Hanover
- Thread starter joerookery
- Start date
They would be from different Hanoverian Regts. The Peninsula-Waterloo bandeau meant that the regiment had fought with Wellington on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) and at Waterloo. The other bandeau means that the regiment only fought at Waterloo. Wellington with the help of the Portuguese defeated the French in Spain then finally at Waterloo.
joerookery
Well-known member
Let me throw a little fly in the ointment as I usually do. JR 88 has 3 battle labels.
The bottom two are from battles in Spain where the regiments traditions fought on the French side. Not with Wellington but against him. #-o #-o
The bottom two are from battles in Spain where the regiments traditions fought on the French side. Not with Wellington but against him. #-o #-o
No problem Leone...there are no stupid questions here. Joe are you saying this Regt fought against the Brits and Wellington? I thought La Belle Alliance is a Wellington vs Napoleon battle honour ie Waterloo. La Belle Alliance is an inn where Napoleon spent the night before the battle and subsequently became his headquarters. Blucher wanted the battle called La B A. But Wellington demanded Waterloo because he did not want the battle named after the loser's headquarters. I would remind people also that it was the Kaiser who gifted these bandeau to these Regiments. I don't know why. To me these celebrate their connection with the Brits defeating the French.
joerookery
Well-known member
Yes. But only in the Peninsula. At La Belle Alliance they were on the British side.
Specifically because these regiments were part of the former Kingdom of Hanover or the Duchy of Nassau. Both of these areas were annexed by Prussia after the 1866 war with Austria. There was considerable political opposition to anything Prussian especially in the former Kingdom of Hanover. There was a political party called the Guelphs that were trying to restore the old Hanoverian aristocracy inside the Reichstag. The titular head of that aristocracy always wore an Austrian uniform and was stopped from being a ruler in Braunschweig because of open questions about his loyalty to the Kaiser. The bandeaux was an endeavor to show unity with the regiments in their old heritage in the Prussian army that they were now part of. Most all of his blew over in 1913 when the Kaiser's daughter got married to the heir of Braunschweig.
See doesn't that make you want to buy The Great War Dawning - Imperial Germany and its Army at the Start of World War One. Available from the publisher and he will be at SOS so no shipping charges. Verlag-Militaria USA is imminent but I cannot give you a date. This card shows the white horse of Hanover breaking loose from the shackles of Prussia.
ps497 by joerookery, on Flickr
Khukri
Well-known member
- by A.K.O. dd 24 January 1899: the IR87 and IR88 of Nassau received the banderoles: respectively:
-"La Belle Alliance” and - "La Belle Alliance”-“Mesa de Ibor"-Medellin". These units were integrated in Napoleon's Army and contributed to two important victories: Mesa de Ibor and Medellin. Although Kaiser Wilhelm II was not really friends with the French, he did not hesitate to reward both Regiments these banderoles.
Maréchal Victor; Commander of the first Army Corps; was supposed to enter Portugal at the same time as Maréchal Soult. But General Cuesta had cut off the main access by blowing up the Almaras bridge. By doing so; the Spaniards were master of the left bank of the Tagus river.
-The morning of March 17th 1809: General Leval’s Division-to which the Regiments of Nassau belonged-attacked the enemy by the village of Mesa de Ibor; 200 km south of Madrid. Maréchal Victor’s troops storm down the steep bank to the Ibor river and crossed the river under the fire of the Spaniards. This achievement will enable the French troops to cross the Tagus river.
-28 March 1809-the Battle of Medellin:-Yet another bloody episode in the Peninsular War.
-The French troops; under command of Maréchal Victor and the Spaniards under General Cuesta met in Medellin. The Centre of the French Army occupied the main road that leads to Medellin, while the wings-commanded by Lasalle (on the left) and La Tour-Maubourg (on the right) are deployed much further to the South and to the South-East. Each wing is composed of a Cavalry Division and two Infantry Bns; grouping German soldiers of the Rheinbund-from various regions. Including the units of Nassau; that are to form the future IR88.
La Belle Alliance recalls the Battle of Waterloo.
-It is the name of an inn-South of Brussels-that had no importance in the battle and never was part of any fight. The morning of June 18th 1815: This inn then happened to be in the centre of the French deployment .
-At the end of the hostilities Wellington and Blücher met at the Inn "La Belle Alliance"; in this way; symbolically marking the Allied Victory. The Prussians immediately understood this extraordinary coincidence: this name: "La Belle Alliance" and the political and military situation leading to the fall of the Napoleonic Empire.
Blücher insisted in using “La Belle Alliance” when refering to the "Battle of Waterloo"
from Uniformes HS Nr 31
Francis
-"La Belle Alliance” and - "La Belle Alliance”-“Mesa de Ibor"-Medellin". These units were integrated in Napoleon's Army and contributed to two important victories: Mesa de Ibor and Medellin. Although Kaiser Wilhelm II was not really friends with the French, he did not hesitate to reward both Regiments these banderoles.
Maréchal Victor; Commander of the first Army Corps; was supposed to enter Portugal at the same time as Maréchal Soult. But General Cuesta had cut off the main access by blowing up the Almaras bridge. By doing so; the Spaniards were master of the left bank of the Tagus river.
-The morning of March 17th 1809: General Leval’s Division-to which the Regiments of Nassau belonged-attacked the enemy by the village of Mesa de Ibor; 200 km south of Madrid. Maréchal Victor’s troops storm down the steep bank to the Ibor river and crossed the river under the fire of the Spaniards. This achievement will enable the French troops to cross the Tagus river.
-28 March 1809-the Battle of Medellin:-Yet another bloody episode in the Peninsular War.
-The French troops; under command of Maréchal Victor and the Spaniards under General Cuesta met in Medellin. The Centre of the French Army occupied the main road that leads to Medellin, while the wings-commanded by Lasalle (on the left) and La Tour-Maubourg (on the right) are deployed much further to the South and to the South-East. Each wing is composed of a Cavalry Division and two Infantry Bns; grouping German soldiers of the Rheinbund-from various regions. Including the units of Nassau; that are to form the future IR88.
La Belle Alliance recalls the Battle of Waterloo.
-It is the name of an inn-South of Brussels-that had no importance in the battle and never was part of any fight. The morning of June 18th 1815: This inn then happened to be in the centre of the French deployment .
-At the end of the hostilities Wellington and Blücher met at the Inn "La Belle Alliance"; in this way; symbolically marking the Allied Victory. The Prussians immediately understood this extraordinary coincidence: this name: "La Belle Alliance" and the political and military situation leading to the fall of the Napoleonic Empire.
Blücher insisted in using “La Belle Alliance” when refering to the "Battle of Waterloo"
from Uniformes HS Nr 31
Francis