Freytag's Corps

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Freytag's Corps

Kurhannoversches Freytagsches Jäger-Corps Gmunden magnificent work (retouched) .jpg

Mounted hunter of the Freytag Corps (1760)
active 1757 to 1763
Country Kurhannover
Armed forces Kurhannoversche Army
Branch of service Infantry , cavalry
structure Infantry with 6 companies, mounted 6 companies
Strength 2,497 men
owner 1757 Count von der Schulenburg - 1759 Wilhelm von Freytag
Tribe list List of the regiments of the Electorate of Brunswick and Lüneburg
Trunk number no -
Wars & Major Battles Seven Years War : Hastenbeck 1757, Krefeld 1758, Minden 1759, Bergen 1759
Corps foothunters (1760)

The Freytag'sche Corps was a military Kurhannoversches Frei-Corps founded in 1757 during the Seven Years' War .

history

Formation history

After the First Silesian War , Frederick II created particularly agile troops in the form of hussars and hunters . Following this example, Hanover set up several hussar and hunter corps as a light troop during the Seven Years' War for the leadership of the so-called Small War . The chief hunter Christian Günther Graf von der Schulenburg (1684–1765) in Hanover was entrusted with the establishment of one of these corps. He formed in 1757 a hunter-Corps on horseback and on foot, initially two companies walking under the captain Dykhoff and Baring and two small companies to horse among the Ride Masters Frederick and Ompteda. At first the Corps was only 400 mounted and 1,250 foot hunters strong.

Since Schulenburg was permanently absent as the official chief of the corps , the former major and staff officer of the two foot companies, Wilhelm von Freytag , became its representative and in 1759, meanwhile promoted to colonel , was also officially commander of the entire corps.

The troops were deployed under the command of Duke Ferdinand von Braunschweig on the theaters of war in Westphalia , Hesse and Hanover. The successes of the unit led to the gain, and it was after incorporation of the Stockhausen Corps eventually everyone on six companies of weapon equipped with a total of 2,497 men.

In 1763 the Freicorps consisted of 3 mounted companies and 4 companies on foot. After the end of the war, the total strength of the army was significantly reduced and the irregular corps were disbanded. The mounted units were transformed with other light troops in 1763 into the two light dragoon regiments , 1st Queen Light Dragoon Regiment and 2nd Prince Wallis Light Dragoon Regiment, whose command was given to Freytag.

Participation in combat operations (excerpt)

During the entire war, the unit was intensively involved in the guerrilla warfare. On July 26, 1757, the Freytag'sche Corps took part in the Battle of Hastenbeck . The foot hunters were positioned on the Obensburg , while the mounted hunters were entrusted with the reconnaissance in front of the right wing.

The importance of the partisanship war was shown in the campaign of Duke Ferdinand von Braunschweig, who had taken over the command of the allied army of Cumberland from the end of November 1757 and drove the French army, weakened after the Battle of Roßbach , from the area around Bremen to across the Rhine, without fighting a major battle. In the course of this campaign, Major Freytag with 50 hunters on horseback and a company on foot surprised a French transport on the Ilmenau near Handorf on December 1, 1757 and took possession of Lüneburg with his light troops on December 3 , whereby he left considerable amounts behind Secured supplies.

On May 26, 1758, 160 men of the unit were subordinate to the Wangenheim'schen Korps, which camped in Dorsten . On May 31, this corps accompanied Duke Ferdinand on his offensive on the west bank of the Rhine. In the Battle of Krefeld on June 23, it was used on the left wing under the command of Lieutenant General von Spörcken . On July 10th, Freytag's hunters fought together with Luckner's hussars in an outpost battle near Sichertshausen , on July 16 as part of the Isenburg corps in an Arriere Guard battle near Schönbach and Cölbe , and continued in skirmishes on the retreat to Kassel until July 20, respectively against the French Freikorps Fischer. On August 9th, Freytag's hunters attacked 300 enemy horsemen near Salzderhelden . With 150 hunters and 2 guns, Freytag captured Trendelburg Castle on September 21 and took part in the bombardment of Münden on September 26 . In the battle near Lutterberg on October 10th, the Jägerkorps was under the command of Lieutenant General Oberg.

