Napoleon's Invasion of Russia

by George F Nafziger

  His hopes for a major battle dashed, Napoleon sought to send part of his army around the Russians to cut their lines of communication and force a battle. Unfortunately the cavalry he sent out to find a ford across the Dnieper went six miles and only succeeded in drowning a few horses.

  The initial phase of the battle lasted until about 10:00 A.M., when the French began to slacken their artillery fire. It was fought entirely in the suburbs. The Russians were to maintain their positions in the suburbs until 4:00 P.M.

  Ney was to attack the citadel to the west of the city, now defended by Lichatchefif. Lichatcheff was also directed to defend the Krasnoe suburb.

  At about 1:00 P.M. Ney gave the order for the Wurttembergers to take the Stasnaia suburb. Hugel's brigade advanced to the left of the main road with Stockmayer's brigade on the right. At 3:00 P.M. it was supported by the 6th Wurttemberg Line Regiment. Hugel's brigade took heavy fire from the Russian batteries on the far side of the Dnieper and two Wurttemberg batteries, the 2nd Horse Battery and the 1st 12pdr Battery, were directed to return their fire.

  To assure liaison with the 2nd Brigade and the artillery, Hugel deployed the 2/1st Wurttemberg Line Regiment as a skirmish screen. The rest of the brigade followed in open columns. In this formation, and under artillery fire, the brigade entered the suburb. The battle to take the suburb was violent. The front line, formed as skirmishers, was pushed back six times. Successively, the brigade was reinforced by the 2/1st Wurttemberg Line Regiment, three companies of the 2nd Wurttemberg Line Regiment, and one company of the 6th Wurttemberg Line Regiment. At the same time Stockmayer's brigade pushed into the suburb with the 2/1st Wurttemberg Line Regiment. Covered by Wurttemberg artillery posted just inside the range of the Russian skirmishers, the infantry pushed into and took the cemetery. The battle was such that the Wurttembergers twice expended their ammunition.

  Stockmayer's brigade was moving to threaten the flanks of the Russian columns in the suburb. The l/2nd Wurttemberg Line Regiment relieved Coronette's battalion and Stockmayer pushed forward with this battalion and two companies of the 2nd Wurttemberg Jàger Regiment. The rest of the brigade was in column behind them.

  Disquieted by this and by Hugel's advance, the Russians sent a strong column against them. Stockmayer threw the l/2nd Jàger and two companies of the 2nd Jàgers into their flank, while the l/2nd Wurttemberg Line Regiment formed a liaison between them and the main line.

  At 1:00 P.M. Morand's division massed on the road to Krasnoe behind a mill, with the 13th Légère Regiment in the lead. It was supported by the 30th Line Regiment, which was posted to its right. Gudin's division marched on his left under the direct command of Count Lobau. Gerard's 3rd Brigade had relieved the advanced posts of the 2nd Brigade earlier in the morning with the 4/ and 6/21st Line and 1/127th Line. When forming for the attack, the division formed as follows: the 12th Line Regiment formed in line with the 6/21st deployed in skirmishers in front of it. To the right, the 4/21 st was also deployed in skirmishers and posted on the heights. On the left, the 1/127th Line was in column behind the 2/127th, which was in line and supported by its two pieces of regimental artillery. The 2/127th was supporting the left of the 12th. The other battalions of the 21st Line and 7th Légère were in echelons by battalion. Those of the 21st were in columns by division.

  The formation advanced unchanged until it entered the leading build™ings of the suburb. However, it was not wide enough to cover the entire front of the Russians, who could outflank it on the left if they so chose. The 127th Line was moved to prevent that, and two battalions of the 21st moved to fill the gap between the 127th and the rest of the division. The entire movement was supported by the division's light artillery. Dessaix's division took up a position on the road to Roslovl while Compans replaced it as the reserve. The suburb was defended by Kapsevitch.

  About 1:00 P.M., the light cavalry of General Bruyere's 1st Light Cavalry Division chased a Russian battery off the plateau that overlooked the Smolensk bridges. They seized the position, and a French sixteen-gun battery was positioned there. The French gunners then began to shower shot on the Russians posted on the north bank of the Dnieper. In response the Russians erected a twenty-four-gun battery, and a devastating artillery duel began.

