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Remembered Today:

Whereabout of Russian divisions


SMSKaiser

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Hello,

I am searching for the whereabouts of some Russian Reserve Divisions:

62nd, 63rd, 64th, 66th, 67th, 74th, 81st, 84th

for the year 1914 especially, but any informaton is apreciated.

In 1915 the Russian army was enlarged by some divisions numbering from 100+...sadly, i do not find any useful information on how many divisions/troops at all were raised during the war, even in the russian literature on the internet.

Does anyone have any hints, information whatsoever on the subject?

kind regards,

Michael

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Michael

The majority of the divisions on your list were part of the two reserve armies (6th and 7th) that were held around St Petersburg and Odessa respectively. One was with the Caucasus Army for the entire war. The army assignments based on the Mobilization Schedule 19 alternative A were:

62nd 7th Army

63rd 7th Army

64th 7th Army

66th - Caucasus

67th 6th Army

74th 6th Army

81st 5th Army

84th 6th Army

These divisions were sent to the field armies over a period of time. Due you have a specific date you are interested in knowing the assignments of these units?

Jeff

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thank you, I already suspected that they would be with those two armies.

i am interested in the composition of the Russian armies through the year 1914.

As with any army during the war, there were many changes in the structure of forces, and most battle accounts lack any details on which divisions fought them out.

So i always had much interest in the development of the armies during the war.

The date of interest of mine is the 1st January of 1915/ 31 december 1914 respectively.

Several sources only give the number of 99 divisions for the actual front in the East (or west, from Russian perspective), plus 4 and a half reserve.

But i am able to identify only roughly 70 of those. Especially the allocation of the reserve divisions is pretty difficult.

As you seem to have a lot more information on the subject, may i ask if you can propose any sources for more information?

Michael

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What intrgues me here is that you have 4 reserve division for the 6th Russian army.

as far as i am informed that army consisted of only 4 divisions at all, 2 of them belonging to the XXII. Finnish Corps.

On the other hand, a Russian order of battle puts the 81st Division into the V. Army, Plehve from the beginning of the war (i oversaw this one in my own papers).

Any ideas?

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Michael

I will try to put together a snap-shot of the information sometime today (I need to get my household chores completed).

I have 81st Division in the 5th Army in my list above. Only three reserve divisions in 6th Army.

The original plan (Schedule 19 alternative A) for 6th Army has XVIII and XXII Corps, Gd Rifle Bde, 64th, 74th, and 84th inf divisions; 3rd Guard Cav Bde and Orenburg Cossack Division. Of course, by 2 August the plan was rapidly being changed. 9th Army was being stood-up and corps were being move around (i.e. 1st Army was to have the Gds Corps, but that was pulled for 9th Army IIRC). It all depends on which date you are looking at each of the armies. 10th Army was stood-up shortly afterwards. These two armies pulled several of the reserve divisions from the 6th and 7th Armies.

Throughout the months of August and September, units were moved between the armies. I will need to check the dates, but by 1915, 6th and 7th Armies had been effectively disbanded (they existed, but as staging headquarters for forces moving to the front). The reserve divisions assigned to the two armies were allocated to frontline armies as needs dictated.

Jeff

My sources are:

Golovine: The Russian Campaign of 1914 pg. 393

Russian General Staff: La Grande Guerre: Concentration des armées pgs. 17-20 and 49-53.

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Michael

Following the reserve divisions you listed.

62nd – 7th Army – 7th Army

63rd – 7th Army – Novgeorgievski (1 Bde)

64th – 7th Army – 10th Army (Nov)

66th – Caucasus – Caucasus

67th – 6th Army – 1st Army (Nov)

74th – 6th Army – ?? - 3rd Army (Jan 15)

81st – 5th Army – 9th Army (Nov)

84th – 6th Army – 10th Army (Nov)

The 74th is causing trouble. I don't have a firm fix on its assignments until Jan 15.

Jeff

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Jeff,

thank you again for that.

As far as i know, the 3rd army consisted of 11 divisions by January 1, 1915.

I have 5 active Corps listed for the army by that time,

the IX. Corps (5,42), X. Corps (9,31), XI. Corps (11,32), XXI. Corps (33,44), III. kauk. Corps (21,52)

as i do not find any evidence that any of the other reserve divisions was assigned to the army, it seems possible that 74th divisions was already assigned to it during december.

the hard pressure upon the 3rd army during the battle of limanowa-lapanow might have been a reason to transfer reinforcements here.

But again, i just have to guess, as my sources are very restricted.

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Michael

Der Wekltkrieg vol 6 lists the 74th Division with the 3rd Army in Nov.

The Russian General Staff history states that on 18 September the IX Corps received the 58th Division; the X Corps the 60th Division; and the XXI Corps the 75th Division. (footnote on pgs 319-20). How long these divisions stayed with the army will require a bit more research. I know the 58th was detached as part of the siege of Perémysl in Oct. The 75th was moved to the 4th Army.

The point is that Russian Army corps didn’t necessarily have only two divisions, and many of the reserve divisions were attached to army corps.

I just haven’t had time to work through my sources to pin down the movement of divisions during the fall and winter of 1914. I had start this research, building detailed OBs for 16 November, 25 November, and 30 December. I am still cross checking these against other sources to in sure they are accurate.

RE: 3rd Army January 1915. I have III Cauc Corps in 4th Army in January. XI Corps had the 32nd and 74th Divisions; the 61st and 70th Divisions were also part of the army, but I haven’t determined whether they were part of a corps or independent under the army.

Jeff

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