When Europe Invaded Russia: 1812 (Napoleon Documentary)

On the morning of June 24, 1812, the greatest  army Europe has seen until now stands on the   banks of the Neman river, at the western edge of  the Russian Empire. La Grande Armee, the army of   20 nations, begins to cross the bridges: rank upon  rank of Frenchmen, Italians, Germans, Poles and   many more, cross amidst the sounds of fluttering  standards, horses straining in their traces,   and the creak of wagon wheels. But the Russian  Imperial army they expect to find awaiting them is   nowhere to be seen. Napoleon’s Downfall has begun. For the French, the crossing of the Neman is the   beginning of the Russian Campaign;  for the Russians, it’s the start of   the Patriotic War. For four days, the men, horses,  cannon, regimental standards, and supply trains of   the Grande Armee stream eastwards across the river  under the watchful eyes of Russian Cossack scouts.   June 1812 marks the beginning of one of the  most dramatic campaigns in military history – in   just under 6 months, the balance of power in  Europe will be upended, hundreds of thousands   of soldiers and civilians will lose their lives  in battle, to sickness, exposure, or starvation,   and Europe will come closer to total war than ever  before. But as the bands play the Grande Armee   across the NEman and Russia holds its breath,  few of the troops can imagine the suffering   and carnage that is to come – or even how  it all came to war in the first place.   Colonel Jean Boulart of the artillery of the Guard  recalls the moment: “Despite the uncertain future,   there was enthusiasm, a great deal of it. The  army’s confidence in the genius of the Emperor   was such that nobody even dreamed that the  campaign could turn out badly.” (Zamoyski)  The clash between France and its client states  and Russia in 1812 arose from years of war and a   very tense peace. Back in November 1806, Napoleon  decided to respond to a British blockade of Europe   with a continent-wide blockade of trade with  Britain. He called it the Continental System   and hoped it would damage the British war  effort, but it also put pressure on French   satellite states and allies in northern Europe  who had strong trade links with Britain. In 1807,   France and its allies defeated the Fourth  Coalition, which included Prussia, Sweden, Saxony,   Russia and Britain, with a resounding victory  over the Russians at Friedland. Tsar Alexander I   asked for an armistice, and the Treaty of  Tilsit brought peace – for the time being.  The treaty did not force the Tsar to give up  any territory, but it did compel Russia to   join the Continental System, ally with France,  and declare war on the United Kingdom. The Tsar   also agreed to recognize French satellite states  and renounce Russian interests in the Balkans.   In the years after Tilsit, the blockade of Great  Britain reduced trade in Russia’s Baltic ports by   a third, the ruble lost 50% of its  value, and annual deficits soared.  Political interests also drove France and Russia  further apart before 1812. The most explosive   problem was the status of a Polish state. In  1807 Napoleon created the Grand Duchy of Warsaw,   a client state that greatly  worried Russian ruling circles.   Russia had gained much of its western territory  in the 18th century partitions of Poland, and its   leaders feared that the Grand Duchy was a step  towards re-creating a full Polish Kingdom that   would want those lands back. The Polish question  was a politically useful one for Napoleon:   he referred to the 1805-07 war as “The First  Polish War” and in his proclamation to the Grande   Armee in 1812, he announced the invasion of Russia  as the “Second Polish War” – but he never promised   a Polish kingdom. The Tsar hoped that he could  win over the Poles by offering them a kingdom,   but insisted that he be crowned king, so  in 1812 the Polish question was still open.  Russian and French interests also  clashed in the Baltic and the Balkans.   In 1808-1809 Russia defeated Sweden and  took control of Finland, which became a   Russian satellite. In 1810 Sweden elected French  Marshal Jean Bernadotte as regent, so Russia now   worried about French influence on its northern  border. To the south Russia and the Ottoman   Empire also fought a war from 1806 to 1812, over  influence in the Balkans and the Dardanelles.  One of the political flashpoints was a personal  one for the Tsar. When Napoleon redrew the borders   of the German lands by creating the Confederation  of the Rhine and expanding the French empire,   he dispossessed the Duke of the tiny Duchy of  Oldenburg. Duke George however, happened to be   married to the Tsar’s sister Catherine, and the  couple exiled themselves to Russia. The Tsar took   this as a grave insult to his honor and viewed  it as a severe breach of the aristocratic code.  Napoleon may have been Emperor of the French and  King of Italy, but he had little respect for the   old order and Christian religion that Alexander  held so dear. These ideological and personal   differences also contributed to the reason  the Grande Armee crossed the Neman. Napoleon   saw himself as a man destined for European  imperial hegemony. He felt his mission was   to spread a rational French-revolution-inspired  system across all Europe, with one currency, one   system of weights and measures, and one rational  philosophy of administration. As he put it,   he wanted to make Paris the capital of the world.  For good measure, the French emperor also spoke   of freeing the Polish nation. Tsar Alexander  saw himself as a protector of the traditional   divinely-ordained order, with a mission from God  to resist a Napoleon that he admired and feared,   but also viewed as bent on conquest. The two  men held talks together at Tilsit in 1807   and again at Erfurt in 1808, but came no closer  to understanding each other or resolving their   differences in power politics – though they did  praise each other in official communication.  The peace brought by the Treaty of Tilsit in  1807 was straining under economic, geopolitical   and ideological tensions between France  and Russia. Napoleon wanted to somehow   keep Russia as an ally in the main struggle  against Britain, but the Tsar had other plans.  On New Year’s Eve, 1810, the Tsar declared  that Russia was leaving the Continental System   in violation of the Tilsit treaty. By 1811  at the latest both sides viewed a coming war   as inevitable. The Tsar was  determined to not be the aggressor   but Napoleon had no such hesitations. In early  1812 diplomatic preparations reached a fever   pitch. France signed agreements with former  enemies Prussia and Austria which forced   their reluctant monarchs to provide a total of  some 70,000 troops to support the Grande Armee.   The Russians ended their war with Ottomans  and signed an agreement with Sweden.   After unsuccessful diplomatic advances, the French  went so far as to occupy Swedish Pomerania in   January 1812 to enforce the blockade. Russia even  made a secret agreement with Count Metternich that   Austrian troops would not be used aggressively  even if the French forced them to invade.  The espionage war intensified, with the  French uncovering a Russian spy ring in Paris,   and sending their own agent to the Grand  Duchy of Warsaw to gather intelligence.   French presses even printed fake Russian  rubles for the army to buy local supplies,   while in Russia, the Tsar’s authorities cracked  down on prominent Francophiles, spread anti-French   propaganda, and censored the post. The nobility  began to worry that if the French did come,   they might liberate the serfs or inspire  them to rise up against their masters.   Russian officer PA DavYdov decided to re-enlist,  and wrote of the growing tension to a friend:  “According to what is being said and what  is being prepared, war with the French is   imminent. As for who will command the army, we  know nothing, they only say the Tsar himself   will soon inspect it […] there is no other  news, the war is on everyone’s mind.” (Rey 62)  Both sides also began full-scale  military preparations from 1811.   They conscripted significantly more men to fill  out the ranks, and made logistical arrangements   to supply the growing armies. French authorities  began to fill their supply depots, and in early   1812 units began the long cold march from their  barracks in France, Spain, the Italian peninsula,   or the German lands to East Prussia and the Grand  Duchy of Warsaw. At first, none knew exactly   where or whom they would fight – rumors hinted  that they might march against Prussia, Sweden,   Russia, the Ottomans, or even British India. Even as the armies confidently marched east,   some Frenchmen feared their Emperor was making  a mistake. Some regions of the country were   experiencing a wheat shortage and had little  stomach for another war after decades of fighting.   Even some of Napoleon’s advisors tried to warn  him, like former Minister of Police Joseph Fouché:  “No matter what success you achieve, the Russians  will fight for every foot those difficult lands   where you will find nothing to feed the war  […] half of your army will be employed in   covering weak lines of communication, interrupted,  threatened, or cut by swarms of Cossacks. Sire,   I implore you, in the name of France, in the name  of glory, in the name of your security and ours,   sheathe your sword.” (Rey 45) In Russia, army engineers fast-tracked a   fort-building program to shore up defenses. Forts  in Kiev, Riga, BabrUisk, Dunaburg and a fortified   camp at DrIssa were either renovated or built  from scratch. 50,000 extra muskets were bought   from Britain, and 100,000 men began to move from  Finland and Bessarabia towards the western border.  Last-minute diplomacy is little more  than a charade. The Tsar sends word   to Napoleon that peace can be maintained if  French-led troops withdrew beyond the Rhine,   but there is little chance of that, and Napoleon  does not answer. He eventually sends a reply,   but he has committed to war and the messenger  is sent mostly to gather intelligence. After months of preparation and buildup, the  war begins with the crossing of the Neman.   Both the French and Russian High Commands can now   put their war plans into action – and  these are as different as could be.  The 650,000 men, 150,000 horses, and 1393 cannon  of the Grande Armee are divided into 5 groups:   a northern wing under Marshal Macdonald,  the main force under Napoleon himself,   two others under Napoleon’s stepson Eugene  de Beauharnais and Napoleon’s brother Jerome,   King of Westphalia. Austrian forces under  Prince Schwarzenberg are on the southern flank,   and two corps stayed in Prussia as a reserve. The 200,000 men and 1100-1600 cannon of the   Russian army are divided in three: the  1st Western Army under Barclay de Tolly,   the 2nd Western Army under Prince Piotr BagratYOn,  and General TormAsov’s 3rd Observation Army troops   protecting Ukraine. There are more Russian  troops in other parts of the empire,   but they are needed to guard its vast borders. Napoleon said he never wanted a war with Russia   and only invades to force Russia back  into an alliance against Great Britain,   and his military plans are ambivalent: he talks of  marching on Moscow, or St Petersburg; of beating   the Russians quickly in a decisive battle or  of campaigning until 1814. In any case, he   promises to make war in a way never seen before. Russian high command also went back and forth on   whether to adopt an offensive or defensive  strategy. Ultimately they choose a risky   strategic retreat to draw the Grande Armee  away from its bases before making a stand.   Most of the men, however, like Lieutenant  RadozhItsky, have no inkling of the plan:   “We thought that we would immediately go out  to meet the French, fight them on the border,   and chase them back.” (Zamoyski) As Napoleon’s army of 20 nations streams   across the Neman in June 1812, the Tsar gathers  with his commanders at his headquarters in Vilna.   Discussions are tense, and there’s confusion as  to what exactly should be done and when, with the   most powerful army in the world just a few days’  march away. On June 25, the Russian army receives   its orders: retreat to the east. Meanwhile  French Captain Fantin des Odoards has just   crossed the river and makes an entry in his diary: “Vive l’Empereur! The Rubicon has been crossed.   The shining sword which has been drawn from its  scabbard will not be put away in it before some   fine pages are added to the glorious  annals of the great nation.” (Zamoyski)  The next day, des Odoards and his French, German,   Polish and Italian comrades can see smoke  rising from Vilna – but still no enemy in sight.  Napoleon’s Grande Armee crosses the Neman river  in June 1812, but in the following days it does   not find its Russian enemy. On June 28 French-led  troops enter the regional capital of Vilna after   a brief cavalry skirmish on the outskirts.  French officers like General Berthezène   are surprised: “In all directions we found  the Russian army in full retreat […] we   advanced without any obstacle, and to our  great surprise, since we couldn’t imagine   that the Russians would abandon the capital of  Lithuania without firing a shot.” (Boudon 112)  But the Tsar, the Russian high command and the  troops were gone. Before they left, the Russians   destroyed the flour mills, warehouses, supplies  and town bridge. Many pro-Russian residents have   also fled, but some Polish and Lithuanian notables  hope that Napoleon will grant them an independent   state. The Countess of Tisenhaus was moved: “Prince Radziwill’s regiment passed in our street,   Polish Uhlans with a charming uniform and banners  in the Polish colors. I was on the hotel balcony   and they saluted me and laughed. It was the  first time in my life I saw Pol[ish troops]!   I shed tears of joy and enthusiasm, I felt  Polish. It was a moment to savor.” (Rey 95-96)  Napoleon does set up a local administration on  July 3, and recruits up to 40,000 local troops,   but he doesn’t want to create a full Polish  Kingdom for fear it will claim lands that his   ally Austria took in the 18th century partitions  of Poland. On June 30th an envoy from the Tsar   arrives and tells the French Emperor Alexander  will talk peace if the Grande Armee leaves Russia.   Napoleon refuses the offer, and decides  to stay in Vilna while his army advances.  Meanwhile, Russian General Barclay’s  1st Western Army of 136,000 men   is marching hard towards the fortified camp  at Drissa. The goal is to meet up with Prince   Bagration’s 2nd Western Army and its 60,000  troops to make a stand along the DvinA river.   Barclay’s retreat is going relatively well –  despite the strain on morale and discipline,   only about 10,000 Russians desert and the cavalry  is mostly able to provide a protective rearguard.   The main difficulty is the chain of command  and the lack of operational plans for the   strategic withdrawal. The Tsar told Barclay that  Barclay was in overall command, but Alexander   keeps interfering with orders of his own and  Bagration resists accepting Barclay’s authority.  Prince Bagration considers  the retreat dishonorable:   “We were brought to the frontier, scattered along  it like pawns, then, after they had all sat there,   mouths wide open, shitting along the whole length  of the border, off they fled. It all disgusts me   so much it’s driving me crazy.” (Zamoyski) He wants to strike north into the flank of   Napoleon’s army group, or west towards  Warsaw. But either of these options   would be far too risky given the superior  enemy, so after a few days’ delay, Bagration   also begins moving east to join up with Barclay. Napoleon wants to prevent the two Russian armies   from joining up, so he hatches a plan. Marshal  Davout turns towards Minsk, to get between   the two Russian armies. If Davout can cut off  Bagration’s route to Drissa, Jerome’s army group   can then smash the trapped Russian army to pieces.  Things start well when Davout’s maneuver cuts off   General PlAtov’s Cossack corps from Barclay’s  army and forces them to join up with Bagration.  But Jerome’s corps are having trouble. His  army group leaves GrOdno on the 30th and is   immediately hampered by lack of food, poor roads,  and alternating extremes of cold and hot weather.   He also hesitates to attack Bagration since he  has no intelligence about enemy forces. Napoleon   is livid, and orders Jerome to  pick up the pace. On July 4,   Bagration realizes that Davout is  cutting off his path to Barclay,   so the Georgian Prince disobeys his orders and  swerves to the southeast to avoid encirclement. Bagration has escaped the French trap for  now, but the superior French-led forces   are still hot on his heels. But just who was  marching in the so-called Army of Twenty Nations?  The Grande Armee of 1812 was massive – over  650,000 men, about 150,000 horses, and 1393 guns:  355,000 French Empire (includes parts of the  Italian peninsula, parts of the Rhineland,   and the Low Countries) 80,000 Grand Duchy of Warsaw  36,000 Prussia 30,000 Austria  29,000 Westphalia 27,000 Saxony  20,000 Kingdom of Italy 16,500 Würtemberg  15,000 Bavaria 9,800 Denmark  8000 Kingdom of Naples 6800 Hessen  6600 Switzerland 3700 Spain  2900 Illyrian Provinces 2800 Croatia and Dalmatia  2200 Portugal 15,000 from   smaller German duchies and principalities Note that these are the paper strengths,   and actual boots on the ground are fewer. For the Russian campaign, Napoleon divides   his forces into three main army groups, called  Grandes masses: one under Napoleon himself,   including the Guard and the corps of Marshals  Davout, Oudinot, and Ney plus a massed cavalry   force under Marshal Murat, the King of Naples;  another under his stepson Eugene de Beauharnais,   including Marshal Saint-Cyr's and Grouchy’s  corps; and the third under his brother Jerome,   King of Westphalia, with Marshal Reynier’s  and the Polish Prince PoniatOwski’s corps.   Marshal Macdonald commands the northern  flanking corps, while Austrian forces under   Prince von Schwarzenberg cover the south. In  all there are 11 army corps and 6 of cavalry.  Of this total force, about 330,000 infantry,  70,000 cavalry, and 30,000 artillerymen actually   cross into Russia in June 1812 (Rey). Some men in the Grande Armee volunteered,   but the majority are conscripts from  the popular classes who can’t pay for   a replacement. Many are experienced veterans,  while others are among the 160,000 new recruits   from the expanded French Empire. French  infantry includes the Regiments de ligne,   light infantry like voltigeurs and chasseurs a  pied, and the elite 50,000 strong Imperial Guard.  