Armies and Uniforms
of the Napoleonic Wars
Rawkins, William J. Armies and Uniforms
of the Napoleonic Wars. E-Book. The History Book Man. 2013. £3.99
The first review published by the
Napoleon Series was in 1996 and was of The
W. J. Rawkins Uniform Books. There were 15 books in the collection, each
about 30 pages long and were designed to be painting guides for the wargamer.
Published between 1977 and 1984, there was a limited print run on each and they
quickly went out of print. For those who owned them, they were prized possessions,
because of the detailed information on almost unit in the army the book
covered. Unfortunately the physical quality of the book did not match the
superb information in the books. Over time my copies have grown tattered and
are slowly falling apart from too much use.
For many years I have sought to replace
them; however Mr. Rawkins seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. Rumors
abounded about him; the most prevalent was that he had died. I am happy to
report that there is no truth to these rumors! Mr. Rawkins has contacted me
and given me some fantastic news! He has resurrected the books, have expanded
them, cleaned up the typos, and is re-publishing them as e-books. They are
available on cds in a .pdf format.
As
of September 2018, there are twenty-one titles:
Foreign Regiments in French Service 1795 – 1814: the Irish & Germanic Regiments
Foreign Regiments in French Service 1797 – 1814: the Mediterranean and Balkan Regiments
Foreign Regiments in French Service 1798 – 1814: the Polish Legions
Foreign Regiments in French Service 1808 – 1814: the Portugues Legion and the Iberian Troupes Étrangère
Foreign Regiments in French Service 1795 – 1814: the Swiss Regiments
The Army of Hanover and the King's German Legion: 1793 - 1815
The Army of Portugal: 1793 - 1814
The
Army of the Duchy of Warsaw: 1807 - 1814
The Army of the Grand Duchy of Berg:
1806 - 13
The
Army of the Grand Duchy of Baden: 1806 - 1814
The Army of the Grand Duch of Hesse-Darmstadt: 1806 - 1814
The Army of the Kingdom of Bavaria: 1792 - 1814
The Army of the Kingdom of Italy: 1805 - 1814 (3 volumes)
The Army of the Kingdom of Naples:
1806 - 1814
The
Army of the Kingdom of Sweden: 1802 - 1814
The Army of the Kingdom of Westphalia: 1807 - 1813
The Army of the Kingdom of Württemberg: 1806 – 1814
The Austro-Hungarian Army: 1792 - 1814
The Rheinbund Contingents 1806 – 1813: Anhalt, Lippe, Reuss, Schwarzburg, Waldeck, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Oldenburg & Franfurt
The Rheinbund Contingents 1806 – 1813: the Duchy of Nassau, Grand Duchy of Würzburg & The Saxon Duchies
The Royal Saxon Army: 1792 - 1814
Also being published within the next year are:
The Army of Brunswick 1792-1815 and the German Freikorps 1806-1815 including the Duke of Brunswick-Oels Korps, Freikorps von Schill, Lutzowsches Freikorps
The Armies of the Netherlands 1795 - 1810: the Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of Holland
The Army of the Kingdom of Prussia: 1793 - 1806
The Army of Denmark - Norway: 1800 - 1814
The Armies of Hesse - Cassel and the Hanseatic Cities: 1792 - 1815
For
those who are familiar with older editions, they will remember strange
formatting (they were published was before the advent of word processors),
numerous typos, and misspelled words. The books needed a good editor. The new
editions are nicely formatted, still filled with many tables laying out uniform
details (such as lace, button and facing colors, etc.), and black and white
drawings of the front and back of uniforms. They also contain color images
from contemporary artists and others such as Knötel and Bosselier. The new volume
on the Swedish Army has 11 color images, while the Naples book has 96!!
In
addition to providing color images placed throughout the text, Mr. Rawkins has
expanded the information almost exponentially. For example the 1980 edition of
the book on the Polish Army was 34 pages. The new book is 132 pages. The 1978
edition on the Swedish Army was 24 pages; the new edition is 77 pages. The
book on the Army of Naples expanded from 15 pages to a staggering 186 pages!
