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Order of battle of the French invasion of Russia

This is the order of battle of the French invasion of Russia.

The IV corps under Eugène at Halšany on 11 July 1812. The cavalry, the artillery, the generals, and the drummers, followed by the infantry by Albrecht Adam.

Grande Armée edit

 
The Grande Armée crossing the Niemen by Waterloo Clark
 
Napoleon's Hill or Jiesia mound from the other bank of the Niemen river
 
Anonymous, the Grande Armée crossing the river
 
Napoleon's army crossing the Niemen river, starting on 24 June  [O.S. 12 June (Julian Calendar)] 1812[1]
 
French Army crossing Nieman River 1812 by Auguste Raffet
 
Italian corps of Eugène de Beauharnais crossing the Niemen on 30 June 1812. Oil and gouache on paper by Albrecht Adam. In: Hermitage Museum.

Napoleon organized the Grande Armée the largest army assembled up to that point in European history. After a whole day of preparation by Morand and Eblé, the invasion commenced on Midsummer, 24 June 1812 with Napoleon's army crossing the river. Half of them were foreigners; Polish legions formed the largest foreign contingent); 120,000 were conscripts.[2] Within a few days, almost half a million men from this multinational army - split up into five columns - crossed the river Neman and entered the Russian Empire. The numbers mentioned below are based on estimates made by Clausewitz, in his book "On War" and not on the estimates in "History of the Consulate and the Empire" by Adolphe Thiers, who wrote that 600,000 men in total were moved but not all of them crossed the Neman.[3]

Commander-in-Chief: Napoleon Bonaparte; Chief of Staff: Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier

Northern flank edit

  • X Corps (30,000) commanded by Marshal Jacques MacDonald. They crossed the Niemen at Tilsit, now Sovetsk on the 24th.[4] He moved north in Courland but did not succeed in occupying Riga. Early August he occupied Dunaburg; early September he returned to Riga with his entire force.[5] A few days after the French left Lithuania, he drew back to Königsberg, followed by Pyotr Wittgenstein. On 25 December Yorck (von Wartenburg) found himself isolated when the Russian army blocked the road during the retreat. After five days he was urged by his officers (and in the presence of Clausewitz) at least to neutralization of his troops and an armistice. According to Minard, about 6,000 men returned to Poland, according to Clausewitz 5,000 men, but Yorck's resolution had enormous consequences.[6]

First Central force edit

Under the Emperor's personal command it crossed the Niemen early in the morning of the 24th on three pontoon bridges (one for the 80,000 horses) nearby Napoleon's Hill.[7] Afterwards, six corps destined for Vilnius or Polotsk hunted after Barclay de Toll's First Army of the West.[8]

  • Imperial Guard (33,000-56,169[9]) commanded by Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières (Guard Cavalry); Marshal François Joseph Lefebvre (Old Guard); Marshal Edouard Mortier (Young Guard). The Guard did not take part in the fighting, but during the retreat, the Old Guard was the only unit that retained a semblance of order. The cavalry of the Guard was almost wiped out. About 7,000 Guards succeeded to arrive at the Berezina.[10]
    • Attached to the Young Guard were many multinational units e.g. the Polish Legion of the Vistula under Michel Claparède (7,000), Velites of Turin and Florence, and a Spanish pioneer battalion. Only about 1,500 returned.
    • Grand Quartier, Headquarter's guard, Equipages, Artillery General Park, engineers and other services 14,000 (French, Swiss, Polish, Portuguese) there were attached few multinational units e.g. Portuguese chasseur à cheval, Polish Vistula Uhlan, Neuchâtel (Swiss) battalion.
  • I Corps (72,000-96,000) commanded by Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout. The strongest corps left Vilnius on 1 July, occupied Minsk, beat Bagration at Mogilev and with only 20,000 men left he went to Smolensk and joined the main army. Only 1,800 arrived at the Berezina.
  • II Corps (37,000-42,000) commanded by Marshal Nicolas Oudinot crossed the Niemen was sent to the other side of the Viliya and expected to join with McDonald to combat Wittgenstein, who protected the road to St Petersburg. This corps left mid-October after losing the Second Battle of Polotsk; it was joined by IX corps (reserve).[11] Arriving at the Berezina before Wittgenstein they played a key role in securing the crossing of the river; Nicolas Joseph Maison took over.[12] 300 were able to leave the country?
  • III Corps (40,000) commanded by Marshal Michel Ney. He defended downstream the 4th pontoon bridge at Aleksotas which could be used to escape; he then went to Polotsk. During the retreat his corps was in the rear. After being cut off from the main army in the Battle of Krasnoi Ney managed to escape in heavy fog and thin ice over the Dnieper River but without his artillery.[13]

Reserve cavalry (vanguard) edit

Marshal Joachim Murat, his brother-in-law, under King of Naples, followed with (21,000) Napoleon to Vilnius and Vitebsk

Second Central force edit

It followed behind the central force and (81,000) crossed at Pilona and avoided Vilnius

Right flank force edit

 
Battle of Smolensk on 18 August 1812, by Albracht Adam
 
Berezina. French troops in Studzenke (C. Faber du Faur, 27.11.1812).

Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte King of Westphalia (62,000) crossed the Niemen near Grodno on 1 July,[16] and moved towards Bagration's (second western) army. On the order of Napoleon Davout secretly took over the command on 6 July.[18] In the Battle of Mir Jerome let Platov escape by deploying too few of Poniatowki's troops.[19] Jérôme was sent to Slutsk but left the army after being criticised by Davout.[20] He went home at the end of July,[21] taking a battalion of guards with him.[22] Davout took over the command of Latour's cavalry, trying to prevent Bagration from moving north.

