Chris’ Curious Regiments
The tiny Waldeck contingent and a Hessian regiment that had served in both the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland and the American Revolution!
83rd Infantry Regiment “von Wittich” (3rd Electoral Hessian / Waldeck)
The tiny Waldeck contingent and a Hessian regiment that had served in both the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland and the American Revolution!
83rd Infantry Regiment “von Wittich” (3rd Electoral Hessian / Waldeck)
The Infanterie-Regiment von Wittich (3.Kurhessisches) Nr.83 was formed on 27th September 1866. From 1867 the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont’s infantry were incorporated into the Prussian system as the III. Fusilier Battalion of the 83rd Infantry Regiment. During the Franco-Prussian War they saw action at the Battles of Wörth and Sedan and the Siege of Paris.
In 1899 it was decided to acknowledge the memory of the former Electoral Hessian army by associating the 83rd Infantry with the Kurhessischen 3. Infanterie-Regiment (Prinz Friedrich Wilhelm von Hessen) setting the official formation date of the regiment to 22 November 1813. In fact the original regiment traced its roots back to the Regiment von Schöpping formed in 1701. This formation and its descendants had seen action in the Wars of Spanish and Austrian Succession, the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland, the Seven Years War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars.
In 1914 they were garrisoned at Kassel with the III Waldeck Fusilier Battalion at Arolsen as part of the XI Army Corps. The Second World War Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt gained his first commission in the 83rd Infantry.
During the First World War they initially served on the Western Front siege of Liege and Namur, then in late 1914 transferred to the East for the Battle of the Masurian Lakes. They remained on the Eastern Front until Russia’s defeat in 1917 when they returned to the Western Front and saw action at the Battle of Cambrai.
Helmet Plate: Yellow metal Prussian Line Eagle
State Cockade: I and II Battalions – Prussian (black/white/black); III Battalion – Waldeck (yellow/red/black, confusingly the same as Reuss)
Parade Plume: None
Tunic Buttons: Yellow metal
Shoulder Straps: Yellow with a red number 83
Collar: Red piped along the upper edge in dark blue
Cuffs: Brandenburg style in red with yellow piping around the vertical panel
*Text from ‘Traditions of the Imperial German Infantry Regiments’ available worldwide on Amazon.
*Text from ‘Traditions of the Imperial German Infantry Regiments’ available worldwide on Amazon.
*Photo from the Fort de la Pompelle Museum
** Painting by Richard Knötel
