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The Anti-Swedish Coalition's Uniforms in
the Battle of Stresow
There are two different maps
showing how the coalition army's fortified camp looked like and in what
order the battalions stood. Both maps are included on this page and they are
also coloured by me to increase clarity. This means that
Danish-Norwegian battalions have red colour,
Saxons green, Prussians blue and
Swedes have yellow colour.
The numbering is the same in both maps and it is repeated in the captions to
the images showing how the Anti-Swedish coalition's uniforms looked like.
The map above comes from an
article previously published on Daniel Schorr's now defunct website. The
article seems however in its turn to have taken the map from Otto Vaupell's
work on the Danish-Norwegian army from the 19th century. Vaupell's map
appear to be the most frequently used in the literature (for example the
work by the Swedish General Staff: "Karl XII på slagfältet"), but it is
unfortunately of unknown provenience since no one has been able to locate
the source Vaupell used. For the other map the original is both known and
preserved. A facsimile of it is added as an appendix to the work by the
Danish General Staff: "Bidrag til den store nordiske krigs historie" and it
is shown further down on this page.
The coalition army consisted of
14 battalions and 35 squadrons but only the infantry and five squadrons had
landed when the battle of Stresow occurred. The combined strength should
therefore not have been more than 11 000 men infantry and 500 men cavalry. A
more detailed description of the army's strength, as well as the uniforms of
those regiments that did not participate in the battle, can be found on a
separate page.
Concerning uniforms the
greatest uncertainty is the Prussian army. They had during the War of the
Spanish Succession uniforms of the same cut as the Saxons, which was the
type of uniform almost all armies had at that time. But when Frederick
William I succeeded as King of Prussia in 1713 a series of military reforms
were initiated. Among other things the width of the uniform was reduced to
save money on cloth, eventually making it impossible to button the buttons.
They were also made more colourful by adding turnbacks and lapels. All this
was not done at once and the reduced amount of cloth was something that
evolved in time. The question however is exactly when the uniforms got the
classic "Prussian" look. This might have happened as early as 1715 and that
is how the Prussians are depicted below, but it is also possible that they
still looked like their Saxon allies.
The Prussians also
distinguished themselves by creating five temporary grenadier battalions for
the Rügen campaign. The soldiers in these battalions retained the uniforms
of their parent regiments which are described in detail
further down on this page.
In order to ease identification
of the Prussian regiments
I have also added (in parenthesis) the official regimental numbers which they
got during the reign of Frederick
the Great.
The Coalition Army's Fortified
Camp
10.
Prince of Holstein's grenadier battalion |
9. Sydow's grenadier
battalion |
11.
Billerbeck's grenadier
battalion |
12.
Barleben's
grenadier
battalion |
13.
Reinch's
grenadier
battalion |
17. Weissenfels' Regiment |
18. Dronningen's
Livregiment |
19. Norwegian Enlisted Reg. |
4. Second Trondhjemske Regiment |
5. Oldenburg Regiment
|
16. Kurprinz' Regiment |
24.
Anhalt-Dessau's Regiment |
20. Jyske Regiment |
3. Prince Georg's Regiment |
8.
Kamecke's Regiment |
15. Königin's Regiment |
21. Prince Carl's Regiment |
2. Livgarden til Fods
|
7.
Jung-Dohna
|
14. Ansbach-Kavanagh |
26. Gens d'Armes
(1 skvadron)
|
26. Horse Grenadiers
(2 squadrons) |
22. Fynske Regiment |
1. Grenadier Corps
|
6. Alt-Dönhoff |
26. Ansbach-Flemming
Dragoon Regiment
(2 squadrons) |
23. Prince Albrecht's Regiment |
The force on the map above with the number 25 consisted of 200 Saxons
detached from Kavanagh's Regiment. The map below from the Danish General
Staff state on the other hand that half the force were Prussians.
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