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| Diagrams of the lace on Austrian generals' coats. Scan is from the ORIGINAL Greenwood & Ball publication, The Uniforms of the Seven Years War. From the collection of Der Alte Fritz. Click to enlarge the picture. |
The topic of Austrian senior generals' uniforms came up on TMP today, and the post asked which Minden figures would be suitable for generals and higher. It looks to me like the Austrian Mounted Colonel figure (MA-006) with lapels will work for the two coats depicted on the bottom row of the above scan: General de Bataille (left) and Feldmarschell Lieutenant (right).
"General officers of most European armies wore no specific uniform indicative of their rank, this was not the case in the Austrian army. The basic uniform for General officers was a white coat, without turnback or collar, the lining of the coat was red. For generals of infantry the coat had lapels, those of the cavalry had none. The cuffs, lapels (if infantry), waistcoat and breeches were red. The coat itself, as well as the cuffs and waist coat were richly decorated with braid, according to the rank of the wearer.
All lace with the exception of the Feldmarschell was straight edged. Lapels where worn had the lace continued around their outer edges. All buttons were gold, the tricorn had a wide straight edged band of gold braid around the edges. The waistcoat sash ws of cloth of gold with black silk threads running through it, a black cane with a gold pommel was carried. Shabraques were red and richly decorated with gold lace." (The Uniforms of the Seven Years War - page 22).
In the event that the scan is too small to read, here is the text:
Feldmarschell (upper left & right figures). Coat without lapels. Two bands of gold lace, one narrow and straight edged, one wide and wavy edged down each edge of the coat front. The cuffs and pocket flaps were also laced in this manner, as was the waistcoat.
General de Bataille. (lower left figure). Narrow gold border around the cuff tops, gold border down each edge of the coat front and golder (sic) border around the pocket flaps. The waistcoat was laced similarily.
Feldmarschell Lieutenant. (lower right figure). Wide gold border down each edge of the coat front, double gold border around the cuff tops and pocket flaps. The waistcoat was laced similarly.
The Minden figures for Charles of Lorraine (PER-006) and von Loudon (PER-007) are suitable to depict the Feldmarschell uniform coat.
While the original Greenwood & Ball book is out of print, you can purchase a revised, reprinted version from Nigel Billington at:
18th Century Press
The price is British Pounds 12.50 for the book. Nigel also publishes the Greenwood & Ball book on Prussian Uniforms, as well as his own authored book on Russian army uniforms. All three books are priced the same. Nigel has corrected some of the errors found in the books and he has also added new material. So it is well worth visiting his web site to purchase these booklets.