With French forces moving through different routes in the direction of Vitebsk, a first major engagement took place on 25 July at the Battle of Ostrowno.

 
The Bug near Drohiczyn, where the Austrian army and Reynier crossed the river

Southern flank edit

  • VII Corps (17,000) commanded by General Jean Reynier. He stayed in the Grodno region to protect the Duchy of Warsaw against Tormasow; on 26 December between 5 and 11,000 arrived in Poland.[27]
  • Austrian Corps (34,000) commanded by Field Marshal Karl von Schwarzenberg crossed the Bug on 2 July on a pontoon bridge to go after Bagration and Tormasow.[8][28] He was prevented from joining up with Davout. The VII corps came under his command when Reynier fell back. When Tormassov occupied Brest (Belarus) at the end of July, he was cut off from supplies.[29] On 18 September he withdrew when Pavel Chichagov arrived from the south.[30] Schwarzenberg won the Battle of Wolkowisk. He crossed the Polish border on 14 December 1812.[31] Many survived.

Reserve units in Poland and Prussia edit

 
Ney at Kowno in December 1812, painting by Auguste Raffet in the Louvre
 
Night Quarters at Molodechna, December 3–4, 1812, Rijksmuseum

Several units marched to Russia in the late stage of the campaign. In November, the division of Durutte assisted Reynier. In December Loison was sent to help extricate the remnants of the Grand Army in its retreat.[32] Within a few days many of Loison's unexperienced soldiers died of the extreme cold. [33] Napoleon arrested him for not marching with his division to the front.

  • XI Corps (50,000) commanded by Marshal Pierre Augereau. This corps did not participate in military operations in Russia, and Augereau never left Berlin. His younger brother general Jean-Pierre and his troops were compelled to surrender to the Russian partisan Aleksandr Figner on 9 November.[34]
  • IX Corps (30,000 French) commanded by Marshal Claude Victor-Perrin. Early August his corps was in Tilsit, at the end of September the majority arrived at Smolensk;[25] At the end of October he took over the command from St. Cyr, but lost the Battle of Chashniki and the Battle of Smoliani and unable to retake Polotsk.[11] He had orders to follow Oudinot; 3,500 arrived at the Berezina and fired the bridges behind them.

In addition, National Guard units had been conscripted for full military service defending the frontier of the Duchy of Warsaw. With these included total forces on the Russian border and in Russia came to around 685,000 men. This vast commitment of manpower severely strained the French Empire — especially considering that there were a further 220,000 French troops fighting in Iberia and over 100,000 more in Germany and Italy.

Nationalities edit

The army is estimated to consist of:

  • 300,000 troops from the First French Empire[35]
    • 255,000 French
    • 15,000 Dutch from the annexed Kingdom of Holland
    • 10,000 Flemish and Walloon from the annexed Belgium territories
    • 10,000 Germans from annexed Northern Germany and the left bank of the Rhine
    • 10,000 Italians from annexed Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany, Parma and Rome
  • 108,000 Poles
    • 67,000 Polish from the Duchy of Warsaw
    • 12,000 Polish National Guard, depot companies and garrisons in defence of Duchy of Warsaw
    • 10,000 Polish in French service (Vistula Legion, 8th Chevauleger-Lancer, 1st and 3rd Guard Chevauleger-Lancer)
    • 19,000 newly formed regiments during the campaign in Lithuania
  • 111,500 Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine
  • 27,000 Italians[37] from the Kingdom of Italy
  • 8,000 Neapolitans the majority of whom never went to Russia, part were garrisoned in Danzig, and part was sent back to Naples
  • 9,000 Swiss[35] (German sources[38] mention 16,000)
  • 4,800 Spanish
  • 3,500 Croats
  • 2,000 Portuguese
  • 5,900 Illyrian, Dalmatian, and Mediterranean minorities
  • 20,000 Prussians.[35] There served Prussian German, but also some Polish from Silesia, West and East Prussia
  • 34,000 Austrians. This corps consisted of several nationalities:
    • 11,000 Hungarians, Slovaks, Serbs, Romanians, and Ruthenian-Ukrainians
    • 9,700 German speaking Austrians
    • 8,000 Polish and Ruthenian-Ukrainian from Galicia
    • 2,700 Bohemians and Moravian Czechs
    • 2,600 Croats
  • 10,000 Danish.[39]

The total is 643,500 men, but at least 130,000 were auxiliary troops, involved in the supply of the army.

Anthony Joes in Journal of Conflict Studies wrote that:[40]

Figures on how many men Napoleon took into Russia and how many eventually came out vary rather widely.

  • Georges Lefebvre suggested that Napoleon crossed the Neman with over 600,000 soldiers, only half of whom were from France.
  • Felix Markham suggested that 450,000 crossed the Neman on 24/25 June 1812, of whom less than 40,000 recrossed in anything like a recognizable military formation.
  • James Marshall-Cornwall suggested 510,000 troops entered Russia.
  • Eugene Tarle suggested that 420,000 crossed with Napoleon and 150,000 eventually followed, for a grand total of 570,000.
  • Riehn provides the following figures: 685,000 men marched into Russia in 1812, of whom around 355,000 were French; 31,000 soldiers marched out again in some sort of military formation, with perhaps another 35,000 stragglers, for a total of less than 70,000 known survivors.

Whatever the accurate number, it is generally accepted that the overwhelming majority of this grand army, French and allied, remained, in one condition or another, inside Russia.