  Poniatowski's Poles attacked the Nicolskoi suburb on the East, the French right. His goal was the suburb and the Malakov gate. The 20th Light Cavalry Brigade, supported by a battery of light artillery, chased the cossacks out of the suburb. The Polish artillery, supported by the French, engaged in a heavy artillery duel in an effort to silence the Russian batteries firing on the advancing 16th and 18th (Polish) Divisions. A Polish battery, posted between the two advancing divisions, tried to drive back the Russian skirmishers, which formed a line along the edge of the suburb. Three companies of voltigeurs were detached and sent into a ravine in which the Russians were concealed. They were supported by two additional companies. This action was supported by heavy artillery fire.

  Prince Poniatowski directed two battalions of converged voltigeurs and a battalion of the 8th Polish Line Regiment against the suburb of Malakov. The 12th and two battalions of the 13th Polish Line Regiments moved on the Malakov Gate, the 15th Polish Line Regiment moved on the Saint Nikolas Gate, and the 2nd Polish Line Regiment moved on the suburb on the banks of the Dnieper. As the Poles passed over the ravine and advanced into the suburbs, they were taken in the flank by Russian artillery on the far bank. Their progress into the suburb was not good.

  In an effort to disrupt the Russian communications, Poniatowski raised a battery of sixteen guns and directed its fire on the bridges. However, this battery was too exposed and suffered heavily from Russian artillery fire.

  Despite Russian reports that the Polish artillery was silenced, it was not. The Poles divided their artillery into three groups. The first was assigned to fire counterbattery on the right bank of the river. Four 3pdrs were placed such that they could engage a Russian battery. The second group was placed on the left, where it supported the attack on St. Nikolas. The rest of the Polish artillery fired on the bridges over the Dnieper.

  Platov's and Karpov's cossacks were at Katan, which worried Napoleon. Ney sent Mortier's cavalry brigade, six battalions of Wurttemberg infantry, and six guns of the Imperial Guard Artillery to protect against a possible flank attack. A sharp action resulted, which cost the French 11 officers and 200 men hors de combat.

  Napoleon found his forces being held back by the walls of Smolensk. Though old and decayed, they held the French out of the city. Napoleon drew the Guard artillery and thirty-six 12pdrs together into a single battery under General Sorbier. The goal of this battery was to batter a hole in the walls. However, the 6pdr and 12pdr guns were too light to beat a hole in the walls. Seeing the futility of their fire, the Guard artillery redirected their fire into the covered way and promptly cleared it of Russian infantry.

  A second French battery was established above the city, with howitzers stripped from various companies. It began to rain shells into the Russian positions.

  At 5:00 P.M. Junot finally appeared at the heights above Smolensk. The French offensive was gaining ground. Morand and Gudin had penetrated through the suburbs and up to the city walls. Friant's division had overrun the Roslavl suburb and pushed the Russians back with severe losses. This had caused Barclay to send Prince Wurttemberg forward. Wurttemberg pushed his four battalions through the Nikolas and Malakov gates to engage the French. Lobau and Poniatowski engaged him and drove him back.

  Only Ney's attack was not succeeding. He had met with stiff resistance and made little headway until the others succeeded. All of the French columns left trails of dead and wounded behind them as they pushed into the city. All that separated the Russians and French now was the city walls. Napoleon was rapidly growing tired of this pointless battle. He felt it to be as desperate as Ney's sending the 46th Line against the Royal Citadel earlier.

  At 5:00 P.M. the Poles attacked the Malakov Gate very heavily. At the same time they struck
the Ralschenka suburb. The Polish attacks steadily drove the Russians back, and they moved on the bridge. Barclay directed the fire of a powerful battery against the Ratchevka suburb, but the news that Docturov sent to him about his difficulty in holding his position forced him to do more. In response Barclay sent General Prince Wurttemberg to assist him. Wurttemberg lead four regiments to the Malakov gate, and General Rossi took the Tobolsk and Volhynie Infantry Regiments forward to relieve the Guard Jager Regiment. Puchniz-ki's brigade was sent to support LichatchefPs division, and the 4th Jager Regiment advanced to the Malakov Gate.

  These orders were followed with great zeal, and the Polish brigade of General Grabowski was thrown back, Grabowski being killed in the assault. The Russian assault recaptured Ratchevka, but it was ordered to evacuate the suburb and take up a position in the covered way so as to defend the eastern part of the city in conjunction with the 6th Jager Regiment and the Guard Jager Regiment.

