L’Esercito Bavarese della Guerra dei Sette Anni, 1756–1763

Leibregiment Kurfürst in Bayern Leib-Regiment Kurfürst in Bayern. These 40 mm semi-round soldatini are cast from commercially available Prince August rubber moulds. A modeller’s dream come true, important standard poses may be reproduced again ed again, whereas drummers ed other specialist types need to be cast only occasionally.

L’armata bavarese was uniformed, armed ed organized following the Austrian pattern. Reggimenti di fanteria consisted of 2 battaglioni con 4 compagnie fucilieri e 1 compagnia granatieri, e due cannoni reggimentali da 4 libbre each. The Leib-Regiment had 3 battaglioni, only due of which campaigned con the army. Companies granatieri usually fought alongside the parent reggimento, though they may have been detached occasionally, to form un battaglione d’élite of converged granatieri.

L’armata bavarese consisted of eight reggimenti di fanteria, due reggimenti di cavalleria, ed an artiglieria brigade. Ten battaglioni di fanteria e their attached artiglieria served con the Auxiliar-Korps dell’armata austriaca. These units fought at Schweidnitz, Breslau e Leuthen in 1757, Troppau, Oelmutz e Neiße in 1758. Infanterie-Regiment Kurprinz, e Infanterie-Regiment Preysing had only un battaglione in the field, they formed the combined Infanterie-Regiment Kurprinz/Preysing. At the Battle of Leuthen, the contingents bavarese e Württemberg of the Auxiliar-Korps bore the brunt of the attack prussiana against the extreme left flank of the line.

Bavaria also contributed the 1^o Reggimento di Circolo Bavarese, a.k.a. Reggimento Fanteria di Kurbayern, for service con the Reichsarmee. This unit consisted of I. battaglione del Reggimento Fanteria di Pechmann, II. battaglione RI di Pechmann (without granatieri), I. battaglione RI di Holnstein, e six cannoni reggimentali da 4 libbre. Compagnie fucilieri had a total strength of 130 all ranks, companies granatieri only 100 all ranks. Nominal strength of the reggimento would have been 1760 all ranks, plus regimental staff, but the unit mustered only 1373 men in maggio 1758. IR Kurbayern was detached to Freiberg in Saxony when Frederick the Great defeated the armata francese ed imperiale at the Battle of Rossbach.

Uniforms in the Guerra dei Sette Anni

It is not known con certainty, if the fanteria wore a dark blue o corn-flower blue coat during the Guerra dei Sette Anni, but the following oggetti of dress were common to all reggimenti di fanteria:

Collar, cuffs, lapels, e coat lining in the regimental facing colour
Red stock.
Black gaiters, tricorno hat, cartridge box, e bayonet scabbard
White & blue cockade on the tricorne
Brass grenade badge on cartridge boxes dei granatieri.
Granatieri also had a small cartouche box on the waist-belt
Red-brown calfskin straps on tin water-bottle e musket (red o white after 1740s).
Brown-black Austrian pattern granatieri fur caps con red bag, white lace & tassel
Cowhide knapsacks until 1757, subsequently made from white o grey ticking
Brass drums con white & blue striped hoops.
Mounted officers had shabraques e pistol covers in the facing colour, trimmed in the button colour. Exceptions: The Leib-Regiment had blue shabraques edged in silver, Infanterie-Regiment Kurprinz had dark blue shabraques edged in gold.
Regimental staff officer wore lace in the button colour.
The Leibkompanie of the I. battaglione of each reggimento carried the Leibfahne, a white flag con the Madonna painted on in various designs.
Compagnie fucilieri carried white e blue checked regimental colours. For reasons of economy, the madonna, e the electoral cyphers in the corners of these flag were often omitted. Companies granatieri did not carry flags.

Musicians seem to have worn the blue coat con white & blue checked lace in horizontal stripes, unless otherwise noted below.

