Overview
Count Nikolay Mikhailovich Kamensky (; 27 December 1776 – 4 May 1811) was a Russian general who outlived his father, Field Marshal Mikhail Kamensky, by two years.
Life and career
Nikolay and his elder brother Sergei were educated at a cadet school. In 1787, he was appointed Aide-de-camp to his father. He participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792. French count Louis Langeron, who fought on the Russian Army during this conflict, wrote in his memoirs about Kamensky's behavior during the war. According to him, after being upset by a storm that affected his army, Kamensky took all the Tatar prisoners his army had captured and beheaded them. Later, a Jewish person was tied naked to a post and cold water was sprayed on him, leaving him to freeze to death. Kamensky would later have burned down an entire village and left its inhabitants in the snow to die of cold and hunger, then taking all the surviving animals with his army.
Emperor Paul promoted him to Major General in 1799, the year when Kamensky chose to join Suvorov during the Swiss Campaign against Napoleon.
In the Battle of Austerlitz Kamensky, subordinate to Peter Bagration, lost 1,600 men and barely managed to escape alive. He distinguished himself at Eylau, for which he received the Order of Saint George. Thereupon he was sent with 8,000 soldiers to relieve the siege of Danzig but failed in his objective, losing as many as 1,500 men in the process. The following Battle of Heilsberg cost the lives of 1,700 soldiers under his command.
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