Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Salute!

Here is an account of a Russian officer that I have always found intriguing.
It is taken from a book I would highly recommend - Russia Against Napoleon by Dominc Lieven.

The officer in question is: Colonel Vladimir Lowenstern, one time AdC to Barclay de Tolly, and who at the time of our story served with the Armee of the North in the 1813 Campaign.

The tale commences: Immediately the armistice had ended Winzengerode ordered raiding and scouting parties to move out around the western flank of Oudinot's army and into its rear. Rumours that Napoleon himself was moving up towards Oudinot's headquarters even persuaded the Russian commander that he might seize the French emperor.

Lowenstern was given a detachment of Cossacks and the task of bagging Napoleon. Lowenstern's scouts quickly discovered that Napoleon was far away in Silesia. Much closer was Oudinot's weakly guarded treasury, on which Lowenstern pounced with glee.

The Russian Colonel was something of a pirate by nature. In Petersburg before the war he won and more often lost vast sums at cards. During the war he combined great courage and boldness in action with the seduction of women all the way from Vilna to Paris. Even so, he was in his way a rather honourable pirate. Although he records that prisoners of war were a big nuisance for a raiding party, he always took them along with him and he despised those who instead murdered their captives.

Oudinot's treasury contained the equivalent of 2.4 million paper rubles in coin. Lowenstern insists in his memoirs that by Russian military convention the treasure was his, since he had captured it sword in hand. Getting it home safely was quite a challenge.

Judging by Lowenstern's memoirs, evading the French was less of a problem than beating off 'allies' anxious to share his spoils. The first threat was his own Cossacks. Russian military convention may (or may not) have made Lowenstern the rightful owner of his spoil but Cossack convention was more democratic. The Cossacks were the descendants of full-time plunderers who traditionally divided up their booty equally, with a special bonus for their commander.

No one had quite got round to codifying how this tradition might be modified when in the service of the emperor. To avoid misunderstandings. Lowenstern gave each Cossack 100 silver francs and promised them the same again when they got the booty back to Berlin.

His next success was to outwit and evade the neighbouring raiding party of Cossacks under Colonel Prendel, who felt an urgent need to help protect Lowenstern's loot from the awful possibility of recapture by the French.

Having got back to Berlin Lowenstern then faced the most dangerous enemy of all in the person of the city's fierce military governor, General L'Estocq. At a time when Prussia was desperate for cash, L'Estocq saw no reason to allow piracy to succeed untaxed and under his nose. There followed a strange hide and seek across Berlin as the governor tried to discover Lowenstern's carts and their contents. By the time he found them Lowenstern had his loot safely hidden. Hen then paid off a number of possible threats to his haul.

It is recorded that Lowenstern's haul of foreign coin was so enormous that it depressed the exchange rate of the Prussian taler in the entire Berlin region. Judging by Lowenstern's memoirs, business also increased dramatically among the best whorehouses and champagne sellers in the Prussian capital.

Now this seems to have the makings of a great movie in it - a Kelly's Heroes a la Napoleonic era, if you will.

Regards,

_________________
Général de Brigade Christian Rizo

Dear Al,

Unfortunately the abstract is wholly on the wrong. It uses tha name of one person Dmitry Osten-Sacken (https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D1 ... 0%B8%D1%87) and most of the bio of completely another - Fabian Osten-Sacken (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabian_Go ... ten-Sacken). Although they bear the same family name the gentlemen in question were very distant relatives.

As for the Dmitry Osten-Sacken himself he was Poruchik (1st Lieutenant) at the beginning of 1812 campaign serving as an aide-du-camp to count Osterman-Tolstoy. In 1870 he published an abstract about the history of Elizabethgrad hussars regiment with which he started his military carreeer (http://memoirs.ru/texts/OstenSaken1870.htm).

Battle on and drinks on you

General-Adjutant Anton Kosyanenko,

Please check "Dictionary of Napoleonic Wars written by Stephane Pope page 428... While this is my source, it does not necessarily make the author correct.

We seem to have two different sources of information. I find Wikipedia is not always an accurate source of information. But your Russian book may be correct and while I have a very large collection of books on the Napoleonic Era I must admit I have never read a information from a Russian historical side and welcome you it.

I am using a computer translator on your link and will add you excerpt from the Chronicle of the Yelysavethradskoho Hussar to my collection of Napoleonic Era Library.

Thanks for you input, and I hope to make similar post and the more input of information from everyone the better.

Battle On...

Al

Dear Sir,

I'm pleased to know that at least on one point I'm holier than the Pope.

The gentlemen in question are very well known figures, one of them being Field-marshal and the other - general of cavalry. Men of such a posture deserved personal biografies written. So we know abou them much more than about a mere divisional commander. And in this question even the Wikipedia is correct.

Unfortunately the problem is well spread, when people are writing about the army without knowing the language. I heard of numerous such mistakes regarding Prussian or Austrian generals in 7 years war. But never at such a level! Fabian Osten-Saken was not a mere divisional commander, after all.