When did the Austrians start wearing the helmets?

Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 23

I ordered a bunch of AB Austrians in helmets as I wanted to do an Austrian and an opposing force that I haven't decided on yet. In my haste I neglected to check to see if the Austrians were even wearing helmets in the 1809-1810 timeframe that I was wanting to model the two forces on.

Thanks in advance.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:36 am

That's ok for Wagram 1809 Wink

Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 23

Sweet.

Also did Hungarian regiments have them as well?

Joined: 10 May 2007 Posts: 34 Location: NZ

For Wagram the Austrians still wore helmets but the Hungarians had mostly changed over to the Shako. After Wagram both wear wearing Shakos.

cheers,

Evan

Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 23

Alright thanks.

Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 100 Location: Miami, FL

I've got a question of my own.I bought some Austrians without helmets but now that I see the Austrians in helmets I want to get some of them.Was there a time where the Austrians had a mix of troops with helmets and troops without helmets? Or will I just have to phase out my non-helmeted troops.

Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 55 Location: Newcastle Australia

Austria started to change to the shako around 1809. A lot of regiments were still wearing the helmet later than this date.

Early period Napoleonic Austria offer a larger variety of uniforms than the mid to late period. In the early period you can use Freicorp units who were created by private gerenals and the like. Clothing their troops in what they liked - helmets, shakos, bonnets, casquet caps and hats. The uniforms varied too in style and colour.

Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 100 Location: Miami, FL

Thanks for the reply! Did the Austrians have shakos at Wagram?

Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 55 Location: Newcastle Australia

Info off the net.
In 1806 shako was introduced but only part of infantry wore it. The 'German' infantry fought the campaign in 1809 wearing the shako. The Austrian shako was made of cloth or cloth on leather and was 20.5 cm high. After 1810 new shako was used, it was made of felt.
The grenadiers retained the fur caps with metal plate at its front. The fur cap was 30 cm high at the front and 12.5 cm at the rear. In 1805 grenadier battalion of 4 companies had half of their men (2 companies) wearing the fur-caps and other half (2 companies) wearing the helmets of line infantry. Those with fur-caps were the 'old grenadiers' and those with helmets were 'young grenadiers'. During service the grenadiers protected their fur-caps with covers.

Joined: 30 Sep 2008 Posts: 6 Location: Minnesota, USA

I'm at work, so I don't have references in front of me...

As a general rule , for the 1809 Campaign, I think it's safe to have the 'Hungarian' regiments in shako, whereas the 'German' regiments should be in the raupenhelm. Putting some 'German' regiments in shako wouldn't be a big deal IMO, though some purists may disagree. Grenzers would be in a shako as well as I recall.

The shako was being implemented during this time frame, but considering the time, money and logistics of replacing that much headgear in the early 1800's, the process wasn't that fast. By 1813 all infantry would likely be in shakoes.

Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 100 Location: Miami, FL

Hmm...what if I painted my current 'German' infantry in Hungarian colors?were the uniforms the same style for both Hungarians and Germans?

Edit:looked it up and the Hungarians didn't have gaiters like the 'Germans'.