Sunday 12 May 2013







A Quartiermeistergeneralstab Field Officer in 1798 Uniform


Quartiermeistergeneralstab
re-enactment unit


Description and Aim

The QMS is a re-enactment unit dedicated to the accurate representation of the Austrian Staff of the Napoleonic Wars, focussing in the Operations Department. This is not a 'combat unit', in that there is no need for members to be equipped with firearms and take the field against the enemy, but roles allowing that option do exist.

The main role is to provide a credible living history representation and support and staff the KK army and allies during events and on other occasions. It also aims to provide a focal point for KK units through an online presence.

The reason for choosing this unit to represent is because in the UK interest is likely to be limited, events taking place overseas will mean it will be hard to take firearms and it is a stand alone role that does not need other units around.

The approach is to create a small staff that would be responsible for helping a General run a detached column or a later corps. Such organisations were usually led by an officer of field grade with at most half a dozen staff officers. The HQ may be guarded by a detachment of staff dragoons or infantry, or whatever troops happened to be at hand. Staff officers often employed batmen or civilian servants like other army officers.




Roles and duties of the Operationskanzlei

Direktor: Major Jean Friseur de Chesholme

The QMS is responsible for all the functions of the QMS officers and men, direct communication with the commanding General and co-ordinates the disparate regiments under command and manages spies. He is also responsible for briefing the commanding General each morning on events and intelligence that could inform his actions.

Major Jean de Chesholme is currently a Major in the QMS. He is a French emigre who left France in 1793 at the age of 21. After serving in the Grun-Loudon freicorps and LiB 'Bach' he transferred to GzIR6 followed by two years at the Engineer School. He is currently with the QMS.

Captaine des Guides: vacant

The Capitaine des Guides is responsible for reconnaissance and intelligence. Unlike other QMS officers, the CdeG always came from a cavalry background. The CdeG handles all intelligence reports and non-secret intelligence as well as scouting reports. He then distills this into a report for the QMS who in turn uses it to brief the commanding General.


 
Engineer Officers

Direktor des Technische Truppen: vacant

The Officer of Technical Troops was usually an engineer officer and was a key figure for the staff if there was a need to build a bridge, besiege a place or demolish something. Often the Engineer officer would have a platoon or section of Pioneers under command, and any Pontoniers and Tschaikisten would also fall under his command. Usually he would be a subaltern at corps/kolonne level, but of field grade for army HQs.

This is a good role for an individual who is keen on fortifications, engineering and drawing. Also this character may recruit his own 'men' in the guise of sappers. It is also a very nice uniform!


 
Artillery Field Officer and subaltern in 1798 uniform
Artillerie-Commandant: vacant

The Artillery commander was the other non-QMS officer directly responsible to the Chief of Staff. His role was to direct the reserve artillery of the formation and act as senior artillery officer for all artillery units. As such his advice about the quality of roads, what would and would not be passable for the formation's guns would be invaluable as well as his battlefield skill in choosing sites for the reserve guns.

I would prefer this role to be filled by someone experienced with artillery in re-enactment. I am not sure if there is a person out there who has the uniform of an officer of artillery, but given that this role is likely to be more active in terms of handling units and assigning powder I would like to approach the Czechs on this.

Stabs-Offizieren

Officers of the staff could fulfill a variety of duties. They would be employed by the Chief of Staff to fill whatever functions he felt was necessary based on their skills and talents. Some officers may be good at drawing, others at mathematics or have a good eye for ground. One officer would be detailed to maintain the war diary.

Anyone can fill these roles who wishes to take on the persona of an Austrian officer. Staff officers could really be of any age as the very young could come from combat units, the older ones from technical units.

Pioneers 1798
Technical Troops

Although there were specialist troops for Staff duties (see below) these were the responsibility of the Service Department. The Operations department had responsibility for the technical troops. The majority of these would be pioneers, often a corps or similar formation would have one or two platoons to enable the unit undertake small engineering tasks.  Other technical troops could be pontoneers for bridge building, and Tschaikisten for the management of boats on rivers and so forth.

