Nikanor Svechin

Nikanor Mikhailovich Svechin (1772–1849) was a Russian general, a participant in the Napoleonic Wars. Biography A nobleman of the Tver Province, was born on July 3, 1772, in the family estate, the village of Dubrovka, Novotorzhsky District, and received his upbringing and education first at home, and then at the Tver Noble School. He entered military service on January 22, 1791, as an ensign in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment; on December 14, 1798, he was promoted to ensign. In the fall of 1805, already in the rank of lieutenant, he took part in the ranks of the regiment on a campaign in Moravia and an accident deprived him of the opportunity to take part in the Battle of Austerlitz, in which the Guards honorably supported their centuries–old glory. On the eve of the entry of the guard into Olmutz (November 10), at night, riding on a bridge across the river, due to the lack of a railing, he stumbled, fell with his horse on the ice, breaking it, and was pulled out unconscious by the Cossacks. The consequence of this fall was a severe dislocation of his right arm, which forced him to a long treatment in the regimental infirmary. Subsequent peaceful service of Svechin was associated with his business trip in 1806 to Vilna to train the recruits of the reserve army and with the stay (from 1807 to 1810) as part of the 2nd Battalion of the regiment in Finland, near the city of Wasa.