Russian Infantry Facings - Inspection Era

By Jonathan Gingerich

Introduction

While color names have been carefully translated, the colors themselves are approximate and should be used with care.

Line Regiments June 8, 1802 - November 19, 1807

New Regiments December 12, 1806

Jaeger Regiments

Garrison Regiments

The outside of the pompon was colored by battalion, but the sequence was determined by the number of battalions in the unit.

Transitional period

A new scheme for the Line was adopted November 19, 1807 that lasted through the fall of Paris. Collars and cuffs were red, cuff flaps d.green, and shoulder straps were in fixed sequence within each division, with the number of the division embroided on the strap. The transition period saw constant reorganization of the divisions, which Viskovatov does not clearly explain. The last recorded change is April 17, 1809, the first complete divisional breakdown is October 10, 1809, and the specification of colors January 21, 1810. It is unclear whether regiments retained their Inspection era facings during the transition. The only regiment raised during this time, Bialystok, was formed as the 5th regiment of the 9th division.

The Jaegers went through a similar transition. The coat was changed from l.green to d.green. On January 4, 1808, the senior regiment of each division took red shoulder straps, and any junior took azure. On May 19, 1808 the collars became white red piped, cuffs red, cuff flaps d.green, and pants piping red. By February 25, 1809, the collars, cuffs, and cuff flaps were d.green red piped. Finally, on July 20, 1809 the red shoulder straps switched to yellow.

The Garrison regiments went through a much simpler change. On September 1, 1806, cuffs and collars became yellow, cuff flaps d.green. The turnbacks and shoulder straps were red, with sequential white unit numbers embroided on the straps. The red became d.red August 17, 1808.

Divisional period

NOTES

1. Unlike English, but like Italian, Russian considers the part of the spectrum near cyan - azure as a distinct color from blue
2. Some regiments, including the line with l.crimson regimental distinctives, used l.green pompon centers to avoid clashes with the battalion colors.
   For aesthetic purposes, the miter head band of some regts varied:
   3. black
   4. blue¹
   5. Kosmolinskii gives Stary Oskol a d.green miter hat band, while Ulyanov has it l.green. Ulyanov has a d.green (or black) band for Old Ingermanland, which seems a likely response to a yellow/straw clash.
   6. as Inspection. Ulyanov does not have a variant for Tambov.
   7. l.green
8. Saratov transfered from the Moscow to the Caucasus Inspection when Kura was formed, January 10, 1803, and was displaced when Sevastopol transfered from the Crimea to the Caucasus Inspection.
9. Dniester Inspection color changed from purple on Nov. 27, 1804. The collar and cuff flap became d.green, piped red. The cuff became solid red. The Dniester Inspection was reorganized at this time. The Crimea Inspection followed suit, certainly by July 3, 1805.
10. These regiments, part of those raised May 28, 1803, had variant regimental distinctions as of July 3, 1805.
    • Petrovsk - d.green
    • Koporye - violet
    • Volhynia - d.green
    • Galicia - azure¹
    The latter three were displaced by regiments raised September 10, 1805.
11. The new regiments had 5 buttons on the cuff, except the Yakutsk which had 3.
12. Follows Ulyanov and Zweguintzow. Viskovatov gives all red.
13. Viskovatov illustrates the later regiments with a solid colored pompon and does not mention center color. Apparently it was no longer distinguished.
    It is unclear if (l.green) was part of the distinctive, or the absence of such, but it would have only made a difference for a short time during the transitional period.
14. It is unclear if the cuff and collar were piped, and if so whether in d. or l.green.
15. Yekaterinoslav was transfered to the Crimea Inspection June 20, 1805.
16. Ulyanov shows the Zhelezinka with white cuffs and Vladikavkaz with uncolored cuffs, but the anomoly is perhaps a misprint.
17. The orginal order specified yellow embroidery for the others, but did not specify ecru. Ulyanov reports the order in the text, but illustrates red embroidery on the ecru strap.
18. Grenadier regiments had red shoulder straps with their cursive capital initial letters embroided in yellow. A good example of cursive Cyrillic can be found here: http://www.sandia.gov/ASC/russia/cyrillic.html . Kexholm presumably would have taken К.Г., and Pernau П. as Pavlovsk was entering the Guard.

