"Russians in 1805 Campaign" Topic

Does anybody have the OOB for the Russians during the 1805 Campaign. I need the Russian OOB way before the battle of Austerlitz. The Russian OOB after Ulm is fine. I'm thinking of the months of September through November.

1805 – Tsar Alexander's First War with Napoleon
The Russian Official History
Alexander Ivanovich Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky
Translated by Peter G.A. Phillips
has the following:

Kutuzov's Army – Order of Battle
1st Column – Major-General Prince Bagration's 7,733 men
Pavlograd Hussar Regiment
Kiev Grenadier Regiment
Azov Musketeer Regiment
6th Jäger Regiment
2 Artillery Companies
Cossack Regiment

2nd Column – Lieutenant-General Essen 2nd's 8,116 men
Chernigov Dragoon Regiment
Malorussia Grenadier Regiment
Apsheron Musketeer Regiment
Smolensk Musketeer Regiment
½ Company of Horse Artillery
2 Companies of Foot Artillery
1 Pioneer Company
1 Cossack Regiment

3rd Column – Lieutenant-General Dokhturov's 6,948 men
Mariupol Hussar Regiment
Butyrsk Musketeer Regiment
Moscow Musketeer Regiment
8th Jäger Regiment (1 battalion)
2 Artillery Companies
½ Company of Pontoniers

4th Column – Lieutenant-General Shepelev's 6,881 men
Novgorod Musketeer Regiment
Narva Musketeer Regiment
Podolsk Musketeer Regiment
2 Artillery Companies

5th Column – Lieutenant-General Baron Maltitz's 8,572 men
Her Majesty's Lifeguard Cuirassier Regiment
Vyatka Musketeer Regiment
Bryansk Musketeer Regiment
Yaroslavl Musketeer Regiment
8th Jäger Regiment (2 battalions)
1 Horse Artillery Company
2 Foot Artillery Companies
1 Pioneer Company
1 Cossack Regiment

6th Column – Lieutenant-General Baron Rosen's 8,455 men
St Petersburg Dragoon Regiment
Tver Dragoon Regiment
Novoingermanland Musketeer Regiment,
Vladimir Musketeer Regiment
Galits Musketeer Regiment
1 Horse Artillery Company
2 Foot Artillery Companies
½ Company of Pontoniers
1 Cossack Regiment
Total combatants of all ranks; 46,405

Will post regimental strengths later when I get access to my copy of bowden.

Strengths from Scott Bowden's "The Glory Years – Napoleon at Austerlitz" – figures of men given are for the following dates
25 August/23 October/10 November/25 November which Bowden says were compiled from S.H.A.T. C 13 & regimental histories in Russian Archives

Kutuzov's Army – Order of Battle
1st Column – Major-General Prince Bagration
Pavlograd Hussar Regiment (10 squadrons) 1486/1198/1058/722
Kiev Grenadier Regiment (3 battalions) 2096/1667/1577716
Azov Musketeer Regiment (3bns) 2247/1433/1290/591
6th Jäger Regiment (3 bns) 1495/1137/911/364

2nd Column – Lieutenant-General Essen II
Chernigov Dragoon Regiment (5 sqns) 785/572/458/366
Little Russia Grenadier Regiment (3 bns) 2095/1739/1591/1011
Apsheron Musketeer Regiment (3 bns) 2049/1434/1309/410
Smolensk Musketeer Regiment (3 bns) 2091/1247/1098/685

3rd Column – Lieutenant-General Dokhturov
Mariupol Hussar Regiment (10 sqns) 1738/1376/1117/712
Butyrsk Musketeer Regiment (3 bns) 2152/1305/1220/864
Moscow Musketeer Regiment (3 bns) 1993/1397/1276/882
8th Jäger Regiment (1 bn) 484/397/319/79

4th Column – Lieutenant-General Shepelev
Novgorod Musketeer Regiment (3 bns) 1947/1208/962/769
Narva Musketeer Regiment (3 bns) 2159/1163/963/731
Podolia Musketeer Regiment (3bns) 1989/1258/1102/509

5th Column – Lieutenant-General Baron Maltitz
Leib Cuirassier Regiment (5 sqns) 886/739/667/566
Vyatka Musketeer Regiment (3 bns) 2090/1359/1187/379
Bryansk Musketeer Regiment (3 bns) 2046/1287/1130/829
Yaroslavl Musketeer Regiment (3 bns) 1977/1178/999/754
8th Jäger Regiment (2 bns) 1264/788/570/333

