Russia Against Napoleon (92 page)

57
VPR
, 5, no. 142, Memorandum of F. P. Pahlen, not later than 14/26 Nov. 1809, pp. 294–5.

58 On Napoleon’s ‘Indian projects’ and Russian fears that they would be forced to serve them, see V. Bezotosnyi, ‘Indiiskie proekty Napoleona i Rossiia v 1812 g.’, in
Epokha
1812
goda: Issledovaniia, istochniki, istoriografiia
, 161, TGIM, Moscow, 2006, vol. 5, pp. 7–22.

Chapter 4: Preparing for War

1 D. V. Solov’eva (ed.),
Graf Zhozef de Mestr: Peterburgskie pis’ma
, SPB, 1995, no. 72, 20 Jan./1 Feb. 1808, pp. 98–9.

2 On Arakcheev, see E. Davydova, E. Liatina and A. Peskov (eds.),
Rossiia v memuarakh: Arakcheev. Svidetel’stva sovremennikov
, Moscow, 2000, a very useful collection of contemporary recollections of Arakcheev. See also ch. 1 by K. M. Iachmenikov, ‘Aleksei Andreevich Arakcheev’, pp. 17–62, in
Russkie konservatory
, Moscow, 1997.

3 Solov’eva,
de Mestr
, no. 72, 20 Jan./1 Feb. 1808, p. 99.

4 Above all these were better canister ammunition and better sights.

5 P. Pototskii,
Istoriia gvardeiskoi artillerii
, SPB, 1896, chs. VI and VIII, pp. 99–153, is the best source on Arakcheev’s role. There is a useful chapter also in V. N. Stroev,
Stoletie sobstvennoi Ego Imperatorskago Velichestva kantseliarii
, SPB, 1912, pp. 98–129. As regards memoirs, see above all ‘Zapiski A. A. Eilera’,
RA
, 11, 1880, pp. 333–99, at pp. 342–3, 348–50. F. Lange (ed.),
Neithardt von Gneisenau: Schriften von und über Gneisenau
, Berlin, 1954: ‘Denkschrift Gneisenaus an Kaiser Alexander I’, pp. 119–34, at p. 133.

6 See e.g. laws and decrees published in these years:
PSZ
, 30, 22756, 17 Jan. 1808, p. 27 (all reports to Alexander to go via Arakcheev); 22777, 25 Jan. 1808, pp. 42–3 (accounting); 22809, 5 Feb. 1808, p. 58 (no private letters); 23052, 2 June 1808, p. 284 (accurate service records); 23205, 5 Aug. 1808, pp. 486–508 (rules for the acceptance of cloth supplied).

7
PSZ
, 30, 23923, 21 Oct. 1809, pp. 1223–7, on cloth supplies;
MVUA
1812, 1/2, no. 8, Arakcheev to Barclay, 26 Jan. 1810, pp. 21–3. The regimental histories are the best source for Arakcheev’s instructions on shooting practice and the upkeep of weapons: see e.g. V. V. Rantsov,
Istoriia 96-go pekhotnago Omskago polka
, SPB, 1902, pp. 114–17.

8
MVUA
1812, 1, no. 116, Barclay to Commissary-General, 4 June 1810, p. 53;
RD
, 4, no. 332, Caulaincourt to Champagny, 2 Oct. 1809, pp. 106–8.

9 On recruit uniforms, see e.g.
PSZ
, 30, 20036, 23 May 1808, pp. 272–4. On initial emergency measures regarding cloth supplies, 23121, 26 June 1808, pp. 357–68. S. V. Gavrilov,
Organizatsiia i snabzheniia russkoi armii nakanune i v khode otechestvennoi voiny
1812
g. i zagranichnykh pokhodov
1813–1815
gg.: Istoricheskie aspekty
, candidate’s dissertation, SPB, 2003, pp. 117–20, 124.

10 The same was true in France: see K. Alder,
Engineering the Revolution: Arms and Enlightenment in France,
1763–1815, Princeton, 1997, p. 466 for all the references to the failed effort to introduce interchangeable parts.

11 See above all the excellent chapter on small arms production in V. N. Speranskii,
Voenno-ekonomicheskaia podgotovka Rossii k bor’be s Napoleonom v
1812–1814
godakh
, Gorky, 1967, pp. 82–135. On the new musket and its calibre,
PSZ
, 30, 23580, 13 April 1809, pp. 908–11. On lead, 22827, 16 Feb. 1808, pp. 71–7, and also
MVUA
1812, 4, no. 11, Kremer to Barclay de Tolly, 25 July 1811, pp. 82–5; no. 12, Barclay to Gurev, draft, pp. 85–6. P. Haythornthwaite,
Weapons and Equipment of the Napoleonic Wars
, London, 1996, p. 21.

