“Strictly ensure that all assigned work for battalions in the city and according to patterns is completed; otherwise, the trench mayor should not accept them, but stock new ones in the regiments; and for this purpose, the officers must ensure that the assigned work is done correctly and well from the beginning.”
0 concerns the management system of the Engineering Department, then, strictly speaking, it, in the form in which it existed under separate independent heads, did not exist at that time.
At least it is known that the old system of management, with the destruction of the ranks of general-sergeant-major and general-engineer, was shaken by the new order, while the new system barely arose. The title of General Director lost its former significance, and his power passed to the commander of the artillery expeditionary force, in which all the affairs of the Engineering Department in economic, combat, artificial and scientific were concentrated. parts.
1802 On October 23, 1802, during the reign of Emperor Alexander, a great and beneficial reform took place for the Engineering Troops. The artillery expedition was divided into two separate independent parts; one is named the State Military College of Artillery Expedition, and the other is named the State Military College of Engineering Expedition.
The Engineering Expedition was directly subordinate to the Engineer General-Inspector of the entire Engineering Department\).
Thus, from that moment on, the Engineering Department received complete independent management forever and the Field Engineering Troops (with the exception of Pontoner) were removed from the Artillery Department. Exactly what benefits this reform brought can be seen clearly from the further history of the Field Engineering Troops in the 20th century.
1) P.S. Zak. Ross. Imp. vol. XXUI, No. 2048.
Concluded!e.
Ending this historical essay on October 23, 1802, i.e., the moment. separation of the Engineering Department from the Artillery Department, I believe that from all of the above we can say with confidence that in the 100 years since the formation of the Field Engineering Troops, their development has lagged far behind the modern development of Artillery. The main reason for such uneven development of the two special branches of weapons, consisting of the department and management of the same chief (feldtzeichmeister), should be attributed to the fact that these were all persons (with very few exceptions) alien to the Engineering Department and little familiar with its special purpose.
Indeed, on the dark horizon of the entire past, only two faces are drawn who paid due attention to the state of the Field Engineering Troops and worked hard to develop them. These were: Count Shuvalov (in 1757) and Emperor Pavel 1. But unfortunately, the works of Count. Shuvalov, as we have seen, were not successful. His successors, with their inactivity, indifference and indifference to the Field Engineering Troops, not only did not try to support everything that was created by Count Shuvalov, but, on the contrary, returned the Field Engineering Troops to the state in which they were in the first years after their inception.
It may be objected that the circumstances of that time required the improvement of artillery, and there was no particular need for the Field Engineering Troops at that time. To prove the validity of this, it is pointed out that before the reign of the Emperor. Alexandra [history does not give us any special feats of the Engineering Troops, but this can hardly serve as proof of their uselessness in the continuation of this period.
It would be a little strange to look in history for the exploits and merits of the Engineering Troops for that period when they were so small in number that, in relation to the total composition of the entire army, they constituted barely 0.1 percent.
There are also indications that if the Field Engineer Troops were really so necessary at that time, then there would have already been detailed instructions and instructions for their activities and training. We find only hints of this in the Highest commands and decrees of that time on these issues. The following can be answered to this:
Manuals and instructions for the Engineering Troops existed even then. Among them, in its thoughtfulness and as completely satisfying the needs of that time, the Instruction of Count Shuvalov deserves full attention. His successors not only did not give her further movement,
Zhenya and developed, but from the documents preserved in our archives we see that they showed her as lost.