After various skirmishes in the spring of 1759, part of the Freikorps fought on April 13, 1759 in the Battle of Bergen , where it was assigned to the avant-garde. After French outposts were repulsed, Freytag's light troops occupied Marköbel , northeast of Bergen. In June five companies of the regiment were part of the main Allied army under the command of Duke Ferdinand von Braunschweig, and five other companies were in Hesse. On June 5, Colonel Freytag was involved in the attack near Elberfeld , fighters of the corps fought on June 13-14 at Fürstenberg and Wünnenberg against advance troops under d'Auvet, and others. a. Volontaires de Dauphiné and Turpin Hussars. From July 4th to 8th, Freytag led a series of skirmishes near Hemeln , Bursfelde , Dransfeld , Münden and Witzenhausen .

On August 1, the Freikorps took part in the Battle of Minden . On August 4th it was assigned to the contingent under the command of the Hessian general Johann Wilhelm Rudolph von Urff , who was sent to Paderborn via Lemgo , Detmold and Lippspringe . On August 5, 1759, Urff's contingent intercepted a large French entourage in Detmold, captured the approximately 800 accompanying troops and captured the Saxon war chest , Contade's confidential correspondence and the luggage of numerous high-ranking officers. On August 23, 1759, Freytag was involved in skirmishes to surrender Ziegenhain .

At the beginning of September 1761, Colonel Freytag was involved in battles near Osterode and Herzberg. In the battle of Wilhelmsthal on June 24, 1762, hunters on horses of the Freytag Corps were deployed. On July 14, 1762, the corps was involved in the battle at the Eder Bridge at Gensungen , on August 9, 1762 in the skirmish near Spangenberg, on August 26, 1762 in the skirmish near Cayenfeld. On September 15, 1762, Freytag, now as Major General, led 800 hunters on foot and 400 hunters on horseback in battles near Alsfeld , where another battle broke out on September 27.

Freytag's Freikorps around 1760: front (left): mounted hunter; back (right): foothunters and grenadiers

Uniformity

Hunter infantry

The foothunters wore an all dark green uniform with silver buttons, and they wielded a drawn rifle . Former foresters carried rifles and hag hunters , the rest of the soldiers carried rifles with bayonets . In addition to the foot hunters, there were also special grenadier companies with the casket as headgear.

Riding hunters

Largely identical to the foothunter's uniform, except for cavalry armament and riding equipment.

See also

Wilhelm von Freytag Hannoversches Jäger Battalion No. 10

literature

  • Hans Bleckwenn : The Frederician uniforms: 1753 - 1786 (=  The bibliophile paperbacks . No. 444 ). Hardenberg, Dortmund 1984, ISBN 3-88379-444-9 , pp. 169 f . (License from the Biblio-Verlag Osnabrück as: The Old Prussian Army; Part 3, Vol. 3, 4 and 5).
  • Joachim Niemeyer, Georg Ortenburg (ed.): The Chur-Braunschweig-Lüneburg Army in the Seven Years War. The "Gmunden magnificent work" . Publishing house Bernh. Vogel, Beckum 1976, OCLC 4833236 , pp. 76 ff . (on behalf of the German Society for Heereskunde e.V. and the KLIO).
  • Ingo Kroll: Battle calendar of the Allied Army 1757 - 1762 . Books on Demand , Norderstedt 2013, ISBN 3-7322-8113-2 , pp. 12 f .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Note in ADB, here last paragraph
  2. ↑ cf. Kroll, 2013, p. 12
  3. ↑ Private project Kroskraf retrieved July 28, 2014
  4. ↑ According to Scharnhorst , the Hanoverian hunters carried the most perfect rifles of the time