The artillery consists of foot and horse  batteries, plus bridge layers, wagoners,   and armorers. The horses and drivers of artillery  trains are specialized in moving the guns and   ammunition when not in combat, while the gunners  handled the 6, 8, and 12 pound guns in battle.  The cavalry is considered the best in the world,  and includes heavy cuirassiers, dragoons, hussars,   lanciers, carabiniers, chasseurs a cheval.  It is still the most prestigious branch,   but according to General Paul Thiébault, cavalry  wouldn’t play the main role in a pitched battle:  “With few exceptions, [the cavalry]  serves to complete or decide victory,   but not to obtain it. The artillery  must weaken enemy [formations],   the infantry must overrun them and break through,  the cavalry must disperse them and take prisoners.   [Cavalry] charges must be infrequent, but  when they happen must be all-out; since it   can only fight in close quarters, cavalry must  appear only when it will strike. et comme elle   ne peut combattre que corps à corps, elle  ne doit paraître que pour frapper.” (Brun) Nearly half the Grande Armee is  from outside the French Empire,   from hesitant allies Prussia and Austria or  satellite states like the Grand Duchy of Warsaw,   the Confederation of the Rhine, or the Italian  kingdoms. Units from different states were often   placed in the same larger formations – notably, 3  Polish regiments were attached to the Young Guard.   Some historians argue that non-French units  were less motivated to fight, while others   point to widespread respect, admiration and even  adulation towards Napoleon as a motivating factor   for non-Frenchmen. There were certainly challenges  with communication given the number of languages   spoken, and occasional French arrogance. Eugene,  himself Viceroy of Italy, responded this way when   General Pino complained about the lack of food: “Gentlemen, what you ask for is not possible,   and if you are not happy go back to  Italy. I have nothing to do with you   or the others. Know that I fear neither  your sabres nor your daggers.” (Del negro 5)  The quality of the troops also varies, including  those of the army of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.   The Polish cavalry was capable, but many  of the Polish troops are in a poor state   when the campaign begins. They spent much of the  previous two years building fortresses in Bohemia,   Prussia and the Duchy; they’d been poorly fed;  many are suffering from scurvy and dysentery,   and they often aren’t paid by the cash-strapped  Duchy. 8 out of 10 men have never seen combat.   There’s also an issue with leadership, as Prince  Poniatowski is unfamiliar with modern logistics,   movement, and camp practices (Nieuwazny 89-90). For all their differences,   Napoleon’s troops did have some things in  common according to French officer Elzéar Blaze:   “The Grande Armée fought hard, seldom  cheered, and always bitched.” (Elting vii)  The Grande Armée might be the most powerful  army in Europe, but it’s already getting   weaker by the day. French logistics and supply  plans are failing, and on the 30th, a snap cold   rainstorm kills tens of thousands of draft and  cavalry horses. Forcing a decisive battle before   sickness and hunger take too much of a toll is  becoming more and more urgent. The Russians have   escaped for now, but Marshal Davout writes to his  wife that the Emperor’s genius will soon triumph:  “The Emperor’s manoeuvres will prevent this  from being a particularly bloody campaign.   We have taken Wilna without a battle and forced  the Russians to evacuate the whole of Poland:   such a beginning to the campaign is  equivalent to a great victory.” (Zamoyski)  But not every victory will be without battle,  and next week brings a baptism of fire.  By July 9, 1812, Prince Bagration’s 2nd  Western Army has retreated 250km in 10 days   without a rest. He orders a stop at NEsvizh, and  sends General PlAtov’s cavalry to hold up the   advancing French-led army of King Jérome. Jerome’s  vanguard of Polish Uhlan cavalry clash with the   Cossacks at Mir in the first battle of the Russian  campaign. Around 1300 Poles attack the village,   and the Russian horsemen retreat. Some of the  Poles gallop after them, but they run straight   into an ambush – it’s the Cossacks’ VEnter  tactic. 3000 Russian horsemen are waiting for them   and force the Poles back across a stream. When  Polish reinforcements arrive that evening,   the Russians pull back to the village of SimakOvo. On the 10th, Platov also gets more reinforcements,   and outnumbers the Poles 6000 to 3000. The  Poles don’t know this, so they advance.   Platov attacks the Uhlans with everything he’s  got, including artillery and some regular cavalry.   After 6 hours of desperate fighting, more  Russian units arrive and the Poles withdraw.   The two-day skirmish costs the Russians  175 killed and wounded, while the Poles   suffer 400 killed and wounded and 500 prisoners. It’s a small Russian victory, but an important one   for General Ivan PaskEvich: “This action  had great consequences for morale.   In the cavalry, you either beat the enemy or  you are beaten. Все зависит от первого успеха.   Everything depends on the first  success. Platov had to defeat the   enemy at Mir to stop the boasting and  arrogance of the Poles.” (1812 год, 83) The Russians win a tactical victory at Mir,  which buys a little time for Bagration’s tired   footsoldiers on their strategic retreat, but  the French are still breathing down their necks.  Operations Napoleon is trying to isolate and destroy Prince   Bagration’s 2nd Western Army before it can join  up with the larger 1st Western Army. Bagration,   however, has changed course to avoid being trapped  between Marshal Davout and King Jerome. After   a brief rest helped by the Cossack defense of  Mir, Bagration’s troops resume the march towards   MogilYOv. Davout’s corps reaches Minsk on July 8,  only to learn that Bagration has escaped the trap.   Jerome’s army is simply too slow. Despite their  utter exhaustion and hunger, Davout’s troops race   to cut off the Russians at Mogilev. There’s still  time to catch them, but Davout has already lost   a third of his men to sickness, exhaustion, and  desertion. Captain Gardier recalls the conditions:   “Beaten by the wind and the rain, after being  weakened by the excessive heat […] the horses   as well as the men can barely stand.” (Rey 101) Napoleon’s first attempt to force a decisive   battle at Minsk has failed because of logistical  problems, Jerome’s indecisiveness, and perhaps the   Emperor’s own lack of energy. While Davout and  Jerome chase Bagration, the Emperor now turns   his attention to Barclay de Tolly. Here, Marshal  Murat’s cavalry corps are to keep the Russians   busy at Drissa, while the main French-led force  is supposed to continue east, then turn north   to cut off Russian communications with St.  Petersburg. If Barclay retreats, the two Russian   armies will be even farther apart. If he stands  and fights, he’ll be surrounded and outnumbered.  But the Russian high command has new plans of  its own as its armies continue their brutal   forced marches to keep ahead of the Grande  Armee. On July 8, Tsar Alexander arrives at   the fortified camp at Drissa, which is to be the  lynchpin of the Russian defense along the Dvina.   He visits the fortifications with Prussian  Major Carl von Clausewitz, who joined Russian   forces since he opposed his country’s alliance  with Napoleon. Clausewitz delivers his report:   the defenses are very strong in some places, but  the geographical location is a liability since   the French can cut off the camp from behind, just  as Napoleon is planning. Other Russian generals   also doubt the position. Even if Barclay’s army  can hold out, if it stays put at Drissa the French   will have a free hand to catch up with the 2nd  Western Army. Bagration has escaped one trap,   but might not escape another. The bulk of the  1st Western Army reaches Drissa on July 11.   Abandoning the position is politically complicated  for Alexander, since he’s simultaneously   under pressure to turn and fight and to stop  meddling in the chain of command. Nonetheless,   the very next day, the high command issues its  orders: the army is to leave Drissa in a few days   and continue east. They will not let Napoleon  surround them, and they will not yet fight. The Russian army is now retreating  farther than planned – so what kind   of army is it that has so far outrun Napoleon?  In June 1812, the Russian Empire boasts an army of  some 622,000 men. But only about 200,000 of these   can be spared to face the French-led  invasion, with another 113,000 in reserve.  The men in the three Russian  armies reflect the country’s   social system – the vast majority  of other ranks are unfree serfs.   Saint Petersburg sets annual conscription quotas  according to which young Orthodox Christian men   are recruited to serve for 25 years – which  meant that for many they would never see their   homes again and serve until death. Families  often observed the conscription of a son   as they would a funeral. Pamfil Nazarov’s  mother is distraught when he is called up:  “[My brother] left in the evening  and arrived [our parents’] at dawn.   He tethered the horse at the gate and went  into the house. He burst into tears as he   told them that I had been conscripted as  a soldier and I send them my regards. My   mother took the news very badly – she even lost  consciousness for a few minutes.” (Назаров 532)  The peasants resented this system,  as did land and serf-owning nobles   who did not want to lose farm workers. It  also struggled to provide enough manpower,   since Russia’s inefficient agriculture meant large  numbers of serfs were needed in the fields. The   manpower shortage in 1812 forces the government  to call on the Народное ополчение, a poorly   trained militia. In theory every able-bodied man  could serve, but in practice they’re ineffective,   and threaten the established order of docile serfs  – only 230,000 militiamen are called to the colors   and they play a limited role in combat. More than 80% of the officers are noblemen,   but most of these are poor in spite of their  noble titles, and depend on their meagre army   salary. Only 15% of Russia’s officers in 1812  have received any formal military training.   Many of those who have are from ethnic  minorities like the Baltic Germans,   or foreigners from the German states, Britain,  and anti-revolutionary aristocrats from France.   The many Prussian officers serving  on the general staff causes tensions,   as some Russian officers do not take kindly  to foreign influence – especially when the   “dishonorable” strategic retreat plan of 1812  was drawn up by Prussian officer von Phull.   St. Petersburg diarist VarvAra BakUnina considers  the officer corps motivated but ill-disciplined:  “All the army letters are filled with the desire  to get the war started […] they say the soldiers   are impatient to get to grips with the enemy  and avenge past defeats. […] young officers   spend their time drinking and playing…there  are orgies every day.” (Rey 63)  The Russian army of 1812 is also the  product of the French-inspired reforms   introduced after its defeat by France in  1807. The army’s structure was formalized and   unified – corps and divisions were made permanent,  and the number of cavalry and infantry regiments,   and artillery brigades in each division  was fixed. In 1812, there are 33 divisions,   each of which has 4 infantry and 2 cavalry  regiments, and one artillery brigade. All told,   a division has 18-20,000 men. Army staffs were  also re-organized and formalized from 1811,   which -- on paper at least -- improves command  and control. Combat training also improved,   especially musketry and a softer approach to  discipline introduced by Barclay de Tolly:  “The Russian soldier has all  the highest military virtues:   he is brave, zealous, obedient, devoted, and not  wayward; consequently there are certainly ways,   without employing cruelty, to train him  and to maintain discipline.” (Lieven 108)  Though the re-training program  wasn’t complete by 1812,   the Russian army of 1812 is far better than the  one Napoleon defeated at Austerlitz, and Friedland   in 1805 and 1807. In fact the artillery is  among the best in Europe, and its 6 and 12   pounders and licorne or edinarOg howitzer are  generally heavier than their French counterparts.  Cavalry is also formed into corps, and includes  light Uhlans, Hussars, heavy cuirassiers and   dragoons. Most of the irregular troops are light  cavalry, and the Cossacks were the most numerous   and important. Most Cossacks came from the Don,  UrAl, and OrenbUrg Hosts, and they excelled at   reconnaissance, hit-and-run tactics, and harassing  slower French units. Other irregular cavalry came   in the form of BashkIrs, KalmYks, or Tatars. The  Bashkirs were meant to serve as border guards   and still used traditional clothing and weapons  like the bow and arrow. Imperial authorities did   not trust them with firearms after their  numerous rebellions in the 18th century. The much-improved Russian army has won  the first skirmish of the campaign,   and avoided a pitched battle with the powerful  Grande Armee. Even though Napoleon’s massive army   is suffering from exhaustion and hunger, he’s in  no mood for political compromises. On July 14,   he refuses a Warsaw delegation’s request for a  Polish Kingdom. According to French ambassador   Abbé de Pradt in Warsaw, this is a grave mistake: “[Les délégués   polonais] étaient partis de  feu; ils revinrent de glace.   [The Polish delegates] left  full of fire [but] they returned   with ice in their souls. The chill  communicated itself to the whole of Poland,   and it was not possible to warm  her after that.” (Zamoyski)  Both sides are still confident: the French  that they will force a decisive confrontation   and end the war; and the Russians that they will  escape the trap. Both will soon be disappointed.  The Russian 1st Western Army continues its  retreat in the face of the advancing Grande Armee:   it has left the fortified camp at  Drissa and reaches POlotsk on July 18,   with Napoleon’s main army group close behind.  Barclay hopes he can make a stand at Vitebsk   to stiffen morale and give a chance for Prince  Bagration’s 2nd Western Army to pass through   Mogilev and join him, but Davout’s corps is  rushing to cut off the Prince’s escape route.  Bagration gets a little help from French  infighting. Napoleon is furious that his brother   Jerome didn’t catch up with Bagration near Minsk,  so he puts his brother under Davout’s command.   King Jerome finds out from Davout rather than  the Emperor himself on July 16. Jerome views the   demotion as an insult to his honor, so he abruptly  leaves the army and returns to Westphalia.  In the north, Marshal Macdonald’s X Corps is on  the move towards Riga, a naval base and port of   entry for British supplies to Russia. On July 16,  a Royal Navy squadron under Admiral Byam Martin   arrives off the coast to support the Russians, but  can do little more than send encouraging words.   The 30,000 French-led forces include Bavarians,  Westphalians, Poles, and the Preussische   Hilfskorps, the Prussian Auxiliary Corps  Napoleon had forced the Prussian King to send.   Many of its officers and men are  not keen on helping the French   they had fought just a few years before, and  some emphasize these feelings in later memoirs:  “We Prussians did not follow  the loud calls of Napoleon,   we followed far more the irresistible will  of our hard-pressed King.” (Holzhausen 63)  The 18,000-strong Russian garrison of Riga also  includes Prussian officers who have chosen to   fight against Napoleon – but its fortifications  are outdated and less than half of its 585 guns   can even fire. The first clash occurs at Eckau  on July 19. The Russians send 3500 men to block   the Prussian advance, but Prussians defeat  the Russians, who retreat to Dahlenkirchen.   On the 22nd, Riga’s Commander General I.N. Essen,  orders the burning of several suburbs of the city   to deny their use to the enemy, and two days  later the Prussians and French lay siege. The   siege of Riga is an unusual chapter of the 1812  campaign. Macdonald doesn’t have enough men to   cover his assigned 120km front along the Dvina  river and close the siege ring around Riga,   so the Russians are able to bring reinforcements  from Finland after they sign a peace treaty   with Sweden on July 17. Russian Army General  Friedrich von Löwis leads two sallies in August,   and they’re able to push back the Prussians to  the point where the French siege engines are in   danger of being captured, but the Prussians  eventually force them back into the city.   When British ships appear off Dantzig, the French  are forced to further weaken their forces at Riga.  Eventually the Prussians and Russians also come  to an informal agreement to avoid unnecessary   bloodshed, and to treat prisoners well. After  another failed Russian sortie in September,   the siege devolves into an impasse  for the rest of the campaign,   and the Prussians spend much of their time  in camp playing cards and singing songs. As the Prussians and French settle down to a  somewhat comfortable siege at Riga in July,   the rest of the Grande Armee’s men  and horses are hungry and desperate.  The Achilles’ heel of Napoleon’s army is logistics  and supply. The sheer number of men and horses,   and the lack of roads, infrastructure, long  supply lines, and lack of local food production   in the western Russian empire make the campaign a  quartermaster’s nightmare even before it begins.   As the army was gathered in the Grand Duchy  of Warsaw, food was already so scarce soldiers   simply took it from local peasants, as  Wuertemberg soldier Jakob Walter recalls:  “Day by day, the privations and hunger increased.   Despite its orders, the regiment was  obliged to carry out requisitions   and slaughter livestock so the men could have a  bit of meat to improve their rations of potatoes   seasoned with sand […] bread was rare and  there was none to be bought.” (rey 60)  The men even harvest unripe rye, and feed their  horses the thatched rooves of local Polish homes.   