1815 Hanoverian Small Arms

[Old Contemptable]

Were the Hanoverian lights armed with all rifles or all muskets? Was one company of the lights armed with rifles and the rest with muskets?

[Helge]

The Hannover regiments were in transition in 1815. Some were still in green uniforms similar to British Rifles and some were re-kitted with red British Line uniforms. Either way, the standard weapon was the musket. Rifles were only used by the attached Jaegers. These were volunteers - though some appear to have been "semi-drafted" - and functiond as skirmishers. I don't think that they were formally formed into the equivalent of a light company. Instead, each battalion seems to have a random complement of local hunters/poachers attached but operating somewhat independently.

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

The King's German Legion (some of which was transferred to the Hannoverian Army in order to assist with its reformation) did indeed incorporate a lot of rifles into the Line Battalion light companies.  Typically, each light company consisted of one platoon of riflemen and a second of musket-and-bayonet men, reflecting the 18th Century attitude to riflemen - namely that they needed close support from musket-armed troops in order to function safely, because of the longer loading time of the rifle.  (The arming of the two KGL Light Battalions also reflected this: initially, both had been half rifle, half musket; the 1st Light Battalion had evolved into all rifles during the Peninsula War, but the 2nd had retained a 50:50 split, and even by Waterloo, was still "mixed" - though not to quite the same extent as previously.)

I'm afraid that I do not know enough about the reconstructed Hannoverian army of 1815 to say if the above organisation was common with the non-KGL line/light/landwehr battalions or not, but given that - with one or two exceptions - the units were relatively well kitted out during the Hundred Days, it is possible that at least some units had light company organisation/equipment similar to that of the KGL units described above.

I hope that helps.