the ermanempire,

1870-1888
Text by
ALBERT SEATON
Colour plates by
MICHAEL YOUENS
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if//le germolZ empire, /870-/888
.It/trot/LIaioll
The German Empire and the German Armyowed
their origins to Prussia. that is tosay the Duchy of
East Prussia and )'lark Brandenburg which to-
gether cvclllually formed the Kingdom of Prussia.
The first Prussian standing arm}' was Ihal
raised b} the Eleclors of Brandenburg consisting
of frec companies of mcrcenant-'S Landsknechte)
Slationcd in peace in the main cities and fonresses.
In war, though their numbers were increased, lhey
pro\'ed unsalisfaclOry since their services could be
bought by Ihcencmy. Desertion was common and
there was no means of compelling the mercenaries
to undertake tasks which \\'cre nOl to their liking.
During the Thiny Ycars War the Elector George
William raised an army of 10,000 men for service
against Sweden, but even this was largely inde-
pendent of Prussia since the troops had been
recruiled and paid in pan by the Austrian
Emperor. The corps of officers was in the hands of
foreign advelliurers.
Frederick William, the Great Eleclor, suc-
ceeded his falher in ,64-0 when the Thiny Years
War was at its height. Brandenburg had been
ravaged by tbe war and the population of Berlin
slood at less Ihan 300 inhabitallls. Prussia, the
cockpit of Europe, was the batl1eground for the
major military powers, France 10 the west, Poland
to the east, Sweden on Ihe Baltic shore and Austria
in the south. To secure his independence and safe-
guard whal was left of his realm, the Eleclor was
obliged 10 raise a national Prussian Army, the
firsl ofil5 kind. The noble and educated classes of
sociely were directed to become officers, and Iheir
young sons were sent for three-year courses at the
newly-founded academies. The peacetime mili-
tary tstabljshmenlS were related to war needs so
Ihal lhe cadrcs could be rapidly increased on
mobilization.
By 1688 Frederick William had crcaled a well
trained army of o\'er 30,000 men, including
thirty-six baualions of infantry, thirty-two squad-
rons of cuirassiers and eight of dragoons, in spile
of the fact that Ihe tOlal Prussian population
numbered no more than one and a half million.
In Prussia the era of the mercenary was past.
Under his Sllccessor, Frederick III (from 1701
King Frederick I of Prussia) the army cOlllinued
10 expand. seeing foreign sen,ice against the
French. usually as part of the imperial forces,
during the War of the Spanish Succession. At the
time of the dealh of Frederick I in 1713 it num-
bered just over 40,000 men.
-'-'-.""'-

orlhe M:a&debu" Hunan (ReJime... No. 10)

3
PmSSif(S
(ireote.ll'J1};rrior
Frederick's successor, Frederick William I (17 [3-
40) was a man of peace. Yet his whole life was
directed towards preparing for war. The new
king was an excellent administrator for, by the
most rigid of economics, he contrived to double
the military establishment with no increase of
military expenditure. Recruiting was put on a
more regular rooting, the volunteer system (which
had always been augmented by crimping and the
press gang) being replaced by regular conscrip-
tion. Admittedly, the conscription law was neither
egalitarian nor just, since there were too many
exemptions on Ihe grounds ofbinh or weahh. but
the nobilit)' was expected to serve voluntarily,
either in the army or in the state service. And this
they did readily. Provinces were divided into
AlilrouP ofPrussi.QSittcl"cliaC GeCreher or, POHII lAr..,lry
(sI),. DOQ-eommissioQed officer or ~ ' O D Bredo....'s D r 1 I S O O D ~
IrOOfN'r DfublaDlii in uDdrelilii and a hus.... r carryins a lance
4
recrultmg areas. forming the basis of the latter-
day system of recruiting districts.
The ergeant-King was obsessed with disci-
pline, regularity and good order, with the
minutiae of uniform and equipment and, in par-
ticular, with the organization and training of
infantry. At his death in 1740 he bequeathed to
his son Frederick II (the Great) sixty-six banal-
ions of infantry and 114 squadrons of ca\'alry, in
all JUSt o\'er 80,000 men. The COSt of maintaining
this army, according to the 1 i39 t!timates. was
+.900,000 thalers out of a gross revenue of
7.400,000 thalers. The )'oung Frederick was
determined to put this excellent army to im-
mediate use, and his seizure of Austrian Silcsia
gave rise to the three Silesian Wars between
Prussia and Austria. At one time Frederick,
whose Prussian subjects numbered no more than
four and a halfmillion, was at war against Austria,
Russia. France, Poland-Saxony and Sweden; his
only ally was Creat Britain and he was often ncar
disaster. Yet he survived against these great odds
and eventually triumphed. due partly to his own
military genius and partly to the dissensions
among the enemy coalition. The peace of Huber-
tusburg. which marked the end of the Seven Years
War, left Prussia in undisputed possession of
Silcsia, but a million people had perished. Tiny
Prussia was the foreillost military po\\'er in
Northern Europe.
At the time of Frederick's death in 1786 the
Prussian standing army numbered over 200,000
men, totalling 110 field and forty-three garrison
battalions. and 273 squadrons of cavalry. II cost
in maintenance thirteen million thalers out of a
revenue of twenty million.
From 1763, until the outbreak of the French
Revolution. Prussia enjo)'ed a period of peace
marred only by the mutual suspicion between
Berlin and Vienna. Frederick the Great, in order
losafeguard himselfagainsl being isolated withoul
European allies, concluded a treaty with Russia
in 1764. In 1772 he persuaded Catherine the
Great to undertake the first partition of Poland
and he induced Austria to take a share of the
spoils. Prussia's new gains connected Branden-
burg territory directly 10 East Prussia. In 1779 it
looked as if Prussia and Austria might go 10 war
again, this time over the Bavarian succession, but
the differencc was patched up by the mediation
of Russia and France. On his death in 1786
Frederick left Prussia 110t only with a military
rcputation unsurpassed in Europe but also with
an enormous increase in its territorial boundaries.
PrLlssio:s
'Demomlizofio//
fI/If!'Dem),
Under Frederick the Great, and under his father
Frederick William, the Prussian governmental
and military system depended for its function and
effectivcncss on thc will and encrgyofone man, the
monarch. The powers of these autocrats were
virtually without limit, and their regimes relicd
for their efficiency not only on example, disci
pline, and close control, but also on fear and
repression. This \,'as particularly applicable to
the brutal methods practised in the army. Serfdom
still existed in Prussia at the beginning of the
nineteenth century.
With the death of the trrant Frederick and the
accession of a weak and politically shon-sighted
monarch (Frederick William II, 178&-1797), a
reaction set in. Liberalism was in the air and the
influence of the l1luminati and the Rosicrucian
Socict) gained ground in the Prussian court and
governmental circles. Under this new system all
felt free to express themselves, irrespcctive of their
cxpericnce 01" station. Officers interfered III
church matters, theologians in political affairs,
the diplomatists lectured the generals, while the
generals did not feel inhibited in giving expression
to recommendations on foreign policy. The
result, said one chronicler. \\'as an administration
affecting piety. a bureaucratic church and a
political army. This political army was to show
itself to be of doubtful value.
The outbreak of the Revolutionary Wars in
I i92 temporarily allied Prussia \,'ith Austria.
That year. howe\'er, French levies defeated the
Prussians at 'almy. Frederick William used this
defeat as a justification, the next year. for a
furthcr partltlon of Poland which secured for
Prussia Danzig and Thorn. Two years later, under
the Treaty of Basic, Prussia withdrew from the
war with France, leaving its allies in thc lurch and
permilling France to dominate West Germany.
That same year (li95) Prussia took pan in the
final partition which obliteraled Poland from the
map of Europe.
The Prussian Army under Frederick \Villjam
II had continued to increase in size: by I i9i it
numbered over a quarter of a million men. its
annual cost being seventeen million thalers
against a gross revenue of thirty million. But it
had proved no match for the French Revo-
lutionary Armies. partly because or the obso
leseencc of its equipmcnt and methods but morc
panieularly dLie to the demoralization and decay
in its pOlitical and military leadership. In 1803
Frederick William had [Q submit to the occupa-
tion of Hanovcr, contrary to the terms of the
Treaty of Basic, but he contrivcd to remain at
peace with France until 1806. Then, goaded by
the Tsar and smarting undcr the disputed posses
sion of Hanover, Ihe king found an unusual
5
reserve of courage and dispatched an ultimatum
to Napoleon, demanding the withdrawal of
French troops from Germany. A reply was re-
ceived within the month in the form of invadin
French armies which destroyed the Prussian
forces at Jena and Auerstadt. At Auerstadt the
PrUSSl;lnS were numerically superior in ca\'alry
and anillery and outnumbered the French by
two toone. Bonaparte CUI Prussia down losizeso
that it was a shadow of its former self, for it
relinquished all its territory west of the Elbe and
lost the Duchy of\Varsaw LO Saxony.
'Pmssia"s
UY{ifilfll]' 7!!!mIS
Towards the end of his reign, Frederick William
II had set lip a commission of military organiza-
tion which, borrowing from the French Revolu-
tionary Army, recommended the division of Ihe
I)russian Army i11l0 four army corps, each based
on a territOrial district. thc Prussian. South
Prussian. Silesian and Reserve Corps. the latter
being formed from the West German provinces
outside Brandenburg.
Although the work of this first commission was
inconclusive. the organization was reformed and
c011linued its work under Frederick William's
successor. Frederick William III (1797-184).
The commission was instructed in 1803 to make
recommendations on the Kneseback and Cour-
biere army reforms which proposed radical
changes in the military penal code and the im-
proveme11l in conditions of the soldier. It was
illlended also to raise large numbers of national
reserve battalions. There was no time. however.
to put allY of these recommendations into effect
before the disastrous defeats of 1806.
In 1806 Ihe regimental organization of the old
Prussian Army had differed little from that of
Frederick the Great. The 6 and 15 Infantry
Regiments still fumishcd the four battalions of the
roynl guard; there \\'e,'e fifty-eight line regiments,
6
a Jager regiment and twenty-four fusilier battal-
ions. in all 234 baualions. The cavalry was liLtle
altered from the days of the Great King: thirteen
regiments of cuirassiers, fourteen of dragoons and
len of hussars. totalling 255 squadrons. But of this
great army of254.ooo mcn with its 600 field and
430 regimental guns. 120.000 men ever
came into action against the french.
The Paris Convention of 1808 destroyed the old
Prussian Army. Henceforth. it was decreed. for a
IeI'm often years Prussia was to limit its standing
army to a force of only 42,000 men, made tip of
6,000 in the guard, 10 regiments of infantry and
8 regiments of cavalry.
The defeat and the dictation of the Paris Con-
vention aCled as the spur for the introduction of
the long overdue military reorganization. ide by
side with Stein's. Hardenbcrg's and Humboldt's
governmental and social reforms. the abolition
of serfdom. a ne\,' eduC<'tional system and a civil
service open on merit to all classes of society.
Gneiscnau and Scharnhorst reformed the army,
adhering to the letter of the Paris Convention but
nOt to its spiril. For although the peacetime eSlab-
lishment of 4'2,000 men was not exceeded, no
fewer than forty-four infantry battalions, seventy-
six cavalry squadrons and fony-fi\'e companies of
were included in the total. This regular
cadre afforded military training. by the so-called
Krumper system. to successive batches of young
men, about 20,000 a year. who were called to the
colours, rapidly trained, and then dismissed to
their homes. By 1813 Prussia could call to arms a
force of 250.000 men.
In 1813, following Napoleon's disas-
trous campaign in Russia, a royal edict created
lhe Landwehr and the LandslUnn, to include all
men betwecn Ihe ages of cightcen and fony-five
capable of bearing arms.
The Prussian king had been forced into the
allied camp by the action of General Yorek,
commanding the Prussian contingent of Napo-
leon's Grand Army. who had gone over 10 the
Russians together \\'ith his men. The War of Liber-
ation and the close of the struggle with France
found Prussia regenerated with a strong spirit of
nationality, and. at the peace of Vienna. Prussia's
large army ga\'e it a political importance Ollt of
proportion to the extent of its territory or to the
numbers of its population, For the final 1815
campaign whieh ended al Waterloo, Prussia
deployed in Belgium four arm)' corps totalling
I I 7,000 men and 300 guns; 83.000 men came into
battle at Ligny.
