The Battle of Borodino: Napoleon Against Kutuzov

by Alexander Mikaberidze

  Meanwhile, facing the Allied cavalry, Barclay de Tolly

  already could foretell the terrible blow dealt to our destiny. My cavalry was insufficient to contain the massive enemy and I could not risk committing it because I anticipated that it would be routed and driven back in disorder onto my infantry. My only hope was on the courageous infantry and artillery who immortalized themselves that day; both of them met my expectations and the enemy was halted.487

  According to Löwenstern, Barclay de Tolly watched the French movements attentively and ‘called me asking if I knew where was the reserve Guard cavalry. Hearing my affirmative response, he instructed me to order General Shevich, who temporarily commanded it, to move his troops forward, without endangering them too much, and be prepared to charge when needed. This order caused a widespread elation among the courageous and élite cuirassiers, who were burning with desire to take part in this memorable battle. When I told Shevich about the order to place his troops in such a manner as not to expose them to artillery fire, he responded smiling, ‘This would be difficult to do. For hours now we are closing our ranks to conceal the loss caused by the enemy cannon-balls. Let us advance, this is the best we can do at the moment.’

  As Shevich’s troops were moving to their new location, they were attacked by Latour-Maubourg’s cavalry but, as Löwenstern observed:

  the men of Chevalier Guard, Horse Guard and Cuirassier regiments charged them with a remarkable composure. Salvoes followed one another. Our gallant cuirassiers covered themselves in glory but the Saxon and French cuirassiers were valiant opponents indeed …488

  Barclay de Tolly was delighted to see Guard cuirassiers arriving ‘at this challenging moment’. He supported them with the Sumskii and Mariupolskii Hussars and the Sibirskii, Irkutskii and Orenburgskii Dragoon Regiments. He complained that ‘The Pskovskii Dragoons and Izumskii Hussars were earlier moved without my knowledge but they arrived under command of General Korf and I placed them in reserve.’ Barclay de Tolly describes the sequel:

  A cavalry melee, one of the fiercest ever to have been fought, then ensued. The enemy and our cavalry charged and drove back each other in turns, regrouping under cover of artillery and infantry and attacking again.489

  From the Allied side, Leissnig recorded how

  attacked by Russian dragoons, we had to withdraw behind a ravine under a terrible artillery fire […] But suddenly, the dragoons had disappeared and through smokes el dust, we saw all of the Russian cavalry moving against us, a truly unique spectacle […] The grenades burst above our heads, sometimes flying over the points of our sabres […] and covering us with ground and dust […] It was a terrible quarter of an hour to pass. Our ranks quickly thinned out […] Suddenly, the plain around us was filled with the French cavalry: the closest were the grenadiers à cheval and the cuirassiers. We were ordered to remain on the spot in support while the French threw themselves furiously on the Russians. The enemy grapeshot bounced off their armour and their helmets. Soon, they drew their long swords against the lines from the Russians and the enemy cavalry was forced to yield. But the Russian infantry had had time to regroup in thick masses …490

  Meanwhile, for Löwenstern

  There was a moment when the battlefield reminded me of one of the battle paintings […] The battle developed into a hand-to-hand combat: warriors of both sides became mixed, there were no precise lines or close columns, but rather more or less numerous masses of men that collided with one another. The men were fighting in the front and rear […] the infantry deployed in a square was firing with every side at once. Personal courage and aptitude were fully revealed on this memorable day.

  In the middle of this cauldron, Barclay de Tolly had three horses shot under him. As his last horse was wounded, he found himself charged by several Polish Lancers. His adjutants rallied to his rescue and, as Löwenstern tells us, ‘we gathered several cavalrymen from various regiments, who helped us in defending Barclay. We charged the Polish Uhlans, some of whom were cut down while others fled.’ Among Barclay de Tolly’s six adjutants, two would be killed by the end of the day, while the four remaining would be wounded.

