Portuguese 9th (Viana) and some grenadiers

My newest edition to the Portuguese army, the 9th (Viana). These figures are by Emhar.

I received a number of figures from a friend a few months ago, including the Emhar Peninsular War Portuguese set. This set is roughly split between Caçadores and grenadiers (identifiable by their shoulder wings and sword), and all wear the old barretina shako, dating them as probably earlier than 1809 before the British stovepipe shako and British supplied uniforms and equipment had started to become the norm.

Portuguese in the 1806 uniform, an illustration by Michael Roffe from the Osprey book The Portuguese Army of the Napoleonic Wars. Note the shoulder wings and sword that denote the figure on the lower right as a grenadier.

Six new stands of grenadiers to round out my Hagen fusiliers.

I hadn’t purchased these figures earlier myself as they always seemed a bit stiff and parade ground-like to me, but now that I had them in my possession, on closer inspection I discovered that despite this the sculpting on them was very good and well-defined. A few years ago I had purchased enough Hagen metal figures to create about three and a half battalions of Portuguese line infantry (which can be viewed here) but all of these fine figures were fusiliers, dressed with trousers and wearing the stovepipe shako. The Hagen uniform better conforms to the Portuguese post-1809, as supply issues and British support gradually had the official 1806 uniform migrate towards something more closely approximating that which their British counterparts wore.

The Emhar figures gave me enough to create a new battalion (9th, Viana) and increase the size of the others so that I would have five plus battalions. I could also now give each battalion its requisite stand of grenadiers. I decided that the Caçadore figures (with their swords and shoulder fringes carved away) could serve nicely as fusiliers, but what to do with those barretina shakos and half gaiters? 

Emhar figures with head swaps and sculpted trousers.

To integrate the Emhar figures with my Hagens I opted to replace half the Emhar heads with the stovepipe shakos and sculpt trousers on the same number. In this way I hoped I would end up with a mixed look that would represent the gradual transformation over to the British style uniform in the post 1809 period of the Peninsular War. With the conversion of a few left over Hagen figures and Italeri British drummers I was also able to create two new command stands. As always with my Portuguese, some even got moustaches!

Hagen figure converted into ensign, back and front. I gave him a gorget, left shoulder epaulettes, a sash and a sword with cross belt.

The result gave me now five battalions of Portuguese line in a transitional uniform dating from 1809-10. These are the 2nd (Lagos), 4th (Freire), 8th (Castel de Vide), 9th (Viana) and 12th (Chaves) as well as part of the 10th (Lisboa).

All five Portuguses battlaions (plus the beginning of a sixth, the 10th Regiment (Lisboa)

Emhar grenadiers. I did a few head swaps to give some stovepipe shakos and sculpted trousers on others in an attempt to have them integrate better visually with my Hagen Portuguese.

Rear view of same. Interestingly, where the Emhar figures, even though they wear a uniform dating earlier, have the Trotter backpack while the Hagen figures have a more shapeless pack similar to that of the French.

Emhar Caccadores covnerted to fusiliers, by simply carving off the sword and shoulder fringes. Again, I made some head swaps and sculpted trousers on a few of the figures. The braiding on the front of the jacket is only slightly raised and easily painted over.

On all of the Emhar barretina shakos I opted not to paint the cord as I thought it would make them too showy and less integrated with the Hagen figures.

The  9th command stand with the converted Hagen figure as ensign.

A command stand for the still understrength 10th (Lisboa). The mounted offficer is Hagen, the drummer boy a converted Itlaeri British (the inverted drum gives himaway!) and the standard bearer another Hagen figure, a converted sergeant. The white banner and turn backs indicate that this regiment was recruited from the Portuguese Central Division.

A bit of History

In response to the Portuguese government’s request for help, on March 7, 1809, by decree, Major-General William Carr Beresford was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Portuguese army. Under Beresford’s reorganization the army was rebuilt, virtually starting from nothing. The French, under Junot, had dismantled the three levels of Portuguese national defence, disarming and disbanding the militias and ordenanças and sending the line infantry off to France to fight in Napoleon’s far flung wars. It was the troops of the disbanded militias that eventually became the first rate line battalions that fought side by side with the British throughout the Peninsular War.

Although the Portuguese battalions were eventually fully integrated at divisional level into Wellington’s army (accounting for up to a third of his total force by 1810) at brigade level and below the Portuguese maintained their own internal structure. Each regiment was composed of two battalions, with each battalion nominally having seven companies, one of these companies being grenadiers. The Portuguese line battalions had no light infantry companies, with their light infantry instead coming from their battalions of brown-uniformed Caçadores.

During the Douro campaign (Second Invasion) Portuguese battalions were found in mixed brigades with the British. However, this was the only campaign where that was the norm. On February 22, 1810, Wellington ordered each Division to include a Portuguese brigade composed of two infantry regiments of two battalions each and a battalion of Caçadores numbering 2000-2500 men (as opposed to the British numbers of two to three battalions numbering 1500-2000 men). There were three exceptions to this; the 1st Division had no Portuguese brigade, the Portuguese Division was composed entirely of Portuguese brigades and the Light Division had British light battalions and Portuguese Caçadore battalions brigaded together.

For further reading:

O Combatente Portugês da Guerra Peninsular (1807-1814) by Nuno Lemos Pires

The Portuguese Army of the Napoleonic Wars by Otto von Pivka, illustrated by Michael Roffe