The sources give conflicting
information regarding which order the various regiments lined up for battle
at Poltava. These differences are described in detail on
this page.
The order of battle presented here for the Russian side is based on Peter
the Great's plan.
I have for the Swedish cavalry followed the order of battle written down by
major general Creutz (commander of the right wing). The Swedish
infantry should according to its commander general Lewenhaupt have deployed
in the following order:
Planned Order of Battle for
the Swedish Infantry
Skaraborg
Kalmar
Jönköping
Livgardet
Dal-regiment
Uppland
Östergöt.
Västerbotten
Närke-Värmland
Västmanland
But when the main battle began
the Swedish battle line did not look like this. Because of the fighting
around the redoubts that the Swedish army had to pass through in their march
north six battalions got separated from the main force (Dal-regiment, Västerbotten, Jönköping
and the first battalion from Närke-Värmland regiment). Kalmar and Skaraborg
battalions were therefore redeployed to the first rank and took their place
among the guard battalions (Livgardet). Västmanland Regiment had been sent
away to search for the lost battalions and because of this they straggled
behind the rest of the infantry when it began its advance towards the
Russians. The result of this was that Västmanland Regiment in practise
formed a second line behind the Östergötland battalion and the remaining Närke-Värmland
battalion.
Exactly how the armies collided
with each other is not clear. This means that the two battle lines are
arranged in a somewhat speculative manner, but it is based on Bertil
Wennerholm's research on the Swedish colours taken by the Russians during
the battle. The armies were organised in such manner that all companies had
their own colour, all identical within a regiment except for the colonel's
company which carried a white colonel's colour (the only companies not
carrying a colour were Livgardet's grenadier companies). The companies were then deployed in
tactical units,
squadrons for cavalry and battalions for infantry (which is what the icons on
this page represent). A Swedish squadron consisted of only one company while
Russian squadrons consisted of two or three companies (ten companies in each
Russian dragoon regiment). Swedish and Russian battalions normally consisted
of four companies. The Swedish guard battalions (Livgardet) had however six
companies. But on the Swedish side several regiments deployed with only one
battalion because of a shortage of manpower, thus making them battalions
with eight companies.
The battle orders below are
arranged in what could be called an average engagement between the Swedish
and Russian battalions. When the Swedish infantry began to retreat from the
battle they moved southwards while having the Russians on their eastern side.
This means that each Swedish battalion most likely fought several Russian
battalions during the course of the battle. Because most colours are likely
to have been captured during the retreat, the Swedish battle line may have
been located further north at the start of the battle compared to how they
are shown in the illustration below. The reader should also be aware that
the Swedish cavalry took time to form their battle line and may not have
finished until the battle was practically over.
A greater uncertainty is the
exact location of the Kalmar and Skaraborg battalions when they were
redeployed to the first line. In the literature they are usually placed in
the middle of the Livgarde with two Livgarde battalions on each side. But Bertil Wennerholm
who has studied the distribution of the colours taken by the Russian
regiments
has convincingly argued that the Skaraborg battalion was
likely located further to the
right in the Swedish battle line. All Skaraborg colours have in fact been
lost further south than all Livgarde colours. As a consequence of this he
has placed Skaraborg as number two in the Swedish battle line. He has placed
the Livgarde grenadier battalion as number one since they did not carry any
colours. I would however want to take one step further than Wennerholm and
place Skaraborg on the extreme right. If the Skaraborg battalion had to move
to the first line the simplest way to do so would be to take possession of
the empty place right to the grenadier battalion and
Skaraborg's high casualty
rate during the battle would also suggest an exposed flank position. If
the grenadiers were on the right flank, then the colour distribution would
suggest a much more stretched battle line with each Swedish battalion facing two
Russian. But the Swedish tactic dictated a quick penetration of enemy's
battle line before their superior numbers could decide the battle so I do
not think it is likely that the Swedes stretched their line that way.
Where the Kalmar battalion fought is more difficult to tell because they
only lost three of eight colours (taken by two Russian regiments). But
considering the fact that Livgardet's colonel's colour was lost south of
both these Russian regiments it is likely that Livgardet's first
battalion was deployed south of the Kalmar battalion.
The information regarding the
regiments' strength are for the Swedes based on Bertil
Wennerholm's estimates. He has however been unable to make estimates for the
dragoons on a regimental level due to a lack of data. For the Russian army I
have used information from Nicholas A. Dorrell's book "The Dawn of the Tsarist Empire".
These refer however to the situation immediately after the battle and thus
do not include their battle losses. But despite of that the cavalry strength
is probably exaggerated by including men who where unable to serve.
According to the Swedish General Staff the average effective strength of a
Russian dragoon regiment was only 425 men.
Skånska Stånds-dragoons
Lost colour:
1 to Moscowski Regiment.
Menshikov's Life
Squadron (410 men)
Taken colours:
2 from Åbo & Björneborg.
1 from Uppland's 3-männings.
A. Kropotov's Horse Grenadiers (800 or 1 000 men)
Taken colour:
1 from Åbo & Björneborg.
von der Roop's
Horse Grenadiers (800 or 1 000 men)
Åbo & Björneborg Cavalry Regiment (470 men)
Lost colours:
2 to Menshikov's Life Squadron.
1 to Kropotov's Horse Grenadiers.
Moskovski Dragoon Regiment (921 men)
Taken colour:
1 from Skånska Stånds-dragoons.
Vladimirski Dragoon Regiment (834 men)
Östgöta Cavalry Regiment (600 men)
Lost colours:
1 to Nizhegorodski.
2 to unknown units.
Sibirski Dragoon Regiment (745 men)
Nizhegorodski Dragoon Regiment (918 men)
Taken colour:
1 from Östgöta Cavalry Regiment.
