Although this order does not mention the Engineering Corps, it is clear from the document that the Engineering Department was also subordinate to it.
Thanks to the high importance and rights enjoyed by Field Marshal Potemkin, the Scheuuners and Engineering Troops in the Yekaterinoslav Army, as well as other troops stationed there, enjoyed enhanced support and received, in addition to the existing terms, new uniforms; officers, conductors and corporals were awarded personally by Potemkin for military services. The small Engineering team, which consisted of the Yekaterinoslav army, first of 180 people, and then of 209 people, gained honorable historical fame with its tireless and useful work and its personal bravery.
Although Prince Potemkin was full of energy and enjoyed enormous influence, he probably had no time to pay due attention to the state of the Field Engineering Troops.
From the above we see that the created graph. Shuva-
H I whose fishing, in 1757, the Engineer Regiment of 6 companies was replaced, in 1763, by one Schonner and one Miner company. In 1771, instead of one Schoner company, the Schoner Battalion was formed, with its subordination no longer to the Engineering Department, but to that present at the main Military Collegium. In 1775, the Puner battalion was destroyed and, from that time until 1796, the Field Engineering Troops consisted of one Mineral Company, numbering, according to the 1763 states, 7 chief officers and 280 lower ranks, i.e., almost the same composition as it had 70 years ago, in 1728.
So, we see what a sad picture the history of the Field Engineering Troops represents during the reign of Catherine 1! Instead of taking a step forward, the Field Engineers could not even maintain the level of development they had acquired before 1762. Unfortunately, there is no factual data on the basis of which it would be possible to definitely indicate who is to blame for such a pitiful situation in the Field Engineering Troops. However, I take the liberty to attribute this to the fault of the main bosses, i.e., the field chiefs, who were at the head of the Engineering Department during this period.
From the data preserved in the archives, it can be concluded that General Vilboa, Prince Orlov, Baron Meller-Zakomelsky and, partly, Prince Potemkin, took little part in the development of the Engineering Troops. These were nobles who acted at their own discretion and almost without accountability.
In the circle of activity of each of them, the engineering part was the least important subject. None of them paid due attention to the state of the Engineering Troops and did not consider it necessary to either study or change, in accordance with the needs of the time, the regulations relating to them.
In general, after the death of Peter the Great, only the personalities of Minikh and Shuvalov are drawn more clearly into the fog of the management of the Engineering Corps. Both of them not only recognized the need, but also fully understood the importance that the Field Engineers should have. These were people who treated all the institutions entrusted to them with the same zeal and dedication.
All the rest, as people alien to the Engineering Department and having little in common with it, not only did not care about the development of the Engineering Troops, but, as we have seen, among them there were even those who petitioned for their destruction.
This was, in the 18th century, the sad outcome of those good decisions for us that were ordained by Peter the Great, the founder of the Engineering Troops,
The state of the Field Engineering Troops during the reign of Paul G (1796-1802).
The ranks of General Feldzeichmeister and General Engineer were destroyed. Renamed the Main Office! and Artillery and Fortifications to the Artillery Department. Advantages in ranks have been destroyed. Formation instead of the Miner Company of the Schöner Regiment. Establishment of two pontoon companies. Reforms to the Corps of Military Engineers. Renamed the Artillery Department into the Artillery Expedition. The post of General Feldzeichmeister was re-established, with the appointment of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich to it. The final separation of the Engineering Department from the Artillery Department.
1796 With the accession of Emperor Paul to the throne (November 6, 1796), reforms began in Russia across all branches of State Administration. These transformations also affected the Artillery and Engineering departments, which came under the direct command of His Majesty.
Peremzny began with the administration of the Artillery and the Corps of Engineers. The team of General Feldzeichmeister and General Engineer was destroyed.