Convoy

Traumatic people ( slaves - drovers ) in the Roman army were called Calones . In the initial period of the Roman Empire, they could be taken on a campaign for war, and the pacification of the occupied territories, only the stands and the centurions . Subsequently, the number of kalones in the Roman army increased to the point that they took part in battles , battles and battles .

In the Middle Ages, for the rear support of their formations, the army was forced to bring food with them in the wagon train, since there was no centralized supply system, and food purchases on the spot were difficult due to underdeveloped money circulation. So, during the war of Charlemagne with the Saxons, every warrior was obliged to come to the assembly point with a three-month supply of food. Therefore, the war could last only a short time, since the food supply had to be saved on the way back. Behind a medieval army of several thousand people stretched for many tens of kilometers of a convoy of several thousand wagons and thousandth herds of cattle ^[2] .

Russian military theorist and practitioner Dmitry Milyutin predicted the use and appearance in the armed forces of Russia and the world of military equipment for combat and its support, such as a car, an armored car , tanks and self-propelled artillery installations .

Is there anything impossible, for example, in the fact that cars will not only completely replace the carts in convoys, but will even make their way into field artillery ; instead of field guns with horse harness mobile armored batteries will enter the competition on the battlefield, and the land battle will be likened to the battle of the sea.

In the XX century, due to the widespread use of military equipment in the troops, the word convoy has lost its relevance and how the term has become obsolete in the governing documents and replaced by the phrase - transport, military transport.

In Russia

The convoy in Russia from Old Russian carriage is to haul, deliver ^[3] , the collective name of the horse-drawn formations (later motorized and mechanized traction) that performed logistics support tasks: transportation, maintenance and transportation of materiel.

In the Russian army, all stocks of materiel or “stern” followed with a squad and regiments on packs, and later in a wheeled (sled) convoy or delivered by water. In the regular army, Peter I introduced a convoy into the regular structure of regiments ( soldiers' ranks — 63 wagons, dragoons — 60 wagons). Since 1708, regimental convoys were divided into light - “to battle necessary things” and heavy - “superfluous burdens”, later the first and second category wagons became known. Alexander I reduced the convoy in the regiments but formed them in divisions, including Furstadt battalions of 6 company composition (108 wagons, with a 9-day supply of rusks and other provisions), for each infantry or cavalry division.

In the Russian Imperial Army (RIA), there were several types of military convoys:

• in order of formation:
  • state-owned, that is, owned by the state treasury; in peacetime, his carts, along with the harness and accessories, were kept completely in the RIA, but there were only a few horses (during mobilization, the set of horses was replenished on the basis of military horse service);
  • philistine, that is, state-owned citizens, formed in wartime by employment, requisition or on the basis of underwater conscription.
• by office
  • quartermaster
  • special
    • artillery
    • engineering
    • sanitary
• by appointment:
  • food and clothing, food and clothing convoy was the First Division of the division convoy, and consisted of wagons raising the material means of the infantry division (pd): food supply (crackers, cereals, salt, tea, sugar - for 4 days, canned meat and vegetables - for one day), trench tools , stock of clothes and shoes. Under him, the equestrian stock of the front ranks was. The 1st section consisted of 5 platoons , of which the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th platoons each had a one-day supply of food. The commander of the 1st Division was at the same time the commander of the division convoy.
  • artillery
  • engineering
  • sanitary, sanitary convoy was the Second Division of the convoy of wagons, and consisted of carts raising the divisional infirmary and two field hospitals , and if necessary, military transport also joined the divine wagon train.
  • officer
  • staff.
• by formations :
  • parts
  • compounds
  • associations
• by distribution between formations:
  • company ( squadron , battery ), that is, each company, squadron, battery had its own wagons, horses and crew
  • battalion ( division )
  • regimental, for infantry and rifle regiments , was part of the unit , they raised the material means, which the personnel needed for battle and campaign. Therefore, the regimental convoy followed the march as part of its regiment and had to be constantly with it or near it.
  • brigade , for rifle brigades
  • divisional, for infantry divisions and consisted of two departments: the 1st - food and clothing and the 2nd - sanitary. The cavalry divisions of the RIA did not have a divine convoy.
  • corpus
  • army .

... At the viewing of the division head, one platoon of the Tersko-Gorsky regiment was left behind the front , in cover of the regiment convoy, which, by the way, consists entirely of Caucasian two-wheeled carts. ...

- V Gules regiments, Twenty months in the army (1877-1878) ( Letters to the editorial board of the Government Gazette from her official correspondent of the Life Guards of His Majesty Ulansky regiment, headquarters captain Vsevolod Krestovsky)

The convoy consisted of wagons, horses and a convoy team which included:

• Management (as part of department 1 to)
• 1st department - food and clothing
  • 1st platoon
  • 2nd platoon
  • 3rd platoon
  • 4th platoon
  • 5th platoon
• 2nd department - sanitary

The convoy was 287 wagons with 748 horses.

The carts for transporting basic necessities, along with the troops, made up the 1st category wagon train, which included:

• Charging boxes , single-shell projectiles and twin cartridge cartridges (ammunition)
• instrumental carts (camp forge, tools and horseshoes)
• pharmacy gig
• infirmary
• officer gig.

• “Winter convoy on the way”
• MuzOboz

• V.I. Dahl, Explanatory Dictionary, 1863-1866.
• “The convoy" (1812) - fable of I. A. Krylov
• Military convoys // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Sanitary convoy // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Provisions on regimental and divisional convoys approved on July 10, 1885.
• M. A. Gazenkampf , “Military convoy of a new organization and transition device”, St. Petersburg , Military printing house, 1885 .
• Alexander Prozorov, Battle for the convoy.
• Military carts // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Reference book for officers. Compiled by the General Staff Colonels V. Malinko and V. Golosov, 3rd Edition, revised and supplemented, Part I. - Moscow, 1902, Printing and Lithography of the Russian Association of Printing and Publishing, Chistye Prudy, Mylnikov per., own. house. - 262 p.
• F. A. Maksheev , Supplies and warfare in wartime;
• F. A. Maksheev , War economy and rear organization. The convoy and rear institutions of foreign armies;
• P. Rezhepo , Importance and operation of the convoy;
• Provisions on regimental and divisional convoys - Order on the military department No. 229 of 1907.
• Sytin Military Encyclopedia, 1916, Volume No. 1 - No. 18.

• Svechin A.A. The evolution of military art. Volume I. - M.-L.: Voengiz, 1928
• Of. website of the Russian Ministry of Defense.