order, so the 23rd and the 24th advanced in line. General
Corbineau's brigade, consisting of three regiments was in the
second line and the Cuirassiers followed, in reserve. The 24th,
which was on my left, faced a body of Russian dragoons, while I
was opposed to the Cossacks of the Guard, recognisable by the red
colour of their jackets and the fine quality of their horses
which, although they had arrived only a few hours ago, did not
appear in the least tired. We moved forward at the gallop, and
when we were at a suitable distance from the enemy, General
Castex ordered the charge and his whole brigade fell in one line
on the Russians. By the violence of this attack, the 24th
overwhelmed the dragoons who opposed them, but my regiment
experienced more resistance from the Cossacks, a chosen band of
men of superior stature and each armed with a 14 foot lance which
he well knew how to use. Some of my Chasseurs were killed and
many wounded, but once my gallant troopers had broken through
this line bristling with steel, they had the advantage, for the
long lances are ineffective against cavalry when those carrying
them are disorganised and closely engaged by adversaries who are
armed with sabres which they can use with ease, while the lancers
have great difficulty in presenting the point of their weapons.
Thus the Cossacks were forced to turn their backs, whereupon my
men slaughtered many of them and captured a large number of
splendid horses.
We were about to follow up this success when our attention was
drawn to a great tumult on our right, where we saw the plain
covered with fugitives, for this was the moment when the Russian
Chevalier-Gardes made their desperate attack. General Castex,
thinking it would be unwise to advance any further when our
centre appeared to be retreating in disorder, called for the
rally to be sounded and the brigade came to a halt.
We had,however, scarcely re-formed our ranks when the Cossacks,
emboldened by what was going on in the centre and burning to
avenge their previous defeat, charged back on the attack and
hurled themselves furiously on my squadrons, while the Grodno
Hussars attacked the 24th. The Russians, driven back at every
point by Castex's brigade, brought up successively their second
and third line, whereupon General Corbineau came to our
assistance with the 7th and 20th Chasseurs and the 8th Lancers,
and there ensued a great cavalry battle, the outcome of which
hung in the balance. Both our own and the Russian Cuirassiers
were advancing to join in when Wittgenstein, seeing his infantry
beaten and hard pressed by ours, sent word to his cavalry to
retire. They, however, were too hotly engaged for this command to
be easily executed. In the event, Generals Castex and Corbineau,
knowing that they would be supported by the Cuirassiers who were
close behind them, committed in turn both their brigades against
the Russians who were thrown into the greatest disorder and
suffered heavy casualties.
On arriving at the other side of the wood where our victorious
infantry and cavalry divisions were regrouping, General
Saint-Cyr, seeing that night was approaching, called off the
pursuit, and the troops returned to their bivouacs at Polotsk,
which they had quitted a few hours earlier. During the fighting
my wound had given me much pain, particularly when I had to
gallop my horse. My inability to defend myself often put me in a
difficult situation in which I might not have survived had I not
been surrounded by a group of stalwarts who never let me out of
their sight.
On one occasion, amongst others, I was pushed by the mob of
combatants into a group of Cossacks, where to save myself I had
to let go of the bridle and take up my sabre. I had, however, no
need to use it, for seeing their commanding officer in danger,
all ranks of my escort furiously attacked the Cossacks who were
now surrounding me, laid several of them in the dust and put the
rest to flight. My orderly Fousse, the finest of Chasseurs,
killed three of them and Warrant Officer Joly two. So I came back
safe and sound from this action, in which I had been determined
to take part in order to encourage the regiment, and to show them
afresh that as long as I could mount a horse it would be my
honour to lead them when danger threatened. Both the officers and
men of the regiment appreciated this, and the affection with
which I was already regarded by them was increased, as you will
see later, when I speak of the misfortunes of the great retreat.
