Caucasus 1915 - medieval armour story?

[clive_hughes]

Hi,

My brother is intending to visit Georgia before long, and has just told me that there is a story that (somewhere in the Caucasus) in March 1915, there arrived in town a load of horsemen dressed in chain mail, old helmets, and equipped with antique swords etc.

In their remote mountain villages they had only just heard that a War had broken out, and wanted to be in on it...so they came dressed as they always had been for an armed conflict!   Sounds a bit too good to be true, but has anyone else come across this tale?

 

Clive  

[Mikhail]

It looks more like a beautiful legend, but the truth is that we can talk about the Caucasian native cavalry division, also known as the "Wild Division" - a cavalry division, one of the formations of the Russian army, formed on August 23, 1914. 90% consisted of Muslim volunteers - natives of the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia, who, according to the legislation of the Russian Empire, were not subject to conscription for military service. Many members of the Russian nobility served as officers in the division.

It consisted of six cavalry regiments, united in three brigades. 1st brigade: Kabardian cavalry regiment (Kabardians and Balkars) and 2nd Dagestan regiment; 2nd brigade: Tatar cavalry regiment (Azerbaijanis) and Chechen cavalry regiment; 3rd Brigade: Circassian Cavalry Regiment (Circassians, Karachays, Adyghes and Abkhazians) and Ingush Cavalry Regiment.

Journalist N.N. Breshko-Breshkovsky, who repeatedly visited the Wild Division and published articles in the Niva magazine, wrote: “Dzhigits did not need state horses - they came with their own; there was no need for uniforms - they were dressed in their picturesque Circassians. It remained only to sew shoulder straps. Each rider had his own dagger hanging on his belt, and his own saber on the side. The only thing they had was official, that rifles."

Officers of the 2nd brigade of the division, in the center - the commander of the division, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and the commander of the Chechen cavalry regiment A. S. Svyatopolk-Mirsky in the photo below.

Edited 16 May , 2023 by Mikhail

[stevenbecker]

Mikhail,

Interesting.

I've not seen this unit mentioned during the fighting in the Caucusus can you tell me where it fits in?

The Cavalry that gets the most is

Caucasian cavalry division under Gen Sharpantie and later Gen Prince Beloselskiy-Belozerskiy 12-15 

and the

Combined Cossack Div 9-15 reformed as 5th Caucasian Cossack Div 12-15   under  Gen Nicolaev 11-13 to 11-16

or later

1st Caucasus Cossack Div (Kars) under Gen Baratov and later Gen Raddatz 5-16

Trans Caspian (Ashkabad) Cossack Div
2nd Caucasian Cossack Div reformed as Rifle Div 12-16     Gen Abatsiev to Gen Kulebiakin 7-16
3rd Caucasian Cossack (Vladikavkaz) Div

4th Caucasian Cossack Div under Gen Chernozubov and later Gen Filimonov 8-16

5th Caucasian Cossack Div formed from Combined Cossack Div 12-15    Gen Nicolaev to Gen Tomashevskiy 11-16 to Gen Chiorniy 9-17 

Combined Kuban Cossack Division renamed 3rd Kuban Cossack Div 12-16    Gen Logvinov to Gen Rafalovich 8-16
3rd Kuban Cossack Div    Gen Uspenskiy
4th Kuban cossack Div 3-17    Gen Rybalchenko
 

S.B

[Mikhail]

8 hours ago, stevenbecker said:

Mikhail,

Interesting.

I've not seen this unit mentioned during the fighting in the Caucusus can you tell me where it fits in?

 

From December 1914, the division was on the Southwestern Front and proved itself well in battles against the Austro-Hungarian army, which was regularly reported in orders from higher authorities. Already in the first, December battles, the 2nd brigade of the division, consisting of the Tatar and Chechen regiments, distinguished itself, counterattacking enemy units that penetrated the rear in the area of the village of Verkhovina-Bystra and height 1251. The brigade bypassed the Austrians from the rear on bad roads and deep snow and dealt a crushing blow enemy, capturing 9 officers and 458 privates. For skillful command, Colonel K.N. Khagandokov was promoted to the rank of major general, and many riders received their first combat awards - the "soldier's" St. George's crosses.

