Swedish Uniforms in
the Battle of Helsingborg

The half newly raised army that defeated the Danes in the battle of Helsingborg 1710 should have looked like the pictures on this page. The amount of available uniform information varies however for the different regiments and I have been forced to fill in the gaps of knowledge with later information (or earlier in appropriate cases). Click on the pictures for more detailed information about each regiment.

Most of the regiments which were restored in the autumn of 1709 after the disastrous battle of Poltava (and some old such as the Saxon Regiment) were exclusively armed with muskets and did not have the usual third of the men armed with pikes. Höglund mention explicitly that Uppland, Västmanland, Östergötland and the Saxon Regiment did not have pikes. Jönköping Regiment is on the other hand reported to have had pikemen. The sources also reveal that Kalmar Regiment was initially issued pikes but its colonel requested 3 January 1710 to have them replaced with muskets. The request was granted but it is unclear if the re-armament was carried out before the battle of Helsingborg. Kronoberg Regiment appear to have been an all-musket unit at a muster in August 1710. It is likely that Södermanland Regiment did not have any pikes either since they did not have these in the battle of Gadebusch 1712 (when other previously all-musket units had pikes).

Uppland and Kronoberg regiments had not received their colours in time for the battle and Kalmar regiment had been issued an older set of colours which were quartered in red and yellow and had flaming grenades in the corners.

Instead of the usual blue cloak, the restored infantry regiments received a gray piecoat with turnbacks in the same colour as the regular coat. This type of overcoat worn to protect against cold and bad weather is not included in the images below as you would not be able to see the regular coat. But the regiments that had piecoats instead of cloaks were Kronoberg, Jönköping, Kalmar and Östergötland. For Södermanland and Uppland, I lack information, but they should also have received gray piecoats, although the similarly newly established Västmanland apparently received blue cloaks.

Right (West) Wing

	First Line				Second Line
	Änkedrottningens livegemente (8 squadrons)	Uppland 5-männing Cav. (8 squadrons)	Swedish Adelsfana  (2 squadrons)		Livregementet till häst (8 squadrons)	Småland Cavalry Regiment (4 squadrons)
Centre First Line (Saxon Regiment and probably also Kronoberg were all-musket units)
	Älvsborg Regiment (2 battalions)	Kronoberg Regiment (2 battalions)	Jönköping Regiment (2 battalions)	Saxon Regiment (2 battalions)	Uppland 5-männing Reg. (2 battalions)	Småland 5-männing Reg. (2 battalions)
Second Line (Kalmar may have had pikes but the others were all-musket)
					Artillery Regiment (32 cannons and 2 howitzers)
Uppland  Regiment (2 battalions)	Kalmar Regiment (2 battalions)	Västmanland Regiment (2 battalions)	Östergötland Regiment (2 battalions)	Södermanland Regiment (2 battalions)
Left (East) Wing
First Line					Second Line
Västgöta  3-männing Cav. (6 squadrons)	Östgöta Cavalry Regiment (6 squadrons)	Västgöta Cavalry Regiment (6 squadrons)			Småland Cavalry Regiment (4 squadrons)	Östgöta Cavalry Regiment (2 squadrons)	Skånska 3-männing Cav. (4 squadrons)

Danish uniforms in the battle of Helsingborg.