Combat between cavalry units is infinitely less murderous than
that involving the infantry, also the Russians are as a rule
maladroit in the handling of their weapons, and their incompetent
leaders do not always know how to employ their cavalry to best
advantage. So that although my regiment was fighting the Cossacks
of the Guard, considered one of the finest units in the Russian
army, we did not suffer a great many casualties. I had eight or
nine men killed and some thirty wounded; but amongst those last
was Major Fontaine. This very fine officer was in the thick of
the fighting when his horse was killed; his feet were entangled
in the stirrups and he was trying to free himself with the help
of some Chasseurs who had gone to help him when a Cossack
officer, bursting through the group at the gallop, leaned
dexterously from his saddle and dealt Fontaine a terrible sabre
slash which blinded his left eye, damaged the other and split
open his nose. However, as the Russian officer, proud of this
exploit, was leaving the scene, one of our Chasseurs shot him in
the back at six paces, so avenging his squadron commander. As
soon as possible M. Fontaine's injury was dressed and he was
taken to Polotsk to the Jesuit monastery, where I visited him
that same evening. I admired the resignation with which this
courageous soldier bore the pain and disability of becoming
almost completely blind, since which time he has not been able to
continue in active service. This was a great loss for the 23rd,
in which he had been since its creation, liked and respected by
all; I was much moved by his misfortune.
I was now the only senior officer in the regiment and I had to
see to all the requirements of the service, which was a major
task.
You may think that I have gone into too much detail about the
various actions in which 2nd Corps was involved, but as I have
said, I enjoy recalling the great conflicts in which I have taken
part, and speak of these times with pleasure, for it then seems
to me that I am once more in the field, surrounded by my brave
companions, almost all of whom have now, alas, quitted this life.
To return to the present campaign: anyone but Saint-Cyr, after
such a hard-fought action would have reviewed his troops to
congratulate them on their success and enquire into their needs.
Scarcely, however, had the last shot been fired, when Saint-Cyr
shut himself up in the Jesuit monastery and spent all his days
and part of the night playing his violin...a ruling passion from
which only marching to attack the enemy could distract him.
Generals Lorencez and Wrede, given the task of deploying the
troops, sent two divisions of infantry and the Cuirassiers to the
left bank of the Dvina. The third French division and the
Bavarians stayed in Polotsk, where they were employed to build
the fortifications of a vast entrenched camp, before acting as a
support to the troops which from this important point were
covering the left and rear of the "Grande Armee" on its march to
Smolensk and on to Moscow. The light cavalry brigades of Castex
and Corbineau were positioned two leagues in front of this camp,
on the left bank of the Polota, a little river which joins the
Dvina at Polotsk. My regiment went into bivouac near a village
called Louchonski. The colonel of the 24th set up his a quarter
of a league to the rear, covered by the 23rd. We stayed there for
two months, during the first of which we did not go very far.
When he heard of the victory won at Polotsk by Saint-Cyr, the
Emperor sent him the baton of Imperial Marshal. Instead of using
the occasion to visit his troops, the new Marshal retired into
even deeper seclusion, if that were possible. No one could
approach the head of the army, which earned him the nick-name
amongst the soldiers of the "Owl." More than this, although the
huge monastery had more than a hundred rooms which would have
been most useful for the wounded, he lived there alone, and
considered it a great concession that he allowed senior officers
who were wounded to be received in the outhouses. They were
allowed to remain there for forty-eight hours, after which their
comrades had to take them to the town. The cellars and granaries
of the monastery were bursting with provisions amassed by the
Jesuits; wine, beer oil, flour, etc., all were there in
abundance; but the Marshal had taken charge of the keys of the
store-rooms and nothing came from them, even for the hospitals.
It was with the greatest difficulty that I obtained two bottles
of wine for the injured Fontaine. The extraordinary thing was
that the Marshal used hardly any of these provisions for himself,
for he was a man of extreme sobriety, but also highly eccentric.
The army complained loudly about his behaviour,and those same
provisions which he refused to distribute to his troops were, two
months later, consumed by flames and the Russians, when the
French were forced to abandon the burning monastery and town.
Chap. 12.
While all this was going on at Polotsk and on the banks of the
Drissa, the Emperor remained at Witepsk, from where he exercised
overall control of the operations of the numerous units of the
army. There are those who have reproached Napoleon with wasting
too much time, first at Wilna, where he stayed for nineteen days,
and then at Witepsk where he stayed for seventeen. They claim
that these thirty-six days could have been better employed,
particularly in a country where the summer is very short, and the
rigours of winter begin to be felt about the end of September.
