Saturday 16 November 2019

Bavarian Field Artillery and the Salzburg Nationalmiliz

In the structure of the Napoleonic Bavarian military there were several levels of reservists. The first level were reservists for the line units. The second level were the Nationalmiliz Mobile Legions, sometimes  called Kries battalions because they were organised by province, or ‘Kreis' and charged with defending the national borders. They were only meant to be called up in emergencies.

After the loss of most of the Bavarian army in Russia in the 1812 Campaign radical changes to the recruitment programme were required. The Nationalmiliz Mobile Legions became the building blocks for the armed forces. Each Kries was to raise a mobile legion of four infantry battalions each of four companies providing an auxiliary defence force of 36 battalions with a total of 21,500 other ranks. While some battalions received exemptions that meant they did not have to serve outside the national borders, between one third and one half of the Bavarian army that took the field in 1813 consisted of Mobile Legions.

Since I have picked the Second Division of the Bavarian Army at the Battle of Hannau, I need four battalions of Mobile Legion. The Salzburg battalion, below, is the first of those battalions. Since this is a militia battalion I deliberately based the figures a little more irregularly than I would normally do.





Also completed is a six-pound gun and crew.




The limber for this set is on the painting table now.

14 comments:

  1. Very, very cool! I can hear the slightly ragged steps of the new units.

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  2. Nice! I never gave much thought to Bavarian militia in 1813 before now.

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    1. Yes it surprised me too. I thought maybe a battalion or two in the army, but at Hannau they numbered six out of the seventeen battalions.

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  3. This infantry is awesome, congrats!

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  4. That’s a lovely looking unit Mark...
    The simple uniforms and shakos give give a very different look to the Bavarians... This is one of my favourite armies...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly. It is one of my favourites too. I did an army in 15mm many yeas ago but was reluctant to repeat it in 28mm because another member of the group already has them, but his are 1809 types so I feel I can get away with doing an 1813 force.

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  5. Great work and Iain agree with how easy you it is to overlook the role of the Bavarian militia. 1813 offers some nice variety and surprises in army composition.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence. I am enjoying these very much.

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  6. Lovely looking slightly ragged infantry and a really nice artillery piece!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you Iain.I think that even in their ragged line they still look rather smart.

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  7. I avoided Bavarian units without Raupenhelm but they do look nice! Great work!

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    1. Yes the shako does make a nice difference, it is just a shame that the facings are all the same...it would be nice to have some uniqueness to the units.

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