About 60,000 soldiers are sick when the army  finally crosses into Russia, and by early July   there are already about 30,000 deserters roaming  the countryside (Rey 85 and Zamoyski) Napoleon   orders deserters shot, and a Polish cavalry  lieutenant reports other draconian punishments:  “The guilty man would be completely stripped and  tied by his hands and feet in a square or street,   whereupon two troopers were ordered out of  the ranks to lash and cut him with whips   until the skin peeled off him and he looked like   a skeleton […] but even this did not  help [to stop desertions].” (Zamoyski)  The army’s European horses are not used  to the muddy roads, lack of fodder,   and summer cold snaps. By some estimates,  up to 40,000 cavalry and draft horses perish   in the June 30 storm alone (Zamoyski),  which makes the supply situation worse,   which leads to even more looting. Polish  peasants wryly joke about their “liberators”:   “The Frenchman came to remove our fetters  but he took our boots too.” (Zamoyski)  The Russian scorched earth policy also deprives  the Grande Armee. Just like at Vilna and Riga,   in the garrison town of BorIsov Colonel  Gresser puts the torch to anything of value   as Davout approaches on July 13. He orders  the destruction of 1960 quarters of flour,   183 quarters of groats, 2345 quarters straw,  and 19,500 poods of hay. The troops also toss   100 pounds of gunpowder in the BerezinA river,  destroy 16 cannons and wreck the bridge over   the BerezinA – an act that will have dramatic  consequences later in the campaign. (Mikaberidze)  The scorched earth policy is just one sign  that this war will be more violent and   total than those that came before – for the  Tsar has called for the entire nation to fight.  On the Russian side, one issue troubling  leaders is morale. Barclay told the troops   they would finally fight at Drissa, and  the renewed retreat causes tongues to wag.   Artillery Lieutenant RadozhItsky overhears  the concerns of his gunners: “Obviously the   villain [Napoleon] must be very strong; just  look at how much we are giving him for free,   almost the whole of Poland.” (Lieven 154) Russian civilians are also worried,   especially nobles who own serfs and fear  the French might support an uprising.   Anna KonovnItsyna writes to her husband  Piotr, a general with the 1st Western Army:  “Our serfs are all downcast, they’re all afraid of  the French. Today quite a few came to see me and   asked if I had news of you; I tried to reassure  them as much as I could and told them you’d   never let the French through. […] I am not afraid  for myself, God will not abandon us. If only you   come out of this alive. May Christ be with you.  да пребудет с тобой господь.” GaspOd (Rey 105)  The Tsar is under pressure from his  advisors and his sister Catherine   to deal with the political crisis and  leave the warfighting to his generals.   Alexander finally agrees, leaves the army,  and turns his attention to the war effort.   He has printing presses set up to print  leaflets to encourage the Grande Armee’s German   and Italian-speaking troops to desert  before preparing two manifestos that   will change the very nature of the war his  empire is fighting. In the first manifesto,   the Tsar calls on Russians of all classes and  creeds to fight the enemy by any means necessary:  “Today we call on our loyal subjects, of all  orders and all religious and civil statuses,   and call on them to oppose the designs and  attacks of the enemy in a unanimous and   general uprising. […] Nobles! You have always  been the saviors of the fatherland. Holy Synod   and clergy! With your ardent prayers you have  always called God’s grace upon the head of Russia.   Russian people! Brave descendants of brave Slavs!  You have broken the teeth of lions and tigers who   have attacked you more than once. Unite! With the  cross in your hearts and weapons in your hands,   no human power can defeat you.” (Rey 107) In the second manifesto, the Tsar announces   he will come to Moscow to collect funds for the  war and to raise the national militia. The nation   in arms, the scorched earth policy, and partisan  warfare with peasant help are some of the reasons   why the 1812 campaign in Russia is an important  step in the totalizing process of modern war.   Not all peasants patriotically heed the  Tsar’s call though, as there are dozens of   local uprisings across the empire in 1812.  The war will be used as foundational event   in the creation of modern Russian nationalism, and  the reason it’s known as the otEchestvennaya voinA   the Patriotic War. The Second World War will  later be called the Great Patriotic War.  Just a few weeks after the campaign has begun,  it is quickly turning into an all-out war:   the men of the Grande Armee are ruthless in  their desperation and hunger, and the Tsar   has called on the Russian nation to rise up, and  his army is torching what it can as it retreats.   All eyes are now on the provincial town of Mogilev  as both Davout and Bagration force march their   exhausted men towards it – whoever gets their  first might tip the balance of the Patriotic War. In late July 1812, the two main Russian armies  are retreating in good order as Napoleon’s   Grande Armee continues its advance into Russia.  Prince Bagration’s 2nd Western Army, however,   is still in mortal danger of being cut off before  it can join Barclay’s 1st Western Army near   Vitebsk. After Marshal Davout blocked Bagration’s  path at Minsk on July 8, the Georgian hopes to   reach Barclay via the town of Mogilev. But once  again, Davout strikes first. His troops enter the   city on July 20, and even though he doesn’t  know exactly how many troops Bagration has,   he prepares to attack. Mogilev is surrounded by  deep ravines which strengthen the French position,   and the Russians also don’t know how many men  Davout has, but they attack anyway July 23. General Nikolai RaEvsky leads 17,000 men  and 84 guns, against Davout’s 21,500 men and   55 guns. Raevsky leads the 26th Division in a  frontal assault near the village of SaltAnovka,   while the Russian 12th Division hits the French in  the flank. The 12th manages to take the village of   FAtovo, but Davout sends in his reserves  and stops it. The frontal assault fails,   but it gives rise to a Russian patriotic myth.  General Raevsky is said to have brought his   two sons into battle with him, a story that  inspires patriotic paintings showing the scene   and becomes a favorite of Stalin’s. But the story  isn’t true – as Raevsky himself will later write: “It’s true I led the attack. When the men  drew back I encouraged them along with the   other officers. On the left side, everyone was  killed or wounded, and grapeshot struck near me.   But my children were not there at that  moment. […] That's it, the whole story was   made up in St. Petersburg [by] engravers,  journalists, [and] writers. […] And that   is how history is written! Et voila  comment on écrit I’histoire!” (Есипов) The Battle of Mogilev, which the  French call the Battle of SaltAnovka,   costs the Russians 2500 men and the French 1500.   Davout once again prevents Bagration from taking  the shortest route to join Barclay, so Bagration   sends his forces across the river south of  Mogilev to continue his retreat by a longer route. Barclay de Tolly’s 1st Western Army reaches  the town of Vitebsk the same day Davout turns   Bagration away at Mogilev. Since he  doesn’t know about Bagration’s defeat,   Barclay thinks that if he can delay  the Grande Armee in front of Vitebsk,   Bagration can join him and together  they can finally face the enemy.  Barclay orders a spoiling action to slow  down the French-led advance on July 25,   which leads to three battles in three days  collectively known as the Battle of Vitebsk. General Alexander OstermAnn-TolstOy’s IV Corps  of 8000 infantry and 2000 cavalry await the enemy   near the village of OstrovnO, in positions  on either side of the VItebsk road. Marshal   Murat’s vanguard of 8000 cavalry and 1000 infantry  attack immediately, but without enough infantry   and artillery, French-led forces struggle to  break the Russian lines protected by forests and   swamps. French cavalry charges again and again,  and eventually forces back the Russian left. The   fighting is intense, and Russian officer Alexander  MikhAilovsky-DanilEvsky records a dramatic scene:  “During the battle of VItebsk, an  adjutant came to tell Ostermann-Tolstoy   that the left wing was under  pressure, and asked for orders.   The count replied: stand and die. граф  отвечал ‘Стоять и умирать.’”(Ивченко 505) After action reports criticize Ostermann-Tolstoy  for being careless and reckless,   but also unquestionably courageous.  He orders a massed bayonet charge,   a tactic the Russians are trying to phase out,  and a near-suicidal charge by the IngErmanlAnd   Dragoons. The Russians manage to hold the line,  but in the evening French reinforcements arrive,   and Ostermann-Tolstoy decides to withdraw. French  doctor Raymond Faure surveys the battlefield:  “The [field] was ploughed up and strewn with  men lying in every position and mutilated in   various ways. Some, all blackened, had been  scorched by the explosion of a caisson;   others, who appeared to be  dead, were still breathing;   as one came up to them one could hear their  moans; […] they were in a sort of apathy,   a kind of sleep of pain, […] paying no attention  to the people walking around them; they asked   nothing of them, probably because they knew  that there was nothing to hope for.” (Zamoyski)I  Despite the carnage, the Grande Armee hasn’t been  slowed down at all, so the Russians try another   stand on July 26. The 3rd Russian Division its  8000 infantry and 3000 cavalry come face to face   with a French-led force of 8000 infantry and 7000  cavalry. The Russians take up a position on a hill   flanked by the Western DvinA river and a swamp.  After fierce resistance for most of the day,   the Russian right wing gives under the pressure,  and they retreat to the line of the LuchEsa river.   Only now does Barclay learn of Bagration’s defeat  at Mogilev – the 1st Western Army has been waiting   in vain. July 27 brings still more fighting  as Russian cavalry and light infantry Jäger   hold out for as long as they  can against Murat’s cavalry,   but French-led horsemen outflank the Russians  position and the Russians once again fall back.   Each side has lost about 4000 men over three  days – to make up for Russian officer losses,   5 non-noble NCOs are promoted, a  rare occurrence until this war.  Napoleon now expects that the next day will  bring the decisive battle he has been looking for   since June, so his forces break off  the chase and make camp for the night. With the two main Russian armies still  in full retreat, the Russian High Command   decides to strike with its southern army  to relieve some pressure on Bagration. The Tsar orders General Tormasov’s 3rd Observation  Army to advance against the right flank of the   Grande Armee, which is covered by the Austrian  Auxiliary Corps and General Reynier’s VII Corps.   Tormasov’s advance is dangerously close to  the Duchy of Warsaw, a key French satellite   state. French command doesn’t realise that  Tormasov has 45,000 men, far more than Reynier.   The two forces clash at the small town of Kobryn,  which is defended by 3000 Saxons under Major   General von Klengel. The Saxons barricade the  roads, and prepare positions in the monastery   and half ruined 18th century fortifications. Early on July 27, Cossack, Tatar, and Bashkir   cavalry push the Saxons out of their forward  positions and back into the town itself. At 9am,   Russian infantry storms Kobryn and a brutal  house-to-house fight begins, and the town burns   to the ground. Saxon officer Carl Becker later  recalls the confusion in the midst of battle:   “During this extremely intense fighting, we  suddenly got news that the Sahr Brigade had   arrived to reinforce us. There was a loud  cry of celebration – long live the King!   Long live the Sahr Brigade! […] Unfortunately  we learned soon after that this news was   wrong […] it was a Russian light infantry unit  with uniforms nearly the same as ours.” (Becker)  The Battle of Kobryn costs the Saxons about  1000 dead and wounded and 2000 prisoners,   including Klengel himself. The Russians lose  only 200 dead and wounded, and they capture   4 Saxon regimental standards.  Following the Russian victory,   Reynier force marches his remaining troops north  to join with the Austrians, who will now stay in   Volhynia to keep Tormasov in check instead  of supporting the main offensive as planned.  As all three Russian armies fight to stave off  disaster, Tsar Alexander meets with churchmen and   wealthy merchants in SmolEnsk and Moscow. They  pledge 10 million rubles to the cause, and most   serfs accept forced service in the new militia,  even though some are armed only with pikes.   Still, Alexander orders the imperial family in St  Petersburg to prepare to flee to Kazan if need be.   And his armies will continue to retreat. On the  27, General Aleksei ErmOlov convinces Barclay   it is too dangerous to fight Napoleon at Vitebsk,  so the Russians abandon the city. Female Russian   cavalry officer NadEzhda DUrova remains confident,  according to her later patriotic memoirs:   “We are moving by quick marches into the heart of  Russia, with an enemy at our heels who believes   in all simplicity that we are running to escape  him! Fortune blinds. […] The artillery lieutenant,   whose unprecedented luck has cost him both  wits and common sense, will soon be remarked   through the emperor’s robes.” (Durova 131) On the morning of the 28, Napoleon’s officers are   shocked that Vitebsk is undefended. The decisive  battle has eluded the Emperor once again,   and some historians think he made a serious  mistake by not attacking with everything he had   the day before. Many of his troops are reaching  breaking point marching in the 30 degree heat.   Piedmontese soldier Giuseppe Venturini  keeps a diary of his suffering:  “Bivouacked in the mud [July 20-23], thanks  to our two cretinous generals. […] [The 24]   I was on sentry duty at General Verdier’s. I was  lucky that day; I ate a good soup. On the 26th six   men died of hunger in our regiment.” (Zamoyski)  For Venturini and the rest of the Grande Armee,   every step deeper into Russia brings more  dangers – and their Emperor knows it.  After the Battles of Vitebsk and Mogilev at the  end of July, Napoleon and the Grande Armee enter   the city of Vitebsk. Given the hardships of the  campaign so far, the Emperor decides to pause   and rest his troops – even at the risk that  the two Russian armies he has been pursuing   could finally unite. The Grande Armee has  suffered terribly from logistics problems,   and has lost about one third of its men mostly  to sickness, exhaustion, and desertion – as   well as half of its draft and cavalry horses. Napoleon uses the time to try to reorganize his   army’s supply: he orders hospitals to be set up  in Vitebsk, Kaunas to become a logistics hub,   and for Minsk to provide the army with flour. On August 2, the two Russian armies finally   met near Smolensk. The Russian high command  now debates whether to continue the retreat   or finally stand and fight. 1st Western Army Chief  of Staff Aleksei Yermolov worries that his troops   are tired and losing morale, and Barclay  fears that the enemy is still too strong.   He’s also lost contact with the French vanguard  so he doesn’t know where their forces are.   But there is not just enormous pressure from  Prince Bagration. The Tsar himself urges Barclay   to launch an offensive in a letter. Finally, he  agrees to a limited offensive towards Vitebsk on   August 7, but almost immediately cancels it based  on rumors of strong French forces on his flanks.  Grande Armee command is also planning  its next steps. Napoleon and his marshals   debate stopping the campaign until 1813, but  the Emperor decides to push on. He decides to   strike before the Russians can organize a proper  defense, so he plans to outflank them at Smolensk.   On August 11, the Grande Armee begins to move  and crosses the Dneper river on the 14th,   and the clash of arms is not long in coming. As the French advanced towards Smolensk, Marshal   Murat’s cavalry run into Russian General Dmitry  NeverOvsky’s 27th Division at Krasny. The French   far outnumber the 7000 Russian infantrymen, but  the Russians close ranks and form an infantry   square to cover their retreat. The French cavalry  charge the square repeatedly, but they cannot   break it. 15 year old Russian soldier Dmitrii  DushEnkovich experiences his baptism of fire:  “Everything seemed incomprehensible to  me. I felt that I was [still] alive,   saw everything that was going on around me,  but simply could not comprehend how this awful,   indescribable chaos was going to end. To this  day I can still vividly recall Neverovsky   riding around the square every time the cavalry  approached with his sword drawn and repeating   in a voice which seemed to exude confidence […]:  ‘Lads! Remember what you were taught in Moscow.   Follow your orders and no cavalry  will defeat you.’” (Lieven 163)  The Russians lost around 1500 men,  but their infantry square manages   to pull back in good order. The French  cavalry has the numbers to stop them,   but with French artillery held up by a  broken bridge they cannot defeat the square. The French have missed anopportunity  to weaken the Russians at Krasny,   but will get another chance at the largest battle  of the campaign so far – the Battle of Smolensk.  The town of Smolensk has a population of about  13,000 in 1812. It’s only really symbolically   important since it houses a sacred Orthodox icon  of the Virgin Mary, and features a citadel from   the 17th century wars against the Polish Kingdom.  Napoleon has failed to surround the Russians,   but now he thinks they will fight, so he doesn’t  try to outflank them further down the river.  The evening of August 16, Marshal Ney and Murat  launch an attack on the city outskirts but General   Raevsky’s corps beats them off. By the next  morning, the Russians have 30,000 men defending   the town under General Dmitrii DokhturOv, and the  Grande Armee has lined up about 50,000 troops for   a frontal attack. First, the French-led forces  attack the outskirts and push the Russians back.   By the early afternoon, it’s clear to Napoleon  that Barclay is not going to come out and face   him, so he orders his troops to storm the  walls. French cavalry on the right flank   defeat Russian dragoons, and all along the  line fierce hand-to-hand fighting begins.   When the French-led troops reach the 10-meter  high fortress walls, they find they can’t scale   them without specialized equipment. Instead, they  try to climb them as best they can under Russian   fire. French cavalryman Auguste Thirion of  the 2nd Cuirassiers witnesses the scene:  “I cannot conceive how a single man or a single  horse could escape that mass of cannonballs coming   from [both sides]. We [saw our] infantry  laboriously descending into the ditches,   or rather the ravines which made up the moat of  the fortress. It was a Polish division which was   trying to storm those rocks with a courage,  a desperation worthy of greater success;   these brave men tried to scale them by  climbing on each other’s shoulders.” (Zamoyski)  French artillery soon sets the town  on fire, and civilians begin to flee.   Russian troops still hold the town, but  in the early morning hours of August 18,   Barclay decides to give up Smolensk  and retreat towards Moscow.   