“It’s not for nothing that all of Russia remembers.” “The enemy has never won an inch of ground with his superior forces.”
Mesetic writes:
“The majestic appearance and Russian position - three battle lines of infantry with artillery between them - are no longer there; The infantry lines of the last 4th corps occasionally stood on the left flank, thinning out and withstanding the enemy’s final assault; others were already at rest, curled up in columns. It was here that the bloody sweat of fatigue, tears and regret for lost bosses, comrades and acquaintances were visible. The battlefield is already covered with many lifeless corpses, the hollows and bushes are covered with many moaning, asking for one thing - the end of life - the wounded; Human blood flowed in rivulets through the ruts, and heroes were still falling dead on both sides. Finally, the thunder of the artillery, which operated from start to finish with up to a thousand guns on both sides in the battle, the screech of cannonballs, the roar of grenades, the noise of grapeshot, the whistle of bullets announced the enemy’s desire to dislodge the Russians, but they courageously resisted, struck, fell for the Fatherland and surprised the enemies themselves."
At this time, Colonel Wolzogen appeared in front of Kutuzov, sent by Barclay with a report,
“that all the most important points of our position were in the hands of the enemy and that our troops were in complete disorder.”
Kutuzov, whom Leo Tolstoy, in his inescapable desire to simplify everything and everyone, forces at this moment to chew fried chicken, should probably have choked. Generally speaking, Kutuzov did not like the Germans for their false conceit, because they, beaten in the tail and mane by Napoleon, imagined themselves to be mentors of the Russians in the war on the sole basis that the Russian sovereign favored them, and now, when in front of him this German whip appeared, painting a distorted picture of the battle, which he, the commander-in-chief, not only knew and understood better, but also recognized the result of this battle, unprecedented in its ferocity, as victorious - now this shameless German pretentiousness infuriated Kutuzov. Let us further quote from Tolstoy, who conveys this scene more accurately than Bogdanovich:
“Kutuzov, stopping to chew, stared at Wolzogen in surprise, as if not understanding what was being said to him. Wolzogen, noticing the excitement of des alten Herrn* (the old gentleman - it.), said with a smile:
“I did not consider myself entitled to hide from your lordship what I saw... The troops are in complete disorder...
- Have you seen? Did you see?.. - Kutuzov shouted, frowning, quickly getting up and stepping on Wolzogen, - How do you... how dare you!.. - he shouted, making threatening gestures with shaking hands and choking. “How dare you, dear sir, say this to me.” You don't know anything. Tell General Barclay from me that his information is incorrect and that the real course of the battle is known to me, the commander-in-chief, better than to him.
Wolzogen wanted to object, but Kutuzov interrupted him.
- The enemy is repulsed on the left and defeated on the right flank. If you have not seen well, dear sir, then do not allow yourself to say what you do not know. Please go to General Barclay and convey to him the next day my absolute intention to attack the enemy,” Kutuzov said sternly. Everyone was silent, and all that could be heard was the heavy breathing of the out of breath old general. – They were repulsed everywhere, for which I thank God and our brave army. The enemy has been defeated, and tomorrow we will drive him out of the sacred Russian land.”
“I did not consider myself entitled to hide from your lordship what I saw... The troops are in complete disorder...
- Have you seen? Did you see?.. - Kutuzov shouted, frowning, quickly getting up and stepping on Wolzogen, - How do you... how dare you!.. - he shouted, making threatening gestures with shaking hands and choking. “How dare you, dear sir, say this to me.” You don't know anything. Tell General Barclay from me that his information is incorrect and that the real course of the battle is known to me, the commander-in-chief, better than to him.
Wolzogen wanted to object, but Kutuzov interrupted him.
- The enemy is repulsed on the left and defeated on the right flank. If you have not seen well, dear sir, then do not allow yourself to say what you do not know. Please go to General Barclay and convey to him the next day my absolute intention to attack the enemy,” Kutuzov said sternly. Everyone was silent, and all that could be heard was the heavy breathing of the out of breath old general. – They were repulsed everywhere, for which I thank God and our brave army. The enemy has been defeated, and tomorrow we will drive him out of the sacred Russian land.”
Shcherbinin writes about this scene in his notes on History War of 1812 Bogdanovich:
“The canal Wolzogen, who is too well known to me personally, reports to Kutuzov about the state of the troops after the Battle of Borodino, not in the sense that Barclay told him. Raevsky, on the contrary, confirming Barclay’s opinion, encourages Kutuzov to give the order to resume the attack the next day.”
