GNW Semyonovsky Guard Regiment

This is my final (for now!) Great Northern War Russian infantry regiment.

The Semyonovsky Lifeguard Regiment (Russian: Семёновский лейб-гвардии полк, Semyonovsky leyb-gvardii polk) was one of the two oldest guard regiments of the Imperial Russian Army. The other one was the Preobrazhensky Regiment.

History

Peter's Toy Army

The history of the regiment dates back to 1683 when it was formed as a company of the toy army of Peter the Great. It took its name from a village called Semyonovskoe (eastern Moscow) (part of the present-day Sokolniki District), where it was initially stationed. In 1700, the troops became the Semyonovsky Lifeguard Regiment. From 1723, the regiment was quartered in St. Petersburg.

The Great Northern War

During the Great Northern War, the regiment fought in the Battle of Narva on 30 November 1700. The Russian guard (Semyonovsky and Preobrazhensky regiments) firmly defended themselves from the Swedes and avoided a defeat. For their bravery, the Swedish king Charles XII agreed to allow them to keep their weapons; the Russian guard regiments marched with standards unfurled, drums rolling and in possession of their weapons. For their prowess, all soldiers of the Semyonovsky regiment wore red stockings from 1700 to 1740, as "in that battle, they stood knee-deep in blood". In the battle, the regiment lost 17 officers (including the commander, podpolkovnik Cunningham) and 454 enlisted personnel. Major Yakov Lobanov-Rostovsky was judged and condemned to death for his flight from the battlefield, but subsequently pardoned.

In 1702, a squad of the regiment took part in the 13-hour storming of the fortress of Nöteborg. For that, all of its members received a silver medal. The commander of the squad, podpolkovnik Mikhail Golitsyn, was for his actions promoted to the rank of guards' colonel.

In 1703, the regiment excelled in the siege of Nyenschantz and the capture of the Swedish fleet at the mouth of the Neva River. On 9 October 1708, the regiment took part in the Battle of Lesnaya as a part of the infantry contingent of the Corps Volant. On 27 September 1709, it fought in the Battle of Poltava. It also took part in the Prut campaign of 1711.

OK so I have only just read the bit about red stockings from 1700 onwards - so, its lucky I didn't do them white, as I was going to do! Also, based on the Tacticus blog uniform data, I gave the private solders yellow lace rather than white on their tricorns. 

Based on the information supplied by my Russian reader Valentin in an earlier post, I have painted all these troops as blond haired.

Also tonight, here is the first trio of Blitzkrieg WWII Wehrmacht infantry.

These are hard plastic Warlord figures.

My mate Rick has based his collection in twos and threes on 50mm round bases, so I will follow suit.

I have a stack of these to paint and base, so that is likely to be the predominant output of the painting desk over the next few months!

I have also, in a burst of megalomaniac purchasing, added 3 x early version PzKfw III and a Flak 36 88mm gun to the collection - well, they were only $NZ30 each on a local auction website - how could I resist such a bargain?! 

Next up, though, will be two GNW Russian artillery crews - the very last of the Ebor figures that arrived on 21 June! They are already half done, so likely to be completed at the weekend.