Russian Army Study Group

Napoleonic Newsdesk

by Paul Chamberlain

1813, Russia's Patriotic War was over and the War of German Liberation commenced. This year would see the Russian Army, joined by more and more Allies, push Napoleon back across Germany to the French frontier. For the Allies there would still be setbacks, but Napoleon had lost much of his cavalry in Russia and could not follow up his successes, and his Marshals were defeated one by one. The climax came in October when Napoleon was beaten at Leipzig by the combined armies of the Allies. 2003 sees the 190th Anniversary of these victories and defeats in which the Russian Army played a major role.

The Russian Army Study Group, which has a worldwide membership, was formed to research these and other events of the Napoleonic Wars. This research is published in the Group's newsletter The Kiwer. Articles have looked at Cossacks, life in the Russian Infantry, Regimental Colours, uniforms, orders of battle, biogra-phies of Officers and contemporary accounts of various battles. Issue 27 for example, contains well-researched articles on Army wagons; the mass grave discovered at Vilnius recently; the Russian Imperial Guard under Paul I; and the Sitka National Monument in Alaska.

To join the Group all you need to do is write at least one article for The Kiwer each year, and send four A5 stamped addressed envelopes (or 8 IRCs if outside the UK) to: Laurence Spring, 12 Puckshill, Knaphill, Woking, Surrey, GU21 2BS. Your article does not have to be a great epic - a few pages would be fine.

More Napoleonic Newsdesk

Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire # 70
Back to First Empire List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 2003 by First Empire.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com