Now back to Dolgorukov's mission. According to the Austrian report of 24 January, 1,107 Russian soldiers were recuperating under French supervision in hospitals in Vienna and its vicinities. Dolgorukov dispatched Colonel Lanskoy to examine their conditions, who reported back that soldiers were well fed and treated. Lanskoy also told his superior that he secretly provided 96 soldiers and one officer with money and instructed them to flee to Teschen. Dolgorukov then spent several days visiting villages and towns around Austerlitz and looking for Russian wounded and stragglers. He found 3 seriously wounded Russian officers in local clergyman's house near Brunn and asked Austrian Archduke Ferdinand to transfer them to town, where physicians could attend them. Dolgorukov then found 6 NCOs and 76 privates at Schpinhauz, while 11 NCOs and 326 privates were recuperating at Kartauz. Although all troops were well fed and treated, they lacked linen and cloth.

It seems that by early February the French already began releasing Russian prisoners of war. Dolgorukov reported that, although 373 men had already died in Brunn, 614 men already marched off in three groups back to Russia and another 118 men were preparing to return. At Olmutz, Dolgorukov was initially denied access to the Kloster Hradschin hospice but his perseverance soon paid off and he managed to visit troops there. He found 587 soldiers at local hospital, of whom 55 died but 526 were sent back to Russia; 6 more men were in the garrison hospital, with one dead, three already freed and two left behind to recuperate. In the next town of Maehrische Neustadt, Dolgorukov found only 11 men, of who 3 were still there, 3 died and 5 returned to Russia.

The hospital at Langendorf presented a different case since soldiers here were seriously ill and, according to Dolgorukov, "2/3 of local residents died of this contagious disease within one month. Out of 196 Russian soldiers there, he found 18 soldiers "treated in the same way as Austrian patients, 27 dead, 14 escaped and 137 freed to return to Russia. The largest number of Russian soldiers was at Troppau and Freiberg. At Troppau, 2,589 men were treated in January, but, by the time Dolgorukov reached them in early February, 281 were dead, 119 escaped earlier, 458 were still recuperating and 1,731 were sent back to Russia. The Freiberg Hospital treated 3,629 men, of whom 426 died and 2,091 returned to Russia; Dolgorukov found here 791 men still recuperating while 321 men were preparing for march back to motherland. "The best of hospitals was in Krakow, where 1,192 soldiers were treated by 13 February 1806 and 507 of them were then returned to Russia. Some Russian officers were living in the houses of local nobility, who "took incredible care of them. The hospital in Obraup cared for 786 men, of whom 149 were present, 189 died, 8 escaped earlier and 440 returned to Russia. Dolgorukov visited several other towns (Kremsier, Holitz, Trentschin), where he found only 14 Russian wounded, most of them returning back to Russia. He also made inquiries about any Russian soldiers in Hungarian hospitals but could not find any reliable information. Nevertheless, based on Dolgorukov's report, it becomes clear that 11,638 wounded and sick Russian officers were treated in Austrian and French hospitals after the battle of Austerlitz. Unfortunately the number of Russian troops hiding in the vicinity of Vienna and Brunn remains unknown.

The recovered Russian soldiers were organized in groups of "at least 50 but not more than 200 men; smaller groups were led by Russian officer and accompanied by Austrian NCO but larger groups also had Austrian junior officer assigned to them who moved ahead of them to prepare quarters and provide 2 pounds of bread and half-pound of meat per man.[11] Russian officers were actively engaged in discussions with the French to accelerate the return of prisoners. Negotiations naturally proved difficult and there were also secret attempts made to move larger groups through Austrian territories. Thus, Colonel Lanskoy secretly gathered and moved 887 men, who, according to Dolgorukov, "were wandering without purpose in Brunn.

However, some returning prisoners faced grim prospects. On 28 March 1806, Emperor Alexander issued a decree deploring actions of some regiments and determining specific punishments for them. The imperial decree noted that some officers and rank-and-file "left the battle field without orders but were later found healthy [with the army].[12] The Novogorod Musketeer Regiment was singled out in the decree and accused of "fleeing in the face of the enemy and so spreading confusion in the rest of the army. Its officers were ordered to wear their swords without sword knots [temliak] while lower ranks were banned from wearing hangers [tesak]. The decree prohibited promotion of the officers listed in its annex, added five years to their service of the rank-and-file and forbade them from receiving or wearing the Order of St. Anna. The proscription list contained 90 troops in the following regiments:

Podolsk Musketeer Regiment 3 sub-ensigns, 4 soldiers
Pskov Musketeer Regiment 1 musician, 3 drummers, 2 flutists and 37 soldiers
New Ingermanland Musketeer Regiment 6 soldiers
Malorossiiskii Grenadier Regiment 1 sub-ensign, 4 NCOs and 29 soldiers.

Notes:

Placed on the Napoleon Series: February 2006