Russia Against Napoleon (101 page)

42
Mémoires du Général Bennigsen
, 3 vols., Paris, n.d., vol. 3, pp. 278–9 (letter to Alexander Iof 24 June (OS)). RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 188a, Delo 70: Essen’s report on his troops’ condition upon departure from their training camps is on fo. 4 and the list of men dispatched on fo. 5.

43
SIM
, 11, no. 13, Lobanov-Rostovsky to Alexander I, 16 Nov. 1812 (OS), pp. 109–11.

44
Kutuzov
, vol. 4ii, pp. 578–80. This was in a report by the inspector-general of artillery, Müller-Zakomelsky, dated 3 Jan. 1813 (OS).
SIM
, 11, no. 12, 14 Nov. 1812 (OS), is Lobanov’s acknowledgement to Alexander that he had received this order. V. N. Speranskii,
Voenno-ekonomicheskaia podgotovka Rossii k bor’be s Napoleonom v
1812–1814
godakh
, candidate’s dissertation, Gorky, 1967, pp. 385–454 is excellent on small-arms production in 1812–14.

45 RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 188a, Delo 163, fos. 31–2: Gorchakov to Lobanov-Rostovsky, 31 March 1813 (OS).

46
SIM
, 11, Saltykov to Lobanov-Rostovsky, 19 Dec. 1812 (OS), p. 199.

47 The two key sources on the Reserve Army in this period are Lobanov-Rostovsky’s reports to Alexander I for 7 Jan.–6 Aug. 1813 (RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 188a, Delo 47) and the journal of outgoing correspondence of Lobanov’s headquarters for 1 Jan.–1 April 1813 (RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 188a, Delo 42).

48 Alexander’s orders are in
SIM
, 3, no. 52, Alexander to Lobanov-Rostovsky, 5 Feb. 1813 (OS), pp. 39–43. Lobanov’s initial response to the movement orders is in RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 188a, Delo 147, fos. 17–18: letter dated 15 Feb. 1813 (OS).

49 RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3441, fos. 31–2: Lobanov to Alexander, 17 Feb. 1813 (OS).

50 For Lobanov’s report, see RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 188a, Delo 47, fos. 26–9. For Neverovsky’s report to the emperor, see RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 188a, Delo 39, fos. 28–9. The statistics come from the same Delo and are on fos. 31–2. Lobanov’s letters to Alexander I of 9 May (fos. 62–4) and 18 July (fos. 104–5) 1813 (OS) (in RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 188a, Delo 47) state that of 9,000 sick left behind in Belitsa 7,000 had already rejoined their units and more were expected to do so. The reserve companies of the Guards Jaeger Regiment, for example, left Petersburg with 704 men and arrived in Silesia with 481; see
Istoriia leib-gvardii egerskago polka
, p. 113.

51 Even the Chevaliers Gardes at Kulm put out skirmishers: see S. Panchulidzev,
Istoriia kavalergardov
, SPB, 1903, vol. 3, p. 314.

52 The best shorthand guide to the Russian cavalry of this era (including useful illustrations of horse furnishings, how to hold the reins and use a sword, and how to deploy to skirmish and charge, etc.) is Alla Begunova,
Sabli ostry, koni bystry
, Moscow, 1992.

53 See e.g. Arakcheev’s letter to Kutuzov of 31 March 1813 (OS) and Alexander’s letter to the Grand Duke Constantine of the same date: RGVIA, Fond 103, Opis 4/20, Sv. 3, Delo 22, fos. 42 and 43.

54 Kologrivov received 269 fine horses from the state studs in December 1812, for example: all were for the Guards and he gave only one even to the Guards Lancers:
MVUA
1812, 20, Kologrivov to Gorchakov, 12 Dec. 1812 (OS), p. 153.

55 V. V. Ermolov and M. M. Ryndin,
Upravlenie general-inspektora kavalerii o remontirovanii kavalerii
, SVM, 13, SPB, 1906, pp. 126–7.

56 RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3442, is devoted to this mission. See also Komarovsky’s memoirs:
Zapiski Grafa E. F. Komarovskago
, SPB, 1914, pp. 200 ff. Ermolov and Ryndin,
Upravlenie
, SVM, 13, pp. 134–6.

57
Kutuzov
, vol. 4ii, no. 513, memorandum, pp. 488–90: no date but probably late November.

58 A. Grigorovich,
Istoriia 13-go dragunskago voennago ordena general-fel’dmarshala Grafa Minikha polka
, 2 vols., SPB, 1907 and 1912, vol. 2, pp. 32–3. Even in late October (OS) the five cuirassier regiments of this division had barely 1,000 other ranks present.

