Battle of Borodino
Mark Simner recounts one of the bloodiest battles of the Napoleonic Wars during Napoleon’s ill-fated invasion of Russia
In 1811 Napoleon was master of Europe. He had defeated his principal European rivals and forced them into an unhappy alliance with France. In 1812 Napoleon decided to invade Russia. Mark Simner tells the story.
In 1811 Napoleon was master of Europe. He had defeated his principal European rivals – Prussia in 1806, Russia in 1807, and Austria in 1809 – who were, temporarily at least, cowed or forced into an unhappy alliance with France. However, one thorn remained in his side, that of Great Britain.
Napoleon waged economic warfare against Britain, establishing his Continental System to strangle British trade. A weak point in his economic wall was Russia. Although Tsar Alexander I had initially implemented the system, it had dire consequences on Russia’s economy. Alexander looked for ways around the embargo and consequently FRANCORUSSIAN relations deteriorated.
The Emperor became convinced the Tsar was planning to strike at France and believed a new war against Russia necessary. He would later write: ‘I did not wish to fight; neither did Alexander; but being in presence, circumstances urged us on, and fate accomplished the rest.’
The invasion of Russia
The French Grande Armée crossed the Neman River on 24 June 1812. Napoleon positioned his army between Michael Barclay de Tolly’s 1st Western Army to the north-east and Pyotr Bagration’s 2nd Western Army to the south. He intended to prevent the Russian armies uniting before defeating each in turn. However, Napoleon’s attempt to trap Bagration between the Neman and Pripet Marshes failed, so he turned on Barclay, who was withdrawing to the north-east. To Napoleon’s frustration, the Russians continued to retreat rather than engage in fighting. To make matters worse, Barclay and Bagration untied at Smolensk on 4 August.
Napoleon’s forces were spread between the Orsha and Dnieper Rivers to the south and Vitebsk to the north. The Russians finally attacked between the two rivers on the 7th, but their assault faltered. Napoleon advanced on Smolensk on the 14th, hoping to manoeuvre around the Russian rear to cut the road to Moscow before forcing them to battle. Leading elements of the French army clashed with the Russian rear-guard at Krasnyi that afternoon, but the Russians fought a successful retirement to Smolensk and Barclay poured reinforcements into the city.
Napoleon launched frontal assaults on the Old Town of Smolensk on the 16th and 17th. However, he had lost the advantage of surprise and failed to cut the road to Moscow. On the night of 17th/18th, the Russians withdrew eastwards. As they retired, a gap formed between Bagration and Barclay, but Napoleon failed to exploit it.
The following day, Barclay was replaced by Mikhail Kutuzov as overall commander of the Russian armies, although he retained command of 1st Western Army. He had angered many by his retreats. Nevertheless, when Kutuzov arrived, he continued the retreat, hoping to find an advantageous position to stand. Colonel Karl Wilhelm von Toll, one of Barclay’s staff officers, suggested a position near the village of Borodino, 70 miles west of Moscow.
The preparations
The Russian line cut across both the New and Old Smolensk roads leading to Moscow. It was believed Napoleon would take the new or northern route. Stretching across the front was the Kolotcha stream, running southwest to northeast, providing a modicum of protection to Kutuzov’s right-centre and right flank. Also running in front of the line was the Semenovka stream, which joined the Kolotcha to the southwest of Borodino, while joining the Semenovka in turn was the Kamenka stream. These streams formed a waterway running along most of the Russian front. Although deep in places, much of it was fordable.
Borodino lay on the west bank of the Kolotcha but, although it lent its name to the battle, was of little significance in the coming clash. To the rear of the Russian left-centre was the village of Semenovskaya, while to the rear of the right-centre lay the hamlet of Gorki.
The latter, situated on raised ground, was where Kutuzov established his headquarters. To the extreme right of the line lay the Moskva River, while to the extreme left was the hamlet of Utitsa.
