1st Westphalian Cuirassier Regiment

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1st and 2nd Westphalian cuirassier regiment, uniform around 1809 and 1812 (after Knoetel). The landscape in the background could be reminiscent of the Arnstein castle ruins near Aschersleben.

The first (royal) Westphalian cuirassier regiment was a cavalry association of the army of the Napoleonic satellite state Kingdom of Westphalia and existed only from March 1808 to September 1813.

History and background

The 1st Westphalian cuirassier regiment was established in Aschersleben in March 1808 . This location was possibly chosen because the facilities for the garrison of the Prussian cuirassier regiment No. 6 (Aschersleben cuirassiers) that had been in existence since 1722 were still present here. From 1808 to 1811 various other Napoleonic cavalry regiments were quartered in the city. The 1st Westphalian cuirassier regiment was recruited from new recruits on site and, in addition to a few French officers, from cadres of the former Kurhessian , Brunswick , Electorate Hanoverian and Prussian armed forces. In August 1808 150 men of the regiment were withdrawn from Aschersleben to set up the 2nd Westphalian cuirassier regiment under Colonel Carl Gottlob von Bastineller. On August 20, 1808, August Bernhard Christian Körte (later Deputy Mayor of Aschersleben from 1827, acting Mayor of Aschersleben in 1831) also joined the 1st Cuirassier Regiment, enjoyed a rapid career as Adjutant Major until 1810 and received his patent on October 29, 1812 Capitain and the Order of the Westphalian Crown .

In the garrison town of Aschersleben, the 1st Westphalian cuirassier regiment only stayed a few times, interrupted by numerous missions. So it was in the former Electorate of Hesse against the inner-Westphalian uprising in April 1809, in which rebellious parts of his 2nd squadron were actively involved and possibly were involved in combat operations against loyal parts of the 1st squadron of the regiment, and above all in the extensive half-hearted one Pursuit of the Duke of Braunschweig's Freikorps , the Black Squad , deployed in the summer of 1809 (e.g. battle near Ölper on August 1, 1809). Overall, the regiment, like the Westphalian army in general, had a high rate of desertion . Westphalian defectors joined the Freikorps of the Prussian major Ferdinand von Schill and the black band of the Duke of Brunswick. Others switched to British services, such as the King's German Legion .

The regiment was involved in the Russian campaign in 1812 and is mentioned indirectly in the descriptions of the Battle of Borodino by Theodor Fontane ( Before the Storm ) and also by Friedrich Engels . Remnants of the two Westphalian cuirassier regiments, together with their depots in the garrison towns, were used in 1813 to form a brigade under Carl Gottlob von Bastineller, who had meanwhile risen to general (Hauptm. 1805, Colonel 1812, then Brigadier General , dec. 1830; French: Général Carl Théophile de Bastineller ). On September 28, 1813, this brigade almost completely disbanded due to desertion when it was supposed to move against the troops of the Russian general Tschernyschow , who was threatening the Westphalian capital Kassel . The Russian troops encircled Kassel, defeated the Franco-Rhineland forces and conquered the city and the rest of the Kingdom of Westphalia by October 1st. Three days later, however, King Jérôme Bonaparte managed to temporarily occupy Kassel for the last time with the help of French troops.

