"Russian Sveaborg Musketeer Regiment - History???" Topic

Does anybody have the regimental history of the Russian Sveaborg Musketeer Regiment?

I have just finish painting a Russian musketeer battalion and used the Sveaborg's flag because I like their green & yellow flag (see link). However, I can't seem to find any history on this regiment during the Napoleonic Wars.

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Do you mean Sveaborg Garrison Regiment formed in 1809 and disbanded in 1811?

Rustveli, I don't know. I haven't been able to find much on the Sveaborgs.

I think Sveaborg is the Swedish equivalent of the (formerly) Finnish city of Viipori. As such, it would have only been part of Russia after the 1809 Russo-Swedish war.

I think Sveaborg is the Swedish equivalent of the (formerly) Finnish city of Viipori.

No, the Swedish name for Viipuri (Wiburg/Vyborg) is Viborg.

Sveaborg is the Swedish name of the coastal fortress located in front of Helsinki, nowadays known in Finnish as Suomenlinna (previously also as Viapori). This fortress was built in the 18th century, and it surrendered to the Russians in 1809 without a fight.

The Sveaborgskiy Garrison regiment was formed per order of 22 October 1809 with 4 battalion establishment and disbanded per order of 17 January 1811. Upon disdanding, 12 companies of the garrison's best men were sent to the formation of new field regiments, and ~4 companies of the least able men were sent to the Internal Garrison half-battalions then forming in provincial cities.

As for flags, 1 white flag and 3 with a green cross and gold corners with the Imperial monogram were granted in 1810 to the Sveaborg Garrison Regiment. Of all the garrisons during the reign of Alexander I, only the Sveaborg regiment was given flags with monograms in the corners. See illustration No. 2411c (below).
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The Army units being formed from disbanded garrison units per order of 17 January 1811 were:
-- Voronezhskiy Infantry regiment *
-- Bryanskiy Infantry regiment **
-- Litovskiy Infantry regiment **
-- Podolskiy Infantry regiment **
-- Estlyandskiy Infantry regiment
-- Orlovskiy Infantry regiment
-- Galitskiy Infantry regiment
-- Velikolutskiy Infantry regiment
-- Penzinskiy Infantry regiment
-- Saratovskiy Infantry regiment
-- 47th Jäger regiment *
-- 48th Jäger regiment
-- 49th Jäger regiment, re-named Sofiiskii Infantry regiment on 12 March 1811
* assigned to the 25th Infantry Division in St.-Petersburg
** assigned to the 6th or 21st Infantry Divisions with the Finnish Corps
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In my opinion the most likely place for the 12 companies of the Sveaborg garrison would in the new regiments being formed for service in Finland and, perhaps, for Saint-Petersburg. It is not impossible that one or more of their rather unique flags survived the disbanding of the garrison to become a flag for the newly raised field regiment. Further research is required.

A rare miss by Seroga…they became the Lithuania…

It would appear that the 4 companies of less able men of the Sveaborg Garrison regiment went, 1 company each, to the formation of Internal Government ( Vnutrenniy Gubernskiy ) half-battalions in the cities of Kostromo, Yaroslavl, Nizhny-Novogord and Vladimir. See Высочайшие приказы за 1810-1815 гг.

More to the current question, the 12 more able companies were the basis for the Литовский пехотный полк / Litovskiy Infantry regiment, a unit of the 21st Division, in the Finnish Corps. They were at 2nd Polotsk, Chashniki, Borisov, Studienka, the seige of Dantzig, Leipzig, Craonne and Paris.

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It is quite possible that this regiment carried the Sveaborg Garrison regiment's flags from its formation in 1811. Further research is needed for confirmation.

Dear Hew,

Not a miss, just a tad slow this evening!

I needed to look up which unit(s) of the 21st Division got the guys from Sveaborg (and for completeness, I wanted to see where the 4 companies of "less able" men ended up).
:-)

Now, we need to confirm that the flags were conserved by the "Lithuanians" …. do you have this at hand, dear Colleague ?

Confirmed – the new regiment kept the flags of the Sveaborg garrison.
See Габаев "Роспись русским полкам 1812 года", as cited in link

The "Lithuanians" had yellow shoulder straps by April 1812 (third ranking heavy infantry regiment in the 21st Division, per Viskovatov) – matches the flag's corners.

Thank you for the information gentlemen.

My hope is that the Sveaborg/Lithuania battalion in my Russian army covers itself with glory!

God bless,
John