HISTORY OF THE PSKOV INFANTRY REGIMENT, 1815-1862
This is a translation of pages 242-298 of Istoriya Pskovskago Pekhotnago General Feldmarshala Knyazya Kutuzova Smolenskago Polka, 1700-1881, by Captain Geniev, published in Moscow in 1882. The University of Michigans Russian History and Culture microfiche series has reproduced this book as item RH08356. The section selected for translation covers the history of the regiment from its return from France in 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars to the eve of the Polish Revolt of 1863. Included is the Pskov Regiments extensive involvement in the Polish Revolt of 1830-1831 and its subsequent garrison activities. Internal organization, regimental commanders, uniforms, drill, and other subjects are covered.
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CHAPTER XVII.
(page 242) . . . Already assigned to the 3rd Infantry Corps by the end of August 1814 (1), the Pskov Regiment set off in March on its foreign campaign, leaving Major Ogon-Doganovskiis 2nd Battalion in quarters at Zabludow.
The regiment was now (from 15 February, 1815) under the command of Colonel Kirill Mikhailovich Naryshkin, as the former regimental commander, Major General Dmitrii Petrovich Lyanunov, had left to command the 3rd Brigade of the 7th Infantry Division. Passing through Ostrolenka (1 April), Cottbus (near Bautzen), and Hammelburg (Duchy of Fulda), the Pskov Regiment arrived at Rheims in France on 1 August. Since during the regiments long march the French army had already been destroyed at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium (18 July, 1815), the Pskov Regiment first settled in cantonments near Rheims and later in camp near Vertus. In September the regiment set off on the return journey to its native country. Passing through France, Germany, and the Duchy of Bavaria, the regiment went into quarters at the end of 1815. According to the regimental monthly reports in the Moscow Archives, on its return march to Russia the Pskov Regiment went through the following towns where there were stocks of provisions, meat, and wine from state stores: Avise, Bethancourt, St. Dizier, Pont-a-Mousson, Aschaffenburg, Coburg, Konigsbruck, Freistaat, Khrszanow, Sochaczew, Warsaw, Wlodawa, and other points in between.
The regimental headquarters was in Kiev while the companies of the 1st and 3rd Battalions were in nearby villages. Major Ogon-Doganovskiis 2nd Pskov Battalion, though, was in the summer of 1815 quartered in Dombrova in the Sokoly District of Bialystok Province and for winter moved to Rzhishchevo in the Kiev District of Kiev Province. Remaining in the same quarters, during 1816 and 1817 the regiment was under the 1st Army of General-Field Marshal Barclay-de-Tolly, in General-of-Cavalry Raevskiis 3rd Corps. With a new allocation of divisions on 1 February, 1817, the 3rd Corps was renumbered the 4th and had the 7th, 11th, and 24th Divisions.
In the beginning of 1818 the regimental headquarters was relocated to Rzhishchevo while the companies of all three battalions were placed in the surrounding villages. In June the regiment was in camp near the village of Bolshie Stepantsy while in July the regimental headquarters moved to Zvenigorodsk, also in Kiev Province. At this time the 1st Army was under the command of General-of-Infantry Baron Saken.
In the spring of 1819 when the regiments headquarters was at Smelyi in Kiev Province, the 2nd Pskov Battalion under the command of Major Kuzminskii was detached from the regiment consequent to a Highest Order of February 28th, 1819, by which the second battalions of certain regiments, including the Pskov, were assigned to the corps of settled troops. (These regiments were the Old-Ingermanland, New-Ingermanland, Pskov, and Velikolutsk Infantry, and the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th Jägers.)
At the same time as the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the regiment in April, May, and June were on the march through Kharkov to Toropets in Pskov Province, the 2nd Battalion left for quarters in the village of Belyi Bor, Luzhensk Estate, Demyanov District, Novgorod Province, where it came under the control of the force commander of settled troops [otryadnyi nachalnik poselennikh voisk] Major General Knyazhnin. In the fall of the same year the regiment joined the 14th Division in accordance with a reorganization confirmed by Highest Authority on 18 October , 1819.
By the new organization of corps and divisions, Prince Eugene of Württembergs 1st Infantry Corps was to consist of the 5th, 14th, and 25th Divisions. The 14th Division was now made of the following regiments:
1st Brigade: | 2nd Brigade: | 3rd Brigade: |
Pskov Infantry | Velikolutsk Infantry | 6th Jägers |
Old-Ingermanland Infantry | New-Ingermanland Infantry | 26th Jägers |
By this same organization the 5th Jägers along with the 18th made up the 3rd Brigade of the 26th Infantry Division.
In 1820 the regiment remained at its locations. At this time divisions were renumbered consequent to a Highest Order of 20 May, 1820, so that the divisions were numerically in order throughout the corps. Together with this there was a transfer of infantry and Jäger regiments between the brigades within the divisions. Our 14th Division was renumbered the 3rd. The 25th Division was now numbered the 1st, the 5th was renumbered the 2nd, and the 14th became the 3rd, so that the 1st Infantry Corps was made up of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Infantry Divisions, the 2nd Corps had the 4th, 5th, and 6th, and so on. The composition of the 3rd Infantry Division was now:
1st Brigade: | 2nd Brigade: | 3rd Brigade: |
Old-Ingermanland | Pskov | 6th Jägers |
New-Ingermanland | Velikie-Luki | 26th Jägers |
At the end of the next year, 1821, the Pskov Regiment moved to new quarters; the regimental headquarters was in Novorzhev in Pskov Province while the companies were in the villages nearby. This was where the regiment stayed to the end of Emperor Alexander Is reign. In 1822 the 1st Corps came under the command of Lieutenant General Voinov while the 1st Army, which included the 1st Corps, was at that time commanded by General-of-Infantry Saken.
Along with the corps change of command the regiment also had a change as in January of that year the commander of the regiment, Colonel Kirill Mikhailovich Naryshkin, was promoted to Major General and left to command the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division (of which the Pskov Regiment was also a part). Transferred from the 1st Marine Regiment, on 1 February Colonel Ernst Fromgolt von-der-Briggen assumed command of the regiment. In 1824 the 1st Corps was under the command of Major General Nabokov.
Consequent to a Highest Order of 26 March of the same year the second battalions in the military settlements region were directed to be named third battalions while in turn the third battalions which were actually with their regiments became the second. Likewise the 3rd grenadier companies were renumbered as 2nd, and the 7th, 8th, and 9th musketeer companies as the 4th, 5th, and 6th musketeer and vice versa. With this the 2nd Battalion of the Pskov Regiment under the command of Major Nikolai Evstigneevich Balkashin (who took over the battalion from Major Kuzminskii) and billeted in Belyi Bor in Novgorod Province was also renumbered as a 3rd Battalion.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Polish War of 1831. The Battle of Wawr. A Battle of the Giants for the Olchow Grove near Grochow.
At the beginning of 1826, the first year of Emperor Nicholas Is reign, the regiments headquarters was at Opochnya in Pskov Province, the 1st Battalions headquarters was in Barkusov, the 2nd Battalions was in Sebezh, and the companies were in villages near their headquarters. In the beginning of April the Pskov Regiment was to be used for state labor on the construction of the Vindav Canal and arrived at Shavkyany near the as yet unfinished canal. (As is well known, the Windau Canal unites the Venta [or Vindava] River, which flows into the Baltic Sea, with the Dubisa River which flows into the Nieman.) At first the 2nd Battalion labored on the canal while the 1st worked on barracks near Shavkyany, but later the battalions exchanged places. On 19 September the regiment left Shavkyany for Riga to perform guard duties. Arriving on 27 September, it was billeted in barracks in the Mitava suburb.
Leaving Riga on 30 December, the regiment moved into winter quarters in Derpt on 15 January 1827. The headquarters of the 1st Battalion was at the Varol Farmstead and the 2nds was at Meersgof. We note here that by a Highest Order of 17 August 1826 "in honor of the memory and service of General-Field Marshal Prince Kolenishchev Kutuzov of Smolensk," Honorary Colonel from 26 October, 1799, to 16 April, 1813, which is to say the day the Field Marshal passed away, the regiment was titled "Field Marshal Prince Kutuzov of Smolensks Infantry Regiment" ["Pekhotnyi feld-marashala knyazya Kutuzova Smolenskago polk"].
Further movements of the Kutuzov Regiment followed: In April of 1827 the regimental headquarters and the 1st Battalion left for guard duty in Riga (the assigned quarters were in the Mitau suburb), while the 2nd Battalion left for Dunamund where it was lodged in barracks. After then spending the fall in quarters in Livonia Province (the regimental headquarters and the 1st Battalion in Fellin and the 2nd Battalion at the Shlyuz Farmstead), at the end of the year the regiment moved to Estonia Province with the headquarters and 1st Battalion in Weissenberg and the 2nd Battalion at the Gulyal Farmstead. After leaving in May of 1828 to work on the construction of the Windau Canal, in July the regiment moved into barracks in Reval for guard duties, but from 25 October to 14 December it was again on the march to new quarters in Minsk Province. Here the regimental headquarters was in Vileika while the 1st Battalions was in Radoshkevich and the 2nds in Dolganovka. The Kutuzov Regiment spent almost the entire following year of 1829 at these places, moving only at the end of the year to Mogilev Province where the regiments headquarters and that of the 1st Battalion were at Staryi Bykhov and the 2nd Battalions at Novyi Bykhov.
After spending the summer of 1830 at the Bobruisk Fortress, in November the regiment moved to Troki in Vilna Province where the headquarters of the regiment and the 1st Battalion were stationed. The headquarters of the 2nd Battalion was in Vilna.
In that same year of 1830, as a result of a Highest Order of 9 May the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the regiment began to be termed active [deistvuyushchii] and the 3rd was called reserve [rezervnyi]. Together with this a new authorized strength for the regiment was established. By the organization table of 9 May, 1830, the two active battalions of an infantry regiment and the third reserve battalion were authorized the following numbers of military personnel:
Active |
Reserve |
Active |
Reserve |
||
Field-grade officers | 5 |
2 |
Privates | 1840 |
920 |
Company-grade officers | 36 |
17 |
Fifers | 4 |
2 |
Noncommissioned officers | 160 |
80 |
Non-combatants | 34 |
14 |
Musicians | 25 |
" |
Craftsmen | 25 |
14 |
Drummers | 34 |
17 |
Train | 21 |
13 |
Buglers | 18 |
9 |
Orderlies | 69 |
28 |
In peacetime the number of privates in a reserve battalion was 600 less than in wartime.
On 1 January 1831 the active battalions of the Kutuzov Regiment were located at Novyya Troki under the command of Colonel fon-der-Briggen and were assigned to Major General Shkurins 3rd Infantry Division in the 2nd Brigade of Major General Peterson. The composition of the 3rd Division was as follows:
1st Brigade, |
2nd Brigade, |
3rd Brigade, |
|
Old-Ingermanland |
Field Marshal Kutuzovs |
5th Jägers |
|
New-Ingermanland |
Velikolutsk |
6th Jägers |
At the end of 1830 revolt broke out in Poland. Field Marshal Graf Diebitsch of the Transbalkans was named to quell the uprising and he arrived at his main headquarters in Grodno at the end of December. At this time columns of Russian troops like dark bands on the snowy fields were making their way to the Polish border from all directions. The 3rd Infantry Division along with other units was assigned to the 1st Corps of the Active Army. (The 1st Infantry Corps of General-of-Cavalry Pahlen was made up of the 1st Hussar Division and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Infantry Divisions, along with 96 guns.)
As a result of this assignment, the Kutuzov battalions departed Troki on 6 January and, passing through Orany, arrived at Grodno on 14 January. The next day they moved into temporary cantonments at Svisloch-Oginskii. At this time the largest force of Russian troops, numbering upwards of 90,000, was concentrated between Grodno and Brest Litovsk with the Bobr, Narew, and Bug Rivers in front of them marking the Kingdom of Polands borders.
The landscape to be covered by the upcoming war was cut across by large rivers of which the Bug and Vistula barred the way to Warsaw. The region between these two rivers was crisscrossed by a multitude of streams with marshy banks. The large expanses of forest and marsh which covered the country in an almost unbroken mass hindered communications because of the lack of good roads except for the highways from Warsaw to Brest, Kovno, Kalisz, Krakow, and Poznan. According to information gathered, the Polish army was deployed on the Kovno and Brest roads, facing the Russian army in the form of a concave angle with its apex at Praga. By advancing into this angle and quickly turning to the left, it was possible to hope to cut the Polish army into two parts. Diebitsch, deciding on such a course of action, ordered the 1st and 6th Corps, with reserves, to go to Ostrolenka as if to reach the Kovno road, but when they came here they were to turn sharply to the left and make a forced march to Wyszkow to cross the Bug here on the ice and go to Praga.