This claim has some justice up to a point, but it should be
remembered, firstly that the Emperor hoped that the Russians
would request some compromise, and in the second place that it
was necessary to concentrate once more all the units which had
been scattered in the pursuit of Bagration. In addition, it was
essential to give some rest to the troops, who as well as their
regular marches had to scour the countryside each evening, far
from their bivouacs, in a search for food; because the Russians
having burned all the stores as they retreated, it was impossible
to make any daily distribution of rations. There was, however,
for a long time a happy exception to this state of affairs, in
the case of Davout's Corps. Davout was as good an administrator
as he was a fighting soldier, and well before the crossing of the
Nieman he had organised an immense convoy of little carts which
followed his army. These carts carried biscuits, salted meat and
vegetables and were drawn by oxen, a number of which could be
slaughtered daily to provide food. This arrangement contributed
greatly to keeping his men from straying from their ranks.
The Emperor left Witepsk on the 13th August, and moving further
and further away from 2nd and 6th Corps, which he left at Polotsk
under the command of Saint-Cyr, he went to Krasnoe, where a part
of the Grande Armee faced the enemy. It was hoped that there
would be a battle, but all that took place was a minor action
against the Russian rear-guard, which was defeated and promptly
withdrew. On the 15th of August, his birthday, the Emperor
reviewed his troops, who welcomed him with enthusiasm. On the
16th the army reached Smolensk, a fortified town which the
Russians call the holy of holies because they consider it to be
the key to Moscow and the palladium of their empire. Ancient
prophecies foretold disaster to Russia the day Smolensk was
taken. This superstition, carefully nurtured by the government,
dates from the time when Smolensk, situated on the Dnieper, was
the furthest Muscovite frontier, from where they issued to make
enormous conquests.
Murat and Ney, who were the first two to arrive before Smolensk,
both thought, for some unknown reason, that the Russians had
abandoned the place. The reports given to the Emperor having
convinced him that this was the case, he ordered that the
advance-guard should be sent into the town. The impatient Ney was
waiting only for this command. He advanced toward the town gate
escorted by a small body of Hussars, but suddenly a regiment of
Cossacks, hidden by a fold in the ground covered by scrub, fell
on our riders, drew them off, and surrounded Marshal Ney, who was
so hard pressed that a pistol shot fired at point blank range
tore the collar of his coat. Fortunately the Domanget brigade
hurried to the spot and freed the Marshal. The arrival of General
Razout's infantry enabled Ney to get close enough to the town to
convince himself that the Russians intended to defend it.
Seeing the ramparts armed with a great number of cannon, the
artillery general, Eble, a highly competent officer, advised the
Emperor to by-pass the place by sending the Polish Corps
commanded by Prince Poniatowski to cross the Dnieper two leagues
further upstream; but Napoleon, accepting the advice of Ney, who
assured him that Smolensk would be easily captured, gave the
order to attack. Three army Corps, those of Davout, Ney and
Poniatowski, launched an assault on the town from different
directions. A murderous fire was poured down on them from the
ramparts, and one even more deadly came from the batteries which
the Russians had established on the opposite bank of the river. A
most bloody struggle ensued; bullets, grape-shot and bombs
decimated our troops, without the artillery being able to breach
the walls. At last, as night was approaching, the enemy, who had
bravely disputed every foot of ground, were driven back into the
town itself, which they now prepared to abandon. Before they did
so, however, they set all of it on fire. The Emperor thus saw an
end to his hopes of capturing a town which was rightly supposed
to be full of supplies. It was not until dawn the next day that
the French entered the place, the streets of which were strewn
with the dead bodies of Russians and smoking debris. The taking
of Smolensk had cost us 12,000 men killed or wounded, an enormous
loss which could have been avoided by crossing the Dnieper
upstream, as had been proposed by General Eble; for, seeing
himself at risk of being cut off, General Barclay de Tolly, the
enemy commander, would have evacuated the place and retired
towards Moscow.
The Russians, after burning the bridge, halted for a short time
on the heights of the right bank and then resumed their retreat
on the road to Moscow. Marshal Ney followed them with his army
corps reinforced by Gudin's division, which was detached from
Davout's corps.
