Kurbayern Infantry
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Contents
Origin and History
On February 14 1757, at the beginning of the Seven Years' War, an assembly at Mühldorf established the theoretical contribution of each principality as presented in the following table.
| Principality | Men | |
|---|---|---|
| Electorate of Bavaria, including Leuchtenberg Wolfstein Maxelrein |
1,540 36 6 16 Total of 1,598 | |
| Bishopric of Freysing | 110 | |
| Bishopric of Regensburg | 75 | |
| Imperial County of Breiteneck | 6 | |
| Grand Total | 1,789 men |
N.B.: The Bishop of Freysing and Regensburg was the brother of the Elector of Bavaria. The Imperial County of Breiteneck belonged to the Baron von Gumppenberg placed under the protection of the Electorate of Bavaria.
In June 1757, the Bavarian District contributed two regiments to the Reichsarmee. One of these regiments was the Kreisinfanterieregiment Kurbayern. It consisted of 3 battalions (among which there were 2 grenadier companies) and six 4-pdr battalion guns. These battalions came from the following regular infantry regiments:
- I./Infanterie-Regiment von Pechmann (no grenadier company)
- II./Infanterie-Regiment von Pechmann (no grenadier company)
- I./Infanterie-Regiment von Holnstein
Each fusilier company totalled 130 men (all ranks) and each grenadier company, 100 men (all ranks). The nominal strength of the regiment was 1,760 men (all ranks), plus its regimental staff. However, in May 1758, the regiment counted only 1,373 men.
During the Seven Years' War, the successive Chefs of the regiment were:
- no information available yet
During the Seven Years' War, its successive commanders were:
- no information available yet
Service during the War
In June 1757, the newly assembled regiment joined the Reichsarmee. However, the two grenadier companies of Pechmann Infantry remained at the Fortress of Rothenberg. In November, the regiment was sent to Freiberg. By August 5, the regiment counted 1,525 men fit for duty. On November 5, it did not take part in the Battle of Rossbach, being stationed at Weißenfels. The Prince de Soubise, commander of the French contingent, rated the various units of the Reicharmee, considering the Kurbayern Regiment as "good".
In 1758, the regiment served at Sebastiansberg and at the Fortress of Sonnenstein near Dresden.
In 1759, the regiment served at Dresden. By mid-August, during the Austro-Imperial campaign in Saxony, the regiment was attached to Zweibrücken's Corps. On September 21, it probably took part in the combat of Korbitz (aka first combat of Meissen) where it was deployed in Stolberg's Division. It also took part in an action at Dippoldiswalde.
On August 20 1760, the regiment took part in the Combat of Strehla. On September 27, it was at the engagement of Torgau. Later the same year, it saw action at the engagement near Wittenberg.
In 1761, the regiment was at camp of Plauen in Saxony.
On October 29 1762, the regiment took part in the Battle of Freiberg.
Uniform
Each contingent forming the regiment seems to have retained it uniform until June 1757. Therefore for information on the uniforms prior to 1757 please refer to our articles on Pechmann Infantry and Holnstein Infantry. From 1757 Pechmann regiment had a new uniform, almost similar to Holnstein one:
Privates
| Headgear |
| ||||||||||||
| Neckstock | red | ||||||||||||
| Coat | Austrian style blue coat with 3 yellow buttons under the lapel and 1 yellow button in the small of the back
| ||||||||||||
| Waistcoat | straw | ||||||||||||
| Breeches | straw | ||||||||||||
| Gaiters | black | ||||||||||||
| Leather Equipment |
|
Colours
About the colours of the Bavarian infantry regiments , we know some models in use during the first part of the 18th century, before 1740; we know 4 models of flags which were in use between 1742 and 1745 and we also know the two models created in 1786 after the reunification of the bavarian and palatinate armies. So, between 1745 and 1786, information are unfortunately very scarce. The following descriptions represent an "educated guess" based on these few sources.
Bavarian regiments carried 2 colours per battalion. The first battalion of each regiment carried the Leibfahne and a Kompaniefahne while other battalions carried two Kompaniefahne.
For Pechmann contingent, we know that, since 1757, the Leibfahne was of the 1750s pattern but carried the crowned golden coat of arms of Bavaria in each of its corners :
 Pechmann's Leibfahne since 1757 – Source: Frédéric Aubert |
So, we think that, for Holnstein contingent, the flags were also of the 1750s pattern (but without the crowned golden coat of arms of Bavaria in each of its corners) :
 Holnstein's Leibfahne in 1757 (?) – Source: Frédéric Aubert |
 Ordinarfahne in 1757 (?) – Source: Frédéric Aubert |
For Pechmann contingent, the Ordinarfahne would have been the same than the one for the Holnstein contingent.
But, we are not sure of that and the 1742-1745 pattern Type "2 (or even type "4") without the double-head imperial eagle, or even the old Max Emanuel pattern, could have been carried.
For full description of these flags, please confer our page upon Generalities about colours
References
Boehm, E.; Rottgardt, D.: Die Reichsarmee 1757-63. I. Teil: Zusammensetzung und Organisation, KLIO-Arbeitsgruppe 7jähriger Krieg, Friderzianische Epoche, Manuskript, o.J
Boehm, E.; Rottgardt, D.; Weirich, W.-D.: Die Reichsarmee 1757-63. II. Teil: Die einzelnen Einheiten, ihre Stärke, Zusammensetzung, Uniform und Feldzeichen, KLIO-Arbeitsgruppe 7jähriger Krieg, Friderzianische Epoche, Manuskript, o.J.
Funken, Liliane and Fred: Historische Uniformen, Vol. 2
Schirmer, Friedrich: Die Heere der kriegführenden Staaten 1756-1763, hrsg. von der KLIO-Landesgruppe Baden-Württemberg, überarb. u. aktual. Neuauflage 1989
Staudinger, Karl: Geschichte des kurbayerischen Heeres unter Kurfürst Karl Albrecht - Kaiser Karl VII. - und Max III. Joseph 1726 - 1777, (Geschichte des bayerischen Heeres 3), J. Lindauer, Munich, 1909
N.B.: the section Service during the War is mostly derived from our articles depicting the various campaigns, battles and sieges.
