No. 31 – St. Ignon Dragoons

Inhaber
1740 Ligne, 1757 Benedikt Daun, 1758 Christian Philipp Fürst Löwenstein-Wertheim (de Ligne), 1759 Graf Saint-Ignon

Unit History
A regiment raised in 1725 in the Austrian Netherlands. Present at Kolin, Leuthen, where its commander, Graf Thiennes, fell, Hochkirch and Maxen. In 1759, the regiment was part of de Ville's corps in Silesia where, after a skirmish at Zurlau, it met up with the Austrian army at Maxen. In 1760, as Chevau-légers, it suffered heavy losses at Torgau and was forced in large part to surrender. Between 1761 and 1762 the unit skirmished at Hartmannsdorf, Adelsbach, Dittmannsdorf and Nieder-Peilau. The unit was considered one of the better cavalry units as it suffered very little desertion in the period. It converted to Chevau-légers in 1760 but back to Dragoons in 1765. It was considered an elite unit throughout the period.
At Kolin, 1757, these 'Greenhorns' helped seal the Austrian victory. During the final stages of the battle, the Prussian again assaulted Krzeczor Hill, almost breaking through the Austrian centre. The breakthrough threatened the flank of the de Ligne and Kolowrat Dragoons who received an order to withdraw. Legend has it that the commanding officer, Colonel Graf Thiennes, asked for permission to attack which was grudgingly given with the comment: 'But you won't be able to do great things with your people - they haven't got moustaches!' Graf Thiennes repeated this to the regiment; then cried out' Boys, just show you can bite even it you haven't got any moustaches! Just show you need teeth to bite, and not whiskers!' The ensuing charge broke the last Prussian assault. For their actions on Krzeczor Hill, the de Ligne Dragoons became one of the more famous regiments in the Austrian army.
At Maxen, November 1759, a Prussian counter-attack by the grenadiers commanded by Willemy (No. 4/16) drove out the Austrians who initially had successfully assaulted the village of Maxen. The de Ligne Dragoons, with additional support, forced out the Prussian grenadiers and recaptured the village. The Austrians then held Maxen for good.

Comments
The regimental history is so entertaining that I just had to include at least one squadron in my Austrian force. Call it the usual wargamer’s disease of collecting elite units as opposed to the normal units. The unit was painted in 2003.

Sources
Flag: Warflag at http://www.warflag.com/
Text: Osprey’s Kolin 1757 Frederick the Great’s First Defeat (Campaign 91)
Osprey’s The Austrian Army 1740-80 (1) Cavalry (Men-at-Arms 271)
Austrian regimental information at http://www.kuk-wehrmacht.de/regiment/index.html