The Norwegian Army of The Napoleonic Wars - 1808

Introduction

    Having completed my long series on the Danish Army of the Napoleonic Wars last year, I have some information to share with you about the Norwegian Army of the Napoleonic Wars, used here by the kind courtesy of Eric Starnes of Poland  (jestarnes66 AT gmail DOT com). Norway was joined to Denmark by the "personal union" under the same king, namely (in the Napoleonic Era), King Christian 7th and later King Frederick the 6th of Denmark. The Norwegian army was organized and uniformed in a fashion similar to but not identical to that of the Danish Army of the same period. I'll let Eric take it from here...

The Norwegian Army of 1808
(by Eric Starnes, 2013)

Infantry:

Organization – Norwegian infantry regiments were organized mostly in 2 battalions, each of 6 companies, each of between 150 – 175 men, total for battalions being 600 – 750 men. Each infantry regiment [not counting ski battalions and the light battalions] also contained 2 companies of grenadiers of between 150-200 men.

Unless marked, all battalions contain 2 battalions.

Uniform – Red jacket with small white front turnbacks. Blue or grey pants depending on the supply situation, white belts and black hat with white plume [called a ‘feather’ in Norwegian accounts]. Regimental distinctions were on the collar, cuffs and lapels. White or yellow metal buttons depending on the regiment.

Drummers were dressed the same as men but with swallows nest and sleeve lace in the button color and white tipped red plume.

Officers normally wore a tail coat with white turnbacks.

Grenadiers wore the same uniform as musketeers but with the addition of the 1789 cap, which was a black leather cap with a brass plate, white transverse crest and bag in regimental color. The plume was white tipped blue.

1^st Akershusiske – Dark blue [without piping], yellow buttons.

2^nd Akershusiske – same as above but with white buttons.

Oplandske – Dark green [white piping] with white buttons.

Telemarske – same as above but with yellow buttons.

Vesterlenske – [3 battalions] – Green with white buttons.

Bergenhusiske [4 battalions] – Black with yellow buttons.

Sondenfjeldske Enlisted [3 battalions] – Dark blue [white piping], yellow buttons.

Nordenfjeldske Enlisted [3 battalions] – Dark blue [white piping], white buttons.

1^st Trondhjemske [3 battalions] – Yellow [white piping], white buttons.

2^nd Trondhjemske [3 battalions] – Yellow [no piping], white buttons.

Nordenfjeldske Ski [3 companies] – Light blue or medium blue jacket [with no turnbacks] and pants. Yellow collar and cuffs, with yellow buttons. Black casquet with yellow metal Norwegian lion plate. Normally, this unit was subordinated to the Nordenfjeldske Enlisted regiment.

Sondenfjeldske Ski [3 companies] – same as Nordenfjeldske Ski but subordinated to the Sondenfjeldske Enlisted, normally.

Norske Jager Korps – [5 companies] – Green jacket and pants [no turnbacks], black collar, cuffs, and lapels, white buttons. Black top hat with green plume. Black belts.

Norske Light Battalion[6 companies] – same as above but with yellow buttons.

There were also around 10 battalions of militia dressed in various ways but most wore a stocking cap of some kind.

Cavalry:

Organization – Each cavalry regiment was organized with 8 companies of 125 men. Normally, Norwegian cavalry in 1808 was used in a scouting role but were trained as normal battle cavalry [dragoons]. They did not perform any charges in any battles of the 1808 war but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t.

Uniform – Red jacket without turnbacks. Regimental distinctions were on collar, cuffs and lapels. Blue riding overalls [covering the riding boots]. Top hat with white plume. Buglers were dressed the same as the men with the following exceptions – white swallows nests and white piping on the sleeves. Top hat for buglers was white tipped red. Officers were dressed the same as men but with piping in gold on the collar, cuffs and lapels. Officers could have worn a tail coat while mounted, with yellow turnbacks.

Horse furniture was red with piping in the regimental color. Portemanteau could be black with black straps or grey with black straps.

Akershusiske – White distinctions and white buttons.

Smalenske – [7 companies] – Yellow distinctions with white piping, white buttons.

Oplandske – Dark blue distinctions, white buttons.

Trondhjemske – Green distinctions with whte piping, white buttons.

