Rozkazy i wspomnienia generała Dominika Dziewanowskiego – źródła do historii wojny 1812 roku

The Orders and Memories of General Dominik Dziewanowski – source materials to the history of the war of 1812 Among the numerous sources which have survived after the war of 1812, the materials which were authored by Brigadier General Dominik Dziewanowski – the commander of the 28th Light Cavalry Brigade, deserve special attention. We are referring here to his Brulion rozkazów /Record of Orders/ and Dziennik wypadków wojennych 1812 /Diary of Events of the War of 1812/. Both sources and particularly the Diary of Events.. have been consulted repeatedly by historians dealing with the war of 1812. The Diary contains a lot of information which may serve as material for investigating specific research issues, such as: the organization and preparation of cavalry units of the Warsaw Duchy to the war of 1812, the methods of protecting the border with Russia on the eve of the campaign as well as ways of obtaining intelligence information concerning the situation in Russia, cavalry operational tactics and army discipline during the war of 1812. Some interesting information can also be found on the issue of the relation between the army and the civilian officials of the Warsaw Duchy as well as the relation between army officials and the civilian population on the territories of Belarus which were occupied by the Great Army. Naturally, the above materials also constitute an excellent source for tracing the activities of the 28th Light Cavalry Brigade in the campaign of 1812 as well as the activity of the Polish army units during the blockade of Bobrujsk. In the present article we shall focus on selected examples from both sources.