12
PSZ
, 30, 23297, 10 Oct. 1808, pp. 603–38.

13 ‘Dvenadtsatyi god: Pis’ma N. M. Longinova k grafu S. R. Vorontsovu’,
RA
, 4, 1912, pp. 381–547, 13 Oct. 1812, pp. 534–5. I. P. Liprandi,
Materialy dlia otechestvennoi voiny
1812
goda: Sobranie statei
, SPB, 1867, ch. 10, pp. 199–211.

14 Much the best source on Barclay’s background, values and early life is Michael and Diana Josselson,
The Commander: A Life of Barclay de Tolly
, Oxford, 1980.

15 See e.g. the comments of Eugen of Württemberg: Eugen,
Memoiren
, vol. 1, pp. 274–7.

16 Josselson,
Commander
, pp. 81–2. V. P. Totfalushin,
M. V. Barklai de Tolli v otechestvennoi voine
1812
goda
, Saratov, 1991, ch. 1.

17 The law is in
PSZ
, 31, no. 24975, 27 Jan. 1812 (OS), pp. 43–164. Gavrilov,
Organizatsiia
, pp. 61 ff. discusses it in detail.

18 The amendment is
PSZ
, 31, no. 25035, 13 March 1812 (OS), pp. 228–9. On the law, see P. A. Geisman,
Svita Ego Imperatorskago Velichestva po kvartirmeisterskoi chasti v tsarstvovanie Imperatora Aleksandra I
, SVM, 4/2/1, SPB, 1902, pp. 284 ff.

19 The law on forming the 13 new regiments is
PSZ
, 30, no. 24505, Jan. 1811, pp. 537–43; the law on internal security is vol. 30, no. 24704, pp. 783–802. On the new regiments’ quality, see e.g. F. G. Popov,
Istoriia 48-go pekhotnago Odesskago polka
, 2 vols., Moscow, 1911, vol. 1, pp. 7–52; S. A. Gulevich,
Istoriia 8-go pekhotnago Estliandskago polka
, SPB, 1911, pp. 117–21.

20 A collection of documents on the internal security troops was published in Moscow in 2002:
Vnutrenniaia i konvoinaia strazha Rossii: Dokumenty i materialy
. For English-language readers John LeDonne provides a short guide in
Absolutism and Ruling Class
, Oxford, 1991, pp. 132–9. P. E. Shchegoleva (ed.),
Zapiski grafa E. F. Komarovskgogo
, SPB, 1914, pp. 183–7, is very revealing about the formation of the internal security troops and Alexander’s attitude towards them. For Alexander’s views on Balashev, see ‘Zapiski Iakova Ivanovicha de Sanglena: 1776–1831 gg.’,
RS
, 37, 1883, pp. 1–46, at pp. 20–25.

21 See in particular Lobanov’s letter to Alexander of 8 May 1814 (OS): RGVIA, Fond 125, Opis 1/188a, Delo 153, fo. 65. It is only fair to add that Lobanov wrote that some of these officers were excellent.

22 In this period all regiments had so-called chiefs. They might be anything from colonels to senior generals. They bore responsibility for their regiment’s training, finances and administration. If they had no other job, then chiefs would actually command the regiment. In all circumstances they exercised a strong influence on their subordinate officers’ behaviour.

23 Colonel Markov,
Istoriia leib-gvardii kirasirskago Eia Velichestva polka
, SPB, 1884, pp. 199–201; E. K. Wirtschafter,
From Serf to Russian Soldier
, Princeton, 1990, pp. 97–8.

24 M. A. Rossiiskii,
Ocherk istorii 3-go pekhotnago Narvskago general-fel’dmarshala kniazia Mikhaila Golitsyna polka
, Moscow, 1904, pp. 291–302.

25 P. Voronov and V. Butovskii,
Istoriia leib-gvardii Pavlovskago polka
1790–1890, SPB, 1890, pp. 46–73; Popov,
Istoriia 48go
, vol. 1, pp. 26–8. For another example of how poor leadership contributed to desertion in individual squadrons, see Lt. Krestovskii,
Istoriia 14-go Ulanskago Iamburgskago E.I.V. velikoi kniagini Marii Aleksandrovny polka
, SPB, 1873, pp. 327–33.

26 The latest British work on Wellington’s 95th Regiment makes these points convincingly: see Mark Urban,
Rifles
, London, 2003.

