IR Kanitz

Inhaber
1753 Kanitz, 1759 Malsburg, 1766 Ditfurth, 1789 Hanstein

Unit History
The regiment was formed in 1753. The unit was present at Sanderhausen, Lutterberg, Bergen, Dransfeld, Wetter, Korbach, Klosterkamp, Brandelear, and Wilhelmstal.









At Sanderhausen, July 1758, Prinz Ysenburg was forced to draw his converged grenadiers and this unit, Kanitz, from his centre to reinforce a crumbling left flank; leaving only the Hessian militia in the centre. The French commander, Duc de Broglie, seeing this, ordered the regiments Rohan-Montbazon (No. 32), Beauvoisis (No. 41), Royal-Bavarie (No. 86) and Royal-Deux-Ponts (No. 92), all of which had exhausted their powder, to bayonet charge the centre. These regiments managed to collapse the Hessian militia troops, forcing the Allies to withdraw.
At Bergen, April 1759, the unit, along with the Hanoverian regiments of Linztow (7B), Post (10A) and Fersen (13A), was part of Prinz Isenburg's corps that led the assaults on the village of Bergen. After repeated attempts to storm the village, the Hanoverian and Hessian troops withdrew. The Prinz was killed leading repeated assaults up a steep slope against abattis around the village without artillery support; the artillery was still in the rear of the baggage train. The French units in Bergen were strengthened by a reserve formed from the regiments Piedmont (No. 4), Alsace (No. 36), Rohan-Montbazon, Royal-Roussillon (No. 37), and Beauvoisis. These reserves blunted the repeated attacks.
Shipped to North America in 1776 and fought at Fort Washington, White Plains and Newport. A regular unit disbanded in 1797.

Comments
The uniform is very similar to the Prussian so they are often used in my games as additional Prussian troops. The buff/pale orange facings make the unit unlike any Prussian unit that served at the time. The closest match is interestingly the same named I.R. Kanitz (No. 2). That regiment also has orange facings but straw vest and trousers instead of the white worn by the Hessians. GMB Flags now have updated flags for the unit which are beautiful. Unit painted in the spring of 2005.

Sources
Pengel & Hurt, German States in the Seven Years War 1740 to 1762, Imperial Press
D. Cookman, Sandershausen 1758, Battlefields Vol. 1 Issue 6
K. Trenkle, Nix wie weg… die Hesse komme, Verlanganstalt Marburg