In Raevsky's Notes we also find a fragment relating to this episode of the battle:
“At this time our positions were still behind us; The enemy fire began to weaken, but our artillery needed charges. With this news I arrived to the field marshal. He received me more kindly than usual, because a minute before me someone presented our affairs to him from a very bad side... He said to me: “And so you think that we should not retreat.” I answered him that, on the contrary, it seems to me that we should attack the enemy tomorrow: for in unresolved matters, the most persistent always remains the winner. This was not bragging on my part; Maybe I was deceived, but that’s exactly what I thought during this conversation. Prince Kutuzov then, in the presence of His Highness Duke Alexander of Wirtemberg, began to dictate to his adjutant... the plan for tomorrow's attack, and he ordered me to immediately retell it orally to General Dokhturov. I rushed to fulfill this command, with the intention of further informing all our lines about this, knowing completely what effect this news would have on the spirit of our troops.”
And indeed, the line of our troops was not hit anywhere, it was only pushed back to a position “which our reserves occupied before the start of the battle"(Bennigsen), but she stood in this new position as firmly as at the beginning, and seemed to challenge the discouraged enemy to a new battle.
“Having given way to Bagration’s flushes and Raevsky’s lunette, the Russians stood like a wall; their fire was as strong as at the beginning of the battle,”
- writes a participant in the battle.
Here it would be appropriate to note that this picture of the Battle of Borodino, defeatist for the Russian army, is painted precisely by foreigners who are alien to the common national experience of this battle with the Russians, and therefore are unable to comprehend either its real significance for the Russians or the real price that the Russians paid for victory in this battle. After more than two hundred years, we have to admit that we are unable to achieve either a common understanding of the Battle of Borodino with foreigners, or a general assessment of it, because we see and experience it differently, and it resonates in our hearts in different ways too. But we cherish the consciousness of the invincibility of the Russian army in the Battle of Borodino sacredly, as a legacy imprinted in the national memory.
Liprandi writes that
“From five o’clock the enemy did not take a step forward, limiting himself to a murderous cannonade from five or more hundred guns.”
And it was at 5 o’clock in the afternoon that Kutuzov dictated to his adjutant Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky the following instructions for the commanders-in-chief of the 1st and 2nd armies, Barclay and Dokhturov:
“From all the movements of the enemy, I see that he was no less weakened than we were in this battle, and therefore, having already started business with him, I decided this night to put the entire army in order, supply the artillery with new charges and tomorrow to resume the battle with the enemy. For any retreat in the current disorder will entail the loss of all artillery.
Prince G[olenishchev]-Kutuzov"
Prince G[olenishchev]-Kutuzov"
Lieutenant Grabbe was instructed to report this to the commanders of the troops, who writes:
“About five o’clock in the afternoon the attacks stopped. Only the cannonade on both sides and the skirmish between the chains of skirmishers continued. It was clear that the armies were smashed against each other, and neither one nor the other could undertake anything important during the rest of the day. Seeing Kutuzov and his retinue stopping behind the center, I drove up there and, called by Tol, was introduced to him. He then sent me to congratulate the commanders of the troops on repelling the enemy and to announce the attack on him the next morning. I found the first on the left flank, sitting among the troops on a drum, General Dokhturov. The venerable warrior received me and the news with a joyful face, and many acquaintances with delight. In the center, Miloradovich listened to me and ordered me to report that he was taking (if the commander-in-chief wishes) to take away the central battery (Raevsky) without much damage. Indeed, nothing proved so much the extreme degree of exhaustion of the enemy as the useless possession of this important point of our position, where their batteries were not even moved.”
Two hours later, around 7 p.m., "when the enemy attacks stopped completely and the booming cannonade subsided", Kutuzov dictated another letter to Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky to be sent to the Moscow Governor-General Count Rostopchin:
"August 26, 1812
At the site of the battle near the village of Borodino
My dear sir, Count Fyodor Vasilyevich!
This day there was a very hot and bloody battle. With God's help, the Russian army did not yield a single step in it, although the enemy acted against it in very superior forces. Tomorrow, I hope, placing my trust in God and the Moscow shrine, to fight him with new strength.
It depends on Your Excellency to deliver to me as many of the troops under your command as possible.
With true and perfect respect, remaining Your Excellency, my gracious sovereign, humble servant
Prince Kutuzov."
At the site of the battle near the village of Borodino
My dear sir, Count Fyodor Vasilyevich!
