Professional reserve helped troops liberate Moscow and defeat Napoleon’s armyThe military events of 1812, some historians are not without reason called the "Zero World War." France, having captured almost the whole of Europe, kept the world's largest army of 1,5 million under arms, 650 thousand of which, with and for 12 (24 - hereafter in a new style) June invaded Russia. The United States under President Madison remained neutral with respect to Russia, but actually became allies of Napoleon, starting the 6 (18) June war with Britain over parts of Canada. The British, defeating the French at sea, fought with them and on land - in Spain and Portugal. The outcome of this global battle was prejudged by the Russian army, assembled in the fall of 1812, near Moscow.
How did Kutuzov, who was not the second Suvorov, manage to crush Napoleon’s entire army in Russia? Military historians have been arguing about this for two centuries, and this debate is not over. What is really scared Napoleon, who 7 (19) of October hastily left Moscow, and in the evening of 13 (25) of October 1812 in Gorodnya decided to leave quickly, to flee Russia? We need a strict analysis of the facts in order to better understand what or who Kutuzov was waiting for.
MONTH OF LITTLE WAR
In the battle of Borodino on August 26 (September 7), Napoleon’s army was “mortally wounded” by 1812, but no one had yet been able to predict the outcome of the Patriotic War. Happy 2 (14) September Kutuzov began his maneuver with the release of the Russian army through the empty Moscow to Ryazan, and then secretly - to the Tula and Old Kaluga roads. Through Podolsk, the army to 9 (21) of September reached the Starokaluzhskiy tract towards the village of Krasnaya Pakhra in 35 versts south-west of Moscow, and 20 of September (2 of October) moved further and camped in Tarutino.
The tasks of the Tarutinsky maneuver were the protection of the southern provinces, the preservation of an efficient army, its re-formation and replenishment. So often historians say, thinking up his plan for the general field marshal, but these are common words. True, but not all. To protect the provinces and form the troops, effective reserves were required, and there were few of them in the regular army and did not become more in a month. Kutuzov’s plan, that is, the approximate date of the beginning of the offensive of the Russian army, was known only to himself and several people who were engaged in recruiting.
Departing from direct combat contact with Napoleon's troops, in all directions of the theater of operations around Moscow, Kutuzov temporarily switched to the small war envisaged by the instructions from the beginning of September 1812, and guerrilla units were formed under his control. While the Russian Main Army, formed in mid-September from the former 1 and 2 of the Western armies, was encamped, the partisans conducted reconnaissance and counterintelligence, attacked rear support posts and communications of Napoleon's troops, captured enemy foragers and marauders.
The tactical basis of the partisan actions was the tried and tested Cossack intelligence, the Cossack patrols and becketta (outposts), the deft Don Cossack venteri (fraudulent and double ambushes) and the rapid rebuilding in the lavas (attacks of the lay order). The guerrilla detachment initially included two or three Cossack regiments, reinforced by the most experienced hussars, and sometimes rangers, or arrows — light infantrymen, trained in crumbling operations.
Army guerrilla units created by Kutuzov acted on the nearest approaches to the main army camp, covering operational approaches to Smolensk and both Kaluga roads, as well as the road to Bobruisk through Medyn, Yukhnov and Roslavl. The detachments were commanded by officers who had marched with the army from the frontier itself, who had previously distinguished themselves in battles and participated in the Battle of Borodino.
GREAT STRENGTH OF THE FRONT
The area adjoining Moscow from the west, northwest, north and northeast was in the zone of action of the Separate Corps of Major General and Adjutant General, from 16 (28) of September - Lieutenant General Ferdinand Vincengerode. Kutuzov used mobile Cossack corps detachments for reconnaissance, communications, guarding the supply lines of Russian troops and other special tasks in the rear of Napoleon’s army on the strategic ground to the north of the Main Russian Army.
The Don Cossack regiment of Major-General Vasily Denisov 7, attached to his Wintzgerrode corps, guarded the strategic Yaroslavl Road under the command of his deputy military commander Grigory Pobednov. The field headquarters of the regiment was located in the village of Tarasovka. Pobednov maintained a permanent courier relationship with Yaroslavl and St. Petersburg. Through posts to the east and south of Moscow, the "communications center" Pobednova was connected with Kutuzov's headquarters in Red Pakhra, and then in Tarutino.
In two dispatches to Kutuzov Alexander I from October 1 (after the 10-day pause in the reports!), There are signs that the army is preparing to move from a small war to more decisive actions. Field Marshal General reveals to the Emperor the contours of the new operational plan, according to which he has already begun to “noble” reinforce the army with irregular troops, to create additional special-purpose combat units.
