Buryats in the service of Von Ungern Sternberg

[Ignatieff]

Chaps

Anyone have any information on the these fellas - numbers, dress, formations, etc?

thanks

Steve

[Byblos]

From : "White Terror : Cossacks Warlords of the Trans-Siberian" by Jamie Bisher / Routledge

Special Manchuria Detachment – Avril 1918

Japanese trainind Det : 49 h (Lt Col Kurozawa)
Command staff & reserve : 2 Officer cy (Col Nastvalov)
Mongol-Buryat Cav Rgt : 400 men (Khazaks, Officer-volunteers,Buryats)
2 X Mongol-Karachen Cav Rgt : 400 men each
Serbian Cav Rgt : 250 men (Lt Col Dragovitch)
1st Semenov Regt
2nd Manchurian Rgt
Armored Train Div (4 AT)
Arty Div (2 Heavy Guns, 2 X 4 Field guns & 4 X Mountain guns)

May 1918

Engineer section

Cavalry :   
Transbaikal Cossacks (400 men)
Zolotukhin Det 400 men & 4 guns
Orlov Det 200 men & 4 guns

Infantry:
Officer Cy (60 men)
Serbian Cy (250 men)
Chinese volunteer Cy (450 to 600 men)

Artillery:
8 field guns (4 Arisaka & 4 russians)
4 French mountain guns
2 Japanese heavy guns 6 Inch

Railway section : 2 Armored railcars & 14 echelons (35-40 cars each)

Total 2300 men on May 1st 1918

July 1918

Railway Guard : 6 off & 36 men
Manchuli base : 34 off & 640 men
1st Mongol-Buryat Cav Rgt (105 off & 510 men)
1st Onon Cossack Cav Rgt (33 off & 380 men)
Serbia mounted inf Det : 15 off & 190 men
1st Semenovskii Inf Regt : 64 off & 801 men
2nd Manchzhurskii Inf Rgt : 45 off & 420 men
2nd Daurskii Cav Rgt : 34 off & 640 men
Engineer Cy : 30 off & 140 men
1 Battalion of Japanese volunteers
Armored train : 14 men & 32 men
Arty units : 35 off & 435 men + Staff,Depot & Reserve 13 off & 236 men)
Reserve remounts : 4 off & 46 men
Motor Cy : 15 off & 53 men

Total : several thousands of Mongols & Cossacks

Chinese Eastern Railway – July 1918 (Dmitri Horvath)

Maklenko Det (100 men)
Orlov Det (450 men) to Yeh Ho
Makovkin Det (600 men) to I-Mien-Po & Harbin
Amur Cossack Det / Ataman Gamov (“Handful of men”) To Amur river in Manchuria
CER Militia (“Few men”) Scattered along CER
Special : Kalmykov Det (200 men) to Pogrannichnaya

Bolos – Tranbaikal front – April 1918 (Ensign Sergei Lazo)

1 (?) Armored train
1st Verkhne Udinsk Cossack Rgt
2nd Chita Cossack Rgt
1st Argun Cossack Rgt
2nd Nerchensk Cossack Rgt
1st Revolutionnary Transbaikal Cossack Div
Irkutsk Combined Red Guard & Internationalist Det.
Omsk 1st Proletarian Det. (300 russians, 300 Hungarians & Romanians)
Omsk 2nd Proletarian Det. (100 russians, 150 Lithuanians, 130 Czechs, 70 Germans)
Far East Red Guard Det.
Chita Red Guard Det.
Transbaikal Railway Red Guard Det.

[cuprum]

Since 1764, the Buryats formed their own shelves to protect the Russian border together with the Russian Cossacks. In 1851, they completely became part of the Trans-Baikal Cossack army, having no differences from the Cossacks of other national origin and not forming separate national combat units. Accordingly, they did not have any differences in uniforms from other Trans-Baikal Cossacks. By the way - mother Ataman Semyonov was a Buryat. Buryats studied in military schools and received officer ranks along with other Cossacks.


Cossacks-Buryats in Urga. 1913


Cossacks-Buryats. 1914.



In the Civil War, the national units formed. The Buryat Cossacks as part of the division Ungern had a yellow finish, the shoulder strap edging was purple.

The picture shows a uniform (1920):
1st Tatar Horse Regiment
2nd Tatar Horse Regiment
Buryat Horse Regiment
Mongolian Horse Regiment

[Mark Plant]

In Cuprum's awesome picture at the top the men are wearing the peacetime uniform of TransBaikal cossacks. The Kolchakiya uniform illustration is the wartime khaki variant instead.

Most wargamers would prefer the more colourful version, in my experience. Hence blue trousers with (wide) yellow stripe. Shoulderboards are solid yellow, and if Kolchakiya says they're purple edged then add that.

Usually TransBaikal cossacks in parade uniform would have blue caps with yellow bands. The usual scheme was that they were the colour of the shoulderboard and the band was in the shoulderboard edging colour, but Kolchakiya shows them with blue caps and purple edged yellow bands which seems more likely. If they're wearing furry hats, then the cloth is yellow, with silver crosses for officers and purple for rankers (if I understand Kolchakiya correctly).

Given the time and place, a 1920 unit there was likely kitted out in what were originally British uniforms, as Semenov seized many as they made their way to Kolchak. The Russians would then adopt them to fit local tastes. I see that the Kolchakiya scheme has breast pockets, which are unusual for Cossack gymnasterka (blouses).

Shelf = Regiment, incidentally. It a common translation error.

[Ignatieff]

Awesome.  I honour in greatness in all of you.  thanks chaps

Steve

[cuprum]

It seems to me that the Cossack Buryats still wore their usual uniforms of the Trans-Baikal Cossack army and were part of the usual Cossack regiments. The Buryat regiment of Ungern (and other their national regiments), I assumed, was modeled on regular cavalry. They do not have the name "Cossack" - they have the name "Horse". Hence the differences in uniform that you describe.

[Mark Plant]

Ah. I had assumed they were based on the Cossack traditions, since many would have been ex-Cossack. Other Inorodtsy (non-Russian nationalities) which formed in WWI and the RCW tended to follow Cossack ways of organisation, even if not Cossack themselves.

The Dagestanis, Ossetians etc were called "Horse" regiments too.

[cuprum]

Cossack - means belonging to the Cossack class, which is natural.

The question of choosing uniforms for a military unit during the Civil War is very complicated, since it was often decided by the simple arbitrariness of commanders or by the circumstances.

The presented reconstruction was carried out on the basis of the preserved order, so it cannot be doubted.