Minard's infographic (see below) depicts the march ingeniously by showing the size of the advancing army, overlaid on a rough map, as well as the retreating soldiers together with temperatures recorded (as much as 30 below zero on the Réaumur scale) on their return. The numbers on this chart have 422,000 crossing the Neman with Napoleon, 22,000 taking a side trip early on in the campaign, 100,000 surviving the battles en route to Moscow and returning from there; only 4,000 survive the march back, to be joined by 6,000 that survived that initial 22,000 in the feint attack northward; in the end, only 10,000 cross the Neman back out of the initial 422,000.[41]

Adam Zamoyski estimated that between 550,000 and 600,000 French and allied troops (including reinforcements) operated beyond the Niemen, of which as many as 400,000 troops died.[42]

Russian Imperial Army edit

 
Michail Illarionovich Kutuzov (1745–1813) is sitting on the far left, with his generals (Council of War) deciding to save the army from another battle and surrender Moscow to Napoleon.
 
Monument to Kutuzov in front of the Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. The Kazan Cathedral and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow were built to commemorate the Russian victory against Napoleon.
 
As irregular cavalry, the Cossack horsemen of the Russian steppes were best suited to reconnaissance, scouting, and harassing the enemy's flanks and supply lines. Seldom were they committed to execute a conventional charge in battle.
 
Babruysk fortress in 1811
 
Detaille - Cossacks Attacking a squad of the Gardes d'honneur from the Jeune Garde Imperiale

The forces immediately facing Napoleon consisted of three armies,[43] operating around the Western Dvina, the Dnieper and the Bug (river), comprising 175-250,000 Russians and 15,000 Cossacks, with 938 guns as follows:

Minister of War Mikhail Barclay de Tolly served as the Commander in Chief of the Russian Armies until early October. He was field commander of the First Western Army and replaced by Mikhail Kutuzov who was appointed Commander-in-chief on 17th and arrived on the 29th of August. After the Battle at Borodino Kutuzov was appointed General Field Marshall, the highest military rank.

There also were forces gathered in several places:

These forces, however, could count on reinforcements from the second line, which totalled 129,000 men and 8,000 Cossacks, with 434 guns and 433 rounds of ammo.

Of these, about 105,000 men were actually available for the defence against the invasion. In the third line were the 36 recruit depots and militias, which came to the total of approximately 161,000 men of various and highly disparate military values, of which about 133,000 actually took part in the defence.

Thus, the grand total of all Russian forces was 488,000 men, of which about 428,000 gradually came into action against the Grande Armée. This bottom line, however, includes more than 80,000 Cossacks and militiamen, as well as about 20,000 men who garrisoned the fortresses in the operational area.[b]

Sweden, Russia's only ally besides England, did not send supporting troops. But the alliance made it possible to withdraw part troops from the 45,000 men Russian corps Steinheil from Finland and use it in the later battles (20,000 men were sent to Riga and Polotsk).[48]

Notes edit

  1. ^ The appointment of Wittgenstein as commander-in-chief of the united Russian and Prussian armies provoked open hostility from his new subordinates and, at the same time, from his seniors: Miloradovich, Barclay de Tolly, Langeron, Platov and Tormasov. Tormasov refused to obey Wittgenstein altogether and left the army, while Miloradovich stayed and became the "official speaker" for the opposition.[45]
  2. ^ This section does not mention: Levin August von Bennigsen, who was sent back on 15 November 1812; Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganov; Dmitry Buturlin, George Carpenter, Ilya Duka, Adam Ozharovsky, Denis Davydov and Vasily Orlov-Denisov, all involved in the Battle of Krasnoi.