THE PR SSIA;\
COXSCR I PT SYSTE:V1
Prussia had had restored all that it had lost at
Tilsit and, in addition, had obtained the grand-
duchy of Posen, Swedish Pomerania, the greater
pan of nonhern Saxony, the duchies of West-
phalia and Berg and the Rhine eountry between
Aachcn and :\'Iainz. The ncw Prussia, in spitc of
its limitcd population and finances, was deter-
mined to hold its own in the military field by
maintaining an army comparable in size with
those of the great European powers,
By thc law promulgated in 1814, every man was
liable for military service from the commence-
ment of his twentieth year, serving three years
with the colours and twO with the reserve. Thjs
component. made up of men up to the age of
twenly.fi\,e, formed the standing army. After his
twenly.fifth year the soldier passed to the rolls of
the first section (Aufgebot) of the Landwehr for
seven years and then, at the age of thinythree,
to the second section of the Land\\'ehr for another
seven years. At the age of fony he could then be
transferred 10 the Landsturm. The Landsturm
also included males between the ages ofse\'dneen
and forty-nine who had been exempted from
regular military in the standing army and
the Landwehr.
The territorial reorganization of the army was
put on to a permanenl footing (some of it still
unchanged in 1939). An army corps ofguards and
grenadiers and eight corps of the line were
formed, the line being assigned to the following
provinces: I st to East Prussia; 2nd to Pomerania;
3rd to Brandenburg; 4th to Prussian Saxony; 5th
to Posen and West Prussia; 6th to Silesia; 7th to
Vlestphalia; and 8th (0 the Rhineland. Each army
corps had twO infantry divisions of two brigades
and a cavalry division also of twO brigades, The
infantry brigade had two regimenls, one full
strength line regiment and one cadre regiment of
the first section of the Landwehr, which could be
rapidly brought up to strength on mobilization.
8ALriC SEA
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7
After the fall of Napoleon the princes ofGcrmany
had agreed to unite in a confederation, and a
permanent diet of plenipotcllIiaries from the
German states had met at Frankfurt-on-:\Iain
under the presidency of Austria. In each state a
constitutional government was to be set up. but,
although constitutions were in fact granted to
many of the smaller states, both Austria and
Prussia were opposed to popular represeillation.
Following the french revolution of 1830 there
were many disturbances throughout Germany;
in some cases these resulted in the grant of a
liberal constitution. in other states to repressive
The cavalry division had twO brigades of t\\'o
regiments. but the four corps troops cavalry
regiments were made up of Landwehr. Regimellls
were permanemly garrisoned in. and dre\\' their
recruits from. the district urrounding their
station. The regular army and the first section of
the Landwehr fonned thc field troops in war, the
seco d section and the recruits providing the
reserve. This reorganization \\'as not
finally completed until ,830.
Instead of the pre-:-iapolocnic organization of
two battalions to the regiment. the new Prussian
Army. together with most other European powers,
had introduced the three-battalion regiment both
for the standing army and for the reserve. In 1830
the acti"e army stood at four infalllry regimellls
of the guard and grenadiers, thirty-two regiments
of line and eight first line reserve infantry regi-
ments, together with thirty-eight regiments of
cavalry. The Landwehr consisted of a further
forty regiments of infantry and thiny-two of
cavalry. The active standing army stood at
'30,000 men. but with the embodimelll of the
Landwehr regimellls this total could be doubled.
During the long period of peace, umil 1859, this
organization remained little changed.
measures. In 1834 a customs union (Zollverein)
was inaugurated, at Prussian instigation. and
this, in addition to remo\;ng restrictions on
commerce, did much to stimulate the desire for
some form of German unity. The third French
re"olution in t848 once more found an echo in
Germany, disorders breaking out in both Austria
and Prussia. Thereafter a more liberal policy pre-
vailed and a national assembly \\'as elected by
the German people. This first met in t848 in
Frankfurt, but had a short life of only thirteen
momhs.
Prussia and Austria both made repeated
efforts to unite Germany under terms best suited
to themselves. Prussia formed what was to become
known as the German Union while Vienna did
its ullnost to reconstitute the confederation.
EvcllIually Prussia consented to the rcslOration
of the constitution of 181 5 and from t850 onwards
the diet resumed its sitt.ings at Frankfurt. Prussia's
political inRucnce inside German)' was growing
steadily, however, both because of the customs
union and because Frederick William IV (184-0-
61) had made Berlin a centre of learning and
natural science.
Because ofthe civil unrest and disorders between
Paris and \Varsaw, the peace was, at the best, an
uneasy one. New national wars were shortly to
break out in unexpeclcd quarters, in Ital)' and
Denmark.
"J C"!vr'" J In Austria had entered upon a war with
ctll()/le III fIle U dll{f- Sa,d;n;a and Franee;n I,aI)' bu, had been bea,en
/"' in the battles of and Solferino. At the
Ilillefeetlfh Cetlfill)1 peaee of V;lIaf,anea, wh;eh followed, Auw;a
L:Jt gave up most of Lombardy, Italian terntones
which it had held for generations.
In 18 [4 Denmark had bcen forced to exchange
Norway for Swedish Pomerania, the latter bcing
taken away the following year in exchange for
Lauenburg and the payment ofa million thalers.
In t849 the King of Denmark was obliged to
modify the absolutist nature of his monarchy and
share the power with a Parliament. The mainly
German populations of the duchies of Schleswig
and Holstein declined, however, to be incorpor.
ated into the new style monarchy or to be ruled
from Copenhagen, and this led to a series of wars
between Denmark and the German states which
terminated only in 1864 \\'hen Schleswig-Holstein
8
and Lauenburgwcreceded toAustriaand Prussia,
Yet thisjoilll attack upon Denmark in 1863 and
t86+ only increased the mutual hostility between
Vienna and Berlin, and before a year was out
Prussia had determined to bring to a head the
question of the leadership of Germany.
UOII'Re
1fS

During the long years of peace the Prussian mili-
tar) organization, still based on the 18t4 con
scription law, had shown itself to be defective.
nlike the state service the officer corps as a whole
was averse to admiuing to its numbers any of a
bourgeois or plebian origin. The standing army
was too small to command much respect in Central
Em'ope and the efficiency of the embodied Land-
wehr regiments, with which each of the active
regiments was paired, "'as relatively poor by the
standards of the regular army. The revolutions
and disorders in France, Belgium, Poland and in
Germany itself. had called for a partial mobiliza-
tion of the first section of the Landwehr, but the
Landwehr itself had seemed tainted and not too
trust,,'orthy in the performance of its duties, for it
came to the colours tardily and unwillinglyo
Finally. because the population of Prussia was
growing rapidly, the yardstick of a yearly con-
tingent of40,000 conscripts available in 1814 bore
little relationship to the times or to the large
numbers of eligible men fit for military service
who were not being accepted simply because the
active army lacked the organization to deal
with them,
Since 1858 Prince William of Prussia had acted
as Regel1l in place of his unbalanced brother.
Frederick \\"illiam IV: a professional soldier.
military efficiency was to him an end in itself.
That year General \'on Roon had drawn up a
memorandum for the Regent pointing out the
defects of the ,8'4 mobilization laws and the
extent of the unreliability of the Landwehr. The
confusion and inefficiency of the ,859 mobiliza-
tion underlined the criticism and Prince William
set up a commission under von Roon to examine
the problem and prepare new legislation, Then.
since there ,,'ere some objections from the War
General von Bonin, the Regent replaced
von Bonin in his office by ,'on Roon.
Von Roan's recommendations. however, ere
unpopular with liberal opinion and with the
parliamentary assembly, the assembly refusing
all grants for military expenditure. Prince William
summoned von Bismarck as his new minister-
president. a ruthless authoritarian, who took the
view that in the event of deadlock between the
crown and the assembly, the crown was entitled
to take such action as it deemed necessary for the
welfare of the state and the conduct ofall business,
In ,863 the assembly was dissolved.
Although without legal sanction the Prussian
government did not hesitate to introduce \'on
Roon's recommendationso and it was not ulllil
,867 that it was able to pass a retrospective Bill
legalizing the reorganization of the armed forces
and the altered terms of service. According to the
Roon plan, the armed forces were to consist of the
army, the navy and the Landslurm, the Landsturm
consisting of able-bodied men liable for service
who had nOt, however, undergone regular fu11-
time service in the army or navy. The army was
di,ided into the standing army and the Landwehr
as before. but the Landwehr was to be given a
different\';'eharacter and function, since it was to
provide no regiments for service alongside the
regular army. It was to constilute both a second
line reserve of reinforcements and a pool of
reserve divisions; these, hO\vever, were to be
formed on cadres and nuclei from the regular
army.
In consequence each regular infantry regiment
formed a Land\\'ehr cadre regiment out of men
detached from its ranks, and in ,860 these were
known as 'combined regiments with the same
number as their parent regiments and were
brigaded with them. A few months later these
combined regiments were redesignaled 3 and +
Foot Guards, 3 and 4 Guard Grenadiers, and 4l
to 72 Infantry Regiments. Third battalions were
formed for the guard reserve and for the line
reser\'e regiments (which hitherto had only two
9
battalions), these being known henceforth as
fusilier regiments. I (0 1'2 Infantry Regiments
received the name of grenadiers.
The ea"alry were increased simply for fanning
new regiments out of squadrons detached from
the parent units. And so '2 Guard Dragoons, 3
Guard Lancers, four new dragoon regimems
5-8) and four lancer regiments 9-1'2 came into
being. From 1864 onwards the anillery was
brigaded. each brigade consisting of two regi
ments, one offield and horse batleries and one of
garrison artillcry.
Under the Roon reforms the conscript'S sen-ice
staned on I of the year in which the
individual completed his I\\'entieth year. and was
to laSl for seven years from the date ofjoining. Of
this years only three wcrc served with the
colours unless the conscript was a ca"alryman
when the term was four years the remainder
being spent with the regular arm) resen-e. After
the se"en years was completed the soldier passed
to the Landwehr lists where his name remained
for a further five years. the total liability from the
date of caJlup being twelve )'ears.
At the time of the outbreak of\\'ar with Austria
in 1866 the Prussian Army consisted ofnine guard
and seventy-two line regiments (254 battalions).
and eight guard cavalry. eight cuirassier. eight
dragoon, twelvc hussar and twelve lancer regi-
ments /'200 scluadrons). There were nine brigades
of anillcry with 864 guns. The numerical strength
of the regular army was 470,000 men; that of the
Landwehr reserve pool 130,000.
Velllllflr!?
filecasus belli
King William I and his Chancellor, Bismarck.
had emerged successfully from their struggle with
the Prussian assembly which had refused to make
money available to Roon and the Chief of
General Staff, von Moltke, to carry OUI their
work of reorganizing thc Prussian Army. En-
ID
couraged by Bismarck, nationalism in j'russia and
the panGcrman movement in Germany were
becoming more intense and it needed only a
foreign war to cement all diA'"crcnces. The
Schleswig. Holstein question was admittedly a
complicated one. Holstein was almost wholly
German in population and Schleswig partly
German and panly Dane, Both duchies had been
connected with the Kingdom of Denmark since
the fifteenth cemur)' by a personal link, the duke
of both states happening also to be the Io\.ing of
Denmark. King Frederick VII had no male
hcir and since Sehleswig.Holslcin (like Hanover
adhered to the Salic Lah. it followed that the
Danish successor could no longcr continuc to rulc
over the German duchies. The Danes had tried
to o"ercomc this objection by the tcrms of the
1852 Treaty of London which recognized the
claims to Schleswig.Holstcin of the Danish heir.
Prince Christian, This agreement was ignored by
Bismarck and the German diet, Bismarck backing
the counter.c1aiI1lS of Christian's rival, Prince
Frederick of Augustcnbcrg.
Bismarck asked for Austria's help which was
readily forthcoming, for Austria's military pres-
tige \\'as in decline since ),lagel1la and Solferino.
The new war looked easy enough. During the \\'ar
with Denmark, however, many foreign observers
considered that the Austrian troops made a better
showing than the Prussian, for the Prussian Army
displaycd some lack ofelllerprise, partl)' owing to
thc inefficiency and want of judgement of its
Commander-in-Chief, von Wrangel.
The war endcd in 186'1-0 Prussia holding
Schleswig and Austria Holstein as the protecting
powers. But no agreemcltl could be reached as to
who was the rigiliful duke, Berlin now changing
its wne and denouncing the former pretender,
Prince Frederick. Frederick, however, found
support in Vienna and so furnished the casus belli
for yet a second time, but on this occasion for war
between Prussia and Austria. Before making a
recourse to arms Bismarck isolated Austria from
its potel1lial allies by political manocuvre. Russia
and Prussia had an entente and a mutual interest
in the subjugation of the large Polish population
on bothsidesofthcircollullOll frontier. Italy could
only gain by an Austrian defeat. Britain could be
disregarded since its monarch was pro-German
and ilS Prime i\1 inistcr ofollly secondary accoullt.