On 18 January the regiments of the 3rd Division were temporarily assigned to the reserve corps of the forces under the command of His Imperial Highness the Tsesarevich and were ordered to move to Surazh. Thus, on 19 January the Kutuzov Regiment left Svisloch-Oginskii and, moving through Krynki, reached Zabludow on 22 January where all the 3rd Divisions regiments were concentrated (2). The Russian forces gathered on the border were to cross it in various places on 24 and 25 January. Upon this, on 26 January the 3rd Divisions regiments moved through Surazh and approached the crossing over the Narew. Here they crossed this river in a ceremonial march before His Imperial Highness the Tsesarevich and entered Polish territory.
On 28 January,1831, the Kutuzov Regiment contained 29 officers and 1543 lower ranks; in the 5th Jägers there were 32 officers and 1257 lower ranks. When crossing the border everyone expected to meet the enemy, but the frontier was undefended. Unhindered and with loud cries of "hurrah," the troops crossed the border and were met by the friendly inhabitants. The people came out of every village and hamlet to meet the Russians with bread and salt and white flags.
On 27 January the 3rd Division, moving from Mazury to Jablonka, here joined up with the 1st Corps. As the Russian army reached Lomza, Zambrowo, Czyzew, and Nur, it met with difficulties that were harder to overcome than the enemy. There were frosts at the time it was decided to enter Poland, but on the day the army crossed over the border there was a warming spell so that on 27 January the rivers rose and water flooded the fields. For this reason the Field Marshal decided to bring the army over to the left bank of the Bug River where the terrain was more suited to military maneuvers, and where he could also strike the enemys right flank and destroy it before it would be able to unite with the left. Accordingly, the Russian forces crossed the Bug River at Brok and Nur on 30 and 31 January. On 29 January the 3rd Divisions regiments made a long march over a very bad road from Jablonka to Nur and here crossed the river to continue on through Ceranow to Wengrow, where they arrived on 1 February to bivouac in front of the village of Liv, along the road to Kalushin. When passing through Wengrow, the 1st Battalion of the Kutuzov Regiment was temporarily detained in this town to carry out guard and convoy duties for the main headquarters. During this time the main strength of the Russians was deployed from Wengrow to Siedlce, and the general situation assumed a warlike character. The thunder of cannon firing could be heard day or night, and the strictest vigilance was prescribed for the vanguards as it became known from the intercepted correspondence of the Poles that they intended to avoid battle and weaken the Russian army by surprise attacks and moves on the lines of communications (3).
5 February was designated for the armys general advance in three columns. A central column, consisting of the troops from Graf Pahlens corps, moved to Kaluszyn in several echelons, with the regiments of the 3rd Division making up the second echelon. From Kaluszyn the troops followed the highway to Janow where they bivouacked. On 6 February the right flank (6th Corps) which had passed through Dobre, was to move on to Stanislawow, while the left flank (lst Corps) was to go to Dembe-Wielkie and its advance guard on to Milosna.
In accordance with these dispositions the 3rd Infantry Division followed the highway through Minsk, and its regiments veered left off the main road short of Dembe-Wielkie, moving cross-country in the direction of the village of Chrosno, behind which the enemy was occupying a position. The regiments halted, but when the enemy abandoned its position consequent to the successful action of our artillery, the regiments again marched over to the highway and continued toward Milosna.
Some five miles from this village our advance guard was moving along the highway through a forest but when they came out of this defile they were stopped by the heavy fire of the enemy, who had occupied a position at the Janowka Inn. As the regiments of the 3rd Division approached the inn at 4 oclock in the afternoon, the 2nd Battalion of the Kutuzovtsy, under the command of Major Mikhnovskii, was formed up along the highway in front and, together with the Velikie-Luki Regiment which had turned right off the highway, used the bayonet to break through the left flank of the enemy, who were in the meadow in front of the inn. The other regiments of the division (the Old-Ingermanland, New-Ingermanland, and the 5th Jägers) were sent one after the other off the highway to the left, to where the enemy directed the main part of his forces, threatening to outflank us. Here a hard fight flared up in which these three regiments, especially the 5th Jägers, held the enemy back with magnificent courage and finally even drove them off with significant losses. Casualties in the division for this day reached 300 men killed or wounded. In the Kutuzov battalion Private Parfen Yegorov was killed and twelve lower ranks were wounded. After this affair the regiments of the 3rd Division stopped and bivouacked along both sides of the highway, with the Kutuzov battalion on its right in the meadow in front of the Janowka Inn. Tight picket lines were set out in front of the bivouac (4).
On the following day, 7 February, neither side expected a battle. On this day the Polish commander-in-chief, General Chlopicki, only wanted to gather his forces in a strong position at the village of Grochow, where all the eastern roads converged towards Warsaw. But Diebitsch, wanting to first bring all his forces out of the dense forests around Milosna and Okuniew, ordered that the 1st Corps continue to Milosna on the 7th while its advance guard would reach the village of Wygoda. The right flank (6th Corps) would also press forward on line with the left.
At dawn on 7 February the vanguard of the 1st Corps (lst and 2nd Jäger Regiments, two cavalry regiments, and 16 guns) continued the advance. They passed Milosna without opposition, and while moving through the forest surrounding the highway the enemy was nowhere to be seen. But this was the calm before the storm which soon rose up with terrifying force. The head of the vanguard had hardly exited the forest on the highway when it was deafened by the thunder of cannon fire and bombarded with every kind of shot. It turned out that the Polish forces, retreating to Grochow, had occupied a rather strong position along both sides of the highway in front of the "Wawr" Inn. On our side, the jäger regiments deployed on both sides of the highway (with cavalry on the left). The regiments of the 3rd Division were coming directly behind the advance guard, with the 5th Jägers in front. This regiment, moving along the left side of the highway in attack columns with a line of marksmen in front, met with enemy artillery fire and at about 10 oclock came up between the jägers of the advance guard.
Meanwhile, the enemy took advantage of his stronger force and outflanked our troops on the right with infantry and on the left with cavalry, seeking to throw us back to the woods. At this point Graf Pahlen ordered five battalions from the New-Ingermanland, Kutuzov, and Velikie-Luki Regiments to turn off the highway to the right and move through the woods to force back the enemy who had penetrated here. This order was very successfully carried out. Afterwards, the Velikie-Luki Regiment, screened by sharpshooters, came out of the forest and followed the enemy towards the Wawr Inn. Near a brick-making site this regiment was met by heavy musket and cannon fire and after much loss began to retreat back to the woods. When reinforced by the 2nd Battalion of the Kutuzovtsy it once again made an unsuccessful attack on the enemy. The Poles firmly maintained their position until the Old-Ingermanland Regiment followed up behind the Kutuzovtsy, and these regiments again made a bayonet assault on the enemy while the New-Ingermanland Regiment went around his left. The rebels then began to retreat, pursued by the 3rd Divisions regiments all the way to Grochow where the division was ordered to halt. Just as successful were the 6th Corps actions against the Polish forces deployed at Wygoda. The fighting stopped at about 4 oclock in the afternoon when it was already beginning to get dark.
Losses in the Kutuzov Regiments 2nd Battalion were as follows: killed noncommissioned officers Aleksei Klochkov and Taras Mironov; five lower ranks. Wounded Staff-Captain Mikhail Vikentevich Lipinski, by a bullet to the left side of the back of the head; Ensign Felitsian Matveevich Rudskii received a severe contusion on the left side of the chest; Ensign Aleksandr Ivanovich Petrov, contusion caused by a bullet to the upper part of the head. Wounded lower ranks were:
Officer candidate .......................1 | Bugler ...........................1 |
Noncommissioned officers ..........5 | Privates........................ 67 |
Losses in the 5th Jäger Regiment for this battle on 7 February were even heavier. Wounded officers in the 5th Jägers were: Captains Shepelev and Redrikov (the latter with his leg shot off by a cannonball), Staff-Captain Kopotov, Lieutenants Grebennikov, Denisov, Kozlinov, and Basovich, and Sublieutenants Reichner and Shishkin.
With the end of the battle the 3rd Divisions regiments set up bivouacs on the Wawr Inn position, where they stayed until 13 February (5). Although during this time the weather became moderate (39° Fahrenheit), the ground at the bivouac was covered with a thick layer of snow which had fallen on 7 and 8 February. The gloomy weather that set in after this made the situation still more disagreeable. Each day at the onset of night, one of the regiments went out to cover the artillery that was set up in the front line and for a 24-hour period provided a strong line of forward posts. Food was sent to the position already prepared, being readied in the closest villages by foragers sent out by the regiments. During this period the 1st Battalion of the Kutuzovtsy, under the command of Major Sukhomlinov, joined up with its regiment (6).
At this time the complement of officers in the Kutuzov Regiments 1st and 2nd Battalions was as follows (source Moscow Archives, regimental rolls):
1st Battalion |
||
1st Grenadier Company: | 2nd Musketeer Company: | |
Colonel von der-Briggen | Staff-Captain Tripolskii | |
Staff-Captain Zaretskii | Sub-lieutenant Semenov | |
Lieutenant Kolodkeich | Ensign Zagryanskii | |
Ensign Gulyaev | ||
1st Musketeer Company: | 3rd Musketeer Company: | |
Major Pukhalskii | Major Sukhomlinov | |
Staff-Captain Kablukov | Captain Chizhevskii | |
Lieutenant Protopopov | Sub-lieutenants Ivanov | |
Sub-lieutenant Kuris | and Nikolaev | |
Ensign Dranikov | Ensign Richter | |
2nd Battalion |
||
2nd Grenadier Company: | 5th Musketeer Company: | |
Major Mikhnovskii | Lieutenant Shapko | |
Staff-Captains Litinskii | Sub-lieutenant Gorbunov | |
and Pavlinskii | Ensign Litinskii | |
Sub-lieutenant von Keck | Ensign Galitskii | |
Sub-lieutenant Litinskii | ||
Ensign Petrov | ||
4th Musketeer Company: | 6th Musketeer Company: | |
Staff-Captain Mimin | Major Andrievskii | |
Lieutenant Elmin | Captain Dekhterev | |
Sub-lieutenant Snetov | Lieutenant Kupriyanov | |
Ensign Kutukov | Lieutenant Neretik | |
Ensign Rudzkii | ||
Ensign Naperstkov |
After the Battle of Wawr the Field Marshal awaited the arrival here of Shakhovskiis Grenadier Corps, which at that time was moving by forced marches through Augustow Province. On 11 February Shakhovskii arrived at Neporent (12 miles north of Warsaw) and on the following day he captured the village of Bialolenka after a fight. At dawn on 13 February Shakhovskii, seeing the enemy advancing towards him from the direction of Brudno (near Warsaw), began to retreat through Marki to unite with the army. At this time Diebitsch was with the army at Wawr. During the prayer service being performed in anticipation of important events that day, distant rolling cannon fire could be heard. "The enemy is attacking Shakovskii," was the thought that arose in everyones mind. Adjutants galloped everywhere, the troops stood to arms, a cannonade opened up, and, anticipated by both sides that day, a great battle began.
The enemy forces were deployed as follows: Zymirskis and Skrzyneckis Divisions occupied the Olchow Grove, and behind them was Lubenskis cavalry; Szembeks Division was deployed to the right of and a little behind the Olchow Grove and formed the key to the enemy position. On our side, Graf Pahlens corps, deployed from Wygoda to Zastaw, formed the left flank. Rozens corps, formed up opposite the Olchow Grove, made up the center, and Shakhovskiis corps, having moved to join the rest of the army, was to form the right flank. The 3rd Infantry Division stood behind the village of Wygoda. For the attack on the enemy, the Field Marshal ordered Graf Pahlen to hold the highway with the 1st Division and with the 2nd and 3rd help Rozens corps to seize the Olchow Grove.
After 9 oclock in the morning the artillery fire became heavier along the whole line; a high-rising cloud of smoke drifted in the air, and every kind of shot and shell tore and whistled through it in all directions. Before noon Rozens force attacked the Olchow Grove three times; being sent forward piecemeal, they had no success. Vexed by the futile attacks of the 6th Corps, the Field Marshal ordered a new attack supported by the regiments of the 3rd Infantry Division, which moved to the right side of the road leading from Praga to Okuniew, next to the carabinier brigade. Command over them was given to Generals Tol and Neigardt. Eighteen horse-artillery guns received the order to move out opposite the southern edge of the grove and open fire. Tol placed himself in front of the carabinier brigade while Neigardt was in front of the Old-Ingermanland and Velikie-Luki Regiments, and they advanced right and left towards the grove. The Old-Ingermanland and Velikie-Luki Regiments were first to break into the grove, having in reserve the New-Ingermanland, Kutuzov, and 5th Jägers. Superior enemy forces deployed as sharpshooters on the edge of the grove and, having behind them strong columns, forced the leading regiments of the 3rd Division to retreat. But to their aid came the New-Ingermanland, Kutuzov, and 5th Jäger Regiments, which rushed upon the rebels and drove them to the far end of the grove. Reinforced with fresh troops, however, the rebels pressed hard on our regiments, which again withdrew from the grove. Then masses of Polish troops began to come forth from it and form up in front. At this time two of our guns from Horse-Artillery Company No.20, which during the withdrawal had become stuck in the marshy ground, would have fallen into the enemys hands except that the 5th Jäger and Kutuzov Regiments, under the personal direction of their commanders Colonels Trubachev and fon-der-Briggen, recovered these guns. The attack by Tols carabiniers was also beaten back. Seeing that the decisive moment had come, the Field Marshal ordered the 2nd Grenadier Brigade to reinforce the carabiniers and the 3rd Divisions regiments to renew their attack. The division commander, Major General Shkurin, gathered the Old-Ingermanland, New-Ingermanland, and Kutuzov Regiments and under heavy cannon and musket fire brought them for a third time against the left flank of the grove. With them he struck the enemys flank and drove him from the grove and through its northern end, which was immediately occupied by a strong line of our marksmen backed by reserves. The grenadiers and carabiniers attacked the right flank of the grove with the same success.
