Vasily Grigorievich Kostenetsky (1766-1831) - lieutenant general, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812 .
| Vasily Grigorievich Kostenetsky | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Vasily G. Kostenetsky workshop [1] of George Dow . Military Gallery of the Winter Palace , State Hermitage Museum ( St. Petersburg ) | |
| Date of Birth | 1766 |
| Date of death | 1831 |
| Place of death | Petersburg Russian empire |
| Affiliation |  Russian empire |
| Type of army | Artillery |
| Years of service | 1786-1831 |
| Rank | lieutenant general |
| Battles / wars | World War 1812 , War of the sixth coalition |
| Awards and prizes | Order of St. George of the 3rd class., St. Anna of the 1st art. with diamonds, Vladimir , 2nd century, honorary gentleman of John of Jerusalem ; Prussian Pur le Merit and Red Eagle 2nd art., Austrian Leopold 2nd art.; gold sword “for courage” with diamonds |
Biography
From the nobles of the Chernihiv province.
Received September 11, 1779 in the artillery and engineering (later 2) cadet corps . Upon its completion, on May 12, 1786, he was released with a bayonet-junker into the 2nd Cannonier Regiment.
He received baptism of fire during the assault on Ochakov in 1788 and was promoted to second lieutenant . In 1796 he was appointed commander of the emerging company of horse artillery. In 1798 he was promoted to colonel and transferred to the Life Guards Horse Artillery . He proved himself to be excellent in 1805 near Austerlitz , and was awarded the Order of St. George of the 4th class on February 24, 1806. No. 680
 | In retribution of the excellent courage and courage shown in the battle of November 20 at Austerlitz against the French troops. |  |
He fought at Heilsberg and Friedland in 1807, on March 16, 1808 he received the rank of Major General .
At the beginning of 1812, the 6th Infantry Corps , in which Kostenetsky commanded artillery, was part of the 1st Western Army . He distinguished himself in the defense of Smolensk .
In the battle of Borodino, he initially led an infantry brigade from the Libavsky and Sofia regiments , and after the death of General A.I. Kutaisov, he commanded all artillery.
“After the killed Major General Count Kutaisov, he commanded all artillery and, with a prudent order, did the enemy great harm”
- M.I. Kutuzov . From the characteristics of V. G. Kostenetsky in a report with a list of generals who distinguished themselves at Borodin [2]
October 20, 1812 was awarded the Order of St. George of the 3rd class. Number 246
| As a reward for the courage and courage shown in the battle against the French troops on August 26 at Borodino. |
During the battle of Borodino, an episode occurred that was very characteristic of Kostenetsky. In the midst of the battle, Polish lancers broke into one of the batteries and began to cut down the gunners. Kostenetsky, who was nearby, rushed to the rescue last and, not satisfied with the saber, began to bring down the enemies with a gun banner . With one blow, he threw the nearest lantern off the horse, then, rushing into the crowd, threw one enemy after another to the ground until the banner broke. Following the example of the chief, the gunners who fought off the attack as far as they could and after a few minutes already opened fire again.
Luck in this hand-to-hand combat prompted Kostenetsky to suggest that Alexander I introduce iron banners in the artillery instead of wooden. “I can have iron banns,” the emperor answered this proposal, “but where can I get the Kostenetsky to own them.” Glorified in hand-to-hand combat, Kostenetsky was not only a dashing grunt. In the Tarutino camp, he submitted a memo to M.I. Kutuzov , in which he expressed his opinion on the need to force Napoleon’s troops to retreat from Russia along the old Smolensk road.
When moving to Moscow, Kostenetsky was appointed chief of artillery rearguard. He distinguished himself in the battles at Spas-Kupla, at Maloyaroslavets and Krasny . In the presentation for the rewarding with a sword with diamonds “For courage” for the case at the village of Chernishnya at Spas-Kupli on September 22, 1812, M. I. Kutuzov pointed out: “In all vanguard affairs, as well as in this battle, commanding all the batteries that are in good order arranged them in favorable places and, acting with excellent fearlessness, inflicted great harm on the enemy. ”
In foreign campaigns of 1813-1814 he commanded artillery of various corps, was in all the main battles of these campaigns and received several awards. He especially distinguished himself at Dresden, where about one hundred and fifty guns were rescued by his discretion, stuck on an apparently impassable road. At Bar-sur-Ob , standing at the head of three infantry regiments and several squadrons of cavalry, the general repelled an unexpected attack by the French. He was promoted to lieutenant general on January 28, 1826.
Distinguished by personal modesty, Kostenetsky did not seek recognition of his merits. Due to negligence in office work, he was awarded three times with the saber “For Courage” and two times with the Order of Anna of the first degree, that is, three times he was practically circumvented with awards. For the battles in March 1814 for Paris, the awarding of diamond marks to the Order of St. Anna of the 1st degree was replaced by a benevolent rescript. In addition to his extraordinary physical strength - he alone raised a cannon, easily broke horseshoes, jerked down any horse to the ground - and courage, Kostenetsky was known for the purely Spartan rigor of everyday life. He did not recognize the other furnishings of his room, except for a simple table and benches, on one of which he slept. Pouring cold water in the summer and wiping it with snow in the winter made up his morning toilet. Simplicity and good-naturedness in dealing with subordinates and rare scrupulous honesty in relation to state funds complemented the character of this outstanding person.
In 1831, he became infected during a cholera epidemic and died suddenly at the age of about sixty-five. [from the correspondence of the brothers Konstantin Yakovlevich and Alexander Yakovlevich Bulgakov for 1831: June 8: “General Kostenetsky died, the one who fell in love with all the brides. He was a good general, but in communication a great original. ” July 13: “Who does not know Kostenetsky? He remained intact in the battles, and died of cholera. " - “Russian Archive”, 1903, vol. III, p. 566; ibid., 1902, v. 1, p. 74] Consequently, V. G. Kostenetsky died no later than June 8, 1831. The date "July 6" is probably the moment of deletion from the lists due to death.
Notes
- ↑ State Hermitage Museum. Western European painting. Catalog / Ed. V. F. Levinson-Lessing; ed. A. E. Krol , K. M. Semenova. - 2nd edition, revised and supplemented. - L .: Art, 1981. - T. 2. - P. 258, cat. No. 7942. - 360 p.
- ↑ No wonder all of Russia remembers. 1986. “Soviet Russia”. M.
Links
- Dictionary of Russian generals, participants in the hostilities against the army of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812-1815. // Russian archive. The history of the Fatherland in the evidence and documents of the XVIII — XX centuries. : Collection. - M .: TRITE studio N. Mikhalkova , 1996. - T. VII . - S. 432-433 . - ISSN 0869-20011 . (Comm. A. A. Podmazo )
- V.M. Krylov. Cadet corps and Russian cadets . VASILY THE GREAT
- Glinka V.M. , Pomarnatsky A.V. Kostenetsky, Vasily Grigoryevich // Military gallery of the Winter Palace. - 3rd ed. - L .: Art , 1981. - S. 123-125.
- Kostenetsky I. I. Vasily G. Kostenetsky. 1780-1831. // Russian antiquity, 1875. - V. 12. - No. 2. - S. 407-413.
- Pikul V.S. Historical miniatures. Horse artillery - march march . M., 1977
- The painting “The Feat of General Kostenetsky” [1] [2] , A. Yu. Averyanov , 1993
- Kostenetsky, Vasily Grigoryevich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Lists of the Chernigov nobility. 1783 - Lz II. => “Vasily the son of Grigoryev Kostenetsky, 17 years old” means. Therefore, the year of birth of V. G. Kostenetsky [1766].