I have been interested in Ysenburg, since I stumbled across the memorial (Denkmal) to the battle of Sanderhausen while staying at Kassel last September. Sanderhausen was hard to find, and the denkmal was tucked at the side of a wood, next to a busy road.
The site of the Denkmal. The battlefield is across the road
A map of the battle
I have done some research on Ysenburg, and I have become slightly obsessed with the character. He is not singled out in Kronoscaf and there are few contemporary paintings of him, but I feel that he did reasonably well with his small force, mainly militia, at Sanderhausen and fought well, inflicting heavy casualties on the French before withdrawing.
He fought bravely at Bergen and was killed. To quote an extract from Sir Charles Hotham-Thompsons book, Operations of the Allied Army under the Duke of Brunswick 1757-62,
"just as he was going to lead his grenadiers to the assault he said with great composure:"Come my friends, whoever has courage let them follow me." He was immediately hit by a musket ball in the chest and died instantly.
To mark this moment, I have converted my own version of Ysenburg, in the uniform of his own regiment, as a general officer. The figure shows him at the moment of his charge, rallying his troops, and it will be a nice addition to the collection.
Very nice looking figure, not a chap I have really heard off so very interesting to hear about him.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie, I enjoy researching these more obscure characters
DeleteVery nice figure and interesting history.
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter, I knew nothing of him until I saw the memorial when i visited the battlefield
ReplyDelete