Swedish Uniforms in
the Battle of Gadebusch

Assuming that the Swedish army in the battle of Gadebusch wore battle dresses ("livmunderingar") in good condition their uniforms should have looked like the blue coat images below. But for at least one regiment that was not the case. Hälsinge Regiment's uniforms were in such bad condition that, even though 200 soldiers had been issued new uniforms, most of them fought in their grey fatigues ("släpmunderingar").

The Artillery Regiment fought at Gadebusch for the first time in their new all blue uniforms. However, all men serving the guns were probably not dressed in artillery uniforms. Recruits from the Kronoberg Regiment may have added man power to the gun crews and one of their lieutenants most definitely served there. According to a Danish spy report from 1711 Kronoberg was dressed in grey coats with yellow facings.

All information concerning uniforms on this page come from Lars-Eric Höglund's book, but all other information (including the map) come from the work by the Danish General Staff ("Bidrag til den store nordiske krigs historie"). The battle order below is based on the map ("H.H. Scheels plan af slaget ved Gadebusch"), which is added to the book as an appendix. The map is however not entirely consistent with the text in that book. Two regiments are missing in the map, that is Stralsund Regiment (which appears to have been included in Elbing Regiment led by Ekeblad) and Smielgelski's 100 men strong Polish dragoon squadron (which may in fact not have participated in the battle but at least was in the vicinity). The uniform of the latter unit is in any way unknown. Another uncertainty is the number of squadrons which the German mounted regiments consisted of, for these there are no consistency at all between the table on page 179 (volume 4) and the map above. I have adjusted the number of squadrons so that it will match the information in the table. A part of the Pomeranian Dragoon Regiment (half?) was left behind to protect the baggage (together with Smiegelski's dragoons?) and this is the reason why the Pomeranians only have 5 squadrons instead of 10 (according to the map they should have 4 squadrons in the battle).

According to the Danish General Staff only five regiments were armed with pikes (Östergötland, Hälsinge, Västgöta-Dal, Älvsborg and Västmanland Regiments).

Left Wing
(The three regiments to the left had half of their squadrons in the first line and the second half in the third line.
Verden Regiment's two halves made up the second and fourth lines)

	Pomeranian Dragoon Regiment (5 squadrons)	Änkedrottningens livregemente (8 squadrons)	Pomeranian Cavalry Regiment (4 squadrons)			Verden Dragoon Regiment (10 squadrons)
Centre (The artillery advanced before the infantry and was protected by men from one battalion of Elbing Regiment. The rest of the infantry advanced in three lines because of the narrow terrain, but the third line was supposed to be split in half and redeploy to extend the first line on both sides as soon as possible)
	Artillery Regiment (30 guns)				Elbing Regiment (1 battalion)
	First Line
	Elbing Regiment (1 battalion)	Stralsund Regiment  (1 battalion)	Närke-Värmland Regiment (2 battalions)		Västmanland Regiment (2 battalions)
	Second Line
	Dal-regiment (1 battalion)	Västgöta-Dal Regiment (2 battalions)		Östergötland Regiment (1 battalion)	Älvsborg Regiment (2 battalions)
Third Line (Left Wing)					Third Line (Right Wing)
Dal-regiment (1 battalion)	Hälsinge Regiment  (2 battalions The uniform issued in 1709 is unknown but was in such poor condition that most of the regiment wore the grey "släpmundering" (fatigues)				Södermanland Regiment 2 battalions		Östergötland Regiment (1 battalion)
Right Wing
Bremen and Västgöta cavalry regiments both had one half each in the first and third lines. Bassewitz was only in the first line and the Bremen Dragoons constituted the second line.						Marschalk's group
Bremen Cavalry Reg. (4 squadrons)	Västgöta Cavalry Reg. (6 squadrons)	Bassewitz' Dragoon Reg. (2 squadrons)	Bremen Dragoon Reg. (5 squadrons)			Bremen Dragoon Reg. (5 squadrons)	Bassewitz' Dragoon Reg. (2 squadrons)

Danish uniforms in the battle of Gadebusch.