Friedland Alternate: Book 2 of the Napoleonic Alternate Series by Lamirande Max

Author:Lamirande, Max
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Obsidian Press
Published: 2024-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

By contrast to the French system, the enemies of France possessed large professional armies based upon the Prussian system of linear warfare. In short, they were a war too late, and it showed mightily on the battlefield every time they faced the top-of-the-line Napoleonic troops. There was not yet any idea of modernization or to model the military after what Napoleon was doing, either.

The Russian Imperial Army consisted of fourteen large divisions. These divisions were considerably larger than their French counterparts. Typically, the division held eighteen to twenty-one battalions of infantry, thirty to thirty-five squadrons of cavalry, and five to six batteries of artillery. For the final showdown in 1806, two Russian divisions had been moved to fight the Turks (following the declaration of war against the Ottomans), while one each was held in St. Petersburg and Finland. The remaining eight were on the frontier and either assembling under Alexander's banners or independently moving inside Poland (Winzigerode and Bennigsen).

The basic unit of organization in the Russian Army was the regiment, made up of three battalions and typically commanded by a colonel. The regiment was solely responsible for its own line of advance, meaning supply trains and logistical support. All support to the regiment on a campaign was from its supply wagons to the large and slow-moving supply column of the Army. This explained the apparent clumsiness of the Allies compared to Napoleonic forces. Both sides just didn't function the same way in terms of supplies. One took great care and did it the way it had been done since the seventeen centuries (Allies), while the other completely disregarded the concept and let his men live off the land (France)

Their supply wagons, however, were excellent, a byproduct of ages of experience in harsh environments. Additionally, their care for their supply ponies was equally the result of hereditary habits. The ubiquitous, shaggy, hardy Russian ponies . . . proved indispensable for transport in bad weather. Many of the larger horses . . . brought from Western Europe died from the cold, but the native breed could survive in the open at almost any temperature if merely sheltered from the wind.

Tactically, these regiments were loosely grouped into columns or divisions for maneuver. Below the division headquarters, there was no intervening tactical headquarters equivalent to the brigade. All cavalry and infantry regiments and each artillery battery received instructions from the division headquarters.

Additionally, this tactical formation for maneuver, or march formation, was further broken down on the evening of an engagement with a combat organization. The division's cavalry (with horse artillery), light infantry, and heavy artillery would often be cut out and placed into 'detachments' that were given a specific mission to support the army's plan as a whole. What was left of these divisions then would often be combined into a number of "ad hoc" columns (or wings) under the command of the senior division commander present. Additionally, the assigned foot artillery batteries were dispersed at a rate of two guns per battalion, undermining

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