Index

Order of Battle of the Imperial Russian Armies

Battle of Borodino, September 7th, 1812


NOTES


COMMANDERS

Regiment leaders could be described three ways: chief, commander, and commanding officer. The first was usually a general, who was often assigned higher level command in wartime, and kept an eye on the commander during peacetime. The commander, usually a colonel ran the regiment, and the commanding officer might be either, or a lower rank who actually exercised command at the time. Similarly, higher level commands were either assigned by order, or filled by acting commanders. A formation was often known by the name of its assigned commander even if he was wounded or even dead. The chiefs and commanders are listed in italics.

CASUALTIES

Russians distinguished between contusions and wounds. I have indicated the former by using lower case.

NAMES

I have generally followed Mikaberidze where he lists the officer. Otherwise, when names appear to have European roots, I have used Latin spelling. Russian names are transliterated, but with the soft signs elided and the 'skiy' ending rendered as 'sky'.

FIELDWORKS

The Fleches were actually composed of a fleche and two lunettes. The works at Maslovo were similar, comprising of a redoubt and two lunettes. In addition there was a redoubt behind the Semenovskiy stream as well as the Great Redoubt and the Shevardino redoubt. There were also works before Gorki.

ARTILLERY

The Russians had 52 ½ batteries and 1 section of artillery at Borodino. Position batteries consisted of 4 medium 12 lb. guns, 4 short 12 lb. guns, and 4 ½ pood "unicorn" gun-howitzers; Light batteries of 8 6 lb. guns and 4 ¼ pood "unicorn" gun-howitzers; Horse batteries of 6 6 lb. horse guns and 6 ¼ pood "unicorn" gun-howitzers. The L.G. Horse batteries had 4 rather than 6 of each, and the Guard Equipage section had a pair of 6 lb. guns.

They totaled 624 guns, three of which were lost at Shevardino. The disagreement with the usual figure arises because the 43d Light Battery of the 23d Brigade was eight miles east at Mozhaysk and missed the battle, and half the 4th Light battery was elsewhere with Maj. Gen. Ertel. Vasilyev and Yeliseyev note this is a nominal maximum. Losses occurred regularly during the campaign, and replacement of equipement is not well recorded.

The Russian artillery was organized into reserves for each army. Several sources give the totals as 390 pieces, which Larionov lists as: L.G. Artillery 2d, 17th, 23d, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32d Position Batteries, 4th, 8th, 12th, 13th, 20th, 21st, 22d, 23d, 32d, 33d, 45th, 46th, 48th, 49th, and 50th Light Batteries, (49th and 50th of the expected 27th Brigade) and the 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, and 10th Horse Batteries. However, this was either a paper organization or overtaken by events, and by Sept. 7th, the batteries were for the most part, placed in the battle line. Only the 8th Light, 44th Light, and 2d Don Cossack artillery batteries, on the far right did not participate. The 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 6th, and 32d Light, the 7th and 23d Position, and the 2d Horse artillery batteries suffered only light casualties.

Vasilyev and Yeliseyev differ from others with:

  • (1st Reserve Artillery Brigade) attached to HQ.

    COSSACKS

    Cossacks follow Vasilyev and Yeliseyev. The 3 Don Cossak brigades plus Vlasov are noted as participating in the afternoon raid on the right flank. Cossack Regiments contained 5 squadron, termed centuries, except the Ataman Regiment which was at double strength, but consolidated 3 squadrons due to losses. The L.G. Cossacks had 3 squadrons, the Black Sea Century fighting as the 4th.

    CONVERGED GRENADIER BATTALIONS AND REPLACEMENT BATTALIONS

    Except for the L.G. which fielded all three, the Russian foot Regiments fielded the 1st and 3d four company battalions. The 2d battalions had been designated replacement (depot) battalions, then combined in additional divisions, most of which were used as reinforcements. Similarly, all cavalry Regiments fielded 4 of 5 squadrons in each "battalion", line lancer and hussar Regiments having two battalions. The replacment squadron was officially simply one of the "center" squadrons. However, the Russians posted the senior squadrons on the flanks, so the center squadrons were the 3d, 4th, or 5th (and 8th, 9th, or 10th), which explains why there is so much confusion, some authors stating it was the 2d, some the 5th, of each battalion.

    The converged grenadier battalions of the 1st and 11th Divisions are problematic. Initially, the Leib-grenadier, Count Arakcheyev, and Kexholm Regiments retained their second battalions because they were serving with the Guard. The Yelets Regiment kept the second battalion as garrison of its military settlement. However, the initial composition of the converged grenadier battalions, as given by Viskovatov, is not entirely consistent with this. Furthermore, the second battalions of the Leib-grenadier, Count Arakcheyev, and Kexholm Regiments are all explicitly mentioned in various I Corps OBs. If so, one might expect their grenadier companies to join the appropriate converged grenadier battalion. On the other hand, it may explain why one of the 11th and the 23d converged battalions were combined.

    The composition of the 26th Division's converged grenadiers comes from Sanktpeterburgskiya Viedomosti, courtesy Steven Smith. Viskovatov has it composed of the Regiments of the first brigade and the senior jaegers; the Regiments of the second brigade and the junior jaegers.

    Vasilyev and Yeliseyev assign 2d Brigade of the 1st Western Army Converged Grenadiers - composed of the 1st c. g. battalion of the 17th Division, the 2d c. g. b. of the 11th, and the c. g. b. Others assign it to the Reserve, but it makes more sense that they would fill out the 23d Division, just as those of the 3d Division fill in for the Selenginsk battalion at HQ.

    MILITIA

    The Horse Cossacks remained in Mozhaisk. The 2d, 5th, and 8th did not reach the battlefield, and the 6th arrived on Sept. 7. According to Vasilyev and Yeliseyev, only the Jaegers and the 1st Foot had firearms, the rest had pikes.

    Strength a week before the battle is listed as 25 thousand men, although sources give about 15 or 16 thousand at the battle, and 3 thousand men in the Smolensk militia (V&Ye count 12,000, most unarmed). Data is consistent with 4 battalions per Regiment.

    REFERENCES

    A great deal of thanks is due Steven H. Smith, who provided me with many of the references as well as specific citations. Thanks also to John Wladis for his assistance. This work has also been greatly refined by use of Vasilyev and Yeliseyev's wonderful OB, especially regarding the Cossacks and Converged Grenadiers.


    GAZZETTER


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