This day there was a very hot and bloody battle. With God's help, the Russian army did not yield a single step in it, although the enemy acted against it in very superior forces. Tomorrow, I hope, placing my trust in God and the Moscow shrine, to fight him with new strength.
It depends on Your Excellency to deliver to me as many of the troops under your command as possible.
With true and perfect respect, remaining Your Excellency, my gracious sovereign, humble servant
Prince Kutuzov."
This was Kutuzov’s first and most immediate reaction to the result of the Battle of Borodino, which, one can say without exaggeration, met the aspirations and convictions of the entire Russian army, from soldier to general. Dokhturov writes:
“All the enemy’s efforts to dislodge me were in vain; Having lost countless killed, the French began to retreat at seven o'clock in the evening; I saw this with my own eyes. I thought the Battle of Borodino was completely won.”
Liprandi writes:
“At the end of this battle, none of the Russians participating recognized themselves as defeated in it. I refer to all the veterans of this bloody font that each of us was struck only with annoyance, if nothing more, when we learned that the attack planned for the next day, which had already been announced to us, was canceled and ordered to continue the retreat to Mozhaisk. Convinced on the battlefield itself that we had not lost it, but, on the contrary, the honor of this day belonged to us, we based this on the accomplished facts in which we participated.”
From Barclay's report to Kutuzov:
“The enemy infantry still remained in sight of ours, but in the evening, when it began to get dark, they disappeared. The cannonade continued until nightfall, but mostly from our side and to considerable damage to the enemy; and the enemy artillery, being completely shot down, even fell completely silent in the evening.”
* * *
And at the same time, this is what was happening in the French camp. The prefect of the palace, de Beausset, writes:
“It was 7 o’clock in the evening when he (Napoleon. - V.Kh.) returned to his tent, which was built behind the Shevardinsky redoubt, in front of which the emperor was during the battle. He dined with the Prince of Neuchâtel (Berthier. - V.Kh.) and Marshal Davout... I noticed that, unlike usual, his face was hot, his hair was in disarray and he looked tired. He suffered because he had lost so many brave generals and brave soldiers. For the first time it must have seemed to him that fame was bought at too high a price.”
The explanation is not entirely correct. Here, as is usual with the French, gallant phrases are designed to hide the bitter truth.
“In a word, they always know how to say something consoling in favor of their vanity, even in the most unfortunate events for themselves,”
Liprandi notes. What really made Napoleon suffer was the fruitless result of the battle - the very one that he was looking for from the very borders of Russia, in which he hoped to finally defeat the Russian army, which had eluded him for so long, and with which he hoped to decide the fate of the “Russian campaign”. But no, this is a battle - and nothing in it has been decided. Nothing! Only huge, monstrous losses, heralding a futile sacrifice! No, Napoleon did not want to accept this outcome of the battle. At 9 o'clock in the evening, already in the dark, he again tried to test the Russian left flank - would it waver, had it already wavered? But no, he did not flinch and was just as implacable. From the memories of an old Finnish:
“At 9 o’clock in the evening, in the dark, the French began to stir again near the village of Semenovskoye; but our riflemen standing nearby drove them out with bayonets. An hour later the shooting ended, and we remained in our places, covering the entire Guards Infantry Division with a chain.”
Baggovut’s troops also took part in this evening action on the left flank, who writes that
“I was forced to build troops a second time on both sides of the road, and ordered the 4th guns of Lieutenant Colonel Bashmakov’s company to act against the enemy, and our riflemen, along the side of the forest, entered his flank, which again put him to flight; We, having pursued him somewhat, stopped, for the darkness of the night did not allow us to take advantage of this opportunity any longer, sending only a party of Cossacks to observe his retreat, who then returned and reported to me that the enemy had retreated beyond Kolocha, leaving complete dominance over the battlefield to the banners of His Imperial Majesty. »
At the same time, another scene took place in Napoleon’s tent, which was reported by the Intendant General of the Grand Army, Count Dumas:
“About nine o’clock in the evening, Daru and I were called to the Emperor (his bivouac was located among the square of the battalion of the old guard). He was served dinner; he was alone and sat us down next to him, one to the right, the other to the left. After listening to our reports about the orders we had made for the care of the wounded and about the insignificance of the funds provided by the Kolotsky monastery and several courtyards near Borodino, he talked to us about the outcome of the battle and immediately after fell asleep for about twenty minutes. Then, suddenly waking up, he continued: “They will be surprised that I did not use my reserves to obtain more significant results. But I had to save them in order to deliver a decisive blow in the big battle that the enemy would give us near Moscow. The success of [the current] day was assured: I must think about the success of the campaign, and therefore I saved my reserves."