59 N. Durova,
The Cavalry Maiden: Journals of a Female Russian Officer in the Napoleonic Wars
, ed. and trans. Mary Fleming Zirin, Bloomington, Ill., 1989, p. 168.

60 V. Godunov,
Istoriia 3-go ulanskago Smolenskago Imperatora Aleksandra III-go polka
1708–1908, Libava, 1908, pp. 133–4. At Slonim they were joined by the 8 officers and 155 veterans of the former reserve squadron, the 7th, which had been deployed in the rear at Olviopol in 1812.

61 The report is entitled ‘Otnoshenie Generala ot Infanterii kniaz’ia Lobanova-Rostovskago s otchetami o raspredelenii v rezervy voinov i loshadei’. Together with a covering letter from Lobanov to Gorchakov dated 14 April 1815 (OS), it is to be found in RGVIA, Fond 1, Opis 1/2, Delo 3230. The Reserve Army’s cavalry corps had dispatched 543 officers and 21,699 other ranks to the Field Army. Since the formation of the Reserve Army 1,749 officers, 33,423 veteran other ranks and 38,620 recruits had served in its cavalry corps. The Reserve Army’s infantry corps had dispatched 635 officers and 61,843 other ranks to the Field Army; 3,662 officers, 116,904 veterans and 174,148 recruits had served in the infantry corps during the existence of the Reserve Army. It is important to remember that these statistics do not include the ‘first wave’ of reinforcements dispatched by Kologrivov and Lobanov in the spring of 1813 before the Reserve Army was created.

62 A. S. Griboedov,
Sochineniia
, Moscow, 1953: ‘O kavaleriiskikh rezervakh’, pp. 363–7.

63 For the statistics, see Ermolov and Ryndin,
Upravlenie
, p. 136. For Lobanov’s comments on cavalry training, see e.g. his report to Alexander of 4 Feb. 1814 (OS) in RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 188a, Delo 153, fo. 21. RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 188a, Delo 47, no. 135: Lobanov to Alexander, 29 Nov. 1813 (OS), on Wittgenstein’s men.

64 A. Brett-James (ed.),
General Wilson’s Journal,
1812–1814, London, 1964, p. 147.

65 Rudolph von Friederich,
Die Befreiungskriege
1813–1815, vol 2:
Der Herbstfeldzug
1813, Berlin, 1912, pp. 18–26.

66 Friedrich von Schubert,
Unter dem Doppeladler
, Stuttgart, 1962, p. 311.

67
SIM
, 3, no. 131, Alexander to Bennigsen, 25 May (OS) 1813, pp. 96–8.

68
MVUA
1813, 1, Barclay to Bennigsen, 14 June 1813 (OS), p. 123. On troop strengths, see M. I. Bogdanovich,
Istoriia voiny
1813
g. za nezavisimost’ Germanii
, 2 vols., SPB, 1863, vol. 1, pp. 722–7. Essen’s battalions, intended for Sacken and Langeron’s regiments, were attached to regiments in Bennigsen’s army rather than merged into them, in order to preserve their own regimental identity: see e.g. Lieutenant Lakhtionov,
Istoriia 147-go Samarskago polka
1798–1898, SPB, 1898, pp. 66–7.

69
SIM
, 3, no. 150, Alexander to Bennigsen, 10 July 1813 (OS), pp. 107–9. Lobanov passed on these instructions in an order of the day dated 16 July 1813 (OS): RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 188a, Delo 149, fo. 35.

70 The statistics are from Lobanov’s final report and accounting for the Reserve Army, with a covering note from him to Gorchakov dated 14 April 1815. The figure of 325,000 includes 45,783 supernumerary other ranks, in other words men not yet formally assigned to units. As always, theoretical numbers will have been considerably larger than the number of men actually present in the ranks. See RGVIA, Fond 1, Opis 1/2, Delo 3230
passim
. On sickness, see RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 188a, Delo 144, fo. 12, Essen to Lobanov, 8 May 1814 (OS).

Chapter 11: Europe’s Fate in the Balance

1
VPR
, no. 101, Nesselrode to Alexander, 24 May/5 June 1813, pp. 236–7. W. Oncken,
Österreich und Preussen in Befreiungskriege
, vol. 2, Berlin, 1878, Metternich to Stadion, 6 June 1813, pp. 663–4; 8 June 1813, pp. 664–5.

2
VPR
, no. 104, Nesselrode to Lieven, 2/14 June, pp. 246–9; Oncken,
Österreich
, vol. 2, Metternich to Stadion, 30 July 1813, pp. 680–81.