Prince Bagration is furious and calls Barclay  a “German sausage-maker” while Cavalry Corps   commander Prince Constantine gives his opinion  to his staff officers in no uncertain terms:  “It isn’t Russian blood that flows in  those who command us.” (Lieven 165)  The Russian army begins a dangerous retreat in the  presence of stronger French forces on August 18,   and the Grande Armee enters Smolensk. The  battle has cost the French-led forces about   7000 killed and wounded, and the Russians about  11,000. Smolensk is ruined, and nearly all of   its residents have been killed or fled. French  doctor Raymond Faure takes in the destruction:  “[Russian] soldiers [trying] to flee had  fallen in the streets, asphyxiated by the   fire, and had been burned there. Many no  longer resembled human beings; they were   formless masses of grilled and carbonised  matter, which the metal of a musket, a sabre,   or some shreds of accoutrement lying beside  them made recognisable as corpses.” (Zamoyski) As Smolensk burns and the Russian armies move  east, fighting also breaks out in the south,   where Napoleon’s reluctant Austrian  allies go over to the attack.  Austria would have preferred to stay neutral  in 1812 after Napoleon had defeated it in 1809.   But the Emperor of the French expected Austrian  support against Russia so Austria provides 30,000   men in exchange for the Illyrian Provinces  and confirmation of its control of Galicia.   The Austrian corps is under direct Austrian  command of Karl von Schwarzenberg, unlike   the Prussian corps. Although Napoleon  is married to an Austrian princess,   he still has some concerns about potential  disloyalty – and indeed, the Austrians have   agreed with the Russians that they will try to  avoid aggressive operations as much as possible.  The Austrian corps was meant to advance towards  Minsk, but after the Russian victory over the   French-led VII Saxon corps at Kobryn, it’s  joined by the remaining Saxons and moves south.   Russian General Tormasov’s 3rd Observation Army  takes up defensive positions around the village   of GorodEchno, which the Austrians and Saxons  attack on August 12. The Russians make skillful   use of the terrain, occupying the higher ground  behind a swamp. The Saxons try to outflank the   Russian positions, but the battle lasts all day  and includes heavy fire from Austrian artillery.   Later, Saxon Colonel von Bose blames a lack  of Austrian support for allied difficulties:   “Die Österreicher wollen nicht recht beißen.   The Austrians just don’t want to sink  their teeth into it.” (Holzhausen, S. 75)  Russian troops manage to hold their  positions for most of the day,   but their left wing is in such danger of being  overwhelmed that Tormasov decides to withdraw   behind the safety of the river Styr. The Battle  of Gorodechno, aka the Battle of PodObna costs   the Saxons about 1000 killed and wounded and the  Russians 3000. The southern flank of the Grande   Armee has been stabilized, but the fresh Russian  Army of the Danube is on its way from Bessarabia. The Grande Armee is now in possession  of the charred ruins of Smolensk,   and has won another tactical victory – but some  question whether attacking at Smolensk made sense.   Prussian officer Carl von Clausewitz considers  Napoleon’s failure to outflank the Russians east   of Smolensk to be the gravest error of the entire  campaign. But such judgments are far from the   men’s minds as the Russians struggle to maintain  cohesion on the retreat. The Grande Armee still   has the upper hand – and the very next day the  Russians will face their worst crisis of the war.  After the Battle of Smolensk on August 17, the  two Russian armies facing Naopleon’s Grande Armee   need to retreat along the Moscow road.  Extracting Russian forces from around Smolensk   makes strategic sense, but it  exposes them to extreme risks.  The Moscow road runs right along the Dnepr river,  within sight and range of French guns across   the river. If the Russians use that route,  their strung-out columns will be decimated.   So after a day of rest on August 18, Barclay  divides his forces and sends them on a   night-time detour along smaller roads running  through nearby forests, in the hopes they can   get back on the Moscow road farther east. This is a dangerous maneuver. The Russian   troops are marching in the dark, and do not  know the territory they are passing through.   Some units are delayed, while others get lost in  the forest and take the roads meant for others,   causing confusion. If the Russians don’t move  fast enough, the more numerous French-led forces   might seize the critical road  junction near the village of Lubino.   The Russians would then be trapped  while their units are still separated.  The 2nd Western Army army is supposed to guard the  road junction and wait for the 1st Western Army to   join it, but due to miscommunication most of it  marches east and leaves only a rearguard behind.   Meanwhile the French-led corps overcome their  surprise at the disappearance of the enemy from   Smolensk, and make their move. Marshal Ney  begins a pursuit, while Junot’s Westphalian   corps moves on the Moscow road from the south. French troops launch a series of attacks, which   the outnumbered Russians desperately resist to  allow the 1st Western Army can get to safety. When   General Pavel Tuchkov’s 3000 men exit the forest  and reach the Moscow road, he realises the bulk   of the 2nd Western Army is not there to protect  it. So he disobeys his orders to move east and   takes up a defensive position with Count Vasily  Orlov-Denisov’s cavalry protecting his flank.   Still, French-led pressure on the Russians  forces them back to the last position   protecting the junction between the forest roads  and the Moscow road. General Yermolov is able   to send some reinforcements to support Tuchkov,  but the situation is hanging by a thread and the   Russians only have 30,000 men facing 50,000 from  the Grande Armee. Inexplicably, most of Junot’s   Westphalian corps does not attack the vulnerable  Russian flank, even though it has orders to do so   and could have turned the battle. Hessian  Lieutenant Colonel von Conrady is furious:  “If we had attacked, the Russians would have  been routed, so all of us, soldiers and officers,   were eagerly awaiting the order to attack.  […] whole battalions [were] shouting that they   wanted to advance, but Junot would not listen, and  threatened those who were shouting with the firing   squad […] Several officers and soldiers in my  battalion wept with despair and shame.” (Zamoyski) Ney is able to force the Russians to give up their  positions once fresh French divisions arrive,   but by then their two armies were safely on the  road to Moscow. Losses at the battle of Valutino   GorA are about 9000 killed and wounded on each  side. Russian commanders are stunned that they’ve   escaped total destruction. At one point in the  fighting, Barclay exclaims “everything is lost,”   and he later says the chances of escaping  were 1 in 100. Yermolov says “we should have   perished” (Lieven 170) and Russian army  staff officer Woldemar von Loewenstern   admits “The fate of the campaign and of the army  should have been sealed that day.” (Zamoyski) As the Russian armies barely escape disaster  at Lubino and retreat towards Moscow,   other battles are taking place to the  north, on the road to Saint Petersburg.  On the northern front, the Russians have the  momentum. General Wittgenstein’s Russian 1st   Corps has broken off from the 1st Western Army  to protect the approaches to the imperial capital   at Saint Petersburg, but Wittgenstein has no  intentions of a passive defense. From July 30 to   August 1, Russian troops launch a surprise attack  and defeat Marshal Oudinot’s forces at KlIAstitsy.   Oudinot is forced to retreat to the town of  Polotsk, where he is joined by Gouvion St-Cyr’s   Bavarian Corps. Wittgenstein decides to press  his advantage and despite having only 19,000 men   to the French and Bavarian 35,000, he attacks on  August 17. The French occupy the high ground near   the junction of the Dvina and PolotA rivers, so  the Russians concentrate on the Bavarian positions   at the village of Spass. The Bavarians are able  to hold off the Russians with great difficulty,   while Russian artillery manages to stop a French  advance. That evening, Marshal Oudinot is badly   wounded in the shoulder and Gouvion St Cyr  takes command of the Franco-Bavarian troops.  Russian reinforcements have arrived, but they’re  still outnumbered. Wittgenstein does not expect a   French attack, but St Cyr is more aggressive than  Oudinot. He fakes a retreat and instead sends the   8th French Division across the river Polota, but  even before it arrives the Bavarians advance. The   Russian rearguard of cavalry and light infantry  are under extreme pressure and give way. The   French also push the Russians back in the center.  Desperate to stem the tide, Russian dragoons   charge the French cavalry, and a confused mass of  horsemen from both sides moves back towards French   lines. The Russian advance is only stopped when  a Swiss regiment holds its ground and neighboring   units pour in flanking fire. Swiss officer Salomon  Hirzel later gives the credit to his countrymen: “The Russian dragoons arrived at the  same time as the fleeing [Frenchmen],   and they cut down the gunners at their  guns. This success spurred on the enemy,   and regiments threw themselves against each  other and friend and foe joined in one mass.   This meant our batteries on the walls of Polotsk  couldn’t fire. The entire corps seemed close to   collapse […] but the 1st and 2nd Swiss regiments  stood fast like a wall, with bayonets lowered,   threatened friend and foe alike with death  should they come too close.” (Maag 125) Hirzel exaggerates the danger and the role of  the Swiss, but the Russian charge is an intense   moment in the fight: General St Cyr narrowly  escapes capture by jumping into a ditch,   though he is wounded for  the second time in two days.  The First Battle of Polotsk costs the  Franco-Bavarians 6300 killed, wounded and   prisoner, and the Russians 7500. Wittgenstein is  forced to retreat and the Grande Armee’s northern   flank is secure for the time being, although  the French now shelve plans of offensive action.   Napoleon makes Gouvion St Cyr a Marshal of France,  but the carnage on the battlefield is gruesome.   Days after the battle, wounded men still lie  unattended, as Swiss Captain Landolts records:  “With horror, we saw [a Russian dragoon] who had  his right leg torn off at the hip by a cannonball.   Despite the massive loss of blood and four days  without food, he managed to firmly ask to be sent   to hospital. This I promised to do […] and the  dragoon lived for several days more.” (Maag 129)  Napoleon’s commanders have once again been  unable to win a decisive victory, even though   Valutino-Gora was their best chance so far. French  leadership again discusses its options: pursue the   Russians to Moscow in the hopes of a final battle,  or stop at Smolensk and prepare for a new campaign   in 1813. If they stop, they might be able to  re-establish their logistics, recover deserters,   and deal with the threat to their southern flank  posed by the Russian Army of the Danube. They   could also rally Polish and Lithuanian support  in their newly-won territories, which might also   have long-term benefits for France. On the other  hand, staying in Russia for another year might   increase the risk of a coup back in Paris, and  his war against Britain and Spain is going badly.   There’s also a food shortage in French-occupied  provinces. An advance to Moscow however,   would put the Grande Armee in fertile territory at  harvest time. In the end, Napoleon decides he must   deal with Russia now, and that the Russians  will certainly fight for their old capital.  The Russian government is also making  decisions. Its soldiers are exhausted from   the interminable retreat, and many officers – not  only Bagration – have lost confidence in Barclay,   not only because of his non-Russian  origins, but because he refuses to   face the Grande Armee. Some now refer to  Barclay de Tolly as boltai da i tolko,   all talk and no action. On August 17, the Tsar  meets with his advisors to choose a new commander,   and announce their decision three days later: the  Russian armies will now answer to Mikhail KutUzov.  As the Grande Armee pushes deeper into  the Russian Empire in late August 1812,   it leaves lands mostly populated by Poles,  Lithuanians and Belarussians, and enters   territory mostly inhabited by ethnic Russians.  The Tsar announced a national war back in July,   and now the people’s war against  the extended supply lines of the   French-led invasion force begins in earnest. Russian tactics in their unconventional national   war against Napoleon are based on partisan  resistance, Cossack raids, and scorched earth. Peasant resistance begins to grow in response  to the violence and looting of the Grande Armee.   Around the conquered city of Smolensk, any chance  of the local population seeing Napoleon as a   liberator are disappeared with the destruction  of the city. According to Russian officer G.P.   Meshticha: some villagers are  prepared to fight the invader: “Along the way residents had  abandoned their villages and towns   and taken with them their food and  belongings. What they couldn’t take with them,   they destroyed. […] Some had left the towns,  others hid in the forests with their families.   They were armed with pikes and guns to defend  themselves in case of attack.” (Rey 139) At the same time, some Russian commanders  start sending small and agile Cossack units   to operate behind enemy lines. Prince Bagration  and his aide-de-camp Lieutenant Colonel Davydov   agree to detach some irregular cavalry  units to harass the enemy with hit-and-run   raids. Bagration spells  out his orders in a letter: “I order you to harass the enemy and to try to  strike his supplies not only from the flanks,   but in the middle and rear. You are to  disrupt supply columns and vehicle parks,   and to destroy ferries. […] Nobody should know  [about] your movements, and you are to maintain   absolute secrecy. You yourself are responsible  for your own supply of food.”(Mika Lion) Other Russian commanders also  begin to send out raiding parties,   and gradually more and more Cossacks are  stalking isolated enemy units or groups of   foragers looking for food and fodder – with the  help of local peasants. Grande Armee soldiers   begin to forage in larger, organized  groups in case of attack by Cossacks   or armed resistance by peasants. Even though the  Cossack raiders are not a serious military threat,   they do take several hundred prisoners a day  and case widespread fear in French-led ranks. Hessian Captain Röder observes  one such incident at Vitebsk:  “Everything was suddenly thrown into ridiculous  uproar because a few Cossacks had been sighted,   who were said to have carried off a forager. The  entire garrison sprang to arms, and when they   had ridden out it was discovered that we were  really surrounded by only a few dozen Cossacks   who were dodging about hither and thither.  In this way they will be able to bring the   whole garrison to hospital in about fourteen  days without losing a single man.” (Chandler) Many Russians accept the scorched earth policy,  because of their suffering at the hands of the   Grande Armee. This planned destruction  of supplies, infrastructure, and shelter   worsens the already catastrophic French supply  problems and military losses. In late August,   Marshal Oudinot’s wife Eugenie de Coucy  describes the journey to visit him in hospital: “The roads were destroyed, choked with  debris of wheels and horse skeletons.   Ruined villages consisted of little more than a  few walls, around which moved the inhabitants,   clothed in rags. […] but what saddened me the  most were the unmistakeable little mounds,   on the top of many of which stood  a small cross.” (Boudon 154)  The problem is also troubling Marshal  Murat , as he writes to General Berthier:  “We are very badly off. […] You cannot imagine how  the Russians leave the country when they withdraw.   They leave nothing, absolutely nothing. Ils ne  laissent rien, absolument rien.” (Boudon 151) Peasant resistance, Cossack raids, and scorched  earth are now part of the reality of the war in   Russia, but both sides are still focused  mostly on how to win the conventional war. Napoleon is committed to an advance on Moscow  and he expects Russian leadership will fight for   the old capital. On August 24, the Grande  Armee begins to move east from Smolensk,   400km from Moscow. It enters the city of  Vyazma without a fight on the 28th. Vyazma’s   15,000 residents have nearly all left, and French  troops are able to put out the fires left by the   retreating Russians and salvage badly-needed food. While his army marches ahead, Napoleon also needs   to secure his rear and his vulnerable supply  lines. He leaves garrisons at Smolensk, Vitebsk,   and Minsk, and orders a Polish division to cover  the line from Minsk to Mogilev. He also knows that   he needs reinforcements, so the two reserve  corps from East Prussia begin to move east.   General Mathieu Dumas has put in charge of medical  and supply logistics, but he and his team are   overwhelmed by the task at hand. There is simply  no way to properly supply the army in the field,   even though the French threaten to shoot local  Russian officials who don’t give them the food   they demand. There is not enough flour, and even  if there were there are not enough ovens to bake   it in. Horses continue to starve, and even the  herds of cattle the army have brought along   from East Prussia are dying off. In the summer  heat, there is also a serious shortage of water,   so troops drink whatever they can find, which  causes many to get sick. The crisis weakens combat   effectiveness of all units – for example, the  VI Bavarian Corps regularly has a quarter of its   strength out looking for fodder for the horses. The shortages also torture the men,   as Sous-lieutenant Jean-Marie-Pierre-Guillaume  Aubry de Vildé writes to his father:  “Mon cher papa, I am writing to tell you of  the misery we are suffering. We have no bread   and live only on meat, like wild animals. […] We  continue to run after these damned Russians who   run away from us as quickly as we chase them.  We haven’t fought yet, but I constantly hope   that happy moment will come.” Boudon 148 Meanwhile the two Russian armies continue   their retreat in good order, in spite of  difficult conditions and flagging morale.   The heat is so oppressive officers grant special  permission for the men to unbutton their tunics.   One of the keys to the withdrawal is a disciplined  marching order to protect the columns from attack.   