The first report “On successful actions of partisan detachments on enemy communications” Kutuzov asks to award the best officers tested in the case and approve their promotion: “Akhtyrsky Hussars Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Davydov, Guards Artillery Captain Seslavin, and Artillery Honors Honors Best Honors, Ist Honors, Ist Honors, I have distinguished the best honors ". The second report, “On the increase in the number of partisan detachments,” reports on the replenishment of troops: “The Don regiments, who were waiting from the Don, have now begun to arrive at the army. Now they have already arrived at 5, and today 3 is also expected, so that by October 4 there will be a new Don 24 regiment here. Such a notable increase by irregular troops makes it possible for the enemy to increase his anxiety and harm ”.
TARUTIN BATTLE
The strategic offensive of the Russian army began in Tarutino in the early morning of October 6 (18) on October 1812 from the command “On horseback!” Commander of the Guards Brigade and Life Guards of the Cossack Regiment, Major General and Adjutant General Vasily Orlov-Denisov. Within a few minutes, the regimental corps of the combat special forces, with their usual Don command, went into the raid, cutting through the French avant-garde.
The vanguard of the special squad that Orlov-Denisov formed for the battle of 6 in October with the help of troop chieftain Platov included 10 Don Cossack regiments: Atamansky Platov, Timofei Grekov 18, Nicholas Ilovaisky 5, Osip Ilovaisky 10, I-o, Iosvaysky 2, Nikolai Ilovaisky 6, Osip Ilovaisky 4, and I-I, I’mavaysky 2, I-o th, Vasily Kuteynikov 3 th, Grigory Melnikov 2 th, Ivan Suchilin XNUMX th, Vasily Sysoev XNUMX th and Alexei Yagodin XNUMX th. It was the first, sudden, unexpected blow of the new Russian army. The French did not wait for a second strike.
Having learned that Orlov-Denisov with the Don regiments had knocked over Murat’s cavalry and all the French avant-garde under Tarutin, on October 7 Napoleon hastily leaves Moscow along the Old Kaluga Road. It was at this moment that Bonaparte sent an envoy to Kutuzov with a letter in which he set forth the conditions for peace. Bonaparte's letters remained unanswered.
Following this, 10 October from the headquarters in Letazhevka Kutuzov reports to Alexander I: “After October 6 won over the corps of the King of Naples victory (about which it was already announced) the army entered its former position under Tarutin.”
It is here that Kutuzov speaks for the first time about a general offensive: “The rest of the expected Cossack regiments from the Don must join the army, which they will make up with the previously arrived 45 regiments. The Cossacks and horses of this excellent army, in spite of the forced marches they make, are in the best condition, and these troops eagerly wish to fight the enemy. ”
Kutuzov, near Moscow in the fall of 1812, waited for them, suitable from the Don, of the reservists of the military cadre elite of the Russian army, before telling Alexander I when and how he would start to beat Napoleon’s army. The special forces were at that crucial moment the main and almost the last reserve of Kutuzov. This was the main secret of the commander of all Russian armies.
STAR ATAMAN DENISOV
Andrian Karpovich Denisov 6 took office as ataman and governor of the Don Region (in the absence of a military ataman Matvey Ivanovich Platov on Don) 29 of July (10 of August) 1812 of the year and immediately began forming new Cossack regiments. In particular, the regiments of Galitsyn 1, Grekov 5, Danilov 2, Sulin 9, and Chernuzubov 5 went to Moscow from his native Ataman of the Second Don District (there were six districts in total). . "NVO" from 14.09.12).
A veteran of the Italian and Swiss Suvorov campaigns, in which he served as a Cossack chieftain and commanded eight Don regiments, 6, Denisov, knew the enemy well. In 1799, Suvorov’s troops liberated Milan, Turin and the whole of Northern Italy occupied by the French in a month, in turn, breaking up the corps of Scherer, Moreau, Joubert and MacDonald. Then, the famous crossing of the Alps took place, although before that it was planned to go to France.
From the campaign "Karpych", as Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov called Andrian Karpovich Denisov, returned with generals' stars and the Order of St. Anna 1 degree. Then few people heard about Napoleon in Russia. It was only known that in 1788, some 19-year-old lieutenant Bonaparte asked him to take on the Russian service to participate in the war with Turkey, but was refused. Just that year, the Suvorov fighters took Ochakov. And Bonaparte remained at the level of the artillery lieutenant, who put on the boots of a general. Upon learning of the victories of Suvorov-Italians, Napoleon returned from Egypt, with the help of the head of the secret police, Joseph Fouche and the battered army, dreaming of a rematch, made a military coup in France, dispersed the Directory and in November 1799 of the year appointed himself as the first consul. Then life first, then emperor ...