Not far from Smolensk, Marshal Ney caught up with the Russians as
they passed, with all their baggage, through a narrow defile. A
major engagement took place which could have been disasterous for
the enemy if General Junot, who commanded 8th Corps, and who had
been slow in crossing the Dnieper, two leagues above Smolensk,
and who had then halted for forty-eight hours, had hastened to
the sound of Ney's guns, which were no more than a league away.
Although informed of the situation by Ney, Junot did not budge.
He was then ordered in the name of the Emperor to come to the
assistance of Ney, but still he did not move.
Ney, facing greatly superior numbers, having engaged successively
all the troops of his Corps, ordered Gudin's division to take
some strong positions held by the Russians. This order was
executed with the greatest alacrity, but in the first wave the
brave general fell mortally wounded. However, retaining his usual
calm, and wishing to assure the success of the troops which he
had so often led to victory, he appointed General Gerard to take
over the command, although he was the most junior brigade
commander in the division.
Gerard, at the head of the division attacked the enemy, and by
ten in the evening, after losing 1800 men and killing some six
thousand, he was master of the field of battle, from which the
Russians made a hasty departure.
The next day the Emperor came to visit the troops who had fought
so bravely; he rewarded them generously and promoted Gerard to
the rank of divisional general. Gudin died a few hours later.
If Junot had taken part in the action, he could have trapped the
Russians in a narrow defile when, caught between two fires, they
would have been forced to surrender, and thus brought the war to
an end. One regretted the departure of King Jerome, whom Junot
had replaced, for although a mediocre general, he would probably
have gone to help Ney, and we expected to see Junot severely
punished; but he was one of Napoleon's earliest adherents and had
supported him in all his campaigns, from the siege of Toulon in
'93 to the present. The Emperor was fond of him and he forgave
him. This was a pity, for it was becoming necessary to make an
example.
When the Russian people heard of the fall of Smolensk, there was
a general outcry against Barclay de Tolly. He was a German; the
nation accused him of not putting enough effort into the war, and
for the defence of ancient Muscovy they demanded a Muscovite
general. Compelled to give way, Alexander handed the command of
all the Russian armies to General Koutousoff, an elderly man of
little ability, renowned only for his defeat at Austerlitz, but
having the great merit, in the circumstances, of being an out and
out Russian, which gave him a considerable influence in the eyes
of the troops and the populace at large.
The French advance-guard, driving the enemy before it, had
already passed Dorogobouje when, on the 24th of August, the
Emperor decided to leave Smolensk. The heat was stifling; we
marched on loose sand; there was insufficient food for such a
large body of men and horses, for the Russians left nothing
behind them but burning farms and villages. When the army entered
Vyazma, this pretty town was in flames, and it was the same at
Gzhatzk. The nearer we got to Moscow the fewer resources the
countryside had to offer. Several men died and many horses. A few
days later, the intolerable heat was succeeded by a cold rain
which lasted until the 4th of September; autumn was approaching.
The army was no more than six leagues from Mojaisk, the last town
we had to take before reaching Moscow, when it was noticed that
the strength of the enemy rear-guard had been considerably
increased; an indication that a major battle was at last in
prospect.
On the 5th, our advance-guard was briefly held up by a large
Russian column, well entrenched on a small hill, garnished with a
dozen guns. The 57th line regiment, which in the Italian campaign
the Emperor had named the "Terrible", worthily upheld its
reputation in capturing the redout and the enemy guns. We were
already on the terrain upon which, forty-eight hours later, would
be fought the battle which the Russians call Borodino and the
French Moscow.
On the 6th, the Emperor announced in an order of the day that
there would be a battle on the day following. The army welcomed
this announcement with pleasure in the hope that it would mean an
end to their privations, for there had been no supply of rations
for a month, and everyone had lived from hand to mouth. On both
sides the evening was employed in taking up positions of
readiness.
On the Russian side, Bagration, commanding 62,000 men was on the
left wing; in the centre was the Hetman Platov with his Cossacks
and 30,000 infantry in reserve; the right was made up of 70,000
men under the command of Barclay de Tolly, who was now the second
in command, while the elderly General Koutousoff was the overall
commander of all these troops, amounting to 162,000 men. The
Emperor Napoleon had no more than 140,000, who were disposed as
follows: Prince Eugene commanded the left wing, Marshal Davout
the right, Marshal Ney the centre, King Murat the cavalry, while
the Imperial Guard was in reserve.