So ended the fight for the Olchow Grove at 3 oclock in the afternoon of that gloomy, warm day of 13 February. Over 8000 dead and wounded lay in a small area. According to an eyewitness of this battle, "It was truly a fight between giants. Bullets fell through the grove like hail, the whine of case shot from cannons never ceased, and the whole ground was torn up by explosive shells; not a single small undamaged tree remained there."
After losing the Olchow Grove, the Poles formed up in battle order behind it. The Russian line also made its way forward and formed up on the far side of the grove; here at the edge of the grove the 3rd Divisions regiments also deployed in the form of a dense skirmish line supported by strong reserves. Meanwhile the artillery fire was increasing every minute; Russian shot cut through the air with crushing force and even flew all the way to Praga. The Polish batteries, however, began to weaken, and the Russians turned to the advance. Our main battery (at Wygoda) moved forward too, covered by Pahlens infantry, at the same time as the cavalry and horse artillery moved against the enemys right flank. Seeing such a decisive advance, the Poles evacuated Grochow and retreated towards Praga. The 3rd Divisions regiments, with skirmishers dispersed in front, followed the enemy on the left side of the highway as far as an impassable marsh in front of the Vistula River.
It was already 5 oclock in the evening and almost dark when the Field Marshal gave the order to halt, at which point the regiments of the 3rd Division, relieved now by other troops, returned to Grochow where they laid out their bivouac. The thunder of firing subsided, but for a long time far into the night there could be heard the muffled sounds of supply wagons and guns moving over the Praga Bridge. This was the decisive retreat of the Polish army, which began at 6 oclock in the evening and continued past midnight.
The total casualties of the Russians were 9400. In front of the brightly burning campfires the Kutuzovtsy also added up their losses. Casualties were as follows: killed Staff-Captain Nikolai Zakharovich Kablukov, commander of the 1st Musketeer Company; Sergeant Yegor Zheltukhov; Non-commissioned Officers Dmitrii Zakharov, Andrei Filippov, Grigorii Karpenko, Vasilii Bobrov, Yakim Yelizarov, and Semen Sultanov; 1 bugler, 2 drummers, and 60 privates; wounded Staff-Captain Abdul Zafar Mimin, by case shot in the left shoulder, shattering the bone; Lieutenant Georgii Kirilovich Kolotkevich, with a bullet passing through the left leg, shattering the bone, dying of his wounds on 3 May; Ensign Ivan Pavlovich Galitskii, with a bullet in the left shoulder joint, shattering the bone; lightly wounded with external injuries Staff-Captain Petr Anikievich Zaretskii, with a bullet to the head; Lieutenant Konstantin Fedorovich Elman, with a bullet in the right leg; Sub-lieutenant Karl Karlovich fon-Kek [von Keck], by case shot to the right side, injuring the liver, and to the right arm; Sub-lieutenant Petr Antonovich Gorbunov, with a bullet in the right shoulder; Ensign Aleksei Ivanovich Naperstkov, with a bullet in the right leg. Wounded lower ranks were:
Sergeants .......................................2 | Buglers .............4 |
Sub-ensigns ....................................3 | Drummers .........5 |
Non-commmissioned officers ........26 | Privates .........306 |
In addition, in the actions of 6, 7, and 13 February, 1 sub-ensign and 44 privates were missing in action.
In the 5th Jägers officer casualties were: killed Captain Shishkin; wounded Majors Kuzminskii and Siyalskii, Captain Ivanov, Lieutenant Boris, Sub-lieutenant Samarskii, and Sub-ensigns Alevtsev and Partitskii (7).
The following officers received awards for the Battle of Grochow: Colonel von-der-Briggen promoted to Major General; Major Mikhnovskii Order of St. Vladimir 4th Class with ribbon; Captain Chizhevskii and Staff-Captains Tripolskii and Zaretskii Order of St. Anna 3rd Class with ribbon; Lieutenants Protopopov and Elman Order of St. Anna 4th Class, inscribed "For Courage"; promoted to the next rank Lieutenant Shapko to Staff-Captain, Ensigns Zapryazhskii and Rudzskii to Sub-lieutenant.
CHAPTER XIX.
The Battle of Ostrolenka, 14 May. The Storming of Warsaw, 25 and 26 August, 1831.
Already on the evening of 13 February the Russians were awaiting the storming of Warsaw the next morning and preparing for it. But the Field Marshal decided to give the troops a rest in billets and move across to the left bank of the Vistula right after it opened up. The reasons for such a plan were the shortage of ammunition supplies, forage, and foodstuffs, and that there were many sick and wounded in the army. At the end of February the troops began to disperse to their billets. The Kutuzov Regiment, along with the rest of the 3rd Infantry Division, decamped from Grochow on 24 February and on the 26th arrived at cantonments in Oseck (8).
Peace talks with the Poles began even before the Russian troops moved into cantonments, but they ended unsuccessfully. In the meanwhile the leaders of the uprising used this time to make good the enemy armys losses after the Warsaw and Grochow battles. The greater part of the Polish forces was in Warsaw and the surrounding area. However, in the Russian headquarters at Ryki the Poles were not considered to be very ready to fight. On the contrary, Diebitsch was convinced that after the fighting at Wawr and Grochow they would not accept battle in the open field.
Intending to cross the Vistula south of Warsaw, the Field Marshal chose a crossing point at Tyrczin, to which place the troops were marched. The 3rd Divisions regiments left Oseck on 17 March and, moving through Sokol, arrived on 19 March at the village of Swaty where the 20th and 21st were spent halted. Meanwhile, work on constructing a bridge at Tyrczin was going so well that a crossing was planned for 23 March, but suddenly the following events occurred. Part of the Polish army, crossing the Vistula to Praga, attacked the vanguard of Rozens corps and, having pushed it back, defeated part of this corps at Dembe-Wielkie, after which Rozen retreated to Jagodna. Then, one part of the Polish army remained at Kostrzin and another moved to Latowicz to meet our main forces. Informed of this, the Field Marshal decided to cut off the enemy from Praga and take steps to concentrate the Russian army at Ryki.
In a council of war it was soon decided to make a flank movement to Luchow because of the supply shortage. As a result, the 3rd Division moved through Lipniaka to arrive at Dembe on 29 March. On that same day the Polish army, moving from Lutowicza, skirmished with Rozens corps near Igana.
On 31 March our army was concentrated at Siedlce. But before he could undertake anything, the Field Marshal had to put the supply situation in order, since it had fallen into disarray as a result of the uprising in Lithuania which cut off his supply shipments. The coming of April cost the army many victims lost to cholera, which had spread here from southern Russia. Additionally, fever had its fatal effect among the Russian troops due to bivouacking in marshy areas, and almost one-third of the army was in the hospitals. For the reasons expressed, military operations stopped for some time.
Finally, the Field Marshal decided "by a movement to the left to attack the right flank of the Poles at Kuflew and, if possible, throw it back to the Bug River." To achieve this end, on 12 April the forces marched in three columns, heedless of the torrential rain which flooded the roads, and without regard to the rivers overflowing their banks and many of the men being battered by hail of remarkable size (9). On 13 April the columns, having united at Wodine, made there way to Kurlew where our advance guard made contact with the Poles, who then withdrew towards Minsk. The next day the Russian army continued the advance with two columns, the second of which contained the 3rd Infantry Division going through Cegol. In the meantime the Poles halted on the sandy hills behind Minsk, but Pahlen had barely deployed the 1st Corps in battle formation when they withdrew to Dembe-Wielkie. From intelligence received it became apparent that the enemy position at Dembe was very strong, and in spite of the fact that it would mean substantial failure, nothing could be done. Therefore the Field Marshal again withdrew behind the Kostrzin River where Pahlens corps lay at the village of Kopce. At this time (7 April), the Kutuzov Regiment became part of Mandernshterns vanguard, which was sent out to Jagodna to watch over the crossing over the Kostrzin River.
The army remained almost three weeks in this deployment, but this time was not wasted, as preparations were made to have the army suddenly cross the Vistula at Torn.
At the end of April the Polish commander-in-chief (Skrzynecki) secretly moved against our Guards Corps which lay apart between the Narev and Bug rivers. To conceal his movement, he left a significant force at Kaluszin in his previous position. However, after Diebitsch had heard rumours of an attack by the Poles on the Russian positions at Siedlce, he designated 1 May for an attack on Kaluszin. For this, the troops marched out at the onset of darkness on 30 April, leaving small guard posts at their former locations. At midnight Pahlens corps reached Jablonin, and with the first light of the morning dawn the troops pressed on further. The rising sun found them already near the Kaluszin Forest, which was occupied by enemy infantry. Hidden from the enemy by elevated terrain, the 1st and 3rd Infantry Divisions formed into battle order and moved forward, but the Poles retreated to Minsk (10). The 3rd Divisions regiments rose from their halt at Yablonno at 3 oclock in the morning and went to Kalushin as part of the first line of our forces. Having discovered the enemy in the forest, they were sent through the woods supported by the 1st Division. Passing through Kaluszin to Jendrzeiow, the regiments were again in the first line. In order to drive the enemy from the forest more quickly, the Kutuzov and 5th Jäger regiments under the command of Major General fon-der-Briggen were sent in support of the 1st Division, and on the left was sent the Old-Ingermanland (to outflank the Poles on their right). The Kutuzov and 5th Jäger regiments, clashing with the enemy with the bayonet, forced him out of the forest and, pursuing him toward the Jendrzeiow Estate, were stopped at the edge of the forest, not having reached this estate. After this the regiments were sent on the highway to reinforce the 1st Divisions advance guard at Janowo, where they remained until the return march to Kopce. In this affair there were only two privates wounded in the Kutuzov Regiment. At dawn on 2 May the Russian army withdrew to its previous positions. The enemy made no appearance.
The commander of the Guards Corps, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, having learned of the construction of a bridge over the Narev and Bug at Serock and that enemy groups were in evidence between these two rivers, on 2 May reported this to Diebitsch, who became worried about the Guards and decided to move to Nur. In his turn the Grand Duke, having learned that Nur had been occupied by the Poles, resulting in communication with the Field Marshal being broken, retreated to Tykocin. Skrzynecki had also moved after them, but having learned that Diebitsch had already crossed to the right bank of the Bug, the Polish commander-in-chief hurriedly withdrew to Ostrolenka. During the night of 14 May the larger part of the Polish army crossed the Narev to this city.
Let us now return to the Field Marshal. On 8 May he sent a force to build a bridge across the Bug River at Granno, where the army arrived on the next day. On 10 May Diebitsch moved from Granno to Nur, where he defeated the Polish force under General Lubenski. On the morning of 11 May the Field Marshal was undecided as to further action, but at midday, having been informed by the Grand Duke of the Poles withdrawal, he immediately moved forward to Wysokomazoweck.
On the morning of 14 May the Polish army at Ostrolenka deployed as follows: two divisions were on the left bank of the Narev River to defend the road along which the Russian army would have to advance; the main forces, however, were deployed on the right bank of the river in a strong position covered with bushes. At 9 oclock in the morning our army approached Ostrolenka. Firstly the advance guard drove off the force of Poles who were on the left bank of the Narev and, supported by the grenadiers, occupied Ostrolenka. Then the grenadier regiments, crossing one after the other on two bridges to the right bank of the Narev, successfully repelled the Poles attacks there, taking advantage of the embankment of the highway leading to Rozany which was built parallel to the enemys front. At 2 oclock in the afternoon the battle was raging at full height, and at this time Skrzynecki moved forward with all his forces to throw the Russians back over the Narev River. Diebitsch, however, sent reinforcements to the grenadiers. At 3 oclock the 1st Division and Mandernshterns force crossed the Narev and threw themselves on the Poles, but coming under fire from their batteries, they fell back and in turn repulsed Skrzynecki when he attacked. The Polish commander-in-chief now saw that it was impossible to throw the Russians back over the Narev, but suddenly a ray of hope sprang out for him. Wishing to relieve the exhausted troops, Diebitsch had ordered the battalions of the 3rd Infantry Division to cross over to the right bank of the Narev River under the command of Major General Shkurin. Crossing the bridge, the Old-Ingermanland and New-Ingermanland regiments moved beyond the right side of the Rozany highway in support of the 1st Division, while the battalions of the Kutuzov and 5th and 6th Jäger regiments were halted under the protection of this highways embankment. Soon after this the enemy made a reinforced attack along our whole line of troops, seeking to gain control of the bridges over the Narev, but at this time all the 3rd Infantry Divisions battalions threw themselves on the enemy. Beaten back by their superior numbers, though, the battalions retreated behind the highway. Here they formed up and for a second time struck at the enemy with the bayonet, and with the support of the 1st Division they overthrew and pursued them to the original Polish position. Then the regiments of the 3rd Division occupied the previous position, covered by a strong line of skirmishers. From this moment the fighting began to slacken. It was already seven in the evening, and the Polish artillery was firing slower and slower because of the lack of ammunition. Finally the Polish army disappeared behind the forested, sandy hills and used the darkness of night to withdraw to the Rozany highway by means of marshy side roads (11).
