 3 | yellow | yellow | yellow over blue | ||
| 4* | light blue | yellow | |||
| 5* | white | white | |||
| 6* | poppy red | white | |||
| 7* | yellow | white | |||
| 8* | light blue | white | |||
| * Raised in 1815 | |||||
| ** white over black for all Regiments in 1815 | |||||
The rank-and-file could also wore a dark-blue
Litewka
(a long coat). The legwears were
dark-grey overalls, covered in
black leather up the whole length of
the inner legs and around the ankles. Down the outer surface, was an
open seam closed with a row of buttons (piped
in red). They headwear was a cavalry
shako covered in campaign with a
black waxed cloth.
The armament consisted in a curved sabre with a steel scabbard.
The troopers carried a lance with a brown shaft
and iron point. The rankers wore also a pistol and a black leather
cartridge-box with white (shown
black in all the sources) belt.
The horse furniture was a black sheepskin saddle cloth with a
red 'wolf's teeth' (triangular) trim.
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| Taken from Histoire et Figurine site |
MINIATURES
There are no 1/72 (HO) plastic figures
in the market for the Prussian Uhlans of 1813. After a visit to the
Plastic Soldier Review page, searching for sets with a reasonable
similarity with the desired figures, I finally chose the
Italeri 6080 French Light Cavalry set (see below)
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| Taken from Plastic Soldier review site |
These figures wore a short-tailed coat or
'Kinski', very similar to the Prussian hip-length
double-breasted tunic or 'kollet', and
overall trousers with an the outer row of
buttons. The only minor surgical interventions needed to
disguise them as Prussian Uhlans, were the
elimination of the carbine
when necessary, the replacement of the
sword with a lance and the addition of plasticine (or green
putty) to simulate the shako cover (the colpak figure was not
used).
I chose to paint the 3rd (Brandenburg) Hussar Regiment with
yellow distinctives, because this
unit was attached ot the Bluecher's Silesian
Army during the Campsign of Leipzig.
| UNIT | FIGURES | COLOR SCHEME | PICTURES |
| PRUSSIAN Uhlans (1813) |
Italeri 6080 French Light Cavalry set |
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Links of interest:
Prussian Cavalry of the Napoleonic Wars (1). 1792-1807 Peter
Hofschröer & Bryan Fosten. Osprey Men-at-Arms 162, 1985
Prussian Cavalry of the Napoleonic Wars (2). 1807–15 Peter
Hofschröer & Bryan Fosten. Osprey Men-at-Arms 172, 1985
Project Leipzig