Neither Caesar Nor Punchinello

The Army of the Kingdom of Italy
in the 1812 Campaign in Russia
Part I

Introduction

by Marco Gioannini
Edited by Marc Raiff

Note from Editor: EE&L is proud to welcome Mr. Gioannini, a new contributor from Torino, Italy. In his first article, Mr. Gioannini presents the significant and often underestimated contribution of the Kingdom of Italy to Napoleon's war effort with both pride and objectivity. There is little doubt that at Malo-Jaroslavets, the Italians were some of the lions to which our title refers. We look forward to more from Mr. Gioannini.

In 1805, Napoleon had crowned himself King of Italy. Ruled since then by the Emperor's stepson, Viceroy Eugene Beauharnais, the Kingdom of Italy had not surprisingly become one of the most loyal allies of France. In 1812, the Kingdom included the regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Trentino, Emilia, Romagna, Umbria and Marche. It was divided into 24 departments and had about 7 million subjects.

From the former Cisalpine Republic, Eugene had inherited a small army that he strove to enlarge and improve over the years. The army of the Kingdom of Italy had had its first military experiences in the 1805 campaign of Italy. The following campaigns in Italy, Central Europe and Spain had forged a reliable nucleus of troops, most of them progressively incorporated in the Royal Italian Guard, Eugene's elite formation.

At the beginning of 1812, the army could field about 90,000 men organized as follows: 7 line infantry regiments (35 battalions for a total of 28,265 effectives), 4 light infantry regiments (20 bts; 16,236), a Dalmatian light infantry regiment (5 bts; 4,059), the Milan Guard, the Venice Guard and the Department Reserve (3 bts; 5,026), 6 line cavalry regiments (36 squadrons; 6,576), 3 cavalry regiments of Gendarmerie (6 sqds; 1,908), a line artillery corps (5,275), an engineer corps (1,400), the navy (9,000) and the Royal Italian Guard (6,192). The latter included 8 battalions of Guard Infantry, 2 squadrons of Gardes d'Honneur, 2 squadrons of Dragoons, 2 companies of foot artillery, 1 company of horse artillery and I company of train. 150 guns, of which 30 were regimental pieces, formed the artillery park of the army.

Two infantry divisions and some cavalry had been bitterly fighting in Catalonia since the beginning of the Spanish ulcer. The rest of the army had its quarters scattered throughout Italy and Dalmatia.

As for unit organization, drill and training, the troops of the Kingdom of Italy followed French standards. The uniform pattern was also of French style, with green or white replacing blue. [1]

It should be pointed out that officers, NCOs and privates of the army of the Kingdom of Italy were not the only Italian troops serving under Napoleon's eagles. The scarcely reliable troops of the Kingdom of Naples under Murat were mostly Italian. There were thousands of Italian soldiers serving in the French Army, who wore the dark blue uniform as a military consequence of the political and administrative division that had incorporated Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany, Parma, Piacenza and Rome as French departments. Dozens of French line regiments had their conscription area in Italy and were partially or entirely formed by Italians (e.g. the famous 111 th Line Regiment that valiantly fought at Austerlitz, Friedland and Borodino was Piedmontese).

Interesting as it may be, the story of the Italians serving in the French Army is not the subject of this paper, which aims to cast some light on the behavior of the troops of the Kingdom of Italy throughout the 1812 Russian campaign.

The first part describes the organization and the strength of the Italian contingent. The second part briefly analyzes Italians' strategical role in the campaign. The third parts contains a narrative of the behavior of the Italian troops in some minor and major engagements, from Ostrovno to Krasnoe. Tactics and strategical consumption are the subject of the last part which will appear in the next issue.