The losses of the Kutuzov Regiment at Ostrolenka were very heavy, especially considering that the regiment was understrength, having been weakened by the Wawr and Grochow battles as well as by sickness. (Already on 26 March, before the spread of cholera, the Kutuzov Regiment had in formation 24 officers and 902 lower ranks, while the 5th Jägers had 19 officers and 732 lower ranks.) Killed: Sergeant Gerasim Yakovlev; non-commissioned officers Petr Prokofev and Semen Korablev; lower ranks 21. Seriously wounded: Sub-lieutenant Grigorii Yakovlevich Parchevskii with a bullet in the right knee, passing through and damaging bones; Sub-lieutenant Aleksei Ivanovich Naperstkov with a bullet in the left leg below the knee, passing through with bone damage; Sub-lieutenant Aleksandr Ivanovich Petrov by bullets in the right leg, damaging bones, and in the right shoulder blade.
Lightly wounded, without bone damage: Major General fon-der-Briggen by case shot in the left arm; Staff-Captain Terentii Ivanovich Dekhtyarev by case shot in the left leg; Staff-Captain Mikhail Vikentevich Lipinskii by case shot in the calf of the left leg; Staff-Captain Anton Vasilevich Shapko by case shot to the toes of the left foot; Sub-lieutenant Petr Antonovich Gorbunov by a bullet to the left shoulder; Sub-lieutenant Felitsian Matveevich Rudzskii by case shot to the bottom of the left foot; Sub-lieutenant Yulian Ivanovich Lipinskii by a bullet to the left arm; Ensign Grigorii Fedorovich Kolychev by case shot to the left thigh.
Wounded lower ranks: 1 officer candidate, 1 sergeant, 16 non-commissioned officers, 4 buglers, and 138 privates. Missing were 13 privates. In the 5th Jägers there were wounded: Major Sakhinskii and Captain Ivanisov; there were 23 lower ranks killed, 101 wounded, and 36 men missing.
After the Battle of Ostrolenka the Kutuzov Regiment as well as the 5th Jägers were each brought down to a single-battalion organization due to the heavy casualties in their fighting. On 15 May these regiments had in formation: in the Kutuzov 16 officers and 432 lower ranks (including 43 musicians), and in the 5th Jägers 13 officers and 396 lower ranks.
After the fighting of 14 May, while Warsaw was being rocked by secret conspiracies, discord, and party enmity, the Russian army left Ostrolenka for Pultusk, where headquarters was set up. Pahlens corps lay in bivouac around Golymin. At this time preparations were in hand for crossing the Vistula River. But now, on the morning of 29 May, Field Marshal Diebitsch suddenly died from cholera. General Tol, as chief of the main staff, took over command of the army until the Sovereign would select a new commander-in-chief. Taking advantage of our inactivity, the Polish army concentrated at Praga and endeavoured to renew their strength, which had become very weak after their defeat at Ostrolenka.
On 13 June the new commander-in-chief arrived in Pultusk. This was Graf Paskevich of Erivan, conqueror of the Persians and Turks. To him Tol turned over the army, already rested and organized, and also an operational plan "to move with the army to the lower Vistula and cross it at the Prussian border, at the village of Osek." Paskevich agreed.
On 22 June our army marched out in four columns. Pahlens column moved by forced marches to build bridges over the Vistula, passing through Sonsk, Mlock, Grabew, Parzen, and Lipno (28 June), arriving at Osek on 30 June. (Here it must be mentioned that in this operation the 5th Jäger Regiment was in the force which covered the transport columns.)
Already on 5 July the bridges over the Vistula were built, and Pahlens corps crossed this river that same day. By the evening of 7 July our whole army had crossed the Vistula and deployed in bivouacs around Racionzek.
General Rennes force, which included the 5th Jäger Regiment, was left to protect the bridge at Osek, where the transport train with the armys supplies was. The army passed through Brest-Kuiawski and Kowel to Gombin. Here Pahlen with the 1st Corps separated from the army and left for Kocerzew, while the rest of the forces went to Lowicz. Meanwhile, in Warsaw at a council of war of the Polish leaders, it was decided that "while the Russians are not being reinforced from Lithuania, to go out and meet with them and engage in a fight for life or death." As a result of this decision Skrzynecki ordered the Polish forces to march to Sochaczew, where they arrived on 21 July. But when Paskevich, having learned of this, concentrated the army at Lowicz, Skrzynecki relocated to Bolimov, on the Ravka River.
Soon there arrived at Bolimov a new Polish commander-in-chiefGeneral Dembinski. On 2 August he with his army moved to Warsaw, to where the Russians came after him. On 6 August our army was deployed with the advance guard at Raszin, Pahlens corps at Wolica, and the rest of the forces at Nadarzin. Here Paskevich waited for Kreitss force to arrive from Osek and prepared for the storming of Warsaw.
Before resorting to an assault on Warsaw, Paskevich wanted to try to settle the situation by peaceful means, but negotiations ended without results. Therefore at a council of war on 23 August it was decided to storm Warsaw on the 25th, with the fortifications at Wolia chosen as the main point of the assault. The soldiers would go into the attack without knapsacks or greatcoats, in half-parade uniform.
In accordance with these plans, in the dark of night early on 25 August nine columns took their places. Some of these columns were designated to storm the numerous outlying fortifications of the city, while some were for demonstrations. Pahlens corps, which also included the 3rd Division, received the assignment of storming the most dread of all of Warsaws external fortificationsthe dreadful Wolia. Therefore at five in the evening on 24 August the 3rd Division arrived in position on the Blonsk highway on the hill of the village of Chrszanow, where it bivouacked without fires, in reserve battle order.
Already at dawn on the 25th all was in motion in the Russian camp. With the first rays of the sun the troops were ready for battle, already drawn up in formation. Their demeanor was stern and determined. There was little talk and they were only anxious about exactly how to carry out their assigned orders. Pahlens force was divided into two large columns under Major General Luders and Major General Nabokov, and a reserve made up of the regiments of the 3rd Infantry Division. At 4 oclock in the morning, observing the strictest silence, the troops moved off in their assigned directions, with the artillery going in front. At this time the sun rose up, and over the whole wide plain its rays lit up the glittering Russian arms. Immediately a shot rang out from Fortification No. 57 (in front of Wolia) and one from Redoubt No. 54. Three signal rockets flew up over each of these fortifications, a few more single shots were fired, and then began the deafening thunder of the guns.
Graf Pahlen halted in front of Fortification No. 57 and Wolia. The 1st Corps artillery approached to within 800 paces, opened fire, and then in two movements closed in to 400 paces. Shells from the Wolia breastworks were flying in front of Fortification No. 57, protecting its left face, so Palen directed the fire of his cannons against both mentioned fortifications. In a short time the guns of redoubt No. 57 fell silent, and towards 9 oclock in the morning General Luders column took it by storm. After this, Pahlen placed some 80 guns against Wolia, and at close range from three sides these began to smash this strongpoint. The Polish cannons soon fell silent, and then the columns of Berg (the Old-Ingermanland and New-Ingermanland regiments), Luders, and Martynov (grenadiers) burst into the fortification and crushed its defenders by 11 oclock.
After the above events the fighting ended for that day. In the combat of 25 August the Kutuzov Regiment, then under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Sedletskii (General fon-der-Briggen commanded the brigade), and the Velikie-Luki, since they were the most worn down by previous battles, only covered the left flank of our artillery. While doing this they came under crossfire from the enemy artillery and so suffered many casualties compared with their small numbers of personnel. Thus, in the Kutuzov Regiment casualties were: killed privates Osip Aleksandrov, Aleksei Yagodkin, Semen Petrov, Ivan Nikitin, Ivan Khorkov, Fedor Yakovlev, Pavel Kuzmin, Moisei Chervonnyi, and Maksim Semenov; wounded Ensign Karl Ivanovich Bakshtein, by a cannon ball to the left arm, which later was amputated below the elbow; Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Frantsovich Sedletskii, contused by a cannon ball to the head, with injury to the integument; Staff-Captain Filipp Ignatevich Pavlinskii, by a shell fragment in the left leg, without bone damage; Ensign Grigorii Fedorovich Kolychev, contusion from case shot to the left arm. There were 27 lower ranks wounded.
At 1 oclock the next day, all nine of our columns continued the advance. The battalions of the 3rd Division first covered the artillery of the first line, then moved with Pahlens columns to take part in the storming of Fortifications Nos. 23 and 24, and when these were taken they were left in reserve.
The cost for the Kutuzov Regiment for this day was as follows: killed Major General Ernst Fromgolt von-der-Briggen (commander of the Kutuzov Regiment); drummers: Minei Zakharov, Akin Maksimov; privates: Osip Belyaev, Nefed Konarev, Ivan Bushuev, Ivan Vasilev. Wounded: Sub-lieutenant Petr Antonovich Gorbunov bayoneted in the left arm and shot in the right leg below the knee; Captain Terentii Ivanovich Dekhterev severe contusion from a bullet to the head. Fifteen lower ranks were wounded and two were missing
After the capture of Warsaw, the regiments of the 3rd Division bivouacked on the battlefield on 27 and 28 August and then moved to Marimont where they stayed until 7 September. From there they moved to Kazun to watch over the fortress at Modlin to which place the remnants of the Polish army had gone after the capture of Warsaw.
For the battle of Ostrolenka the Kutuzov Regiment received the following decorations: St. Vladimir 4th class with ribbon Captain Dekhterev; St. Anna 2nd class Major Mikhnovskii; St. Anna 3rd class with ribbon Staff-Captain Shapko and Sub-Lieutenant Rudzskii; promotions: Staff-Captain Tripolskii to Captain; Sub-lieutenant Gorbunov to Lieutenant; Ensign Rikhter to Sub-lieutenant; Staff-Captain Zaretskii received an expression of gratitude by Highest Authority. For the storming of Warsaw: St. Vladimir 4th class with ribbon Staff-Captain Shapko, Sub-lieutenant Rudzskii, and Ensign Bachstein 2nd; St. Anna 3rd class with ribbon Staff-Captain Pavlinskii, Lieutenant Protopopov, Lieutenant Gorbunov, Ensign Bakshtein 1st. Gold half-sabers: Captain Dekhterev and Staff-Captain Zaretskii. Major Mikhnovskii was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and Captain Tripolskii to Major. The available strength of the Prince Kutuzov Regiment on 28 August 1831 was 12 officers and 331 combatant lower ranks.
Having decided to move south, the Poles began to withdraw to Plotsk, but on 15 September Paskevich gathered his main forces at Modlin, deploying Pahlens corps at Topolno. On 16 September our forces set off in pursuit of the Polish army. Palens corps passed through Gostynin to Wrocslawka where the Old-Ingermanland, New-Ingermanland, and Kutuzov regiments marched in the vanguard under Lieutenant General Khilkov, who passed through Kamionki to arrive at Rypin on 22 September. Here on the following day a skirmish took place, after which the Poles fled into Prussia. Pahlens entire corps bivouacked near Rakitnicsa until 27 September when they moved into billets as a rest after the eight-month war, awaiting the delivery by the Prussian government of the arms laid up in that country by the Polish rebels. The Kutuzov Regiment settled into barracks at Rypin, staying there until 30 September when all of the 1st Corps troops went into more spacious quarters in the area around the city of Lipno. Finally, on 21 October Palens forces dispersed to their assigned winter quarters in Plock Province, and at this time the Kutozov Regiment moved to Lipno.
As for the movements of the 5th Jäger Regiment, we will only note that they remained in General Rennes column at Osek to cover the bridge and works there until 28 November. From there they moved into winter quarters at Kikol, five miles northwest of Lipno where, as mentioned, the Kutuzov Regiment was located.
Let us now return to the regiments 3rd Reserve Battalion. We saw that at the end of Emperor Alexander Is reign it was located in the village of Belyi-Bor in the Demyanov District of Novgorod Province. In the summer months of 1826 and 1827 they were sent on labor details, first to the settlement region of the Emperor of Austrias Grenadier Regiment and then to that of the King of Prussias Grenadier Regiment, returning for the winter to their quarters in Belyi-Bor. In 1828 the battalion again spent the summer on labor works, but for the winter the headquarters moved to the village of Latchino, Krestets District, also in Novgorod Province, Upon finishing their work in the settlement region of the King of Prussias Grenadier Regiment, at the end of 1830, the battalion moved into barracks in the town of Borobichi, again in Novgorod Province. In February of 1831 it went to Novgorod to perform guard duties, moving in the beginning of March from there to the military settlement region of the 1st Carabinier Regiment.
