NAP. RUSSIAN LIGHT INFANTRY (JАGERS) 1803-1807

The Russian army at the end of the 18th century was probably the largest and arguably one of the strongest armies in Europe. During the reign of Catherine II the Great (1762-1796), she won several important victories in the course of the wars with Turkey, won the war with Poland in 1792 and was instrumental in suppressing the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794. Also in the course of the wars with revolutionary France (1792-1799), she did not show her wrong side. However, the defeats at Austerlitz (1805) and at Iława Pruska and especially at Fridland (1807) forced changes in the Russian army, which also affected its infantry, including jegr units. They were perceived in the Russian army as light infantry, primarily intended for fighting in the lineage, hence their training placed greater emphasis on shooting elements and greater independence of soldiers on the battlefield. On the other hand, it was not uncommon for jegr regiments to be used as regular infantry, as exemplified by the Battle of Borodino (1812). Shortly before the Battle of Austerlitz (1805), there were already 22 Jeg (light infantry) regiments in the Russian army, and their number grew rapidly to reach 46 regiments in 1801 and 50 regiments in 1811. In the course of the 1813-1815 campaign, as many as 57 jegr regiments served in the Russian army. Until 1810, a single jegric regiment consisted of 3 battalions, each of which consisted of 4 companies of two platoons. From 1810, the regiment not only increased its position (to 174 officers and non-commissioned officers and 1980 privates), but also only two battalions were treated as line ones, and the third one - as a rear one, which was responsible for preparing for service and training recruits. It is worth adding that the armament of the Russian jegrs was not uniform. Some of them had a flintlock model 1805 or a model 1808 of domestic production, some - threaded rifles (especially non-commissioned officers), but some of them had imported flintlock muskets from Great Britain.