While the Cossacks who hounded Napoleon on his retreat from Moscow in 1812 and 1813 may be the best known of the Russian cavalry units, every European army had hussars. And by the Napoleonic era, Russia had regarded itself as part of Europe for a full century.
By 1805, the Russian army had eight regiments of hussars, with a ninth forming part of the impressive Russian Imperial Guard. In the reorganization of 1812, just prior to Napoleon’s invasion, this number had increased to 16, with two regiments in each of the eight cavalry divisions present. A division would typically be led by a knyaz (prince), a regiment by a graf (duke), and an infantry batallion or cavalry squadron by perhaps a baron.
A Russian Light Cavalry (Dragoon, Hussar or Cossack) regiment comprised ten squadrons each of 140 men (7 figures).
The light cavalry (dragoons, hussars, uhlans and cossacks) were primarily intended for reconnaissance, screening, raiding, pursuit and “field security”. Typically their weapons would be a carbine, two pistols and a sword. Carbines would be used for longer range "shoot outs", and if drawn into combat, the hussars would discharge both pistols at close range then turn to their swords.
All Russian cavalry was of very high quality, and man-for-man, was the match of any army in Europe. (The big failing of the Russian army of this era was its leadership, with the junior officers suffering from a lack of education, and the senior officers often more fond of gambling and vodka than matters military).
My regiment of Russian Hussars will be led in 2010 by Graf (Duke) Rostov, who at 61 years of age is one of the older generals in my Russian Napoleonic Wars division. (That's him on the white horse on the right). Straight off the paint shelf, my regiment is still "being raised" and only consists of three of its full 10 squadrons. This won't be a major problem though, as not all squadrons would be sent on campaign anyway. Logistical aspects such as maintaining the home base, recruitment (to replace troops killed in the field), and so on would make it extremely rare for all squadrons of a particular regiment to appear on the field at once. And given the further limits imposed by the size of a wargames table, it will be unusual for more than one or two squadrons to appear in any given table-top battle.
My hussars haven't yet seen any action, however in its two battles to date, both against French armies, my Russians have lived up to their reputation as steady, if somewhat unspectacular, opponents.
Each week (famous last words) I hope to present a different "Unit of the Week", which will look at a different type of soldier from one of the many different armies I have in my collection. I'll give a brief historical outline behind the troops, and introduce any special features or personalities as they relate to my particular table-top army, and any recent battles it may have contested.
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