I
have all of the new editions and will use the The Army of the
Kingdom of Naples to illustrate their quality. The table
of contents is extensive, with the following chapters:
Chapter |
Page |
The
Napoleonic Kingdoms of Italy |
5 |
The
Making of Murat’s Neapolitan Army |
9 |
The Line
Infantry |
15 |
NCO Rank
Distinctions |
28 |
Officer
Rank Distinctions |
34 |
The
Light Infantry |
45 |
The Line
Cavalry |
59 |
The
Cacciatori a Cavallo |
61 |
Light
Cavalry NCO Rank Distinctions |
65 |
Light
Cavalry Officer Rank Distinctions |
67 |
The
Lancieri a Cavalleggeri |
71 |
The
Artillery of the Line |
79 |
The
Train of Artillery of the Line |
87 |
Corps of
Engineers |
94 |
The
Marine Artillery |
98 |
The
Royal Guard |
100 |
The
Grenadiers of the Guard |
103 |
The
Voltigeurs of the Guard |
110 |
The
Velites of the Guard |
114 |
The
Marines of the Guard |
121 |
The
Veterans of the Guard |
124 |
The
Royal Halberdiers |
124 |
The
Light Cavalry of the Guard |
126 |
The
Mounted Velites of the Guard |
134 |
The
Hussars of the Guard |
142 |
The
Guard of Honour |
144 |
The
Elite Gendarmes of the Guard |
149 |
The
Cuirassiers of the Guard |
149 |
The
Lancers of the Guard |
154 |
Artillery
of the Guard |
155 |
Train of
Artillery of the Guard |
161 |
General
Officers and Staff |
164 |
Gendarmes
and Provincial Legions |
170 |
Flags
and Standards |
180 |
Notes on
Sources |
185 |
The
information on the line infantry is typical of the book. The book has 44 pages
dedicated solely to the line infantry. There are sections on the regimental
organization; the strength for various years; uniforms, weapons, and equipment
for the common soldier; uniforms, rank distinctions, weapons, and equipment for
officers and NCOS; information on the uniforms worn by the musicians of every
regiment; and even a separate section for the regimental sappers!
The following is a typical entry. This one covers the breeches worn by the
infantry:
“Breeches were white and worn with high, white over
the knee gaiters for parade and black gaiters for campaign and winter dress.
Buttons on the white gaiters were brass and those on the black gaiters, cloth
covered. By 1808 the white gaiters were retained only for parade dress and most
units were wearing the shorter, knee length gaiters of black, with brass
buttons for campaign and everyday wear. White cotton, loose fitting trousers
were issued for fatigue wear from about 1808.
From 1809 all infantry regiments were issued with
white overall trousers for wear on the march and during campaign. These were
cottons for summer wear and heavier cotton canvas for winter. The winter
trousers could sometimes be grey, and those regiments who were serving in Spain
adopted locally made overalls from 1807 in a wide variety of colours; white,
beige, brown, grey or dark blue.
From about 1812 white overalls with a facing colour
stripe on the outer seam began to make an appearance and by 1814 new trousers
of white for summer and dark blue for winter, both with a narrow facing colour
stripe were being worn by all regiments.”[1]
As I mentioned earlier one of the hallmarks of the
first editions were tables that laid out uniform distinctions. The new editions
continue with them. The following is an example of one such table, this one
covering regimental cockades worn by the Swedish infantry.[2]
Regiment |
Cockade Field |
Horizontal Arm of Cross |
Vertical Arm of Cross |
Uplands regemente |
White |
Blue |
Blue |
Skaraborgs regemente |
Yellow |
White |
Blue |
Sodermanlands regemente |
Yellow |
Blue |
Blue |
Kronobergs regemente |
Yellow |
Sky-blue |
Sky-blue |
Jonkopings regemente |
Scarlet |
Blue |
Blue |
Dalregementet |
Yellow |
Black |
Black |
Elfsborg regemente |
Yellow |
Scarlet |
Scarlet |
Vestgotadals regemente |
Scarlet |
Yellow |
Yellow |
Bohulans regemente |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Vestmanlands regemente |
Scarlet |
Blue |
White |
Vesterbottens regemente |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Kalmar regemente |
Yellow |
Scarlet |
Blue |
Nerikes och Vermlands regemente – disbanded and
reformed as the Vermlands & Narikes regemente June 1812 * |
White |
Yellow |
Yellow |
*Vermlands regemente 1812-1814 |
White |
Yellow |
Yellow |
*Nerikes regemente 1812-1814 |
White |
Yellow |
Yellow |
I
thought Mr. Rawkins made a mistake with the first editions when he published
information about two of the smaller countries in one book. For example in
1978 he published The Armies of Naples & Kleve-Berg 1806-1814 in one
volume. For the new editions he has corrected this and each country will have
their own book. Like the books on the Polish and Swedish armies, Naples and
Berg now have their own volumes.
All can be ordered through The History Book Man website.
Needless
to say, I am a big fan of Mr. Rawkins’ books. For the wargamer who is looking
for information on how to paint his figures, these books are worth their weight
in gold! They are superb resources on uniforms that I have constantly referred
to over the years. Even if you already have the original editions, the new
ones have been vastly improved and thus it will be worth buying the updated
ones. Considering how fast the first editions sold out, I strongly recommend
you do not wait to buy the new ones. At £3.99 ($7) each, they are steal!
Reviewed by Robert Burnham
Placed on the Napoleon Series: February 2014; updated September 2018
Notes:
[1] The Army of the Kingdom of Naples 1806-1814. Page
26
[2] The Army of Sweden 1802-1814. Pages 18 - 19
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