Thursday 17 March 2011

Recently painted No 19 Lithuanian Ulans 1812

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Until the Campaign of Austerlitz in 1805, there were three so-called horse regiments: Polish, Lithuania and Tartar, and one uhlan regiment, the Grand Duke Constantine Uhlans. In 1807 the horse regiments were renamed to uhlan regiments. The men were recruited from all classes of free Russian and foreign persons who were not subject to the poll tax and not under other service obligations. The length of service was prescribed to be not less than 6 years instead of 25 years !
In 1808 there were six regiments; Polish, Lithuanian, Tartar, Grand Duke Constantine's, Vohlin, and Chuguyev Uhlans. In December 1812 seven dragoon regiments were converted into uhlans. These new units were called by some as the “dragoons with sticks” as they didn’t even receive their new uniforms until the end of 1814.

The uhlans were armed as follow:, Officers, NCOs and trumpeters - curved saber, 2 hussar pistols. Troopers - curved saber, 2 hussar pistols, lance. The flankers, called in ulan regiments karabiniery, were armed with rifles.
The first uhlan regiments were recruited mainly from Poles and Lithuanians living in western Russia. (Poland had a high ratio of petty gentry who owned horses in contrast to Russian peasants and townfolks.)  The uhlans of the new regiments formed in December 1812 were made of Russians and Ukrainians.
Russian generals had mixed feelings about their Polish and Lithuanian cavalrymen. The problem was not their horsemanship and skills with weapon as these were good, but with their commitment to the Russian cause. For example in summer 1812 the uhlan regiments had a lot more deserters and missing men than casualties in combat. For this reason General Bagration, didn’t want the Lithuanian Uhlan Regiment being included in his rear guard.

26 comments:

  1. Very nice work. Looks like a great unit.

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  2. We just celebrated Casimir Pulaski Day in Chicago, an official holiday, for the Revolutionary War commander of US Cavalry who came from the wars in Poland to help out here, but was frustrated that there weren't enough cavalry.

    I can tell you that in our modern cavalry unit three out of five officers were Polish and several of the NCOs, and in a deep-down way that was where they wanted to be. They love to be cavalry, but frequently ticked off at the Russians, whenever they were not ripping on the Germans.

    In Napoleon's Army were a lot more Lithuanians and Polish, on the other side, so maybe old Bagration knew what he was talking about.

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  3. They don't look very manly with those colors, lol.

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  4. Really quite ridiculously good looking!

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  5. For the love of St.Patrick, guys in pink tops with pig stickers and Daleks creeping up as your most popular post, good man Keir.

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  6. Great post. Great job on painting and basing and I enjoyed reading about the history of the unit.

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  7. That's a very sharp looking unit - bravo!

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  8. They sure stand out.Nice.

    Cheers
    Christopher

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  9. amazing detail and paintjob

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  10. Great colorful unit - well done!

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  11. Very nice painted minis ;-)

    And I like the historical background "thumbup"

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  12. F**K me they are good...that pinky purple...a bugger to re.create at the best of times. Nice one mate
    Cheers
    Paul

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  13. Very detailed work - you should do a step by step guide.

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  14. Love that pink! Great looking unit; well done.

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  15. Hi what figures are they please?

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  16. They're 15mm Essex Miniatures.

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  17. They're a very attractive unit, could you direct me to any pictorial evidenec I could use?

    Thanks'

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  18. One of the best uniforms of this period to my mind...and you did a great job with theml!

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    1. Cheers Phil, it is rather a tasty uniform.

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