The only dangcr could come from France. So
Bismarck hastened to makc the journey to the
residence of the French Emperor at Biarritz where
he misled l\'apolcon with Oatlery and vague
promises bOlh as to Prussia's uhimate polilical
ambitions and as to his own character. Xapoleon
arterwards said of the German chancellor
pas Uri
In 1866 Austria went to war. its principal allies
being Saxony and Hano\'cr, and it was defeated
in a seven weck campaign whieh ended at
Sadowa (Koniggralz . The Austrian armies were
ddeated by the superiority orthe Prussian organi-
zation and armament. panieularly Ihe Dreyse
breech-loading needle-gun,
Bismarck rcrused to anllex SOUlh Germany.
believing thaI sooner or latcr it would come
volul\larily into the Prussian Empire. He did.
however. consolidate Prussia's position in the
nort h by all ncxing Hanovcr, Hesse-Cassel. :'\assau
Officu ...p;ranIS or No. 100
(I>r!",n and Porl,r,-; fihnrichl!)
and olll('r minor Slates. adding to a popu-
lation of 4,200.000. All Ihe Siales north of the
),Iain now fonned the :\"ol"lh Cerman Conredera-
tion under the leadership of Prussia. the first
meeling of ilS diet taking place in Berlin in
February 1867. It was the armies of the :\'orth
German Confederation which \\'ere to defeat the
french.
7Ileru'fi,II)' oji!Je
gellllfl/l GOJjfaemfioll
The anncxations and the ncw conrederalion added
tlwee Ile\\' ,H'my corps (g. 10 and 11) to the
Prussian lists. The armies of the incorpora-
led states Hanoverian. Hanseatic. Frisian, Hes-
sian. Schlcswil;:. Holstein. Xassau..\lecklcnburg,
Brunswick and Oldenburg were dis-
banded, reorganized and reformed. being put on
the same organization and establishments as Ihe
Prussian. Large numbers of Prussian officers and
non-commissioncd officers werc draflcd inlO these
non-Prussian regimcnts. of Ihe former
officers of the Hanoverian. Cassel and :'\assau
troops being posted to old Prussian units. In othcr
cases comph"lc Prussian companies rormcd the
nuclei of Ihe new regimcnls, The ncw German
regiments thus formed look the numbers
from 73 1096 on the Prussian lists. The}' did nOI
receive lheir old terrilorial names untiltbe follow-
ing year and it was some ycars before they wcre
again in their old recruiting distriClS,
As with the infantry. so with the horsc. In
OClober 1866. scluadrons were gi\'en up by the
old Prmsian rcgimenl3 to forlll thc basis of new
eight addilional regiments of dragoons
9 10 16. East Prussian. Brandenburg. Pomer-
anian. Kurmark and Silesian in addition to
Hano\erian and chlcswig-Holslcin. fi\'c hussar
regiments 13 to 17. Hanoverian, Hessian.
Schlcs\\ig-Holstein and Bruns\\ick.and four rcgi-
menlSorIancers. HanO\"l'rian. Schlcs\\'ig-Holstein
and Ahmark. In 1867 all Prussian ca\'alry were
II
ordcrcd to form a fifth squadron which would
form a reception and depot unit in war and so
hasten the process of mobilization. That same year
the :\Ieeklenburg and Oldenburg ea\'alry were
incorporated illlo the Prussian as 17. 18 and 19
Dragoons.
In the artillery additional 9. 10 and II Regi-
mellls were formed in the same manner as the
infalllry regimcnls, the :\Iecklenburg batlcries
forming 9 while the Brunswick and Oldenburg
artillery formed 10 Rcgiment. Each of thesc regi-
ments had three field Abtheilungenoffour batteries
two heav}' and t\,'O light) and oneofhorscartillery
ofthrce batteries.
Other than the annexed Hanover. Saxony was
the only large state to be included in the North
German Confederation, its troops forming 1'2
Prussian Army Corps. In [867 its troops, stillundcr
the orclers of the Saxon War Ministry, were re-
organized on the Prussian model. The sixteen
line battalions were formed into eight rcgiments,
to each of which a third battalion was added, and

Aa unl ... c...rr";IU and 1wo aold;.." rrom \I

burt; t ..r.nlry Rq;;m..nl
12
these took precedence on the Prussian lists from
100 to 107, the rifle battalions forming Regiment
:'\0. loB. The four Saxon cavalry regiments were
added to the Prussian lists as 18 and 19 Hussars
and 17 and 18 Lancers. The axon cavalry,
artillery, engineers and train retained its own
distinctive uniform, but the infantry gave up its
green tunic with blue trousers and adopted the
Prussian dress.
The whole army of the )l"orth German Con-
federation was armed with the needle-gun, and
its artillery with rifled breech-loading guns on the
\Vahrendorf system.
PrLlssia'S rSOLIf/1
qeJ71zfI/l ru'!!/ies
Bavaria, WGrttemberg, Baden and
stadt, all allies of Prussia outside the North Ger-
man Confederation. maintained their own armed
forces.
The Bavarian Army was comparatively large,
for it included one regiment of the guard and fif-
teen of the line, three cuirassier, six light horse and
three lancer regiments, four regiments of artillery
and a regiment of engineers. By a law of 1868 the
Bavarian military establishments were rational-
ized on the Prussian model; infantry batlalions
were reduced from six to four companies and a
cuirassier and lancer regiment were broken up to
raise the remaining cavalry regiments to live
squadrons, each of 125 men. The artillery and
engineers were reorganized partly on the I>russian
design. Although the artillery totalled over '200
rifled breech-loader guns the gencral service riRc
used by all arms was the old Podewil converted
breech-loader. Even by 1870 only four rifle
banalions had been equipped with the improved
Werder rine.
In WGruemberg and Baden the military estab
lishments were somewhat modest, fifteen infantry
battalions and ten cavalry squadrons for one, and
thirteen battalions and twelve squadrons for the
other. The Prussian field guns and the Drerse
BADEN

u
,
..
""""
._ .... \1.
. _.
Wont>
,
1'"' ,.I
I. '-.'
j"'SWlllERlAND
(
.,
,
. ,....
...'

,-
,
BELGIUM
...
!
"..\.,....-.,.
,

.... ,.-....
"
,
) /!
i ,,!
-!
D ,
A fI l 0 I S
."....
Nonh....n &.ad Rhia..land ,870-71
needle-gun rifle had been taken into use and
Prussian army institutions and drill introduced.
The troops or Hesse-Darmstadt, by a special con-
vention, rormed the 25th Division or the North
German Army.
By 1870 the strenglh orthe German field army
was as rollows:
:11I Arms
( induding
garruons
Infantry Cat'alry and dtpots)
Throughout Germany there was a wave
or nalional patriotism. much orit red by the press.
,'et the enthusiasm ror the waror ror !)TUssia was by
no means general. In Hanover and in the Rhine-
land there were many who would have delighted in
a French victory. In Bavaria and \V(irnemherg
neither the burghers nor the arm)' was whole-
heaned in accepting the Prussian leadership. The
Prussians ror Iheir pan had resolved 10 deal
delicately and with tact with Bavarians and
"'iirtlembergers: the Prussian Crown Prince,
who had been appointed Commander or the
Third Army made up or contingellls or 50mh
Germans, hastened to call and pay his respects to
the kings or Bavaria and Wtintemberg. BUI in
reality he was much downhearted by the stan
dards orthe troops rorming his ne\,\, command and
was doubtful how they would rare against the
French.
982,000
12
9,000
37,000
35,000
4-8,000
6,000
1,50
,,800
57.3
00
3
8
5,000
5,000
15,000
12,000
Total
.\"onh German
Conrederation
Bavaria
\Viintemberg
Baden
13
'T!lffi'rl/lroPnl-\siflII
"J;f1;r
Isabella. the Queen of Spain. had bn deposed
in 1868 and when the Spanish throne \\as offered
to the Duke of Genoa. he refused it. Bismarck
contrived 10 put forward Prince Leopold of
Hohcnzollcrn Sigmaringcn. a Roman Catholic
relative of the King of Prussia. and it \\as agreed
inJul} 18;0 between Berlin and that this
candidate should be accepted. The French
Emperor Xapolcol1, who had no wish 10 have a
Hohel1zol1crn on both of France's main frontiers.
protested to Berlin and persuaded the Prussian
king to withdraw his support from his rclati\'c.
Kapolcoll and his ministers thell became over-
pressing and asked King William 10 undertake
that the candidature would never be renewed. It
\\'as too much to ask Prussia to bind iuelf to a
course, irrespective of fUlUre circumstances, and
William, irritated but calm, informed
Benedetti, the French Ambassador. to that effect.
The king. who \\as at Ems. sent a to
Bismarck informing him what had happened
\\ith a sllggeslioll that the facts might be released
10 the press.
Bismarck. \\ ho was dining with "on Roon and
"on \\hen Ihe telegram was received, was
in favour of war. for had compleled his
mobilization and operational plans 10 cover war
with France. Bismarck then published Abcken's
with some editorial
omissions to heighlen its effect, so Ihat on publica-
tion in Paris the impression was given Ihat the
French Ambassador had been insulted. French
public opinion demanded war. The South Ger-
man tates joined Prussia and Italy remained
aloof. In ;-\ustria there was Slill some resentment
againsl France although this was probably Ollt
weighed by the general animosity felt towards
Prussin. The decisive factor against Austrian
intervention. howcver. was the unrest in Hungary
and an unwillingness there to be dragged into
Gcrnmn advcntures. The Tsar himed that he
would not be averse to taking up arms on Ger-
behalf. should Austria illlerfere. And
so Austria remained neutral.
The King of Prussia took the field as the
COlllntanderin-Chief. in of his advanced
The .d,....ee of ,he Bade.. G....... dier Brit;ade ., Nuiu., .8
I>fl:ernber .870> from the paintial!: by W. Emeie Hulton
14
Franc:o-PMl..i .... W...., 1870-71, Inner derail of Fon bsy II,
I Feb..u....y 18;0 (Huhon)
years, and together ",ith von the Chief of
General Staff, and \'on Podbiclski. the General-
quartiermeister Director of Opera-
tions}, set up his General Headquarters in
I n eighteen days of mobilization nearly 1,200,000
troops. both regular and reservist. were embodied
and nearly haifa million men were moved west-
wards to the Rhine frontier. The rapid mobiliza-
tion and concentration was due to good planning
and to the efficient usc of the excellent German
railways; the passivity of the French did nothing
to upset the troop concentration, for Paris had
impetuously declared war before preparations
had been completed, In the French armies con-
fusion reigned.
The main Prussian invasion force consisted of
three armies. ",idely dispersed in the first instance.
The rigln wing \\'as formed by the sixcorps-strong
Second Army, under Prince Frederick Charles
(",ho had succeeded Wrangel in command at IIle
time of the Danish 'Var): this was advancing from
the general area of towards Saarbriicken:
in the centre was the Finll Army of three corps.
under Steinmetz. moving from the lower
at Trier and Wittlich tOwards Saarlouis: and on
the len the Third Army of four corps. under the
Cro\\'n Prince. mO\'ing from Landau into Alsace
and Strasbourg. The Third Army supposed
to strike the first blo"', \\'hile the Second Army in
the north completed its longer wheeling approach.
For .\Ioltkc had hoped to encircle and annihilate
the French Army where it stood north of the Saar,
But the Prussian army commanders could not
make themselvcs ready in time and Steinmetz was
unwilling to submit to :\loltke'5 The
Prussians could do no more than win the first twO
engagements at \\'eissenburg and Worth .. and 6
August ,,'here they defeated I
French Corps.
These defeats were by no means serious: the
French infamry had fought well while the
Prussian performance had left l11llch to be desired.
15
P........;.n 'nf."try .dv.ncing .fn,r MIl, from .n illuI ....-
l,on in J1rr (;,,,,,111(, 3 .870 (HullOrl)
, /
F....... co-P.......i." W.r, .870-7" Th.. d .. On 7 October,
of M. G.mbella, Minister of Ihe Inter;or for Tours, in t.b..
balloon Ann.nd (Huhoa)
16
.--

But it brought home in Paris the realization that

this war was unlikely to be a repetition of the
glorious campaign of 1806 \vhen, \\'ithin a month,
French ca\'alry were sha"pening their sabres on
the steps of the Prussian War l\linistry. In Paris
Olivier's minislry fell and Napolcon was about to
up his post as field commander-in-chief.
Bazainc was made the nominal commander of the
French Army of the Rhine. Bazaine began to fall
back on :\Ictz and, as he withdrew. he was
furiously assailed two corps of Ihe Cerman
First in an inconclusi\'e engagement which.
however. lost the French tweke hours, a loss of
time which was to make it impossible for them to
withelra\\ from :\Ietz. eWIl had \\ishcd to
do so. On 16 August the French Emperor al long
last took hi,S lea\'(' of Bazaine in :\Ielz. advising
him to \\ilhdraw again \\ilhout 10 \crdun.
Bazaine was no\\ on hiso\\n. free from :'\apoleon's
interference.
Ba70ainc had halted his army offive corps about
160.000 men and there the Prussian advance
guard, confident that it had 10 deal \\ ith nOlhing
more than French co\'ering forces and rear
guards, allacked it in the area of \'ionville.