References edit

  1. ^ This photograph was used to illustrate the article "Kovna" in the 13th volume of the Military Encyclopedia in 1913.(Russian Wikisource)
  2. ^ Conscription Quotas for 1812
  3. ^ Thiers, Adolphe ( 1845-62) History of the consulate and the empire of France under Napoleon, Vol. VII, Book XLIII, p. 28. Translated by D.F. Campbell. Publisher: British Library]
  4. ^ Narrative of Events during the Invasion of Russia by Napoleon Bonaparte (And the Retreat of the French Army, 1812) | Preliminary Remarks by Wilson, Robert Thomas, Randolph, Herbert, p. 27
  5. ^ R.E. Parrish (2005) The Military and Diplomatic Career of Jacques Etienne Macdonald, p. 169-171
  6. ^ Clausewitz 1906, p. 87, 230-252.
  7. ^ Herinneringen uit den veldtogt van Rusland, in den jare 1812 by Willem Pieter D'Auzon de Boisminart, p. 64
  8. ^ a b Clausewitz 1906, p. 53.
  9. ^ Uffindell, A. (2007) Napoleon's Immortals. The Imperial Guard and its battles, 1804-1815. Spellmount Limited. 368pp.
  10. ^ GENERAL SIR ROBERT WILSON'S RUSSIAN JOURNAL, p. 326
  11. ^ a b Borodino 1812: Napoleon’s great gamble by Philip Haythornthwaite, p. 78
  12. ^ "Nicolas-Joseph Maison (1771-1840)".
  13. ^ David G. Chandler (1966) The Campaigns of Napoleon, p. 829-831
  14. ^ Adam (2005) [1990], Napoleon's Army in Russia translated by Jonathan North, plate 7.
  15. ^ Labaume (1817), p. 30.
  16. ^ a b Clausewitz (1843), p. 48
  17. ^ Mémoires et correspondence politique et militaire de Eugène de Beauharnais
  18. ^ Correspondance de Napoleon, Tome XXIV, 18911, p. 28
  19. ^ Chandler (1966), p. 776
  20. ^ Correspondance de Napoleon, Tome XXIV, 18984, p. 80
  21. ^ Experience of War: ‘I Have Never Seen As Much Suffering’ by Jonathan North
  22. ^ a b [1]Mustafa, S.A. (2017) Napoleon's Paper Kingdom: The Life and Death of Westphalia, 1807-1813, p. 252. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
  23. ^ A.F.F. Seydlitz (1823) Tagebuch des königlich Preussischen Armeekorps, p. 113
  24. ^ M. De Fezensac - The Russian Campaign, 1812, p. 25.
  25. ^ a b Clausewitz 1906, p. 65.
  26. ^ The Dynamics of Defeat: French Army Leadership by F.C. Schneid, p. 21
  27. ^ The Saxon Army 1810 - 13
  28. ^ A.F.F. Seydlitz (1823) Tagebuch des königlich Preussischen Armeekorps, p. 120
  29. ^ Coloman Rupprecht von Virtsolog (1871) Geschichte des k.k. 60. Linien-Infanterie-Regimentes, p. 118
  30. ^ Clausewitz 1906, p. 68, 77.
  31. ^ Coloman Rupprecht von Virtsolog (1871) Geschichte des k.k. 60. Linien-Infanterie-Regimentes, p. 126
  32. ^ History of Europe: From the Commencement of the French Revolution, Volume 10 by Archibald Alison, p. 628
  33. ^ Zamoyski (2004), 504-505
  34. ^ Mémoires du général de Caulaincourt, duc de Vicence, grand écuyer de l'Empereur, p. 61, 133
  35. ^ a b c d Riehn, Richard K, p. 81.
  36. ^ according to the Landesmuseum in Westphalias former capital Kassel
  37. ^ Grab, Alexander (2009). Conscription in the Napoleonic Era. p. 131.
  38. ^ Meyers Konversationslexikon 1888
  39. ^ Denmark in the Napoleonic Wars: A Foreign Policy Survey by Ole Feldbæk
  40. ^ Anthony James Joes. Continuity and Change in Guerrilla War: The Spanish and Afghan Cases, Journal of Conflict Studies Vol. XVI No. 2, Fall 1997. Footnote 27, cites
    • Georges Lefebvre, Napoleon from Tilsit to Waterloo (New York: Columbia University Press, 1969), vol. II, pp. 311–12.
    • Felix Markham, Napoleon (New York: Mentor, 1963), pp. 190, 199.
    • James Marshall-Cornwall: Napoleon as Military Commander (London: Batsford, 1967), p. 220.
    • Eugene Tarle: Napoleon's Invasion of Russia 1812 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1942), p. 397.
    • Richard K. Riehn: 1812: Napoleon's Russian Campaign (New York: John Wiley, 1991), pp. 77 and 501
  41. ^ See a large copy of the chart here 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine, but discussed at length in Edward Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (London: Graphics Press, 1992)
  42. ^ Zamoyski 2005, p. 536 — note this includes deaths of prisoners during captivity
  43. ^ a b c The Burning of Moscow: Napoleon's Trail By Fire, 1812 by Alexander Mikaberidze
  44. ^ a b c Riehn, Richard K, p. 88.
  45. ^ Bezotnosny, V.M. et al. (2004, in Russian). Otechestvennaya voina 1812 goda. Encyclopedia (Отечественная война 1812 года. Энциклопедия), p. 183. Moscow: Rosspan. ISBN 5-8243-0324-X.
  46. ^ Lieven, D (2010), p. 146
  47. ^ Lieven, D (2010), p. 147
  48. ^ Helmert/Usczek: Europäische Befreiungskriege 1808 bis 1814/15, Berlin 1986

