Historical Context

This battalion represents the Landwehr militia raised from Styria and Carinthia - Austria's Alpine southern provinces bordering the Italian territories and the Illyrian frontier. Established during the 1809 reforms, these formations were tasked with defending the vital southern approaches to Vienna and the Habsburg heartland. Unlike the more uniformly equipped urban militia or northern Landwehr, Styrian and Carinthian units had to mostly make do with civilian attire, wearing country hats (Landhut) rather than the standard corsehut. In 1813, they provided a ready manpower reserve for the regular units under Hiller fighting in Illyria and Italy.

In 1809 these southern Landwehr faced the particular challenge of securing Archduke John's lines of communication from Veneto to Klagenfurt. When the regular army was forced to retreat from Venetia to Carinthia after defeat at Piave, these formations melted away, providing little resistance. Some, however, did fight in Tyrol. To the chagrin of regular officers, these units were prone to looting and murdering those they suspected of collaborating with the French and their Bavarian allies. 

Pack Contents:

AB-KK100 Austrian Landwehr, frock coat, country hat x 27 figures
AB-KK101 Austrian Landwehr, Inner/Lower/Upper Aust officer (Hauptmann) x 2 figures
AB-KK102 Austrian Landwehr, frock coat, country hat, drummer x 2 figures
AB-KK109 Austrian Landwehr, frock coat, corsehut, standard x 1 figure

Contains 32 figures.