These words are about "the big battle that the enemy will give us near Moscow“(and this after the “Battle of the Moscow River”!) - is the fruit of Dumas’s later fantasy, timed to coincide with subsequent circumstances, for that evening neither Dumas himself, nor even more so Napoleon, nor anyone in the French army could even imagine could the Russian army retreat from the Borodino position, remaining undefeated! Struck by the fruitless result of the battle, which was paid for at the price of monstrous losses, the French army was in a daze, and this moral shock is recorded by many testimonies.
Thiers:
“On this evening, expressions of joy and surprise, which were once sharply revealed in Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland, were not audible in the winner’s tent.”
Zellner writes that
“in the evening, after the battle, there were no songs or stories: a general sad, silent despondency prevailed.”
General Fesenzak:
“We have never had such huge losses; Never, too, has morality been so greatly affected! I no longer found the same gaiety in the soldiers; gloomy silence took the place of songs and humorous stories, which previously made them forget all the fatigue of long marches.”
Logier:
“Everyone is shocked and depressed. The army is motionless. It's more avant-garde now."
General Kapfig:
“Never before has a battle counted so many generals out of action. The Battle of Borodino did not have any political consequences, and, to tell the truth, it weakened Napoleon more than it struck the Russians.”
General Kolachkovsky:
“The impression made on the soldiers by the Battle of Mozhaisk was not at all comforting. What did we win after such losses both in the campaign and in the battle? Where are the selected banners, where are the guns, where are the prisoners? The army obtained almost no such trophies, except for several dozen broken guns abandoned in the trenches* (emphasis added by the memoirist). That's all our winnings... From then on, we stopped even thinking about success. and we began to dream about future labors and past applause.”
In these confessions we receive the first undoubted evidence that it was under Borodin that the beginning of the defeat of the French army was laid.
* * *
“The night put a limit to the fury of warriors and the theft of death,”
— writes Akhsharumov. The Russian troops remained in the places they occupied, while the French retreated to the position they occupied before the start of the battle. All Russian sources, and even some French ones, speak about this without exception. From Barclay's report:
“After the end of the battle, I noticed that the enemy began to pull his troops away from the places they occupied, I ordered to take the following position: the right flank of the 6th Corps adjoined the height near the village of Gorki, on which there was a battery of 10 battery guns, and on which In addition, it was planned to build a closed redoubt at night. The left flank of this corps took the direction towards the point where the right flank of the 4th corps stood. General Dokhturov, who followed Prince Bagration in command, was instructed to gather the infantry of the 2nd Army, arrange it on the left flank of the 4th Corps and occupy the interval between this corps and the troops of Lieutenant General Baggovut, who was with the 2nd and 3rd with his corps he was on the extreme left flank and by the evening he again occupied all the places that had been occupied by him in the morning. The cavalry corps were ordered to stand behind this line. Behind these, the Guards Infantry Division was assigned to be in reserve against the center, and behind it, the cuirassier divisions. Before dawn, I instructed Infantry General Miloradovich to reoccupy Kurgan, which lies opposite the center, with several battalions and artillery.”
The redoubt near the village of Gorki, which Barclay talks about here, was actually built during the night, and it is depicted on the reconnaissance plan of the fortifications that remained on the Borodino field from the war of 1812, which (the plan) was taken by military topographer F. Bogdanov in the summer of 1902.
The entire Russian army was then in anticipation of the upcoming battle the next day. The disposition for tomorrow's attack was already outlined in the main principles and is known to many.
“When the Battle of Borodino ended, an order came that the soldiers should not take off their backpacks, because the battle would resume the next day,”
- writes the officer of the Semenovsky Life Guards regiment M.I. Muravyov-Apostol.
There was a roll call along the entire line of troops, gathering troops under their banners.
“All night from the 26th to the 27th, an incessant scream was heard throughout our army. Some regiments almost completely disappeared, and soldiers gathered from different sides,”
- writes N. N. Muravyov. This "incessant scream", indicating the excitement that reigned in the Russian camp after the battle, contrasted with the silence of the French camp. Segur also notes it:
“During the night the Russians made themselves known with annoying cries.”
It can be noted that the picture of the night after the Battle of Borodino is the complete opposite of what we observed on the night before the battle, when “noisy joy" of the French camp contrasted with the silence that reigned on the side of the Russian camp.