According to the battalions monthly reports in the St.-Petersburg General Archives, its strength at this time was as follows:
Field-grade officer ....................1 | Musicians ...............18 | |
Company-grade officers...........10 | Privates .................224 | |
Non-commissioned officers .....17 |
At this time the battalion was under the higher command of the head of the main staff for military settlement [pravlyayushchii glavnym shtabom po voennomy poseleniyu], General of Infantry Graf Tolstoi, and directly commanded by the commander of the reserve division of the 1st Corps, Major General Nabokov 2nd. At the end of March the battalion left for Dunaburg and was then on the march pursuing rebels in Kovno Province, taking part in the following actions: 17 April - exchange of fire with Polish rebels near Dusyaty, where one non-commissioned officer and one private were wounded and four privates were missing; 13 May - exchange of fire with rebels near Rakishki where Sergeant Maksim Yeliseev and Private Yefim Kondratev were killed, one distinguished officer candidate [portupei-praporshchik] and two privates were wounded, and two privates were missing.
The battalion remained here in Rakishki until 1 August. During this time the battalion commander, Major Balkashin, was on trial at the Dunaburg Ordnance House on charges that during the defeat of the rebels at Dusyaty on 17 April, he appropriated civilian property on several farmsteads. In his place the battalion was commanded by Captain Bernatskii. From here in Rakishki a move was made first to Vilkomir, also in Kovno Province, and then at the beginning of December into quarters in the region of Field Marshal Barclay-de-Tollys Carabinier Regiment.
CHAPTER XX.
Field Marshal Prince Kutuzov of Smolensks Jäger Regiment.
In the beginning of 1832 the active battalions of the Kutuzov Regiment were installed in winter quarters in Lipno in Plotsk Province. The commander of the regiment, Viktor Frantsevich Sedletskii, had died on 31 December of the previous year and the regiment was temporarily taken over by Lieutenant Colonel Ignatii Andreevich Meier. At the end of July the regiment went to Minsk, convoying lower ranks of the former Polish army who had since entered Russian service. The regiment stayed there on guard duties until the last days of October, when the regimental headquarters moved to Vileika in Vilna Province. In the summer of that year, the 3rd Reserve Battalion was on labor details in several of the agricultural soldiers districts (Novgorod Province) and in autumn they arrived in Vileika to be united with the regiment.
In January of 1833 a Highest Order was issued by which certain regiments, among them the numbered jäger regiments, were to be disbanded and in their place the regiments of the first five corps were to be made up of four active battalions with a non-combatant company and two reserve battalions with two non-combatant sections. In peacetime, though, the two battalions designated as reserve were to form one "combined" ["svodnyi"] reserve battalion with one similarly "combined" non-combatant section. In both peace and wartime these reserve battalions were to be detached from the regiment and formed into special reserve divisions so that, for example, the reserve division of the 1st Corps was made up of the reserve battalions of the regiments in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Infantry Divisions.
By a table of 28 January, 1833, each of the four active battalions of a regiment was to have in wartime:
Field-grade officers ..................2 | Drummers ...............13 | |
Company-grade officers......... 17 | Buglers ...................13 | |
Non-commissioned officers ....82 | Fifers .......................2 | |
Privates ...............................920 | Non-combatants ......7 |
The same composition was also prescribed for peacetime except that there was to be only one field-grade officer. As for the 5th and 6th reserve battalions, in wartime they were to be made up the same as the active ones but in peacetime they formed a "combined" reserve battalion comprising the following:
Field-grade officers .....................2 | Drummers .................18 | |
Company-grade officers ............17 | Buglers .....................18 | |
Non-commissioned officers .....164 | Fifers .........................4 | |
Privates ..................................640 | Non-combatants ......18 |
In addition, in both peace and wartime a non-combatant company was prescribed: 1 company-grade officer, 5 non-commissioned officers, 20 non-combatants, 52 craftsmen, and 48 supply-train personnel. In both peace and wartime a non-combatant section was to have: 1 non-commissioned officer, 5 non-combatants, 12 craftsmen, and 12 supply-train personnel. In a combined non-combatant section these numbers were doubled.
As a result of the above order, "Field Marshal Prince Kutuzov of Smolensks Infantry Regiment" was joined with the 5th Jäger Regiment and named "Field Marshal Prince Kutuzov of Smolensks Jäger Regiment" ["yegerskii feldmarshala knyazya Kutuzova Smolenskago polk"], and reformed so that:
The 1st and 2nd Active Battalions were the same ones as in the former Prince Kutuzovs Infantry Regiment.
The 3rd and 4th Active Battalions were formed from the 1st and 2nd Active Battalions of the former 5th Jägers.
The 5th Reserve Battalion was made up from the cadre of the 3rd Reserve Battalion of the former Prince Kutuzovs Infantry Regiment.
The 6th Reserve Battalion was formed from the cadre of the 3rd Reserve Battalion of the former 5th Jägers.
The 3rd Infantry Division was organized as follows:
1st Infantry Brigade |
2nd Jäger Brigade |
|
Old-Ingermanland Infantry |
Prince Kutuzov of Smolensks Jägers |
|
New-Ingermanland Infantry |
Velikie-Luki Jägers |
For the aforesaid reorganization, the regiment, which in the spring of 1833 had gone to the city of Dunaburg for guard duties, arrived in Minsk by 10 June, to which place the active battalions of the 5th Jäger Regiment also went. The battalions were set up in billets in the villages near the city. From here the new battalions went off as follows:
The 1st Battalion (lst Carabinier and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Jäger Companies),under the command of Major Andrievskii (of the former Kutuzov Infantry), to the town of Borisov.
The 2nd Battalion (2nd Carabinier and 4th, 5th, and 6th Jäger Companies), under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Mikhnovskii (of the former Kutuzov Infantry), to the city of Minsk.
The 3rd Battalion (3rd Carabinier and 7th, 8th, and 9th Jäger Companies),under the command of Major Berens 1st (of the former 5th Jägers), to Igumen.
The 4th Battalion (4th Carabinier and 10th, 11th, and 12th Jäger Companies), under the command of Major Yakovlev (of the former 5th Jägers), to Rakov.
The regimental headquarters remained in Minsk, to which place the battalions came in turns until the end of 1833 to carry out guard duties.
As for the cadres of the former third reserve battalions of the Prince Kutuzov Infantry and the 5th Jäger Regiments, located in Drissa and Drua, they were gathered together in Polotsk and there formed into a "combined" reserve battalion (5th Carabinier and 13th, 14th, and 15th Jäger Companies) under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Matsonkov. In the summer of this same year of 1833 this battalion (24 officers and 844 lower ranks) was on labor detail constructing the Dunaburg Highway (Motsinskii District of Vitebsk Province), and then spent the fall and winter in Dunaburg to carry out guard duties.
In February of the following year of 1834 it was ordered by Highest Authority that the sixth reserve battalions were not to be formed in case of war, but rather only the fifth reserve battalions with one non-combatant section would be continued. With this order, the "combined" reserve battalion of Prince Kutuzovs Jäger Regiment was renamed the 5th Reserve Battalion. It was located apart from the regiment and with the similar battalions of the other regiments in its division formed the reserve brigade of that division. This brigade with the similar brigades belonging to the other divisions in the corps formed the reserve division of the corps.
By a table of 28 February, 1834, the 5th Reserve Battalion was authorized the same wartime strength as the active battalions with their organization of 28 January, 1833 (except with the addition of two more non-combatants), while in peacetime this 5th battalion was reduced by 1 field-grade officer, 7 company-grade officers, 600 privates, 4 drummers, and 4 buglers.
In April of 1834 it was ordered that the regiments non-combatant company and non-combatant section (with the 5th Reserve Battalion) would remain with their units and in name only be joined with the similar companies and sections of the divisions other regiments to form a supply-train battalion [furshtatskii batalion] for their division. The train battalions of the corps would then be joined together as the corps train brigade [furshtatskaya brigada].
In the spring of the same year of 1834 the regiment stayed in its previous locations. At this time (24 April) a new regimental commander arrived, Colonel Grigorii Ivanovich Bershov. In July the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions left for the 1st Corps encampment near Vilna while the 4th stayed in Minsk for guard duty. With the end of the mass encampment the Kutuzov Jägers left for new quarters in Grodno Province. The regimental headquarters went to Sokolka and the 1st Battalions headquarters went to Yanovo, the 2nds to Bialystok, the 3rds to Goniondz, and the 4ths to Zabludow. The 5th Reserve Battalion moved to Opochnya in Pskov Province.
By a decree of 30 August of the same year of 1834 it was ordered that lower ranks be sent home on indefinite leave after completing twenty years of good service with the provision that in case of need they could be called back to active service, some to fill the shortages allowed in peacetime in the regiments and others to form reserve [rezervnyi] and replacement [zapasnyi] forces. By this same order the replacement forces were to be formed by soldiers on indefinite leave organized into replacement half-battalions, with one half-battalion for each infantry regiment. For the Kutuzov Regiment, Replacement Half-Battalion No. 11 [zapasnyi polubatalion No. 11-go] was formed, since the regiment had come to be the eleventh in sequence in the 1st Corps (lst, 2nd, and 3rd Divisions). The same order also authorized that each battalion be reduced by fifty men, or thus by two hundred privates in the regiment. The institution of indefinite leave, the reduction in personnel, and the creation of replacement half-battalions were done with the aim of reducing the lower ranks time of service and drawing them closer to their families without at the same time weakening the forces in case they were needed.
In 1835 the regiment stayed in its previous locations. With the coming of May the companies were gathered into barracks closer to their battalion headquarters so as to practice drill. In June the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Battalions went into camp near Vilna while the 3rd Battalion left for Grodno to carry out guard duties. Consequent to a Highest Order of 5 June of the same year, the peacetime strength of the regiment was reduced by an additional two hundred privates.
In 1836 the disposition of the regiment was as before: the regimental headquarters in Sokolka and the battalion headquarters in Yanovo, Belostok, Goniondz, and Zabludov. Beginning in May the regiment was concentrated in billets closer to the the regimental headquarters and in July it went to the massed encampment near Kovno, from which place it returned to its previous quarters. Here in fall (20 October) the regiment received a new commander, Colonel Aleksander Ivanovich Kannabikh. Beginning in October of that year the companies took turns being detailed to prevent various suspicious elements from hiding in the dense Belovezh Forest. A company command post was set up in the village of Dubiny on the western edge of this great forest.
In 1837 and 1838 the dispositions of the regiment were as before. Only in the summer of 1837 did the regiment go to Vilna, Grodno, and Belostok for guard duties and in May of the following year to Bobruisk Fortress for more guard duties and various labor projects on the fortifications.
In the fall of 1839 the regiment quit the town of Sokolka for good and went to new quarters: the regimental headquarters to Lenczitsa and the battalion headquarters to Plotsk, Zgierzhi, Grodno, and Belostok. Various elements ranging in size from half a platoon to one and a half platoons were detailed by the companies themselves for guard duties in various towns and villages in the Kingdom of Poland, namely Brest-Kujavsky, Vyshegrad, Lowicz, Lipno, Kutno, Seradz, Piotrkow, Rawa, Radom, Kalisz, and Konin.
The regiments headquarters stayed in Lenchitsa for the next three years, but the battalions were continuously moving from place to place to carry out guard duties in various towns and villages of the Kingdom of Poland. Each year the regiment was in barracks in Warsaw from January to April. During this time the regiment went through several reorganizations. Pursuant to a Highest Order of 28 December of the previous year, in the beginning of 1842 the 4th Reserve Battalion was reduced by 600 privates since, like the 5th Reserve Battalion, it was now at cadre strength.
By an table of 28 December, 1841, the fourth battalions of jäger regiments were to have the following numbers of personnel:
Field-grade officer ........................1 | Drummers ................9 | |
Company-grade officers .............12 | Buglers ....................9 | |
Non-commissioned officers ........82 | Fifers ......................2 | |
Privates ...................................320 | Non-combatants .....9 |
The 5th reserve battalions of regiments were disbanded consequent to an order of 25 January, 1842. (This battalion, as we saw, was quartered in the town of Opochnya in Pskov Province at the beginning of 1835; afterwards it frequently changed location to carry out various tasks and guard duties in Novgorod and St. Petersburg Provinces.) However, each regiment of the first six infantry corps was directed to maintain a reinforcement force made up of lower ranks on indefinite leave and formed into two cadre-strength battalions: the 5th Reserve and the 6th Replacement.