My survey is mostly based on Italian primary and secondary sources (see bibliography). Amongst others, I found particularly interesting the memoirs of Lieutenant Cesare De Laugier, a Guard officer from the Island of Elba, and Lieutenant Filippo Pisani, an artillery officer from Ferrara. They both took part in the campaign and survived. Also useful were Zanoli's and General Cappello's books. For background knowledge on the Russian campaign, I referred to the standard English literature on the subject, principally Chandler, Nafziger and Riehn. [2]

Organization and Strength of the Italian Contingent, IV Corps

Incorporated in the IV Corps by order of the Emperor since December 1811, the contingent of the Kingdom of Italy on the eve of the Russian campaign was formed by the following units:

15th Infantry Division General de Division Pino [3]

1st Brigade (General Fontana)
1st Light Infantry Rgt. 1 bt (4th) 720
Dalmatian Light Infantry Rgt (+rgt.art.) 3 bts (1-3) 1,759
2nd Line Infantry Rgt. (+rgt.art.) 4 bts (1-4) 2,699

2nd Brigade (General Guillaume) [4]
3rd Light Infantry Rgt. (+rgt.art.) 4 bts (1-4) 3,073
3rd Line Infantry Rgt. (+rgt.art.) 4 bts (1-4) 2,909

Divisional Artillery
14/1 Foot artillery (6 6pdrs + 2 how) 1 coy 106
2/1 Horse artillery (4 6pdrs + 2 how) 1 coy 102

13th Light Cavalry Brigade General de Brigade Villata
2nd Chasseur Rgt 4 sqds 698
3rd Chasseur Rgt 4 sqds 567

Royal Italian Guard General de Brigade Lechi

    Guard Velites (+rgt.art.) 2 bts 1,197
    Guard Grenadiers (+rgt.art.) 2 bts 1,215
    Guard Conscripts [5] (+rgt.art.) 2 bts 1,216
    Gardes d'Honneur 5 coys 304
    Guard Dragoons 2 sqds 430
    Queen's Dragoons [6] 4 sqds 656
    Guard Foot Artillery 2 coys 128 (4 6pdrs + 2 how each coy)
    Guard Horse Artillery 1 coy 81 (4 6pdrs + 2 how)
    Guard Artillery Train 2 coys 194
    Guard Sappers 1 coy 95
    Guard Sailors 1 coy 103
    Military Equipage 1 coy 129

Italian Artillery attached to the Corps Reserve Artillery Foot Art.
(4 12pdrs + 2 how each coy) 2 coys [7] 180

Led personally by the Viceroy, the IV Corps also included the l3th and l4th French infantry divisions under the command, respectively, of General de Division Delzons and General de Division Broussier as well as the 12th Light Cavalry Brigade (French-Polish) under General de Brigade Ferriere.

The contingent of the Kingdom of Italy crossed the Alps in mid February heading in a northeasterly direction. According to Zanoli [8], the Italians who left their homeland numbered 27,397 (out of 52,000 men belonging to the IV Corps). Not more than 1,000 were lucky enough to come back home. 58 guns, 391 artillery caissons, 702 wagons and 9,040 horses and oxen also went to Russia and were all lost.

The Italians passed through Tyrol, Bavaria, Saxony, Silesia and reached the town of Glogau on the Oder by the end of April. On May 30th, they were in Plock on the Vistula and, after spending some days in Prussia, they crossed the border of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw in mid June. From then on, supply operations started becoming difficult: poor roads prevented the supply trains from keeping pace with the army. As the Polish countryside did not offer too much to the foraging parties, the soldiers had to live on their insufficient rations. Horses suffered from shortage of food as well.

The Russian campaign was about to begin. The advance guard of the IV Corps crossed the Niemen River at Piloni on June 29th, six days after Napoleon had opened hostilities. The rest were to complete the crossing on the following day, but a cataclysmic thunderstorm swept the left bank of the river, killing hundreds of artillery horses and making roads impassable. The Italian contingent had to wait another 24 hours before trampling on Russian soil.

More Neither Caesar Nor Punchinello Army of Italy in Russia 1812 Part I

Part II: Behaviour of Italian Troops in Battle: October-November 1812

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