Thoughts about the
reorganisation of the Prussian army after the war of 1806-‘07
(with the facsimile of a
drawing of the brigade-dispositions by the hand of his majesty the King)
translated by Geert van Uythoven
Note: All footnotes
are part of the article itself; nothing has been added by me!
Of King Frederick
II, and older rulers of Prussia it is known, that they not only united the
bridles of all regiments strongly in one hand, but also often descended into
the details of their management in all aspects. The latest times have raised
these regents far above these details; one does not notice the hand of the
sovereign anymore in the same degree as in the past, directly interfering with
everything. And therefore one is not always able to recognise with certainty
the thoughts of the ruler himself, or what has derived from below, from the
civil servants concerned. In this regard it is surely not uninteresting, to
point out how during its period of rule of his majesty the King, since 1807, in
the army proportionately few important arrangements have been made, which not
had been directly instigated by the King. Or as well, when the idea of servants
had been presented for execution or royal assent, this was completely worked
through by the sovereign, so that at the representation of realising the idea
the drafter was opposed by a sharp judgment.
As an example of
what has just been stated, we present here an essay in which the King, as it
seems only days after the Peace of Tilsit, had laid down his thoughts about the
reorganisation of the army; thoughts, which nearly completely by and by have
been effectuated within the army. We further refer as an example to the
accompanying facsimile of a standard order of battle which, drawn by the King
himself, was discussed by him already in 1807 in Memel, served as a reference
for the Reglements-Kommission in 1811, and which we will find in its
essence under the name of Brigade-Aufstellung (‘brigade-dispositions’)
in the Reglement of 1812. We believe to do a great service to our
readers, for their love of our recently passed majesty the King, by giving in
this way a written commemoration to him.
“As surely after
the passed experience, as well as that it after the changed situation would be possible
as well as advisable, to return the army after its rebirth to a comparably same
state as it was before, hereby I present some provisional points which have to
be taken into account for devising a plan on which the new formations will act
in the spirit of these points, so that no unnecessary or contradicting measures
are taken.
1) Before everything else the officers which
are guilty of not having done their duty, will have to be expelled from service
and severely punished;
2) Those, whose conduct is still in doubt, have
to be accounted for[1];
3) Would it be advisable, when reinstating the
army, to reinstall this mass of invalid generals, staff- and other officers,
which partially physical, partial moralistic, or invalid at both together?
4) And when this is not the case, as a change
at this point is really necessary, how would the future scheme of promotion in
the army be arranged, without making the same old errors again?
5) Could not an arrangement be made with the
entrance of not noble officers, allowing more of them to be admitted?
6) A more correct, better proportion based on
the latest experiences of the various arms should be fixed upon, i.e. infantry
of the line, light infantry, artillery, cavalry, etc.
That we have so few real light infantry is
without any doubt. How could we create these?
One could, something which seems very
possible and effective to me, add a light battalion to every infantry regiment,
of the same strength as the other battalions, which wears the same uniform,
only to be distinguished by minor differences. The advantage of this is that
one can choose officers qualified for light service out of the regiment, and
exchange them as well as the others when they are found unsuited. Or the
so-called light infantry is completely discarded with, and the infantry as a
whole is kept for this purpose, as this is the case with the French. In this
case, every regiment would receive a third field battalion as well.
In both cases, all previous fusilier
battalions are disbanded, and incorporated into the regiments of the line.
7) The national and foreign recruitment system
is completely changed. Instead of cantons for the regiments, greater districts
have to be defined, from which the various arms will be raised. Here one has to
take in account the qualifications of every individual as far as possible. A
regular core of foreigners, beside payment of recruitment money, will have to
end in any case.
With the new definition of cantonments,
which have to be defined based on Divisions or half Divisions, according to the
Divisions in the army, less exemptions must be allowed.[2]
And it is to consider if the ideas brought forward by Cavalry-Captain von
Marwitz, about the raising of free corps, i.e. from light troops according to
his own devised principles, are not partially practical.[3]
8) The dislocation should also be changed, to
have the necessary sorts of troops close to each other. To achieve this:
9) A permanent composition of Divisions, with
when possible the same strength would be the most natural, and the generals
commanding these Divisions would have to replace the present-day inspectors.
The created combination of troops, already in peace time, has undoubtly many
advantages. It may be clear that the light infantry often finds a special use
in the field, as well as the cavalry who would be concentrated and placed under
a separate commanding general, when the circumstances make it necessary.[4]
10) From this derives more or less automatically, that
the main composition in several army corps, each consisting of several
Divisions, has to arrange its complete organisation already in peace time.
11) The new formation of the infantry in 14 field
companies, as it was projected shortly before the outbreak of the war, can
still perfectly be realised under the present-day circumstances.[5]
According to this, the battalions would
consist of 4 companies, and each company would be augmented to 170 muskets; 3
field battalions of 4 companies each, of which one can be a light one; two
grenadier companies, and one depot company. In this way one can achieve much in
the Prima Plana, what at this moment were savings are more important
then ever, is very advantageous without losing strength of the regiment.