The battle took place on the 7th of September; the weather was
overcast and a cold wind raised clouds of dust. The Emperor, who
was suffering from severe migraine, went down into a sort of
ravine, where he spent the greater part of the day walking on
foot. From this spot he could see only part of the battlefield,
and to see its entirety he had to climb a nearby hillock, which
he did only twice during the action. The Emperor has been blamed
for his lack of activity, but it should be borne in mind that in
the central position which he occupied with his reserves, he was
able to receive frequent reports of events occurring at all
points of the line, whereas if he had been on one wing or the
other, the aides-de-camp, hurrying with urgent information over
such broken ground, might not have been able to see him or known
where to look for him. And it must not be forgotten that the
Emperor was ill and a strong and glacial wind prevented him from
remaining on horseback.
I took no part in the battle of Moscow, so I shall refrain from
going into any detail about the various manoeuvres carried out
during this memorable action. I shall say only that after almost
unheard of efforts the French succeeded in overcoming the most
obstinate resistance of the Russians, and that the battle was one
of the most bloody fought during the century. The two armies
suffered casualties to a total of 50,000 dead or wounded. The
French had 49 generals killed or wounded and 20,000 men put out
of action. The Russian losses were a third greater. General
Bagration, the best of their officers was killed, and by a
bizarre turn of fate he happened to be the owner of the land on
which the battle was fought. Twelve thousand horses were left on
the field. The French took few prisoners, an indication of the
courage and determination of the Russian resistance.
During the action there were several interesting episodes. When
the Russian left had been twice driven back by the supreme
efforts of Murat, Davout and Ney and had yet rallied for the
third time and returned to the charge, Murat asked General
Belliard to beg the Emperor to send part of his guard to secure a
victory, failing which it would be necessary to fight another
battle to beat the Russians. Napoleon was inclined to comply
with this request, but Marshal Bessieres, commandant of the Guard
said to him "I shall permit myself to remind your majesty that
you are at this moment some seven hundred leagues from France."
Whether it was this observation or whether the Emperor thought
that the battle had not reached the stage when he should commit
his reserve, he refused the request. Two other demands of this
kind met the same fate.
There was another remarkable incident which occurred in this
battle so full of gallant deeds. The enemy front was covered by
some high ground on which were redouts and redans and in
particular, a crenelated fort armed with 80 guns. The French,
after considerable losses, had gained control of these field
works but had not been able to retain the fort, and to regain it
would be a very difficult task even for infantry. General
Montbrun, who commanded the 2nd Cavalry Corps, had noticed, with
the help of his field-glass, that the gate of the fort was not
closed and that platoons of Russian soldiers were going through
it. He also noticed that if one went round the side of the high
ground, one could avoid the ramparts, ravines and rocks and lead
a cavalry unit to the gate up a gentle slope, suited to horses.
General Montbrun proposed to get into the fort with his cavalry
from the rear, while the infantry attacked the front. This
hazardous operation having been approved by Murat and the
Emperor, Montbrun was entrusted with its execution; but while the
intrepid general was finalising his plan, he was killed by a
cannon-ball. This was a great loss for the army, but it did not
put an end to the project he had conceived, and the Emperor sent
General Coulincourt to replace him.
One now saw something unheard of in the annals of war: a huge
fort defended by numerous guns and several battalions of infantry
attacked and taken by a column of cavalry. Coulincourt pressing
ahead with a division of Cuirassiers, headed by their 5th
regiment commanded by Colonel Christophe, broke through all those
defending the approach to the fort, reached the gate, entered the
interior and fell dead with a bullet through his head. Colonel
Christophe and his troopers avenged their general by putting part
of the garrison to the sword. The fort remained in their hands,
which helped to assure a French victory.
Today, when the thirst for promotion has become insatiable, one
would be astonished if, after such a feat, a colonel was not
promoted; but during the Empire ambition was more modest.
Christophe did not become a general until some years later, and
never showed any discontent with this delay.