order, battle, french, invasion, russia, this, order, battle, french, invasion, russia, corps, under, eugène, halšany, july, 1812, cavalry, artillery, generals, drummers, followed, infantry, albrecht, adam, contents, grande, armée, northern, flank, first, cent. This is the order of battle of the French invasion of Russia The IV corps under Eugene at Halsany on 11 July 1812 The cavalry the artillery the generals and the drummers followed by the infantry by Albrecht Adam Contents 1 Grande Armee 1 1 Northern flank 1 2 First Central force 1 2 1 Reserve cavalry vanguard 1 3 Second Central force 1 4 Right flank force 1 5 Southern flank 1 6 Reserve units in Poland and Prussia 2 Nationalities 3 Russian Imperial Army 4 Notes 5 ReferencesGrande Armee edit nbsp The Grande Armee crossing the Niemen by Waterloo Clark nbsp Napoleon s Hill or Jiesia mound from the other bank of the Niemen river nbsp Anonymous the Grande Armee crossing the river nbsp Napoleon s army crossing the Niemen river starting on 24 June O S 12 June Julian Calendar 1812 1 nbsp French Army crossing Nieman River 1812 by Auguste Raffet nbsp Italian corps of Eugene de Beauharnais crossing the Niemen on 30 June 1812 Oil and gouache on paper by Albrecht Adam In Hermitage Museum Napoleon organized the Grande Armee the largest army assembled up to that point in European history After a whole day of preparation by Morand and Eble the invasion commenced on Midsummer 24 June 1812 with Napoleon s army crossing the river Half of them were foreigners Polish legions formed the largest foreign contingent 120 000 were conscripts 2 Within a few days almost half a million men from this multinational army split up into five columns crossed the river Neman and entered the Russian Empire The numbers mentioned below are based on estimates made by Clausewitz in his book On War and not on the estimates in History of the Consulate and the Empire by Adolphe Thiers who wrote that 600 000 men in total were moved but not all of them crossed the Neman 3 Commander in Chief Napoleon Bonaparte Chief of Staff Marshal Louis Alexandre Berthier Northern flank edit X Corps 30 000 commanded by Marshal Jacques MacDonald They crossed the Niemen at Tilsit now Sovetsk on the 24th 4 He moved north in Courland but did not succeed in occupying Riga Early August he occupied Dunaburg early September he returned to Riga with his entire force 5 A few days after the French left Lithuania he drew back to Konigsberg followed by Pyotr Wittgenstein On 25 December Yorck von Wartenburg found himself isolated when the Russian army blocked the road during the retreat After five days he was urged by his officers and in the presence of Clausewitz at least to neutralization of his troops and an armistice According to Minard about 6 000 men returned to Poland according to Clausewitz 5 000 men but Yorck s resolution had enormous consequences 6 First Central force edit Under the Emperor s personal command it crossed the Niemen early in the morning of the 24th on three pontoon bridges one for the 80 000 horses nearby Napoleon s Hill 7 Afterwards six corps destined for Vilnius or Polotsk hunted after Barclay de Toll s First Army of the West 8 Imperial Guard 33 000 56 169 9 commanded by Marshal Jean Baptiste Bessieres Guard Cavalry Marshal Francois Joseph Lefebvre Old Guard Marshal Edouard Mortier Young Guard The Guard did not take part in the fighting but during the retreat the Old Guard was the only unit that retained a semblance of order The cavalry of the Guard was almost wiped out About 7 000 Guards succeeded to arrive at the Berezina 10 Attached to the Young Guard were many multinational units e g the Polish Legion of the Vistula under Michel Claparede 7 000 Velites of Turin and Florence and a Spanish pioneer battalion Only about 1 500 returned Grand Quartier Headquarter s guard Equipages Artillery General Park engineers and other services 14 000 French Swiss Polish Portuguese there were attached few multinational units e g Portuguese chasseur a cheval Polish Vistula Uhlan Neuchatel Swiss battalion I Corps 72 000 96 000 commanded by Marshal Louis Nicolas Davout The strongest corps left Vilnius on 1 July occupied Minsk beat Bagration at Mogilev and with only 20 000 men left he went to Smolensk and joined the main army Only 1 800 arrived at the Berezina II Corps 37 000 42 000 commanded by Marshal Nicolas Oudinot crossed the Niemen was sent to the other side of the Viliya and expected to join with McDonald to combat Wittgenstein who protected the road to St Petersburg This corps left mid October after losing the Second Battle of Polotsk it was joined by IX corps reserve 11 Arriving at the Berezina before Wittgenstein they played a key role in securing the crossing of the river Nicolas Joseph Maison took over 12 300 were able to leave the country III Corps 40 000 commanded by Marshal Michel Ney He defended downstream the 4th pontoon bridge at Aleksotas which could be used to escape he then went to Polotsk During the retreat his corps was in the rear After being cut off from the main army in the Battle of Krasnoi Ney managed to escape in heavy fog and thin ice over the Dnieper River but without his artillery 13 Reserve cavalry vanguard edit Marshal Joachim Murat his brother in law under King of Naples followed with 21 000 Napoleon to Vilnius and Vitebsk I Reserve Cavalry Corps 11 000 commanded by General Etienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty went to Polotsk II Reserve Cavalry Corps 10 000 commanded by General Louis Pierre Montbrun went to Polotsk Second Central force edit It followed behind the central force and 81 000 crossed at Pilona and avoided Vilnius IV Corps 46 000 commanded by General Eugene de Beauharnais Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy They crossed the Niemen 20 km upstream near Pilony Pilona 14 15 16 Unlike the I II and III Corps Napoleon s stepson had orders to avoid Vilnius on his way to Vitebsk only 1 600 arrived at the Berezina VI Corps 25 000 30 000 commanded by General Laurent de Gouvion Saint Cyr They crossed at Pilona and moved east 17 He went to Polotsk to attack Wittgenstein When Oudinot was wounded in the Battle of Klyastitsy he took over command of the II corps he retreated after the Second Battle of Polotsk III Reserve Cavalry Corps 10 000 commanded by General Emmanuel de Grouchy crossed as first the Dniepr at Mogilev Right flank force edit