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NAP-51 Trumpet Avant-Garde Jaeger Battalion - Duchy of Brunswick - 1815
ref. EK Castings NAP-51
EK Castings NAP-51 Trumpet Avant-Garde Jaeger Battalion - Duchy of Brunswick - 1815
The Duchy of Brunswick was officially reconstituted in 1814 from the recently disbanded Kingdom of Westphalia, a satellite state created by Napoleon as part of the Confederation of the Rhine. The Duke of Brunswick, Frederick William, had raised with Austria’s assistance the famous “Black Legion”, to fight the French domination of Germany. The Brunswickers were awarded various nicknames by their contemporaries, including the Black Crows, the Black Legion and the Black Horde. However, although the uniforms of the individual units that comprised the corps were predominantly black, they varied in their details. Most of these troops had fought with the British in the Peninsula, during the 100 days campaign and finally at Waterloo. Specially trained as light infantry, the Avant-Garde Jaeger Battalion had two companies of light infantry and two companies of Jaegers and they wore some of the most unique uniforms of the period.
Infantry units in 1809 wore a black polrock or "Polish coat", a type of frock coat derived from a Lithuanian garment called a litewka which had six pairs of black lace fastenings down the front. A tall collar showed the regimental colour. Trousers were black with a blue stripe; footwear was black shoes with buttoned gaiters. They wore a shako on their heads, with a hunting horn badge for light infantry, also a black feather or horsehair plume. The shako, backpack and other equipment were of Austrian design and manufacture.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Brunswickers