Participation in combat operations and association membership

  • In April 1809 the 1st Escadron of the first Westphalian cuirassier regiment (quartered in Hesse, Melsungen ) remained loyal to Westphalian. The 2nd Escadron located in Homberg , however, largely defected to the rebels on April 22, 1809, which included several thousand simple farmers. The uprising was organized by Wilhelm von Dörnberg with the participation of the Homberg abbess von Gilsa . The march to Kassel began at around 8 p.m., but ended on April 23 at around 3 a.m., about an hour and a half before Kassel, with a bloody defeat in the battle at the Knallhütte (tavern). Loyal sections of the 1st Escadron were probably involved in suppressing the insurgents.
  • From May 1, 1809, the regiment again took garrison in Aschersleben.
Uniforms of the Westphalian cuirassiers and other regiments, according to Lienhart
  • In July 1809, the regiment was involved in the pursuit of the Black Duke's Black Company . On August 1, 1809, it was involved in the battle near Ölper . Despite long weeks of restless marching, most recently from Halle , and with a weather-related break of a day in enemy Hettstedt , the Duke of Braunschweig was able to withstand the too hesitant Westphalian pursuers and even to accept defectors from them. Nevertheless, he had to give way to the overwhelming power of the Westphalia and retreat via the friendly-minded Braunschweig (where his corps received further support), Hanover , Nienburg and Hoya , destroying all bridges crossed, to Elsfleth , where on August 7, 1809 despite the embarkation succeeded in the last attacks by Westphalian cuirassiers. By August 11th, the Brunswick troops had all escaped to Heligoland and the Black Duke reached safe London on August 14th . The Westphalian General Reubell was immediately removed from his post because of his indecisive action against the Duke and later fled to America.
  • The first Westphalian cuirassier regiment must have been billeted in Hamburg in 1809/10 , and was therefore included in the contemporary collection of the Suhr brothers, depicting the uniforms of all troops billeted in Hamburg from 1806 to 1815 .
  • From February 1810 the regiment returned to Aschersleben.
  • It is unclear whether it was used within the Westphalian contingent in Spain from 1808 to 1813.
  • The regiment was involved in the Russian campaign in 1812 . In March 1812 it was still assigned to the VIII (Westphalian) Corps of the Great Army, Heavy Cavalry Brigade, Brigadier General Hellmuth Graf von Lepel (total cavalry: 3374 men, 3659 horses). The commander of the first cuirassier regiment was Colonel Georg Ludwig Eitel von Gilsa (1775-1812), and the commander of the second cuirassier regiment was Colonel von Bastineller.
  • During the advance on the Vistula in August 1812, however, the two Westphalian cuirassier regiments under Brigadier General von Lepel were incorporated into the IV Latour-Maubourg Cavalry Corps and became part of the mixed 7th Heavy Cavalry Division under Division General Jean Thomas Lorge .
Senior Officer of the 1st Westphalian Cuirassier Regiment, 1812 (after Knötel)
  • On September 7, 1812, the regiment took part in the Battle of Borodino . After the rapid death of the commander of the Westphalian Cuirassier Brigade, General v. Lepel , it was apparently not very combative at first, see the following quote from Theodor Fontane's novel , reported from the perspective of a Saxon cuirassier:

... At the same time he ( Joachim Murat ) gave the order to attack, and we chased across the field in two large cavalry masses, one of these masses the six regiments of the Polish Ulan Division under General Rozniecki (we lost them soon afterwards), the other , of which I only have to tell, our cuirassier division de Lorges. But this also split up again, and just as the Polish Ulan Division had just broken out of our entire Latour-Maubourg Corps, so now, only a few minutes later, the Westphalian Brigade of Lepel broke away from our de Lorges cuirassier division. General von Lepel was considered the most beautiful officer in the Westphalian army; he was the darling of Friederike Katharinen, the wife of King Jérôme. We just saw him with his pallasch raised in front of his brigade, when a passport ball threw him from his horse. Wounded to death, he named his queen and died. But his brigade hesitated, turned sideways and only later intervened again in the course of the battle ...

In the case of Friedrich Engels , however, the regiment is mentioned as an active combatant:

.... A Polish cuirassier regiment completed the smashing of the Russian grenadiers, but they were driven back into the ravine, where the second column, two Westphalian cuirassier regiments and a Polish uhlan regiment, repulsed the Russians. When the ground was secured, Ney and Davout's infantry crossed the gorge .....

1st Westphalian cuirassier regiment, cuirassier and officer around 1809 (to Suhr)
1st Westphalian Cuirassier Regiment, uniform around 1809 (to Suhr)
  • On September 16, 1812, two days after Moscow was captured without a fight , the previous head of the regiment, Colonel von Gilsa, died of his wounds. On the loss-making retreat to the west, the regiment lost all horses, and at the end of 1812, from Vilna under the new commander, General v. Hammerstein , just under 20 survivors of the then Prussian Thorn , the meeting point for the remnants of the Westphalian contingent. The regiment was completed in Aschersleben from June to July 3, 1813.
  • The remaining crews of the two Westphalian cuirassier regiments, together with their depots, were formed in 1813 to form a brigade under General v. Bastineller used. On September 28, 1813, this brigade almost completely disbanded due to desertion when it was supposed to move against Cossacks and militants of the Russian General Chernyschow in front of Kassel.

