Depictions of the English-German Legion's Uniforms.

The English-German Legion (King’s German Legion) is one of the most famous units of the Napoleonic Wars. Founded in 1803, it consisted of infantry, cavalry and artillery and was recruited primarily from officers, NCOs and privates of the former Hanoverian army. Later, other nationalities were also accepted, except for Frenchmen and Italians. The uniforms followed the British model, as did the organizational structure of the respective units. However, the typical (Waterloo) shako was initially worn by the infantry of the English-German Legion and was only introduced into the British army in 1812.

The corps included, in the infantry, 8 line battalions, 2 light battalions; in the artillery, 2 mounted batteries, 4 foot batteries; and in the cavalry, 2 dragoon regiments, 3 light dragoon regiments (hussars), as well as an engineers' corps. The English-German Legion reached its greatest strength at 28,000 men.

Units of the English-German Legion were employed particularly in Spain. The defense of the La Haye Sainte farmhouse in the Battle of Waterloo (18.05.1815) by soldiers of the English-German Legion is legendary. According to Philip Haythornthwaite, the six line battalions engaged at Waterloo had a total strength of 2,525 men and suffered losses of 36 officers and 754 men. The loss of the two light battalions amounted in total to 26 officers and 321 men, their original strength being 860 men in all.

Because of the special merits of the English-German Legion in the Battle of Waterloo, two years of service were credited to every participant of the said corps in that battle and a silver Waterloo medal was awarded.

The outward appearance of the English-German Legion according to B. v Poten, Des Königs Deutsche Legion 1803 bis 1816, 1905, p. 34 ff.

"The uniform of the Legion was in general that worn by the rest of the British army. However, many deviations occurred. They are partly attributable to the manner in which the troop was formed, where the choice was left to the discretion of the two officers who recruited the battalions, partly they were a consequence of the wide-ranging independence granted to the commanding colonels by the service regulations in this respect, which the funds at their disposal put them in a position to exploit, and partly they can be explained by the personalities of some of these officers who wanted something special for their corps.

The most commonly represented color of the base cloth was scarlet red, as it had been at home and as the kings of Welf descent had introduced it in England. The general staff and their staffs, the line battalions and the engineer officers were dressed in red; likewise the heavy dragoons until they were converted into light dragoons and thereby received the dark blue cloth color that was also worn by the hussars and the artillery; the two light battalions were clothed in green."

The tunic of the generals, their staffs, the engineers and the officers of the line infantry was a long-tailed coat, which for the latter was replaced in 1812 by a short-tailed one, like that which the ranks had always had, dark blue for the engineers, violet-blue, perhaps with black collars, cuffs and skirt facings, which for the generals and the staffs were white, for the coats of the line infantry probably blue, perhaps also white.

The tunic of the artillery was initially generally a short-tailed, dark-blue coat with red collar, cuffs and skirt facings; but when after some years a dolman replaced it for the British horse artillery, the mounted batteries of the Legion adopted this garment.

The two dragoon regiments wore, as long as they were "heavy", long-tailed coats, in the 1st regiment with dark-blue, in the 2nd with black collars, cuffs and skirt facings; when they were converted into "light" on 25 December 181 (sic), they were to receive dark-blue jackets with red facings, collars and cuffs, but the men were only clothed in these at the opening of the 1815 campaign.

Of the hussar regiments it seems that the 1st, whose organizer was General von Linsingen, first, corresponding to its official designation as "Light Dragoon Regiment", wore the uniform of the Hanoverian "9th Cavalry Regiment Her Majesty the Queen's Light Dragoons" which he had formerly commanded: a blue jacket with red trimming and yellow braid; but soon, as with the British light dragoons, the hussar uniform took its place; the two younger regiments wore it from the outset. At first it was only the dolman; when Colonel von Reden, upon the formation of the 3rd regiment, to have something ahead, provided it with red-lined pelisses, the other two soon followed him. Collars and cuffs were for the 1st regiment scarlet, for the 2nd white, for the 3rd yellow; the braid on the 1st and 2nd was yellow, on the 3rd white; the fur on the 1st and 3rd black, on the 2nd white.

The aforementioned independence granted to the commanding colonels is reflected particularly in the outward appearance of the light battalions. It differed not only completely from that shown by the British troops, but was also uneven among themselves. The green of the 1st battalion was lighter than that of the 2nd; collars and cuffs were black on both, the cut entirely different. The 1st had a jacket with a very short skirt, the 2nd wore the dolman, for the officers with black silk braid, for the ranks without such, but with three rows of buttons.

The buttons of the uniform were hemispherical for the officers, flatter for the ranks — apart from those dressed as hussars; the officers' coats had two rows of buttons, the ranks' coats a single row, on the surface of which various embossings were applied: the Royal cypher, a crown, crossed sabers, a hunting horn, the unit name on ribbons, initial letters of the former without such, etc.

They were yellow for the generality, staffs, the engineers, artillery, the heavy and the 1st light dragoons, the 1st and 2nd hussars and the line infantry; white for the 3rd hussars, the 2nd light dragoons and the light battalions.

The embroidery richly applied on the collar, cuffs and chest of the generals', staffs', engineers', artillery, heavy dragoons' and infantry officers' coats was golden; accordingly, the men's coats had braid trim, which for the infantry was white interwoven with blue (worm in the lace).

