RUSSIAN LINE INFANTRY: RUSSO TURKISH WAR ERA

Completed Russian Infantry Project: 58 figures. 

 

Returning to the subject of my ongoing Russo-Turkish War era Russian Army project, in this post, I am happy to report the completion of the largest stage of the exercise: the Line Infantry.  I started these upon completion of the independent rifle battalions, and have been soldiering away at these daily since about July 5.  So the entire project took me roughly 3 weeks, from prep to basing (taking 3 days off for a hiking trip)--at 58, this is the largest batch of figs I've done since my "shut in" Romanian infantry project (51 figures).  I can't say that this has made me a convert to the Hal Thinglum school of mass painting.  However, I felt that I needed to do these all in one batch so that the results would be consistent (that's my story and I'm sticking with it). As is my usual, dear readers, I'll bore you with some historical details that informed my approach and then provide a study of how I rendered the figures.  You've been warned: for those with the endurance to continue, you may clix pix for BIG PIX in this post.

Image from The Apricity

 

At the time of the Russo Turkish War, The Russian infantry was moving to a "square"* organization: each corps consisted of two infantry divisions; each infantry division consisted of two infantry brigades; each infantry brigade consisted of two infantry regiments; each infantry regiment consisted of four battalions (three line and one rifle), with each battalion consisting of four companies. Each company was organized into two half companies, each of two sub units (in today's parlance, we would call these platoons).  However, this reorganization had not been completed, so the earlier, "triangular" organization was still in place in many formations, the only difference being that a regiment would have three battalions, with each infantry battalion consisting of five companies (four line and one rifle). For a complete description of the organization of the Russian Army (and much else!), I highly recommend flipping to pages 20 and 21 of F.V. Greens's The Russian Army and Its Campaigns in Turkey (available online in the Internet Archive at the previous link). Greene was a US Army Officer who was an observer with the Russian Army, and the text is his official report.  *The terms "triangular" and "square" are contemporary terms of art to characterize organizations based on even vs odd structures, in case you were wondering.

 

Daniel Vierge, Infantry Attack, Battle of Plevna, Natonal Gallery of Art.

 

When I embarked upon this project, I based my approach on the Lucas article on the Russian Army in Miniature Wargames #20 which said that the three battalion regiment was the standard and four the exception. Based on the sources, it seems that the operational difference between the two would be of no matter, really.  In the three battalion regiment, each infantry battalion had five companies, four line and one rifle (light). In practice, the light companies were converged and operated together. In a four battalion regiment, there was a separate, standing rifle (light) battalion and three line battalions of four companies each (no longer including a light company). 

 

Schematic of a Russian Five-Company Infantry Battalion In The Attack

 

Like many other armies of the period, the Russian army mixed columns and firing/skirmish lines. In A History of Tactics, Capt H.M. Johnstone describes a five company Russian infantry battalion attack formation used in the first assault at the battle of Plevna (on page 140), which I've depicted above: the rifle (light) company is in skirmish ahead of the four line companies, which are deployed in two lines of company columns (each component column being of a "quarter company"--ie platoon column). He adds that this was faulty in that the skirmish line was not "thick" enough and that the columns followed too closely (and eventually caught up to in the firing line--even worse).  A three battalion regimental attack formation consisted of two battalions deployed abreast in the above manner followed by the third battalion in "mass" formation. Despite the assessment of the inadequacy of this employment in the case study, this does provide a useful window on the Russian Army doctrine of the time.  

Russian Infantry: (Left) image from Pinterest; (Right) detail from The Spy by Vasily Vereschagin (public Domain).

Getting to the figures and how I rendered them (for those who are actually still reading this), I once again went with the green over green of the winter uniform.  I pulled inspiration from multiple sources, the usual suspect Osprey (of marginal value), the every useful Mollo, the very useful aforementioned Lucas piece on the Armies of the Russo Turkish War from Miniature Wargamer #20, and a variety of prints, paintings, and uniform databases, such as the New York Public Library Vinkhijzen Collection and the above illustrations. The Russian infantry were distinguished based on the regiment and brigade within the division. The first brigade had red epaulettes and the second blue. The first regiment (in the first brigade) had red hat bands. The second had blue hat bands. The third regiment (first in the second  brigade) had white hat bands, and the fourth regiment (in the second brigade) had black hatbands.  More on how I dealt with these later...

 

Outpost Wargame Service Russo Turkish War Figures.

 

I used the Outpost Wargame Service Russo Turkish line (which I also used for the Rifles of the previous post).  Something I had noticed about Outpost figures earlier was that there was/is some differentiation in size in the line (first noticed with the Dorobanti Militia: the marching figure is smaller than the aggressive advance).  Up until now, this difference has been between sets (the Bulgarian Legion figures being particularly large, for instance)--but so far I have not had to mix these figures in units, so the effect has been immaterial.  With the Russian Line Infantry Aggressive Advance, however, there is differentiation within the set: it is composed of three poses, with one of them being a "chunky" figure and two of them being of the slighter variety. For comparison, I would class the slighter in the same category as Perry figures and the chunky fellow just short of the Front Rank category. 

 

 The Outpost command sets

 

The line infantry command set (above left) had a flag bearer, and officer in kepi, and a drummer in furashka (the visored cap--the same as the drummer in the guards set, above right).  Given that my Guards will be in furashkas, I didn't want to mix these in with my line. I also am not bothering with flags (except for my HQ stands), so didn't have a use for the officer posed holding a flag.  Happily, Outpost Wargame services is most accommodating when it comes to figure selection--I simply ordered three sets of the line infantry command, but with each consisting of three officers with sword.  I highly recommend their services!

 

A stand with the officer along with two "slighter" advancing figures.

Stands with a mix of the "chunky" and "slight" advancing figures. I decided to mix the larger and smaller figures rather than try to separate them out into different units. I think this worked out fine. If you are looking for it, you can see that there are larger and smaller figs, but it isn't something that jumps out at you. 

 

An infantry battalion composed of one stand with officer and one stand with advancing infantry figures. 

 

Three battalion regiment advancing in columns and in lines. I'm satisfied with the dynamic look the combination of these poses (and even sizes) renders.  Note that I didn't try to represent the formations described in the references for these shots: just wanted to capture the images.

Three line battalions preceded by a rifle battalion. Given the similarities in uniform, I use the poses to help differentiate rifle battalions (firing) from the line battalions (advancing), as illustrated above.

 

As usual, I did a few figures on individual bases: these come in handy for various purposes. I originally painted the different hat bands and epaulettes on these units, but they wound up looking wrong--as if the figures were unfinished in some way.   Unlike the units with red, which looked "finished" and just much smarter. So I repainted them all in red.  This way, I can reconfigure them as needed without concern for mixing distinctions, and they just look right to me--and I rather doubt that anyone stepping up to the table would know the difference. On the off chance that I do get an expert on the Russian Army of the era involved in a game, we'll have other things to talk about, anyway!

 

Three New Regminents (Nine Battalions) of Russian Line Infantry on Parade. Next up, the Guards. 

 

Excelsior!