Back to the Prussians

IR22 Grenadier, NCO, Officer and Musician Uniforms (Bleckwenn)

I have been paying too much attention of late to my SYW Minden Austrian army (1:20 ratio), having added a regiment of cuirassiers (Anhalt Zerbst), artillery (3 x 3-pdrs and 1 x 12-pdr, plus ammo wagons) while my nephew Alex (Erbprinz Alex) has painted 2 battalions of the Wied infantry regiment and has another regiment of cuirassiers and dragoons in queue for my army.

So it is time to switch back over to the Prussians and add a few more units of infantry and cavalry to that army (bless them). I selected IR22 the Prinz Moritz regiment, which was "massacred at Kolin and heavily suffered at Zorndorf", in the words of Christopher Duffy. Dorn & Englemann indicate that the regiment lost 80% of its roster at Kolin: 26 officers and 1,165 men from its two battalions. I am inferring that some of these men were likely captured, as a number of them were exchanged in 1758, when the regiment was restored to full strength.

In 1758, it was part of the Pommeranian corps that joined Frederick's army at Zorndorf, where it fought on the right wing under the command of Dohna. In October of that year, the regiment was a part of the force that relieved Kolberg.

The regiment missed the battle of Kunersdorf, but later was part of the force that reinforced the King's shattered survivors of that battle. 

In 1760, IR22 served with the King's army again and took part in the unsuccessful siege of Dresden. It also fought at Torgau, although was mostly in a reserve role, thankfully. The regiment remained with the King's army during the 1761 and 1762 campaigns.

The regiment was a Pomeranian regiment and its garrison was at Stargard in Pommerania.

The uniform is shown in the Hans Bleckwenn uniform plate above, which depicts a typical Prussian blue coat, Prussian cuffs (tight) and red lapels. I was thinking that they had white breeches and waistcoat, but I was wrong. The small clothes are straw yellow. I really wanted a unit with white breeches to give me one with a classic Prussian uniform. I may switch over to IR20 Bornstadt, which was also at Kolin and suffered heavy losses there.

Below is a picture of the regimental colors and details of the grenadier mitre. I assume that the gentlemen pictured is Prinz Moritz.

IR22 Standard and Grenadier detail (Bleckwenn)

As of today, my Prussian (Minden) army has 6 battalions of musketeers, 2 battalions of fusiliers, 1 battalion of grenadiers, 1 jager regiment, and 2 battalions of IR/15 the Guard. I don't plan to use the Guards in many of my battles, so I need a couple of battalions to replace the Guards, so IR22 was my choice. I also need to add one battalion of grenadiers.