  As Caulaincourt’s and Latour-Maubourg’s troops were fighting south and south-east of the redoubt, one part of Prince Eugène’s infantry, supported by the divisions of Chastel in first line and Lebrun La Houssaye in the second, led the charge to the north of the fortification, where they engaged the 7th Division of Kaptsevich. As Eugène reported:

  the enemy had formed in the rear on several lines and was covered by a ravine. I had it attacked; my troops crossed the ravine, overthrew the enemy and established themselves on the opposite plateau: the Russians, crushed, retreated […] Grouchy executed a great charge with the division of cavalry of General Chastel, who at that moment supported the left of the infantry. General Grouchy was slightly wounded by a splinter of a shell.491

  According to Griois, the wounded Grouchy ordered him to inform Eugène that he had to leave the battlefield and Lebrun La Houssaye was now in charge of the cavalry.492 Grouchy was not the only casualty, however, as La Houssaye himself was wounded shortly after, followed by Generals Dommanget and Thiry and Colonels Ledard and von Wittgenstein among others.

  The Allied attack faced stiff resistance as the Russians organized squares and fired upon the approaching cavalry. The French, however, broke through a square of the 19th Jäger Regiment. At that moment, Sub Lieutenant Korf, commanding the 2nd Division of the 2nd Guard Horse Artillery Battery, realized the danger the Jägers were facing and, without waiting for orders, moved his guns out of the reserve, advancing within 200m before opening a canister ire. Chastel’s light cavalrymen quickly charged the battery, which could not remove its guns in time. Running to a nearby hill, Korf shouted as loud as he could to the commander of the 1st Division of the right-wing squadron of the Chevalier Guard Regiment, ‘Bashmakov! Save my guns!’ The Russian cavalrymen attacked at once and drove off Chastel’s troops, saving the battery.493

  The ever-present Barclay de Tolly arrived moments later and ordered Colonel Löwenwolde, Commander of the Chevalier Guard Regiment, to charge again. Löwenwolde formed his unit by squadrons and, advancing through the intervals of the squares of the 19th and the 40th Jägers, attacked Latour-Maubourg’s cavalry. Bogdanovich informs us:

  Löwenwolde intended to charge the enemy front with his 1st Squadron, while the 4th Squadron, moving on his left, would attack the Saxons’ flank. Ordering ‘Gallop!’ Löwenwolde then shouted to Rotmistr Davidov, who commanded the 4th Squadron, ‘Evdokim Vasilievich, command the left wing.’ He barely finished the sentence when he fell off his horse, killed by a canister ball to the head. His death, at such decisive moment, slightly disheartened our élite cavalrymen, but the Chevalier Guardsmen, now led by Colonel Levashov, made repeated charges against Latour-Maubourg’s cavalry, preventing it from resuming its attacks on our infantry.

  The Saxon Gardes du Corps, Zastrow Cuirassiers and the Polish 14th Cuirassiers were by now exhausted from repeated charges and could not hold the Russians back. Löwenstern later saw Levashev ‘at a critical moment, as he, accompanied by several trumpeters, tried to rally his regiment […] [and] was able to do this through his composure and skill’. The Life Guard Horse Regiment assisted the Chevalier Guard Regiment in these attacks. Its Colonel Arsenyev was seriously injured when a cannon-ball struck his left shoulder and he was replaced by Colonel Leontyev.494 More details about this can be gleaned from Korf’s report:

  Around 3pm, the enemy, directing all his attacks against the centre of our army, began to drive back our infantry. On [Barclay de Tolly’s] orders, I rushed with the II Cavalry Corps to reinforce this point. On my arrival, I saw that the enemy had a strong infantry column moving in the centre, with cuirassiers and carabiniers to its left and the horse grenadiers on the right. Supported by its artillery batteries, the enemy vigorously attacked our infantry and forced our skirmishers to retreat in disorder.