3
VPR
, no. 118, Alexander’s instructions to Anstedt, 26 June/8 July 1813, pp. 283–92 (quotation from p. 286).

4
VPR
, no. 107, Nesselrode to Metternich, 7/19 June 1813, pp. 257–8.

5 E. Botzenhart (ed.),
Freiherr vom Stein: Briefwechsel, Denkschriften und Aufzeichnungen
, 8 vols., Berlin, 1957–70, vol. 4, Stein to Gneisenau, 11 July 1813; to Münster, 17 July 1813; to Alexander, 18 July 1813, pp. 372–81.

6 Oncken,
Österreich
, vol. 2, pp. 402–5.

7 Ibid., pp. 405–8.

8 R. von Friederich,
Die Befreiungskriege
1813–1815, vol. 2:
Der Herbstfeldzug
1813, Berlin, 1912, pp. 26, 31; M. I. Bogdanovich,
Istoriia voiny
1813
g. za nezavisimost’ Germanii
, 2 vols., SPB, 1863, vol. 1, p. 448. The figure given by C. Rousset (
La Grande Armée de
1813, Paris, 1871, p. 180) is 425,000 soldiers ready for battle, of whom 365,000 were in the ranks of Oudinot, Ney and Napoleon’s three armies. In August 1813 Davout in Hamburg and Girard in Magdeburg were able to contribute 40,000 men to the advance on Berlin.

9 Friederich,
Herbstfeldzug
, pp. 33, 348.

10 N. S. Pestreikov,
Istoriia leib gvardii Moskovskago polka
, SPB, 1903, vol. 1, pp. 129–30. RGVIA, Fond 489, Opis 1, Delo 1098, fo. 220, on the men detached from the Iaroslavl Regiment.

11 F. G. Popov,
Istoriia 48-go pekhotnago Odesskago polka
, 2 vols., Moscow, 1911, vol. 1, pp. 119–27.

12 RGVIA, Fond 489, Opis 1, Delo 1098, fos. 177–94 and 271–391 (Iaroslavl Regiment); Delo 105, fos. 194i–195ii (Belostok Regiment); Delo 106, fos. 111–13 (Kursk Regiment).

13 All this information comes from the two regiments’ service records in RGVIA, Fond 489, Opis 1, Dela 105 and 106. In the Belostok Regiment, 10 of the 29 sub-lieutenants, lieutenants and staff captains were of lower-class origin. None of the more senior officers and none of the ensigns was.

14 Oncken,
Österreich
, vol. 2, Bubna to Metternich, 9 Aug. 1813, pp. 684–6. Eugen,
Memoiren
, vol. 3, pp. 64–8.

15 Karl Fürst Schwarzenberg,
Feldmarschall Fürst Schwarzenberg: Der Sieger von Leipzig
, Vienna, 1964, p. 233.

16 RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3399, Volkonsky to Wittgenstein, 9/21 Aug. 1813, fo. 1i.

17 A. G. Tartakovskii (ed.),
Voennye dnevniki
, Moscow, 1990, p. 355; Schwarzenberg,
Schwarzenberg
, p. 233.

18 L. G. Beskrovnyi (ed.),
Pokhod russkoi armii protiv Napoleona v
1813
g. i osvobozhdenie Germanii: Sbornik dokumentov
, Moscow, 1964, Trachenberg Conference, 28–30 June/10–12 July 1813, p. 462;
Geschichte der Kämpfe Österreichs: Kriege unter der Regierung des Kaisers Franz, Befreiungskrieg
1813
und
1814, vol. 3: E. Glaise von Horstenau,
Feldzug von Dresden
, Vienna, 1913, pp. 3–6.

19 RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3399, Alexander to Bernadotte, 9/21 Aug. 1813, fos. 2–3.

20 On the Swedish army, see Marquess of Londonderry,
Narrative of the War in Germany and France in
1813
and
1814, London, 1830, pp. 72–4. On Bernadotte, the latest book is C. Bazin,
Bernadotte
, Paris, 2000.

21 The best appreciation of Bernadotte’s position is in the Prussian general staff’s history: Friederich,
Herbstfeldzug
, pp. 146–8. See also M. Leggiere,
Napoleon and Berlin
, Stroud, 2002, for a fine account of operations in the northern theatre and the mobilization of Prussian resources.

22 The best angle on this is the two volumes of the Austrian staff history, which discuss the planning and execution of Schwarzenberg’s initial advance to Dresden in August and subsequent move on Leipzig. See Horstenau,
Dresden
, pp. 63–106;
Geschichte der Kämpfe Österreichs: Befreiungskrieg
1813
und
1814, vol. 5: Max von Hoen,
Feldzug von Leipzig
, Vienna, 1913, especially pp. 127–34.