nbsp Battle of Smolensk on 18 August 1812 by Albracht Adam nbsp Berezina French troops in Studzenke C Faber du Faur 27 11 1812 Napoleon s brother Jerome Bonaparte King of Westphalia 62 000 crossed the Niemen near Grodno on 1 July 16 and moved towards Bagration s second western army On the order of Napoleon Davout secretly took over the command on 6 July 18 In the Battle of Mir Jerome let Platov escape by deploying too few of Poniatowki s troops 19 Jerome was sent to Slutsk but left the army after being criticised by Davout 20 He went home at the end of July 21 taking a battalion of guards with him 22 Davout took over the command of Latour s cavalry trying to prevent Bagration from moving north V Corps 36 000 Polish commanded by General Jozef Poniatowski He joined Davout and went to Mogilev and Smolensk Early November Zajaczek took over the command but the corps ceased to exist after the Battle of Krasnoi Dombrowski stayed around Minsk 8 000 men arrived at the Berezina VIII Corps 17 000 Westphalians under Vandamme Early July Jerome Bonaparte took over and Vandamme was sent home Jerome resigned on 15 July when he found out Davout had been secretly given the command 22 Early August the command was given to Junot 23 Junot didn t take part in the Battle of Smolensk 1812 as he was sent to bypass the left flank of the Russian army but then got lost Junot was blamed for allowing the Russian army to retreat at the Battle of Valutino General Rapp took over 24 After the Battle of Borodino the corps had only 2 000 men left 25 They were ordered to stay behind and clear up the site At the end of the war 1 200 arrived in Poland 26 IV Reserve Cavalry Corps 9 000 commanded by General Victor de Fay de La Tour Maubourg joined Davout Only 150 arrived at the Berezina With French forces moving through different routes in the direction of Vitebsk a first major engagement took place on 25 July at the Battle of Ostrowno nbsp The Bug near Drohiczyn where the Austrian army and Reynier crossed the river Southern flank edit VII Corps 17 000 commanded by General Jean Reynier He stayed in the Grodno region to protect the Duchy of Warsaw against Tormasow on 26 December between 5 and 11 000 arrived in Poland 27 Austrian Corps 34 000 commanded by Field Marshal Karl von Schwarzenberg crossed the Bug on 2 July on a pontoon bridge to go after Bagration and Tormasow 8 28 He was prevented from joining up with Davout The VII corps came under his command when Reynier fell back When Tormassov occupied Brest Belarus at the end of July he was cut off from supplies 29 On 18 September he withdrew when Pavel Chichagov arrived from the south 30 Schwarzenberg won the Battle of Wolkowisk He crossed the Polish border on 14 December 1812 31 Many survived Reserve units in Poland and Prussia edit nbsp Ney at Kowno in December 1812 painting by Auguste Raffet in the Louvre nbsp Night Quarters at Molodechna December 3 4 1812 Rijksmuseum Several units marched to Russia in the late stage of the campaign In November the division of Durutte assisted Reynier In December Loison was sent to help extricate the remnants of the Grand Army in its retreat 32 Within a few days many of Loison s unexperienced soldiers died of the extreme cold 33 Napoleon arrested him for not marching with his division to the front XI Corps 50 000 commanded by Marshal Pierre Augereau This corps did not participate in military operations in Russia and Augereau never left Berlin His younger brother general Jean Pierre and his troops were compelled to surrender to the Russian partisan Aleksandr Figner on 9 November 34 IX Corps 30 000 French commanded by Marshal Claude Victor Perrin Early August his corps was in Tilsit at the end of September the majority arrived at Smolensk 25 At the end of October he took over the command from St Cyr but lost the Battle of Chashniki and the Battle of Smoliani and unable to retake Polotsk 11 He had orders to follow Oudinot 3 500 arrived at the Berezina and fired the bridges behind them In addition National Guard units had been conscripted for full military service defending the frontier of the Duchy of Warsaw With these included total forces on the Russian border and in Russia came to around 685 000 men This vast commitment of manpower severely strained the French Empire especially considering that there were a further 220 000 French troops fighting in Iberia and over 100 000 more in Germany and Italy Nationalities editThe army is estimated to consist of 300 000 troops from the First French Empire 35 255 000 French 15 000 Dutch from the annexed Kingdom of Holland 10 000 Flemish and Walloon from the annexed Belgium territories 10 000 Germans from annexed Northern Germany and the left bank of the Rhine 10 000 Italians from annexed Piedmont Liguria Tuscany Parma and Rome 108 000 Poles 67 000 Polish from the Duchy of Warsaw 12 000 Polish National Guard depot companies and garrisons in defence of Duchy of Warsaw 10 000 Polish in French service Vistula Legion 8th Chevauleger Lancer 1st and 3rd Guard Chevauleger Lancer 19 000 newly formed regiments during the campaign in Lithuania 111 500 Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine 29 000 Bavarians 22 500 Saxons 22 000 Westphalians 35 other German sources mention 28 000 36 12 000 Wurttembergers 6 000 Badeners 5 000 Bergers 4 000 Hessians 11 000 from other members of the Rhine Confederation 27 000 Italians 37 from the Kingdom of Italy 8 000 Neapolitans the majority of whom never went to Russia part were garrisoned in Danzig and part was sent back to Naples 9 000 Swiss 35 German sources 38 mention 16 000 4 800 Spanish 3 500 Croats 2 000 Portuguese 5 900 Illyrian Dalmatian and Mediterranean minorities 20 000 Prussians 35 There served Prussian German but also some Polish from Silesia West and East Prussia 34 000 Austrians This corps consisted of several nationalities 11 000 Hungarians Slovaks Serbs Romanians and Ruthenian Ukrainians 9 700 German speaking Austrians 8 000 Polish and Ruthenian Ukrainian from Galicia 2 700 Bohemians and Moravian Czechs 2 600 Croats 10 000 Danish 39 The total is 643 500 men but at least 130 000 were auxiliary troops involved in the supply of the army Anthony Joes in Journal of Conflict Studies wrote that 40 Figures on how many men Napoleon took into Russia and how many eventually came out vary rather widely Georges Lefebvre suggested that Napoleon crossed the Neman with over 