“At this time, everyone believed and said that an hour before light we would move to attack the enemy,” writes Liprandi. – Dokhturov was supposed to go with part of the Moscow militia (which was assigned to the corps), with cuirassiers and with the remnants of the 6th corps on Borodino in the direction of the Kolotsky monastery. Soon after, this was canceled, both due to the loss in the army and the impossibility of uniting parts of the same division together at night (all remained in the places where the night overtook them), and according to the testimony of one captured colonel of the German cavalry troops, an obese man, wounded in the head... This colonel, as I remember very well, repeated that Napoleon was not retreating, but was gathering his army to put it in order at the place from which they entered the battle... and that the French guard was not there are 30 thousand people in action.”
This message from the captured colonel, as well as the inability to collect accurate information about the condition and number of troops at night, prompted Kutuzov to abandon his intention to attack the enemy and undertake a retreat. He didn't want to leave anything to chance. Even before dawn, the Russian army set out in the direction of Mozhaisk, leaving a strong rearguard in position under the command of Platov.
“The retreat happened quite decently,”
- writes Ermolov.
Before leaving the Borodino position, Kutuzov sent a report to Emperor Alexander with the following content:
“After my report that the enemy on the 24th carried out an attack with important forces on the left flank of our army, the 25th passed in that he was not engaged in important enterprises, but yesterday, taking advantage of the fog, at 4 o’clock at dawn directed all his forces to the left flank of our army. The battle was general and lasted until nightfall. The loss on both sides is great; The enemy's damage, judging by his persistent attacks on our fortified position, should greatly exceed ours. Your Imperial Majesty's troops fought with incredible courage. The batteries changed hands, and the end result was that the enemy did not win a single step of ground with his superior forces.
Your Imperial Majesty would like to agree that after a bloody battle that lasted 15 hours, our and the enemy armies could not help but be upset, and due to the loss made this day, the position previously occupied, naturally, became larger and inappropriate for the troops, and therefore, when it is not about the glory of won battles only, but the whole goal is aimed at the destruction of the French army, having spent the night at the battle site, I decided to retreat 6 versts, which will be beyond Mozhaisk, and, having gathered the troops upset by the battle, refreshed my artillery and strengthened myself with the Moscow militia, in warm hope for the help of the Almighty and for the incredible courage of our troops, I will see what I can do against the enemy.
Unfortunately, Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration was wounded by a bullet in his left leg. Lieutenant Generals Tuchkov, Prince Gorchakov, Major Generals Bakhmetevs, Count Vorontsov, Kretov were wounded. Prisoners and guns and one brigadier general were taken from the enemy; Now it’s night and I still can’t figure out whether there is such a loss on our part.
Infantry General Prince Golenishchev-Kutuzov
27 1812 of August
Position under Borodino."
Your Imperial Majesty would like to agree that after a bloody battle that lasted 15 hours, our and the enemy armies could not help but be upset, and due to the loss made this day, the position previously occupied, naturally, became larger and inappropriate for the troops, and therefore, when it is not about the glory of won battles only, but the whole goal is aimed at the destruction of the French army, having spent the night at the battle site, I decided to retreat 6 versts, which will be beyond Mozhaisk, and, having gathered the troops upset by the battle, refreshed my artillery and strengthened myself with the Moscow militia, in warm hope for the help of the Almighty and for the incredible courage of our troops, I will see what I can do against the enemy.
Unfortunately, Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration was wounded by a bullet in his left leg. Lieutenant Generals Tuchkov, Prince Gorchakov, Major Generals Bakhmetevs, Count Vorontsov, Kretov were wounded. Prisoners and guns and one brigadier general were taken from the enemy; Now it’s night and I still can’t figure out whether there is such a loss on our part.
Infantry General Prince Golenishchev-Kutuzov
27 1812 of August
Position under Borodino."
The text highlighted here in bold was crossed out by Emperor Alexander when this report was published in the St. Petersburg Gazette, but it precisely contained Kutuzov’s strategic thought (underlined), which Emperor Alexander did not agree with Kutuzov’s retreat from the Borodino position and who considered this retreat “harmful" and "an unforgivable mistake that resulted in the loss of Moscow”, did not share at all, but which, nevertheless, was fully justified by subsequent circumstances.
As for the expression "the enemy never won a single step of ground with his superior forces”, which caused criticism from some pedants, there is no exaggeration here - the Russian army actually retained its position at the end of the Battle of Borodino, while the French army retreated to the position it occupied before the start of the battle. So Kutuzov is talking here about the real result of the Battle of Borodino.
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