The Russian Infantry Division 1914

As we work our way through combatants in 1914, let us take a look at the Russian infantry division.

The Russian infantry division in 1914 shares many similarities with their Western counterparts:
The division has 2 brigades of infantry. Each brigade has 2 regiments. Each regiment contains 4 battalions and each battalion has 4 companies. I could not find details on the organisation below the company level but the company has a captain and 3 lieutenants which suggests 3 platoons.

The US war department noted that formations would often deviate from the intended organisations, with some regiments have only 2 or 3 battalions, while some battalions have 5 or more companies.

An interesting asset is a scouting detachment. A US war department publication notes that each regiment in the “European” (meaning west Russian) regiments) has a scouting detachment of 2 officers and 64 men, not mounted, while in “Asiatic” regiments they are mounted. It also notes that Siberian regiments had as much as 150 men in scouting detachments.

You receive the usual divisional assets such as sanitary and medical elements. The division is supported by an artillery brigade with 48 guns. These would be light calibre field guns as Russian heavy artillery was instead employed by the fortress troops. It is noted that Russian batteries were quite large with 8 guns per battery but that they may have been able to deploy in halves.

Cavalry is provided by 3 squadrons in the division intended for scouting and raiding: A task of particular value in the large open spaces in the East. Some of these squadrons may be cossacks.

The Russians had ample practical experience with machine guns in the Russo-Japanese War and placed their guns at the regimental level with the regiment being intended to have a machine gun company of 8 guns. The company would be at half strength in peace time and it seems that some divisions did not receive their full compliment of guns, so the actual number might vary from 4 to 8. At the highest allotment this is the same level as the western forces (2 guns per battalion).

Sources:

The World War 1 Databook (John Ellis and Michael Cox)

Strength and organization of the armies of France, Germany, Austria, Russia, England, Italy, Mexico and Japan (US War department)