Chapter 41 041 Russian Army Training Methods
Chapter 41 041 Russian Army Training Methods
Paul visited many places during this tour, which was also the farthest he had traveled since he ascended the throne.
After several surprise inspection tours around Gatchina, he went on a tour around Moscow with his entourage and some guards, leaving Petersburg to the officials of the imperial government.
Alexander and Konstantin were both busy with their own things, and the training of the Pavlovsky Grenadiers was finally back to normal.
Before Paul left, he appointed the veteran battalion commander Colonel Nikolai Mukhanov as acting regimental commander, while the regimental commander is now Major General Adamovich.
Although the latter is almost idle, the former, the colonel, is in very poor health.
But he still insisted that the entire regiment begin training, and both the grenadier battalion and the jäger company had to participate in the training.
At the request of Grand Duke Constantine, except for the 1st Battalion of the Prussian Regiment guarding the Winter Palace, all other troops had to conduct live-fire drills and carry out tactical training in accordance with the new training syllabus.
At this time, officers of the company level and above from the Guards, Grenadiers, Jagers and Naval Infantry who participated in the training ground all appeared in front of the large sand table in the training ground.
It can be regarded as an assessment work during the training stage, but the Russian Army has great differences in training methods among different troops.
At such times, Solovyov always followed behind the commander to avoid any language differences.
Someone like Miloradovich who spoke plastic French could at least ensure that he could understand it. But this old commander with a bad temper was 51 years old when he took over as acting commander. He was only two years younger than Kutuzov and was a nobleman from Kharkov. He couldn't understand any foreign language but Russian.
In addition, his image makes him taste better. If he didn’t have his legs intact, he would easily get lost on the table.
Solovyov once had an idea: where is the nearest place selling donkey meat BBQ nearby?
The idea he gave to Count Bobulinsky was to boil the donkey skin and use it to make things like donkey-hide gelatin. Even those of lower quality would still have some effect.
When the Earl heard about this, he actually started to do it. Apart from other things, he managed the territory and the industry. Although he was not good at managing things, he was very good at finding people.
He really asked the supplier he entrusted to get a lot of donkeys, who were slaughtered, skinned and haired to make rubber blocks. He also gave the donkey meat to the factory workers and the serfs on the manor.
I don’t know what the progress is over there. He only thought of this after seeing his team leader.
It is unlikely that there is donkey meat in the meat rations distributed to the Russian army. Sometimes his brain is out of control and it is extremely powerful.
Even his old superiors, when they learned that this kid would write to Marshal Suvorov on his holiday to ask questions, looked at his performance. It was this kind of unconventional thinking that enabled him to keep up with the old marshal's thinking. Although Alexander Vasilyevich was 69 years old, he was still able to provide guidance to young people.
Others were a little envious of this "handsome" captain, who could get guidance from the victorious old commander on how to lead a company or a battalion.
In fact, Solovyov used this as a means of handling the situation. At the age of 17, he might not even be able to grow a beard, and the soldiers and officers he had to manage were older than him. He could only write letters to the old marshal frequently and control the distribution of rifles and ammunition for his company.
Compared with other hunting companies, his company, which Paul had high hopes for, was now continuously firing at the shooting range, which made Prince Bagration, who came with him, a little envious.
Only through his connections was he able to get his Jager Regiment to meet Kutuzov's basic training requirement of 10 rounds. However, Solovyov's company, because of its smaller size and custom-made weapons, could fire 20 rounds at a time on the shooting range.
Moreover, the shooting accuracy is very high. These soldiers are all carefully selected. Although their respective regiment commanders are reluctant to send away their young and strong soldiers, the Tsar's edict is there, forcing them to act in accordance with the Basic Law.
It's just that Solovyov could easily be labeled a "jester", and there might be fabricated rumors (such as fake news that he had an affair with the Crown Princess) about him, without considering that during the physical examination, the doctor said that the boy was quite pure.
Physical examination is also an important testing measure for recruiting soldiers for newly formed troops. In a densely populated place like a military camp, it is also necessary to maintain the health of personnel. We cannot expect everyone to be as healthy as the crown prince. If they get sick, they may be taken away.
The medical level of this era is obviously much worse because of the insufficient levels of biology and chemistry.
If you are not careful in the military camp, you may be killed by various diseases. If hygiene is not maintained well, infectious diseases will spread. Some masters were killed in this way.
The fighting style of the Jagers was always better than that of other arms. When Bagration originally wanted Solovyov to join his regiment, he did not expect that this guy would come up with an invention and set up a company in the Grenadiers Regiment.
Of course, in order to cooperate with the grenadiers company in formation training, his company is a dual-purpose force. When dispersed, it needs to be able to cover the advance of the grenadiers and kill the enemy at the same time; when assembled, it must also play the advantages of line shooting and use accuracy to make a big hit at a longer shooting distance.
The characteristics of their gun usage mean that they are not likely to hit their own people when they are standing and shooting.
Among these troops, probably the best-mannered chasseurs were the chasseur battalion formed by Paul's Gatchina chasseurs. Solovyov actually didn't understand why the Tsar chose to place his company outside the Guards chasseurs and throw it into the Grenadiers Regiment.
Perhaps it was a test. Although Suvorov often criticized the Russian army's new drill manual, he did not object to some new attempts at combined arms. He even told Solovyov when they were chatting on the lawn that day that if they could practice this "French trick" well, it might work wonders in the future.
However, regarding the production of this rifle card, even if old Prince Peter Dolgorukov was a trustworthy minister, Paul might be very impatient. After all, this is also a "weapon of decisive battle for infantry."
Of course, the marching song used by the hunter company is also quite special.