    Leib-grenadier

    Л.Г.

    St. Petersburg Gr.

    С.П.

    Pavlovsk Gr.

    П.

    Taurida Gr.

    Т.

    Yekaterinoslav Gr.

    Е.

    Moscow Gr.

    М.

    Astrakhan Gr.

    А.

    Kiev Gr.

    К.

    Little Russia Gr.

    М.Г.

    Siberia Gr.

    С.

    Phanagoria Gr.

    Ф.

    C. Arakcheyev Gr.

    Г.А.

    Kherson Gr.

    Х.

    Georgia Gr.

    Г.

19. Selenginsk, originally in the 23d, and Koporye, originally in the 3d, were ordered to switch places during the 1812 campaign.
20. The 46th Jaeger was intended for the 23d Division and took those distinctions, but remained in the Caucasus with the 20th Division. Eventually, (1816) the 17th Jaeger was promoted to the 7th Carabinier, and with some reoganization the 19th and 20th Divisions were rectified.
21. Viskovatov gives the facings of the Marine regiments explicitly. It is possible that Voronezh should have been specified as dr.green, piped red, but perhaps the Infantry and Marine uniforms were sufficiently different that distinct facings were not deemed necessary.
22. A number of reassignments took place before the new organization was confirmed by an annoucement on September 10, 1814. They centered around the creation of a third grenadier division along with grenadier-jaeger regiments, and filling out the incomplete 23d Division. It is uncertain when the changes actually became effective or when the uniform were modified to conform. On March 23, 1813, the Borodino and Taruntino infantry regiments were raised and assigned to the 23d Division. On April 25 the Leib-Grenadier and Pavlovsk Grenadier regiments entered the Leib Guard, and Kexholm and Pernau infantry regiments of the 11th Division became grenadiers. By the September 1814 announcement, the Rylsk and Yekaterinburg infantry regiments, originally with the 23d, had joined the 11th Division to fill in. On May 10th, 1813, the 18th Jaeger was reassigned to the 6th Division and the 35th Jaeger to the 23d Division. On July 23 new regiments were raised to form, along with the 4th Marine regiment, the 28th Division. And the new Krasnoye and 51st Jaeger were assigned to the 23d Division. But on November 16 the new regiments became jaegers, the Krasnoye becoming the 54th Jaeger, in anticipation of the creation of Grenadier-Jaeger regiments out of existing ones. After Paris fell, 6 jaeger regiments in various divisions were designated grenadier-jaeger, were assigned to the 1st-3d Grenadier Divisions, and were replaced by the 54th and 5 jaeger regiments from the 28th Division. The 4th Marine joined the 23d Division. By September, the 3d Division became the 28th. Koporye, in the 23d, switched with Uglich, in the 6th. The 4th Marine, in the 23d switched with Penza, in the 13th.

References

Conrad, M., trans. Historical Descriptions of the Clothing and Arms of the Russian Army Vol. 10a&b by A. V. Viskovatov. Eatontown, NJ, 1993-4.
---------. "Mark Conrad's Home Page - Russian Military History" http://home.comcast.net/~markconrad. Sept. 4, 2006.
Foster, J.C. "The NBS/ISCC Color/Colour System" http://tx4.us/nbs-iscc.htm. Sept. 4, 2006.
Korolev, V. “Kisti grenaderskikh shapok, mushketerskikh i yegerskikh shlyap v 1802-1807 godakh” Orel no. 1 (1992) St. Petersburg.
Kosmolinskiy, P. Tseikhgauz no. 3 (1994), cited in Conrad.
Popov, S., annotations “Russkiye yegerya V Zagranichnykh pokhodakh 1813-14” by D. Mishanin Tseikhgauz no.9 (1/1999) St. Petersburg.
Ul'yanov, I. Regulyarnaya Pekhota 1801-1855. Moscow 1997.
Vasil'yev A. and A. Yeliseyev "Russkiye soyedinennye armii pri Borodino 2-26 avgusta (5-y sentyabrya) 1812 g." http://www.genstab.ru/oob_bor_ru.htm. July 3, 2006.
Zweguintzow, W. L'Armée Russe. Vol. 4 1801--1825. Paris, 1973.
---------. Personal correspondence.

Placed on the Napoleon Series: 1997; updated October 2006

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