Siberian corps’ light field detachments in early 1770s

About the author:

Andrei V. Dmitriev,

Abstract:

By 1772 seven light field detachments had been established after some changes of Siberian corps’ structure. They were assembled from the former cavalry regiments’ personnel. These detachments were to guard southern borders of the Russian empire in Western Siberia. But their actions during the suppression of E. Pugachev’s rebellion showed low efficiency and combatant value. Field detachments’ officer corps was manned mostly with young people, who couldn’t have any military experience. Also they represented European Russia, and their social origin was not from any high class. Even those, who came from the nobility, belonged to small-estate or poor groups of “noble gentry”. Five among seven commanders of these detachments were foreigners, who had been unfamiliar with specific conditions of military service in Siberia. As a result, all these factors led to the supreme authority’s decision to disband Siberian corps’ field detachments in 1775.

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