Comando supremo bavarese della Guerra dei Sette Anni
Generali Bavaresi, 1756–1763		Stato Maggiore		Army Commissariat
Regiment	Coat	Facings	Buttons	Vest	Breeches
Leib-Regiment Kurfürst in Bayern	blue	white	white	white	white
Leib-Regiment Kurfürst in Bayern	Until 1760, drummers wore reversed colours con black & blue checked diagonal lace. The Leib-Regiment adopted black facings con white lace in 1760. The drummers wore this new uniform as well, not reversed, but con the same lace as before. I fucilieri del Leib-Regiment had grenadier-style brass grenade badges on their cartridge boxes. Garrisoned at Munich, the II. e III. battaglione of the Leib-Regiment served in the Auxiliar-Korps dell’armata austriaca.
Infanterie-Regiment Kurprinz in Bayern	blue	white	yellow	white	white
Infanterie-Regiment Kurprinz in Bayern	Drummers wore blue uniform, except that their horizontal lace stripes were black & blue checked. Garrisoned at Amberg i. d. Oberpfalz (I. Btl.) e Rottenburg a. d. Laaber (II. Btl.) in 1756, Straubing (1757), Ingolstadt (1758), ed Amberg (1759), the II. battaglione served in the Auxiliar-Korps dell’armata austriaca. The unit formed a combined reggimento con I. battaglione RI di Preysing, known as Infanterie-Regiment Kurprinz/Preysing.
Infanterie-Regiment Herzog Clemens in Bayern	blue	red	yellow	white	white
Infanterie-Regiment Herzog Clemens in Bayern	Garrisoned at Straubing, the reggimento served in the Auxiliar-Korps dell’armata austriaca.
Infanterie-Regiment Graf von Minucci Oberst von La Rosee (59)	blue	yellow	white	yellow o red?	yellow
	Ownership of the reggimento changed in 1759. The redesignated Infanterie-Regiment von La Rosee received permission to clothe its drummers in reversed colours, con blue waistcoats. Garrisoned at Braunau am Inn, the reggimento served in the Auxiliar-Korps dell’armata austriaca.
Infanterie-Regiment Freiherr von Morawitzky	blue	straw	white	straw	straw
Infanterie-Regiment Freiherr von Morawitzky	Garrisoned at Munich (1756) e Ingolstadt (1759), the reggimento served in the Auxiliar-Korps dell’armata austriaca.
Infanterie-Regiment Graf von Preysing	blue	red	white	straw	straw
Infanterie-Regiment Graf von Preysing	Musicians wore the livery of the Inhaber, yellow coats con red lapels, red vests, e white breeches. Garrisoned at Ingolstadt, the I. battaglione formed a combined reggimento con II. battaglione RI Kurprinz in Bayern, which served in the Auxiliar-Korps dell’armata austriaca.
Infanterie-Regiment Freiherr von Pechmann Freiherr von Meinders (59) Freiherr von Herold (61)	blue	straw	yellow	white?	white?
	Garrisoned at Neumarkt i. d. Oberpfalz (1757), e Rottenburg a. d. Laaber (1761), the reggimento was combined con I. battaglione RI di Holnstein to form the 1^o Reggimento di Circolo Bavarese (IR Kurbayern). The unit served con the Reichsarmee at Weissenfels (1757), Sebastiansberg e Sonnenstein (1758), Dresden, Meissen e Dippoldiswalde (1759), Strehla, Torgau e Wittenberg (1760), Plauen (1761), e Freiberg (1762).
Infanterie-Regiment von Holnstein	blue, with straw lining	red	yellow	straw	straw
Infanterie-Regiment von Holnstein	The straw lining of the coat would show on the turnbacks; the collar, cuffs e lapels were faced red. The I. battaglione e 1. compagnia granatieri RI di Holnstein formed the 1^o Reggimento di Circolo Bavarese (IR Kurbayern) together con 1. compagnia granatieri, I. e II. battaglione RI di Pechmann. The unit missed the Battle of Rossbach in 1757, because it was on detached duty at Freiberg, Saxony.
Regiment	Coat	Facings	Buttons	Vest	Breeches
Reggimento Corazzieri Fürst Taxis	white	med. blue	white	-	straw
Reggimento Corazzieri Fürst Taxis	Corazze were blackened. Shabraques e pistol covers were red con white trim. The service record of the unit is not known.
Dragoner-Regiment Hohenzollern	red	straw	white	straw	straw
Dragoner-Regiment Hohenzollern	Shabraques e pistol covers were straw coloured con black? trim. The service record of the unit is not known.
Artillerie Brigade	light grey	med. blue	yellow	straw	straw
Artillerie Brigade	Garrisoned at Ingolstadt e Rottenburg a. d. Laaber, the artiglieria served alongside l’armata bavarese in all of the above engagements. Each battaglione di fanteria had due cannoni which were served by artiglierie e fanteria Handlanger. Ufficiali d’artiglieria wore silver hat lace. Affusti d’artiglieria were painted blue-grey con black fittings. However, in 1760 Reggimento Fanteria di Salisburgo (2^o Reggimento di Circolo Bavarese) received cannoni reggimentali con affusti rossi. Ammunition wagons e carts bavaresi were painted red. Packhorses had red saddle cloth. The brigata d’artiglieria was responsible for 34 cannoni reggimentali, one division of 6 cannoni da campagna e 2 howitzers, attendant field forges, ammunition e supply wagons which took the field during the Guerra dei Sette Anni.

