the lion of the russian army - Florida State University

two columns. 26 He also anticipated the possibility of moving his army in one column
through Bakshty to Volozhin. 27
Although the first days of the campaign were mild, after 28 June a series of
terrible storms enveloped the area and the temperature suddenly dropped. After 29 June
the weather was frightful and soldiers had to sleep in mud; roads were flooded and the
water level of the Nieman rose. Nevertheless, on 4 July the ferry was completed and
Bagration’s army began to cross the river at Nikolaev. 28 Due to the high water, only part
of the second column had crossed the river, and the passage was postponed until the next
morning. A witness described,
26 The first column, under the command of Lieutenant General Nikolai Rayevsky amounted
to 24 battalions, 8 squadrons, 72 light and 24 horse artillery guns and an engineer brigade and
was to move from Nikolaev to Vishnev. The second column, commanded by Lieutenant General
Mikhail Borozdin, consisted of 21 battalions, 20 squadrons, 72 light and 12 horse artillery guns,
and one Cossacks regiment, would move from Nikolaev to Volozhin. For each column, special
advance guards were formed. The advance guard of the first column consisted of the
Novorossiisk and Chernigov Dragoon Regiments, while the advance guard of the second column
was composed from the Akhtyrsk Hussars and Cossack regiments. Major General Illarion
Vasil’chikov led the cavalry rear guard reinforced by the Narva Infantry and 6 th Jager Regiments.
Order of Battle of the 2 nd Western Army, Inostrantsev, Operations of the 2 nd Western Army, 412-
18; Muratov, Historical Survey of the Patriotic War and its Reasons, Annex VIII.
27 Bagration to Platov, 4 July 1812, Secret Correspondence of Bagration, 46; also, Donskie
kazaki v 1812 godu, sbornik dokumentov ob uchastii donskogo kazachestva v Otechestvennoi
voine 1812 goda [Don Cossacks in 1812: a Compilation of the Documents on the Role of Don
Cossacks in the Patriotic War of 1812, hereafter cited as Don Cossacks in 1812] (Rostov na
Donu, 1954), 70.
28 Wilson, Narrative of Events …, 38; Butenev, Recollections, 17.
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