600 000 soldiers only half of whom were from France Felix Markham suggested that 450 000 crossed the Neman on 24 25 June 1812 of whom less than 40 000 recrossed in anything like a recognizable military formation James Marshall Cornwall suggested 510 000 troops entered Russia Eugene Tarle suggested that 420 000 crossed with Napoleon and 150 000 eventually followed for a grand total of 570 000 Riehn provides the following figures 685 000 men marched into Russia in 1812 of whom around 355 000 were French 31 000 soldiers marched out again in some sort of military formation with perhaps another 35 000 stragglers for a total of less than 70 000 known survivors Whatever the accurate number it is generally accepted that the overwhelming majority of this grand army French and allied remained in one condition or another inside Russia Minard s infographic see below depicts the march ingeniously by showing the size of the advancing army overlaid on a rough map as well as the retreating soldiers together with temperatures recorded as much as 30 below zero on the Reaumur scale on their return The numbers on this chart have 422 000 crossing the Neman with Napoleon 22 000 taking a side trip early on in the campaign 100 000 surviving the battles en route to Moscow and returning from there only 4 000 survive the march back to be joined by 6 000 that survived that initial 22 000 in the feint attack northward in the end only 10 000 cross the Neman back out of the initial 422 000 41 Adam Zamoyski estimated that between 550 000 and 600 000 French and allied troops including reinforcements operated beyond the Niemen of which as many as 400 000 troops died 42 Russian Imperial Army editMain articles Russian Army order of battle 1812 and List of Russian commanders in the Patriotic War of 1812 nbsp Michail Illarionovich Kutuzov 1745 1813 is sitting on the far left with his generals Council of War deciding to save the army from another battle and surrender Moscow to Napoleon nbsp Monument to Kutuzov in front of the Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg The Kazan Cathedral and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow were built to commemorate the Russian victory against Napoleon nbsp As irregular cavalry the Cossack horsemen of the Russian steppes were best suited to reconnaissance scouting and harassing the enemy s flanks and supply lines Seldom were they committed to execute a conventional charge in battle nbsp Babruysk fortress in 1811 nbsp Detaille Cossacks Attacking a squad of the Gardes d honneur from the Jeune Garde Imperiale The forces immediately facing Napoleon consisted of three armies 43 operating around the Western Dvina the Dnieper and the Bug river comprising 175 250 000 Russians and 15 000 Cossacks with 938 guns as follows Minister of War Mikhail Barclay de Tolly served as the Commander in Chief of the Russian Armies until early October He was field commander of the First Western Army and replaced by Mikhail Kutuzov who was appointed Commander in chief on 17th and arrived on the 29th of August After the Battle at Borodino Kutuzov was appointed General Field Marshall the highest military rank First Western Army under Emperor Alexander I with General of Infantry Mikhail Barclay de Tolly as a field commander numbered 104 250 men and 7 000 Cossacks with 558 guns 44 Tolly interrupted his service for five months Chief of Staff General Lieutenant Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov I Infantry Corps General Lieutenant Prince Peter Khristianovich Wittgenstein became detached as Right Wing He defended the road to St Petersburg retreated to Vidzy took Polotsk and went to Borisov before arriving at the Berezina a II Infantry Corps General Lieutenant Karl Gustav von Baggovut III Infantry Corps General Lieutenant Nikolay Tuchkov IV Infantry Corps General Lieutenant Shuvalov since 25 August General Lieutenant Alexander Ivanovich Ostermann Tolstoy When retreating from the Niemen they forgot to give Ivan Semyonovich Dorokhov leading a cavalry the order to withdraw He was cut off by the enemy from the main forces but succeeded to connect with Bagration 46 V Guards Infantry Corps Grand Duke Constantine later General Lieutenant Lavrov VI Infantry Corps General Lieutenant Dmitry Dokhturov who was stationed near Lida was cut off from the main forces of the 1st Army He was able cutting across the advancing French army and connect 47 involved in the Battle of Borodino and Maloyaroslavets I Cavalry Corps General Fyodor Uvarov II Cavalry Corps General Friedrich von Korff III Cavalry Corps General Major Kreutz Cossacks Corps Matvei Platov Ataman of the Don Cossacks Second Western Army General of the Infantry Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration numbered 33 000 men and 4 000 Cossacks with 216 guns 44 His headquarters were in Vawkavysk 43 After Bagration died in September Tormassov took over VII Infantry Corps General Lieutenant Nikolay Raevsky involved in the Battle of Saltanovka Borodino Maloyaroslavets and Krasnoi where he defeated Marshall Ney VIII Infantry Corps Adjutant general Nikolai Borozdin IV Cavalry Corps General Major Karl von Sievers Third Reserve Army of Observation General of the Cavalry Alexander Tormasov numbered 38 000 men and 4 000 Cossacks with 164 guns 44 His headquarters were in Lutsk 43 When the Moldavian army arrived he handed over the supreme command to Chichagov and took over Bagration s command of the reserve of the main army Instead Dmitry Golitsyn was appointed Corps General of Infantry Sergei Kamensky Corps General Lieutenant Yevgeni Ivanovich Markov Corps General Lieutenant Fabian Gottlieb von Osten Sacken Cavalry Corps General Major Charles de Lambert and occupied Minsk on 16 November There also were forces gathered in several places Riga Corps lieutenant general Ivan von Essen Ist Finland Corps General Lieutenant Fabian Steinheil arrived on the frontline in Riga and took part in the Second Battle of Polotsk Ist Reserve Corps General Adjutant baron E I Meller Zakomelskiy IInd Reserve Corps General Lieutenant Fyodor Ertell Bobruysk Detachment General Major Gavriil Ignatyev Smolensk Reserve Corps General Adjutant baron Ferdinand von Wintzingerode Kaluga Reserve Corps General of the Infantry of Mikhail Miloradovich As governor of Kyiv he was tasked with assembling and training volunteer militia troops in the hinterland he returned to action in