Wurttemberg Leib Chevauxleger Regiment #2

The Wurttemberg Chevauxlegers had their origin with a first regiment in 1802, which was formed from a nucleus of the prior Wurttemberg mounted troops. A 2nd regiment was added in 1805.

Rawkins has this to say about the apparent mismatch between the title and the appearance of these troops: The Chevauxleger Regiments had their origin as part of the Kreis-Dragoner-Regiment. The first chevauxleger regiment formed in 1802 was raised from the three squadrons of ‘chevauxleger’ from the disbanded Kreis regiment. Despite the ‘chevauxleger’ title both regiments retained distinct features of their dragoon origins reflected in their uniforms and equipment. The Duke of Wurttemberg, later King Frederick, was strongly drawn to the light cavalry regiments being formed in he Bavarian army but also wanted to build both heavy and medium cavalry units for the Württemberg army. It has long been speculated that he may have wished to leave open the option of converting the chevauxleger regiments back to dragoons at a later date.

The uniforms of the two regiments were quite similar. As is the case with other units of the Wurttemberg army, there were fairly frequent changes of designation for both. This regiment, the first raised, was designated Chevauxleger regiment “Kurfurst” from 1805 – 1807, but thereafter if was referred to as the  Leib Chevauxleger regiment (#2)

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The biggest differences between the two regiments were the addition of white “litzen” to the button hoes on the lapels, collars, and cuffs of the Leib regiment, and  and the fact that the buttons and metal on the helmet were white metal for this unit, as opposed to brass for the other. 

The flag is downloaded from Lucas’ website, and is somewhat speculative. It looks as though it was designed to hang down “vexillum” fashion, but that didn’t suit me, hence the somewhat odd orientation. I think it still looks great!

If you look closely, you can see that the turnbacks on the jacket are yellow piped scarlet. These are of course more great figures form Lucas and Piano Wargames in Germany.

Another unusual feature of the uniforms of both regiments was wearing a cummerbund; scarlet for this regiment, and yellow for the other.