Okay, Russian 7 years war artillery wore red, but did the battalion guns wear red or the standard infantry green?
Thanks in advance.
This is from the Kronoskaff entry on Russian battalion guns;
At the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, each Russian infantry regiment could rely on four 3-pdrs guns accompanied by 8 munition wagons. Each gun had 2 small 6-pdrs mortars affixed to its carriage. In battle, these pieces were intended to be deployed in the front of the regiment. Observation Corps had Shuvalov howitzers instead of mortars.
Until 1756, there were no officer directly responsible for regimental artillery. In October 1756, infantry regiment was assigned an officer responsible for the organisation of gun crews. This officer was subordinated to the regiment commander.
During the campaign of 1757, the artillery attached to each regiment was reinforced by 7ΒΌ-pdrs Shuvalov howitzers.
After 1758, this changed to 4 unicorns (8, 10 and 20-pdrs) for each regiment (5 by 1759). Toward the end of the war, some 8-pdrs guns were assigned to infantry.
Each regiment had a little detachment of artillerymen supplied directly by the Artillery Corps:
1 NCO
5 gunners
10 fusiliers
15 labourers (to manoeuvre the guns).
Artillery ammunitions were packed in 10 caissons with a 2 horse's team. The complete reserve per regiment was 750 cannon balls and cartouches (75 per caisson).
http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Russian_Line_Infantry_Organisation
So 30 personnel and 1 NCO for 5 guns sounds like they could be crewed completely by the attached artillerists, but perhaps men from the regiment supplemented them where necessary?
What can i say, the speed of the reply took my breath away.
so the odds are they were in red with some squaddies to add muscle in the standard infantry uniform.
Many thanks :)
8 minutes 9 seconds ... I thought he was a bit slow tonight. He's normally sitting at the keyboard poised as the Pendraken question bank QRF. :-\
Quote from: howayman on 19 June 2013, 09:49:37 PM
What can i say, the speed of the reply took my breath away.
so the odds are they were in red with some squaddies to add muscle in the standard infantry uniform.
Many thanks :)
It was usual in most armies right up to the Napoleonic period for infantrymen to be seconded to the battalion guns for hauling and heaving. So you are almost certainly correct when you say there may be a few standard uniforms amongst the red.
Didn't Russian infantry often fight in just their red waistcoats?
They did in summer.
Yes - from Kronosaf I remember reading that it was red sleeved waistcoats in summer. If I had done the original plan of SYW (not WSS) I was in a quandry- I really wanted them in green.