QUESTION 2-1: What were the artillery effectives of Eugene's IVth Corps during the invasion of Russia in 1812? (Question from Mr. Schmerber of Paris, France) ANSWER TO QUESTION 2-1: In June 1812, Eugene's IVth Corps was very a large one. It included the Royal Italian Guard, the 13th, 14th and 15th Infantry Divisions. In addition, like all other corps of Grand Army, it also comprised a cavalry Division and an artillery reserve. The artillery effectives were as follows: (1)Royal Italian Guard:2 foot batteries each of 4 6-pdrs & 1 howitzer and 2 horse batteries each also of 4 6-prds & 1 howitzer. Total artillery: 10officers and 239 men. In addition, each of the 3 Italian Guard regiments had an artillery company each probably consisting of 2 3-pdrs (or 4-pdrs). (2) 13th Division: It included 3 brigades. (1) Brigade Huard: 4 3-pdr guns), (2) Brigade Roussel: 2 3-pdr, (3) Brigade Guyon: 2 3-prs, 1 foot battery (6 6-prds & 2 howitzers) and I horse battery (4 6-pdrs & 2 howitzers). Total artillery: 8 officers and 350 men. (3) 14th Division: (1) Brigade de Sivray: 4 3-pdrs, (2) Brigade ? : 2 3-pdrs, (3) Brigade Pastol, 2 3-pdrs, 1 foot battery (6 6-prds & 2 Howitzers) and 1 horse battery (4 6prds & 2 howitzers). Total artillery: 8 officers and 350 men. (4) 15th Division: 8 3-prds, 1 foot battery (6 6-prds & 2 howitzers) and 1 horse battery (4 6-pdrs & 2 howitzers). Total artillery 13 officers and 406 men. (5) Corps Cavalry: none (6) Reserve Artillery: 4 batteries each of 6 12-pdrs & 2 howitzers, 14 officers and 472 men. As it can be seen, Eugene's IV th Corps had a very large artillery allocation consisting of 100 guns and 24 howitzers: (1) Regimental guns: 15 regimental companies each of 2 guns (total 30 guns). (2) Foot batteries: 5 6-pdrs batteries (total 26 6-prds and 8 howitzers) (3) Horse batteries: 5 6-prds batteries (total 20 6-prds and 8 howitzers) (4) Reserve artillery: 4 batteries (total 24 12-prds and 8 howitzers) All the 3-pdrs guns were regimental guns (2 per regiment) and all the foot and horse batteries were manned by French or Italians artillerists. The artillery effectives do not include the regimental artiilery companies or the train and related troops. A complete detail of Eugene's IVth Corps effective (too long to reproduce here), can be found in George Nafziger' s Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, Presidio Press, 1988 (31 Paramon Way, Novato, CA 94949) or from the Emperor's Press. All the data given above is from the French military archives.  Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 2 No. 2 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by Emperor's Headquarters 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