Wurttemberg standards 1809-14

Brilliant thanks Stephen

My pleasure Peter. However, I feel I should warn you that I've just taken another look at the descriptions of the flags in the book and some of the information given does appear to be contradictory. For example, on page 35, which deals with the colours carried by Infantry Regiment No. 7 (which confusingly became Infantry Regiment No. 8 in 1814), there are two paragraphs about the flags the regiment carried.

The first says:

"The 1811 colours were not awarded until 1813. Each battalion carried one of the same colour. On the distribution of colours in 1814, the first battalion carried two of these colours and the 2nd two of the 1798 ones."

The second says:

"On the distribution of colours in 1814, the 1st battalion carried two of the 1807 colours and the 2nd two of the 1798 ones formerly belonging to Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 2 Herzog Willhelm."

So I think it is fair to say that this book hasn't completely cleared up the confusion surrounding the standards carried by Wurttemberg battalions!

Thanks Marcus,

I will look forward to your book. As far as I know, Wurttemberg was the only army of the period where two identical flags were issued to individual battalions. It would be interesting to know the thinking behind this? I can't believe they were given a spare in case they lost one - so is it possible that two flags were issued so that if the battalion was split into 'wings' in the field, each wing still had a standard? This is pure speculation on my part. I have no idea whether splitting a battalion into wings was even a practice in the Wurttemberg army of the time.

Best wishes

Stephen

Thanks so much Markus

Thanks Hans-Karl , I’m still wondering if they actually carried 1 or 2 flags per battalion in the field

Hi Peter,

I have also been trying to work out how many standards the Wurttemberg infantry carried in the field in 1812 . According to Rawkins the 1807 pattern flags were issued in 1811 to the second battalions of all the infantry regiments except the 7th and 8th, which received flags for both battalions. He goes on to say that the 7th and 8th received two flags for each battalion "to be carried by the 1st Companies." This does suggest that each of these battalions did carry two standards in the field.

However, I think at this stage the first battalions of regiments 1-6 only had one flag apiece (regiments 1-5 carrying repainted 1798 pattern flags and regiment 6 carrying an 1806 pattern flag). So it could be that the first battalions carried one flag and the second battalions carried two. But this sounds a bit unlikely.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is, I don't know the answer!