By a regulation of 20 January, 1842, 5th and 6th battalions were prescribed the following numbers of personnel:
Field-grade officer .....................1 | Privates ......................320 | |
Company-grade officers ..........20 | Musicians ....................20 | |
Non-commissioned officers .....80 | Non-combatants .........35 |
In October of 1842 Prince Kutuzovs Jäger Regiment went into winter quarters in the Bessarabia District where the regimental headquarters and the 4th Battalion headquarters were at Teleneshti. As for the other battalion headquarters, the 1st was at Beltsy, the 2nd at Faleshti, and the 3rd at Kostelnitsa. The regiment remained in this deployment until 1846 although at times the battalions left their quarters and moved to other towns to carry out various designated duties. Thus from January to August of 1843 the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions did guard duty at the fortresses of Akkerman, Kilia, and Izmail, and in 1844 and later the battalions went into camp near Beltsy.
At the end of 1843, as a result of a Highest Order of 7 October, the 4th Battalion of the regiment was brought to a strength equal to that of the first three battalions although the overall authorized strength of the regiment was not increased. Thus, instead of the 4th Battalion being reduced by 600 privates until wartime, it was directed that each battalion in peacetime was to be short 150 privates. By the regulation of 7 October 1843 a four-battalion jäger regiment with a non-combatant company was to have in peacetime:
Field-grade officer ..........................7 | Privates .......................3080 | |
Company-grade officers ...............65 | Non-combatants ...........114 | |
Non-commissioned officers ........330 | Train ..............................54 | |
Musicians ..................................147 | Total ...........................3897 |
In further detail to this table, each of the regiments four carabinier companies had 22 non-commissioned officers, and by an order of 4 May of the next year the regiment was reduced by an additional 100 men in peacetime.
At the end of 1845 the Kutuzov Regiment moved to new quarters. The regimental staff and the 4th Battalion went to Nezhin in Chernigov province and the other battalions were in localities not far from the headquarters of the regiment. This was the situation of the regiment until May 1848. In 1846 Colonel Kannabikh, promoted to Major General, left the regiment to command a brigade, and in his place came Colonel Danil Mikhailovich Chigir. In the same year as a result of an order of 30 March, the Reserve Battalion was increased to 600 privates and the Replacement Battalion to 500, in addition to the prescribed number of other lower ranks.
In May of 1848 the whole regiment moved from Nezhin to Grodno Province where the regimental headquarters and the 3rd Battalion headquarters were located in Sokolka and the rest of the battalions in Indur, Yanov, and Koritsin. At the end of the year by an order of 18 December, the regiment provided reserve and replacement cadres which were to consist of:
Company-grade officers .............2 | Drummers ...............2 | |
Non-commissioned officers ........8 | Privates .................32 |
In 1849 the regiment at first remained in its previous locations but in April it left for the town of Kalisz, near to which it went into billets until July. From July onwards companies were deployed to various localities for guard duties. In the month of November the regiment moved to new quarters with the regimental staff going to Augustow and battalion headquarters to Suwalki, Raigorod, Rachki, and Filippovo.
In 1850, after concentrating in camp near Suwalki, the regiment in August spread out with the regimental headquarters and the headquarters of the 4th Battalion moving to Suwalki and the other battalion headquarters going to Kalvaria, Vyshtinna, and Filippovo. In autumn of that same year the 1st and 2nd Battalions received new colors with Alexander Ribbons and the inscription "1700-1850", signifying the 150 years of the regiments existence. In May of the same year Colonel Yakov Ivanovich Trubnikov took over the regiment.
In March of the following year the regiment was deployed as follows: regimental headquarters, 2nd Battalion headquarters, and 3rd Battalion headquarters at Plotsk, 1st Battalion headquarters at Vyshegrad, and the 4th at Serpets. In July, though, the regiment went to the fortress at Brest-Litovsk for guard duties where it stayed until February 1852.
From Brest-Litovsk the regimental headquarters moved to the town of Kobrin while the battalion headquarters were located in Pinsk, Antopol, Ratno, and Vysokolitovsk.
In 1853 and 1854 the regiment was again quartered in Brest-Litovsk for guard duties while the summer months were spent in camp near this fortress.
By an order of 10 March, in 1854 the regiments of the first six infantry corps were each ordered to form two new battalions called the 7th and 8th replacement [zapasnyi], and such were formed for the Kutozov Regiment. By this same order the former "6th Replacement" battalion was renamed the "6th Reserve" so that now the regiment had four active battalions, the 5th and 6th Reserve Battalions, and the 7th and 8th Replacement Battalions.
In autumn of the same year of 1854, the Kutuzov Regiment moved from camp near Warsaw to new quarters. The regimental headquarters went to Kelec with the battalion headquarters at Chmilnik, Bodzentyn, Doleshec, and Morowica. The regiment was still here the day Emperor Nicholas passed away.
Internal condition of the regiment under Emperor Nicholas I. The regiments constant movement, its leaderships insufficient care for the soldiers health, the fierce corporal punishments for any trivial omission of duty (to such an extent that in 1840 Lieutenant Colonel Dekhterev and in 1850 Major Slavinskii were charged with cruel treatment of lower ranks), all resulted in high rates of mortality, desertion, and suicide. We present here pertinent figures grouped for each of the commanders of the regiment. Under Colonel Bershov for every thousand men on the rolls there were:
Died |
Deserted |
Sick |
||
In |
1834 | 35.4 | 13.2 | 41.6 |
1835 | 35.4 | 17.2 | 40.0 | |
1836 | 31.0 | 16.3 | 50.1 |
For these three years the incidents of suicide were 2 by shooting, 4 by hanging, and 4 by drowning. There were 20 cases of accidental or sudden death. (The percentage of sick per 1000 men is figured from the number of sick in the regiment at the middle of the year, that is to say on 1 July.) During Colonel Kannabikhs many years as commander of the regiment, there were:
Died |
Deserted |
Sick |
||
In | 1837 | 33.8 | 14.8 | 73.9 |
1838 | 28.6 | 12.2 | 67.9 | |
1839 | 26.8 | 14.7 | 65.6 | |
1840 | 43.9 | 14.0 | 88.1 | |
1841 | 40.0 | 8.7 | 52.4 | |
1842 | 29.6 | 9.1 | 11.7 | |
1843 | 30.0 | 6.7 | 56.2 | |
1844 | 31.9 | 5.9 | 164.1 | |
1846 | 33.5 | 8.1 | 45.0 | |
1847 | 16.5 | 11.4 | 30.8 |
There were 47 sudden deaths during these years and 13 drownings. As for suicides there were 9 shootings and 15 men hanged themselves. There were many cases of illness and fever while the regiment was stationed in the Bessarabia District. In September of 1844, for example, of 465 sick men in hospitals (in Izmail, Kishenev, Kilia, and Kiev) and 60 in the regimental infirmary, 379 were suffering from fever.
Data for when Colonel Danil Mikhailovich Chigir was commanding the regiment are as follows:
Died |
Deserted |
Sick |
||
In | 1848 | 27.5 | 10.4 | 77.7 |
1849 | 54.2 | 9.9 | 37.9 |
The number of cases of sudden death or accident was 10, and there was only 1 case of suicide by hanging. Finally, one man was killed by the local inhabitantsfor robbery. Of the 335 sick in the Belostok and Nezhin Hospitals and the regimental infirmary on 1 July, 1848, 151 had fevers, 26 had venereal disease, and 25 suffered from eye inflammations.
From Colonel Yakov Ivanovich Trubnikovs time as commander come the following figures:
Died |
Deserted |
Sick |
||
In | 1850 | 43.2 | 11.7 | 54.6 |
1851 | 34.5 | 2.6 | 67.8 | |
1852 | 61.0 | 1.1 | 75.6 | |
1853 | 48.3 | 6.1 | 85.9 | |
1854 | 69.9 | 6.9 | 94.5 |
There were 28 cases of unexpected deaths, 5 men shot themselves, and 3 hanged themselves. In 1854 there was an especially large number of sick and dead. Of the 337 sick who had been admitted to the Brest and Warsaw Hospitals and the regimental infirmary by 1 July of that year, 253 had fevers, 25 had plague, 26 had eye inflammations, and 26 had contracted venereal disease. In this year the mortality rate was higher because of cholera.
During this era the lower ranks varied widely in age, years of service (the term of service until discharge was 25 years), and native province. In 1854, for example, the greatest number of the soldiers, about 800 men, were from Vilna Province, followed by about 150 men each from the provinces of Chernigov, Yaroslav, Volhynia, Podolia, Grodno, and Moscow, and the Kingdom of Poland. The rest of the personnel, a small number, were from all the other provinces of the Russian Empire.
As for the compostion of the officers in the regiment, we note that in 1833, out of 103 field and company-grade officers, the greater part were noble in origin and the sons of officers. Urban tradesmen [meshchane] and the sons of soldiers numbered only seven. For the most part officers were promoted from noble non-commissioned officer candidates [yunkera] or volunteer non-commissioned officers. Graduates of the Nobiliary Regiment [dvoryanskii polk] (later the Constantine Military School) numbered seven, and those who had finished the curriculum in any of the various cadet corpsonly six.
CHAPTER XXI.
General-Field Marshal Prince Kutuzov of Smolensks Pskov Infantry Regiment; Reorganization and Movements to 1863.
In May of 1855 the regimental headquarters of the Kutuzov Jäger Regiment moved to Opole (later part of Lublin Province) while the battalion headquarters were in nearby localities. In October the regiment moved from these places to Yanov (also in Lublin Province), where the regiments headquarters was located, with the battalions headquarters in Frampol, Juzefow, Tarnograd, and Krzheszow. Next year in 1856, by a Highest Order of 17 April, the regiment was titled "General-Field Marshal Prince Kutuzov of Smolensks Infantry Regiment" ["Pekhotnyi general-feldmarshala knyazya Kutuzova Smolenskago polk"] and kept the same four-battalion organization, but all its companies were called "line companies" ["lineinyya roty"]. In May of that year the regiment went into camp near Warsaw, from where in June the regimental headquarters moved to Radom and the battalion headquarters to nearby villages. In the autumn of 1856, by an order of 23 August, the 4th Active Battalion of the regiment was designated Reserve [rezervnyi] and removed to the reinforcement forces while the regiment was brought to a three-battalion configuration. Each battalion was to have four line companies and one rifle company. The regiments other battalions (5th and 6th Reserve, 7th and 8th Replacement) were disbanded. For the most part the lower ranks went to fill the three remaining active battalions, but some were released on indefinite leave until new 5th and 6th Battalions might have to be formed. The authorized strength of the regiment was now as follows:
In the three battalions: |
In the non-combatant company: |
|
Field-grade officers ..................14 | Company-grade officer .....................1 | |
Company-grade officers .........100 | Non-commissioned officers ...............2 | |
Non-commissioned officers ....264 | Combatant privates..........................54 | |
Musicians ...............................121 | Non-combatants ............................57 | |
Privates ...............................2760 | Horses ...........................................85 |
In the next year of 1857, the regiment spent August and September in camp near Warsaw, and from there left for winter quarters: regimental headquarters in Belostok, and battalion headquarters in Knyshin, Zabludow, and Krynki. In the same year, consequent to a Highest Order of 19 March, the regiment was titled "General-Field Marshal Prince Kutuzov of Smolensks Pskov Infantry Regiment" ["Pskovskii pekhotnyi general-feldmarshala knyazya Kutuzova Smolenskago polk"].
The authorized strength of the regiment was decreased to the following numbers of personnel:
Field-grade officers ...................11 | Musicians .........124 | |
Company-grade officers ............74 | Privates ..........2280 | |
Non-commissioned officers ......264 |
The composition of the non-combatant company remained almost the same.
In August of 1858 the regiment was again transferred to new quarters: regimental headquarters in Jurburg (Kovno Province), and the battalion headquarters in border villages near Prussia - Kretingen (six miles from the Baltic Sea), Novoe-Mesto, and Tauroggen.
In 1859 the regiments regulation strength, except for officers, was changed, with the there being authorized:
Non-commissioned officers.......309 Musicians...........137 Privates..............2760
The regiments dispositions remained as before until June of 1860, during which time it carried out guard duties at customs stations and pursued contrabandists. Each time contraband goods were intercepted, the lower ranks received a cash award, usually from 70 kopecks to 3 roubles, but sometimes up to 18 roubles in important cases.
In July of 1860 the regimental headquarters was relocated to the town of Bialystok in Grodno Province, and the battalion headquarters to the villages of Knyshin, Zabludow, Krynki, and Vasilchikovo, and the town of Sokolka. These were the regiments dispositions up to October of 1862.
Since 9 July 1860 the commander of the regiment was Colonel Petr Kozmich Dekonskii, transferred from the 4th Reserve Battalion of the Odessa Infantry Regiment.