Kutuzov ordered the construction
of several fieldworks, including: the Raevski Redoubt (or Great Redoubt), built between Gorki and Semenovskaya; three earthworks, known as the Bagration flèches, to the south of the Semenovka; and a mile west of the flèches the Shevardino Redoubt, taking its name from a nearby hamlet. The latter was constructed to observe Napoleon’s advance.
The Russian line stretched four and a half miles, the right held by Barclay’s 1st Western Army, the left by Bagration’s 2nd Western Army. Russian strength at the Battle of Borodino remains unclear, but it is thought Kutuzov had around 72,000 infantry, 17,500 cavalry, 7,000 Cossacks, and 640 guns serviced by 14,300 artillerymen and engineers.
The battle begins
The Battle of Borodino (Battle of Moskowa to the French) was fought on the 7 September 1812 (26 August
Old Style), but French and Russian forces clashed two days earlier at the Shevardino Redoubt. The Russians, fearing their left-flank exposed, pulled their line back, leaving the Redoubt forward of their main position. Napoleon launched an assault of the Redoubt to clear it. The ensuing action saw fierce fighting, not ceasing until around 10.30pm when the Russian garrison withdrew. Casualties on both sides numbered in the thousands, but the defence had given Bagration time to redeploy his forces behind the redoubt.
On the morning of the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon, who it is said was suffering from a migraine and swollen legs, addressed his troops, “Soldiers:
This is the battle you have so much desired. The victory depends upon you! It is now necessary to us. It will give us abundance of good winter quarters, and a prompt return to our country. Behave as at Austerlitz, at Friedland, at Witepsk, at Smolensk, and let the latest posterity
recount with pride your conduct on this day; let them say of you, ‘He was at the battle under the walls of Moscow.’”
At 6am the French Grand Battery opened fire on Kutuzov’s centre. Napoleon ordered an assault on the Bagration flèches, sending Jean Compans’ 5th Division against the southern side of the Russian defences with Joseph Dessaix’s 4th Division advancing to his left. As the 5th Division advanced, it came under intense Russian artillery fire. So ferocious was the Russian cannonade that both Compans and Dessaix were wounded.
Nevertheless, the French continued their assault, Louis-Nicolas Davout, Commander of I Corps, personally leading the 57th Line Regiment. Davout had his horse shot from under him but was soon back up leading the way. By 7.30am he had taken the flèches. Bagration led a counterattack, throwing the French back. Nevertheless, the flèches returned to French hands when Michel Ney charged forward with the 24th Regiment.
The bloody contest continued, fighting was savage and confused. Heavy smoke obscured the battlefield while men trampled over the dead and dying. The French assaults on the flèches ultimately failed, the Russians successfully counterattacking each time. Bagration was hit in the leg. Gravely wounded, he insisted on remaining on the field but was eventually carried off. News of his departure hit Russian morale on this part of the line.
Raevski Redoubt: First assault
Elsewhere, Eugène de Beauharnais advanced with his IV Corps and captured the village of Borodino. However, as he advanced beyond the village, he was met stiff Russian resistance and was forced to fall back.
Charles Morand, commanding 1st Division of Davout’s I Corps, crossed the Semenovka, while IV Corps similarly crossed the Kolotcha to the south.
The pressure of the French advance, supported by heavy artillery fire, pushed the Russians on the right of their line back towards the Raevski Redoubt. Although the initial assault on the Redoubt, at around 10am, was repulsed, a second penetrated the earthworks. Again, the Russians counterattacked, driving the French back.
The first assault on the Raevski Redoubt, which would become the focus of the battle, ended with a French cavalry attack. Eugène Labaume, a French staff officer, recalled: ‘The whole eminence, which overhung us, appeared in an instant a mass of moving iron: the glitter of the arms, and the rays of the sun, reflected from the helmets and cuirasses of the dragoons, mingled with the flames of the cannon that on every side vomited forth death, gave to the Redoubt the appearance of a volcano in the midst of the army.’ However, the cavalry attack was also repulsed.
