The Kingdom of Prussia 1815

Overview Prussia had suffered through the ravages of the napoleonic wars, their absolute low
point being the defeats in 1806 at the battles of Jena and Auerstädt. in these engagements the
old Prussian style of waging war, which had been formidable in the campaigns of frederick the
great, was embarrassed and found wanting in the face of french command and tactical
innovations. The Treaty of Tilsit that followed, dictated by napoleon, was extremely harsh. The
Prussian state was considerably reduced in size, losing territory to the new kingdom of westphalia,
the newly formed grand duchy of warsaw and along the elbe; france, also demanded a massive
reparation payment. To add insult to injury, the number of soldiers in the Prussian armed forces
had been capped, bonaparte attempting to ensure that Prussia would no longer be a problem. in
response to this cataclysm, Prussia created the military reform commission in 1807. The
commission contained forward-thinking Prussian military officers, men such as gerhard von
scharnhorst and carl von clausewitz. The commission instigated changes from top to bottom in the
Prussian Army, from the creation of the general staff service (that would later serve a united
germany into the 20th century), to more humane treatment of their soldiery. one clever
innovation allowed the Prussians to secretly train many thousands more men than their peace
treaty would have allowed. The Krumper system allowed a man to rotate out of the army once
trained, to be replaced by a new recruit. so while, on paper, the Prussians stuck to the terms
demanded by their french masters, the reality was they had far more than 40,000 men ready to
serve when the time came. That time came on the 16th of march 1813, when Prussia aligned
itself with russia and declared war on the hated french, determined to throw off napoleon’s grip.
The devastation wreaked by the russian winter on the grande Armée as it retreated in the final
months of 1812 gave this gamble a chance of success. The wars of Liberation had begun; the
reformed Prussian military had a huge part to play in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 which
would eventually see the demise of napoleon’s regime and his abdication. when war broke out
again in 1815, the ranks of the Prussian army were swelled with enthusiastic, but untrained
volunteers. The Prussian Army that marched westward had a backbone of hardened veterans, but
well over 50% were Landwehr militia. To add to Prussia’s troubles, and even before the campaign
got under way, 14,000 saxons and silesians, were disarmed and considered unusable in the
coming conflict following widespread mutiny. despite that, the army as a whole performed well
and contributed greatly to the success of the hundred days campaign. organisation of the Prussian
army was similar to that of britain and france: battalions of infantry and regiments of cavalry
supported by artillery batteries, all collected together to form brigades and corps. where the
Prussians differed was in the structure of their army at the brigade level. we have seen that those
of the french and british would be formed from perhaps two to seven infantry battalions or cavalry
regiments, but not so with the Prussians. The Prussian brigade of 1813 contained all arms; it was
larger than those of any other nation and in comparison rivalled a division in the british or french
armies for manpower. by the time of the waterloo campaign, the Prussian brigade system had
evolved further. The Landwehr regiments were fully integrated at brigade level and the structure
of the brigade itself had been refined, infantry and cavalry were separated into their own brigades
and artillery was placed as a corps asset. in the field, a major general took command of the
brigade. he had access to three infantry regiments and numerous small detachments of jägers.
one or two squadrons of light cavalry acted as his eyes and ears, and the whole force was
supported by a battery of artillery. The hundred days saw the Prussians acquit themselves well in
both the attack as at Plancenoit and when on the defence at Ligny. A true ally to Albion.
Prussian Infantry
The infantry consisted of fusiliers, musketeers, landwehr and jägers. regiments, consisting of
three battalions, were a tactical unit similar to those of the french. each regular Line regiment had
two musketeer battalions and one fusilier battalion, while the Landwehr regiments had three
battalions of musketeers. Jägers were usually broken down into companies and assigned to
brigades in ‘penny packets’. Prussian battalions contained four companies, each company divided
again into two platoons known as a Zug. none of the companies had elite designation as
grenadiers or light infantry. At full strength, a battalion would have 800 men, but losses usually
meant that the average was around 600. some of the battalions that fought at waterloo though
could only muster around 300 due to casualties suffered at Ligny. The musketeer was the
equivalent of a line infantryman in the french and british armies, whilst the fusiliers were light
infantry. Prussian infantry fought well, despite the Landwehr having an underbelly of untrained
recruits. This is reflected in our games of Black Powder by assigning Landwehr battalions the
Unreliable rule. Formations on the battlefield Prussian infantry could be seen in several formations
depending on the tactical situation. Those formations were the ‘angriffskolonne’ or attack column,
‘Zug’ column, column of march, Line, square or skirmish order. The Attack column rules are
suitable for the angriffskolonne is represented in Black Powder, whilst the Zug column can be
represented by the column of companies rules on page 33. when fighting in line, Prussian infantry
would form up three deep. The front rankers were the toughest men in the battalion, whilst the
third rank consisted of the better shots and the most agile. Line was a formation used to both
firefight with the enemy or close to get to use the bayonet. in Black Powder Prussians use the Line
formation rule. when a skirmish screen was required, the men of the third rank of a battalion were
used. This is represented in Black Powder by the mixed formation rule. square was used to protect
against cavalry, but the Prussians did not use the hollow square formation. instead they relied on
something that resembled an attack column with the outside ranks turned outwards to face the
threat. This formation was quick to form, but shockingly vulnerable to artillery fire. This is
represented in our games by the form Prussian square special rule below. Form Prussian Square
units with this rule must follow all the rules outlined on pages 74 and 75 of Black Powder, with a
few exceptions: • A Prussian infantry battalion in Attack column may deliver closing fire upon the
attacking cavalry. • Artillery firing upon Prussian square formations receives +2 to hit at close and
medium ranges. fusilier battalions and jägers used skirmish order when on the attack or in
defence. we use the Skirmish rule to represent this formation. Tough Fighters we allow Prussian
players to upgrade their units to Tough Fighters when playing against the hated french.