The vulnerable horse-drawn artillery moves  in echelon. When crossing open ground,   cavalry protects the columns, while light infantry  provides the cover over more difficult terrain.   Further afield, Cossack cavalry keeps watch  and reports any sign of enemy flanking attacks.   Cavalry officer Nadezhda Durova later writes  that her faith in the long retreat never wavers:  “When I imagine the dreadful end of our retreat,  involuntarily I sigh and become pensive. The   French are a foe worthy of us, noble and  courageous, but evil fate in the guise of   Napoleon is leading them into Russia. Here they  will lay down their heads, and their bones will   be scattered and their bodies rot.” (Durova 131) The rest of the army does get a morale boost when   General Mikhail Kutuzov arrives to take overall  command on August 29. Kutuzov will be made into   a symbol of the Russian spirit in Leo Tolstoy’s  epic novel War and Peace, and still later will   be portrayed as a military genius by Stalinist  historiography, but in 1812 he is actually a   flawed commander. The Tsar doesn’t like him and  he is known for his loose morals, but Kutuzov   is popular, skilled at relationship-building, and  fresh off a convincing victory over the Ottomans.   Lieutenant Radozhitsky sums up the feelings in  his unit when they learned of Kutuzov’s arrival:  “The moment of joy was indescribable: this  commander’s name produced a universal rebirth   of morale among the soldiers […] a man  with a Russian name, mind and heart,   from a well-known aristocratic family,  and famous for may exploits.” (Lieven 188)  Kutuzov’s appointment creates a complicated  command structure since the two Russian armies   remain under Barclay and Bagration,  but both accept their new superior   and his plan. Kutuzov intends to draw the Grande  Armee further into Russia, and fight a series of   well-chosen defensive battles along the way  while building up Russia’s weak reserves.   This task gets a little easier on August 27,   when Tsar Alexander meets with Swedish regent  Jean Bernadotte and the British ambassador.   The Swedes release Russia from its promise  of 40,000 men to help them conquer Norway. The Grande Armee is still the most powerful  army on earth, but hunger, disease,   and the Russian People’s War are wearing it down.  A reorganized Russian army under united command   is slowly growing in strength and recovering its  morale – and every last Russian soldier will be   needed soon, since the largest and bloodiest  battle of the campaign is just days away.  As the Russian army retreats east  in the early days of September 1812,   its new commanders decide to finally stop and give  battle to the Grande Armee. As the Russians fight   daily rearguard actions against the advancing  French-led forces along the Smolensk-Moscow road,   General Kutuzov sends his officers  to select a defensible position.   Which, in this part of the empire, is  not easy. Russian army officer Carl   von Clausewitz sums up the difficult terrain: “[…] the forests are thinner [and] the ground   is level – without any decided mountain ridges  – without any deep hollows; the fields are   without enclosures, therefore everywhere  easy to be passed; the villages of wood,   and ill adapted for defense. […] If a commander  then, wishes to fight without loss of time,   as was Kutuzov’s case, it is evident that he  must put up with what he can get.” Lieven 192  Russian army officers Bennigsen and Toll  select a position near the village of Borodino,   near the confluence of the rivers KolOcha  and Moskva, about 120km west of Moscow.   In the first days of September, the Russian army  begins to prepare defensive works and organize   itself along a line running from northeast of  the village of GOrki towards the southwest.   The weak link in the Russian defences is the  southern flank, since the Grande Armee might   push along the Old Smolensk road and threaten  to advance into the rear of the Russian forces.   Anchoring the southwestern corner is a hill  near the village of Shevardino. A small group   of pioneers begin to build a redoubt in a hurry,  and soon there’s a pentagonal shaped fortification   with a 1.5m high wall and shallow ditch around. The redoubt is in an awkward position out   in front of the Russian line – there’s  even an undefended hill just 200m away   the French could use for their artillery. Kutuzov  decides it won’t be the southern anchor after all,   and plans to protect his left wing further  back at the village of Utitsa. Regardless,   General NeverOvsky’s division is ordered to  defend the redoubt. Historians debate about   what the Russians actually have planned for the  redoubt: was it to threaten the French flank when   they arrive, delay their advance, disrupt their  deployment, or simply as an observation point.  On September 5, Marshal Murat’s cavalry  scouts catch sight of the entire Russian army   spread out below them – the long-awaited battle  will finally happen. Napoleon surveys the   situation and decides the Shevardino Redoubt must  be taken before the main battle can be fought.   30,000 French-led infantry, 10,000 cavalry, and  186 guns make ready to attack in the afternoon.   The Russians only have 8000 infantry, 4000  cavalry, and 36 guns in and around the redoubt.  A combined force drawn from the corps  of Davout, Poniatowski and Murat mount   an attack on the area around the redoubt  starting in the late afternoon. Russian   Jaegers put up stiff resistance, but French  General Compans’ division cannot be stopped.   French officer Gourgaud witnesses a clever  tactic to inflict maximum damage on the enemy:  “[General Compans] made [a battalion]  advance, covering four guns charged with   grape[shot] that moved behind it. […]  At 50 toises [100m] from the Russians,   he unmasked his battery, which caused  a dreadful destruction of the enemy.   Compans profiting by the disorder which  he observed in their ranks, and charged   with his battalion at the point of the  bayonet.” [Mikaberdize, Battle of Boro]  There is vicious hand-to-hand fighting as the  French storm the redoubt, which changes hands   several times. The French 61st Line Regiment  take the hill, but a counterattack by the   Sibirskii and MalorossIski Grenadiers drive them  off again. After dark, the French try to maneuver   between the redoubt and Shevardino village, but  they confuse Russian heavy cavalry with allied   Saxon cavalry and are cut down. The Red Lancers  of Hamburg don’t know they’re facing the heavily   armored Russian cuirassiers, so they charge into  a superior force only to beat a hasty retreat.  The Russians feed three divisions into the fight,  but the Grande Armee threatens to outflank them,   so the Russians finally abandon  the Shevardino redoubt at 11:00pm.   They leave behind a virtual charnel house on  and around the hill: there about 7000 dead and   wounded Russians, and 5000 killed and wounded  soldiers of the Grande Armee. The French troops   who occupy the position spend the night surrounded  by heaps of bodies and the cries of the wounded.  The stubborn defence of the Shevardino  Redoubt allows the Russian militiamen   to work on other field fortifications that will  play a critical role at the Battle of Borodino in   two days’ time, and the Russians now suspect that  Napoleon will focus his main attack in the south.   Kutuzov reports a glorious if  modest victory to the Tsar. The corpse-covered Shevardino Redoubt is now  in French hands, and both armies now prepare   for the colossal clash of arms that  will come on September 7, 1812.  Along the main Moscow road,  the first days of September see   several clashes between the French vanguard and  the Russian rearguard. The Grande Armee reaches   the fatefully-named village of Borodino  on the 6th, but the retreating Russians   are applying their policy of scorched earth  effectively. A French officer notes the effects:  “Coming out of the woods, which were full of  Cossacks who were routed by the Italian cavalry,   we passed through several villages devastated  by the Russians. The devastation, which these   barbarians left in their wake, showed us  the way.” (mikaberidze, battle of boro)  The scorched earth only worsens the  misery of the men of the Grande Armee.   Food is scarce, they are exhausted  from the endless marches,   and they’re parched. Captain Girod  de l’Ain is among those suffering:  “The heat was excessive: I had never experienced  worse in Spain […] This heat and dust made us   extremely thirsty […] [but] water was scarce.  Will you believe me when I say that I saw men   lying on their bellies to drink horses’ urine  in the gutter!” (Mikaberidze, Battle of Boro) While his men are starving and desperate to still  their thirst, Napoleon gets a welcome piece of   personal news from France. The Prefect of Paris  arrives and brings a gift from Napoleon’s wife,   Marie-Louise of Austria. It’s a painting of  their 1-year-old son, who already has the   title King of Rome. The Emperor is so pleased  he displays the painting outside his tent,   and writes Marie-Louise to thank  her for “the portrait of the king.” On the Russian side, the troops destroy the  inconveniently located village of SemYOnovskoe   to deny cover to the enemy. Inexperienced  Moscow militiamen are frantically working   on more field fortifications on the  high ground. Generals Bennigsen and Toll   argue about how best to construct the  central redoubt and so-called fleches   fieldworks in the south – and none of the  work is being overseen by military engineers.   The militiamen struggle with a lack of tools  and hard ground which is also dangerous for   artillery ricochets. They’re not finished  with their work by the end of September   6. Kutuzov also has leaflets printed in  French to encourage the enemy to desert: “Soldats francais, […] don’t believe the  perfidious words that you are fighting for   peace […] you are fighting for the insatiable  ambition of a master who does not want peace,   or he would have had it long  ago, and who is playing a game   with the blood of the brave. Go home  while there is still time […]” Rey 155 On the eve of the great battle, General  Kutuzov orders the icon of the Virgin Mary,   removed from Smolensk before the  battle there a few weeks ago,   to be carried before the troops. Napoleon  and some French officers mock the religious   procession, but Russian officer Fedor Glinka  believes his countrymen are at one with God:  “Never have Russians prayed with  such fervor as today…. At this hour,   the hearts and souls of the Russians were in a  secret conversation with the divine.” Rey 155  French officer Raymond de Fezensac is  also keenly aware of what is at stake:   “Both sides realised they had to win or perish:  for us, a defeat meant total destruction,   for them, it meant the loss of Moscow  and the destruction of their main army,   the only hope of Russia.” (Zamoyski) The next day, September 7, 1812   will determine whether French hopes are  realized, or Russian prayers are answered. On the morning of September 7, 1812, the Grande  Armee faces the combined forces of two Russian   armies near the village of Borodino – the biggest  battle of Napoleon’s campaign in Russia so far.   The Emperor wakes up at around 2:00AM,  and dictates a message to his troops.   He reminds them that they are defending  his crown, promises them glory,   and perhaps more importantly for  the men, an end to their misery:  “Soldats, voilà la bataille  que vous avez tant desirée.   Soldiers, here is the battle you have so long  desired. From now on, victory depends on you:   it is a necessity. Victory will give us  abundant supplies, good winter quarters,   and a prompt return to la patrie.” (Boudon 215) Some soldiers are stirred by Napoleon’s words,   but others don’t hear it, or only get a  brief translation from their officers.   Meanwhile, the Russian armies have held  their religious ceremonies yesterday,   and this morning brace for the coming storm.  The Russian defences stretch from north of  the Kolocha river near Gorki, and extend   westwards in a rough semi-circle ending along  the Old Smolensk-Moscow road near the village   of Utitsa and a large wood. The fortifications  around Gorki are strongest, and Kutuzov suspects   the French might attack there, against Barclay.  Bagration’s sector on the Russian left flank,   however, is open and vulnerable, so they’ve  reinforced it with two major defensive works:   a large redoubt, known by the French as the Grande  Redoute and the Russians as Raevsky’s Redoubt;   and three arrow-shaped field fortifications known  as fleches. Each one includes sharpened logs,   mutually supporting gun positions, is surrounded  by ditches, and is protected by a double palisade   at the rear. Small streams and ravines in front  of the Russian line add a natural obstacle.  This southern sector is precisely the part  of the line where Napoleon wants to strike   the decisive blow. Eugene’s troops will fix  the Russian right, while Ney and Davout will   concentrate on the Grande Redoute and the Fleches.  Prince Poniatowski’s Polish V Corps will try to   overwhelm the extreme Russian left and push into  the Russian rear along the Old Smolensk road.  The Russians hope to bog down the  Grande Armee in a battle of attrition,   so they pack most of their troops between  Raevsky’s Redoubt and the Fleches. There   are between 9 and 16 Russian soldiers per metre of  front, which means they will take heavy casualties   but Napoleon will have very little room to  outmaneuver them as he has so often in the past.   The Russians are also counting on the superior  firepower of their more numerous artillery   to turn the tide. To discourage unauthorized  retreat, the Moscow militia is positioned   just behind the southern end of the line to  turn any fleeing men back to the front lines.   All told, about 135,000 French-led  soldiers and 587 cannon are facing   about 114,000 Russian troops, 8000 Cossack  irregular cavalry, and 30,000 militiamen.  At 6:00AM, a battery of the French Imperial  Guard fired the signal for the battle of   Borodino, or la bataille de la Moskova, to begin.  French-led units launch attack after attack   against the Russian defenders, and the two massive  armies crash amidst the thunder of hundreds of   guns and the whinnying of tens of thousands of  horses. In the midst of the chaos and the killing,   the sun begins to shine. Napoleon takes heart  and tells his staff that it’s the same sun   that shone at his victory at Austerlitz in 1805.  But the Russians at Borodino are not the Russians   of Austerlitz, and they continue to hold their  positions under enormous pressure. The fighting   is of an intensity rarely seen in the Napoleonic  Wars, a fact not lost on Lieutenant N.I. AndrEev:  “The artillery roared to such an extent  that from dawn until the middle of the   day we couldn’t even hear the musket fire;  the cannonade was constant. One might think   the sky was on fire. But we could hardly see  the sky through the thick smoke.” (Rey 157)  The French take first the southern Fleche,  then the others, but the Russians counterattack   and take them back. Marshal Davout is  knocked unconscious when his horse is hit   and he falls to the ground, and Russian  artillery general Kutaisov is killed   – no one is in command of the Russian artillery  for the rest of the battle. By mid-morning,   the constant bombardment from Eugene’s artillery   and relentless pressure of the Grande Armee  begins to take its toll on the defenders.   The huge number of men and immense firepower in  a small space make the fighting far more chaotic   than a typical Napoleonic battle, as Russian  army officer Friedrich von Schubert recalls:  “He who has not seen it with his own eyes  cannot imagine the disorder. One couldn’t   speak of command. Each regiment, as soon as  it had half reformed after a clarion call,   attacked +immediately. […] In the middle  of the melee were our infantry divisions,   which the officers were trying to reorganize;  [General] PaskEvich was desperately   tearing at his hair and cursing.” (Rey 161) Around 10:00AM, although historians still debate   the exact timeline of the battle, Bagration’s  Fleches are taken yet again – Bagration   counterattacks, but the lines has been breached.  Andreev later recall the apocalyptic scene:  “Our division was annihilated. I couldn’t  go by the road, so I went through the fields   were wounded and mutilated men and horses  were everywhere, in a most horrible state.   Describing these horrors is beyond my strength.   Even today I cannot think about  that horrible spectacle.” (Rey 159)  By noon, Ney is able to consolidate  possession of the Fleches, helped by the   fact that a shell seriously wounds Bagration  – who will die of gangrene in a few weeks.   Kutuzov appoints Alexander von Wuertemberg  as commander of the 2nd Western Army,   but in practice Aleksei Yermolov takes over. Meanwhile in the north, the Grande Armee takes   the village of Borodino despite the fierce fight  put up by the Russian Chasseurs de la Garde   light cavalry. Eugene sets up more French guns in  the village to pour fire into the Russian center.   Grouchy’s cavalry and three divisions of infantry  cross the Kolocha and move on the Russian center.   Just as Napoleon had planned, Kutuzov has been  forced to weaken his center to support the south.  Raevsky’s Redoubt, anchoring the Russian  line, still resists. The Grande Redoute is   all the more imposing for the attackers because  it is protected by a swampy stream to the front,   with only limited access from the rear. But  now its Russians defenders are under attack   from all sides. About 2:00PM, Marshal Murat’s  cavalry begins a series of charges to open a   breach in the Russian lines to allow the French  infantry to assault the redoubt. At 15:00, French   cuirassiers heavy cavalry smash into the Russian  lines one final time, and the infantry is able to   capture the redoubt at heavy cost on both sides. Sous-lieutenant Ducque is shocked by what he sees:  “Most of the [dead] were infantrymen  who lay under dead horses and cavalrymen   who had charged over them. This mix of  men, weapons, and horses, breastplates,   iron and brass cavalry helmets formed an  indescribable scene. […] The horror of this   incredible sight was increased by the moans of  the dying who lay among the dead.” (Rey 161)  French-led troops can now move south  on the plateau to support the Poles,   and threaten Russian troops in the ruins of  the SemYOnovskoe. The Russians have now lost   their most important defensive positions and  begin to fall back. Napoleon must now decide   whether to throw in the Imperial Guard to finish  off the Russians. But French command believes that   the battle will continue the next day, and  the Emperor decides not to risk the Guard.   