;"Iarshal B..uaine \\'as a bra\'c i!nd experienced
commander who had ris('n from the ranks. but hl'
was by nature unfitted for high command. Too
often he could not be found, for he spent his
waking hours riding round the battlefield attend
ing to trivialili(.'S. Throughout the bailie of Vion-
ville, he had no idea that he \\as being attacked
by only twO Cerman corps. On the Prussian side.
Prince Frederick Charles refused to admit until
latc in the afternoon that he was engaging the bulk
of the French field force. Casualties were bea\'y
on both sides. Thc G('rman cavalry in particular
was to regard Vionville as their day of glory. Yet,
although the final tactical ad\'antage remained
with the French, strategically the battle was
disastrous to Bazainc's hope.. : the Germans had
cut the road to Verdun through
Bazaine had been givcn no higher strategic
direction and was himself without a plan. He
might ha\'e been wiser to ha\'c atlacked. But he
ncither :lltacked nor withdrc\\. but contellled
himself with a series of actions.
as he himselflater said. 'to wear the enemy OUl.
so time for a new Frrnch force 10 be
assembled about Chalol1s, At le'1St, that was his
excuse. On 18 August anot her major engagement
was fought ncar Gravclotte, this time against the
German FirSI Ann} \\ hich was repulsed with
heavy losses: many German troops gave way to
panic. Bazaine did nothing to de\'c1op a counter-
offensive and. morally exhausted. had 10S1 control
over his subordinales, The German Second
came into aClion the First. and wilh
beller success. Yel the issue was in doubt ullIil
t9 .\ugusl "hen Bazaine ordcrcd a further with
drawal illlo There he \\as to Slay,
TH E AR.\IY OF
nf..\LO:\S ,\:\D SEDA:\
:\ear Chalons, :\lacmahon was forming a nc\\
made up of '3.000 men and 400 guns.
Three corps had been in aClion before with the
Army oflhe Rhine and others \\ere nc\\ arrived
or in process of formalion. II was an army that
wasstill in nocondilion to take the field. :'\apoleon.
\\ho \\as present \\ilh it. could not make up his
mind \\ hat 10 do, \\ hether to fall back \\'eslwards
10 cover Paris or 10 strike east\\'ards to join Ihe
encircled Ba7oaine.
:\Ieallwhile the Cerman forces had bcen re-
organized. Three corps of lhe Second Army were
remo\'ed and became the Army of the :\leuse
under the Cro\\ n Prince of This army
\\'as to advanc(' to the :\Ieuse in pursuit of :\Iac-
mahon. The remaining four corps of the Second
Army ,,'ere to remain encircling :\let7o, with the
First Arm) uncleI' its command. Prince Frederick
Charles commanded the i\lctz siege and Stein-
melz shonly afterwards lost command of Third
Army,
:\'Iacmahon had Icft Chalons and was falling
back towards Rheims, Von was uncertain
of the French intentions, but assumed that
:\Iacmaholl \\'(1S going to withdraw westwards to
cover Paris: cvelHuaJly. howcver. the
Paris newspapers it became obvious to him that
the Arm) of making a circuitous
march to Ihe north and \\CSt in order to join up
\,'ilh Bazaine in :\Ielz. :\lacmahon was tmall}
Ihat the German of the :\Icusc
was not aoom :\Ietz blll alread\ its wa\
On 3t Ihe German Third
/7
FO\1r viewll of the 1\1.rrender of Napoleon III .rter Sedan.
Above and above right, at the Chate.\1 BeUeue on :I Septem-
ber .870; the right.hand picture ill by Anton yon Werner, all
ill the one below. Right, below, the mtiDg between Napoleoo
and Billmark, from a painting by Wilhelm Camphaullen.
(Hulton)
18
19
Th.. t'un..h gllns which w ..r .. Sllrrend.. rl!d to th..
Arm)'., Sed.n. Thu.. .....r .. l.k..n on \I s..pl ..m lH.r
,8]0, ,h.. da)' of Napol ..... n III'a surr.. nd..r (1'Ilillon)
.\rlll} and the Army of Ihe ),Ietlse dosed up on
)'Iac:mahon near Sedan. tcn miles from the
Belgian frontier.
next morning 1 Bavarian Corps attacked
into Bazeilles which was defended
Frcnch marines and the local inhabitants. ),Iac-
mahan was wounded early that dOl} and therc
was confusion as to who should replace him.
Ducrot assumed command and ordered a with-
dra\\al to thc wCSt to avoid being encircled.
Witbin an hourorso he was replaced by \\'impffen
who ordered the troops to stay where they were.
Douar's French 7 Corps was the first to break
under thc heavy weight of the eneilly anillcry
fire betwcen Flcigncllx and Floillg. and it was
follo\\"('d by I Corps \\'hich could not withstand
the devastating gunnery of the Saxon corps and
lhe Prussian guard. The French began tosurrender
in large numbers and before evening :\'apoh-on
had sent a parlcmentaire to ask for an armistice
the battle the Germans had takcn o,'cr
10.000 pricom:rs for a loss of about 10.000 men.
Excepi for a llmnberofoffice.... \\llO wer(" rdeaccd
on pn role. :\' apolron and the \\ hole of ),I.lcmahonc
anTI' passed imo
20
So the Second Empire camc to an c.:nd. For in
Paris the nc\\s of Sedan led to a re\-olution: the
empress ned and a govcrnment of ;'\"ational
Dcfenee was set up under Trochu. Favre and
Gambcna.
P.\RIS.
.\XD THE HIXTERL\XD
On 7 Seplember ,870 the advance on Paris began
against uncoordinated and light resistance, the
of the i\leuse occupymg the right bank of
the ,\larnc and the Seine. the Third Arm)' the
left bank. with their cavalry divisions enveloping
the city to the wcst. By 20 September the opera-
tion was complete and Paris was CUI off from the
outside world. The 150.000 Germans sal down to
besiege the capital.
Outside I>aris in the hillterland. and indeed
throughollt France. cOtnmillces of national dc-
fcnc(' sprang up in profusion. tilt: rl..,iMancc mo\'c-
ment. at gro\\ 1I1l; in momClIlum.
Yet it was disorganized and oftell came into
existence the resistance of thc French
milital'\. who \\cre suspicious orthe
C....man t ..oops passing und.... the A..c de T ..iumphe, Pa..is.
during the W.r (Uuhon)
Thil' entry- of Prussi"n troop. inl<l from 111M_Ita/ttl
I.. \,," ofNovemb.!... 87<1 (Ilultnn)
21
The ,-jelorio.... Pr.. Sliian
Jan..ary ,87' (Huhon)
occupation
,
,;;.::...
SiCSe of Parilit ,87<>-7', from the painlinl by Binel
22
socialists. Small arms, however, began to arrive
from abroad in considcrable quantities. Gambcna
called on the population to wage a fierce partisan
war against the invader, in Ihe first Siage harassing
and making him thin OUI his troops before Paris.
This was to be a prelude to Ihe resistance laking
o\'er more serious opcrations. The sharpshooting
Jranc-lirturs took the field and Ihe war entered
a new phase.
Meanwhile Bazaine and the Army of the Rhine
sat inactive in Melz. On 26 Augusl the planned
movement to join lip with Macmahon had been
cancelled almost before il had begun. So this
great force stood idle ulllil October when it began
to run out of rations. On 28 October
Bazaine, \\'ithoul striking a blow, capitulated 10
an inferior German besieging force.
By the ltrit in mossr new French forces had
been created on the Loire and this army corps was
pressed into immediate action to relieve Paris: it
was, however. unfortunate in its first engagement
wilh I Ba\'arian Corps, which captured lhe city
and depots of Orleans. Thc jrallc.tirtllrs were
aClive in the Vosges. And in the north-east in
Anois a new French force was being raised. On
the otber hand, with Bazainc's capitulation at
.\Ietz, the twO German armies under Prince
Frederick Charles had been rei cased for service
elsewhere.
The French corps on the Loire attacked the
Bavarians at Coulmiers and, after a day's fighting,
won the first French \;ctory of the war and retook
Orleans. B}' then the Prussian corps were arriving
from and a few weeks later this French
corps was o\'erthrown in a series of battles about
Orleans. Bourbaki's attempt 10 carry the war
intO Germany ended in total failure, and Chanzy's
energctic and valiant endeavours about Le j\,'lans
could not affect the outcome of the war. Paris,
threatened by internal ci\'il insurrection, sur
rendered and an armistice was signed on 28
January 1871. The peace was concluded at
Frankfunon-.\Iain in the following .\Iay and by
its terms France ceded AlsaceLorrainc, .\letz and
Strasbourg to Germany and had to pay a war
indcmnit}, of [200,000,000.
Ten days before the signing of the armistice, on
18 January 18;1, the existcnce of the German
Empire had been proclaimed in Versailles. King
William of Prussia, by unanimous choice, be-
coming the first German Emperor. In the previous
i\ovember Bavaria, Baden and Hesse, and Wi.in-
temberg had entered the ?'onh German Con-
federation.
cStrtlettire
LA"D FORCES
The entire land forces of the new German
Empire were formed into a single army at Ihe
disposal of the Emperor in peace and war, the
expenses, however, being borne by aJl states of the
Confederation. The Commander.inChief of the
Army of the Confederation could inspect at will
any pari of the army except that, beforc making a
visit on non-Prussian troops, he was obliged to
An offie",r and pri''''I''' loldi",r of Ih", Infanl..., R"'Il;m"'nl von
Horn (No. 119)
23
Pru"".... lance.... briASiA. in pro.-i..ion", rrom /1.
'--*-' \(1< or, No. ember .870(lIuhoD)
his intcntion to the of the
contingent concerned. German soldier was
to obey the orders of the Emperor as Commander-
in-Chicrofthe Confederation. excepl that Bavar-
ian troops \\ Cfe only so bound in war. I n fact the
dependence, or independence, of the different
German states as regards their military systems.
depended much on the nawn: of tile conventions
concluded with Prussia.
Tht German military system in PClICC W;iS based
on a large measure ofdecclltralil.atiOll to the
corps, each of which formed a little in itself.
cOlllmanded a general oAker f('spollsible for its
efficient) and preparedness for wnr. training and
There were in allnincteen arm) corps.
of \\ hich fourteen were composed almosl entirel)
of Prussian troops and were administered the
Prussian \\'Olr :\linistr). Of the others, two corps
\\('re Bavarian. one axon and one "lintem.
berger_
Thcsc mnNeen corps totalled 166 of
24
infantr) :)13 battalions . battalions
ofrifles. -three regiments of thiny
se\'en regiments 136.. batleries of field aniller),
nineteen battalions of pioneers. 1\\'0 railway
regiment!> and eighteen train suppl) and lrans-
port I hattalions. The total peace strenglh stood at
20,000 ofllcers andjusl under haIfa million other
ranks. On mobilization the army was divided into
the field army for active operations in the ficld.
and the garrison army, which I'cmaincd :\1 home
to assist wilh defence and the maintenance of
ordt:r, to recruit and ..('place personnel and
equipment losses in the field arm).
THE FIELD
The Gcrm:m Arm) could Sl'\eral field
armies, each made up of four or fi\{ army
logelher \\ ith IWO or more c:t\alr) divisions as
arm\- troops. The army corps had twO ,sometimes
three infalllf\ divisions. a corp-: arlillcn. ofaboul
MICHAEL YOUENS
1 Feldwebel, Fusilier BattaliOll,
3 Guard Grenadier RegiJuent (Konigi", Elisabeth),
parade full dress uniform, c. 1875
2 Trooper, 1 Hessian Hussars (No. 13),
summer parade uniform, c. 1870
3 Officer Aspirant (Portepee-Fiilmrich)
1 Saxon Leib Grenadier Regiment (No. 100) c.880
D
I Gefreiter, Uhlan Regiment Hennings
von Treffenfeld (Altmark) No. 16,
S\UDmer parade uniform, c. 1870
2 Private (Mushetier), 3 Rhineland
Infantry Regim.ent No. 29, sutnnler
field service uniform, c. 1887
3 Drum.m.er (Gejreiter), 2 Hanseatic
Infantry Regiment No. 76, sum.m.er
field service uniform, c. 1871
MICHAEL YOUENS
MICHAEL YOUENS
Non-CODlDlissioned officer,
2 Hanoverian Dragoon Regiment No. 16,
SUDlDler field service uniform, c. 1871
I Chief of Staff (General Staff),
field unifonn., c. 1871
2 Captain, I Hussar (Leiblzusaren) Regiment,
parade order, c. 1871
3 Rifleman (Gardesc/zurz), Foot Guards,
sununer field service uniform, c. 1871
2
F
MICHAEL TOUENS
MICHAEL YOUENS
1 Horse.ArtiJlerytnan, 12 Royal Saxon Artillery Regi.rnent,
sununer field service unifonn, c. 1871
2 Feldwebel, 1 Guards Field Artillery RegiDlent,
summer field service uniform, c. 1871
3 Gefreiter, Railway Engineer Regiment,
field service uniform, c.8,.
