SYW Winterfeldt Brigade

The Winterfeldt Brigade in Formation. Click or double click all pictures to enlarge the view.

My SYW armies are organized into brigades of two regiments, each having two battalions, thus four battalions in each of my brigades. For every regiment of two battalions, I assign one 3-pound battalion cannon. The brigade also has one munitions wagon - in my Der Alte Fritz rules for the SYW, I limit the amount of ammunition that a battalion of infantry or a gun section in an artillery battery can fire before it runs out of ammo. The unit can replenish its ammunition by spending one full turn attached to the wagon. It can do nothing else while it is replenishing ammunition.

Each of my Prussian brigades has a brigade commander and he lends his name to the name of the brigade. Thus, my Winterfeldt Brigade is commanded by Major General Hans Karl von Winterfeldt. The Winterfeldt Brigade is comprised of IR1 - Winterfeldt and IR5 - Alt Braunschweig. During the SYW the regiments were only known by the inhaber's name. The "IR - Infantry Regiment" designation came about well after the conclusion of the SYW.

My regiments consist of two battalions. They are distinguished from each other by the flags that they carry (by the way, all flags shown on this posting are made by GMB Designs in the UK). The first battalion of a regiment carries the Colonel's predominantly white colored flag (Leibfahnen) and the colored regimental flag (Regimentfahnen). The second battalion in my organization carries two colored regimental flags. In actuality, the battalion would have carried five flags, one for each of the five companies that were in the battalion. However, like many wargamers, I have chosen not to use all five flags in my battalions.

The picture below shows the brigade's officers with the brigadier mounted on a round base and the two regimental officers mounted on the rectangular bases. The command stands are also shown below. Each of my battalions has five stands with six figures per stand.

General Winterfeldt (center) and his regimental commanders and color bearers.

The picture below illustrates the full brigade in a column of battalions. The Winterfeldt regiment is at the front of the column (on the right in the picture) and the Alt Braunschweig regiment at the back of the column.

The Brigade in a column of battalions.

The colonel of the regiment, called an Inhaber, gave his name to the regiment. The Inhaber would not necessarily be with his regiment while on campaign. For example, Major General Hans von Winterfeldt was commanding higher troop organizations of the army, such as a wing of the army, rather than his own regiment. In some cases, the inhaber title was given as a ceremonial gift as a courtesy to someone important or influential.

For example, Prinz Georg of Darmstadt was the ceremonial inhaber of IR12 during the SYW, but he was aligned with the Austrians. Crown Prince Peter of Russia, the future Tsar Peter II, was made the inhaber of one of Frederick's regiments to curry his favor.

The Winterfeldt Regiment (IR1)

The Winterfeldt Regiment  (IR1) was the senior infantry regiment in the Prussian army of the 18th Century. Coincidentally, it was the first regiment that I painted when I was creating my Minden Miniatures Prussian army. 

The regiment was held in high regard by Frederick the Great:

"It's true, I always considered the Winterfeldt regiment as brave, but today it has surpassed all my expectations. I shall never forget it."

[Frederick at Hochirch]

The Winterfeldt Brigade.

The Alt Braunschweig Regiment (IR5)

The Alt Braunschweig Regiment (IR5) is the second regiment in the Winterfeldt Brigade and Frederick rated it as a "good" regiment. Notably, the 15 of the regiment's officers were awarded the Pour le Merite medal for their bravery and conduct at the Battle of Rossbach. The regiment was garrisoned at Magdeburg during peace time and its inhaber was Lieutenant General Ferdinand of Brunswick (later promoted to Field Marshal).

IR5 - Alt Braunschweig Regiment

This concludes the summarization of my Prussian infantry organization in my Minden Miniatures army. My Prussian army has two other infantry brigades: Itzenplitz (IR13 and IR22) and the Guards & Grenadiers Brigade. A fourth brigade is a work in progress with only one regiment, IR49 von Diericke, painted and ready to fight on the wargame table for now.