The Grande Armee has taken all Russian  positions, and Russian troops have pulled   back more than 1km from their original line. The artillery rumbles until about 6:00PM but   both armies begin to pitch camp for the night at a  safe distance. The soldiers who survive the day’s   butchery are forever marked by it, as Russian  soldier Yuri BartEnev writes to his parents:  “Pieces of bodies were everywhere, and the dying  groaned. I saw one man without a head, another one   without hands or legs. I saw a lightly wounded  soldier who couldn’t speak because his mouth   was full of the brains of the man who  had been killed beside him.” (Rey 162) There is no second day of battle at Borodino.  In the night of September 7-8, Kutuzov gives   the order to retreat towards Moscow, and the next  day, the Grande Armee, once again, has no enemy   before it – but it is too exhausted to pursue  the Russians, and stops to rest. The Battle of   Borodino is one of the largest and bloodiest  of the Napoleonic Wars. This is partly because   it is not decided by maneuver; but waged with  brute force and firepower in a head-on struggle.  In just one day, French guns fire 60,000  cannonballs, and the Russians 50,000;   French-led infantry fires some 140,000  cartridges and the Russians 120,000.   An average of three cannons are fired  every second of the battle. All this iron,   lead and fire takes a terrible human toll. The  Grande Armee loses 28,000 killed and wounded,   and 15,000 of its already decimated complement  of horses. The Russians suffer 45,000 killed and   wounded and 1000 prisoners. Borodino  did not spare the generals either.   10 French generals are dead and 39 wounded; the  Russians lose 6 dead generals, including both   Tuchkov brothers, and 23 wounded. The Russian  2nd Western Army has nearly been destroyed. Napoleon, who is sick the day of the  battle, has been heavily criticized   for his performance at Borodino. Some historians  call it one of the worst moments of his career,   and insist that if he had sent in the Guard he  could have carried the day and won the campaign.   In the end, both sides claim victory: the  French since they are the masters of the field;   and the Russians since have badly weakened their  enemy and still have an army. The Russian command   also made mistakes including confused orders  and placing too many troops on their right wing.   French-allied King Wilhelm von Wuerttemberg,  whose brother fought on the Russian side that day,   is relatively reserved about the outcome: “In reality, Kutuzov didn’t have any more  reason to have Alexander order a Te Deum in St.   Petersburg than did Napoleon to send victorious  communiques to Marie Louise.” (Fileaux 115) The Battle of Borodino goes on to become THE  symbolic battle of the Napoleonic Wars in Russian   history. It will be used by poets, novelists,  composers and filmmakers over the course of   two centuries, to build a powerful mythology  and national memory that is still influential   today. But all the history books and national  celebrations are far from the minds of the armies   at the end of the day on September 7. Despite  the scale, intensity, and lethality of Borodino,   the war is far from over, and  Moscow is only a few marches away. After the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon’s  Grande Armee forces the Russian army to retreat   eastwards, towards Moscow. Russian leadership  now faces a torturous choice: they can risk   another battle with their badly weakened army, or  they can abandon the historic former capital city   to the very French-led army they have  publicly said they’ve beaten just days before.  Kutuzov, whom the Tsar makes a Field Marshal on  September 11, thinks about fighting more delaying   battles west of Moscow. But his generals remind  him that the army no longer has enough men to face   Napoleon, and it’s also struggling with morale  and supply. Most Muscovites flee the city, even as   thousands of wounded from Borodino stream in for  treatment. On September 13, the Russian generals   meet. Barclay and Yermolov want to retreat, while  Bennigsen, DokhturOv and Moscow Governor Fyodor   Rostopshin want to fight. Kutuzov decides that  Moscow cannot be defended, and must be evacuated:  “Napoleon is like a torrent which we are  still too weak to stem. ‘Moscow is the sponge   which will suck him in […] I will see to  it that French, like the Turks last year,   will eat horse meat!” (Zamoyski and Rey, 169) Moscow is thrown into chaos at the news.   Residents panic, pack their things, and soon choke  the streets as refugees following their army as it   leaves the city. Russian soldiers are demotivated  and discipline begins to break down as units   plunder on their way out. For many, losing Moscow  is unthinkable and akin to the end of the world   as they knew it. Lieutenant Alexander  Chicherin of the Semenovskii Regiment:  “As we passed through the city, it seemed  I had entered an unreal world. I wanted to   believe that all I saw – the sadness, the fear,  the panic of the inhabitants – was just a dream   and I was surrounded by ghosts. The ancient  spires of the Kremlin, the tombs of my ancestors,   the cathedral where our Sovereign was blessed,  everything cried for vengeance. There are things   that cannot be explained.” (Rey 19) As the Russian army withdraws,   the Grande Armee arrives. In hasty talks, General  Raevsky and Marshal Murat agree to a ceasefire   after the Russian threatens to set fire to  the city. Strange scenes ensue as French-led   units run into and sometimes even mingle with  Russian units, with both armies looting freely.   For the Grande Armee, Moscow seems to hold out  the promise of relief after more than two months   of unbearable suffering. Sergeant Bourgogne  of the Imperial Guard recalls his hopes:  “At that moment, all the suffering, the  dangers, the hardships, the privations,   everything was forgotten and swept from our minds  by thoughts of the pleasure of entering Moscow,   of taking up comfortable winter quarters in  it and of making conquests of another kind,   for that is the character of the French soldier:   from the fight to lovemaking, and  from lovemaking to battle.” (Zamoyski) Napoleon enters Moscow on September 15 and sets up  in the Kremlin, expecting that now Tsar Alexander   will make peace. But soon, the streets of  the old capital begin to fill with smoke.  The great city into which the Grande Armee marches  on September 14 is nearly empty – of 262,000   residents, only about 10,000 remain. Among  those who have left are 2100 firefighters   and their 96 water pumps, ordered out of  the city by Governor Rostopshin. Small fires   break out on the evening of the 14th, but French  officers assume they have broken out accidentally   as a result of careless soldiers, Russian and  European alike. But later that night, larger and   more ominous blazes break out in the Kitai Gorod  quarter. French-led troops rush to try to put them   out and discover torch-bearing arsonists – it’s  now clear the fire is no accident. Before he left,   the Governor had ordered the chief of police  to set the city on fire as part of Russia’s   scorched earth policy. With a rising wind, no  firefighters and no more fire pumps, it is a   matter of time before the conflagration gets out  of control in a city made mostly of wood – even   though the French arrest and execute 400 Russians  suspected of spreading the flames. On the 15th,   Arbat is burning, and Moscow University library  turns to ashes. The 16th, the fire reaches the   stables next to the Kremlin, and Napoleon  leaves Moscow for nearby Petrovsky Palace. Grande Armee units also partially evacuate the  city until fresh rain finally puts out the fire   on the 20th. When they return, much of the city  is smoking charcoal: 29% of homes are destroyed,   along with 73% of churches and countless cultural  treasures. and their attitude has changed. Far   from an oasis, Moscow is now a ruined city  filled with anger and fear. French-led troops   now loot and kill with renewed ferocity.  They shoot hundreds of civilians and wounded,   and rape an unknown number of women. French  soldier R. Bourgeois witnesses the atrocities: “When we became certain the Russians  had decided to sacrifice their city,   an inhibition spread among the troops.  Civilians […] chased out of their homes by   the flames […] were stopped by soldiers lacking  all humanity, who mistreated them and only left   them after robbing them of their precious things  […] Any women who appeared were seized at once   and delivered up to the brutality of  those who preyed upon them.” (Rey 181) One captain of the Guard  steals silver church ornaments,   melted them down and sold them.  Bavarian war artist Albrecht Adam   accepts the invitation of a French  officer to acquire some Italian art.   Russian civilians also loot whatever they can  in the absence of any order or police. One type   of item the Grande Armee looters do not focus on  for the most part is warm winter clothing. When   some Polish units begin smithing winter horse  shoes, French officers simply laugh at them. While the Grande Armee plunders conquered  Moscow, Napoleon busies himself with attempts   to reach out to the Tsar for a peace deal. The  result is not at all what the Corsican expects. The Emperor of the French feels  that now that he has, in his eyes,   defeated the Russian army at Borodino  and occupied Moscow, the Tsar ought to   be ready to make peace. And Russian leadership  is feeling the pressure after Moscow has fallen.   There is panic in St. Petersburg, and the army is  in crisis. Count Rostopshin complains bitterly:   “The soldiers are no longer an army, but a horde  of bandits, looting under the very eyes of their   commanders. One cannot shoot them: how can one  punish several thousand people a day?” (Zamoyski) On September 18, Napoleon meets with Russian  General Ivan Tutolmin, who agrees to act as an   intermediary and writes to Maria Fyodorovna,  the Tsar’s mother. She does not respond.   On the 22nd, Napoleon convinces an officer close  to Grand Duke Constantine to carry a letter to the   Tsar at St. Petersburg. But he does not answer  either – in fact, the officer is accused of   treason put in prison. Napoleon then asks the  Marquis de Caulaincourt to go to see the Tsar,   but Caulaincourt says there’s no point. The  Emperor, however, is not ready to give up,   and he writes his own letter to Kutuzov which  he entrusts to the former French ambassador   Jacques Lauriston on October 4. Kutuzov has  orders from the Tsar to continue the war,   but he agrees to meet Lauriston in secret in  case he can learn something of French plans   and play for time while reinforcements are  on their way. Lauriston bitterly complains   about partisan peasants, who are ambushing and  killing Grande Armee troops. Kutuzov is unmoved:  “[I] cannot civilize in three months  a nation that considers the enemy   worse than a gang of marauding Tatars under   Genghis Khan […] I am only responsible for  the behavior of my soldiers.” (Rey 187) While Napoleon tries in vain to treat for peace,  his army spends a relatively comfortable month in   Moscow. The Russian army, meanwhile, is able to  pull off an important strategic maneuver after   leaving Moscow. Kutuzov’s forces head southeast  towards Ryazan. French cavalry give chase, and   the Cossacks seem to be just ahead of them. But  the bulk of the Russian army suddenly turns west,   and at first the French don’t notice  it’s only the Cossacks in front of them.   The main army reaches Tarutino on October  3 and sets up camp to wait gather strength.   It also now controls the vital routes south and  southwest of Moscow, and is close to its supply   bases in Kaluga. If the Grande Armee wants to  move west through an area it has not already   devastated, it will have to fight to get there. The Grande Armee has conquered and plundered the   ashes of Moscow, the Third Rome and the old  capital of the Russian empire. Napoleon is   adamant that he wants peace, but he cannot make  it alone. His army has been gravely weakened and   still suffers from desertion and ill-discipline  – and now, the Russian army’s Tarutino Maneuver   has placed it in a menacing position. The  Russians have suffered terrible losses,   but they can replace them, and the country’s will  to fight is shaken but not broken. Politician   Alexander Turgenev is dismayed at the destruction  of Moscow, but confident of ultimate victory:  “The ruins [of Moscow] are for us the wages of  our penitence, moral and political; and the fire   of Moscow, of Smolensk, will, sooner or later,  light for us the way to Paris. These are not empty   words, I am completely certain of it.” (Rey 23) After his unsuccessful peace feelers,   Napoleon is now certain that his army must  leave Moscow. He orders preparations to begin;   and a few days later on October 13,  the first snowflakes begin to fall.  By mid-October 1812, Napoleon and much of his  Grande Armee have spent nearly a month in Moscow,   but the Tsar has refused all offers of peace.  The Emperor has decided to leave the ruined city.   Spending the winter in Moscow would keep him far  from politically unstable Paris and staying might   put his armies at risk of being further weakened  over the winter while the Russians get stronger.   But he’s had a difficult time deciding  what to do once he does leave.   He could move west along a southern route through  Ukraine, but this would take him even further from   the centers of Russian political power, and the  Russian army is blocking his path. He could also   decide to move north towards St Petersburg and  try to force a decision, but the onset of fall,   the massive distances involved and the weakened  state of the Grande Armee make this unlikely.   Another option is a withdrawal to Smolensk (and  possibly further), either by a route south of the   one the Grande Armee had already taken, or by  the same route. This would be an admission of   catastrophic defeat, and expose the army  to the risk of starvation if it follows   the same devastated route through Belarus. Napoleon finally chooses the least bad option:   he orders a retreat to Smolensk through Yel’n’a,  passing south of the area destroyed in the summer.   This means fighting their way through the Russian  army encamped at TarUtino. The Grande Armee army   prepares to leave Moscow on October 18. While Napoleon is wasting valuable time in Moscow,   Russian leaders are also making plans. Kutuzov’s  priority is to rebuild his army’s strength,   and he does so: he had just 40,000 men when  he arrives on October 3, but two weeks later   he has 88,000 regulars and 28,000 cavalry,  including irregular Cossacks and Bashkirs.   Meanwhile irregular Cossack cavalry and peasant  partisans raid Grande Armee foraging parties and   isolated units, which cause the French 15,000  men during the month they are in Moscow. The strategic retreat is over, the new Russian  military objective is to go on the offensive. Now,   the Tsar expects that his armies, which outnumber  the French-led invasion forces for the first time   since the campaign began, will strike at  the Grande Armee from multiple directions   to surround and destroy it. Wittgenstein’s  northern corps, reinforced with fresh units   from Finland, is to push south against the  corps of Oudinot and Wrede. In the south,   Admiral Chichagov’s Army of the Danube is to  move against Schwarzenberg’s Austrian corps.   Finally, Kutuzov’s main army is to close on  Napoleon’s main force from the east – all with   the objective of trapping the Grande Armee and  delivering a crushing blow somewhere in Belarus. While Napoleon agonizes in Moscow  before finally deciding to move west,   Kutuzov strikes first at Tarutino.  The Russian army’s Tarutino maneuver had  allowed it to escape the Grande Armee and   set up camp between Moscow and Kaluga. French  Marshal Murat’s cavalry corps and General   Poniatowski’s 5th Polish Corps encamp just  north of the Russians to keep an eye on them.  Kutuzov is working on rebuilding his forces,  but as the weeks pass, Generals Bennigsen,   Barclay, and British advisor General Wilson  all pressure him to maintain offensive action.   So he approves a surprise attack on the French  and Poles for October 18. Murat’s cavalry is a   shell of its former self. The entire 3rd Cavalry  Corps, for example, only has 700 sabres out of   its original complement of 9700, and the Saxon  brigade has been reduced to a mere 50 horses.   Polish Lieutenant Henryk Dembinski complains  that the surviving mounts are in a pitiful state:  “It was so bad that, even though we had  folded blankets to the thickness of sixteen,   their backs had rotted through completely, so much  so that the rot had eaten through the saddlecloth,   with the result that when a trooper dismounted,  you could see the horse’s entrails.” (Zamoyski)  This is the depleted force the Russians catch  completely unaware near VInkovo. Ten regiments   of Cossacks carefully approach the unsuspecting  French and Poles before charging straight   into their camp. At first, the Allied troops  closest to the Russians panic and simply flee,   leaving their weapons and supplies behind.  French Captain Bréaut describes the chaos:  “We finally got into battle formation.  The guns were firing on us with grapeshot,   nothing stopped them. There were too many  Russians. […] we were quickly forced to retreat,   but did so in good order. Cannon balls were  falling in our ranks like hail […] Everywhere   we looked we saw nothing but Cossacks.” Boudon 248 But just as it seemed the Cossacks might be able   to use their momentum and French disorganization  to score a complete rout and perhaps even capture   Marshal Murat, they stop. A Russian army corps  also joins the fight, but by now the French and   Poles have recovered their wits and they are able  to inflict losses on the Russians – including   corps commander General Baggovut, who is killed. Some observers argue that the Cossacks simply   wanted to secure their loot from the French camp,  while others emphasize that Kutuzov is satisfied   with the limited victory and orders no pursuit. The Battle of Tarutino, or the Battle of Vinkovo,   is relatively small scale but important: the  Russians are from now on willing to go over   to the offensive, and the Grande Armee  is psychologically shaken and beatable. The Russians triumph at Tarutino,   but Kutuzov doesn’t press his advantage despite  good intelligence from his superior light cavalry.   Instead, the Grande Armee will come  to him as it leaves Moscow behind. The Grande Armee that marches out of a burnt-out  Moscow on October 18 and 19 is a shadow of the one   that crossed the Neman river in June. The Tsar has  rejected Napoleon’s peace offers, and in the month   the army spent in Moscow, Cossack and partisan  raids kill or wound another 10-15,000 men.   