And in 1807, the emperor, Napoleon I, having occupied all of Europe, approached the border of Russia in Prussia, fought and made peace, which after five years he himself broke. In the 1807 foreign campaign of the year, Andrian Denisov led his regiments through a series of local battles that were successful for them, receiving the Order of St. Vladimir 3, the Prussian Order of Red Eagle, and the Golden Saber For Bravery. Now only the victory of Russia and the defeat of Napoleon’s army could be a reward.
After receiving instructions about the performance of the regiments of the Don Cossacks to Moscow 30 August (11 September) 1812, Denisov sent 6 on the same day to the rally station near the Tikhaya River already ready regiments of Kuteinikov 6 and Popov 13, and they made a day later on the march, and behind them two more teams from the Ataman reserve, around 830, the most honored and experienced Cossacks, "serving" veterans of the Don special forces "to replenish". Within two weeks, another 24 regiment and a half-company of horse artillery left.
“For the efforts to form the Don militia and for all the work on the administration of the post of ataman” 2 (14) November 1812, Andrian Denisov, 6, received the Order of St. Vladimir 2, and the rank of lieutenant general .
ALL ARMY ASSEMBLY
From September 20 (October 2), the Don team arrived at the Tarutinsky camp, where, meeting them, the army of Kutuzov settled from the same day. There also for the Russian army did weapon from Tula, ammunition, new ammunition and food from different provinces.
The posts and outposts of the Main Army, reconnaissance patrols and Cossack patrols around Tarutin were led by General Orlov-Denisov. The commanders of the Cossack brigades took new regiments, ready to fight Napoleon's army, and the Don horses themselves went astray, an easy Cossack gallop, as if kneading before the attack. The regiment of the army foreman Ivan Popov of 13 of Kutuzov on September 25 (7 of October) sent Denis Davydov to the detachment, which he produced in the same number of colonels.
Historical reconstruction of the Battle of Borodino at the Borodino Field Museum-Reserve in September 2012. According to the military historian Karl Clausewitz, by October 1812, Kutuzov’s troops had increased from 70 to 110 by the replenishment. Napoleon was not much less: for the month, about 15 thousand more thousand of the French leaked to Smolensk from Moscow. But if Napoleon stayed a little longer in Moscow, Russian special forces would start beating the French army piece by piece right on the outskirts of the city. Just as exactly 200 years before, Don Don Cossack detachments came to the aid of Minin and Pozharsky’s militia at the call of General Trubetskoy, and all together units of the Russian People’s Army liberated the capital of Russia from the troops of October October 27 (6 in November in the new style) 1612 of the year.
Of said report Kutuzov from 10 (22) in October 1812 years shows that while near Moscow in readiness for an attack on the Grand Don Army in the Russian army gathered 45 regiments, or about 15-20 brigades, or 8-10 divisions or 3 –4 Corps (by state 1812 of the year). That is more than 35 thousand sabers, since each Cossack regiment was not less than five hundred with two horses per fighter, taking into account the Don artillery companies, other auxiliary and attached units.
The beginning of the defensive stage of the strategic “Moscow operation” of Kutuzov is indicated by the date of the Borodino battle 26 of August (September 7). After 40 days, the 6-day second stage, the offensive, began with the Tarutinsky raid of 18 (10) in October. Two phases can be distinguished here: the liberation of Moscow by the Wintzingerrode corps - from 7 to 11 in October and the Russian army squeezing retreating French troops in the direction west of Moscow to the Old Smolensk road - from 12 to 16 (28) in October 1812.
The corps of Lieutenant General Ferdinand Wintzengerode with 2 (14) through 6 (18) of October conducted operations on the Yaroslavl and Dmitrov roads and in the northern suburbs of Moscow. For example, the 2 of October, the Denisov regiment of the 7, led by Grigory Pobednov, the Cossack detachment, the regiment of hussars and the regiment of dragoons attacked a large detachment of the French, entrenched from September 29 in Dmitrov. The enemy with losses went to Moscow, where he was driven by two more Cossack regiments.
The regiment under the command of Pobednova from the Yaroslavl Road, fifty people from Vladimirskaya and Cossack hundreds from Dmitrovskaya entered Moscow with the aim of preventing the Kremlin from exploding when a large detachment of French saboteurs departed from there. In the afternoon of October 9, militant groups (parties) of the Don Special Forces, partisans and militia volunteers approached the Kremlin from different directions.