Fortifications

It is important to remember that rivers present a serious obstacle to civilian, commercial, e military traffic. Historically, small groups of travellers crossed major rivers by boat o ferry, known as a flying bridge (fliegende Brücke), but large military formations needed regular bridges to cross a river con minimal delay. Permanent bridges are expensive, they take a long time to build, e require regular maintainance, only major population centers could afford them. To protect their investment, these cities were heavily fortified.

Major waterways like the Rhine river had no permanent bridges at all, not since Roman times. There were quattro boat-bridges (Schiffsbrücken) on the Rhine at Basel, Straßburg, Magonza-Kastel (1661) e Cologne; a fifth was built at Koblenz in 1819. Boat-bridges were a heavier civilian type of pontoon-bridge, using river barges instead of small military pontoons. Other strategic crossing points along the Rhine had fortified bridgeheads which could be connected by pontoon-bridges. L’armata bavarese maintained fortified bridgeheads on the Rhine e Danube:

Ingolstadt, Regierungsbezirk Oberbayern, situated at the confluence of Schutter e Danube. The city was fortified in 1539, ed it withstood its first siege in 1546. L’armata svedese sotto Gustavus Adolf, too, besieged Ingolstadt unsuccessfully in 1632, while Tilly died of his wounds inside the fortification. L’armata austriaca occupied Ingolstadt in 1703, ed again in 1742. Generale francese Moreau reduced the fortress in 1800, e reconstruction did not begin until 1828. Infanterie-Regiment Kurprinz, RI di Morawitzky, RI di Preysing, ed artiglieria bavarese were garrisoned here during the Guerra dei Sette Anni.
Germersheim, Regierungsbezirk Pfalz, situated at the confluence of Queich e Rhine. The fortified bridgehead at Germersheim-Philipsburg had much greater importance than the fortification at Ingolstadt, because it dominated a strategic road between Francia e Germania. Turenne captured e reduced the fortifications in 1674, e the armata francese again occupied Germersheim in 1688, when Louis XIV made claims to the Palatinate. L’occupazione francese terminò ne 1702, e the fortification was rebuilt in 1715. Austrian forces under Wurmser e Hohenlohe defeated i francesi under Beauharnais here in 1793.
Festung Rothenberg above Schnaittach, built 1729 to ca. 1750 on the ruins of a castle del secolo XIII, was a stronghold bavarese against Franconia e Nuremberg. The bastioned fortress of design francese is the last Rococo fortification in Europe. During the Guerra dei Sette Anni, le battaglioni di fanteria e companies granatieri dell’armata bavarese were detailed to garrison the Rothenberg on a rotational basis.

Bibliografia

(SGBH) Staudinger, Karl: Geschichte des kurbayerischen Heeres unter Kurfürst Karl Albrecht – Kaiser Karl VII. – und Max III. Joseph 1726–1777 (Geschichte des bayerischen Heeres 3). Verlag J. Lindauer, München 1909.
Bezzel, Oskar: Geschichte des Kurpfälzischen Heeres von seinen Anfängen bis zur Vereinigung von Kurpfalz und Kurbayern 1777, nebst Geschichte des Heerwesens in Pfalz-Zweibrücken (Geschichte des Bayerischen Heeres 4/1). Bayerisches Kriegsarchiv, München 1925.
(MGBA) Münich, Friedrich: Geschichte der Entwicklung der bayerischen Armee seit zwei Jahrhunderten (1618–1818). Neudruck der Ausgabe München 1864. (Biblio-Verlag, ISBN: 3764811781, Osnabrück 1984)
Knötel-Sieg: Handbuch der Uniformkunde, pp. 50-52

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Soldatini della Guerra dei Sette Anni

– Pubblicato: 06.10.1997 – Aggiornato: 19.09.2007
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