At the end of 1862, when the regiments headquarters moved to Novogrudok in Minsk Province, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the regiment were in Brest-Litovsk for guard duties, and the headquarters of the 3rd Battalion was located in the small town of Kletsk while its companies were scattered among villages. At this time the regulation strength of the regiment was as follows:
Combatants: |
|||
Field-grade officers...................11 | Musicians .............137 | ||
Company-grade officers ..........74 | Privates ...............2700 | ||
Non-commissioned officers ...303 |
Let us now turn our attention to some numerical data from which might be drawn an idea of how the soldiers life changed with the ascension to the throne of Emperor Alexander II Nicholaevich; these numbers are as follows:
Deaths |
Desertions |
Sick |
||
In | 1855 | 143.0 | 5.6 | 69.5 |
1856 | 86.0 | 5.7 | 54.3 | |
1857 | 27.1 | 5.2 | 69.9 | |
1858 | 18.3 | 8.9 | 45.3 | |
1859 | 16.5 | 8.1 | 21.1 | |
1860 | 8.3 | 4.9 | 23.6 | |
1861 | 8.9 | 8.0 | 11.0 | |
1862 | 9.4 | 6.4 | 20.1 |
In this small table is shown the number of sick in the regiment (in hospitals and the regimental infirmary) on 1 July of each year, for each 1000 men on the rolls. The large number of sick and dead during 1855 is explained by the fevers and cholera that were raging this year. Indeed, at the end of June of that year, of 258 sick, there were buried 180 who had contracted fevers and 37 with cholera. This was also the reason for the large number of sick and dead in 1856. With the abatement of the above-mentioned causes of death and sickness, we see a significant decrease in the pertinent numerical data as compared with before. Suicides also ceased.
From the very beginning of Alexander Is reign the severity of corporal punishment was greatly reduced. Thus, running a gauntlet of one thousand rods was previously the standard for desertion; now it was already changed to one hundred, and even for a third desertion in conjunction with selling government property or with theft, malfactors were "run through formation" past one hundred men not more than three times. Along with these less severe penalties, small unit commanders were absolutely forbidden to inflict corporal punishment on lower ranks; now lower ranks were physically punished only by the order of the regimental commander (not more than one hundred blows of the birch rod), with the order being read aloud to the regiment. In 1863 lower ranks were completely freed from corporal punishment, except for those sentenced by a court to "punishment status" ["razryad strafovannykh"].
At the same time as the lower ranks escaped the cruel suffering of the rod and cane, the authorities attention was turned to their rations and the satisfactory provision of them by the government. Standard apportionments were set up for preparing hot meals in the lower ranks communal squad kettles, and the regimental commander was to strictly ensure that the provisions and victuals authorized by the state for the soldier all went into his belly. Also, regiments undertook to manage funds for improving hot meals, additional to the provisions supplied by the government. Colonel Dekonskii made especially sure that all was satisfactory. Every day in regimental orders, he named the meals which were to be prepared the following day, and often he personally visited the kitchens. If he found the food either too thin or unsavory, he sternly rebuked the company commander for this neglect. Colonel Dekonskii ordered that two meals be prepared each day: on meat days, for the midday meal - cabbage or beetroot soup with a half pound of meat, and sometimes porridge, and for supper - thin porridge with fat; on lean days, for the midday meal - cabbage soup with herrings or peas, and for supper - thin porridge again. Money for food supplies was received from the commissariat on the basis of 2 7/9 kopecks a day per man.
During this time companies were distributed among villages, in either large or small quarters, the latter being designated in spring for company and battalion training, closer to the regimental headquarters. Company commanders were strictly enjoined to make sure the lower ranks had comfortable billets, especially when gathered together in large groups, at which time personnel even had to be placed in barns. Each month a regimental order announced the number of sick by company, whereby it was ordered that for those companies which had more sick, the battalion commanders were to investigate whether there were particular causes for illness.
In view of the regiments later military activities, let us take note here of its armament. In the beginning of 1855 the regiment had 54 short Liege [Littikh] rifles and 192 .60 caliber [shestilineinnyi] rifles. In 1857 there were already 510 rifles so that the regiments recently formed rifle companies were almost completely armed with them. Finally, in the summer of 1862 Major Bubnov, the commander of the regiments riflemen and who had been detached to the St. Petersburg Arsenal, reported that the entire regiment was armed with .60 caliber muzzle-loading rifles of which 189 were issued to each company.
APPENDIX 6
Uniform, Armament, and Equipment of the Regiment under Emperor Alexander I.
In the very first days following his ascension to the throne, Emperor Alexander I greatly altered the uniform of the army.
The wide coats [kaftany] with open collars as worn throughout the eighteenth century gave way to tight uniforms [mundiry] with high, standing collars. The light, three-cornered hat was replaced with heavy shakoes [kivera] with an abundance of various metallic decorations. Before anything else, in 1801, lower ranks were ordered to cut their hair and shorten their queues to seven inches long. Then, by the 1802 regulations, each soldier was to have a coat [mundir] of dark-green cloth, double-breasted, short to the waist in front, with turnbacks; the color of the standing collar, cuffs, and shoulder straps depended on the inspectorate. In the Pskov Regiment, since it was in the Lithuania Inspectorate, the collar and cuffs were directed to be light green and the shoulder straps yellow. Breeches [pantalony], to be of white cloth in winter and of Flemish linen in summer, were tailored to reach to the heels of the polished, round-toed boots. The neckcloth [galstuk] was of black cloth. The headdress, of black cloth since 1803, was cylindrical, widening slightly towards the top, and had a visor. As for coiffures, it was taken care that the hair was trimmed in front and on the sides while it was left long in back, tied into a thick flat queue and intertwined with a black woolen ribbon. Powder was used only for important parades. Greatcoats [shineli] were made of dark or light-grey cloth, of the pattern that would be used for the rest of the nineteenth century except with a standing collar; the collar and shoulder straps of the greatcoat were the same color as on the uniform coat. Non-commissioned officers [unterofitsery] had the same clothing as the privates [ryadovye] except that the bottom and front edges of the collar and the upper edge of the cuffs were trimmed with gold lace. They also had chamois gloves and reed canes [trosti], the latter hanging from a button on the coat when in formation.
Armament and equipment of the privates consisted of: a smoothbore flintlock musket; a sword [shpaga] with a slightly curved, steel blade, a brass hilt, and a white, twisted swordknot; swordbelt and crossbelt - whitened deerskin; black leather knapsack, in the shape of a cylinder; and a water flask. Junior non-commissioned officers, supply sergeants [kaptenarmusy], and first sergeants [feldfebeli] had halberds instead of muskets.
All officers had clothing of the same patterns as the lower ranks, except the edges of their shoulder straps were trimmed with narrow gold lace, and instead of shakoes they wore three-cornered hats with tall black plumes made of cock feathers. In addition, the swordknot, gorget, sash, and spontoon (with the monogram of Alexander I) were as before. Higher ranks did not have spontoons.
In 1805 it was ordered that four non-commissioned officers in each company have muskets instead of halberds.
In 1806 lower ranks were ordered to cut off their queues. In 1807 canes and spontoons were discontinued for officers and swords were introduced. Company and field-grade officers were directed to have epaulettes instead of shoulder straps, with a cloth field the same color as the shoulder strap, and having the half next to the collar trimmed with narrow gold lace while on the edges of the other half there were two gilt, semicircular straps. The epaulettes of field-grade officers had a fringe of thin cord.
In the same year collars and cuffs on the coat and the collars on the greatcoat were ordered to be made from red cloth for all infantry regiments, while the shoulder straps in each division were to be variously colored according to the regiment, with the divisional number. For the Pskov Regiment, as a second regiment, the shoulder straps were to be white. (In each division shoulder straps were: red for the first regiment, white for the second, yellow for the third, dark green for the fourth, and light blue for the fifth; the number of the division was sewn on in worsted cord: on white and yellow shoulder strapsin red, and on othersin yellow. On officers epaulettes the the divisional number was embroidered in gold cord.) Swords [shpagi] for the lower ranks were replaced by hangers [tesaki]. The cylindrical cloth shakoes were ordered to be reinforced with black leather trim on top and on the sides. This style of shako was now called a kiver.
In 1808: the round, cylindrical knapsacks in use up to now were replaced with knapsacks likewise of black leather but four-cornered, carried on two soft, whitened straps; in summer the greatcoat was rolled and worn over the left shoulder. A new pattern for officers gorgets was confirmed, smaller than before and with a double-headed eagle affixed to the center. Officers ranks were distinguished by these gorgets in the following manner: for ensigns [praporshchiki] the gorget and eagle were silver; for sub-lieutenants [podporuchiki] the gorget had a gilt edge; for lieutenants [poruchiki] the eagle was gilt; for staff captains [shtab-kapitany] - gilt edge and eagle; for captains [kapitany] the entire gorget was gilt except for the silver eagle; and for field-grade officers [shtab-ofitsery] the entire gorget and eagle were gilt.
In 1809: non-commissioned officers were directed to sew their lace not on lower edge of the collar, but on the upper edge; cords were introduced for the lower ranks shakoes: white for privates but with a mix of black and orange for non-commissioned officers; halberds were retained only for sergeants; and officers were ordered when in formation to wear shakoes like those of the lower ranks.
In 1811 round, cloth forage caps [furazhki] without visors were introduced. The edges of the cap band and the upper edge were variously colored according to the company. Halberds were completely abolished.
In 1812 the Pskov Regiment was designated the first regiment in the 7th Division, receiving red shoulder straps. In 1819 buglers were issued yellow brass horns, finished on the inside with red paint. (By an organization table of 12 April, 1819, each regiment was prescribed 27 buglers.) In 1820 it was directed that officers gorgets be flatter and narrower than before.
The jäger pattern of uniform was almost the same as for musketeers; the main distinction was that the jägers coat and breeches were made in light green and the accouterments were not whitened, but black.
A simpler form of drill instruction. Although the formation was still in three ranks, the distance between ranks was less. Each company, designated a division [divizion] when in formation, was divided into two platoons [vzvody or plutongi], each platoon into two half-platoons, and each half-platoon into two sections [otdeleniya]. The instructor (company commander) stood in front; his next senior, standing on the right flank, commanded the 1st Platoon as well as the division; the second senior commanded the 2nd Platoon. The places for the other ranks are shown on the diagram. Before beginning arms drill the command was given: "Attention!" ["Slushai!"], then the right-flank musketeer of the front rank ran forward and stood in front of the third man of the same front rank so that he could be seen by all three ranks: personnel observed this "fligelman."
Firing by division. Upon the instructors command: "Fire by division!" ["Palba divizionom!"], the officers, non-commissioned officers, and drummers moved back behind the company: the division commander placed himself behind the center of the company; and the platoon commanders were behind the centers of the platoons; then the division commander ordered: "Division! Ready! Aim! Fire! Recover!" ["Divizion! Tovs! Klads! Pli! Zhai!"]. On the command of "Recover!", the men reloaded their muskets and brought them to the ready.
Firing by platoons. Upon the instructors command: "Fire by platoons! Right flank begin!" ["Palba plutongami! Pravyi flang nachinai!"], the commander of the 1st Platoon ordered: "Platoon ready! Aim! Fire! Recover!"; when the 1st Platoon commander ordered "Recover!", the 2nd Platoon commander ordered "Platoon! Ready!", and when several of the men of the 1st Platoon had finished loading their muskets, the 2nd Platoon commander further ordered: "Platoon! Aim! Fire! Recover!"; then the 1st Platoon fired again, and so on. This firing was stopped upon the beat of a drum.
Firing by files. Upon the instructors command "Fire by files! Division! Ready! From the right flank of the sections (half-platoons, platoons), begin!" ["Palba ryadami! Divizion! Tovs! S pravykh flangov otdelenii (poluvzvodov, vzvodov) nachinai!"], in each file firing took place as follows: on the command of "Begin!", the men of the first and second ranks fired as one; then the first rank man continued to load and fire with his own musket while the man in the second rank, after the first firing, gave his musket to the man in the third rank and took that mans loaded musket, fired, and after loading, fired a second time; then, after giving the musket that was not his own back to the man in the third rank, he took back from him his own, already loaded, to also fire twice from it. In this way he exchanged his musket after every two shots.
Doubling of files. When during movement a platoon met an obstacle in its path, then all the files coming directly against the obstacle doubled behind. For example, on the command: "From the right flank, three files double! March!" ["S pravago flanga tri ryada vzdvoi! Marsh!"], the designated files marked time in place until the third rank of the platoon had already passed them; then by a half turn they moved to form themselves behind the next three files as shown in the diagram.
The formation of various company and battalion columns was very similar to that used later in the century, only the words of command were different. For the maneuver of deployed companies, battalions, and columns two paces were used: the "slow" ["tikhii," literally "quiet"] march of 75 steps per minute, and the "at ease march" ["volnyi shag"].
For target firing a target (shield) was used which was 6 1/2 feet high and 2 1/3 feet wide, painted black with two white stripes, one across the top edge and the other across the middle of the target. Firing was done from 280 feet and 560 feet, at which distance the middle white stripe was the target, and from 840 feet when the white top was aimed at.
During Alexander Is reign the regiments colors were still those received under Emperor Paul Petrovich. In the beginning of 1824 (28 January), however, three new colored flags were issued to replace these colors which had fallen into decay, of the same pattern as before, one to each battalion.
APPENDIX 7
Uniforms, Arms, Equipment, and Internal Organization of the Regiment during the Reign of Emperor Nicholas Pavlovich.