  Korf ordered the Izumskii Hussar and the Pol
skii (Polish) Uhlan Regiments, commanded by Major General Panchulidzev II, to move forward at a trot and, having deployed for attack, charge the enemy carabiniers and cuirassiers. But these regiments had barely prepared their attack when they were assaulted in turn (Nafziger suggests they were charged by the ‘1st Cuirassier Regiment and a half-squadron of chevau-léger lanciers’) and disordered. Korf’s adjutants, Captain Yakovlev and Ober-quartermaster Captain Schubert, distinguished themselves by rallying the chaotic cavalrymen, while Rotmistr Loshkarev charged with a squadron of the Izumskii Hussar Regiment to gain some time. Korf continues:

  After these two regiments regrouped they repelled the quick thrust of the enemy cuirassiers and carabiniers and allowed our infantry, which was also in disorder, to regroup and move forward. In the meantime, I ordered the Pskovskii Dragoon Regiment to move to the right while the Moscovskii Dragoon Regiment was left behind in reserve. Colonel Zass, commanding the Pskovskii regiment, noticed that the enemy infantry and horse grenadiers were forcefully attacking and threatening the left flank of the Izumskii Hussar and the Polskii Uhlan Regiments, which were not ready to repel them. He immediately led his regiment at a trot against the enemy cavalry, then charged it and, despite the enemy’s numerical superiority, forced it to retreat in disorder. After this attack, Colonel Zass regrouped his regiment under the enemy fire and this manoeuvre was carried out in great order; one can only hope that every cavalry regiment could act with such excellence.495

  The French cavalry (from Grouchy’s III Reserve Cavalry Corps) was still attacking, however, and Zass’s men had to charge again. This time they also hit ‘the left flank of the enemy infantry, which directed all of its firepower against our regiment’.496 The Pskovskii Dragoons were supported by Colonel Kozen, of the Life Guard Horse Artillery Brigade, who had recently arrived from the left flank and personally directed the fire of the 1st Division of the 2nd Guard Horse Battery. Colonel Kudashev soon advanced with four guns and made a few canister rounds before the French countered with a larger battery, which inflicted considerable losses on Kudashev’s crew: including the mortally wounded Captain Rall, Commander of the 2nd Horse Battery. Among those commended for their actions was Lieutenant Gelmerson of the Life Guard Horse Artillery, whom General Osterman-Tolstoy praised for ‘defending for a half an hour, with his six guns of the Guard Horse Artillery, a position that was supposed to be held by an entire battery. He preserved the honour of my infantry and allowed the battery artillery to assume its position.’ The 2nd Horse Battery was later replaced by the 29th Battery Company, which was supported by the 30th Battery Company. The nomination rosters reveal that

  Lieutenant Colonel [Bogdan] Nilus, commanding a company […] was deployed in the centre and forced an enemy battery to withdraw by blowing up one of its caissons. He was then drawn on at other directions as well and skilfully operated against enemy columns and batteries.497

  Among other batteries, the 2nd Battery and the 4th Light companies were attached to the 11th Division, while the 3rd Battery and the 3rd Light Companies were with the 23rd Division, which was later also supported by the 6th Horse Company as well. The 44th Light Company remained in reserve throughout the battle. Some batteries sustained heavy casualties and Nikitin’s horse company alone lost ninety men and 113 horses.498 Staff Captain Alexander Figner’s 3rd Light Company was initially kept behind, remaining a passive observer of the action in front of it. As the French stormed the redoubt, Miloradovich’s adjutant ordered the company to move forward, but the joy of its artillery crew turned sour when ‘the Adjutant brought us near dragoons and left us there’. Radozhitsky and his comrades could see ‘many dead Russian soldiers and one blown-up ammunition cart, which was surrounded by a patch of burnt grass and the charred remains of the horses and drivers’. To his right, Radozhitsky saw four horse artillery guns that were still iring, although their crews were largely killed and wounded and only three gunners were manning each piece. According to Radozhitsky, the dragoons standing in front of his company were

  constantly falling down hit by artillery rounds and musket balls. Shot, shell, canister and even musket balls flew through the files of the dragoons and among our gunners, striking down several men and horses […] Here I appreciated the truth that nothing is less pleasant on a battlefield than to stand inactive under enemy fire: almost every soldier followed the flight of the cannon shot with his eyes and paid them a degree of involuntary respect.