On the night of the 10-e separate groups with a battle penetrated into the Kremlin, preventing large explosions of gun and powder stores, the destruction of cathedrals, towers and palaces. By the morning of October 10 (22), Russian special forces had discharged a detachment of Mortier entrenched there from the Kremlin with guards and saboteurs. When the mine wicks set on fire by the French were extinguished, the saboteurs who had time to leap out of the Kremlin were pursued by Cossacks and "hunters" from the Moscow militia. The Kremlin 10 October included a regiment of Denisov 7-th under the command of Grigory Pobednova - from Vladimir and Yaroslavl roads and the regiment of major generals Ivan Ilovaisky 4-th and Vasily Ilovaisky 12-th - from Tverskaya road. In the afternoon, Moscow was liberated from the French, and on October 11, the Cossacks closed the cordon with the partisans. Army foreman Pobednov 11 (23) of October reported the situation to the brigade commander Denisov 7, when the Kutuzov army began its advance from Tarutin.
SHUTTER AT MALOIAROS AND BOROVSKY VENTER
After Napoleon left Moscow, 7 (19) of October, along the Old Kaluga Road, Beogharnais followed him and 9 reached Fominsky on New Kaluga, where the Napoleonic army turned from Troitsky. During the night, the rearguard of Beauharnais and several French cover groups still fired on the 10 in the city, when Wienzgergerode and the hussar captain Naryshkin went further as parliamentarians, but were captured by the French from the house of the governor general and 10-1, were taken to Napoleon, who captured position at Borovsk.
Prisoners were sent to France. The corps was temporarily headed by the Ilovaisky 4. But Russian special forces conducted operations on all fronts of the Patriotic War. October 28 (November 9) Ferdinand Wintzengerode and Lev Naryshkin were already liberated near Radoshkovichi in 30 versts north-west of Minsk by the Don Cossack regiment of Stepan Panteleev's 2 of the Western Army. And soon Napoleon himself was on the verge of captivity or even death. Since then, he carried with him poison, so as not to fall alive into the hands of the Cossacks.
In the evening of October 11 (23), Kutuzov’s army from the Tarutino camp, where she stayed for 20 days, came out to block the New Kaluga road. In the “battle of Maloyaroslavets, the River Luzhe and Nemtsov”, the 6 Corps of the General from Infantry Dokhturov and the 7 Corps of Lieutenant General Rayevsky were involved. The fighting with the 4 corps of Beogharna and two divisions from the Davout 1 corps lasted from early morning to late at night. Then the corps of Dokhturov and Raevsky moved to a height of two miles to the south.
Under Maloyaroslavets, the French army met an insurmountable barrier. Russian infantry and heavy artillery were covered by army cavalry with guardsmen and 20 regiments of Platov's corps. The regiment of Denisov 7-th, together with a detachment of Ilovaisky 4-th from the right flank conducted a deep reconnaissance, establishing the location of the main forces of Napoleon, his headquarters and military escort.
Platovtsy, having received an order to push Napoleon’s army onto the Smolensk road, from early in the morning of October 13 conducted several high-speed, “through” raids into the enemy’s rear simultaneously from different directions. Further, Kutuzov set a special strategic task to the Don Special Forces, the essence of which he will state to Alexander I in a week. In the meantime, the Russian Army camp headquarters studied the situation in detail and waited for new reports from reconnaissance groups.
Near the village of Gorodnya on the road between Borovsky and Maloyaroslavets 13 (25) in October, the Don Special Forces clashed with a convoy and Napoleon's retinue. Witnesses from the French side later told and wrote about this case in their memoirs. Perhaps Napoleon was saved by his disguise: he was in a gray soldier's overcoat and did not attract the attention of the Cossacks of the regiment Nikolai Sulin 9 and other regiments from the detachment of Major General Alexei Ilovaisky 3.
Napoleon came under Gorodnya to a large Cossack Venter arranged by Platov — an operational ambush. On the same day, a detachment of Colonel Vasily Bykhalov 1 and a detachment of Colonels Grigory Ilovaisky 9 (major general from 18 in July 1813) and Timothy Ilovaisky 11 in defeated the team from the 5 of the Polish corps in a detachment of the detainees. General Tyszkiewicz. And on October 14, the road from Borovsk to Medyn was held by a detachment of Ilovaisky 3. As Clausewitz noted, the 13 (25) day of October “was marked by a bold touch that Platov made early in the morning at the center of the French army near Gorodny; He got the 11 guns, and Napoleon himself was nearly captured. ”
SPECIAL FORCES LEAVES FORWARD
From the report from 17 (29) of October Ilovaisky 4 to Alexander I (with the knowledge of Kutuzov, Wintsentgerod always had a direct communication channel) it follows that the posts and outposts of the French army’s flank cover were detected by the reconnaissance of the 7 regiment of Denisov.
