"Frontage of a Cossack Sotnia" Topic

If I understand that the "average" (??) Cossack sotnia had about 100 men, then how are we to understand the amount of space they occupied? Did they really form up in two ranks, like a regular cavalry squadron? Is there any way to compare the frontage of a Cossack sotnia to that of, say, a regular Russian cavalry squadron?

Sam – I don't know the answer, but I can relate a brief story. When I was at the Borodino battlefield in 1999, our small team was talking with the historian at the site and we discussed the flank attack by Platov and the cavalry corps on Eugene's IV corps area.

The historian said several times that the formation used by the cossascks was a "cloud" formation. I double checked with our interpreters three times to try to get an explanation as to what was a cloud formation. The historian kept saying that it was an informal wave attack which the cossacks of the "Don" used at the time.

I'll see if anyone else knows from my office.

Erik

It was always my understanding that a 'coloumn of mob' was employed, with approx 25% of the force held in reserve, 2/300 yards following, to exploit a victory, or cover a withdrawal.
The Cloud formation is just that, a swarm, depth being a preferred tactic to swamp an opponent locally, ie don't form up line to line, overwhelm a part of the line in depth, then roll up that line. They also never hung around in melee, get in, win/lose, get out!
Hope this helps!
John

Sure, but how far from one end of the cloud to the other?

The term for the formation that would have been translated by Erik's interpreters as "cloud" is the "lava". Of Mongol origin, it is a Cossack word, and does not really translate as anything but exactly what it is!

It is described by European observers from 1812 to 1900, but only as a description of the tactic, not with the parameters and details ascribed to conventional infantry and cavalry formations. It was not formally enshrined in Tsarist doctrine until just before the Great War.

So for the Napoleonic era, asking how big the "cloud" would be will elicit the same helpful responses as "How many trees are in a wood?" Sorry!

Allen

Yeah. I'm pretty sure there were no prescribed intervals for cavalry in "cloud" formation. Or at best, each Hetman wrote his own regs in this regard! <grin>

Here's why I ask:

From time to time we do read of Cossacks participating on the battlefield, perhaps alongside other Russian or allied cavalry, perhaps in their own forces.

Once on a battlefield, presumably some poor commander is tasked with figuring out where they are and what they're doing. And more importantly: figuring out how to work that into the general plan.

So: how would that happen if nobody ever had any idea of how much space X-number of Cossacks could occupy?

At that time, no Cossacks, except for the Guard sotnia, had been regularized. "Drill" as we would know it did not come until nearly 1900. Until then, when the Russians began to impose organizational structure on Cossackdom, the very idea of being told at what prescribed distance he had to skirmish would have been anathema to a Cossack. He was a fighting man, therefore he knew how to fight: simple enough.

Allen

On the battlefield. they were generally useless. They would not close in a charge, they could be driven off with a charge, and observers commented that a hundred Cossacks could go forward in the lava, dismount, fire their weapons at the enemy, without any danger of hitting anyone (Cossack marksmanship got considerably better as they fought first in the Caucasus in the next generation, and then in Central Asia in the 1860s and '70s).

So I'm not entirely sure that a Russian general would be overly concerned with how they fit into the battle array, but would expect them to flow loosely around the flanks, providing no significant effect either in attack or defense.

Allen

Another thing to keep in mind is that the Cossack provided his own horse, so keeping that valuable piece of property alive and uninjured was important to him.

I bet a roughly square arrangement will keep you out of trouble (equal across as it is deep)

You might wish to view:

Tactics by William Balck. Vol 2. 1914:

link

It has a number of historical references concerning the Napoleonic period. The discussion of the Cossack ‘Lava' on pp 188-193 is interesting. The examples of Cossacks attacking formed units, pp 192-193, in 1813 breaks the common stereotype we often see.

I shall translate the article on the Lava from the Yugoslav military encyclopaedia:

LAVA is a specific combat formation of cavalry, that Cossacs employed when fighting Tatars and other Asian horsemen. On a signal, they would ride out en masse, and, using the vastness of the steppe, suddenly, with war crys, the sotnias (squadrons) would deploy in open order in a line – lava, striving to outflank enemy cavalry which allways attacked in a mass. The first lava was followed by strikes of the next ones. Around 1884, sotnias of a regiment attacked in lavas one behind the other, or deployed in two ranks, so that usually three sotnias formed the first, and two the second line. – From 1912. all Russian, and later Soviet cavalry used the Lava in reconnisance in force, breakthrough of enemy's picquet lines, masking own maneuvres, securing flanks, drawing enemy onto a direction suitable for a counterattack, pursuits, and for many other combat tasks. The width of the front of a squadron in the lava was up to 1,5 km, and a regiment up to 6 km. It consisted of the first battle line and a reserve. Platoons and halfplatoons (in an independent squadron), or squadrons (in a regiment) of the first battle line operated independently in the spirit of the general task, with daring, arrogance and resolution, trying to encircle flanks of the enemy, and to draw him unto a sudden attack by the covered forces, to exhaust and harrass him. Some elements would charge in closed order, spread into open, or skirmish order, or open fire (from horseback and on foot). The flank platoons, or halfplatoons, also secured flanks. The reserve of one platoon (in an independent squadron), or squadron (in a regiment), moved at a distance of 100-350 m from the first battle line, on the most suitable direction. Instead of the reserve, a squadron often designated the first squad of the 3. platoon (Russian Mayak) to mark a rally point. Good sides of the lava are the possibility to achievethe greatest possible speed in an attack, and small losses from artillery fire, but the power of impact is weaker than in closed order.

The article also has an illustration, but, being illiterate on the computer I do not know how you manage to post them. If you are interested I can send it through email.

Nikola

Again, the specific parameters quoted by Balck and the Yugoslav military encyclopedia derive from the 1912 regulations. But use them if you have to have something!

Allen

Hi,

here is an excellent article about the Cossacks
link

Unfortunately I don't know any Russian websites devoted to these warriors.

Look here. scarb.ru/Ustavy%201884.htm
there is addition for cossacs to cavalry regulation 1884.
On russian.
In general lava is 1-rank open order