H
t G ~ f r e i t e r , 3 Royal Bavarian Light Cavalry Regiment
(Duke Maxilni1ian's), summer parade uniform, c. 187]
2 Miner, Silesian Pioneer Battalion No.6,
fatigue dress, c. ]880
3 Infantry Officer, undress uniform, c. t880
MICHAEL YOUENS
six batteries, a riAe battalion and a pioneer
company and administrative services. The in-
fantry divisions each had two brigades, each of
twO rcgimcllLS, a cavalry and all artillery regi-
ment, tOgether with a pioneer company and
bridging train. The cavalry divisions (of which
there were nine on the order of battle) each had
six cavalry rcgimellls and twO horse batteries.
The nineteen corps of the field army were based
on the peacetime strength of the standing army:
but this total was backed by eighteen reserve
divisions to form part of the field army after
mobilization. This reserve totalled 315 battalions
ofinfalllry and eighteen reserve cavalry regiments,
in all 370,000 men, and comprised those soldiers
who, having already completed their three years
colour service, had passed to the four year period
with the reserve. Reserve soldiers ,,'ere liable to
recall for two trainings, neither of which might
exceed a period of eight weeks,
On being discharged from the reserve. se\"en
years after the date on which the soldier was
originally conscripted, he passed (as we have
already said) to the first section of the Landwehr
for a further five years. But the military law of the
German Empire, unlike the Prussian system im-
mediately before the Franco-Prussian War, had
re-introduced the second section of the Landwehr
which retained on its lists all former soldiers
between the ages of thirty-two and thiny-nine.
The Landsturm of the Empire remained the
untrained reserve of men tip to their forty-fifth
year) who had never served in the army or the
navy,
The entire recruiting and recall system was
based on the military territorial organization of
the Empire, and its efficiency was proved at the
time of both the Austrian and the French wars.
The army corps districts in Cermany were divided
into a number of brigade districts. each the
responsibility of the officer commanding the
regular infantry brigade, The brigade district was
di\ided yet again illlo a number of Landwehr
battalion districts, each the responsibility of a
re-employed former regular field officer on
half-pay, these officers having a (\\'o-fold task: the
call-up of the peacetime conscripts and also the
maintenance of the lislS of all regular reservists
and members of the Landwehr, The commanders
of regular or reserve divisions did not have any
al ,6 Augufl .870, (rom painling by
A, Morol (liullon)
c
25
responsibility for the administration of rcscf\ists
or for their call-up.
l:"fA:"TRY A:"D RIfLES
Prussian and German infalllry had many dis-
tinctions in titles, ranks, numbering and in dress
which had their origins in CUSlOm or tradition.
~ ' l o s t infantry regiments had three battalions,
although a few of them had four. The Prussian
guard and all Bavarian infantry regiments had
their own system of numbering. All other German
infalllry regiments were numbered consecutively
from I to 139. Prussian regiments from 1-12 and
Sg, 100, 101, log, 110, 119 and 123 Regimellls
were known as grenadier, the non-Prussian regi-
ments being so named because of their earlier
connections with regal or ducal houses; 33-40,
73,80,86,90 and 108 Regiments were known as
fusiliers; all others were 'infantry' regiments.
The distinctions in designation did not end
there, however. In all four-battalion regiments
the battalions were numbered simply from I to-l
usually in Roman figures). Of the three-banalion
regiments, in 8g Regiment and in 135-138 Regi-
ments, in all fusilier, in all Saxon and Bavarian
regiments the regiments were numbered from I
to 3. But in all other three-battalion regiments,
only the two senior were numbered, the third
battalion being known as the fusilier battalion.
Companies were numbered in normal sequence
throughout the regiments from I 10 12 or 1 10 16
dependent on whelher the regiment was on a
Ihree or a four battalion organization.
In the Prussian guard, excepllheguard fusiliers,
and in all grenadier battalions, private soldiers
were known as grenadiers; in all fusilier regiments
and battalions as fusiliers, except in 108 Fusilier
Regiment in which they were called sharp-
shooters (Schiltzen): in all other infamry bat-
talions private soldiers were known as musketeers,
except in I 15 Regiment where they were called
guardsmen.
The peace strength ofa Prussian infantry regi-
ment of three battalions stood at I,Boo men. In
war, when the reserve had joined, it was increased
to 3,200. The establishment of riAe Uager)
batlalions was the same as that for infantry.
Prussian and Saxon riAe baltalions continued to
26
be recruited from foresters and forest workers
since they were usually tactically employed in
advanced or rear guards under circumstances
which called for initiath-e and marksmanship. If
a battalion had to be detached a Jager battalion
was usually selected since thr-sc were independent
tactical units.
The detail of the uniform worn by German
infantry was complicated. Prussian, Saxon and
Hessian infantry wore dark blue single-breasted
tunics; Wilrttembergers wore dark blue double.
breasted. Scarlet piping was worn down the front
and on the skirts at the rl':ar. except that Saxon
troops wore piping round the boltom of the skirts.
Collars were usually scarlet with twO bars of
white lace as a distinction in the Prussian guard,
although a number of other regiments wore these
bars in white or in yellow. Sleeves might be
Swedish or Brandenburg, the colouring varying
by regiments. The shoulder.straps and the piping
on the patch of the Brandenburg cuffs served to
indicate to which army corps the regiment
belonged. but in the Prussian guard the shoulder
straps were of different colours for the different
regiments. There were numerous other exceptions
and differences. Ba\'arian infantry wore a light
blue tunic h'hile 108 Saxon Regimenl had dark
green. Trousers for all infantry (except the
Bavarian h,hich wore light blue) was usually very
dark grey, almost black, with scarlet piping. Each
infantry battalion and company could be easily
identified by the colour of the sword-knot fixed to
the bayonet-frog.
There were some variations too in the tradi.
tional Prussian type Pickelhaube helmet. The
metal spike had a round base. except in Bavaria
where it was \vorn with a cross-shaped bar;
moreover, the Bavarian helmet had a bar of
metal running down the back. The Prussian
guard, 1-12 Prussian Grenadier Regiments and
Ba\'arian infantry wore a peak bound with metal
and metal chin-scales instead of a chin-strap
(excepl on service). There were differences_ too,
beh\'een regiments in Ihe design of the eagle on
the fronl of the helmet.
The German infalHryman carried a compara
tively heav)' load. Belt, bayonet, twO cartridge
pouches in front with a third pouch behind
(carrying in all 100 rounds), knapsack, ration
bag, messlin, greatcoat, haversack, water-botlle
and entrenching tool (spade, pick or hatchet).
The weigh I 10lalled sixly.four pounds (compared
"'ith fifty-five pounds carried by the Brilish
soldier in lhose days).
Before 1870 I)russian infantry was armed wilh
the Dreyse needle-gun single-shot breech-
loading rifle which, although superior to lhe small
arms used by lhe Danish and Austrian Armies,
was certainly no beltCr than the French chassepot.
From 1871 onwards this was replaced by the
:\Iauscr breech-loader riflc; this was a boh aClion
rine which incorporated the Manini breech-
block action, the block falling to open the maga-
zil1(' ever} time the boh was pulled back and the
spent canridge ejeclcd. Thc riOe was, however,
of ver)' largc calibre ('433 inches) and without the
ba)'onet il weighed eleven pounds. The extreme
range of the riOe was 3,300 yards and it was
sighled up to 1,600 yards; it was effeclivc up to
aboul 1,000 yards. The rifle was carried by all
ranks except officers, sergeanHnajors, ensigns,
bandsmen and dri\crs.
CA\'ALRY
Of the ninetythrec German cavalry regiments,
six came from Saxony. four from \\"iintemberg,
ten from Bavaria and lheremainderwere Prussian.
German cavalry was classified as heavy, medium
or lighl, the ten Prussian cuirassier and the two
Saxon heavy cavalry regiments alone counling as
heavy, the Bavarian socalled heavy cavalry and
all lancers counting as medium, and dragoons,
hussars and the Bavarian light horse as light
cavalry.
The eighl regiments of the Prussian guard
cavalry lOok precedence over all other regiments,
the guard cavalry being made up of cuirassiers,
dragoons, hussars and lancers. These were fol-
lowed by the twO heavy Saxon regiments. There-
after regiments took precedence. firstly according
to type, cuirassiers. dragoons, Ihen hussars, then
lancers uhlans and finally Ba\'arian cavalry,
and secondly according to number, the number
depending on when the regiment had been ad
milled 10 the Prussian lists. A Prussian cavalry
regiment totalled about 700 officers and men. Ihe
regiment having five squadrons in peace and four
sabre squadrons in war. The Garde.du-Corps
had the troop organization without that of the
squadron.
Cuirassier regiments usuall)' wore a white
wnic with regimenlal slripe facings all the collar,
down the tunic front and on the Swedish cuffs.
The guard \\'ore the usual bars of white lace on
each side of the collar and on the curro !)antaloons
were in white kersey and overalls in dark grey
cloth \\'ith scarlet piping. In the twO guard regi-
ments and 6 Cuirassiers the helmet \\'as of yellow
metal, but it was white in all other cuirassier regi-
mcnlS; the helmet carne \'ery low behind and
curved backwards to cover the nape of the neck,
with a square fronl peak and a metal scale chin-
chain. All cuirassier regiments worc the spike, but
in the tWO guard regimenls in full dress the spike
was rcplaced with a white melal cagle. The guard
wore copper-coloured cuirasses, but other regi-
ments had a cuirass in black iron. When mounted,
leather thigh-boots ,,ere worn.
Thc cuirassier carried the straight and heavy
thl'eebar guard broadsword (the Pallasch). II
had a thirtyse\'en-inch blade and \\'eighed just
ovcr three pounds. In war all cuirassiers \\'ere
armed with a revolver. but Iwenty-fi\'e men in Lhe
squadron were equipped with Lhe 1871
:\Iauser carbine. This weighed only seven pounds
but look the s..'lmecanridgeas the infanlr)' rifle and
was sighted up LO t ,300 meLres.
German dragoons wore the same Cut tunic as
was worn hy Prussian infanlry except thai the
colour was usually light blue. Piping of regi.
mental colour was worn on the Swedish cuffs, on
lhe wnic frOllt and the skins and sometimes on
the shoulderstraps. Pantaloons were of dark blue
and overalls of dark grey with scarlet piping. The
helmet was of infantry paltern excepl that the
front peak was cut square with metal binding and
the chin-scales were of metaL All troopers of
dragoons were armed with the 1871
carbine and the 1852 slight I) curved light cavalry
sword: this had a three bar guard and weighed
two and a half pounds.
German hussars wore the hussar tunic, the
colour varying b) regiment. cut rather short with
five rows of lace or cord on the chest. The collar
and cuffs were of the same colour as the tunic
wilh trimming and, in the case of lhe guard
27

18 AU!iusl 18,.., from the pa;nt;D! by A. Morol

(Huhon)
hussars, yellow lace. The olivcltcs on the lace or
cord facings wert' or mel'll or wood. The dolman-
pelissc, worn loosely over the len shoulder sus-
pended by lace or chain. was worn only by the
guard and b) 3 and 15 Hussars. I'alllaloons wcre
usually dark blue. All hu ars wore the low busby
of sealskin with the coloured bag. In full dress
white hanging plumes were worn. The hussars
personal arms were the same as those of the
dragoons.
Lancers (uhlans) worc a dark blue double
breasted !Unic, wjth piping of the colour of the
facings, with poimcd Polish cuffs with a butlon
ncar the point. Ba\"arian lancers wore dark green
tunics, and Saxon light blue. A distinctive feature
was the metal cpaulcuc, withollt fringes. of the
samc colour as thc bunons with an under surface
and background of c101h. Two rcgiments (17 and
18 Lancers) had epaulcttes of metal scales; lancers
were the only troops to wear cpaulcltes in peace
and in war. Collars, cuffs, turnback and the under
surface of the epauletlcs were usually of a common
regimclllal colour.
The lance was ten feel long. had an oak shaft
about an inch thick and had a four-edged point
of forged S1eel. Lance Aags were black and white
in Prussian regimellls, grcen and white in Saxon,
black and red in \\'Urttcmbcrg, and light blue and
white in Ba\'arian regiments. A lancer sword was
28
distinctive in that it had only a single guard ; it was
light, only two pounds in weight, and was more
curved than that of lhe dragoons. )l"on-com-
missioncd officers and trumpeters, who did not
normally carry lances. were provided with the
dr3goon sword. Lancers were normally equipped
with the cavalry carbine.