People may undertake to represent pioneers, pontoniers or Tschaikisten and guard headquarters, although more sensibly would be a small pioneer unit under the command of the Direktor des Technische Truppen.

The Service Department

The Operations Department would be uniformed people directly under the command of the Chief of Staff. A General would also have an Adjutant Staff, known as the Service Department, which he would choose himself along with his aides de camp. These could be drawn directly from regiments and wear their regimental uniform with a green plume and sash worn over the right shoulder to mark them out as members of the adjutant staff, or they may wear the uniform of the adjutant staff, which was similar to the QMS uniform but with red collar and cuffs and paille as opposed to white small clothes.

There was often tension between the 'red' and 'black' staffs, particularly where the General distrusted, disliked or dismissed as incompetent the Chief of Staff foisted on him by the Hofkriegsrath. In such circumstances the General's adjutant staff often became an alternate source of plans and advice, relegating the 'black' staff to a purely technical role.

These roles would need the proximity of a General officer to be truly effective, as they would be more directly at his beck and call than members of the Operations Department.
 
General-Adjutant Officer in 1798 uniform
Adjutant Staff Officers

An officer may be part of the 'professional' adjutant staff attached to a General. The function of the adjutant staff was to cover things like logistics, management of the headquarters functions, the writing and transmission of orders and anything else that the commanding General felt was important. There would be an Adjutant-General, several Flugel-Adjutants and General-Adjutants falling within this group.

A person taking on this role would need to be aware that their function is more 'service based'. Command of any staff units would fall to these people if they exist. Such people would also have a firm battlefield role conducting messages and orders to units on the field.



Aides de Camp

A General would also choose his own aides de camp. These would be part of his military family, and sometimes directly members of his family as well. These would be drawn directly from their units and retain the uniform of their unit with the staff distinctions of a green plume and the sash (if worn by that unit) over the right shoulder as opposed to around the waist. They would most frequently be young, junior officers, good looking on fast horses whose job was to despatch orders on the battlefield, run errands and generally be in attendance on the commanding General.

An ADC obviously needs a general to circulate around. Like any adjutant, they would be transmitting orders and running about after the commanding General.

Staff Infantry from around 1778. Raised at the outbreak of war, uniforms seemed to differ each time
Stabs-Dragoner and Stabs-Infantrie

The Austrian army had specific troops raised on the outbreak of a campaign to guard the headquarters. These were the Stabs-Dragoner and Stabs-Infantrie. Their job was Headquarters security and to act as armed escort to officers from both staffs if they were needed. On the battlefield their primary function was to keep the commanding General safe and act as his escort.

Staff troops would have a more active field role if they wished, escorting the General or the Chief of Staff or any of the operations staff on recce or during a battle. They would also be responsible for guarding the headquarters. These would be the only troops who would need firearms licenses.


 
'Don't eat the rose this time, your honour'

Servants and Civilians

All Austrian officers would engage a servant of some sort to cook, clean and generally take on the domestic duties. These could either be military servants carried over from their previous regiments, from the Stabs-Infantrie or civilians.

Batmen

To borrow a 20th century term the servants in uniform I will call batmen. Within regiments these were drawn from semi-invalided soldiers whose inability to serve in combat had been confirmed by the regimental surgeon, though in practice the regimental surgeon could be persuaded to sign off anyone the officer wanted. These individuals were often figures of fun, think of Schweik in a later period, who were often pictured as pretty useless and quite frustrating. One advantage was that they were cheap!

Civilian Servants

If he could afford it the Austrian officer would avoid a batman and instead engage a civilian servant. These were often far more competent and knew their job well as they had prior experience of being in service.

These would be the cheapest and most relaxed options as a servant would have no battlefield role. Their 'job' would be to keep the Headquarters tidy, procure provisions, make fires and serve food.