There are now only about 95,000 men in Napoleon’s  main strike force. The months of hardship have   reduced them to a disorganized and dispirited  crowd intent on surviving rather than conquering.  A massive baggage train of up to 50,000 wagons,  carts, and even wheelbarrows, accompanies   the troubled army’s columns. Captain Eugene  Labaume is reminded of a scene from antiquity:  “He who has not seen the French army leave  Moscow can scarcely imagine the Greek and   Roman armies as they abandoned the ruins of  Troy or Carthage. The long lines of carts,   in ranks of three or four, extended several  leagues and were loaded with the immense booty   the soldiers had torn from the flames.” Boudon 249 Many French residents of Moscow who had lived   there before the war also leave, along with some  Russians who cast their lot with the French.   Napoleon initially leaves 10,000 men in the  city with orders to blow up the Kremlin,   but changes his mind soon after  and orders all his troops to leave.   They attempt to destroy the Kremlin but fail. The French-led occupation of Moscow causes a   strong feeling of resentment in Russia and helps  rally the population against the Grande Armee.   Russian authorities use the fire for propaganda,  but peasant art and songs also show their hatred   of the French and genuine attachment to Russia. The reality of the re-entry of Russian troops   and civilians into Moscow is more  complicated than patriotic sentiments.   The city is absolutely ruined, as one pre-war  French resident who decides to stay recalls:  “One could barely recognize  where the streets had been;   corpses lay everywhere in the streets and in the  courtyards […] dead horses blocked the roads, the   carcasses of cows and dogs lay among the bodies  of people; a little farther along [those] who had   been hanged – they were arsonists who had been  shot and then strung up. We passed all this by   with an inconceivable indifference.” Rey 206 As the French leave, peasants from the devastated   villages around the city organize themselves into  large groups and take advantage of the disorder   to plunder anything of use still left among the  ruins. An anonymous Russian observes the chaos:  “By entire convoys, peasants arrived in Moscow  to steal what the enemy hadn’t had the time or   the possibility to take away. They took  mirrors, chandeliers, paintings, books,   furniture; in a word, they took everything  they could lay their hands on.” Rey 224  Russian authorities arrest many of  the looters in the following days,   but eventually strike a modus vivendi by  having the peasants carry the thousands   of bodies lying in the streets outside the  city limits and bury them on their way home. As Napoleon leaves the ruins of Moscow behind  and wants to reach Smolensk or Minsk by a   safe route to consider his options  and perhaps set up winter quarters.   But a restored Russian army is blocking the way. The much-reduced Grande Armee that left Moscow on  October 18 heads to the southwest, towards Kaluga   and the encamped Russian army. He hopes to take a  southerly route westwards, but wants to avoid the   Russian army. So his forces veer west and head for  MaloyaroslAvets, a small town at a key junction   that would allow the Grande Armee to choose its  preferred route and keep the Russian army at bay.  The Russians know French-led forces are near  MaloyaroslAvets, but they don’t know it’s   Napoleon’s main army until Russian partisans  get confirmation from captured French officers.   Meanwhile 6000 men of Eugene’s vanguard have  occupied the town, and General DOkhturov   decides to attack them with his force of 12,000. The night of October 23, the Russians manage to   push the French units out of the town and across  the lone bridge spanning the nearby river.   Dokhturov sets up his guns on  the steep slopes behind the town,   which gives the Russians a tactical advantage for  the main battle which starts early on the 24th.  The fighting rages back and forth throughout the  day, and each side throws in more and more units.   In all some 32,000 Russians and 24,000 Grande  Armee troops are involved. Most of the troops   fighting on the French side are from the Italian  peninsula, and Maloyaroslavets is the culmination   of their role in the campaign. Italian units  hold out in bitter fighting around a monastery,   while the town changes hands up to 5 times.  In general, Russian troops are able to attack   downhill with powerful artillery support from  the heights above, while Eugene’s men must worry   about the vulnerable bridge behind them. The  fighting in the streets is at close quarters,   and British General Robert Wilson, who is attached  to the Russian army, recalls the haunting scene:  “The crackling flames – the dark shadows of the  combatants flitting amongst them – the hissing   ring of the grape as it flew from the licornes –  the rattling of the musketry – the ignited shells   traversing and crossing in the atmosphere –  the wild shouts of the combatants, and all   the accompaniments of the sanguinary struggle  formed an ensemble seldom witnessed.” (Zamoyski)  The Russians decide to abandon the town, which  has burned to the ground during the battle,   and withdraw to the ridges while their cannons  continue to fire on the French and Italians.   By this time Kutuzov’s and Napoleon’s main  armies have both arrived on the scene,   but the Emperor hesitates. On the 25th, he rides out to   assess the situation and But while on the south  bank of the river, a Cossack patrol ambushes   the Emperor’s scouting party. The Chasseurs de  Garde barely manage to hold off the attackers,   and one Cossack rider manages to get within 20  meters of Napoleon himself. Sergeant Bourgogne   of the Imperial Guard is among the troops  rushing to help and witnesses a tragic mistake:  “We saw the Emperor almost  in the midst of the Cossacks,   surrounded by generals and staff officers. […] At  the instant when the cavalry entered the plain,   several officers were forced to draw their sabers  to protect themselves and the Emperor, who was in   their midst and might have been taken. One of the  staff officers, however, after killing a Cossack   and wounding several more, lost his hat, and then  dropped his saber. Finding himself weaponless,   he rushed at a Cossack and snatched away his lance  and began to defend himself with it. At that very   moment he was spotted by a Horse Grenadier of the  Guard, who, mistaking him for a Cossack, because   of his green cloak and lance, rode him down and  passed his saber through his body.” (Chandler)  Napoleon survives the incident, and determines  that he doesn’t want to risk his main force   crossing the bridge within range of Russian  guns. The Battle of Maloyaroslavets is over:   tactically it’s a draw, and costs both sides  around 7000 killed and wounded. Strategically   though, it is an unintentional Russian  success. Kutuzov is cautious and withdraws,   but Napoleon never learns his way to Kaluga  is open. The Grande Armee’s easier path west   has been blocked, and the hapless French-led  forces must now retrace their steps through the   very same region that both armies had plundered  and burned their way through in the summer. The Russians have forced the Grande Armee  to retrace its steps on its retreat,   and disaster looms. To make  matters worse for Napoleon,   Russian forces go over to the attack far to  his rear – on the northern flank near Polotsk. On the northern front, Russian army general  Wittgenstein now has 40,000 men, although 9000   are militia, to pit against Oudinot and Wrede’s  17,000. There are also 10,000 more Russians under   General Fabian von Steinheil marching from Riga.  If Wittgenstein can defeat the Franco-Bavarian   force around Polotsk and capture the town’s  bridge across the Dvina, he could threaten French   supply centers at Vitebsk, Minsk and Smolensk.  Since Wittgenstein doesn’t have the engineering   capabilities in his corps to build a pontoon  bridge east of St Cyr’s corps to outflank them,   he decides to attack head-on and use his  numerical superiority to drive the French   and Bavarians back. On October 18, the  Second Battle of Polotsk begins as three   Russian columns arrive outside the town. In  the morning, cavalry units clash several times   as Wittgenstein tries to advance his lead units  and push the French out of a wood. Then, at 11:00,   French cavalry smashes into the Russian left,  and Wittgenstein himself is briefly in danger   until more Russian horsemen arrive and the  French withdraw. Then Russians sent their   reserves into the center of their line, and after  fierce fighting over the field fortifications,   the Franco-Bavarians have no choice but  to give way and retreat towards the city.   Swiss Lieutenant Zimmerli recalls  the intense Russian artillery fire:  “For an hour and a half cannonballs  literally rained down on us, and in   our passive position we expected at any moment  to be carried away or torn to pieces by one.   We were very happy when news came of a  Russian attack on a field fortification   and we were called to defend it. At least  there we could fight back.” Maag 175  Meanwhile, General Prince YashvIl advances on the  opposite bank of the PolotA river. The Russians   manage to surround a Croatian regiment and force  the French back, but break off the fight when   French artillery in Polotsk opens up. The day ends without a decision,   as the French make good use of field  foritifcations and the awkward battlefield   which divided the more numerous Russians  in two. Fighting continues on the 19th,   but Saint-Cyr realises that with Stenheil  approaching, he might be surrounded. That night,   the 2 and 6 corps make a hasty retreat across the  river and blow the bridges, leaving many of the   Bavarians trapped on the northern bank and bound  for captivity. The 2nd Battle of Polotsk costs   the Grande Armee about 4000 killed and wounded and  2000 prisoners, and the Russians lose about 8000.  The Bavarian corps is so weakened that  it retreats to western Belarus, while   Oudinot’s 2 corps joins up with Victor’s corps  to protect a potential retreat for their Emperor. The Emperor’s Russian campaign is  collapsing, and even his barren path   of retreat is in danger of being cut off. In  Paris, the latest defeats are still unknown,   but bad news from Russia has been trickling in  for weeks and sets off a political shockwave. With the Emperor thousands of km away in Russia  and the army bulletins growing ever more cryptic,   opponents of Napoleon’s rule decide to risk  a coup. General Claude Francois de Malet   had served in the French army before resigning  when Napoleon crowned himself emperor in 1804.   Malet is a fervent republican, and is in a Paris  prison after conspiring against Napoleon in 1808.   He has connections to some other disgruntled  groups, including officers in the secret   Societe des Philadelphes, and Bourbon royalists in  the secret Association des Chevaliers de la foi.   He’s in prison with Catholic dissident the Abbe  Lafont, and together they break out of jail   on October 22. Malet immediately puts his plan  into action. In full general officer’s uniform,   he presents forged documents declaring Napoleon’s  death to an officer of the French national guard,   who believes him. One of the forgeries is an order  from the senate and reveals Malet’s intentions for   France: the end of the empire, a popular vote for  a new constitution, peace with foreign enemies,   immunity for imperial officials, amnesty for  political prisoners, freedom of the press,   and reconciliation with the Pope. Malet uses the troops under his control to free   two other imprisoned republican generals, who  move to take over the police and arrest imperial   officials. Early on the morning of October 23,  Malet and his accomplices have control of the   Ministry of Police, the local prefecture,  police headquarters, and Paris city hall.   The 1st Regiment of the Imperial Guard joins  the coup and prepares to block the city gates.   But when Malet confronts the Commander of  the Place de Paris and even shoots at him,   Genera Hulin has Malet arrested, and the  conspirators are executed a few days later.  The Malet coup attempt fails, but it reveals  the presence of small but motivated networks   of Frenchmen opposed to the Emperor on republican,  royalist, and Catholic grounds. It also shows the   fragility of Bonaparte’s hopes for a dynasty.  When faced with Napoleon’s apparent death,   officials did not immediately call for Napoleon’s  son to be proclaimed Emperor and Marie-Louise   regent. Regime change is considered possible even  at the highest levels of government in Paris,   a thought that will give Napoleon cause for  concern when he eventually finds out about the   coup – for now, he has no idea. Hortense de Beauharnais   writes to her brother Eugene about the Malet  affair and fear of the Emperor’s wrath:  “You must know by now about our Paris adventure.  Everyone is worried about how the emperor will   take it. We all laugh at the police, but we are  worried about them and we believe that the emperor   will not sacrifice people who are devoted to him.  […] The last [army] bulletin has caused alarm. We,   those who have spirit, think that you are  preparing for a rearward movement that is   quite wise. But the rumor mill got a lot of people  to think the emperor might be dead.” (Boudon 348) By the third week of October,  Napoleon’s entire campaign in Russia   is in shambles. His army is depleted,  he has decided to leave Moscow,   and the tide on the battlefield  has turned against him at Polotsk,   Tarutino, and Maloyaroslavets. Still, many of his  men like Lieutenant Dembinksi, believe in him:  “We could see that we were slowly perishing,  but our faith in the genius of Napoleon,   in his many years of triumph, was so  unbounded that these conversations   always ended with the conclusion that he must  know what he is doing better than us.” (Zamoyski)  For the Russians, their strategic retreat,  scorched earth policy and People’s War have   required terrible sacrifices from the army and the  peasants alike, but they are now bearing fruit.   They have the enemy where they want him – now  it’s a question of striking before he can escape.  On October 26, with cold autumn  rains in full swing during the day   and frost covering the earth at night, the  Grande Armee begins its long and uncertain   retreat along the exact same route it had  come in July and August. In an ominous sign,   the Emperor of the French now carries a  small vial of poison everywhere he goes.  As Napoleon begins his retreat from  Maloyaroslavets on October 26, he is three   days ahead of Marshal Kutuzov and pushing his men  beyond their limits. Speed is the only option,   since his rearguard is struggling with discipline,  and there are not enough horses left in the army   to pull supply carts and form a cavalry  screen to protect the column from Cossack   raids. Within a few days, the Grande Armee  passes through the battlefield at Borodino,   and thousands of wounded left from the great  battle are loaded on carts for transport west.   French-led troops also trudge past the thousands  of unburied bodies still littering the field.  Russian soldier Fyodor Glinka reaches Borodino  soon after: “Few [of the dead] still had a human   look. Well before the frosts had arrived,  maggots and putrefaction had made their   mark. […] Packs of wolves had come  from every corner of Smolensk province.   Birds of prey had flown from the nearby fields.  […] The birds picked out the eyes, the wolves   cleaned the bones of their flesh.” Lieven 261-262 By November 3rd the core of the Grande Armee   is just east of the town of Vyazma, and  Kutuzov’s army is breathing down their neck.   Napoleon’s troops are in a vulnerable  position, stretched out in columns 50km long.   Russian army general Mikhail MilorAdovich wants to  cut off Marshal Davout’s rearguard and destroy it,   so he attacks. The Russians manage to surround  Davout’s corps, but Eugene and Prince Poniatowski   rush help Davout, and Kutuzov is once again slow  to bring up his main force. The French-led troops   are able to rejoin the main column, but they  lose more men than the Russians: 6000 killed   and wounded and 2000 prisoners, against Russian  losses of 1800 killed and wounded. 1000 homes and   4000 shops and warehouses burn to the ground. Even  though Kutuzov is criticized for his timidity,   the capture of Vyazma is a boost to Russian  morale, including for Lieutenant Ivan Radozhitsky:  “Our superiority was clear: the enemy had almost  no cavalry and in contrast to previous occasions   his artillery was weak and ineffective…we rejoiced  in our glorious victory, and in addition saw our   superiority over the terrible enemy.” Lieven 265 French morale is headed in the opposite direction,   and an angry Napoleon puts Marshal  Ney in charge of the rearguard. As the Russian army re-takes Vyazma in the east,  it also continues its offensive in the north. Russian army general Pyotr Wittgenstein begins  to move south in order to threaten Napoleon’s   line of retreat, and his forces clash  with those of Marshals Victor and St-Cyr   near the village of ChAshniki on October  31. 30,000 Russian troops with proper winter   clothing and supported by 114 guns advance  against 30-35,000 men of the Grande Armee.   At first, the French hold off the Russians  thanks to their position on a high riverbank,   but when the superior and more numerous Russian  artillery opens up, Victor decides to retreat.  Napoleon is furious when he gets word of the  retreat some days later, since his escape route   is still under threat. General Berthier  conveys the Emperor’s orders to Victor:  “Take the offensive—the safety of the whole  army depends on you; every day’s delay can   mean a calamity. The army’s cavalry is on foot  because the cold has killed all the horses.   March at once—it is the order of the  Emperor and of sheer necessity.” (Chandler)  Victor then launches the Battle  of Smoliani on November 13 and 14.   In fierce fighting, the village changes hands  6 times, but the French-led units are unable   to outflank the more numerous Russians.  2000 Russians and 3000 Grande Armee troops   are killed or wounded, and the French  fail to force Wittgenstein back. The Grande Armee is still in  danger of being surrounded,   and Wittgenstein is drawing closer to Napoleon’s  only line of retreat. But even away from the   battlefield, there is no rest for weary Grande  Armee soldiers thanks to Russian partisans.  Tsar Alexander had called for the nation to  rise up against the invader back in July,   but the Russians’ most intense partisan  guerilla war against the Grande Armee   starts on Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow.  sIn September, Kutuzov expressed his hope   that the constant and unpredictable  harassment of Grande Armee units   will complement his strategy of  mostly avoiding major battles: “Since the autumn time is coming, the movements  of a large army are becoming too difficult [...]   