  The 4th Jagers pushed out of the Malakov Gate in an effort to take back the buildings there. They took possession of the covered road. The 34th Jagers were posted behind them as a reserve. A lively firefight developed between the skirmishers of both sides. The V Corps was pushed by Rossi's brigade, and Puchnizki became heavily involved with the III Corps. This was important to Barclay's plans, for if he wished to sortie his armies from Smolensk to engage the French, he would have to have control not only of these important gates, but also of the suburbs immediately outside them.

  The battle for Smolensk was very bloody. It was remarked that during the advance one battalion lost a whole rank of one of its platoons to a single ball, which struck down twenty-one men when it hit.

  Those French forces not in the battle were held in reserve upon the heights above the city. Their positions gave them an amphitheater view of the battle below them. They watched in silence as their comrades advanced through the shower of shot and fire. They were so moved that they responded by clapping their hands to express their approval. The noise of this applause was so great that it could be heard by the attacking columns.

  On reaching the walls of the Old City, the attackers were screened from the Russian musketry. The artillery fire continued and became more brisk. Napoleon grew fatigued of the assault and decided to call it off. Lobau, however, convinced him to continue the attack.

  General Konovnitzin was charged with the evacuation of the city. Wiirttemberg placed himself at the head of the 4th Jagers to lead the withdrawal. As the 4th Jagers reached the bridge over the Dnieper, the French artillery that had been firing on the north bank of the Dnieper took them under fire. The jagers moved to the right and into the covered way. Once in this position they were attacked by the French and a firefight developed. Their timely occupation of the covered way prevented the French from entering the city. The 34th Jagers dropped off a battalion to act as a reserve for the 4th Jagers and passed over the bridge. The French stopped their attacks and no longer pressed the Russians at the Malakov Gate.

  At this time Wiirttemberg was informed of Rossi's success against the Poles. General Konovnitzin dispatched General Puchnizki's brigade to the right side of the citadel, where Ney's Wurttembergers had begun a heavy assault. The 6th Jager Regiment fell back from their bridge when Prince Wiirttemberg arrived. The battle was already decided. The French greeted Prince Wurttemberg's arrival with a heavy cannonade, which caused heavy casualties in the 1st Brigade of the 4th Division.

  Night fell, and Napoleon returned to his tent. Lobau could no longer maintain his position in the ditch surrounding the city. Howitzer shells were fired into the city to cover his retreat. Thick black smoke began to rise from several points in the city. This smoke was soon lit by long spires of flame rising from the city. Numerous smaller fires gradually swelled and merged until the entire city was engulfed in flames.

  Count Lobau was dismayed by so great a disaster, which he believed to be the result of the howitzer fire he had ordered. The combat ceased and the dark of the night was lit by the light of the burning city. Almost as soon as darkness fell the Russians began to withdraw. The corps of General of Infantry Docturov and the 3rd Division took up positions in the St. Petersburg suburb, and the jagers of Prince Chakoffski's brigade, the 3rd Division (20th and 21st Jager Regiments), occupied the city. General Korff and the 30th Jagers had been given the task of holding the ramparts and were ordered to fire the city when they withdrew. Korffs last act was to order the 30th Jagers to destroy the bridge over the Dnieper after the last Russian forces had crossed it.

  At 2:00 A.M. Ney discovered that the walls in front of his corps were unoccupied, and he entered the city. Shortly after, the French passed through the Malakov Gate. Though the bridge was broken, the river was only four feet deep. At 9:00 A.M. 600 Wurttembergers and Portuguese waded across the Dnieper to attack the 30th Jagers. The attack was successful, and the Russians surrendered their positions to them. Hugel's Wurttemberg brigade quickly followed the lead elements across the river, and Ney brought his artillery up to the river's edge to support his bridgehead. Barclay was only able to mask this penetration with his rear guard, under General Korff, who now commanded several jager regiments and three uhlan and hussar regiments.

  During the day, the jagers of the 3rd and 17th Divisions were placed along the bank of the Dnieper, where they engaged the French for most of the day with their skirmish fire. The jagers of the 4th Division were held in reserve on the heights behind the St. Petersburg suburb, and the rest of the 4th Division moved to join the 17th Division on the extreme right of the Russian army. They were exposed to heavy artillery fire along the length of the river for the entire day's battle. Generals Skalon and Balla were killed during the battle for Smolensk.