  Moments later he himself became a victim of one of these rounds. Suffering from a severe concussion, he was taken to the rear and saw:

  a great number of other unfortunates, with various wounds, who were emitting groans and yells. There was a [Cossack], who was a particularly horrifying and pitiable case. As I came in the surgeons were extracting a bullet from his back, causing him to writhe and scream in a frightful manner …499

  By 4.30pm, Eugène’s troops were firmly in control of the Grand Redoubt, and the Allied cavalrymen, after being in the saddle for almost ten hours, withdrew to their lines. The Russians were also considerably weakened and Barclay de Tolly preferred to slowly withdraw his men across the ravine and take up a new position some 800m from the redoubt. As Löwenstern recalled, Barclay de Tolly ‘was not particularly distressed by the loss of the great battery, [saying] “It is unfortunate [that we lost it] but we will recapture it tomorrow or maybe even tonight after the French abandon it.’’’ As Meshetich described:

  the grand sight of the Russians troops arranged in three lines of infantry and artillery in between, was gone. The infantry line of the IV Corps stood now and then on the left flank, thinning out but withstanding the last attack of the enemy […] One could see here the bloody sweat of the battle exhaustion, the tears and laments of the lost commanders, comrades and acquaintances. The field of the battle was covered with the numerous corpses, the ravines and brushwood were full of the moaning wounded asking for one thing, to put them out of misery. Human blood flowed in small streams …500

  The subsequent combat in this sector was limited to an artillery duel and skirmishing between advance elements. With the sound of gunfire still coming from the left flank, it seemed all that was needed for a complete French victory was a final blow from Napoleon’s reserves. The Emperor seemed satisfied with the capture of the redoubt but, as Lejeune recalled, he ‘was still hesitating whether, as many amongst us wished, he should follow up this success with a grand charge from the whole of the brilliant cavalry of the Guard’. At this moment Napoleon was told about Likhachev, captured defending the Grand Redoubt. Likhachev was initially taken to Prince Eugène, who met him amiably and had him escorted to Napoleon. After talking to him for a few minutes, Napoleon instructed his adjutant to bring the General’s sword. As Soltyk and Lejeune tell us, a sword was at once brought and the Emperor graciously offered it. However, the Russian General refused to accept it. The French and Russian sources disagree on the reasons for this refusal. French participants claimed that Likhachev refused the sword because it was not his but that of Napoleon’s adjutant and, as Soltyk described, the General

  persisted in refusing it from the Emperor’s hand […] shaking his head and saying ‘Niet, niet.’ Napoleon smiled disdainfully, handed the sword back to the French aide-de-camp who had brought [Likhachev] in, and with a gesture ordered the Russian General to be taken away.

  According to Lejeune, Napoleon ‘was astonished at this want of tact in a general, shrugged his shoulders, and turning to us said, loud enough for the General to hear him, “Take the fool away!”‘

  But the incident is described differently in Russian sources. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, thus, explained that Likhachev ‘declined the magnanimity of the victor and told him in a weak voice, ‘I am grateful, Your Majesty. The captivity deprived me of the sword that was granted to me by my Emperor [Alexander] […] and I can accept it only from his hands.’501 Likhachev was well treated in his captivity and was later sent under escort to France, only to be liberated by the Russian troops in Königsberg in Decem
ber 1812: but privation and exhaustion had a detrimental effect on his health and he died ive months later.

  Borodino Military Historical Museum-Preserve

  The Borodino Military Historical Museum-Preserve was established in 1839 and initially included Rayevsky’s Redoubt, General Peter Bagration’s grave and central part of the battlefield. In 1859, the house of Margarita Tuchkova, wife of General Alexander Tuchkov, became the memorial museum of the battlefield while in 1903, the Borodino railway station was turned into the historical museum of the 1812 Campaign. Nine years later, the centennial celebration resulted in the construction of a new museum near the Rayevsky’s Redoubt and erection of thirty six monuments dedicated to the units of both sides. In 1923, the Borodino museum was attached to the Military Historical Museum and later the famous State Historical Museum of the USSR. Its exhibition was evacuated during the Nazi invasion in the fall of 1941 and the museum building and some monuments were destroyed during the subsequent battles in the region in 1942. However, the museum was restored only two years later and was expanded over the years. In 1961, it received the status of the museum-preserve and, by 1990s, it came to include the entire battlefield with some 200 monuments as well as the Kolotsk Monastery, the Mozhaisk complex and 75 acres of land around them.