The First Western Army was a field army created in 1810 as part of the reorganisation of the Imperial Russian Army, and was intended as a defense against the north-western part of the Empire from the expected invasion by Napoleon. The total troops in this Army (159,800 men)Jean-Claude Damamme, Les soldats de la grande armée, Paris, Perrin, coll. "Tempus" (No. 9), 2002, . p. 401 included 150 battalions, 128 squadrons, 19 Cossack regiments, and 590 guns.
History The command-in-chief of the First West Army on was assigned to General of the Infantry M. B. Barclay de Tolly. However, after arriving 14 (26) April 1812 in Vilno (now Vilnius) at the general headquarters of the First West Army, the Emperor Alexander I became both legally and actually its commander-in-chief, since according to §18 of "Establishments for management of the large acting army", introduced on January 27 (N.S. February 8) 1812, "the presence of Emperor represents the main command authority of the army, unless when specified by an order, the acting commander-in-chief is directed to retain complete authority". There was no such order, therefore, the Emperor assumed command of the army. When on the 7 (19) July 1812 the Emperor left the field army, M. B. Barclay de Tolly again became its commander-in-chief.Complete collection of the laws of the Russian Empire, coll.1, v.32, №24975 from 27.01.1812.
Commanders during the Napoleonic Wars Commander-in-Chief Emperor Alexander I CommanderGeneral of the Infantry M. B. Barclay de Tolly Chief of StaffGeneral Lieutenant N. I. Lavrov until 12 July 1812 (then General Major A. P. Yermolov) General-quartermasterGeneral Major S. A. Mukhin until 11 July 1812 (then Colonel K. W. von Toll) Duty GeneralFligel-adjutant Colonel P. A. Kikin Chief of ArtilleryGeneral Major Graf A. I. Kutaysov Chief of EngineersGeneral Lieutenant Kh. I. Truzson 1st Infantry Corps General Lieutenant Graf P. Kh. Wittgenstein 2nd Infantry Corps General Lieutenant K. G. von Baggovut 3rd Infantry Corps General Lieutenant N. A. Tuchkov I 4th Infantry Corps General Lieutenant Graf P. A. Shuvalov 5th Reserve Guard Corps Tsesarevich Constantine Pavlovich 6th Infantry Corps General of the Infantry D. S. Dokhturov 1st Cavalry Corps General Adjutant F. P. Uvarov 2nd Cavalry Corps General Adjutant Baron F. K. Korff 3rd Cavalry Corps General Major Graf P. P. Pahlen III Flying Cossack Corps General of the Cavalry M. I. Platov
See also Second Western Army Third Reserve Army of Observation
References and notes
Sources "La Moskowa: la bataille des Redoutes". F. G. Hourtoulle. Histoire & collections. Napoleon's Invasion of Russia. 1812