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Composition and Strength of the Russian Armies at the Beginning of 1812By Alexander Mikaberidze, Chairman of the Napoleonic Society of Georgia The strength of Russian armies in 1812 still raises disputes, since Russian and Western historians used to bring up the different sources. As a rule major attention is paid to two major armies - 1st and 2nd Western Armies, not mentioning the 3rd Western Army and the Reserve Corps. Even in Russian historiography the question of the strength of the armies is still unclear. The following is a diagram of the differences among major Russian historians in respect to the strength of Russian armies prior to June, 1812.
This paper tries to reconcile those differences and provides a detail look at the armies. The General SituationAccording to the reports of the Commanders of 1st, 2nd and 3rd armies (Generals Barclay de Tolly, Bagration and Tormasov) written in June-July 1812, the Russian armies had the following composition and strength: The 1st Western Army, consisting of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Infantry Corps, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Cavalry and Cossacks Corps, numbered 120,210 men and 580 guns . It was deployed on a 100 miles front from Rossyena up to Lyda, covering direction in St. Petersburg, with the Cossack Corps deployed along its front in the vicinity of Grodno. The second line of defense was composed of the two Reserve Corps - 1st Corps at Toropetz under General Aide-de-camp E.I. Meller-Zakomel'sky (27,473 men) , and 2nd Corps at Mozyr' under F.F. Ertel' (37 539 men) . The flanks of the main Russian forces were covered from north - by Corps in Finland under command of Governor General of Finland General Lieutenant Baron F.F. Steinheil (19,000 men); from south - the Army of the Danube in Wallachia under Admiral P.V. Tchichagov (57,526 men)
Placed on the Napoleon Series: November 2000
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