Overview of the QMS and other staff functions

The relationship between the Chief of Staff and the commanding General could be mixed. The QMS was not chosen by the commanding General but by the Hofkriegsrath in Vienna, and was often seen as a moderating figure to make sure that the General's plans remained aligned to the strategy and leadership in Vienna. Sometimes the relationship could be very close, such as between Archduke Charles and Oberst Schmitt in 1799, and at other times the relationship was characterised by mistrust and loathing, as between General Melas and Oberst Zach in 1800. Sometimes the QMS would really be in charge of the army with the General a figurehead, as was the case with Mack and Archduke Ferdinand in 1805, after Mack had displaced Ferdinand's original Chief of Staff. But the way the relationship formed was in many ways accidental, and the inability of generals to appoint their own chiefs of staff left many openings for tension.

The QMS officer could either have come from within the peacetime QMS officers or be taken into the QMS on the outbreak of war. The role offered little in the way of heroics and glory, but lots of paperwork and drafting of orders, and as such any job within the QMS was frequently shunned by officers wanting to win their spurs. Often officers came from more technical backgrounds like the Engineers, where being able to draw, measure and think were prized assets. This often meant that 'combat' officers discounted staff officers during operations because they had no experience of a battlefield role. At other times generals showed an over-reliance on staff officers just because they were wearing a staff uniform, and saw this as a way of avoiding responsibility for any errors. Staff officers often moved between operational and staff roles during their careers, like Wimpffen. You were generally not a staff officer throughout your career unless you were in a department like topography.

The Operations staff had responsibility for all military operations and intelligence. additionally it was responsible for the maintenance of the operational journals and the war diary. The Staff also created a daily situation report (situationszeichnung) and recorded details of all military actions for entry into the war diary. 

Army Train from 1798


The most senior QMS Officer lead the Operations Department (Operationskanzlei) as director of operations (Direktor).  His department was responsible for all technical troops (Pioneers, Pontoneers and Tschaikisten), the organisation of the headquarters, arranging the order of march and management of the headquarters baggage. In the case of the baggage he was assisted by a senior and junior Quartermaster, a staff Fourier (to manage the horses), a senior and junior Wagonmaster and messengers on foot and on horseback.



In terms of organisation, in 1809 the staff of Archduke Charles was organised into 6 Buro:

  • Chef Buro fur Koordinierung
  • Das Buro fur Kriegsgeschichte zur Answertung der Bestande der Kriegsarchivs.
  • Das trigonometrische und calcul Buro
  • Das Topographische Buro
  • Die Zeichnungskanzlei (drawing office)
  • Das dislokations und marschrouten Buro

In 1809 when the country was at war there were 191 officers in the 'black' staff
In 1811 when the country was at peace there were 64 officers on the 'black' staff

As you can see I have been very reliant on Tranquillo Mollo for illustrations, but the uniforms will generally follow the 1807 reforms, although the difference for the QMS officers themselves is minimal.

Here is my first attempt at making some guidelines for a re-enactment unit.


An group of officers on a general's staff, around 1805




The Quartermaster General Staff (QMS)

Unit Description

The idea behind this Habsburg unit is to create a formation for enthusiasts who cannot join one of the existing Habsburg formations. This unit is specifically aimed at people who cannot attend drill sessions, own firearms or are looking for a secondary or tertiary unit to attend events overseas. There is no expectation that this unit will become a large combat formation and only two or maybe three events a year.

As a Staff Unit this would represent the Operations Staff of a column or corps. This would fit with a General's rank, and ensure that we are not 'over officered'. The expectation is that only the Chief of Staff would be of Field Grade (Major) with the remainder as subalterns.

The unit will have a battlefield and a living history role, the aim being to both entertain and educate the general public. It is expected that most, if not all, events will take place overseas. The unit will aim to put in a good showing for the Leipzig (2013) and Tolentino (2015) events, and these will be the central milestones.