that’s why I decided, avoiding a general battle,  to wage a small war, because the separation of   enemy's forces and his blunders give me more  ways to exterminate him.” (Безотосный, 354) The Russian guerilla campaign that reaches its  peak in the fall of 1812 has two components. The   first are special detachments of regular troops,  often joined with Cossacks, commanded by officers. Russian partisan units are to block any roads  other than the main Smolensk road the Grande   Armee is on, monitor French movements,  and capture prisoners for interrogation.   Sometimes, they cooperate  with advanced Russian troops,   like at the Battle of Vyazma. All this  guarantees maximum stress and hardship   for the surviving men of the Grande Armee. According to Russian officer Denis Davydov,   these units, called parties,  are built for irregular warfare: “The best position for the ‘party’ is  its incessant movement... Убить да уйти   To kill and to flee. [That] is the essence of  the tactical duty of a partisan.” (Троицкий, 370) The very first party created is commanded by  Captain Alexander Figner, who is one of the most   famous figures of the war. Since he speaks French,  German, and Polish, Figner can sneak into French   camps in disguise to gather intelligence that  he then uses to set traps for French-led units.   His 200 men operated along the MozhAisk road  in October, killing several hundred soldiers,   destroying several guns, and earning their leader  a reputation. Napoleon even calls him a “real   Tatar.” (Троицкий, 371) Figner is also known for  his cruelty, in particular killing prisoners. On November 9, Davydov, Figner and other  guerillas carry out the largest partisan   operation of the war against an entire  Grande Armee brigade near Lyakhovo.   More than 3000 Russians surround the entire  brigade and force it to surrender – including   commanding officer General Jean-Pierre  Augereau and all 2000 of his men. The second element of the guerilla campaign are  armed peasants, but historians know less about   them. They mostly defend their villages, carry  out opportunistic attacks, and target French   supplies – one notable success occurs earlier in  the campaign when they intercept a herd of 1500   cattle and several flocks of sheep meant to  reach the Grande Armee for food in the fall.   Some peasants also avenge their suffering  at the hands of the Grande Armee by robbing,   torturing, and killing prisoners. Kutuzov  is sympathetic in spite of the atrocities: “It is difficult to stop a people  embittered by all that they have seen,   a people who have not seen wars on  their land for two hundred years,   a people ready to sacrifice themselves for  the motherland and who do not distinguish   between what is acceptable and what is  not in normal wars.” (Троицкий, 379) The story of the peasant partisans will  later be mythologized in the Soviet Union,   in particular, the case of VasilIsa KOzhina, a  woman who led a group responsible for escorting   French prisoners – and possibly a combat  unit. She already gains notoriety in 1812   – Moscow Governor Fyodor Rostopshin  describes her as a larger-than-life figure: “Дородная баба! A large woman,  proudly walking with a long saber   hung over her shoulder over a  French overcoat.” (Троицкий, 378) Ironically, at the same time that thousands of  Russian peasants are taking up arms against the   invaders, thousands of others take up arms against  Russian landlords. During 1812 there are about   60 local peasant uprisings across the Russian  empire, which are suppressed by the Tsar’s troops. Russian military and civilian partisans  are a constant threat for the miserable   Grande Armee soldiers – but so are  gnawing hunger and numbing cold. The retreat of the Grande Armee from Moscow is one  of unimaginable suffering. Discipline crumbles,   there’s not enough food, and the Russia  winter arrives in full force in November,   bringing temperatures as low as -23C.   French-led troops are hardly recognizable as  the proud military force that entered Russia   back in June – tens of thousands of deserters and  accompanying civilians trail the depleted units,   making coordinated maneuver even more  difficult. The Marquis de Caulaincourt thinks   it is the worst-organized retreat ever and  Cossack commander Matvei Platov agrees:  “The enemy army is fleeing like no other army  has ever retreated in history. It is abandoning   its baggage, its sick and its wounded. It leaves  behind horrible sights in its wake: at every step   one sees the dying or the dead.” Lieven 261 The severe cold arrives the second week of   November, and the men don’t have proper clothing,  shelter, or fuel for the fires. Württemberg   officer Colonel von Kerner records the deadly  results the morning after the first cold night:  “I have just seen the most appalling sight of  my life. Our men are there, sitting around their   campfires just as we left them last night,  but they are all dead and frozen.” Zamoyski  In a single night, 2500 Italian troops die of  the cold attempting to cross the Vop river,   an experience they call the note  d’orrore, the night of horror.  The freezing troops are also starving, and  eat anything they can get their hands on:   mostly horse meat from the rapidly  perishing cavalry and draft animals,   but also cats, straw, candles, axle  grease, and according to multiple sources,   the dead bodies of their fellow soldiers. Baron Larrey, the chief surgeon of the army   writes of the catastrophe to his wife: “Jamais je n’ai autant souffert.   I have never suffered this much. The campaigns  in Spain and Egypt were nothing compared to this,   and we are not at the end of  our suffering […] We were often   happy to seize a few strips of flesh  from the horses we found on our way.   We cooked them on our campfires and  that was all we had to eat.” Rey 242  The collapse of discipline makes hunger problems  worse. Soldiers fight over the little food there   is, and when the first troops arrive in  Smolensk they simply plunder the stores,   so those who arrive later go hungry. The Russian soldiers pursuing the Grande Armee   are also suffering from the extreme conditions.  Their supply lines are getting longer,   and the 850 carts of food they need every day  are harder and harder to deliver to the 120,000   men and 40,000 horses that need them.  By early November they’ve outrun their   supplies and begin to go hungry as well – but  their morale is higher than anytime since June. The men of the Grande Armee have only one goal:  to survive. But as they limp west from Smolensk,   they are again called upon to fight. By mid-November, the Grande Armee’s main   column only has 36,000 men – about a third  of what it had two months earlier when it   left Moscow. There are 10,000 fit soldiers in the  Imperial Guard, 12,000 in Davout’s corps, 5000 in   Ney’s, 6000 in Eugene’s. 1000 in Junot’s and just  800 in Poniatowski’s. In total there are only 5000   mounted cavalry remaining. They’re accompanied  by about 40,000 wounded, deserters, and sick,   including women and children. (Rey 244) As the Grande Armee leaves Smolensk behind   on November 17, it once again faces grave  danger of being cut off and destroyed. As   Napoleon waits near the town of Krasny for  the rest of the army to catch up with him,   Russian troops under Miloradovich and Kutuzov are  closing in. Napoleon orders an attack to prevent   the Russians from blocking the main road ahead of  him. The Imperial Guard leads the charge as 16,000   frozen and hungry French-led troops crash into  35,000 Russians. The Emperor’s gamble pays off,   as his men force the Russians back  and remove the immediate danger   of encirclement. Russian partisan officer Denis  Davydov paints a dramatic picture of the action:  “The Guard with Napoleon  passed through our Cossacks   like a hundred-gun ship through  a fishing fleet.” (Chandler)  Historians who take a more pro-French view of  the Battle of Krasny point to the partial French   victory as justification for Napoleon preserving  the Guard at Borodino in September, and as proof   that even in the face of catastrophic conditions,  the Emperor still held sway over his men when   present on the battlefield. The success is however  costly: about half of the Young Guard are lost.  Meanwhile, at the eastern end of the  Grande Armee’s column, Miloradovich   manages to isolate Ney’s rearguard of 6000 men  and 12,000 civilian stragglers, and this time,   the rest of the Grande Armee does not come rushing  to help. Ney is not happy with his Emperor:  “That bastard has abandoned us; he sacrificed  us in order to save himself; what can we do?   What will become of us? Everything is fucked!  […] Those who get through this will show they   have their balls hung by steel wire!” (Zamoyski) On the 18th Ney refuses Miloradovich’s offer to   surrender, and launches a desperate  frontal assault against the Russians   blocking the road west. But the French-led troops  are stopped by a wall of Russian artillery fire.   That night, the Marshal and 1000 survivors  manage to cross the Dnepr river and rejoin   Napoleon at Orsha. The escape earns Ney  the nickname “the bravest of the brave.” Marshal Ney’s corps is destroyed, but there is   only one more natural barrier between the  Grande Armee and safety: the Berezina River. Despite the French predicament, Marshal  Kutuzov wants to continue to let hunger,   cold, and partisans weaken the French. On a  geopolitical level he also fears that if Napoleon   is captured or killed, Britain might become  too strong. But many other Russian commanders   and the Tsar himself want to be more aggressive. So Kutuzov decides that Admiral Pavel ChichAgov   and General Wittgenstein will do the bulk  of the fighting. Once Chichagov takes Minsk   and denies its supplies to Napoleon, the only  realistic option for the Grande Armee to cross   the Berezina river is at the town of Borisov.  Schwarzenberg’s Austrians and Reynier’s Saxons   attempt to move east to distract Chichagov, but  Russian general General Osten-Sacken manages to   stop them – in any case Schwarzenberg has orders  from home to not be too aggressive. The Emperor   will have to run the gauntlet. On November  22, Chichagov’s vanguard arrives at BorIsov   after covering the last 55km in just 24 hours,  then proceeds to force the two Polish divisions   guarding the town back across the river. The Grande Armee arrives within sight of the   river on the 23rd, and quickly pushes back Russian  troops – but the Russians are able to destroy the   lone bridge at Borisov. Since the weather has  warmed up the river is no longer frozen solid,   so it seems there is no escape. But two days  earlier, a Russian peasant informs a lost   French cavalry unit of a passable stretch of the  Berezina at Studienka, just 15km north of Borisov.  On November 25, Napoleon and the Imperial Guard  enter Borisov. Chichagov has no idea the French   have found an alternate crossing, so he issues an  order of the day with a description of Napoleon so   he can be identified for capture: the Emperor is  said to be “short, stocky, with a short and thick   neck, strong head, and black hair.” (Rey 269) But the Admiral is overconfident.   Marshals Murat and Oudinot move their troops  towards Studienka, and the night of the 25,   engineers brave the icy water to throw two bridges  across the Berezina. At the same time, the French   pretend to be preparing to cross at Borisov and  another crossing to the south. Chichagov takes   the bait and moves troops south, while Napoleon  continues to shift his forces towards Studienka.  The Grande Armee begins to cross the river  the afternoon of the 26th. Although Chichagov   learns he’s been tricked, his and Wittgenstein’s  units are still too far away, though the Russians   do manage to destroy the last French division  to leave Borisov. By the morning of the 27th,   most of the Grande Armee has crossed except  for the 9th corps protecting the bridges. The   morning of the 28th 30,000 stragglers, wounded,  and civilian followers of the army press towards   the bridges at Studienka in a disorganized mass.  But by now the Russians have rebuilt the bridge at   Borisov, and reposition their forces: Chichagov’s  27,000 men, Wittgenstein’s 40,000 and Kutuzov’s   vanguard are ready to attack the 19,000 troops  of the Grande Armee, of whom 9000 are Poles.  On the 28th on the west bank, Russian numbers  put extreme pressure on the French-led troops,   but Marshal Ney’s cavalry manages a  counterattack that pushes the Russians back.   The fighting is fierce, as Grande Armee  Swiss soldier Jean-Marc Bussy recalls:  “We dared not look to the right or left  for fear of no longer seeing our friends,   our comrades. We closed ranks, shortened our line  and redoubled our courage […] Horrible carnage!   To get to our bridges they would have to go  through us, crush each and every last one of us.   We shouted “Vive l’Empreur” and did not feel  the cold. On ne sent pas le froid.” (Rey 273)  At the same time on the east bank, Wittgenstein’s  artillery pours fire into the crowd of soldiers,   wounded, and civilians surging across the bridges.   Württemberg officer Christian von  Faber du Faur observes the panic:  “Musket and cannon balls beat down on the compact  mass; the cries of the hapless people drowned out   the thunder of the guns and the whistling of  bullets; and they rushed even more furiously   towards the bridge. Around the bridges rose mounds  of men and horses trampled to death or killed by   enemy fire; to get onto the bridge one had to  fight one’s way over them. The floes of ice on   the river carried them away from time to time,  but this just made space for others.” (Rey 274)  It’s well after dark when the last of Victor’s  rearguard clear a trench through the piles of   bodies and crossed the river to rejoin the  rest of the army. There are still thousands   on non-combatants on the east bank, but most  are too exhausted and frozen to move, and die   or are made prisoner by the Russians. When French  troops set the bridge on fire early on the 29th,   desperate figures try one last rush – many  more drown in the river, including some mothers   who commit suicide by throwing themselves  and their children into the icy Berezina.  As the Cossacks pillage the abandoned carts,   Russian engineering officer  Martosa is shocked by the carnage:  “The first thing we saw was a woman  jammed into a hole and crushed by the ice.   One of her arms hung half severed, the other one  held an infant with its arms around its mother’s   neck. She was still alive, with her eyes fixed  on a man nearby who was already frozen solid.   Between them lay another dead child.” (Rey 278)  In military terms, the Battle of the Berezina  can be considered a French tactical victory.   Napoleon managed to save the core of his  much-reduced army against far superior Russian   forces, including his marshals, general staff, all  divisional commanders but one, and 2000 officers.   For the Russians, it was a missed opportunity,  and the Tsar pins most of the blame on Chichagov.   He removes the Admiral from command and sends him  into exile – a convenient scapegoat for a general   Russian failure. The cost was incredibly heavy:  13,000 Grande Armee soldiers are dead or wounded,   5000 non-combatants have been killed and  10,000 taken prisoner. The Russians lose   15,000 dead and wounded. (Rey 277-8) After failing to fully crush the Grande   Armee at the Berezina, Kutuzov devises a new plan  catch and surround Napoleon’s main force, and cut   off Macdonald’s 10th corps in the north at Riga.  But with the temperature dropping as low as -37C,   the Russians too are suffering from cold, hunger,  and exhaustion. The agony of the remnants of the   Grande Armee, once 600,000 strong but now reduced  to 15,000 men and up to 40,000 stragglers,   is even worse. The road to Vilnius is choked  with the dead and dying, and the Russians launch   several small-scale attacks along the way. Napoleon departs for Paris on December 5,   leaving his men to struggle on through the snow  until the survivors cross the Neman on December   14. Napoleon’s gruelling Russian campaign is  over. Shortly before he leaves, Napoleon issues   a final army bulletin in which he admits defeat  but indicates his “health has never been better.”   The same cannot be said for hundreds of thousands  on both sides of the campaign. Historians estimate   about 300,000 Grande Armee soldiers – half the  number who entered Russia – died in battle,   of wounds, hunger, disease or exposure. Russian  losses are estimated between 200 and 300,000 dead,   along with tens of thousands of civilians. In that same bulletin, Napoleon blames the   harsh Russian winter for his defeat, sparking a  myth that will last for more than two centuries.   “General Winter” certainly contributes to the  French disaster, but inadequate logistics,   command mistakes, and fierce Russian resistance  ensure the defeat of the Grande Armee even before   the first snow falls. Russian myths also grow  from 1812. Intellectuals like Lev Tolstoy and   leaders like Joseph Stalin - even today’s Vladimir  Putin - turn to the struggle against Napoleon   for inspiration in forming national identity,  and to motivate Russians to fight their wars.  In December 1812, the destruction of the most  powerful army in the world shakes the European   order. The Grande Armee maintained Napoleon’s rule  and imposed the continent’s alliance system – and   now it is gone. The prospect of an independent  Polish kingdom, and the loyalty of unwilling   French allies Prussia and Austria, are now  uncertain. When the Comte de Mailly-Nesle   arrives in allied Prussian Koenigsberg,  he finds hints of the troubles to come:  “[Königsberg] displayed an insolent und  ungenerous hatred towards the French.   Many inns refused to take us, saying ‘Go away,  we’ve had enough of you French!” (Rey 299)  The Russian army is intact, the  German-speaking lands are restless,   and Britain is still fighting – 1813 promises  a new chapter in Napoleon’s Downfall.

Channel: Real Time History

Views: 352,251

Keywords: Prussia, Germany, Bavaria, Tsar Alexander I, 1812, Borodino, Moscow, Smolensk, French Empire, French Marshals, 1812 Invasion of Russia, Napoleon's Downfall, Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck, Napoleon III, Battle of Sedan, Moscow Fire of 1812, Napoleon in Moscow, Kremlin, Shervadino Redoubt, Lubino, Valutino Gora, Polotsk, Battle of Smolensk, Battle of Gorodechno, Mogilev, Kobryn, Alexander I, Russia, Russian Empire, Siege of Riga, Napoleon, Grande Armee, Tilsit, Friedland, Napoleon Bonaparte

Id: liokytT2TSk

Length: 175min 34sec (10534 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 24 2022