12) As soon as during the recruitment lesser
exemptions take place, military punishment should be altered. It should be just
as strict, but less harsh, to which purpose a change of the articles of war
will have to take place.
13) Regarding clothing, this has to be simplified,
the same way as it has been arranged with the reserve battalions of the
infantry. Turnbacks and collar should be the same within the infantry Division.[6]
The shoulder straps and hat decoration distinguish the regiments. The same will
be the case for officers and NCO’s.
If in regard to the remaining arming and
equipment of the various arms, things have to be improved or simplified, has to
be researched further. The acquisition of cloaks for the infantry, and trousers
for the infantry from grey and firm cloth, is here most essential, as the
latest winter campaign without example has clearly shown the necessity.
14) In other countries, for example in Russia,
Austria, and France, in peace time soldiers are used to accomplish great works,
such as fortress building, digging of canals, roads etc. in their various
corps, which counts as doing service for these, and who receive a proportional
bonus. Can we arrange the same thing here?[7]
The internal economy of the companies did not allow this until now, but should
this not be reformed as well? The acquirement of the so-called small pieces of
equipment, as for example the acquirement of the saws of the Freiwächter,
etc. The company chef should receive a sufficient amount of saws, and not
having to bother about this any further.
15) That the decrease and simplification of the
baggage with all arms is a necessity, everyone has experienced this to his own
disadvantage, but even more convinced himself how more disadvantageous it is
for the army as a whole.[8]
A profound decision on this matter will have to be made.
16) Every military arm will have to work on its
perfection, or better said on its regeneration, and it is all important that
all old prejudices will have to give way to the necessary and essential. For
example the infantry has to do real shooting practice in peace time (a matter
which one never wanted to agree upon), and for this sufficient powder and lead
has to be provided. The artillery will have to revise its vehicles and limbers,
making them much lighter, etc.
In addition, it would be surely efficient
if the companies would not be divided into two batteries, but should remain as
a whole, such as is the case with the
Russians; also the servants should be removed from the remaining gunners.
A change in the regimental artillery will
also need to be taken care of.
17) Working up the additions to the uniform done
by the soldiers within the companies is a very essential thing, and would
discard the present-day forced labour by the guilds.
18) The regiments which will have to be reformed
again, should not be formed again according to their old organisation (Firma).
The will have to be regarded as totally new regiments. Only those which solely
fought in Prussia and were not broken up should be retained as old regiments,
and would rank in seniority before all others. Maybe in this case naming the
regiments according to the provinces in which they are garrisoned, should be
introduced.
19) It still has to be considered if with cavalry
as well a new organisation should be introduced, defining the strength of the
regiments further at 8 squadrons,[9]
with which each Division would receive one cavalry (cuirassiers or dragoons),
and one hussar regiment (a total of 16 squadrons). Of every cuirassier and
dragoon regiment, even if it remains at a strength of 5 squadrons, a decent
five officer places could be abolished.”
Now follows the
calculation of the Etat of an infantry regiment of 14 companies and a
depot company, also by the hand of the King himself. According to this Etat
a company should count 15 NCO’s, 2 artillerymen, 3 musicians and 170 privates,
so that the regiment, consisting of 2 grenadier companies, 2 musketeer and 1
light battalion of four companies each, would have a strength of 2,668 men
including the staff, the depot company however only 131 men strong. Further the
following remarks are written down:
“The 3rd rank
will be completely trained in doing service as Schützen, and receive for
the purpose the best muskets of the company. 12 NCO’s of each company receive
rifled muskets, and these shall, whenever useful, provide them for use to the
best Schützen of the company. Three NCO’s receive short muskets; the two
NCO’s on both wings of the company and the one marching with the colours. The
previous Schützen are abolished completely, and in the future they will
receive no further distinguishing signs. It is perfectly clear that beside the
usual 3rd rank, which in the future will consist of the most able men and the
best shooters, an additional 20 to 30 men will have to be trained in this kind
of service, to be able to replace losses with trained men.
The four depot
companies of every Division shall form a combined battalion in peace time; in
times of war it will be treated the same way, as was already projected in 1806.[10]
Usually one
regimental gun per battalion gives a brigade a half battery of six guns.
A Division
consists of:
- 2 grenadier
battalions )
- 8 musketeer
battalions ))) 4 infantry regiments[11]
- 4 light
battalions )
- 15 or 20
squadrons, or 16 squadrons instead, when the regiment is 8 squadrons strong
- A 12-pdr
battery[12]
- A battery of
regimental guns
- A horse
artillery battery”
Source: Anonymous, “Gedanken über die Reorganisation der preuβischen Armee nach dem Kriege
von 1806/’07 und Facsimile einer Zeichnung der Brigade-Aufstellung von der Hand
des hochseligen Königs Majestät”, in ‘Militair-Wochenblatt’ No. 30 (29 July
1843) pp. 240-243..
Further reading
about this subject: Jeff Lewis, “Regulating Battalions – The Prussian
Way!” in ‘First Empire’ No. 78 (September / October 2004) pp. 8-10.
© Geert van Uythoven