r/BattlePaintings • u/Connect_Wind_2036 • 3d ago
French & Prussians clash in the Battle of Dennewitz. 6th September 1813.
23
u/Substantial-Tone-576 2d ago
Dude in the front has an axe.
27
u/coldfarm 2d ago
Landwehr units like the one pictured had the lowest priority in terms of weapons and equipment. The Summer Truce allowed a little time for training, consolidation, and some sorting out by the quartermasters, but their main goal was to make sure every man had a working musket, and for these to be the same pattern in each battalion or at least in each company. In many Landwehr battalion there weren’t enough bayonets (or cartridge boxes) to equip 100% of the men which, besides the hatchet, is why you also see so many guys depicted with clubbed muskets.
6
3
u/nick1812216 2d ago
Fascinating! (Also, what is a ‘clubbed musket’?)
9
u/Connect_Wind_2036 2d ago
Describes the action of wielding the musket as a club for want of bayonet and ammunition rather than a specific type of weapon I’m guessing. It’s a term I’ve only realised today from this post. Those old toy soldiers I had as a child sporting this particular pose are now understood.
11
u/nick1812216 2d ago
I have read (in Muir, “Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon”) that combat with the bayonet was actually exceedingly rare in the Napoleonic Wars, with there being very few recorded incidents. Usually one side lost its nerve before contact
7
u/Better_Carpenter5010 2d ago
It’s the thing that very rarely gets depicted, isn’t it? The ability of one side or both sides to just brick it and run. It’s always some pitched battle.
3
u/coldfarm 2d ago
I don't know how Muir originally phrased it, but more exact description would be that formed bodies of men facing off with bayonets (like phalanxes) was very rare. As noted, one side usually gave way although it's also important to recognize that an advance to contact was usually ordered when an enemy had already shown signs of disruption or wavering.
I mention this because there is a persistent myth that bayonets were rarely used in combat, which is absolutely not the case.
3
u/ComputerGodCommunism 2d ago
That's exactly what made bayonet charges effective. In a pitched battle like that, you lose the moment morale shatters and soldiers break rank to flee. After that point, units can't amount a proper defense and pursued into a complete route. Although clashes and prolonged contacts did happen, the main advantage in the tactic was the (morale, not physical) shock of the bayonet charge.
2
u/rural_alcoholic 15h ago
In Open field between karger groups it was rare. In villigaes or field fortifications it Happened frequently. I recommend "A time of eagles" Video on morale.
1
1
29
u/bordercity242 3d ago
Most intense moments of their lives up front with the cold steel out