Soldiers of the Tsar. Army and Society in Russia, 1462-1874 - John L. Keep

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(^186) The Imperial Century, 1725-1825
The ration was ample in carbohydrates but deficient in vitamins. One col-
ond. passing through Voronezh province in 1769, bought some vegetables for
hi~ troops: cvidenrlv rhis "·as unusuJ cno~h for an offo.~r ro ~"-'rd 1he f~t.·1
in his memoirs.^111 As for mear and fish. Vyaftmsky remarlcd a rl:-w )"('"rs hth."r
that they were consumed so rarely as to be 'not worth talking abou1'. He
recommended the introduction of a meat ration of I f uni a week which, he
ceckoned, would cost the state an additional 1.04 roubles per man per
annum.62 Presumably the 'meat money' of Petrine times, now no longer issued
separately. was used for other purposes. Catherine did not respond to the sug-
gestion. To celebrate victory over the Turks, she ordered a modest addition to
the ration of grits: half a garnets per man.^63 By Alexander I's reign, however,
combatant troops were supposed to get 84 funty of beef and 20 of salt annually,
in addition to their grain ration which remained unchanged.^64
They also now received a liquor 'portion' of 3 charki (31 8 litre), distributed
when the men were on campaign or in camp.^65 During the retreat in June 1812
an unexpected allocation of vodka to fatigued soldiers in the 26th Chasseurs
had an immediate effect on morale: 'songs could be heard in the ranks ... and
some of the men started up a dance, amusing themselves and cheering the
others'.^66 Russian soldiers generally stuck to kvas, or native beer, and had a
better reputation for sobriety than their officers or most civilians. From 1819
onwards they were not allowed to visit taverns and had to be content with their
regulation issue of alcoholic beverages. 67
The 17.16 military statute explicitly exempted troops abroad from obser-
vance of religious fasts, but some men insisted on abstaining from meat during
Lent. The supply authorities worked on the basis of a 360-day year, so that on
major church holidays soldiers will have had to make do with whatever their
artel had saved, perhaps supplemented by largesse from their superiors.
How much of what they were allocated did the troops actually get? In the
1780s von Hupe! put it at three-quarters.^68 The commissariat services have had
such a bad press that their achievement deserves to be put on record. A net-
work of magazines was set up along the main communication arteries, with the
idea that troops should not have to march for more than two weeks before
reaching a source of fresh supplies. By the early nineteenth century the
distance had been reduced to a six-to eight-day march. As early as 1731 there
were 14 major provision depots, with a conibined storage capacity of 165,000
quarters of grain, and several dozen smaller ones; by 1766 the total number
had risen to 135. Stocks were built up by purchases on long-term contract or
from ad hoc local suppliers, at prices which were determined by the provincial
authorities in the light of local market conditions. By mid-century a three-tier
61 Von Shtrandman, 'Zapiski', p. 292. 62 Vyazemsky, 'Zapiska', p. 12.
63 PSZ icx. 14275 ( 17 Mar. 1775), § 3. 64 Petrov, Russkaya voyennaya silo, ii. 442.
6' Ibid.; Tanski, Tableau, p. 209. 66 Antonovsky, 'Zapiski', p. 12.
(^67) Plotho, Entstehung, p. 68; de Raymond, Tableau, p. 520; PSZ xxxvi. 27814 (25 May 1819).
68 Von Hupel, Beschreibung, p. 144 n.

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