the Battle of Borodino 27th Infantry Division General Major Dmitry Neverovsky Danube Army Admiral Pavel Chichagov in South Ukraine and Bessarabia arrived on the frontline in September 1812 I Corps General of Infantry Andrault de Langeron II Corps General Lieutenant Pyotr Essen IIIrd III Corps General Lieutenant Voinov IV Corps General Lieutenant Zass Reserve Corps General Lieutenant Sabaneev Detachment in Serbia General Major N I Luders These forces however could count on reinforcements from the second line which totalled 129 000 men and 8 000 Cossacks with 434 guns and 433 rounds of ammo Of these about 105 000 men were actually available for the defence against the invasion In the third line were the 36 recruit depots and militias which came to the total of approximately 161 000 men of various and highly disparate military values of which about 133 000 actually took part in the defence Thus the grand total of all Russian forces was 488 000 men of which about 428 000 gradually came into action against the Grande Armee This bottom line however includes more than 80 000 Cossacks and militiamen as well as about 20 000 men who garrisoned the fortresses in the operational area b Sweden Russia s only ally besides England did not send supporting troops But the alliance made it possible to withdraw part troops from the 45 000 men Russian corps Steinheil from Finland and use it in the later battles 20 000 men were sent to Riga and Polotsk 48 Notes edit The appointment of Wittgenstein as commander in chief of the united Russian and Prussian armies provoked open hostility from his new subordinates and at the same time from his seniors Miloradovich Barclay de Tolly Langeron Platov and Tormasov Tormasov refused to obey Wittgenstein altogether and left the army while Miloradovich stayed and became the official speaker for the opposition 45 This section does not mention Levin August von Bennigsen who was sent back on 15 November 1812 Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganov Dmitry Buturlin George Carpenter Ilya Duka Adam Ozharovsky Denis Davydov and Vasily Orlov Denisov all involved in the Battle of Krasnoi References edit This photograph was used to illustrate the article Kovna in the 13th volume of the Military Encyclopedia in 1913 Russian Wikisource Conscription Quotas for 1812 Thiers Adolphe 1845 62 History of the consulate and the empire of France under Napoleon Vol VII Book XLIII p 28 Translated by D F Campbell Publisher British Library Narrative of Events during the Invasion of Russia by Napoleon Bonaparte And the Retreat of the French Army 1812 Preliminary Remarks by Wilson Robert Thomas Randolph Herbert p 27 R E Parrish 2005 The Military and Diplomatic Career of Jacques Etienne Macdonald p 169 171 Clausewitz 1906 p 87 230 252 sfn error no target CITEREFClausewitz1906 help Herinneringen uit den veldtogt van Rusland in den jare 1812 by Willem Pieter D Auzon de Boisminart p 64 a b Clausewitz 1906 p 53 sfn error no target CITEREFClausewitz1906 help Uffindell A 2007 Napoleon s Immortals The Imperial Guard and its battles 1804 1815 Spellmount Limited 368pp GENERAL SIR ROBERT WILSON S RUSSIAN JOURNAL p 326 a b Borodino 1812 Napoleon s great gamble by Philip Haythornthwaite p 78 Nicolas Joseph Maison 1771 1840 David G Chandler 1966 The Campaigns of Napoleon p 829 831 Adam 2005 1990 Napoleon s Army in Russia translated by Jonathan North plate 7 Labaume 1817 p 30 a b Clausewitz 1843 p 48 Memoires et correspondence politique et militaire de Eugene de Beauharnais Correspondance de Napoleon Tome XXIV 18911 p 28 Chandler 1966 p 776 Correspondance de Napoleon Tome XXIV 18984 p 80 Experience of War I Have Never Seen As Much Suffering by Jonathan North a b 1 Mustafa S A 2017 Napoleon s Paper Kingdom The Life and Death of Westphalia 1807 1813 p 252 Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers A F F Seydlitz 1823 Tagebuch des koniglich Preussischen Armeekorps p 113 M De Fezensac The Russian Campaign 1812 p 25 a b Clausewitz 1906 p 65 sfn error no target CITEREFClausewitz1906 help The Dynamics of Defeat French Army Leadership by F C Schneid p 21 The Saxon Army 1810 13 A F F Seydlitz 1823 Tagebuch des koniglich Preussischen Armeekorps p 120 Coloman Rupprecht von Virtsolog 1871 Geschichte des k k 60 Linien Infanterie Regimentes p 118 Clausewitz 1906 p 68 77 sfn error no target CITEREFClausewitz1906 help Coloman Rupprecht von Virtsolog 1871 Geschichte des k k 60 Linien Infanterie Regimentes p 126 History of Europe From the Commencement of the French Revolution Volume 10 by Archibald Alison p 628 Zamoyski 2004 504 505 Memoires du general de Caulaincourt duc de Vicence grand ecuyer de l Empereur p 61 133 a b c d Riehn Richard K p 81 according to the Landesmuseum in Westphalias former capital Kassel Grab Alexander 2009 Conscription in the Napoleonic Era p 131 Meyers Konversationslexikon 1888 Denmark in the Napoleonic Wars A Foreign Policy Survey by Ole Feldbaek Anthony James Joes Continuity and Change in Guerrilla War The Spanish and Afghan Cases Journal of Conflict Studies Vol XVI No 2 Fall 1997 Footnote 27 cites Georges Lefebvre Napoleon from Tilsit to Waterloo New York Columbia University Press 1969 vol II pp 311 12 Felix Markham Napoleon New York Mentor 1963 pp 190 199 James Marshall Cornwall Napoleon as Military Commander London Batsford 1967 p 220 Eugene Tarle Napoleon s Invasion of Russia 1812 New York Oxford University Press 1942 p 397 Richard K Riehn 1812 Napoleon s Russian Campaign New York John Wiley 1991 pp 77 and 501 See a large copy of the chart here Archived 2011 07 07 at the Wayback Machine but discussed at length in Edward Tufte The Visual Display of Quantitative Information London Graphics Press 1992 Zamoyski 2005 p 536 note this includes deaths of prisoners during captivity a b c The Burning of Moscow Napoleon s Trail By Fire 1812 by Alexander Mikaberidze a b c Riehn Richard K p 88 Bezotnosny V M et al 2004 in Russian Otechestvennaya voina 1812 goda Encyclopedia Otechestvennaya vojna 1812 goda Enciklopediya p 183 Moscow Rosspan ISBN 5 8243 0324 X Lieven D 2010 p 146 Lieven D 2010 p 147 Helmert Usczek Europaische Befreiungskriege 1808 bis 1814 15 Berlin 1986 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Order of battle of the French invasion of Russia amp oldid 1209786559, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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