Rosenberg Chevauleger Regiment No. 6
From the first Austrian chevaulegers I had bought – Pendraken
figures as part of my Carronade buy (see Post 88) – I selected and
painted four figures, thinking they were all the chevaulegers I
needed for the attack on the village of Essling (see Post 41).
My total for the number of chevaulegers I needed came from Ian
Castle’s Aspern and Wagram 1809: 275 men in four squadrons (see
Orders of Battle). After I got hold of John Gill’s 1809 Thunder on the
Danube, I had to take into account that his orders of
battle gave a total of 450 men, also in four
squadrons. At a figure to men ratio of 1:50 this
would mean either 5.5 or 9 figures on the tabletop. I
had decided to organise my light cavalry into two-
figure squadrons. If I were to calculate figure
numbers simply by squadrons then the unit would
be 8 figures strong. This, in all probability, provided
a good compromise. But, unfortunately, also meant
that I still hadn’t finished the unit and had to
organise another four figures.
The Rosenberg Chevaulegers were the sixth of six
Austrian chevauleger regiments in 1809. Half the
regiments wore white jackets, the other half green.
The 6th wore white. The facing colour that
distinguished the unit changed during the
Napoleonic Wars from black to dark red. When this
change was made isn’t clear, but it appears that it
had taken place by the 1809 campaign. Information
that was a bit of a pain to discover only after I’d
painted mine black!
In 1809, although the Colonel-in-Chief was Franz
Fürst Rosenberg-Orsini – thus the 6th was the
Rosenberg regiment – the Colonel-Commander of
the regiment was Count Joseph Chotek. He was
killed at Wagram.
POST 95
95