At midday, an 8,000 strong force of Russian horsemen suddenly appeared to the French rear behind IV Corps. The Russian force consisted of Cossacks led by Matvei Platov and Fedor Uvarov’s
1st Cavalry Corps. Platov had earlier stumbled across a fordable stretch of the Kolotcha and sought Kutuzov’s permission to attempt to get round Napoleon’s left-flank. Kutuzov agreed but told him to take Uvarov’s cavalry with him.
This sudden appearance of Russian horsemen caused panic amongst the French. However, although it forced Eugène to delay his intended second attack on the Raevski Redoubt, the Russian cavalry was unsupported by infantry and their attempt to cause mischief had little effect. Platov and Uvarov reluctantly gave orders to return to their own lines.
An unimpressed Kutuzov deemed the attempt a failure. Yet the arrival of Platov and Uvarov in the French rear had delayed Eugène’s renewed attack on the Redoubt long enough for the Russians to reinforce their front line following the assaults on Bagration’s 2nd Army.
Napoleon again turned his attention to the Raevski Redoubt. At 2pm he sent forward three divisions, flanked by cavalry, in a frontal assault. Watching the onslaught was Barclay, who moved to counter it. As the Russians formed up, French gunners unleased a murderous fire upon them. Auguste-Jean-Gabriel de Caulaincourt, leading Pierre Watier’s Cuirassiers Division, charged the rear of the Redoubt but was repulsed by intense Russian musketry. As he had departed,
Caulaincourt remarked: ‘You shall see me there presently, dead or alive’. Shortly after he was shot dead by a musket ball.
Another cavalry assault of the rear of the Redoubt was carried out by Johann von Thielmann, leading eight Saxon and two Polish squadrons. This attack was more successful, the cavalrymen forcing their way inside. By 3.30pm, the Raevski Redoubt finally fell. Nikolay Raevski, after who the redoubt was named, died alongside his gunners as they frantically worked their guns.
Capturing the Redoubt proved costly for the French, but the Russians had also suffered heavy losses. Despite the hard-won ground, Napoleon ordered his battered troops back to their lines. Shortly after their withdrawal, the Russians reoccupied the Redoubt.
The village of Utitsa
Fighting was also raging near the village of Utitsa at the southern end of the battlefield. Defending this area of heavy brush were 23,000 Russian troops under Nikolay Tuchkov. However, about half were poorly trained and equipped militiamen. Facing them were 10,000 motivated Polish infantrymen of Józef Poniatowski’s V Corps.
The Poles had captured the village at 8am but were forced out by Tuchkov’s men. Another attack was launched, this time the Westphalians led by JeanAndoche Junot adding their weight to the assault. The village again fell. As the Russians fell back, they set fire to
Utitsa. The village burned while both sides skirmished and cannonaded one another for much of the rest of the day.
Although the brush presented great difficulties to Poniatowski’s troops, the Poles almost managed to isolate Tuchkov from the rest of Kutuzov’s army. Nevertheless, the later arrival of Russian reinforcements effectively ended any chance of Poniatowski breaking through.
The battle ended around 6pm, both sides exhausted. The battered Russians had been forced back from their original positions and had no meaningful reserves. Napoleon still had his Imperial Guard, but, despite pleas from his generals, was reluctant to risk them.
Kutuzov had thoughts of continuing the battle, but the horrendous scale of Russian casualties forced him to withdraw. Witnessing events from the Russian side was Carl von Clausewitz: ‘The infantry masses were so reduced, that, perhaps, not more than a third of their original strength was engaged. The rest were either killed, wounded, engaged in removing the wounded, or rallying in the rear.’
Thus, early on 8 September, the Russians resumed their eastern retreat. It remains unclear how many became casualties at Borodino. It is thought Kutuzov suffered around 40,000 to 45,000, Napoleon around 28,000 to 35,000, making it ones of the bloodiest battles of the Napoleonic Wars. Other estimates are higher. It was a French victory but a pyrrhic one.