Füsilierregiment von Lossberg


The regiment was a fusilier regiment, which means it consisted of three battalions of fusiliers and one battalion of grenadiers.

The difference was simple:


Unlike Fusiliers, Grenadiers were also trained to become hand grenades...:








To do this, they wore a metal capsule with a glowing fuse on their bandolier, on which the fuses of the throwing grenades could be ignited...:



Since a tall man has longer arms, which promised more throwing distance, tall recruits were mostly put into the grenadier battalions!

In 1770, however, the thing with throwing grenades was only folklore, against muskets that hit fairly accurately at 60 to 100 meters, grenade launchers no longer had a chance, which is why the metal capsule on the bandolier was often omitted.

However, a tall grenadier theoretically had a higher rate of fire than a smaller fusilier, because taller people were better (and faster) at handling the ramrod of their long muskets.

Here we have a Hessian grenadier cap:













The front peak of the cap, the side border and the peak of the cap consisted of embossed sheet brass (the poor pigs must have been cleaning their caps stupidly!).


The fabric parts of the von Lossberg regiment were not blue, but black, like this fusilier's hat...:









The uniform tunic was dark blue, the "Hessian blue" was a touch lighter than the blue of the Prussians! (I would use "Prussian Blue", lightened with a little bit of skin tone!)



The quality of the paint was poor, these skirts faded incredibly quickly in the field meaning if your blue comes out a little lighter that's absolutely no problem.

The lapels on the chest and the cuffs were dark orange in the Lossberg regiment...



... on the cuffs also a thin crimson piping!



Here is a picture of an original uniform...:



The coat tails, on the other hand, were NOT dark orange but red - in ALL Hessian regiments...:



Here again the uniform of one of the Lossberg Grenadiers...:



A little anecdote: A member of this regiment - his name was Köster - found the free life in America much better than that in Hesse, deserted to the Americans and stayed in the New World after the end of the war, like many of his comrades.


Of course, the man Americanized his name to "Custer" - one of his descendants was Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, who led his 7th Cavalry Regiment out of lust for recognition on June 25, 1876 at the Little Bighorn...

I have always liked hand grenades.


Steve

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