Artillery:

Organization: The artillery was divided into 26 companies based in the various fortresses in Norway. In the field, the Norwegian artillery mostly fielded batteries of 3 and 6 pdrs. of between 6 and 10 guns and 2 howitzers per battery. There was also one mounted battery of 3 pdrs.

Uniform: The foot artillery was dressed like the infantry – red jacket with dark blue collar, cuffs and lapels and pants, white plume to the black top hat and white belts. Officers – could be dressed in tail coat with white turnbacks. [Note: There seems to be some confusion as to the distinctions – I’ve read both dark blue and green. I’ll try to clear this up in a future posting.]

The mounted battery was dressed in a yellow jacket with green collar, cuffs and lapels and green pants. White belts and plume to the black top hat and white belts. Officers – same as men but with silver epaulettes, green turnbacks to a yellow tailcoat, pants had yellow Hungarian knots and a red stripe on the pants seam.

[Peter's Comment:  OMG, you just gotta have this unit, right?]

Bibliography of the Norwegian Campaigns of 1808 and 1814

H. Angell – Syv-aars Krigen [published in 1914].

G. Bjorlin – Norska Kriget 1814 [published in 1893]

J. Mankell – Falttaget i Norge ar 1814 [published in 1887]

O. Lindback-Larsen – Den Norske Haer og 1814 [published in 1945]

H. Holm – Med Plotons! Hoire-Sving! Marsch! Marsch! Norsk taktikk og stridstekritk pa begymelsen av 1800-tallet med hovedvekt lagt pa fotfolket [published in 1991]

D. Schnitler – Blade af Norges Krigshistorie [published in 1895]

C. Sorensen – Kampen Om Norge I aarene 1813-1814 [published in 1871]

E. Aagaard - Den Norske Haer I Dansketiden: Et Billedhefte [published in 1992]

                                                                                                                                                            


The following fascinating material is taken from a posting by Kai, January 2013 :

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/forums/ViewPost.aspx?ForumID=22&ID=26295

Norwegian Ski troops 1808

Ski troops have been in use in Scandinavia since the Viking ages, and during the war between Sweden and Norway in 1808 and 1814, the Norwegians deployed several companies of light infantry using skis.

These are from the "Elverumske Skiløbercompagnie". The uniforms are surprisingly "modern" compared to some of the other uniforms wore by troops in Europe at the time.

The ski troops used rifles and were generally expert marksmen, some of them reportedly being able to securely hit targets 250-300 meters away.

The equipment was generally manufactured locally (except weapons) and through a regional conscription system, 3-5 farms were responsible for outfitting 1 soldier. In general service in the ski troops was attractive, and this meant they had among the best soldiers (other regiments would often receive whatever local troublemakers the farmers wanted to get rid of...).

The uniforms worn by these two guys have been recreated from period drawings and patterns, and we see to the left a private light infantryman (jaeger) and to the right an officer. The color is designed to work as camouflage in the forested areas along the border towards Sweden, and they did also have cream/white overcoats for use in open areas. Other Norwegian troops, i.e. line infantry and dragoons, at the time wore bright red jackets, not particularly well suited for concealing them in snowy areas...

For those interested in the weapons, the ski troops used the M/1807 jaeger rifle.  

The rifle had a special firing system, designed by Christian W. Kyhl, which kept most moving parts protected internally, as well as having only about half the parts of other contemporary rifle firing mechanisms. This helped protect the rifle in rough conditions.

As far as the skis, they used one long (267cm) and one shorter (188cm) ski. The shorter one had a fur cover underneath, to increase maneuverability and make it easier to go uphill;

The basic binding has not changed much since 1808, and similar systems are still used by modern army skis - which allow regular army boots to be used as ski boots;

Each company operated as a separate unit, and transported its own supplies of food, ammo, gunpowder etc, on sledges (called "pulk") pulled by a skier in front. Again, the design is remarkably similar to what is used today, both by armed forces, as well as polar expeditions etc;

Map for orientation purposes

Here's a link to an excellent post on another blog about the Russo-Swedish War of 1808, which involved Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, France, and Great Britain,

Russo-Swedish War

And here's another excellent post on the Norwegian Swedish fighting of 1808, with nice accounts of a number of small battles:

The War between Norway and Sweden, 1808