Saxon Uniforms in the Battle of Fraustadt

Apart from the artillery all Saxon regiments had red coats and with a few exceptions white or grey stockings. In addition, the cuirassiers also had a buff coat, which they wore in battle. Each regiment had a distinctive colour on their facings which meant that there were many different shades of blue and yellow in the Saxon army.

It is doubtful whether the Saxon army at this time had completed a shift from wide-brimmed hats to tricornes. The transition is said to have been slow and the tricorne probably did not become standard until at least 1707 when the army was reorganised. The regiments below are depicted wearing both types of hat, but the distribution is random and not based on specific information from any sources (it's the regiments that were disbanded or received new uniform colours in 1707 which on this page have been fitted with older hats while the others have tricornes).

Garde du Corps was a special elite corps consisting of drabants, carabiniers, dragoons and horse grenadiers (all with a separate uniform). They participated in the battle of Fraustadt with only one squadron, probably the dragoons who had light blue facings. The cuirassier and dragoon recruits were not proper regiments, just temporary formations created of recruits intended for regiments further east in Poland. These recruits may have been dressed in grey fatigues. The infantry had two grenadier battalions. The first was Joyeuse's battalion and the other was one of the guard battalions (Leibgarde zu Fuss).

Chevaliergarde

(1 squadron)

Garde du Corps

(1 squadron)

Bayreuth's
Dragoon Regiment
(4 squadrons)

Cuirassier recruits

(4 squadrons)

Fürstenberg's
Dragoon Regiment
(4 squadrons)

Wrangel's
Dragoon Regiment
(4 squadrons)

Goltz'
Dragoon Regiment
(4 squadrons)

Centre Infantry
(the battalions formed a rectangle except for Wostromirsky which covered a gap between one flank and a lake)

Front Line

Wostromirsky
(1 battalion)
(light blue facings 1707)

Joyeuse
(1 battalion)

Leibgarde zu Fuss
(1st battalion)

Leibgarde zu Fuss
(2nd battalion)

Leibgarde zu Fuss
(3rd battalion)

Drost
(1 battalion)

Kurprinz
(1st battalion)

Fürstenberg
(1st battalion)

Leibgarde zu Fuss
(grenadier battalion)

(green facings 1707)

The order of battle follows Oskar Sjöström's book "Frasutadt 1706 - Ett fält fargarat rött" with the exception of an obvious mistake where a Russian battalion (Bilits) has been duplicated and also become a Saxon battalion. The Saxon battalion missing from Sjöström's order of battle is Reuss, but instead of just replacing Bilits with Reuss, I have also changed places with Biron. This follows the order of battle in "Karl XII på slagfältet" which, however, differs from Sjöström on several other points in addition to this one.

Rear Line