The rearguard, under the command of Davou, left Borovsk on October 16. Passing to the west of the Kaluga road, Kutuzov from the Cloth Plant from 16-th headed for Vyazma. Platov Corps brigades, including the Denisov regiment of the 7, are put in the vanguard of October on the 17 (29) of October. Platov informed Kutuzov: “The enemy along the road leading from Borovsk to Vereya, retreats with more caution from the side. Seven Cossack regiments pursue him relentlessly, distress and amaze him. ”Three days later, on October 20 (November 1), Kutuzov reported to Alexander I from the village of Selenka that 35 miles east-southeast of Vyazma:“ An adversary warned on all roads , began to retire through Vereya to the Mozhaysk road. " Kutuzov completes the report: "All Don Army has an order to pre-empt, as far as possible, the enemy march, to destroy bridges, crossings and try to cause him all sorts of harm." After a big venture, a big persecution began - in constant combat contact of the Don Special Forces with the quickly escaping enemy.
In the pursuit of Napoleon's army, the Don Army under the command of Platov fought as a mobile vanguard of the Russian army, acting on the pre-emption of the enemy, ahead of the "regular" army avant-garde, followed by the rest of the units and formations with heavy infantry and artillery. Such a special task of Kutuzov, who wanted to do without unnecessary "general battles", was carried out by the Don Special Forces, together with the whole army, saving the Fatherland in 1812 year.
Platov's avant-garde was supported by guards and Cossacks of the Orlov-Denisov joint detachment and army partisans with Cossacks from the "flying units" of Davydov, Dorokhov, Kudashev, Seslavin and Figner. The Don brigades, covering the rearguard of the Davout from the flanks and the rear, led the main part of the French column of about 40 thousand, and on October 21 and 22 took part in the battle of Vyazma. On the second day of the morning with 7, parts of the corps of Miloradovich entered the battle. For the Russian army, the victory of 22 in October 1812 of the year near Vyazma was the last battle in World War, when in one day large forces of all military branches, including heavy artillery, acted in one place. Kutuzov approached Bykovo in 5 versts south of Vyazma, but did not participate in the battle.
Winter was coming. But even before the frost, which will begin in a week, Napoleon’s army in Smolensk was reduced by half to 45 thousand, and Orsha left 12 thousand from it. Under Red, south-west of Smolensk, in six fights from 2 to 6 November 1812 Russian the army left the French corps without horses, guns and wagons. The battle went on with the usual increase in frost up to minus 15 degrees for this season. The main army of Kutuzov after 7 (19) in November did not take part in the hostilities and went through Vilnius through Minsk.
After the Dnieper beyond Orsha, the Kutuzov Special Forces went far ahead, with whom they had with them about 50 thousands of best horses and, in contrast to French winter-savvy horses. Napoleon crossed the Berezina along the wooden floorings of 15 in November north of Borisov at Studyanka and, having thrown his troops, raced from Zembin by Molodechno, Oshmyan and Vilno behind the Nemunas and 26 in November left Warsaw for Paris.
From Berezina to Neman, Russian special forces took part in the rout of almost 70 thousand French troops who were waiting for Napoleon in Belarus and Lithuania, around 60 thousand soldiers of the 3 Western army (including the Danube army) under the command of Admiral Chichagov and 35 -thousand army corps of General Wittgenstein. But even there the special forces went ahead, so that in the fierce frosts that came in time, they could smash or capture the enemy from the Neman.
The remnants of the French army came out of Vilnius on November 28 (December 10) as part of 4300 people, including 2500 fresh reserves. Only around 1 arrived in Kovno on December 1500, of which 2 December went around 500 for the Neman (a group of marshals and generals with a retinue, or the “sacred legion”). Another couple of thousands of MacDonald Corps Frenchmen from near Riga, the Baltic coast, quickly leaked through Koenigsberg to the Vistula. They were already followed by Don Special Forces, which 2 (14) of December 1812 crossed the border and began to liberate East Prussia from the enemy.
After the complete defeat of December 2 by Napoleon's army in Russia, the Patriotic War ended on December 21 1812 of the year (January 2 of the New Year style 1813), and on December 31 Russian special forces reached Danzig at the mouth of the Vistula. The Russian army of Kutuzov launched a foreign campaign and crossed the Neman 1 (13) January 1813.