Uniforms remained basically the same as under Emperor Alexander I. The more notable changes were as follows. In 1826 the coat [mundir] began to be made single-breasted, piped down the front in red; dark-green pants [pantalony] with a red edging along the side seam were introduced; in the same year (15 September), lower ranks who had served out the regulation number of years without reproach and who voluntarily remained on active service were directed to wear chevrons of gold or silver lace in addition to the yellow tape ones that were already established. (Chevrons of yellow lace were introduced on 29 March 1826 for faultless service, being worn on the left coat sleeve: one for 10 years, two for 15, and three for 20.) In 1827 small forged and hammered stars were ordered to be worn on officers epaulettes as rank distinctions. In 1828 shakoes were introduced that were higher than previously, with a yellow brass plate upon which was a double-headed eagle above a shield in which the regimental number was cut out. The Pskov Regiment, being at that time the eleventh in its corps, had the engraved number 11. Regiments which had badges for distinction on the headdress (including the Kutuzov Regiment) had them in the form of a brass ribbon with the cut-out inscription "za otlichie" ["for excellence"]. In the same year round woolen pompons on the shako were introduced which distinguished the battalions by colors. Shoulder straps with the divisional number depended on the regiment as before, but since the Kutuzov Regiment was now the third in its division it had to wear light-blue shoulder straps instead of the previous ones. In 1830 officers swords [shpagi] were replaced by half-sabers [polusabli] with black leather scabbards and brass fittings. In 1832 officers were allowed to wear moustaches. In 1833 Prince Kutuzovs Infantry Regiment became Field Marshal Prince Kutuzovs Jäger Regiment and received the number 5 since it was the fifth jäger regiment in the 1st Corps. In 1836 high (19 inches) shako plumes were introduced in the carabinier companies of jäger regiments to replace the round pompons. In 1844 the shakoes were replaced by helmets of black, lacquered leather with two visors and a brass reinforcement on top and behind. On top of this last was affixed a brass tube with a grenade. The shako plate, chin-scales, and badges for distinction on the helmet were as before. In 1844 the forage caps of dark-green cloth with similar cap bands were differentiated according to battalions by the edging around the top of the cap: in the 1st Battalion the edging was red, white in the 2nd, light blue in the 3rd, yellow in the 4th, dark green in the 5th, and light green in the 6th. In 1854 in the newly raised reserve battalions the edging was brown for the 7th Battalion and turquoise for the 8th.
Weapons. The original flintlock "fusil" of the Petrine period endured with very little change to 1846 when percussion locks were introduced in place of the flintlocks. These ignited the charge by means of the hammer striking a capsule. The advantage of the new percussion muskets lay only in that they could be fired in any weather. Hitting the target, though, was as difficult as before. In 1847 six men, called "shtutserniki," in each carabinier and jäger company received the Littikh [Lüttich, or Liège] rifles. By the end of Emperor Nicholass reign there were 54 Littikh rifles in the regiment and 192 rifled muskets of the new pattern (at this time there were 3580 smoothbore muskets).
New regulations. (See Voinskii ustav o pekhotnom sluzhbe [Military Regulation for Infantry Service], St. Petersburg, 1848.) Regarding the recruit school of that time, we note the abundance of various paces and an increase in marching. The paces were: the first instructional pace - of three movements; the second instructional pace - of two movements; the slow instructional pace - of one movement; the slow pace (70-72 steps per minute); the quick instructional pace of one movement; the quick pace (110 steps per minute); and the at-ease pace. The regulations for company drill remained almost the same as under Emperor Alexander I. The difference in the new regulations was that rules for skirmish order were laid out here, a topic about which the previous regulations up to that time had not contained a word.
Each company was to have 24 active marksmen and 24 reserve ones, all experts in target shooting and skirmish order methods. In a company ranked from right to left, the marksmen, 12 each, stood on the right flanks of the platoons in the third rank; and in a company arranged from the left - on the left flanks. Upon the company commanders command, "Marksmen fall in behind the company! March!" ["Zastrelshchiki za rotuyu stroisya! Marsh!"], the marksmen, if the company was in deployed order, drew back and moved to the right (or left), forming themselves into a special two-rank platoon behind the companys right flank. If the company was in open column, then they would form up behind its head, and if in closed-up columnthen either in front or behind the company as directed. An officer commanded the marksmen platoon. On the command, "Second half-platoon as riflemen, march!" ["Vtoroi poluvzvod v strelki, marsh!"], the designated half-platoon opened up so that for each pair of men the one in the second rank stood two steps behind and a little to the right of the man in the first rank, while the interval between pairs was to be no more than 15 meters. When opening fire, the odd-numbered front men fired first, then the even-numbered, and lastly those in back. When charged by cavalry, the line and the reserve (first half-platoon) rallied into groups.
The company acting as skirmishers. The beat, "First stage of jäger tactics" ["Pervoe koleno yegerskago pokhoda"], served as a warning for this maneuver. Then on the command, "Form into company column!" ["V rotnuyu kolonnu stroisya!"], the company formed into a closed-up column made of three two-rank platoons of which the third was composed of the men of the third rank (after the marksmen had left) of the whole company. Here each platoon, like the marksmen platoon, was divided into half-platoons and pairs. By this procedure the company was ready to deploy to reinforce the line of marksmen as required.
Riflemen. We saw above that in 1847 the regiment received 96 Littikh rifles with which 6 of the best shots in each company were armed (besides the 24 company marksmen who were armed with the usual smoothbore muskets). The riflemen were used for long-range firing or to reinforce the line of marksmen at that point where more accurate firing was needed. They were not counted as part of the marksmen platoon but rather, when the company was deployed, formed up in the back line of non-commissioned officers, three to each platoon, next to the right-flank non-commissioned officers of the platoons. In a company column they formed up in back of the third platoon.
APPENDIX 10
Badges for Distinction Awarded to the Regiment.
1) Headdress badges with the inscription "Za otlichie" ["For Excellence" or "For Distinction"] in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Battalions for their performence in the fighting with the French forces at Brienne in 1814, with Major General Lyapunov commanding. By a Highest Order of 5 January, 1815.
2) Two silver St.-George trumpets for the 1st and 2nd Battalions with the inscription "Pskov Infantry, for distinguished actions in the 1814 battles of 17 January at Brienne-le-Chateau and 20 January at La Rothiere," while under the regimental command of Major General Lyapunov. By Highest Orders of 25 April, 1815, and 4 July, 1826.
3) Headdress badges inscribed "Za otlichie" for the 3rd Battalion, awarded to the 5th Jäger Regiment for actions in the Patriotic War of 1812 when the honorary regimental colonel [chef] was Major General Gogel and the regimental commander was Major Kovrigin. By a Highest Order of 15 April, 1813.
4) One silver St.-George trumpet in the 3rd Battalion with the inscription "For distinction in the course of the 1807 campaign against the French," awarded 1 April, 1808, to the 5th Jäger Regiment when the regimental chef was Major General Gogel and the regimental commander was Lieutenant Colonel Pantenius.
5) In the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Battalions a "grenadier drumbeat" ["grenaderskii boi"] for distinction shown by Prince Kutuzovs Infantry Regiment in 1831 during the pacification of Poland under the regimental command of Colonel fon-der-Briggen and Lieutenant Colonel Sedletskii. By a Highest Order of 6 December, 1831.
6) A St.-George color for the 3rd Battalion with the inscription "For distinction during the pacification of Poland in 1831," awarded to the 5th Jägers for courage and bravery in battles against the rebels: 7 February at Vavra, 13 February at Grochow, and 14 May at Ostrolenka - under the command of Colonel Trubachev. By a Highest Patent of 2 October, 1832.
APPENDIX 12
FORMATION OF THE PSKOV RESERVE REGIMENT.
By a Highest Order of 23 August, 1856, General-Field Marshal Prince Kutuzov of Smolensks Infantry Regiment, which consisted of four active, two reserve, and two replacement battalions, was brought in September to four battalions with four rifle companies, while its reserve battalions (the 5th and 6th) and replacement battalions (the 7th and 8th) were disbanded. With this the officers of these units were for the most part transferred to the remaining battalions, and some of the lower ranks went to fill up the active battalions of their regiment while others were allowed to go on indefinite leave until it might be necessary to form new fifth and sixth battalions.
Soon, namely on 25 October, 1856, the regiments fourth battalion, with the 4th Rifle Company, was transferred to the reserve forces, and the regiment was left to consist of three battalions with three rifle companies.
In May of 1863, consequent to a Highest Order of 6 April, the above-mentioned 4th Reserve Battalion and the disbanded 5th and 6th Pskov Battalions that were on indefinite leave were used to form "General-Field Marshal Prince Kutuzov of Smolensks Pskov Reserve Regiment" ["Pskovskii rezervnyi generala feldmarshala knyazya Kutuzova-Smolenskago polk"], renamed the Krasnoyarsk Infantry Regiment on 13 August of that same year.
APPENDIX 13
REGIMENTAL FLAGS DURING THE REIGNS OF EMPEROR ALEXANDER I AND EMPEROR NICHOLAS I.
In 1797 the regiment received ten standards, of which one was white and nine were colored. Emperor Alexander I ordered (21 March, 1802) that of these flags only two be left in each battalion, with this to include the white standard. But in 1814 on 21 August he directed that only one (colored) flag be left in each battalion. Finally, on 28 January, 1824, it was ordered by Highest Authority that the three mentioned colored flags, which had become worn out, be turned in and in their place three new ones of the same pattern be issued to the regiment. In 1833, when the Kutuzov Regiment was united with the 5th Jägers, the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the Kutuzov Regiment, being formed from the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 5th Jägers, received the St.-George standards of the latter, with the inscription "For distinction during the pacification of Poland in the year 1831," as awarded on 6 December, 1831, for courage and bravery shown in that war under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Trubacheev.
Notes:
(1) On 29 August 1814 Highest Authority confirmed a new division of the army
into corps, with the 7th, 24th, and 27th Divisions going to the 3rd Corps.
As before, the 7th Division was made up of the following:
1st Brigade: | 2nd Brigade: | 3rd Brigade: |
Pskov Infantry | Sofia Infantry | 11th Jägers |
Moscow Infantry | Libau Infantry | 36th Jägers |
By the organization table confirmed by Highest Authority on 8 August, 1814,
the personnel in a three-battalion infantry regiment (each battalion consisted
of one grenadier and two musketeer companies) were to be:
General................................... | 1 |
Musicians ..... | 9 |
Non-combatants ....... | 46 |
Field-grade officers ................ | 7 |
Drummers .... | 52 |
Craftsmen ................. | 39 |
Company-grade officers ........ | 54 |
Fifers ........... | 6 |
Train ......................... | 47 |
Noncommissioned officers ..... | 240 | Privates ....... | 2760 | Orderlies ................... | 97 |
Reserve (fourth) battalions were abolished by this same organization table.
(2) History of the Polish Uprising and War, 1830-1831, by Smit, translated by Kvitnitskii, and Military Archives No. 3108, "Journal of the military operations of the 3rd Infantry Division from 12 January to 11 April,1831."
(3) See Smit.
(4) Military Archives, No. 3108, "Journal of military operations of the 3rd Division". Here too, "Relation of the activities of the 1st Corps".
(5) See Smits work and Military Archive No. 3108, "Reports of the Battle of Wawr," one signed by Major General Shkurin and the other by Pahlen. In the latter the actions of the 5th Jäger Regiment at the battle are mentioned with special praise. When the 5th Jäger Regiment came to the interval between the 1st and 2nd Jäger Regiments, "in spite of the brave resistance shown by these troops, they were not strong enough to keep back the enemys spirited onrush and fell back to the woods. The enemy, taking advantage of this success, moved infantry forward against the right flank and cavalry with infantry against the left. But the courageous 5th Jäger Regiment under the command of Colonel Trubachev, supported by the cool and skillful actions of the horse-artillery company and two heavy guns, stubbornly held onto their positions in spite of this maneuver. They stopped the enemys attack and, having by their firmness won time to bring other troops up out of the defile, covered themselves with glory." Further on in this relation it is mentioned how when the enemy was driven from the forest by the regiments of the 3rd Division, and the pursuing Velikie-Luki Regiment was met with cannon fire at close range while at the same time our left flank gave way, then "in the decisive moment the 5th Jäger Regiment and Horse Company No. 1 showed themselves with great disinction. Guarding their position, they repulsed the enemy from their front at the same time as sharpshooters (also of the 5th Jäger Regiment) and four guns, having formed a half-square parallel to the highway, defended themselves on the right side from the enemy moving around them."
(6) Military Archives No. 3103, "Journal of military operations of the 3rd Infantry Division."
(7) See Smits work and Military Archives No. 3108, "Monthly regimental reports and roll lists."
(8) Military Archives No. 3108, "Journal of military operations of the 3rd Infantry Division."
(9) Military Archives No. 3108, "Journal of military operations of the 3rd Infantry Division."
(10) Military Archive No. 3108, "Relation of the movements of the 3rd Division on 1 May."
(11) Military Archive, No. 3108. "Report by Shkurin."
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End of Translation. Mark Conrad, 1992.