6th Column – Lieutenant-General Baron Rosen (note this column was initially diverted towards the Turkish border then countermarched to rejoin the army)
St Petersburg Dragoon Regiment (5 sqns) 845/-/-/800
Tver Dragoon Regiment (5 sqns) 710/-/-/632
New Ingermanland Musketeer Regiment (3 bns) 2013/-/-/1903
Vladimir Musketeer Regiment (3 bns) 1977/-/-/1901
Galicia Musketeer Regiment (3 bns) 1820/-/-/1564

Artillery (14 companies with 168 pieces) 3971/3210/3176/2900
Battalion artillery pieces were drawn from the above companies
Army strengths 46405/27092/23980/21972 (note these totals exclude staff, equipage & cossacks)

Problem with these boards is we need a sticky as this excellent oob kindly researched and posted will be lost in a few months and the same questions will come around.

Some further information thanks to Robert Goetz in "1805 Austerlitz" page 39:

"In all, 212 battalions (including 2 of marines) and 207 squadrons out of a total of 343 battalions and 297 squadrons were committed to the war against France."

Table 2 – initial Disposition of Russian forces, 1805
(figures given are battalions / squadrons / sotnias

Army of Podolia – Kutusov 54 / 40 / 30
Army of Volhynia – Buxhowden 39 / 55 / 20 (note the Izyum Hussars, originally assigned to Buxhowden's Army of Volhynia, joined Tolstoi's descent forces in September and are included in the totals for Tolstoi's forces)
Army of Lithuania – Essen I 30 / 42 / 80 (includes 7 battalions and 17 squadrons of the Guard)
Army of the North – Bennigsen 39 / 50 / 35
Descent Forces – Tolstoi 23 / 15 / 8 (includes 2 battalions of Marines)
Ioinians – Anrep 27 / 5 /10 (of the forces designated, 5 battalions, 5 squadrons & 10 sotnias remained in Russia due to a lack of transports)
Reserve Army – Rimsky-Korsakov 12 / 5 / 15
Army of Moldavia – Tormasov 25 / 40 / 55
Finland & St. Petersburg 13 / 0 / 0 (includes 4 Guard battalions)
Kherson & Crimea 30 / 5 / unknown
Caucasus 27 / 25 / unknown
Orenburg & Siberia 24 / 15 / unknown
Total 343 / 297 / ???

Also see Robert Goetz's "The Development of the Russian Inspectorate, 1762-1806: Appendix 2: Assignment of Regiments to Inspections, 1805" showing the distribution of many of the Russian regiments to the various commands above at link

My thanks to all. Especially "Prince of Essling".

Rebooting this due to recent interest.

"Prince of Essling", you have been very helpful. Do you know the Russian forces that joined Kutuzov, on the way to the Battle of Austerlitz? I know Buxhowden, was one force. Essen I was another. Did Bennigsen join Kutuzov, before Asterlitz?

@reggie88,

Bennigsen's command – on paper 40,000 men – was intended to march through Prussia (to apply pressure on them to join the war) then head off towards Prague & then Franconia (northern Bavaria).

At the council of war on 24 November in Olmutz, opinions varied – some advocated further withdrawal (Kutuzov to the carpathians & Langeron to Bohemia – both advocating a link up with Bennigsen; while Sukhtelen advocated a withdrawal into Hungary to link up with Archduke Charles) and apply more pressure on Prussia to intervene. Alexander took other advice and as they say the rest is history!

So the answer to your question about Bennigsen is a very firm no.

For the Guard see the other "Russians in the 1805 Campaign." Topic at TMP link

Ian

Comparing the OoB for Austerlitz with the units comprising Kutuzov's columns (and excluding the Russian Imperial Guard), Buxhowden may have brought the following regular units (unable to attempt to extrapolate the artillery or cossack sotnias):

5th Jager Regiment 3 battalions
7th Jager Regiment 3 battalions
Fanagoria Grenadier Regiment 3 battalions
Viborg Musketeer Regiment 3 battalions
Kursk Musketeer Regiment 3 battalions
Perm Musketeer Regiment 3 battalions
Ryazan Musketeer Regiment 3 battalions
Pskov Musketeer Regiment 3 battalions
Old Ingermanland Musketeer Regiment 3 battalions
Arkhangelorod Musketeer Regiment 3 battalions
Kharkov Dragoon Regiment 5 squadrons
Elisabetgrad Hussar Regiment 10 squadrons
Grand-Duke Konstantin Uhlan Regiment 10 suadrons

Note – I haven't seen an OoB anywhere of Buxhowden's units as constituted for the campaign & before joining the Austro-Russian Army.

