|
The Army of Russia 1788-1790
In
1786, during the regime of Catherine the great, the Russian army went through a complete
"make over". New types of units were introduced and some completely
new ideas were used when designing the new uniforms. The information provided
here are in no way complete. The purpose is just to give a rough idea on how the
Russian army of Finland might have looked. The Russian army was indeed mighty,
but the Russian empire was at this point busy fighting the Turks, so only a
fraction were available to face the Swedish attack.
Organisation
The Cavalry
The
Cuirassiers
were used for traditional task for mounted
units, the charge.
The Dragoons
where mostly used as mounted infantry and for recognisance. When engaging in
combat they preferred to dismount. The Russians regarded Dragoons as "inferior
and poorly trained cavalry".
The
Carabineer
were dragoons, but were regarded to be of a
higher quality.
The Chevaulégers
(light cavalry) and the Hussars had more or less the same role,
recognisance,
but they were also capable to launch mounted charges.
If necessary, all cavalry
units could engage dismounted.
In 1788 the
Russian cavalry had the following units:
5 Cuirassier regiments
18 Carabineer
regiments
These units counted 1106 men and 907 "battle horses" distributed on six
squadrons.
11 Dragoon
regiments, each with 1882 men and 1565 "battle horses" distributed on ten
squadrons
14 Light Cavalry
regiments, each with 1047 men and 907 "battle horses" distributed on six
squadrons.
3 Hussar
regiments. The numbers differed between 1000 and
2000 each.
The Infantry
According to the 1763 regulations, each
Grenadier and Musketeer regiment were to form two battalions of six companies
each. In the musketeer battalion one of the company were a Grenadier company.
Each regiment held 2004 men in all, but only 1849 were in combat positions
(925men / battalion). When on campaign, each battalion left one company at home
as garrison.
In 1788 a new regulation was issued,
reducing the number of companies to five / battalion. The regimental manpower
were still the same.
The Jaeger regiments were organised
along the same lines as the other infantry units, though their manpower was
lower. 1425 men in combat positions are mentioned.
Notes on tactics:
The forming of Jaeger units within the
Russian army were inspired by the Prussian use of such units in the "Seven Year
War". While reading Swedish battle reports, I get the impression that the
Russian jaegers were used for
recognisance
and as skirmishers on the flanks and ahead of the main battle line.
I have no information what so ever of
any difference in quality or tactics regarding the Musketeers and the
Grenadiers.
Uniforms
The general idea behind
the new design of the uniforms were to supply the
troops with an outfit that were more suitable on the battlefield than the older
ones. The new uniform is sometime referred to as "the Potemkin uniform".
The
new jacket was worn buttoned and the turnbacks could be "buttoned down" for
protection in bad whether. Pants of full length and a looser fit replaced the
older breeches that had been tight and of knee length. The tricone was also
replaced with a cap. It had a peek to protect from the sun light, a large pad to
protect the head in close combat, and some ties in the neck that could be used
as "ear flaps". The use of wig and white powder were abolished. During the
regime of Tsar Paul, the Potemkin uniform was abandoned and the older fashion
was reinstated.
In
general, all units used a uniform of the same cut. The single regiment could be
identified only by the design of the epaulette worn on the left shoulder.
Infantry and dragoons
My
drawings are made as support for painting wargaming figures of a scale about 15
mm. For that reason I have taken the liberty to simplify some details. Please
feel free to point out errors.
In general
Hat, boots,
ammunitions pouch and bayonet were in black. Belts in white. The sign on the
ammunition pouch and the band on the cap were in brass.
 |
 |
 |
Grenadiers and Line infantry
Green jacket with the collar,
lapels, cuffs and the decorations on the turnbacks in red. Red pants with
double stripes in yellow. Line infantry had in general a yellow pad on the cap
while the Grenadier regiments appears to have had a white pad and yellow
ribbons on the right shoulder.
Dragons
They used the same uniform and colourings as the line infantry. To
distinguish them they had some yellow ribbons on the right shoulder.
Jaegers
Over all dark green.
Double stripes and details on the jacket in black. Red piping on lapels and cuffs.
Garrison units
They had a less
decorated uniform then the other units. It was
over all dark grey/green. Red collars and cuffs. The cap was of a less expensive
kind.
|
| Line infantry |
Jaeger |
Garrison unit |
In 1789 the
following infantry unit were in, or nearby Finland:
The Lieb grenadier
regiment
The Mourom
regiment
The Veliko-Loutzk
regiment
The Tobolsk
regiment
The Nevsk regiment
The Pskov regiment (The pad on the cap was black)
The Navaginsky
regiment
The Narva regiment
The Kexholm
regiment
The Tenginsky
regiment
The Riazan
regiment
The Vyborg regiment
The
Jeletz regiment
The Belozersk
regiment
The Finnish Jaeger
corps (four battalions)
The Estonian Jaeger
corps (2nd and 3rd battalions)
I don't know if any of these units were
listed as Garrison regimens.
From one source I have
received information stating that the following units also served in Finland
during the war:
Revals regiment (White pad and plume. Red tails on the cap) and
Kozlovs (or possibly Kozlovskys) regiment (Black pad, white plume, black plate
and red tails with white pipings on the cap).
Cavalry
 |
 |
 |
Cuirassier
Yellow jackets. The
colouring on collars, lapels and turn backs differed between the regiments.
Lieb-Cuirassiers:
Green on collars, lapels, turn backs, the back of the cap and
trousers. White was used on the stripes on the trousers, pads and plumes in
the cap.
