DE Lenk flag

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old smokie
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DE Lenk flag

Post by old smokie » Sat Mar 01, 2014 11:00 pm

anyone have an image for the WSS regiment De Lenk's flag (not sure about spelling)
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yar68
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Re: DE Lenk flag

Post by yar68 » Sun Mar 02, 2014 5:34 pm

What country does the unit come from??
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Friedrich August I.
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Re: DE Lenk flag

Post by Friedrich August I. » Sun Mar 02, 2014 6:12 pm

Good question.. I looked through Austrian, Danish and Dutch but I could not find any similiarity so far. Only a unit from Delen.
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old smokie
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Re: DE Lenk flag

Post by old smokie » Sun Mar 02, 2014 8:14 pm

WSS French Foot regiment as far as I know,could be a foreign regiment in french service, saw it in a book but cannot remember which one
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Arthur
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Re: DE Lenk flag

Post by Arthur » Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:07 pm

The infantry regiment you have in mind was raised in 1690 as Leisler from Swedish soldiers in Dutch service captured at the battle of Fleurus. The unit became Sparre in 1694 and Lenck in 1714. Though originally formed from Swedish captives and later becoming Royal-Suédois, it was considered a German regiment during the reign of Louis XIV because Jean-Henri - a.k.a Johann Heinrich - Leisler, its original colonel, was a native German. All of its subsequent colonels would be Swedes, though.

According to Pierre Charrié, the regiment carried the same regimental colours as Sparre, then Lenck from 1694 to 1734, namely all four quarters in royal blue, each bearing a large golden fleur-de-lys :

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old smokie
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Re: DE Lenk flag

Post by old smokie » Mon Mar 03, 2014 12:13 am

many thanks Arthur for the info and image, you have been a great help :D
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Re: DE Lenk flag

Post by Graf Bretlach » Tue Mar 04, 2014 12:53 am

Another typical foreign French regiment, formed as a 'German' regiment but filled mostly with captured Swedes, the colonel although originally German was a capitaine from a Swiss regiment who apparently took several senior officers with him.
what sort of composition it maintained who knows, as its strength changed from 2 to 3 to 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 3 to 2 btns etc eventually helping form the 161 and 162e demi-brigades of the revolution.

Which of the 24 flags have you shown :)

Royal-Suédois avait eu jusqu'à vingt-quatre drapeaux. Avant 1760, les drapeaux d'ordonnance avaient leurs quatre carrés bleu d'azur et tous portaient une fleur de lys d'or au centre des carrés. A la date que nous venons de citer, le régiment reçut un drapeau colonel semblable à celui du régiment de Salm-Salm, et des drapeaux d'ordonnance qui rappelaient les royaumes du nord. Deux carrés opposés étaient bleus et portaient trois couronnes ; les deux autres étaient traversés diagonalement par des ondes alternativement bleues et blanches, sur lesquelles passait un lion d'or couronné à langue rouge. Le centre des drapeaux était occupé par les armes de France.
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Re: DE Lenk flag

Post by Arthur » Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:12 pm

Graf Bretlach wrote:Which of the 24 flags have you shown :)
The correct one for the period.

As the French text above makes it clear, the one you provide a description for is the post-1760 drapeau d'ordonnance.

As far as the regiment's structure is concerned, Susane is pretty clear on the matter : Sparre had two battalions from 1701 until 1714. It was reduced to one battalion when it became Lenck in 1714 after the treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt were signed, then brought up to three battalions in 1733 at the outbreak of the War of the Polish Succession. It was once again reduced to one battalion at the end of the war and brought up to two at the beginning of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1742 - and increased to four battalions in 1746.

These fluctuations actually make perfect sense : for reasons of economy, many regiments were reduced to a single battalion in peacetime and brought back up to strength when the next war broke out.
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