Following further digging – again based on Kutuzov's columns versus Austerlitz OoB (& again excluding the Russian Guard):

Kutuzov had 4 cossack sotnia; whereas there were 9 at Austerlitz so ? 5 with Buxhowden's reiunforcement;

Kutuzov had 2 1/2 horse batteries whereas there were 3 1/2 horse batteries at Austerlitz – ? one battery with Buxhowden's reinforcement;

Kutuzov had 6 foot batteries & 6 artillery companies whereas at Austerlitz there were 3 x 12pdr batteries & 12 battalion gun batteries, so it is difficult to attempt to split out between the columns & those with Buxhowden as reinforcements without further information.

"Prince of Essling" you are a prince among men.

"Prince of Essling" as I said…..you are a prince among men! My undying thanks to you for all of this much needed info. My Napoleonic club is planning an 1805 Campaign. The French are great with their records, but the Austrians, and Russians are not. As for as the Austrians; I got most of General Mack's OOB, for infantry, and cavalry. But nothing on artillery. If you, or anybody else has info on Mack's artillery, it would be greatly appreciated.

@reggie88

Good luck with your club project.

I have posed the question "Any information about Austrian Artillery OoB for 1805?" on The Napoleonic Wars Forum. Will let you know if I get a response. Information about the infantry & cavalry is very easy to find – e.g. numbers of battalions, squadrons, men & horses, but none of the OoBs other than Austerlitz appears to list artillery. Apart from Austerlitz all I have seen is 60 guns captured at Ulm.

Gunther Rothenberg on pages 113 & 114 in ""Napoleon's Great Adversary – Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army 1792-1814" says:

"There was little change in the organisation and tactics of artillery. The establishment remained inadequate, four field regiments with 16 companies apiece. With a total of only 11,260 gunners, labour still had to be provided by untrained infantrymen. Batteries lacked permanent draft teams and drivers, and last minute requisitioning proved difficult. As a result. the artillery embarked on the campaigns of 1805 with only slightly more than half of its field establishment.

Tactical dispositions remained antiquated. Austrian artillery remained divided into two differet types, line guns to furnish close support and reserve guns to be employed under central control. Most of the infantry brigades received a 3 pdr battery, but cavalry brigades lost their guns. The great majority of the light guns were distributed among ythe battalions and the Austrians rarely managed to achieve concentration of fire. The capabilities of the artillery reserve were imporved slightly by additional ammunition carts for its park."

Having relooked at Buxhowden's troops etc, I must make correction as follows (as they say "less haste more speed"):

Jager Regiment Nr. 5: 3 battalions
Jager Regiment Nr. 7: 3 battalions

Fangoria Grenadier Regiment: 3 battalions

Arkhangelgorod Musketeer Regiment: 3 battalions
Old Ingermanland Musketeer Regiment: 3 battalions
Pskov Musketeer Regiment: 3 battalions
Viborg Musketeer Regiment: 3 battalions
Kursk Musketeer Regiment: 3 battalions
Perm Musketeer Regiment: 3 battalions
Ryazan Musketeer Regiment: 3 battalions

Elisabetgrad Hussar Regiment: 10 squadrons
Kharkov Dragoon Regiment: 5 squadrons
Uhlan Regiment Grand-Duke Konstantin: 10 squadrons

Will post a full OoB for the Austrians (minus artillery) later – probably as a link to various pdf pages consolidated into one download.

On the Austrian Artillery, David Hollins has responded – see link

"That is probably a job for the Kriegsarchiv. Austrian OBs rarely list much of the artillery prior to the 1808 reforms. That is because of the battalion guns allocation and the reserve guns being under the staff's immediate direction. I looked through the KA documents for Second Caldiero, but it is probably not exact."

Unfortunately you need to go to Vienna & get a pass to access the paper format information in the Kriegsarchiv as there doesn't appear to be a digitised version.