Nyland Cavalry Regiment (525 men)
Vyatski Dragoon Regiment (745 men)
Uppland 3-männing Cavalry Regiment (420 men)
Lost colour:
1 to
Menshikov's
Life Squadron.
Belozerski Dragoon Regiment (822 men)
Gyllenstierna's Dragoon Regiment
Nevski Dragoon Regiment (807 men)
Arkhangelgorodski Dragoon Regiment (819 men)
Dücker's Dragoon Regiment
G. Kropotov's Horse Grenadiers (800 or 1 000 men)
Bieltz' Grenadier Regiment
(312 men)
Preobrazhenski Guard
(2 761 men)
Semenovski Guard
(2 022 men)
Ingermanlandski Regiment
(1 922 men)
Taken colour:
1 colour which may have come from Närke-Värmland Regiment..
Närke-Värmland
Regiment
(525 men)
Lost colours:
1 to Ingermanlandski?
Possibly up to 3 colours to Kievski.
Västmanland Regiment
(1 120 men)
Lost colours:
2 to Repnin's
1 to Pskovski
1 to Nizhegorodski
2 white colours taken by Kievski may have come from Västmanland
Astrakhanski Regiment
(1 800 men, The Swedish General staff have them at 920 men and that is
more likely for a regiment with just two battalions)
Östergötland
Regiment
(380 men)
Lost colours:
2 to Kievski
(including the colonel's colour)
Possibly an additional 3 colours to Kievski
Repnin's Grenadier Regiment
(678 men)
Taken colours:
2 from Västmanland.
Uppland Regiment
(600 men)
Lost colours:
3 to Kievski
1 to Narvski
2 to unknown units
Possibly also 1 company colour to Kievski and
1 colonel's colour to Kievski or Narvski.
Kievski Regiment
(1 218 men)
Taken colours:
2 from Östergötland (including the colonel's colour)
3 from Uppland Regiment
2 from Livgardet.
2 from Småland's 3-männings who served in the Livgarde
3 red colours that are to fragmented to be identified (Uppland,
Östergötland, Närke-Värmland or 3-männings in the Livgarde?).
1 unknown colonel's colour
1 fragmented white colour (colonel's colour or Västmanland?)
Livgardet (2 250 men)
(Three 3-männing regiments had been included in the ranks of Livgardet's 4 battalions)
Lost colours:
2-3 to Kievski
5 to Narvski
1 to Butyrski
2 to Moscowski
5 to Sibirski
1 to an unknown unit
Småland's 3-männings
2 to Kievski
1 to Schlüsselburgski
2 to Narvski
1 to Moscowski
Närke-Värmland's 3-männings
3 to Sibirski
Uppland's 3-männings
May have lost up to 3 colours to Kievski
Furthermore, 2 white colours taken by Kievski
and 1 by Narvski may have been the 3-männings' colonel's colours.
Livgardet's
third battalion
Schlüsselburgski Regiment
(743 men)
Taken colour:
1 from Småland's 3-männings who served in the Livgarde
Narvski Regiment
(1 109 men)
Taken colours:
1 from Uppland
5 from Livgardet
2 from Småland's 3-männings who served in the Livgarde
1 from Kalmar Regiment
1 unknown colonel's colour.
Livgardet's
second battalion
Kalmar Regiment
(500 men)
Lost colours:
1 to Narvski
2 to Moscowski
Possibly 1 colonel's colour to Narvski.
Novgorodski Regiment
(1 140 men)
Butyrski Regiment
(866 men)
Taken colour:
1 from Livgardet
Livgardet's
first battalion
Moskovski Regiment
(1 330)
Taken colours:
2 from Kalmar Regiment.
2 from Livgardet
1 from Småland's 3-männings who served in the Livgarde.
Livgardet's
grenadier battalion
(had neither colours or grenadier caps)
Sibirski Regiment
(810 men)
Taken colours:
5 from Livgardet
(including the colonel's colour).
3 colours from Närke-Värmland's 3-männings who served in the Livgarde.
1 from Skaraborg.
Skaraborg
Regiment
(440 men)
Lost colours:
1 to Sibirski
5 to Pskovski
(including the colonel's colour)
1 to Nizhegorodski
1 to an unknown unit
Pskovski Regiment
(792 men)
Taken colours:
5 colours from Skaraborg (including the colonel's colour).
1 colour from Västmanland.
1 dragoon colour from Liv-dragoons.
1 dragoon colour from Hielm's dragoons.
Kazanski Regiment
(836 men)
Vologodski Regiment
(1 013 men)
Nizhegorodski Regiment
(804 men)
Taken colours:
1 colour from Skaraborg Regiment.
1 colour from Västmanland Regiment.
Hielm's Dragoon Regiment
Lost colour:
1 to Pskovski Infantry Regiment.
Busch's Grenadier Regiment
(825 men)
Yaroslavski
Dragoon Regiment (940 men)
Taken colour:
1 cavalry colour of unknown appearance.
Taube's Dragoon Regiment
Lost colours:
2 blue dragoon colours taken by the Russians may have come from this
regiment. Other candidates are Skånska Stånds-dragoons , Gyllenstierna's
or Dücker's dragoon regiments.
Novgorodski Dragoon Regiment (779 men)
Södra Skånska Cavalry Regiment (270 men)
Norra Skånska Cavalry Regiment (600 men)
Vologodski Dragoon Regiment (981 men)
Småland Cavalry Regiment (510 men)
Lost colour:
1 to an unknown unit.
Ingermanlandski Dragoon Regiment (741 men)
Livregementet till häst (900 men)
Lost colour:
1 to an unknown unit.
Kievski Dragoon Regiment (898 men)
Taken colours:
7 infantry or dragoon colours of unknown appearance.