Parts of the division held one of their most successful battles on September 10, 1915. On this day, 2 squadrons of the Kabardian and 2nd Kabardian regiments secretly concentrated near the village of Kulchitsy in order to facilitate the advance of the neighboring infantry regiment in the direction of height 392, the Michal-field farm and the village of Petlikovtse- Nove on the left bank of the Strypi River. Although the task of the cavalry was only reconnaissance of enemy positions, the commander of the Kabardian regiment, Prince F.N. Bekovich-Cherkassky took the initiative and, taking advantage of the opportunity, dealt a crushing blow to the main positions of the 9th and 10th Hungarian regiments near the village of Zarvinitsa, capturing 17 officers, 276 Hungarian soldiers, 3 machine guns, 4 telephones. At the same time, he had only 196 Kabardian and Dagestan horsemen and lost two officers, 16 horsemen and 48 horses killed and wounded in battle. It should be noted that valor and heroism in this battle was shown by the mullah of the Kabardian regiment Alikhan Shogenov, who, as stated in the award list, “in the battle on September 10, 1915 near the village Dobropole, under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, accompanied the advancing units of the regiment, with his presence and speeches he influenced the Muslim horsemen, who showed extraordinary courage in this battle and captured 300 Hungarian infantrymen.

The "Wild Division" also took part in the famous Brusilovsky breakthrough in the summer of 1916, however, it failed to seriously distinguish itself there. The reason for this was the general attitude of the command of the 9th Army to the use of cavalry in the form of an army reserve, and not as an echelon for the development of success, as a result of which the entire army cavalry was scattered brigade along the front and did not have a significant impact on the course of the battles. Nevertheless, in a number of battles, the mountain horsemen of the division managed to distinguish themselves. For example, even before the start of the general offensive, they contributed to the forcing of the Dniester River, which separated the opposing sides. On the night of May 30, 1916, the captain of the Chechen regiment, Prince Dadiani, with fifty of his 4th hundred, crossed the river near the village of Ivania under fierce rifle and machine-gun fire of the enemy, captured the bridgehead. This made it possible to cross to the right bank of the Dniester Chechen, Circassian, Ingush, Tatar regiments, as well as the Zaamur regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division.

During the war years, about 7,000 troopers passed through the ranks of the "Wild" division. It is known that by March 1916 the division lost 23 officers, 260 horsemen and lower ranks killed and died from wounds. The wounded were 144 officers and 1438 horsemen. Many riders could be proud of more than one St. George award. It is curious to note that for foreigners in the Russian Empire, a cross was provided with the image not of St. George, the protector of Christians, but with the state emblem. The riders were very indignant at the fact that they were given a "bird" instead of a "rider" and, in the end, they got their way.

The officers and ORs of the division are on the photos below.

[clive_hughes]

Mikhail,

thank you for your responses and the various photos.  Picturesque they may be from our point in time, but I suspect that wouldn't be the first reaction of an enemy being charged by them!  

I did have some doubts about the ancient armour story, and will have to ask where my brother found that tale.

Clive

[Mikhail]

2 hours ago, clive_hughes said:

Mikhail,

thank you for your responses and the various photos.  Picturesque they may be from our point in time, but I suspect that wouldn't be the first reaction of an enemy being charged by them!  

I did have some doubts about the ancient armour story, and will have to ask where my brother found that tale.

Clive

I found references to small tribes (for example, the Khevsur tribes) who lived in the highlands of the Caucasus (Georgia) and who retained their ancient way of life and customs (photographs of their traditional equipment and weapons below) until the beginning of the 20th century. Perhaps it was they who descended from the mountains and made an indelible impression on contemporaries who had not seen this for a long time?

[clive_hughes]

Mikhail,

yes, that must be them.  When I asked my brother for the source of his story, he provided several websites as follows:

https://frontierpartisans.com/9634/hear-theres-war/

 

https://laststandonzombieisland.com/2014/11/24/the-tsars-crusaders/

 

 

There was a  story that these people were descendants of "lost crusaders", which is rather unlikely.  However, it might as you say explain the effect they had if they came down from the hills ready to take part in a war.

 

Clive