Langgeron also came to participate in the exercise today. His regiment did not arrive, but the regimental commanders came from their respective bases to see the new exercises in Gatchina.
As for the 6th Jager Regiment, Guards Jager Battalion and Pavlovsky Grenadier Regiment, which were currently adjacent to each other in the queue, he could see clearly that all three units were in a well-organized formation. "I never thought that the Grenadiers could train their troops so well despite the lack of a regimental commander and a regimental commander!"
The closest to the hill where he was was the Solovyov Jager Company, and their drum beats and marching music also made Langgeron a little confused.
"Doesn't our emperor advocate the Prussian military system? Why is it that the grenadiers he personally ordered to form also play French songs?"
"That's what you don't understand, monsieur. That company was specially formed by the Emperor's own decree. They all use new rifles, and it's the only new regiment that doesn't use the Prussian drill code."
"Ah, that's what happened! I know that 'handsome' young captain. No wonder he came up with this. The emperor allowed him to do whatever he wanted within the scope of permission. After all, the guns in the hands of the hunters were all made by him."
Then, no one would notice that, although the piece had a French flavor, there was still something wrong.
For example, "I am a government soldier and the enemy is a bandit. Heaven and earth cannot tolerate rebels. The enemy general is a great hero, unrivaled in heaven and earth."
If we really translate these lyrics, it seems that there is nothing wrong with dealing with the French republican government from the perspective of a group of autocratic monarchies.
I don't know if General Bonaparte, who was preparing to cross the sea to Egypt, was sneezing.
Of course, no one knew the meaning of the song, but after seeing the translated score, Langgeron thought it was pretty good. It should be suitable for the exiled royalist army and his good friend to use as the Duke of Gan's small army.
No one noticed Solovyov's prank, and everyone thought it was great. His shooting accuracy and speed were ridiculously high, and some veterans from the Empress' era who came to observe the training found that there were still many remnants of Suvorov in the company's training.
"General Langeron, what do you think? Not only does it have the characteristics of your French Royal Army, but it also has the training principles of Alexander Vasilyevich. What a good kid. Everyone in Petersburg has heard that he writes to the Marshal every week to ask questions. Young people nowadays are all addicted to pleasure. No wonder the emperor can't stand them and wants to kick them back to the barracks. No wonder the old marshal no longer teaches his entourage anything."
These old guys were still lamenting that the performance of young people in the Russian army had been getting worse and worse in recent years. Langgeron had also written about this kind of complaint in his notes. Of course, as a "guest", he could also complain mercilessly about the Tsar's messing around. If it was just about reorganizing the Guards, even some troops with rich combat experience deployed on the border had also encountered many problems.
This is why Suvorov always expressed opposition to Paul's military reforms as they deepened.
Although he cleared up all the problems of the Queen's era in one breath, Paul had never led troops before and could only practice in Gatchina according to the Prussian drill manual he had obtained. Although he was an expert in training troops, he made many mistakes.
However, the performance of the Jaegers and Grenadiers this time still had some highlights. At least Paul was not completely messing around.
Especially in the simulated shooting on the move, he did not copy all the Prussian Army's stuff. The traditional Russian bayonet assault was still retained, including the reorganized chasseur regiments/battalions/companies.
After the bayonet charge was launched, the "Red Team" representing the Russian army, composed of the She Regiment, the Pavlovsky Regiment, the 6th Chasseurs Regiment and the Guards Chasseurs Battalion, pushed back the "Blue Team" representing the French army with a bayonet charge from the side where Langgeron and his men were.
Although it was a bit of a show, it was rare for the two sides to directly engage in a bayonet fight on the battlefield. After one side launched a bayonet attack, the attacked side would generally choose to retreat or regroup and fight again.
Generally speaking, few of the nearby countries can withstand the Russian army's "Ula Ula" charge, but before the exchange of fire, they often choose to shoot a wave.
In the era of line warfare, due to the changes in new tactics, it has changed to light infantry engagement, then line infantry shooting, and finally bayonet assault.
There are scenes of direct bayonet assaults, but they are few and far between.
After the exercise, there was a bunch of "Germans" there, so Colonel Mukhanov had to keep Solovyov as his translator. It was not a translator in vain, as the regiment commander still appreciated his training and said that he could continue to do so in the future.
Although some losses may be suffered during the training, the formation training based on Suvorov's principle is still very useful. At least when facing cavalry, the Russian infantry will never be timid and will even dare to launch a direct attack.
As for anti-cavalry operations, after the training was completed, the "Red Team" happened to have three chasseur combat units of different sizes, so they stayed and demonstrated anti-cavalry formations and tactics to their superiors.
From two people standing in groups with their bayonets pointed back to back, to hollow square formations, what light infantry can do now is actually no different from what line infantry can do.
I'm afraid that in the future we will have to add solid square formations that are even more difficult to penetrate. However, encountering cavalry on the battlefield is not so easy. Although horses will be afraid, there are also those that are not afraid of death or frightened horses that will rush forward directly. If they are too crazy, even if the defense is well organized, the defensive formation can be easily broken.
This point was made very clear by some veteran cavalry officers from the German states. Some of them had been trained by Prussian veterans such as Seydlitz and Zieten, and many things could happen on the battlefield.
However, given the poor level of the Prussian cavalry, there seems to be a small gap compared with the French and Austrian armies.
The Russian army itself is actually quite complete in terms of cavalry configuration.
In the military, combined operations of various arms can still exert greater power.
This is very obvious in the army, but Paul is now touring the countryside, and the serfs still love him very much. What happened at the training ground in Gatchina will have to wait until he returns before a report can be made by the senior Russian generals and Grand Duke Constantine.
I don’t know what attitude he will take towards this “new military revolution”.
(End of this chapter)