The headgear for officers was mainly the triangular black hat, with a cockade of the same color and a plume with a red base and white tip, worn cocked crosswise in service so that the points faced the shoulders. It was worn by the generals, the staffs, the engineers, the artillery officers until about 1811 when for the foot batteries' men the shako (cap) and for the mounted a bearskin helmet took its place; the officers and men of the heavy dragoons, in whose helmets, when they were shipped to the Peninsula, an iron sheet cross was inserted, and the officers of the line battalions, until they received the men's shako in 1812. The light dragoons also received a shako. The hussars initially wore a similar headdress, the kasket; but when Colonel von Redern replaced this in the 3rd regiment by a black fur cap with a red bag, the other two regiments soon copied it. The black shako was also worn by the 1st light battalion, the 2nd wore a winged cap.

Leg and footwear for the generals and their staffs consisted of white trousers and Hessian boots reaching to mid-calf, with attached spurs which at that time began to displace buckle spurs; for the engineers grey pantaloons with gold stripes; likewise, but with red stripes, for the officers of the foot artillery, whose ranks wore trousers of the same color without trimmings, lace-up shoes and black leather gaiters into which the trousers could be tucked; for the horse artillery the trousers and boots of the generals; likewise for the heavy dragoons, whose boots, however, were somewhat higher and had buckle spurs; for the light dragoon regiments, the 2nd and 3rd hussars, as well as for the infantry long grey trousers, for the 1st hussars dark-blue trousers, officers' with silver or gold trimming, additionally for the ranks of the entire infantry lace-up shoes and gaiters like those of the foot artillery.

All arms had greatcoats, blue with shoulder straps for the mounted, grey for the unmounted. On the Peninsula, where hot days were often followed by cold nights, woollen blankets were sometimes issued to the latter instead of the greatcoats (chenilles).

Insignia for the generals consisted of aiguillettes, chevrons and the aforementioned embroidery or its absence; for staff officers, except those of the hussars and the light battalions where there were no distinguishing marks, in epaulettes with thick or thin fringes on both shoulders, for captains on the right; for subaltern officers in "wings" (shoulder rolls) of yellow or white metal, as those worn by the ranks of the heavy dragoons, the line and the light battalions from woolen material. The rank of NCOs was indicated by chevrons of gold or silver lace. The sergeant major had 4 with a crown above, the sergeant 3, the quartermaster sergeant and the ensign 2, the corporal 1 on the right upper sleeve.

A common insignia for almost all officers was the sash wound around the waist, a gold one interwoven with red silk for the generals, a red-silk one for all others. The sergeant major, who was dressed almost like the officers, also had one; for the sergeants it was made of red woven wool. The hussars and the 2nd light battalion had the hussar sash, the light dragoons a cross-belt.

For use in garrison there was a secondary uniform for the ranks, which in place of the large headdress adopted a blue cloth cap of various form, otherwise usually consisting of a sleeveless waistcoat, long drill trousers or such with gaiters of the same fabric and shoes; the commanding colonels acted at their own discretion in this matter.

Officers likewise had considerable leeway in this respect and often acted according to their own preference outside of service, particularly when it came to the choice of caps, trousers and boots. For the generals and their staffs there was a simple blue uniform without shoulder cords and embroidery.

A peculiarity originating from the English, not transferred into the Hanoverian army, were the "badges", metal plates with designs, initials or numbers, which were often attached to clothing and equipment. Knötel's illustrations show an example on the shoulder straps of an officer and a soldier of the line infantry."

Text for the above images.

Image 139 - Sharpshooters, officer. From each battalion, according to old Kurhannover custom, a special sharpshooter detachment was assembled, which counted 1 officer and 57 men. During their stay in Spain, these detachments formed a sharpshooters' corps under the command of a staff officer.

Image 140 - Line battalion, sharpshooter. These sharpshooters were provided with a particularly distinguished uniform and equipped with hunting rifles like the light battalions and with hunting knives. The remaining infantry, on the other hand, carried a smoothbore flintlock musket with bayonet.

Image 141 - Line battalion, musketeer. The line battalions wore the red coat of the English infantry, together with blue facings as distinction, because the Legion bore the name of the King. One distinguished centre and flank companies. Initially the battalions counted only 6, then 8 - 10 companies. The tradition of the line battalions was continued by Fusilier Regiment 73.

Image 142 - Line battalion, drummer. Each company of the line battalions had a drummer. The drum major commanded the music corps (band), and in each company one soldier also served as a second drummer or piper. The music corps had a very colorful uniform, but were not uniformly dressed.

Image 143 - 1st light battalion, non-commissioned officer. The two light battalions had green uniforms with black facings. Characteristic for the 1st light battalion were the shoulder rolls or wings. The leather equipment was black, the buttons silver. The tradition of the two light battalions was taken over by Jäger Battalion 10.

Image 144 - 2nd light battalion, officer. Striking is the winged cap. Members of the battalion were permitted to wear moustaches braided as cords. In the defense of La Haye Sainte on 18.06.1815 the battalion earned high renown. In remembrance the 10 Jägers wore the (shako) helmet inscription: Peninsula - Waterloo - Venta de Pozzo.