In June 1815 there were 5 East Prussian Landwher Regiments,

Loraine Petre writes: “A decree of the king established the landwehr, based on the model of that of Austria of 1809. … As the impoverished state of Prussian finances precluded much assistance from the State, the expense of equipment had to fall on the men themselves, or their villages. … At first, the front rank was often armed with pikes or scythes, and it was only as French muskets were taken from the battlefields that the men were armed with yet another pattern of firearm. There was a great dearth of officers, as most of the half-pay officers still fit for service were required for the reserve battalions.

All sorts of officials, many of them very unsuitable as military officers, joined, and it was only later on that men of some experience were got from the ‘volunteer-jagers, etc. Naturally, the landwehr, as a whole, was at first of no great military value, though their initial worth was in some corps enhanced by long marches and still more by early successes.” (Petre – “Napoleon at War” p 114)

The Landwehr accepted men aged 25 to 40, too old and weak for the regular troops. They were equipped not by the central goverment and ministry of war but by provinces. The men wore either a black or dark blue Litevka coat with white, dark blue or grey trousers. Each regiment had three battalions of 4 companies.

“Theoretically the Landwehr were to be used only for home defence purposes within the frontiers of Prussia, but in practice they were used exactly as if they were regulars. Initially only 20,000 were raised, armed with French muskets gathered up by the Russians as they pursued the disintegrating Grande Armee out of Russia.” (Digby-Smith, – p 36)