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| A Quartiermeistergeneralstab Field Officer in 1798 Uniform |
Quartiermeistergeneralstab
re-enactment
unit
Description and Aim
The QMS is
a re-enactment unit dedicated to the accurate representation of the Austrian
Staff of the Napoleonic Wars, focussing in the Operations Department. This is
not a 'combat unit', in that there is no need for members to be equipped with
firearms and take the field against the enemy, but roles allowing that option
do exist.
The main
role is to provide a credible living history representation and support and
staff the KK army and allies during events and on other occasions. It also aims
to provide a focal point for KK units through an online presence.
The reason
for choosing this unit to represent is because in the UK interest is
likely to be limited, events taking place overseas will mean it will be hard to
take firearms and it is a stand alone role that does not need other units
around.
The
approach is to create a small staff that would be responsible for helping a
General run a detached column or a later corps. Such organisations were usually
led by an officer of field grade with at most half a dozen staff officers. The
HQ may be guarded by a detachment of staff dragoons or infantry, or whatever
troops happened to be at hand. Staff officers often employed batmen or civilian
servants like other army officers.
Roles and duties of the Operationskanzlei
Direktor: Major Jean Friseur de Chesholme
The QMS is
responsible for all the functions of the QMS officers and men, direct
communication with the commanding General and co-ordinates the disparate
regiments under command and manages spies. He is also responsible for briefing
the commanding General each morning on events and intelligence that could
inform his actions.
Major Jean de Chesholme is currently
a Major in the QMS. He is a French emigre who left France in 1793 at the age of 21.
After serving in the Grun-Loudon freicorps and LiB 'Bach' he transferred to
GzIR6 followed by two years at the Engineer School. He is currently with the
QMS.
Captaine des Guides: vacant
The
Capitaine des Guides is responsible for reconnaissance and intelligence. Unlike
other QMS officers, the CdeG always came from a cavalry background. The CdeG
handles all intelligence reports and non-secret intelligence as well as
scouting reports. He then distills this into a report for the QMS who in turn
uses it to brief the commanding General.
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| Engineer Officers |
Direktor des Technische Truppen:
vacant
The Officer
of Technical Troops was usually an engineer officer and was a key figure for
the staff if there was a need to build a bridge, besiege a place or demolish
something. Often the Engineer officer would have a platoon or section of Pioneers
under command, and any Pontoniers and Tschaikisten would also fall under his
command. Usually he would be a subaltern at corps/kolonne level, but of field
grade for army HQs.
This is a good role for an
individual who is keen on fortifications, engineering and drawing. Also this
character may recruit his own 'men' in the guise of sappers. It is also a very
nice uniform!
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| Artillery Field Officer and subaltern in 1798 uniform |
Artillerie-Commandant: vacant
The
Artillery commander was the other non-QMS officer directly responsible to the
Chief of Staff. His role was to direct the reserve artillery of the formation
and act as senior artillery officer for all artillery units. As such his advice
about the quality of roads, what would and would not be passable for the
formation's guns would be invaluable as well as his battlefield skill in
choosing sites for the reserve guns.
I would prefer this role to be
filled by someone experienced with artillery in re-enactment. I am not sure if
there is a person out there who has the uniform of an officer of artillery, but
given that this role is likely to be more active in terms of handling units and
assigning powder I would like to approach the Czechs on this.
Stabs-Offizieren
Officers of
the staff could fulfill a variety of duties. They would be employed by the
Chief of Staff to fill whatever functions he felt was necessary based on their
skills and talents. Some officers may be good at drawing, others at mathematics
or have a good eye for ground. One officer would be detailed to maintain the
war diary.
Anyone can fill these roles who
wishes to take on the persona of an Austrian officer. Staff officers could
really be of any age as the very young could come from combat units, the older
ones from technical units.
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| Pioneers 1798 |
Technical Troops
Although
there were specialist troops for Staff duties (see below) these were the
responsibility of the Service Department. The Operations department had
responsibility for the technical troops. The majority of these would be
pioneers, often a corps or similar formation would have one or two platoons to
enable the unit undertake small engineering tasks. Other technical troops could be pontoneers
for bridge building, and Tschaikisten for the management of boats on rivers and
so forth.
People may undertake to represent
pioneers, pontoniers or Tschaikisten and guard headquarters, although more
sensibly would be a small pioneer unit under the command of the Direktor des
Technische Truppen.
The Service Department
The
Operations Department would be uniformed people directly under the command of
the Chief of Staff. A General would also have an Adjutant Staff, known as the
Service Department, which he would choose himself along with his aides de camp.
These could be drawn directly from regiments and wear their regimental uniform
with a green plume and sash worn over the right shoulder to mark them out as
members of the adjutant staff, or they may wear the uniform of the adjutant
staff, which was similar to the QMS uniform but with red collar and cuffs and
paille as opposed to white small clothes.
There was
often tension between the 'red' and 'black' staffs, particularly where the
General distrusted, disliked or dismissed as incompetent the Chief of Staff
foisted on him by the Hofkriegsrath. In such circumstances the General's
adjutant staff often became an alternate source of plans and advice, relegating
the 'black' staff to a purely technical role.
These roles
would need the proximity of a General officer to be truly effective, as they
would be more directly at his beck and call than members of the Operations
Department.
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| General-Adjutant Officer in 1798 uniform |
Adjutant Staff Officers
An officer
may be part of the 'professional' adjutant staff attached to a General. The function of the
adjutant staff was to cover things like logistics, management of the
headquarters functions, the writing and transmission of orders and anything
else that the commanding General felt was important. There would be an
Adjutant-General, several Flugel-Adjutants and General-Adjutants falling within
this group.
