Tuesday 29 March 2011

Recently Painted No 21 Russian Empress' Cuirassiers 1812


Another recently painted unit from Posties Napoleonic collection. Today's subject are the Russian Emperess' Cuirassiers. They are 15mm Essex figures based up for Posties GdB rules. Postie didn't have the flag for this unit so he used a normal Colonel's standard and coloured the badges in pink with a felt tip, which works quite well.  I've struggled to find any info about this unit, but here's what I did find.

In the 1812 campaign, the regiment were in The First Army of the West and were part of the 17,000 men that made up the 5th Corps, The Guard.

5th Infantry (Reserve) Corps: H.M. Grand Duke Constantin
1st Cuirassier Division: General Lieutenant Depreradovitch
1st Brigade: Major General Chevitch
Chevalier Guard Regiment
Horse Lifeguard Regiment
2nd Brigade: Major General Borodin II
Emperor Cuirassier Regiment
Empress Cuirassier Regiment
Astrakhan Cuirassier Regiment

The Battle of Borodino

General Borosdin-II brought two crack regiments of Russian heavy cavalry; the Emperor's Cuirassiers (or Tzar's Own) and Her Majesty the Emperess' Cuirassiers, and threw them at the Saxons. The Astrahan Cuirassiers joined the fight. The Ahtyrka Hussars charged with the utmost fierceness against the flank of the enemy. The clash was very violent. For Fedor Glinka it was an unforgettable spectacle: “What a bloody fighting! What a cram!” (Kak oni rezhutsia! Kakaya tesnota!). It was like a clash of armored knights with a frenzy of cutting and thrusting and the fighters going mental. The most miserable however were those who fell under the hooves where their bodies turned into unrecognized bloody pulp. The Saxons suffered in this "cram" for they have left armor in Germany.

While the whole air was reeking with gun smoke, the earth was shaking from thousands of hooves, the Russian 2nd Cuirassier Division drew their sabers, and strucked the Saxons, Poles and Westphalians from the flank and rear. The Germans and Poles resisted the enemy for a few moments before being driven back.





21 comments:

  1. Yes ..I agree with Man Cave !!! Very nice work

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  2. details on the flag are impressive

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  3. Nice work on those Ray, I'm glad Postie gave them to you.

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  4. I bet you are????
    Cheers for the comments chaps!!

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  5. Excellent work again Ray!

    When are we likely to see these guys in a battle report to see if they fight as well as they look?

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  6. @ Kingsleypark - Not sure, whenever we can twist Posties arm, to do a game!!

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  7. I always did like the colour schemes of russian armies of this era

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  8. love the detail on the flag. :)

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  9. do you sale your figures or are the for personal use?

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  10. Very nice. Great paintjob and an interesting read about the unit.

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  11. @Classic George - Yeh I do sell units from time to time. I paint for other people most of the time, I don't paint enough of my own figures ggrr!!

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  12. Very cool Ray,
    You put me to shame as you tick off unit after unit I have on my 'to do' List!
    Cheers
    Paul

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  13. You do paint a lot eh??
    Another grand looking unit mate.
    Cheers
    paul

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  14. Yep!! Unfortunatly most of the time i'm NOT painting my own stuff though, at the moment I'm painting 8 units of Russian infantry and basing 2 squadrons of NYW dragoons!!

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  15. As said on Benno's Ray, here I am. And I must say with the pictures I've seen here, they look awesome indeed. Splendid paintwork :-D
    Greetings
    Peter

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  16. I don't think the Saxons ever stood a chance against these guys...

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  17. Nice job, Ray. Good excerpt as well. Especially the bit about the cavalrymen 'going mental'. Makes me laugh. And I've always liked the look of those Grecian inspired helmets...

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