Military order: Black with orange pipings on collars, lapels, turn
backs and the back of the cap. Trousers green (?) with black stripes. White
was used on pads and plumes in the cap.
Ekaterinoslavskys:
Light blue on collars, lapels, turn backs, the back of the cap and
trousers. Yellow stripes on the trousers. White pads and plumes in the cap.
Kasansky: Same as Ekaterinoslavsky but dark blue instead of light
blue.
Carabineer
Dark blue uniform
with red. Yellow buttons. The pad on the helmet was generally white but other
colours was in use as well.
Chevaulégers
(light cavalry)
Dark blue uniform
with red. White buttons. The pad on the helmet was generally white but other
colours was in use as well.
|
| Cuirassier |
Carabinier |
Light cavalry |
In 1789 the
following cavalry unit were in, or nearby Finland:
The Yambourg Carabineer regiment
The Pskov Dragoon regiment (White pading and plumes, light yellow tails
with white details on the cap)
The Yambourg Dragoon regiment
One Hussar regiment
Some 2000 Cossacks
Artillery
There artillery
was organised in two ways, as regimental artillery and as the independent units
of the field artillery.
 |
 |
The
regimental artillery had the green uniform of the line infantry. All
details were however black. The pad on the cap was in general white but
other colours was also used.
The field
artillery had an over all red uniform. Details on the jacket in
black and with double stripes in yellow on the pants. The pad on the cap was
white while the bands hanging down from the cap was in yellow.
Painting the limbers
There are some confusing info on the
paintings of the artillery limber. Some sources state that the limber were
painted in the same colour for all artillery, and some state that the two
branches used different colours. Don't take my notes as the truth, merely as
what I believe at this moment, so don't get surprised if I change my mind...
All metal was painted
in black. When it comes to the wooden parts the field artillery is said to
have used green paint while the regimental artillery used red. (Yes I know,
this is opposite of the colours on their uniforms. ) |
| The Regimental artillery |
The Field artillery |
Colours
The ideas about
uniformity did also influenced the colours of the Grenadier and Musketeer regiments.
In 1780 new colours were issued. The only distinctions between the units were
that the crest of the city or the province were the unit were required were
portrayed on the chest of the double eagle (the red area in my illustration).
I have
no info on colours for Jaegers (if there were any) and for the mounted units.
Below you will find some
scanned images that I have received from some of my friends on the Internet.
The pictures shows samples of Russian colours of the period 1763 -1799.
 |
Russian Colours-1 Page 175 shows
colours from the period of 1763-1796.
The Russian regiments were
obviously carrying two different colours. One regimental (the white) and
one called “the coloured”. The later seems to have been used by the
battalions. This picture shows:
White regimental colour of Leib-guards Preobrazensky
regiment, model 1763 (1); coloured battalion's colour, model 1763, of the Leib-guards regiments: Preobrazensky (2), Semyenovsky (3), Izmailovskiy
(4); coloured battalion's colour of the grenadiers regiments, 1763-1780
(5), a colour of the St.-Petersburg garrison (6). |
 |
Russian Colours-2
Page 189 shows:
Different infantry helmet (musketeers and grenadiers, after 1786
(1); fanions of Leib-guardes regiments: Preobrazensky (2), Semenovsky (3).
Izmaylovsky (4). “Fanion”. It’s a french word, that in Russian means a
small flag, which was carried by infantry NCO for maintaining an alignment
in formation.
Futher more some Officer infantry regiments shabracks: staff-officer (5), ober-officer (6). Aiguillettes of the Leib-grenadiers
regiment (7). |
 |
Russian Colours-3
P 192 shows colours from the 1763-1796 period.
Regimental (Colour) colours of the infantry regiments, 1763-1780. I get
the impression that each division had it's own colour and that the
individual regiments were distinguished by the crest on the centre of the
colour.
Divisions: Estlandia (1), Ukrainian and Svevsk, after 1766 (2), Liflandia
(3), Smolensk (4), St.-Petersburg (5), Finnish (6), Siberian corps (7),
Moscow (8), Svevsk, up to 1766 (9), Ukrainian, up to 1766 (10), Orenburg
corps (11). Obverse (12) and averse (13) sides of Regimental (Colour)
colours of the grenadiers and infantry regiments, model 1780.
The white/yellow colour (called
the 1780 pattern)
Obverse (12) and averse (13)
sides of Regimental (Colour) colours of the grenadiers and infantry
regiments, model 1780. These colours were the same for all regiments. To
tell the different regiment from each other, the regimental crest were put
in the centre of the colour. I don’t know if these regiments had two
different colours like the Life guards. |
 |
Russian Colours-4
P 248 shows colours from the 1786-1799 period.
Colour of the Gatchinsky armies
(1), kaiser-colour Gatchinsky armies (2), 1786-1796; white regimental
colour of Leib-guards Preobrazensky regiment, model 1796 (3), colour
battalion’s colour of Leib-guards Semyenovsky regiment, model 1796 (the
Maltese cross was added on a panel after 1798) (4). |
Sources
to uniforms:
Preben Kannik, Uniformer i färg, Stockholm 1969, Leonov and Ulyanov,
Regularnaya Pekhota,
Voinniy Sbornik, Moscow 2004.
An
e-mail from "Ivan".
Sources
to colours:
I have received by e-mail some
pictures from a Russian book. I'm sorry, but I have no writer or title of the
book.
Sources
to organisation:
I have only a number
of lists, all without any references to any sources.
|