There were three patterns of saddlery: the
German for the Prussian cuirassiers, Danish for
the Bavarian cavalry and Hungarian for all other
regiments. The Hungarian saddle was a wooden
tree with \\'ooden arches and bars, a leather scat
stretched between the arches, two wallet! and
flaps, with girth and stirrup leathers attached to
the bars. On the scat of the saddle was placed a
padded cushion, over which went the shabrack
and surcingle. The saddle had both crupper and
breastplate, and a folded horse-blanket served as
the numnah. The German and Bavarian S<"1ddles
had no padded scat and, in the case oCthe German
saddle, the shabrack was worn under the saddle;
separate naps covered the wallets. The bridle
consisted of a snaffle and a straight barred curb
with curb-chain, brow-band, nose-band and
throat-lash. The carbine was carried with the
muzzle in the off wallel, barrel down, stock in-
clining slightly upwards so as lO be level with the
rider's hip, and it was secured in thal position by
a slrap from the small of the bUll to the pommel
of tile saddle. The rcvol\'cr was worn at the rider's
waistbeh exccpt by thc cuirassiers who carried it
in the olTsaddlcwallct.
FIELD AND SIEGE ARTILLERY
German field artillery comprised thirtyse\en
regiments, sevemeen of which included both
horse and field batteries, the remaining twemy
regiments having field batteries only. Field regi
ments were paired imo artillery brigades, an
artillery brigade being allocated to caeh army
corps. The artillery regiment consistcd of three
Abtheilungen (ballalions), the thirtysevcn regi.
mellts totalling 110 Abtheilungen in all. Thc
Abtheilung usually had three or four field or
horse bancries, the battery having from four 10
six guns. The peace strength ofa baltery stood at
JUSt over a hundred all ranks, increased in war to
about lio men.
Thc t\\o main patterns offield gun ,,'ere 80 mm
(78'5 mm) gun for the horse batteries and the
go mm (88 mm) for the field gunners. Both were
brcechloaders formed of steel lube, strcngthened
for half its length by steel hoops. Both gUllS were
identically grooved. The system of breech dosing
was by Krupp's single cytindro-prismatic wedge,
and obturation was obtained by a Broadwell ring
of pure copper. backed by a sleel piaIe in Ihe
wedge. The guns could fire double-walled shell.
singlewalled shrapnel in which the bursting
charge was comained in a cemraltube, and case
shot, a tin cylindcr loaded with ball. Percussion
fuses were used for the common double-walled
shell and a graduated timefusc for the shrapnel.
The go mm. gun had a range (for shell of +,200
metres. the 80 mm. horse artillery gun aoom
4,000 metres. Cun carriages were the same for
both types ofgun, being ofcast steel on oak wheels
shod in iron tyres: limber wheels were inter-
changeablc ,,'ith those of the gun carriage. First
line ammunition scale were 200 rounds a gun
with a furthcr sixt), rounds in second echelon \\ith
the ammunition columns.
I n addition to the field artillery regiments.
which were equipped almost exclusively with the
of an amb..lance from du, pa.in6nJll b" E.
(Huhon)
29
N
The m"rket ror dOS .nd cal flesh in Pari" (Hullen)
80 min. and go mm. gUll, there existed a separate
branch oCthe artillery arm known as fOOl artillery.
In peace this consisted of thirty-one baltalions
each of four companies, twenty-eight of these
battalions being paired to form fourteen regi-
ments. A fOOl 3nillcry company numbered aOOUl
'50 all ranks.
Foot artillery battalions did not normally in-
clude guns all their establishment since they found
the crews and gun learns to man the heavier guns
of the siege parks. A section of a siege park
numbered up 10 sixty heavy guns and howitzers.
Among the siege artillery was the 90 111m. heavy
30
gun which could fire a fifteen-pound shell lip to a
range of8.ooo yards, the 120 mill. gun which had
the same range but fired a thirty-six-pound shell,
the short and belted 130 mm. gun and the short
210 mm., which fired a 170 lb. shell to a range of
4.000 metres. The howitzers included the go mOl ..
130 mm. and the 2 I 0 mm. Siege artillery was used
principally ror the destruction or derensivc ,,orks
and ror coulltcrbombardmcnt.
Thc field artillery UnirOrlll was similar to that
ror inrantry, dark blue with very dark grey
trousers, black cuffs and black collars with red
piping and with scarlct shoulder-straps. Saxon
artillery had dark green tunics with a scarlet
collar, cuA's and piping. The helmet was of the
same pattern as for the infantry except that the
spike was replaced by a ball. In full dress, the
guard artillery wore white horse-hair plumes, the
horse and Saxon artillery black and the Bavarian
anillery scarlet plumcs. Foot artillcry wore thc
same uniform as the field anillcry excepl that
shouldcr-straps were whilc (scarlct in the Saxon
foot artillery).
All non-commissioned officers, mounted artil-
lcrymen, gunners and drivers ,,'ore the artillery
mounted paltern s\vord. Dismounled men had the
short artillery s\\'ord, a straight cut-and-thrust
weapon with a cross hilt and a gUlla-percha grip;
its blade was onl}' twenl)'six inches long. Except
for a number of re\oh"ers. artillerymen had no
other weapons, carbines being carried only by the
dismounted numbers in the ammunition echelons.
(Aboye) The Dreyae NeedJe-G"".r 18.tl. The boll ","u.s doe
brfl:'Ch conlainN:! a nf'fllie wbic"', on a sprins being r",leaK<!,
pinced Ihr papu carlridgera$<!' "triking t"'e com-
pos.itioa and doe cbar,;... (Below) Th.. Mau..,r BoI
Masa:r.ine R.. peating RiO.., c. .888. Tbe 6 .... ' Mauser mililary
riAe.r 18'1 .... plao:cd Ihe D....ylie.1t had a bolt breed> actio..
."d i .. lllaf C.. rma..y applied 10 Ih" riA.. a t"bular maga:r.ine
Foot artillery, on the other hand, were armed with
the infantry riAe and sword bayonet.
THE BRAIN OF THE ARi\'IY
The German Army prevailed ovcr the Frcnch
because of lhe excellence of its war planning and
command organization. :\1uch of this was due 10
the German General Staff which was based
principally on the Prussian General Staff.
The Headquarters of the General Staff (known
as thc Great General Staff) was located in the
Konigs-Platz in Berlin and operated under the
close supervision of the Chief of General Staff and
the Director of :\Iilitary Operations. It \\'as
divided in all into nine sections. The principal of
these were the First ection - Foreign Armies
East, the Second - Germany, the Third - Foreign
Armies WCSI, the Fourth - Railways. The
=
PAPER BULLET
CARTRIDGE-CASE
in ...h.ic'" I"''' cartridges were urried in I...... in .b", 5.0<:1<
\lnd.. r Ih.. barr..l. Th.. pan..r .. wa" chauSN:! again to th" bo"
map:r.ia.. "...._ bere. h. rate ..r 6n wa" auperior to doe
.,.. .. ttmporary 8rit;s'" Lee--Metford military riAe (whic'"
could tak" l .. n roundli in iUi maga:r.ine) b..ca.."", .rth" rapidit)
...ido "'bic'" I"'e maSaltine coldd be
31
remainder covcrcd topography, military history,
general intelligence and statistics. In t88] therc
were only t 6] officers forming the General Staff,
but these had status. responsibilities and capa-
bilities far exceeding those normally associated
with their rank.
About half of the General Staff officers served
in Berlin, the other half being detached to field
formations down to the le"el of divisions .. Rarely
would more than twO officers be allocated to a
didsion and the senior ofthesc would probably be
only a major. Yet this officer was responsible for
the principal staff work within the division, for
advising the commander who was probably a
lieutenant-general or major-general) and for the
co-ordination of operations with senior and
flanking formations. When the commander was
absent, command was automatically assumed by
this chief-of-staff or general staA" officer, who had
a dual loyalty, both to the formation commander
and to the separate chain of responsibility of the
Gcneral Staff, In this way the Chief of General
Staff could usually ensure that the spirit of his
policy and plans ,,'ere carried out uniformly
throughout the army through the media of the
hand-picked and specially trained General Staff.
And since General Staff officers in the field had
the right, indeed the dury, of direct access to the
Great German General Staff, the Chief of
General Staff was usually well-informed of the
progress of field operations.
Yet the General Staff, and the field formations,
depended for their efficienc)' on the recruiting
ofsuitable staffand regimental officers of all arms.
The German corps of officers was regarded by at
least one contemporary commentator within the
Empire as 'the intellectual and moral aristocracy
of the nation'.
Irrespective of arm the officer corps was
homogeneolts and uniform in its education and
training; some were rich, others poor, some were
aristocratic and others from lhe middle-class.
But according to the standards of the time all were
gentlemen (Hoffahig), all highly educau:d and
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FAANCE
G.ron.... fronli.... and disposition of Army Corps .88,
32
all were senSlllve on the matter of honour, their
own personal honour and that of their regiments
and ofCermany. The monarchs and the aristoc-
racy, almost without exception. served in the army
jlnd there could be no greater honour than
wearing the 'King's coat',
Regiments still retained something of a charac-
ter of a military club in that applicants among
aspirant officcrs had to be approved by the
officers of the regimcnt. This applied also to
applicant Landwehr officers \\'ho had to be
'chosen' by the officers of their Landwehr
battalion district. Yet, in spite of this, scrgeant-
majors and senior Iloncommissioned officers who
had been discharged from active service with the
regular forces, could be appoil1led as Landwehr
officers. presumably to undertake the more tech-
nical and routine duties. These commissioned
officers who had risen from the ranks were of
course quite distinct from the new rank, created
in 1877. of feldwebelLieutenant, which was in
reatity that of a \\'arrant officer, designed to
alleviate temporarily the shortage of junior
officcrs.
The pay of the German officcr by itselfcertainly
Enginee.. 50ldien of ...nd 'I R.. il ....... y Regimen' .... nd ,he
Enginee.. Telegraph Company
. ~ ~ ...
. j ~ )
Eng;neer officer .. nd "oldie.. " in se..vice, und"Uli and fa,igur
unifo..n.
did nOt scrvc to attract the educated youth to the
army. The basic pay for a major-general was the
18io British equivalent of 3i a month, although
substantial subsidiary allO\\'ances wcre added to
this; that of a first lieutenant was about 6 a
month. :'\0 officer could marry without lcave and
a subaltcrn officer had to show that his fiancee
had a privatc income of 1 '1.5 a year; thc fiancee
ofa second-class captain had to ha,c 75 a year.
Above that rank no private fortune was required.
Evcn from thc days of tbe father of the Great
King, the German officer bad always cnjoyed a
ccrtain status. But before the wars of 1864, 1866
and 1870, the feeling of the public towards the
officers \\'as not effusively friendly. Thereafter
officers were received with enthusiasm and pride,
forming a class quite apart from the civil popula-
tion. This in itself was to form a new source of
strength to the officer corps. YCt it was to give risc
to a gO\'crnmental as well as a military system
which was to admit advcnturers and extremists.
of whoIII Bismarck \\'as the first, who were eventu
ally to hasten Germany hcadlong down its
cataclysmic course.
33
AI Solditr, Imptrial Bod)1 Guard (uib
gtndarmtrit). Palau Guard, (galaj dms IInifoml,
(. 1888
The Body Guard Gendarmerie the Kaiser's
originally consisted of one officer and twenty-four
men delached from Prussian cuirassier regiments
for duty in the Emperor's household, The soldiers
\\'cre retained on the rolls of their regiments and
\\'ere exchanged yearly. the officer in
command taking his orders from one of the
Emperor's aidesdc-camp, In ISSg a second
plalOon was raised as the Leibwache der Kaiserin
und Konigin. The uniforms of the platoons were
vcry similar. and both \\'ore the white uniforms
shown here as \\'ell as another of the same pattern
in blue cloth. In addition to posting dismounted
guards within the palace, the gendarmerie pro-
vided the mounted escons which accompanied
the sovereign's carriage. On those occasions it
wore the same uniforrn as the staff guards orthe
Garde-dll-Corps. a black iron casque with white
plumes and aiguilleltes. cuirass, cuirassier boots
and the cuirassier straight sword J>allasch , When
on dut)' inside the palace a scarlet cloth imitation
cuirass was orten \\'orn with the silver star or the
guard on the breast and on the baCK.
112 OJliur, Pruss;01I Palarl' Guard
(ScMossgardt) CompO/p', F//ll (galu) dms, c. 1870
In 1829 FrederiCK William III raised a special
company of non-commissioned officers or meri-
tOrious service and at least twelve years with the
colours who had distinguished themselves in
battle; they came rrom all arms and originally
numbered abolLt seventy men, being commanded
by an aide-de-camp and by officers (usually
convalescents) detached from infantry regiments,
The company guarded the royal palaces and
gardens in Berlin. Charlottenburg and Potsdam.
By 1861 some or these veterans had between fiff)'
and sixt) years service and were aged rrom sixly-
one to eighty-three, Sinc(' they were hardly fil to
undertake rurther duties they were all pensioned
off to make room for a new intake. In 1879 the
34
aver::lge age or the company had dropped to
fon y-seven, \\'i th an a\'erage or twen ty-eigh t years
service bet\\'een them, The unirorm shown here is
based on that worn at the time or Frederick the
Great and the headdress was somewhat similar
to Ihat \\'01'11 on state occasions by the 1st Foot
Guards.
