1744 BATTLE OF MADONNA DELL'OLMO (AKA DI CUNEO) WAR OF AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION

The new year has just begun, and I would like to celebrate it by returning to an old project of mine—one of those projects which, like many others, may never truly be completed. I am well aware of this, but I also know that I will continue working on it nonetheless.

The Battle of Madonna dell’Olmo was fought near the town of Cuneo, in south-western Piedmont, an area to which I feel deeply connected, as I live between the present-day provinces of Turin and Cuneo. This battle also has a particular significance for me because it involved the Piedmontese Army to a considerable extent. For this reason, I feel almost duty-bound to pay tribute to my ancestors, who fought with such courage on that battlefield.

The uniforms of this period are also particularly attractive. Compared with those of the War of the Spanish Succession, military dress had developed into a much more refined and sophisticated system. Moreover, a considerable amount of reliable information survives concerning the actual uniforms worn at the time, especially by Piedmontese, French and Austrian units.

The Spanish Army that fought at Madonna dell’Olmo, however, has been largely neglected. Reconstructing its order of battle and identifying the uniforms worn by its regiments proved to be a considerable challenge. Nevertheless, I was eventually able to gather enough information to produce a reasonably accurate reconstruction, and I would now like to share the results.

The following Spanish regiments took part in the Battle of Madonna dell’Olmo:

Regimiento Saboya

Regimiento Toledo

Regimiento Vitoria

Regimiento Asturias

Regimiento Navarra

Regimiento Mallorca

Regimiento Córdoba (Provincial)

Regimiento Granada (Provincial)

Regimiento Jung Reding (Swiss)

Regimiento Hibernia (Irish)

After the military reforms introduced under Philip V, particularly from 1707 onwards, Spanish infantry generally wore white coats, with either gold or silver buttons and a variety of distinctions in the colour of the waistcoat, breeches, cuffs and other details.

The provincial regiments could also be distinguished by the small black neckcloth worn around the neck instead of a conventional collar.

Foreign regiments serving the Spanish Crown retained uniforms associated with their own national traditions: the Irish wore red, while the Swiss regiments in Spanish service wore blue.

I can therefore now present my reconstruction of the Spanish infantry that fought at the Battle of Madonna dell’Olmo on 30 September 1744.

                                                                 Regimiento Saboya

                                                                Regimiento Vitoria

Regimiento Mallorca

Regimiento Navarra

                                                                Regimiento Asturias

 

Regimiento Toledo

REGIMIENTOS PROVICIALES

Regimiento Cordoba





Regimiento Granada






REGIMIENTO IRLANDES (IRISH)

Regimiento Hibernia






REGIMIENTO SUISO (SWITZERLAND)


Regimiento Jung Reding

Obviously every Regiment had also his company of Grenadiers (Granaderos): here an example.

Grenadier of the Mallorca Regiment

Once I prepared all the templates, I found some mistakes (fig 1) to be re-drawn (fig 2): the tail should be longer (I took as example a template of the SYW) and the pattes de paramants, bigger than it was. I did better the vest and I rounded the tail. This are tiny differences between a uniform of the War of Austrian Succession and one of the SWY; the first still had influnce of the military fashion of the beginning of the century, while the other (even though around 15 years later) had the exeprience of that war to increase in confort.

After this template, I was not convinced: the rifle seemed to me too tall and not in the correct way. So I changed to this: