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
| The full movie: Prussian Uhlans |