Pages 27-28 in "Krieg 1805 in Deutschland" by Carl Ritter Schonhals has the following;

1st Column (Kienmayer) 13 battalions, 16 squadrons, 1 battery
2nd Column (Riesch) 12 battalions, 16 squadrons, 1 battery
3rd Column (Gyulai) 8 battalions, 16 squadrons, 1 battery
no other batteries listed against other troops but that is clearly incorrect as the French captured 60 guns when Ulm capitulated. Text elsewhere in "Krieg" mentions army reserve artillery but the number of batteries is not.

From pages 88 & 89 in "1805 Der Feldzug zum Ulm" by Krauss

"Each infantry regiment was assigned six field guns, specifically three-pounders (Italy) or six-pounders (Army in Germany) or three-pounders and twelve-pounders (with the corps in Tyrol), commanded by an artillery officer and supported by several gunners and labourers from the regiment for operation. The border regiments operated 4 field guns with 3 battalions and 2 field guns with 2 battalions. Since one artillery non-commissioned officer was assigned for every two guns, the guns had to be used in pairs. The close connection of the guns with the infantry, which naturally lasted until the last moments of battle, hindered their effective placement, unification, and impact, and often drew them into the turmoil of infantry close combat, which was the main cause of the heavy combat losses of the Austrians in regard to their guns.

Each corps and army was assigned an artillery reserve (six and twelve-pound cannons and howitzers). The ammunition park was attached to this reserve. At the beginning of January 1805, not a single battery was equipped. All horses intended for artillery transport had been sold off for savings years ago. Prince Schwarzenberg states: 'The entire transport system and the artillery transport were almost completely dissolved, and the horses, as naturally, were squandered.' Therefore, the training of the artillery could not be war-like."

Beilagen Volume to Alfred Krauss: "1805: Der Feldzug um Ulm" has useful maps, marching table (i.e. places where units halted) for Mack's units & a dislocation table which demonstartes how badly divided his army was – see link or download as pdf PDF link

Austrian OoBs for 1805 now uploaded to Mediafire – copy can be downloaded via link PDF link
Information extracted from "La campagne de 1805 en Allemagne" by Colin & Alombert; "Der Feldzug des Jahres 1805 und seine Folgen für Oesterreich überhaupt und für Tirol insbesonders"; and "Precis de la campagne de 1805 en Allemagne et Italie". The latter contains a very outline OoB for the Russians as well.

"Erzherzog Carl von Österreich als Feldherr und Heeresorganisator Band 3 – im kriege 1805" has the OoB for his Italian Army along with the numbers of artillery pieces by weight link

Further on Austrian Artillery:

Page 448 in "Geschichte der Österreichischen Artillerie, von den Frühesten Zeiten bis zur Gegenwart" by Anton Dolleczek says:

"Eintheilung im Jahre 1805.
Der Feldzug 1805 brachte eine theilweise neue Armee-Eintheilung. Nach der Ordre de bataille vom 18. October erscheinen bei jeder Infanterie-Brigade eine dreipfündige Batterie, während die Cavallerie-Batterien aufgelassen wurden. Insofern als die Cavallerie-Brigaden keine solchen erhielten . Ausserdem waren sämmtliche Regimenter mit Liniengeschützen betheilt und die ArtillerieReserve erhielt eine bedeutende Verstärkung an Munitions -Fuhrwerken . Im Manövriren der Truppen zeigte sich viel weniger Pedanterie und das neue Exercir-Reglement von 1805 hatte die meisten complicirten Bewegungen desjenigen von 1769 abgeschafft. Auch die Artillerie suchte ihre Geschütze natürlicher zu verwenden, sah weniger wie bisher auf Intervalle und gleiche Richtung bei den einzelnen Geschützen , sondern mehr auf geschickte Placirung und Terrainbenützung."

which roughly translates as:

"Reorganization in the year 1805.
The campaign of 1805 brought a partially new army organization. According to the order of battle from October 18, each infantry brigade had a three-pound battery, while the cavalry batteries were discontinued, as the cavalry brigades did not receive any. Furthermore, all regiments were equipped with line guns, and the artillery reserve received a significant reinforcement of ammunition wagons. In the manoeuvring of the troops, there was much less pedantry, and the new exercise regulations of 1805 had abolished most of the complicated movements of those from 1769. The artillery also sought to use its guns in a more natural way, looking less than before at intervals and uniform direction among the individual guns, but more at clever placement and terrain usage."

My special thanks to the "Prince of Essling" for continuing to give me much needed data. And my thanks to the rest of you for providing information.