...13 Trooper, Guard Cuirass;" Rrgimtni, Jull ams
uniform, r, 1870
In 1807. after the defeat Ihe French, only two
Prussian cui rassier regi ments remained, the Garde-
du-Corps and Kurassier Regiment von \\"agen-
feld. The Guard Cuirassier Regiment thererore
had a relatively recent origin, being reorganized
in 1815 uncler von Krafft as the Garde Vhlan
rrom the Guard Cossack Squadron,
which was itself rormed from Silesian :\ational
Ca\alry. :\ot berore 1821 \\'as this regiment
redesignated as Guard Cuirassier. In 1860 it
rormecl a ne\,' fifth squadron which it gave up as a
cadre ror a resuscitated Garde Uhlan Regiment.
The Guard Cuirassiers took precedencc next
arter the Garde-dll-Corps, both regiments wearing
bars of white lace on either side or the collar and
twO such bars on each cuff (not visible in the plate
because of the gauntlet). When wearing the
white cvcryday tunic the facings were light blue
and the buttons white. and the eagle was replaced
by a spike on the helmet; the undress tunic was
blue with scarlet piping, the collar, cuffs and
shoulder-straps being the same as for the evcryday
unirorm, The copper-covered iron back and
breastplates shown in this plate were also worn
by the Garde-dll-Corps, Squadrons could be dis-
tinguished by the different colour of the ball above
the white tuft or the swordknot, \\'hite for the 1st,
scarlet for the 2ml (as in lhis plate), yellow for the
3rd and so ronh.
IJ Officer. Guard /-Iussars Rrgimtflt .Jull dms uniform.
r. 1875
This regiment owed its origin to a composite
cavalry company, reformed in 1813 as a regiment
from East Prussian volunteers, It tooK part in the
t813-14 campaigns against the French and in
1815 it was reinforced by amalgamation with
other regiments. In 1823 it took up what was 10 be
its permanent station in the capital, its men being
housed in while Ihe horses were
slabled near the Berliner Thor. In 1843. in com
pany \\'ith mosl other hussar regiments, it losl its
dolmans ror Attilas wilh five golden or yellow
cords. and from 1860 onwards it gave off cadres
and squadrons 10 form new regiments, '2 Guard
Dragoon and 9 Dragoon Regimel1ls, II sen'ed
with distinction during the 1864. 1866 and 1870
wars. In 1888. when the Kaiser becamr Ihe
Colonel of the Regimelll. il was renamed Ihe
Lcibgarde Husarcn Regiment, :'\0. 1 Squad-
ron becoming the Leib-Escadron. The dolman
pelissc was taken illlo usc again. being worn only
by Ibe Guard and 3 and 15 Hussar Regiments).
The star or the guard was worn both on the
shabrack and on Ihe brown sealskin busby.
Hussars and dragoons carried Ihe 18.52 pattern
slightly cun:ed lighl-cavalry s\\'ord with a three
bar guard, 3 r1. 4 in. in length and weighing only
2! lb. (compared with the 3 lb. straightbladed
Pallasch or the cuirassier).
C, FrJdu'rbrJ. FusiJirr BatlaJion, 3 Guard Gw/(/dirr
Rtgimmt (h-onigin EJisobdh). parodt full oms
uniform. c. 1875
or the nine regimenu of Ihe Prussian
Guard, the 3 Guard Grenadier Regimenl was the
eiglllh in seniority. Its origin was receO! and rcIa
tively undistinguisbed in Ihat it had become a
guard regiment only since 1861 when the Queen
became Colonel of the Regiment. Before
that lime it had been 1 Combined Grenadier
Regimen!. only re-entering the regular army lists
in 1860 from the reserve. \,'here it had been known
as 3 Garde Landwehr Slamm RegimcllI, In 1863
it had been on border duties in Posen ane! Silesia
and saw service in 1866 at Koniggratz and Rog-
nilz. and in 18iO at Sedan and elsewhere. Its first
commander \\'as \'on \\'interfeld. and ilS second
\'on ZaluskO\\lski he was killed at Lc Bourgel ,
The t\\O bars of white lace on Ihe collar was dis-
tinCli\'eofthe Prussian Guard. The 'Brandenburg'
cuffs wilh the three cuff bUllons were usually
scarlet for most infantry. bUI in lhe Prussian
Guard GI'enadier Regiments, howe\er. Ihe up-
righl pari behind Ihe bUllons \\'as dark blue as
shown in Ihis plate. Of the Prussian Guard. 1 Foot
Guards and I Grenadiers had while shouldcr-
Slraps, FOOl Guards and 2 Grenadiers scarle!.
3 FOOl Guards. 3 Grenadiers and the Guard
Fusiliers yellow' as here. 4 Foot Guards and ..
Grenadiers light blue, The uniform shown in this
plate was also used as walking-out undress except
thaI it \\'as \\'orn with a dark-blue glazed peak
forage cap with a scarlet band and piping. In rult
dress the Prussian Guard wore while horse-hair
plullles on the helmet except for bandsmen who
wore red. and Ihe Ihird fusilier ballaliOl1s who
\\ ore black,
C:t T,oopu. I Hession J-Jussors (Xo, 13). Slllllfllt'
pamdr uni/orm, c. 18iO
After the w:lr of 1866 Prussia annexed further
territory illllorth Germany and absorbed ilHo the
Prussian Army by amalgamalion with Prussian
squadrons {\\O ca\'alry regiments of Ihe rormer
Hl"ssian Kurhessisch forces. These light cavalry
became I and Hessian Hussars laking Ihe
numbers of 13 and 14 in Ihe Prussian lislS. They
look part in the 18iO-il war before returning
to their permanent garrison stations in Hof
Geismar. and Frankful'l, The uniform
shown in Ihis plate was of a comlllon paltern for
all Prussian hussars. the low busby sealskin head-
dress with Ihe scroll 'mit Got! fiir Konig una
I'altrlmuf with scale and Ihe addition
of hanging \\'I1itc plumes for full dress. and the
Attila tunic worn without lhe pclisse, Men of 14
Hussars. the siSler regilllent 10 that sho\\'n here,
wore the same unifonn excepl Ihat the tunic was
in dark blue cloth.
C3 OffiuT Aspimnl (PoTUPtrFiillll,ichj I Saxon Ltib
Grrnadirr Rrgiml'1lt ()'o. 100). c. 1880
The Saxon Leib Grenadier Regiment had a long
and dislinguished bistory, having been founded
in t663 as the \'on Lindau Regiment before being
amalgamated in 16g2 \"ith Ihe ElectorofSaxony's
Leibgarde zu Fuss. It saw service in Hungary
against Ihe Turks in IGg.5. in the War of Ihe
Spanish Succession and the Silesian \\'ars. In
1i56. when Saxon} was overrull by Prussia, the
regiment "'as reformed in as the Regi-
menl :\oe de Crousaz. In the French and the
:\apoloonie Wal"s it fought bolh against and with
the French. going OVl"r 10 the allies in 1813, In
1866 it fought on the side of .\uSlria against
Prussia. Of the larger Slates Saxon} alone was
35
A aoa..commiioaed officer aad me.. Of2 Royal Bavarian
1Jlfaalry t.be C....._ Pmce'. _ ulrem.e a Gefre;ler of
Bn... rian UShl HorR
included in thc :-\orth Gcrman Confederation of
186; and its troops reorganized on thc
Prussian model, the eight Saxon infantry regi-
mcnts taking the numbers from 100 to 107. Thc
Colonel in Chiefofloo Regiment was King Alben
of Saxony. Aspirants for commission were taken
either frolll the cadet corps or from the ranks
(usually as Avantageure or officer candidates)
and, after passing an educational lest, wcre
appointcd Fahllfiche. Before the Fiihnrich could
be commissioned to the lowest officer grade of
second-lieutenant he had to pass a military
examination and be accepted by a majority of the
officers of the regiment which he wished to join.
D1 Gifrtittr. L-hlan Rtgimmt Htnnings l'on Trtffinftld
(.lIImark) . ,'0. 16. summtr pamdt uniform. r. 1870
The Chlan Regiment :-\0. t 6 had been raised in
1866 at Salzwedel and Gardclegen by von
Paczensky-Tcnczin from cadrc squadrons trans-
ferrcd from other regiments, 2 (Silesian. S
36
(Westphalian), 6 (Thuringian), 7 (Rhineland)
Uhlans. In 1870 the regiment was commanded by
\'on del' Dollen and the next year George, Prince of
Saxony became its Colonel-in-Chief. The regi.
ment saw much action during the Franco-
Prussian War, losing nine officers and I i4 men
in the cavalry attack at )'Iars-Ia-Tour. Uhlans
lancers) could be distinguished by the colour of
their !Unics. dark blue for Prussian and Wiiruem-
berg, dark green for Ba\'arian and light blue for
Saxon, the regiments differing by the colour of
facings, piping and buttons. They \,'orc the
Polish pointed cuff \\'ith the button and thc
distinctive shako. The bunon on each sidc of the
collar showed lhe soldier to be a junior non-
commissioned officer and the grey-blue sword
knot (worn also by private soldiers) that he was a
lance-corporal and nOl a corporal (lhe corporal's
sword knot was in national colours). Lancers were
the only troops to wcar the epaulette with parade
and service uniform. The lancer's sword was of the
same length (40 inches) as that oCthe hussars and
dragoons but \\'as morc curved and lighter,
weighing only two pounds. It had only a single
bar guard. Trumpeters, sergeants and corporals
who did not the lance had the heavier
dragoon sword.
D2 Prit'Qtr (.\Iushtitr). 3 Rhintlond Infantry Rtgi-
mtnl "vo. 29, summer field satice unifoml, c. 1887
This regiment was raised in 1813 from Cle\'c-
Berg troops and in 181; it was taken into the
Prussian army lists as 29 Infantry Regiment, being
based on Koblenz, Ehrenbreitstein, Saarlouis and
Trier. In 1860 it received its present designation. It
served throughout the t866 and 1870-;1 wars
and was laler (1889) renamed Regimcnl \on
Horn. Private soldicrs of infantry were known as
Grcnadierc if in the Prussian Guard or in the first
and second battalions of grenadier regiments, as
Fiisiliere if in fusilier battalions or regiments,
Jager or Schutzen iflight infantrymen; in nearly
all other regiments they were Muskcticre. The
tunic shown herc was of Prussian (and Saxon,
Wtirttcmberg and Hessian) design, dark blue
with scarlet piping down the front and on the
skirts at the rear except that Saxon troops wore
piping round the bottom of the skirts). 29
Infantr) Regimcnt was evcntually incorporaled
into 8 Prussian Army Corps and bore the corps
insignia, that is to say, a light blue shoulder-strap;
the scarlet shoulder-strap (without the piping on
the Brandenburg cuff) was the colour of4 Prussian
Army Corps. The colours of the ball and the
conical piece above the white tassel or tuft of the
ba)'onet swordknot showed the compan)' and the
battalion to which the soldier belonged, all \\'hite
denoting that the soldier in the plate came from
the first company of I Battalion. He is armed with
the ivlauser rifle and the new 1887 leathcr
equipment.
D3 Drummer (Gefuiler). 2 Hallseatic II1Jalll,)' Rrgimelll
No. 76, summer field service ulliform, c. 1871
2 Hanseatic Infantry Regiment was raised in
Bromberg in 1866 by von Conta on cadres pro-
vided by 2, 4, 6 and 8 Pomeranian Grenadiers and
the former Hanoverian Leibregiment and was
thereafter based on Hamburg and Lubeck;
during the Franco-Prussian War it was com-
manded by von Neumann and then by \'on
Boehn. The white shoulder-straps and the yellow
piping on thc Brandcnburg cuff show that the
regiment is part of 9 Prussian Corps; thc red and
white upper sleeve shoulder-covers dcnote that
the soldier was a bandsman (the drllm-major
wore an epaulette fringe on the lower edge of the
cover) and the button on thecollarthat the wearer
was a corporal. The soldier wears two cockades
(not visible in the plate), the black and white
Prussian and the red and white Hanse, fixed to
the stud fastening the chin-strap.