Musketeers
As we have seen, these troops are the Prussians’ Line infantry and the second most numerous
troop type available to a Prussian general. They were armed with the 1809 new Pattern musket,
the standard firearm for Prussian infantry, although swedish, british, french and russian models
could be found in service. The quality of the musketeer battalions did vary, as in any other army,
but on the whole they were solid and dependable soldiers. each regiment was not only numbered
but also had a provincial identification, for example the 12th brandenburg infantry and each
battalion was identified by number, so the first battalion of our brandenburg regiment would be
the 1/12 brandenburg.
Fusiliers
The fusiliers were the nimblest and most agile men in the infantry, led by intelligent and forward-
thinking officers, and armed with ordinary muskets. These men were a commander’s first port of
call if he required large numbers of skirmishers. The third battalion in a regiment was the fusilier
battalion, but it was not numbered, so following on from our example above the fusilier battalion
of the 12th brandenburg regiment would have been the fusilier/12 brandenburg.
landwehr
The militia and volunteers made up the ranks of the Landwehr. The formations that marched
during the hundred days were not of the poor quality that had gone before, and in the main these
men acted with bravery. one example during the battle of Ligny concerns the 2/1st westphalian
Landwehr battalion. when the regiment formed square in the face of attacks by cuirassiers and
guard heavy cavalry, the westphalians stood their ground stoically and repulsed the cavalry with
musketry. Landwehr regiments were incorporated into brigades either two-line to one Landwehr
regiment or, on occasions, two Landwehr regiments to one line regiment. Landwehr regiments
also trained their third rank to provide skirmishers. in early June 1815 blücher impressed upon
those Landwehr regiments that had not designated a battalion as a Light battalion to do so. These
‘light’ Landwehr battalions were to be trained extensively in skirmish tactics. This does leave the
door open for one Landwehr battalion in a regiment to have the skirmish rule available as an
option.
Jägers
The jägers were elite light infantrymen, marksmen and expert in the arts of skirmishing, usually
broken down in to company-sized units. Jägers were rifle armed, although there was not
widespread uniformity in the type of rifle used. The silesian rifles of the 1st infantry brigade are
included here.
CAvAlry
Although the Prussian Army did have guard cavalry and cuirassiers, none were present during the
hundred days campaign and blücher had to rely on dragoons, hussars, uhlans and Landwehr
regiments. The three former were line regiments, ten in total, whilst the latter comprised eight
militia regiments. cavalry were also formed into Line and Landwehr brigades, a brigade hosting
any type of cavalry regiment. The average squadron strength at waterloo was around 120 men
and a regiment should have fielded four squadrons in total, although lack of horses and
manpower meant that some only managed as few as two squadrons. some cavalry regiments
were broken up and assigned to infantry brigades, such squadrons usually being hussars or
Landwehr cavalry, and can be represented by Tiny or small regiments. Prussian cavalry regiments
can operate in Line, deep formation and march column.
dragoons
Prussian dragoons were like their equivalents in the british and french Armies; they were armed
with a carbine, pistols and a sabre. There were four dragoon regiments in the hundred days
campaign, two of which were at waterloo, the 2nd west Prussian and the 5th brandenburg
dragoons.
lIgHT CAvAlry
Uhlans
There were seven regiments of uhlans present. The lance was their primary weapon. Although
each regiment had three squadrons, by the day of waterloo there was a wide difference in the
number of men in each regiment. for example the 3rd uhlans had only 280 men, whilst the 1st
uhlans could still boast 640 men. uhlans rescued blücher, from under the noses of french
cuirassiers at Ligny.
Hussars
There were eight regiments of hussars in the Prussian Army during the hundred days, the most
numerous regular cavalry that the Prussians had available. Prusian hussars were light cavalry and
performed the same role as hussars in every other army of the time. They were armed with a
curved cavalry sabre, which was of a robust design, and two pistols.
landwehr Cavalry
Although Landwehr cavalry were armed with the deadly lance, they were not as proficient as the
uhlans. it should also be remembered that these horsemen were militia units and not heavily
engaged during the campaign. The Landwehr regiments were the most numerous type of Prussian
cavalry available to blücher. each Landwehr regiment had three squadrons.
Artillery
Prussia, like britain and france, had both foot and horse batteries available. The normal make up
of those batteries was six 6-pounders and two 7-pounder howitzers. batteries were assigned at
brigade level, usually one battery per brigade. The army’s artillery reserve boasted five further
artillery batteries and these batteries were brutes: six 12-pounders and two 10-pounder howitzers.
Prussian artillery batteries were served by approximately 140 men, although only about half were
gunners.