- Hanseatic Legion
The Hanseatic Legion was a military unit, first formed of a group of citizens of
Hamburg . They had met in1813 on the instigation of GeneralFriedrich Karl von Tettenborn , in order to fight in theWar of the Sixth Coalition . This association of volunteers was joined immediately by volunteers from Hamburg's sister citiesBremen andLübeck .The Legion should not be confused with the
Hamburger Bürgermilitär , or Hamburg Militia. During their time of coexistence, the Militia restricted itself to ejecting the French garrisons of Hamburg and the otherHanseatic League cities, whereas the Legion also participated in the rest of the campaign under Russian overall command.The Legion defended the Hanseatic cities against Davout's and Vandamme's troops until Tettenborn completed the raising of their sieges in the night of 29/
30 May 1813 . The Legion and the Hanseatischen Bürgergarden went with Tettenborn and inMecklenburg joined the Allied northern army under Wallmoden's command, later taking part in the fighting in the area around Mecklenburg and in parts ofSchleswig .The members of the Legion returned to Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck on
30 June 1814 , and all received the "Kriegsdenkmedaille der drei Hansestädte" (War-Medal of the three Hanseatic-League cities) in 1815.ources
*Perthes: W. Perthes Leben. Bd. 1 Gotha (1892)
*Heilwig Prosch: Die Hanseatische Legion 1815 nach Senatsakten und Familienbriefen. In: Der Wagen 1960, S. 66-77.
* [http://www.napoleon-online.de/html/hanse.html Uniforms of the Legion]
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