Unit Structure

The unit is structured along the lines of the Archduke Charles' 1806 organisation based on the Dienstvorschrift and structure he imposed on his Italian army in 1805 with Anton Zach as Chief of Staff.

                                                Army Commander in Chief

Political Department           Operations Department     Service Department

All political issues               Chief of Staff                    General-Adjutant
                                        Staff Officers                    Adjutants-General
                                        Artillery Director                Flugel-Adjutants
                                        Technical Director              Logistics staff
                                        Capitaine des Guides

This general pattern would be repeated at the Korps/Kolonne level with the exception of a political department in some cases.

The aim for this unit is to concentrate on the Operations Department. The Service Department, more commonly referred to as the Adjutant Staff, was appointed by the Army CinC, whilst the Chief of Staff and his officers would be appointed by the Hofkriegsrath and Army Chief of Staff. Conflict often arose between the Chief of Staff and the General-Adjutant, leading to Radetzky introducing a reform in 1811 placing the Chief of Staff above all three departments and replacing him at the operations level with a Director of Operations.

There would be four official roles:

Chief of Staff

This person would wear a QMS uniform and be the only member of Field Rank. His role would be to run the operational side of the staff (Admin, logistics, military justice and messengers would not come under his remit).

Director of Technical Troops

This person would probably be a Captain, could be a Lieutenant. This person would wear a uniform either of Engineers or Sappers. The role of this individual on staff would be advice on fortifications and fieldworks as well

Director of Artillery

Again, this person was likely to be a Captain from the artillery and would wear the uniform of an officer of that branch. The role of this individual on staff would be to command the reserve artillery of the force and act as overall commander of the formation's allocated (non-regimental) guns.

Captain of Guides

This person was a QMS officer, probably from the cavalry service, but who had held staff posts before. The role included managing spies, interrogating prisoners and producing an intelligence summary. Although a subaltern, because of his key role he would have to be thoroughly aware of the formation's plan.

Added to these there would be a number of staff officers.

Staff Officers

These officers would all wear the QMS uniform and be a mixture of junior and senior subalterns, depending on who was available. Their roles and allocation would be decided by the Chief of Staff.






 
Staff Infantry from around 1778

In terms of other ranks these would be represented by staff infantry and staff dragoons or pioneers

Stabs-Infantrie and Stabs-Dragoner

The security for the staff would be provided by staff infantry and staff dragoons. These soldiers would act as sentries over the HQ and escorts to the staff and ensure staff and field security in the HQ.

Members could represent:

Stabs-Infantrie Regiment

Stabs-Dragoner Regiment

Lower Austria Landwehr Staff Infantry Regiment/ Lower Austrian Landwehr

Pioneers under the command of the Director of Technical Troops

Uniform guidance for these roles is available. If you want to look authentic on the cheap, try the Landwehr, if you want to invest in kit, Stabs Infantrie or, if you can ride, Stabs-Dragoner. There was also a Landwehr-Stabs-Dragoner Regiment, raised in Bohemia. As yet uniform details are unknown!

There could also be servants and civilian contractors as well if people want a non-combat role.

Unit Rules


1) All officers must be able to manage basic German (see the section on languages)

2) All officers and men must wear the correct uniform. This can be a campaign or full dress. All members must strive to achieve the greatest degree of authenticity in their roles.

3) All officers and men must be familiar with the German drill commands.

4) There will be no membership fee. Any money earned by the unit for participation in events will be equally distributed to members to defray travel and equipment costs.



 Languages

The KK Armee was a multinational and multilingual force. The official language of command was German, with basic orders being issued in that language. There were at least ten official languages recognised by the army, but to this should be added lots of local dialects; a person from Vienna would struggle to understand the Tyrolean or Transylvanian Saxon dialects despite the fact that they were both officially 'German'. Equally, in Galicia, the official languages of Polish and Ruthenian rubbed shoulders with local dialects such as Hucul, Goral, Lemko and Bojko. It should also be noted that about 90% of the rank and file could not read or write, as the most educated and wealthy were effectively exempted from conscription.