A person taking on this role would
need to be aware that their function is more 'service based'. Command of any
staff units would fall to these people if they exist. Such people would also
have a firm battlefield role conducting messages and orders to units on the
field.
Aides de Camp
A General
would also choose his own aides de camp. These would be part of his military
family, and sometimes directly members of his family as well. These would be
drawn directly from their units and retain the uniform of their unit with the
staff distinctions of a green plume and the sash (if worn by that unit) over
the right shoulder as opposed to around the waist. They would most frequently
be young, junior officers, good looking on fast horses whose job was to despatch
orders on the battlefield, run errands and generally be in attendance on the
commanding General.
An ADC obviously needs a general to
circulate around. Like any adjutant, they would be transmitting orders and
running about after the commanding General.
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| Staff Infantry from around 1778. Raised at the outbreak of war, uniforms seemed to differ each time |
Stabs-Dragoner and Stabs-Infantrie
The
Austrian army had specific troops raised on the outbreak of a campaign to guard
the headquarters. These were the Stabs-Dragoner and Stabs-Infantrie. Their job
was Headquarters security and to act as armed escort to officers from both
staffs if they were needed. On the battlefield their primary function was to
keep the commanding General safe and act as his escort.
Staff troops would have a more
active field role if they wished, escorting the General or the Chief of Staff
or any of the operations staff on recce or during a battle. They would also be
responsible for guarding the headquarters. These would be the only troops who
would need firearms licenses.
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| 'Don't eat the rose this time, your honour' |
Servants and Civilians
All
Austrian officers would engage a servant of some sort to cook, clean and
generally take on the domestic duties. These could either be military servants
carried over from their previous regiments, from the Stabs-Infantrie or
civilians.
Batmen
To borrow a
20th century term the servants in uniform I will call batmen. Within regiments
these were drawn from semi-invalided soldiers whose inability to serve in
combat had been confirmed by the regimental surgeon, though in practice the
regimental surgeon could be persuaded to sign off anyone the officer wanted.
These individuals were often figures of fun, think of Schweik in a later
period, who were often pictured as pretty useless and quite frustrating. One
advantage was that they were cheap!
Civilian Servants
If he could
afford it the Austrian officer would avoid a batman and instead engage a
civilian servant. These were often far more competent and knew their job well
as they had prior experience of being in service.
These would be the cheapest and most
relaxed options as a servant would have no battlefield role. Their 'job' would
be to keep the Headquarters tidy, procure provisions, make fires and serve
food.
Overview of the QMS and other staff
functions
The
relationship between the Chief of Staff and the commanding General could be
mixed. The QMS was not chosen by the commanding General but by the
Hofkriegsrath in Vienna, and was often seen as a moderating figure to make sure
that the General's plans remained aligned to the strategy and leadership in
Vienna. Sometimes the relationship could be very close, such as between
Archduke Charles and Oberst Schmitt in 1799, and at other times the
relationship was characterised by mistrust and loathing, as between General
Melas and Oberst Zach in 1800. Sometimes the QMS would really be in charge of
the army with the General a figurehead, as was the case with Mack and Archduke
Ferdinand in 1805, after Mack had displaced Ferdinand's original Chief of Staff. But the way the relationship formed was in many ways
accidental, and the inability of generals to appoint their own chiefs of staff
left many openings for tension.
The QMS
officer could either have come from within the peacetime QMS officers or be
taken into the QMS on the outbreak of war. The role offered little in the way
of heroics and glory, but lots of paperwork and drafting of orders, and as such
any job within the QMS was frequently shunned by officers wanting to win their
spurs. Often officers came from more technical backgrounds like the Engineers,
where being able to draw, measure and think were prized assets. This often
meant that 'combat' officers discounted staff officers during operations
because they had no experience of a battlefield role. At other times generals
showed an over-reliance on staff officers just because they were wearing a
staff uniform, and saw this as a way of avoiding responsibility for any errors.
Staff officers often moved between operational and staff roles during their
careers, like Wimpffen. You were generally not a staff officer throughout your
career unless you were in a department like topography.
The
Operations staff had responsibility for all military operations and
intelligence. additionally it was responsible for the maintenance of the
operational journals and the war diary. The Staff also created a daily
situation report (situationszeichnung) and recorded details of all military
actions for entry into the war diary.
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| Army Train from 1798 |
The most
senior QMS Officer lead the Operations Department (Operationskanzlei) as
director of operations (Direktor). His
department was responsible for all technical troops (Pioneers, Pontoneers and
Tschaikisten), the organisation of the headquarters, arranging the order of
march and management of the headquarters baggage. In the case of the baggage he
was assisted by a senior and junior Quartermaster, a staff Fourier (to manage
the horses), a senior and junior Wagonmaster and messengers on foot and on
horseback.
In terms of
organisation, in 1809 the staff of Archduke Charles was organised into 6 Buro:
- Chef Buro fur Koordinierung
- Das Buro fur Kriegsgeschichte zur Answertung der Bestande der Kriegsarchivs.
- Das trigonometrische und calcul Buro
- Das Topographische Buro
- Die Zeichnungskanzlei (drawing office)
- Das dislokations und marschrouten Buro
In 1809
when the country was at war there were 191 officers in the 'black' staff
In 1811
when the country was at peace there were 64 officers on the 'black' staff
As you can see I have been very reliant on Tranquillo Mollo for illustrations, but the uniforms will generally follow the 1807 reforms, although the difference for the QMS officers themselves is minimal.
