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