  The Russian losses were, according to Barclay, about 4,000 men.Bogdanovich speaks of 6,000 men hors de combat. Prince Eugene of Wurttemberg's division lost 1,300 men alone, so the 6,000 figure is probably more accurate. Furthermore, it is reported that Docturov's corps had only 6,000 men capable of further combat.

  Though Napoleon gives his losses at 700 killed and 3,100 to 3,200 wounded, the losses to the divisions of I Corps present at Smolensk and commanded by Count Lobau were about 6,000, Gudin's division alone lost 60 officers and 1,658 men. The Poles lost 18 officers and 500 men dead and 47 officers and 765 men wounded. The Wiirttembergers lost 80 dead and 559 wounded. The 25th Division had had 4,007 men under arms on 3 August, but after Smolensk it had only 2,827 men. Gudin's division lost 155 officers and 3,860 men dead and wounded.

  The French lost General Grabowski killed and Generals Dalton, Grandeau, and Zayonschlek wounded.

  The French began their occupation of the city and started extinguishing the fires. August 18th was spent in reorganizing and repairing the bridge over the Dnieper. On the Russian side, the final breakdown in relations between Bagration and Barclay occurred. Bagration set out, without Barclay's orders to do so, for Solovievo. He left only four cossack pulks to cover the vital crossroads at Lubino. It was late when Barclay began to follow Bagration, and Napoleon's inactivity once again cost him the chance of separating the two armies and defeating them in detail ,

  The Pursuit

  At 4:00 A.M. the French pursuit of the fleeing Russian armies began as Ney advanced his corps across the Dnieper. His first job was to cover the crossing of the rest of the Grande Armée. His second job was to determine the direction taken by the Russians. Meanwhile Murat crossed the Dnieper at a weir near the Stragan Brook and moved down the road to Moscow.

  Ney's troops climbed to the heights behind the St. Petersburg suburb in the flickering light of the burning buildings. His troops proceeded slowly, with a thousand detours to avoid the flames. The Russian rear guard managed to block his advance at every comer; they had barricaded all of the major intersections.

  When Ney's troops finally broke out of the suburbs, they encountered only the few cossacks left behind by Bagration to cover the vital crossroads. These crossroads were the main roads to Moscow and St. Petersburg. Ney pondered the d
irection the Russians had taken. He had neither prisoners nor civilians to tell him, and the ground bore signs in both directions.

  During the previous night Barclay learned that only Karpov's cossacks covered the Loubino crossroads and dispatched Generalmajor Tuchkov with the Elisabethgrad Hussars, the Revel Infantry Regiment, the 20th and 21st Jager Regiments, and a horse battery to occupy the crossroads.

  Ney remained uncertain where to go until about 2:00 P.M., when word came that Murat had encountered Russian troops on the road to Moscow. Ney, having orders to pursue the Russians, set out after them and would have quickly overhauled them, but for the numerous ravines and streams that crossed the road, providing strong positions for the Russian rear guard to delay Ney's advance.

  Barclay had not, however, taken the Moscow road. He had taken the St. Petersburg road because it swung away from the Dnieper more abruptly and exposed his men to less chance of discovery by the French. This road made a long swing, longer than the Moscow road, which it rejoined further away.

  Barclay pushed his forces down this road, committing his long train and artillery to a narrow pass through the dense forests. This heavy column traversed what was not the shortest route between him and his goal. Every horse and wagon that became stuck down with heavy mud or that overturned stopped the column and let the pursuing French close in. Time was wasted, and every second counted as the sound of Ney's guns moved down the Moscow road and eventually overtook them. Ney's actions slowed Barclay's withdrawal, and Nansouty, under Murat, moved rapidly down the road to Moscow in support of Ney.

  Barclay's forces advanced with the first column under General Tuch-kov I to the right. Tuchkov I's forces consisted of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Infantry Corps as well as the 1st Cavalry Corps. A second column, under General of Infantry Docturov, consisted of the 5th and 6th Infantry Corps, the 2nd and 3rd Cavalry Corps, the 1st Cuirassier Division, and the army's entire artillery reserve. The Russian rear guard was commanded by Adjutant General Korff and consisted of the 7th Jager Regiment, three cossack pulks, and a horse battery. Korff commanded a total of fourteen battalions of jagers from the 2nd and 4th Infantry Corps, the Polish Uhlans, and the Soum and Mariuopol Hussar Regiments.