uniform

  • From 1808 white skirt with old pink or red badge color . Pink piping on the lap pockets. Silver buttons. Collars, cuffs and borders were also pink, each with white piping (according to Suhr). Pink lapels without piping, with a white garnet in the corner. It is uncertain whether the regiment was already wearing a cuirass (breastplate) around 1809 . Officers wore white fringed epaulettes, men had red fringed epaulettes according to the French pattern. The caterpillar helmet was made of white metal with a black fur caterpillar and seal / leopard-brown (n. Lienhardt) or black (n. Knötel) fur trimmings (turban). The helmet comb, chin strap (scale chain) and umbrella fittings were made of brass or gold. There was also a gold-colored forehead shield on the helmet, which was connected to the comb and the initials "J. N “for Jérôme Napoléon between laurel branches or, in the case of the 2nd Cuirassier Regiment, the regimental number in a grenade symbol. A red or white spring stub was inserted on the left of the helmet.
  • From 1812 it can be proven that it had a full steel cuirass (otherwise: black half-cuirass after Prussian pattern). It is debatable whether the front shield on the helmet was retained after 1812. However, the modified, straighter, non-angled helmet shape at the front at the transition between the visor and fur trim, which corresponded to the general appearance of the French heavy cavalry, is very likely. Under the breastplate, the regiment wore a single-row buttoned white skirt without borders and piping in 1812. Collar, button placket, lap and cuffs in dusky pink or red badge color. It is possible that after the regiment was reorganized until September 1813, a short-tailed white uniform with straight borders in the color of the badge, white buttons, red epaulettes, and a bronze-colored caterpillar helmet with black fur trimmings based on the contemporary model of the French line Chevaulegers , without a cuirass, was worn.
Uniforms of the 1st Westphalian Cuirassier Regiment until 1813 (based on historical images in the NYPL)

literature

  • Friedrich Engels : Lexicon contribution “Borodino”; written around January 28, 1858 ("The New American Cyclopædia", Volume III)
  • FC Drosihn: Aschersleben in the 19th century. Aschersleben 1900, (reprint Naumburg 2000) ISBN 3-86156-041-0 ; P. 29
  • Fritz Lünsmann: The Army of the Royal Westphalia 1807-1813. Berlin 1935
  • Ulrich Bröckling , Michael Sikora : Armies and their deserters. Vandenhoeck collection. Göttingen 1998; ISBN 3-525-01365-5
  • H. Heitzer: Insurrections between Weser and Elbe. Popular movements against French rule in the Kingdom of Westphalia (1806–1813). Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1959.
  • Otto von Pivka: Men-at-Arms 44, "Napoleon's German Allies (1) Westfalia and Kleve-Berg", April 1992; ISBN 978-0-85045-211-2
  • F. Gieße: Kassel - Moscow - Küstrin 1812–1813. Diary kept during the Russian campaign. Leipzig, Verlag der Dykschen Buchhandlung, 1912, pp. 14-17
  • Franz Morgenstern : War memories of Colonel Franz Morgenstern from Westphalian times. Wolfenbüttel, Julius Zwisser, 1912, pp. 121-122
  • GF Nafziger: Napoleon's Invasion of Russia. Presidio Press, Novato, CA, 1998, pp. 478-498

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from June 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ According to Knötel: 1910. See grosser-generalstab.de ( Memento from December 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ A b Emil Straßburger: History of the City of Aschersleben, Neudruck Naumburg / Saale 2003, Vol. 2, p. 393.
  4. ↑ Central German nobility 1600-1900 as reflected in their wills
  5. ^ Regional portal , August Bernhard Christian Körte
  6. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Ostermann: Pictures of life from Harz and Börde. Pp. 60-61, Volume 1, Halle 1999; ISBN 3-933046-35-1
  7. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from March 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ http://www.napoleon-online.de/Dokumente/Westphalen_1809.pdf
  9. ^ Gustav Könnecke :  Dörnberg, Wilhelm Caspar Ferdinand Freiherr v. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, p. 353 f.
  10. ↑ The War in Saxony in 1809 depicted by Geißler and Sauerweid
  11. ↑ The battle at Ölper on August 1, 1809 ( Memento of April 9, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 31 kB)
  12. ↑ Havemann, Wilhelm : Geschichte der Lande Braunschweig and Lüneburg , Lüneburg 1837 , p. 364. Digitized at the BSB , accessed December 28, 2016
  13. ↑ http://www.napoleon-online.de/Bilder/Suhr_Tafel132.jpg
  14. ↑ http://home.germany.net/101-102451/zf/oob/1812-03-OOB-Westphalia.html
  15. ↑ Digitalized family tree, p. 87, accessed June 20, 2012
  16. ↑ http://home.germany.net/101-102451/zf/oob/1812-08-OOB-Westphalia.html
  17. ↑ http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Fontane,+Theodor/Romane/Vor+dem+Sturm/Dritter+Band/11.+Kapitel.+Borodino
  18. ↑ http://www.mlwerke.de/me/me14/me14_247.htm
  19. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Ostermann: Pictures of life from Harz and Börde. P. 61, volume 1, Halle 1999; ISBN 3-933046-35-1
  20. ↑ cf. Drosihn, p. 29
  21. ↑ a b - ( Memento of January 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  22. ↑ http://www.fuhrmann-figuren.de/sammlervorstellung/peter_styk/peter-styk-23.htm
  23. ↑ http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm