2tes Leib-Husaren-Regiment „Königin Viktoria von Preußen“

Preußischer Leibhusar (2tes Reg.) Knötel Cigarette Card

So after the hiatus in posts over the past week here is something new. The 2tes Leibhusarenregiment in strength for my Möckern / Völkerschlacht project. All the minis shown here are Calpe and based for Republic to Empire. At 183 men it was quite small at Möckern (or at least those squadrons that were part of von Yorcks Advanced Guard), so it is only represented by 9 minis here. But this means they divided nicely amongst three stands of three minis each.

At first I thought it would be quiet a bleak unit to paint with their black uniforms and saddle fur and only some red and white piping. But in the end it turned out looking lovely. Prussia had huge problems finding proper mounts for their cavalry and hardly adhered to the normal distribution of horse colours (dark for the troopers and light for trumpeters and in some units officers) by 1813. This being one of the more prestigious units and I felt that they would be outfitted with horses in regulation colours though. So there are only two dark browns in here and a white horse for the officer. All the rest are black.

Now this unit itself was formed in 1740 as the 5th Husarenregiment by order of King Friederich II. This lasted until the 20th December 1808 when the Regiment was split in two and turned into the 1st and 2nd Leibhusaren. There are two stories as to why their uniforms were black.

The first states that the unit was originally uniformed using the black drapes that had been hung inside the Stadtschloss (Citypalace) in Potsdam during the mourning for King Friedrich Wilhelm in 1740.

The second refers to the fact, that the unit was raised with funds from the fines (both in money and goods) from the monastery in Leubus (Silesia), which was punished for allying themselves with the Austrians in 1740. The goods that were produced the most there were black mourning drapes with white skulls embroiled on them.

Pick whatever version you like best, as both make sense. The skull and crossbones worn on the caps might hail from the later version, but this is also an old German symbol denoting that mercy would neither by expected nor given by units wearing it.

But as usual… on to the minis:

2te Preußische Leibhusaren

2te Preußische Leibhusaren (command stand)

2te Preußische Leibhusaren (1st stand)

2te Preußische Leibhusaren (2nd stand)

2te Preußische Leibhusaren (rear view)