Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812Foord, Edward (Edward A.)
History
Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812
Foord, Edward (Edward A.)
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Military leadership; Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815 -- Campaigns -- Russia
By June 18th Napoleon had about 320,000 men (Imperial Guard, 1st, 2nd,
3rd, 4th, 6th and 10th _Corps d’Armée_, and 1st, 2nd and 3rd Reserve
Cavalry Corps) concentrated on a front of about 130 miles from Tilsit
south-westward to the Prusso-Polish frontier. Thence to Warsaw stood
the 5th, 7th and 8th Corps and the 4th Cavalry Corps--80,000 men on a
line of 80 miles. Finally, the Austrians, 34,000 strong, constituted
the detached right flank-guard, marching from Zamosc by Lublin on Warsaw.
Total 434,000 combatants, 1076 guns.
The Russians were cantoned as follows: The First Army was strategically
disposed in a main body, a reserve, and two semi-independent wings. The
1st Corps (Wittgenstein) constituted the right wing, about Rossieni,
some 100 miles north-west of Vilna, and nearly opposite to Napoleon’s
detached left flank-guard, under Macdonald, at Tilsit. About Lida,
60 miles south of Vilna, on the road to Slonim, stood the 6th Corps
(Dokhturov) and the 3rd Cavalry Corps (Pahlen II), forming the left
wing, under Dokhturov. The 2nd Corps (Baggohufwudt), the 3rd (Tuchkov
I) and the 4th (Shuvalov) were guarding the line of the Niemen above
and below Kovno, on a front of about 60 miles. The 1st Cavalry Corps
(Uvarov) was at Vilkomirz, 40 miles north-north-west of Vilna, and the
2nd (Korff) at Smorgoni, nearly 50 miles on the road to Minsk. The 5th
Corps (H.I.H. the Grand Duke Constantine) formed the general reserve
at Sventsiani, about 45 miles north-east of Vilna. The “Flying Corps”
of Cossacks under the Ataman Platov was pushed forward to the frontier
about Grodno, 60 miles west of Lida. The First Army, including Platov,
numbered some 126,000 men, including 19,000 regular cavalry and 584
guns.
Of the two army corps which composed the Second Army the 8th (Borozdin
I) was at Volkovisk, 60 miles south-south-west of Lida, and the 7th
(Raievski) at Novi Dvor, 20 miles farther south. The 4th Cavalry Corps
(Sievers), and about 4000 Cossacks, under General Ilovaïski, connected
the two. The newly formed 27th Division (Neverovski) which was marching
from Moscow to join Bagration, had not yet passed Minsk. Including it
the Second Army comprised about 47,000 men, including 7000 regular
cavalry, and 168 guns.
The Third Army was widely dispersed and could not take the field for
some weeks. It numbered in all perhaps 45,000 men.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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