E J\ron-commissiolled Officer, 2 Hanouerian Dragoon
RtgilllwI No. 16, slimmer field seruice ulliform.
c. /871
The regiment was formed in 1866 by von Salviati
from cadre squadrons from thc Westphalian and
Rhineland Cuirassiers and the Westphalian and
Rhineland Dragoons and it saw aclion at the
siege and tht: battles on'ionville,
Tour, Gra\e1ottt: and St. Privat. In 1871 the
regiment was based on Dlzen and Liineburg. The
cut of the tunic of dragoons was the same as that
of infantry with Swedish cuffs, always light blue
(except in the 23 and '24 Dragoons where it was
dark green) and single-breasted (except in 25 and
26 Wiirucmberg Dragoon Regiments). The dis-
tinction between dragoon regiments was in
facings, piping and buttons, and it was unusual
for regimental numbers to be sho\,'n on the
shoulder-straps (as in this plate). The dragoon
helmet differed from that of infantry in that the
Prussian eagle was of different design, the front
peak being cut square: the chin-strap for all ranks
was of metal and not leather. Dragoons in the
Prussian cavalry no longer fought dismounted as
infantry and were normally equipped with the
1871 cavalry carbine, and the light cavalry
sword. This platc is ofparticular interest, however,
since it shows dragoons armed with piSlOls and
lances.
FI Chief ojSta.lf(Umeral StajJ), JuM u"ijoml, c. 1871
Officers of the General taff were recruited from
regimental officers recommended and selected
for the course at the \Var Academy. A number of
successful studcnts were then attached for two to
three years to the Great General Staff in the
Konigs-Platz in Berlin at the disposal of the Chief
of General Staff and his deputy the General-
Cjuartiermeister. Those ofllcers considered suitable
were then transferred to the Ceneral StaO where
they remained for the resl of their service. About
half of the officers of the General Staff ser\'ed in
the Creat General Staff in Berlin, the remainder
being employed in fortresses and field formations
down to the level of division. The chief of staff
with the field formations. who might be a major-
general or only a major. depending on the size of
formation, invariably acted as the commander
in the absence of the commanding general. In
this way the General Staff acquired great ex-
perience and prestige. In addition to the Prussian
General Stan- thcre was at this time a Saxon,
Wuntemberg and Bavarian General Staff, al-
though they were limited in numbers; their staff
officers were interchangeable with the Prussian.
General Staff officers wore a dark blue tunic
light blue in Bavaria) \\'ith crimson collar, cuffs.
piping and background to the cpauleucs. Two
bars of silver lace were worn on each side of the
collar and on each cuff. The forage cap, frock coat
and overalls were as shown in the plate. The nor-
mal infantry helmet with silver ornaments was
also wom, a white plume being added ,... hen in
fuJI dress.
37
the inscription 'mil GOlf fin h:iil/ig I/Ild "aler-
!rmd'. The ani} regimcllIs to wcar lhe TOlcllkopf
were 1 and 2 Hussars and I] Hussars (formcrly
Brunswick Hussars in thc British scrvice). I]
Hussars bore on their headdress scrolls the battle
honours Pmillsulll. Silicim, lrtlter/oo, '\/ars-/a-
TOllr.' Officers wore the same pattern uniform as
the other ranks except in the CUI and quality of
materials: "here the men wore yellow or white.
officers wore gold and silver. wilil sih'er sashes
inste-ad of while woollcn bclts. Hussar officers
wore no epaulettes bUI twisted lace shoulder-
cords. Company, field and general officers \,'ore
shoulder-straps of diffcrcnt \,-idth and design. the
difference in rank being shown stars mounted
on the strap.
F3 FOOl Guards, summer fit/d
jtrtiu u"ijorm, r. J 8] I
There were 1\\0 rifle light infantry battalions in
lhe guard. the Garde--Jager Battalion and the
Garde-Schulzen Battalion. a sharpshooter of the
lalter being shown in this plate, This banalion
had a parlieularly interesting history since it was
(Lidl) officcr or lIa.. oo"cria.. H r RClim"'''t 'S lalkiaf:
wid i .. ra.nlry officcr in .. ndrc .
F2 Captai", I Hussar (Lribhusartn) Rtgimt1ll. paradt
order, c. 18]1
This regiment was one of the oldest in Ihe Prussian
Army having been raised in Brandenburg by \"On
in [7-\-1 as 5 Hussnr Regiment. 'the
Black Hussars', from a cadre squadron taken from
I Hussars. From [i45 10 InI thc regimelll in-
cluded a Bosnian squadron of lancers which
eventually became 9 Hussar Regimcnt. 5 Regi-
ment was the only hussar regimellt to remain
intact aftcl' 180] whell. len squadrons strong. i[
was renamed \'on Ruesch {its cOlllmander from
IH4to 1]58}.ln 1BoB it wasdivided,eachofits
twO battalions (IlOW reduced to four squadrons)
becoming 1 and 2 l.cibhusaren Regimclltc. both
"'caring the TOlcllkopf and the same pattern uni-
forms, except that 2 Huss.lI's wore a white bag to
the headdress and had black grealcoat patches.
forage cap bnnd and shabrack edges. and nOl
scarlet as in I Regimelll, The scroll on the head-
dress for all hussar regimenls (from I to 16) had A.. officcr or I It........ o> (kibh...rCD RCf:imeDI)
38
originally Swiss, being raised in 18t4 rrom the
men or Neurchatcl (Neucnburg), many or whom
had previously served in the French service as
Berthier's Keurchatcl chasseurs. The batlalion,
which was 400 strong, was recruited bolh rrom lhe
principality and rrom Switzerland and it took lhe
Prussian Jager unironn, originally with red
shoulderstraps, black collar and Brandenburg
cufTs. Alone time it served as an induction and
training unit ror the guards berore revening to lhe
light inramry role in which it took the field in the
Schleswig-Holstein, Auslrian and French Wars.
The black glazed shako shown here was common
ror all j>russian rifles, except that only the two
guard battalions wore the guard star; and only
the guard wore the twO thick bars or lace on the
collar. The Gardejager wore a similar unirorm but
could be easily distinguished by the red Swedish
cufTs. The weapon used by the rifle battalions was
the standard pattern )'Iauser.
CI f1orseArtilltrymml, 12 Ro)'al Saxon Artillery
Regiment, sumfllerjield sffuiet unijorm, c. 1871
Saxon arlillery wore their own dark green unironn
with scarlet racings, \"ith Swedish paltcrn cull'S in
the horse batteries and Brandenburg cuRS in the
rOOt batteries (Ihis latter distinction being com-
mon to most German artillery). Saxon horse
batterics also wore metal epaulettcs. lined with
scarlet cloth. like the guard cavalry. as part or
their everyday uniform. The shako with the
balled crest, rather than lhe spike. was common
to all artillery, except lhat the one shown here
carried the Saxon badge. In rull dress, black
plumes were added to the helmet. The soldier
shown in this platc is a gunncr. Non-colllmissioned
rank was indicated by white or yellow lace stripes
on and above the cufT and collar and by buttons
on the side or the collar.
G2 Feldu'ebd. I Guards Field Artillery Rl'gimtnl.
summer jil'ld servia unijorm. c. 1871
The Prussian guard artillery wore lhe ball crest
instead or the spike with the guard star super-
imposed on the spreadeagle. In full dress white
horse-hair plumes were fitted to the crest. Two
bars or yellow or white lace on thc cufTand on the
collar also denotcd thal the soldier was rrom the
guard. :-.ion-commissioned officers, lrumpeters
A lIcrgcanl-mlljor, nOD-<:oullni.f;onl':d offic;cr lind G.. rn;u:r
or:J GUII ..d G.."nadi.... R"gim.. nl
and mOUnlcd men wore the uhlan sword with the
singlc b.."lr guard. Dismounled artillerymcn wore
a short straight sword. JUSt O\'er twO reet long in
the blade, with a cross hilt and gutta-pereha grip.
G3 Gifrtiler, f Railll'ay Enginttr Rl'gimtnl, field
urr.iuunijorm. Co 1871
Engineer baualions, except ror the guard bat-
lalion, wore the yellow number of the ballalion
on the scarlet Sholllder-slrap, railway regiments
having in addition an E (Eisenbahn) and tele-
graph companies a T. The guard battalion and
the railwa) regimcnl both wore the distinctivc
guard insignia, the two bars of white lace on the
collar and on the cufr. Like the guard the railway
regiment wore black horse-hair plumes in rull
dress. The arms or the enginecr soldier \\'cre the
rifle carbine. and a sword bayonet with a sawback
edge. An engineer company rank and file carricd
about go spades. 40 picks and 50 axes, onc to a
man. thcse being hung in cases on the lert side or
the pack.
39
fI / Curdler, 3 Ro)'al Bavarian LigM Clwalry
Regiment (Duke lHaximilillT/'S) , summer parade
uniform, c. 187/
In addition to heavy cavalry and uhlans, Bavaria
had six light cavalry regiments. 3 Light Cavalry
was originally raiscd in 1;'22 by von Minucci as a
dragoon regiment, being convened to light
cavalry in 1790. In '799 it was known as 2 Light
Cavalry, in 1804 it was redesignated I Light
Cavalry, but by 1811 it returned to its original
number of 3. The regiment had a long histOry of
war having seen action throughout the Silesian
Wal1i, against France from 1792-1800, against
Prussia and Russia in t806-07, against Austria
in 1809 and against Russia in 18t2. It also tOok
part in the 1866 and 1870 wars. The ligbt horse
tllnic, all of them dark green, were cut as for the
uhlans, distinction being by facings and the colour
of the buttons.
J'12 Miner, Silesian PioT/eer Baflalion No. 6,jatlgue
dress, c. 1880
The new Imperial German Army bad nineteen
battalions of pioneers, the number of each bat-
talion coinciding with the army corps LO which it
belonged. Pioneers were trained in sapping and
mining, the construction offield and siege works,
the building of bridges and the making and repair
of roads. Each battalion, which totalled aoom
600 all ranks, was four companies strong. In war
40
the battalion formed three field companies and a
reserve company, together with two divisional
and one corps bridging train. The general service
forage cap, as shown here, except for officers and
senior non.commissioned officel1i, was without
a peak.
H] hljall(l)' Officer, IIndress uniform, c. 1880
Prussian (and German) officers were expected to
wear uniform at all Limes, on duty and at leisure.
III the first half of the century officers wore the
Leibrock tunic stretching almost to the knee,
willl cpaulettes, over which, in winter, was worr,
the black greatcoat (Uberrock) with a red stand-
ing collar and turned-back sleeves with red
piping. These were eventually replaced by the
modern tunic (Waffenrock) and greatcoat (Pale-
tOll. The Uberrock remained in service, witl
some modifications, as an off-duty coat. Nc
epaulettes were WOl'l1 with it (except by uhlans),
but shoulder-pieces were displayed. This officer's
double-breasted frockcoat was generally the same
for all arms, being of the same colour as the tunic
(usually black or ,"cry dark blue) with a plain
collar and piping on the cuffs and sometimes on
the skirt's. Sword belts were invariably worn under
the tunic. Officers of cuirassiel1i, uhlans and horse
artillery wore a dark blue frockcoat, dragoons
light blllc; hussar officers wore the Spenzer
(Spencer) or the Inlerimsauila.
Men-ai-Arms Series
TITLES ALREADY PUBLISHED
THt: HIUGADf. )oJut &11>"
THE BLACK WATCH CurltJ Gr .,
FRt:SCH FOREIGN LECIQ:" .1I1t",. lI'i.v._
.-OOT GRE:'\'ADIERS or THE IMPERIAL
el:ARD o.,/u G,u,
TUE IRQ:" BRIG..\DE J.a Sri."
CHi\SSEL:RS Of THE GUARD P,,,, r....,.
W"FFESSS .11.,/,. w,,..'
THt: CQl.DSTREAM GUARDS CIfIl,J,J G,
u.s. C,\\',\LRY Jlth. S.I6.1
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GEORGE WASHISGTOS'S
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THE BUFfS CrtV'? 81"'".11
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BLUCIU:R'S ARM\' I'tln 1"".,
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JAPAXESE ARMY OF WORLD WAR II
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THE ENGLISH CIVil. W,\R ARMIES
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THE AUSTRO,HUi\'G,\RJAi\' AR"l\' OF
THE SEYEX YEARS WAR 1m", StilI..
FUTURE TITLES INCLUDE
WOI.FES ARMY w,.JI &dlr,. ARMIF.5 OF THE WAR 1812-
THE ROMAX IMPERIAl. ARMY 18'4 Pit,,,, K.ultn
.lIlfllMl $ud,1IS THY. KI:"C'S GERMAl\" I.CIO:"
THE BRITISH ARMY OF THE CRIMt:A 011. - P,ru
J. B. R.\r,JwIJI1II BRITISH TROOPS II\' AMERICo'\
!\"APOU:OX'S POLISH TROOPS G,,"1t1 E",ltl,'oll
0". ru "Irt. THt: GURKHA RIFLES J. IJ. N. -,"i'M/JON
LIEUTENANT.COLONEL ALBERT SEATON (Retd.) is author of
many lxwJks on Russian military history; his The Russo-German IVar 1941-45 is
probably the only complete and account published in free
world, and has in London, ,"ork and Frankfurt. Among his
reccntly published arc The BattLe for and scveral titles in the
Mcn-at-Arms Series; Stalin as Military Commander will he published in 1973;
and he is at present engaged on the w!"itlllg of Stalingrad.