Officers usually spoke their own ethnic language and would be expected to command High German as well. The second or third language was usually Italian, although Hungarian and Czech were also widely spoken. Regimental officers were expected to learn the language of their men.

Given this multiplicity of various languages it is not surprising that the KK Armee developed its own internal patois, or rather two of them. The first was termed Klauderwelsch, a melange of languages that one writer notes 'passed for a means of communication in the Habsburg army'. This 'language' was an elastic method of communication, whose words and phrases were often peculiar to a regiment: a regiment with a lot of Poles in it would include more Polish words than a unit that was predominantly Bohemian.

The second is the notorious 'Armee-Slawisch'; Army Slavic. This is a sort of pigin-slavic patois where Czech words usually predominated. In the records of officers of the time, they are often referred to simply knowing 'slavic': there being no differentiation between an officer knowing Czech and one knowing Serbo-Croat for example.  In both cases Army Slavic and Klauderwelsch could be used to converse with NCO's and the (very rare) occasions when an officer conversed with the men.

Officers conversing with each other would usually use High German, and this was also the language of record and official correspondence.



 
Operational map of the battle of Znaym 1809




The Role of the Staff

The role of the staff during war and peace were outlined in Radetzky's 1810 memorandum 'On the duties of members of the (Quartermaster's) Staff. The functions during wartime are as follows:

Outside of Battle

  • Drawing up plans for marching against the enemy
  • The destruction of obstacles to the advance of the troops
  • The provision of support to the advance of the troops
  • The encampment of troops on the march and within sight of the enemy
  • The reconnoitring of enemy movements and positions
  • The visual inspection of the most advantageous marching routes
  • The visual inspection of camp positions
  • The visual inspection of battlefields
  • The visual inspection and identification of fixed positions useful to defence
  • The analysis of enemy intentions through the use of agents and reports from outposts
  • Drawing up battle plans and preparing battlefields according to one's intentions insofar as a variety of circumstances permit
  • Keeping of the war diary
  • Recording everything that makes knowledge of the enemy easier for a successor, including future theatres of war and future war leadership
  • Recording everything that will serve for a future true and useful military history

Battle duties

  • The leading and linking up of troop movements
  • The repulse of any obstacles deflecting these aims
  • Paying attention to the enemy's weaknesses and exploiting them
  • Paying attention to your own weaknesses and immediately remedying them
  • Moving on quickly from one plan to the next should circumstances or intentions change

Post-Battle duties

  • To formulate an immediate plan to exploit the advantages gained with respect to war aims or:
  • Make the fastest arrangements to save those defeated parts of the army and unite them quickly
  • The composition of faithful and impartial records
  • Co-operation in the conclusion of a ceasefire or peace in order not to face disadvantageous restrictions


The Role of Headquarters Troops

The troops attached to headquarters are responsible for:

  • Maintaining field security of the Headquarters
  • Escorting staff officers and ensuring their safety as they go about their duties
  • Performing such duties on the battlefield as necessary

How this translates into events

The role of the staff at events could actually be quite elastic. If an event is very heavy on spectacle then it is likely that there will be little to do. But an event heavy in Living History or Combat (ideally both) offers considerable scope. Clearly, in choosing events, we should be picking the ones that keep us busy.

One area to concentrate on before a combat is the reconnaissance and intelligence gathering role of the staff. Scouting missions on horseback or on foot with an escort of staff troops (if they exist) or light infantry/cavalry are likely!

On the field, again, the staff is likely to be used to deliver guidance from the CinC, take command of temporary columns or formations (rarely individual units) and generally make themselves available for any eventuality.

In Living History terms it would be the aim for this unit to provide a Staff HQ for the CinC and the QMS, as well as an LH site it would act as a central 'office' for officers and other unit commanders for briefings, messages and so on. A suitable tent will eventually need to be procured and the necessary furniture and paraphernalia acquired.

 Thanks to Dave Hollins and Romain Baulesh in putting this together