27 Hon. George Cathcart,
Commentaries on the War in Russia and Germany in
1812
and
1813, London, 1850, p. 7.

28 On the regulations for training jaegers and recruits, see A. I. Gippius,
Obrazovanie (Obuchenie) voisk
, SVM, 4/1, book 2, SPB, 1903, pp. 76–7, 81–2. On the history of the jaegers, see e.g. Rantsov,
Istoriia 96-go
, pp. 1–36. The three-volume history of the Russian infantry by I. Ulianov,
Reguliarnaia pekhota
1801–1855, Moscow, 1995–8, is a very useful summary of regulations, uniforms, weaponry and tactics: fortunately, it includes the jaegers. Lange,
Gneisenau
, pp. 130–31.

29 The two light infantry regiments of the Guard have excellent histories which tell one a great deal about jaegers in this era:
Istoriia leib-gvardii egerskago polka za sto let
1796– 1896, SPB, 1896, and S. Gulevich,
Istoriia leib gvardii Finliandskago polka
1806–1906, SPB, 1906.

30
Mémoires de Langeron, Général d’Infanterie dans l’Armée Russe: Campagnes de 1812, 1813, 1814
, Paris, 1902, pp. 74–5. On the 2nd Jaegers, see Rantsov,
Istoriia 96-go
, pp. 81–3. On the 10th Jaegers, see N. Nevezhin,
112-i pekhotnyi Ural’skii polk: Istoriia polka
1797–1897, Vilna, 1899, pp. 35–8.

31 Digby Smith,
Napoleon against Russia: A Concise History of
1812, Barnsley, 2004, p. 92. M. I. Bogdanovich,
Istoriia otechestvennoi voiny
1812
goda
, 3 vols., SPB, 1859–60, vol. 2, p. 456.

32 I read all the issues of
Voennyi zhurnal
for 1810–12. It is impossible to cite them all.

33 The two key works on the origins of the general staff are Geisman,
Svita
, SVM, and N. Glinoetskii, ‘Russkii general’nyi shtab v tsarstvovanie Imperatora Aleksandra I’,
VS
, 17/10, Oct. 1874, pp. 187–250 and 17/11, Nov. 1874, pp. 5–43.

34 Volkonsky’s former subordinate, Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, damns him with faint praise: A. I. Mikhailovskii-Danilevskii,
Memuary
1814–1815, SPB, 2001, pp. 156–7.

35 Glinoetskii, ‘Russkii general’nyi shtab’,
VS
, 17/11, Nov. 1874, p. 11.

36 RGVIA, Fond 489, Opis 1, Ed. Khr. 1, fos. 215 ff.

37 All these statistics are drawn from S. V. Shvedov, ‘Komplektovanie, chislennost’ i poteri russkoi armii v 1812 godu’, in
K 175-letiiu Otechestvennoi voiny
1812
g.
, Moscow, 1987, pp. 120–39. The older statistics provided in Geisman,
Vozniknovenie
, SVM, p. 298, are higher. As Adam Czartoryski commented, ‘I have so often seen in Russia 100,000 men on paper represented only by 65,000 effectives’: A. Gielgud (ed.),
Memoirs of Prince Adam Czartoryski
, 2 vols., London, 1888, vol. 2, p. 221.

38 The basic rules on the structure and wartime deployment of regiments are in
PSZ
, 31, nos. 24400 and 24526, pp. 420–24 and 553–8.

39 The likeliest reason for this was that the Guards veterans companies, the marine regiments and the many other military units and institutions in Petersburg provided a more than sufficient rear cadre so there was no need to leave the second battalions behind.

40 For Alexander’s view, see
SIM
, 1, no. 56, Alexander to Essen, 3 Aug. 1812 (OS), pp. 46–7. When he arrived in Riga, General von Steinhel supported Essen’s view: ‘The troops here are reserve battalions, weak in numbers and inferior in combat-readiness to front-line units’:
SIM
, 13, no. 3, Steinhel to Arakcheev, 7 Sept. 1812 (OS), pp. 205–7.

41 For picking one’s way through the complicated changes in policy and nomenclature as regards recruit depots and reserve formations, the outstanding
Entsiklopediia
on 1812 is immensely useful.

42 The key document on the distribution of the fourth battalions is a memorandum attached to a letter of Alexander to Wittgenstein dated 3 Aug. 1812 (OS):
SIM
, 1, no. 58, pp. 47–9.

43 On the Noble Regiment, see M. Gol’mdorf,
Materialy dlia istorii byvshego Dvorianskago polka
, SPB, 1882: the statistics are from p. 137. On attracting officers, see also A. N. Andronikov and V. P. Fedorov,
Prokhozhdenie sluzhby
, SVM, 4/1/3, SPB, 1903, pp. 2–9, 100–182.