The Prussian cavalry, like the cavalry of other nations, comprised many types of horsemen.  As far as I can tell the Prussian curassiers saw little active service, and I have not painted any of these units.  Still, this leaves dragoons, hussars, uhlans, and landwehr cavalry units.  Quality of units in the Prussian army of 1813-5 varied greatly, but the regular cavalry were in most respects superb.  Cavalry units carried no colors.

The dragoons are the easiest type to field.  They wear a light blue or medium blue 'Kollett,' or long, double-breasted tunic, with facings (cuffs, collar, and shoulder straps) in the regimental color.

These are the 2nd and 5th Dragoons.  The HaT Prussian Dragoons figures may be painted straight from the box.  Anyone wishing to field a Prussian army for this period needs several boxes of these figures.

The hussars are dressed and equipped in the usual manner.  All that marks these as Prussian are their distinctive headgear, the usual covered black Prussian shako.  Colors varied from regiment to regiment.  Those regiments present during the Waterloo campaign were as follows:

There is no set of Prussian hussars on the market, but they are an easy conversion.  The Esci British Light Dragoons or the Italeri French Hussars are the most obvious choices, but any hussar-style troops may have their heads replaced with ones from Revell Prussian Infantry to create a reasonable Prussian Hussar.  Horses may be taken from many different sets.  The conversion above uses the French Guard Chasseurs from the Italeri French General Staff set.  They are painted (not very well - I hate doing the lace!) as the 1st Silesian Hussars.

The uhlans were lancers.  They wear a very dark blue, almost black Kollett with red collar and cuffs.  Shoulder straps and buttons vary from regiment to regiment.

These figures represent the 2nd Uhlans.  The HaT Prussian Uhlans figures may be painted straight from the box.

A large proportion of the Prussian cavalry force was made up of militia, or "landwehr," cavalry.  These were poorly trained, often poorly equipped, and showed a very mixed performance in battle.  The landwehr cavalry were armed with lances and sabres, and uniformed in a manner very similar to the uhlans.  They wore the same very dark blue, almost black Kollett, grey trousers, and black leather equipment.  Their cuffs and collars bore the unit's province color, and their shoulder straps denoted their seniority in their province (white-first, red-second, yellow-third, light blue-fourth).  Province colors were as follows:

The HaT Prussian Uhlans figures require a very slight conversion to be used as landwehr cavalry.  The existing shako is shorn of its decorations, leaving a very good simulation of a covered shako, and the white landwehr cross is painted on its front.  These examples portray the 2nd Kurmark Landwehr Cavalry.

Haythornthwaite, Philip, Jack Cassin-Scott, and Michael Chappell.  Uniforms of Waterloo.  London;  Arms and Armor Press, 1974.

Hofschroer, Peter and Bryan Fosten.  Men at Arms 172: Prussian Cavalry of the Napoleonic Wars (2): 1807-1815.  London; Osprey Publishing, Ltd., 1986.

Wootten, Geoffrey.  Campaign Series 15: Waterloo 1815.  David G. Chandler, Ed.  London; Osprey Publishing, Ltd., 1992.

Last updated 08 August 2002

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