Would be incomplete without a description of the greatest battle of the Patriotic War of 1812.

Napoleon on the Borodino Heights

V. V. Vereshchagin, "Napoleon on the Borodino Heights"

This is the day of the Battle of Borodino - August 26, 1812. Napoleon passionately wanted a pitched battle; he was afraid that the Russians would not deceive him here and leave. He got up at three o'clock in the morning, after a short rest, and, in spite of the cold he had felt since the evening, he set about vigorous activity. His first words were: "What's going on with the Russians?"- Having received in response that our troops remained in place, he was very pleased and, leaving the tent, said to the officers gathered around him in a multitude: "It's a little cold today, but it's clear: this is the sun of Austerlitz".

Almost throughout the entire battle, Napoleon was at the height of the Shevardinsky redoubt taken from us on August 24. He was not well. The artist depicted him sitting on a folding chair. Behind him - the headquarters and retinue; behind them - the guards in full dress uniform.

For the battle of Borodino, Napoleon is reproached: for insufficient energy in leading the battle and for insufficient decisiveness in its conduct. This is explained partly by his ill health, and partly by the fact that in 1812 he behaved more like an emperor than a general: he did not dare to put himself in danger; in the newsletter * about the battle of Borodino it is said that the Emperor never endangered himself in this battle; for the same reason he did not dare to risk and risk his last reserve - the guard, which he, despite the insistence of his generals, did not bring into battle. As we shall see later, he had to retreat from this course of action in the later period of this war.

* During the war of 1812, Napoleon sent 29 bulletins to France, which were compiled at his direction and with which he informed his country and all of Western Europe about the events of the war. These bulletins were, by the way, very far from the truth.

It can be considered the most important in the campaign of 1812. This is a general clash on both sides; their main armies took part in it completely - the enemy under the command of Napoleon himself, the Russian army under the command of Kutuzov himself. Here more than 225,000 fighters fought to the death; of which more than 80,000 lay down. Such a mass of troops and such a mass loss was not in any of the battles of the war of 1812; and in general, in terms of bloodshed, this is one of the rarest battles in history.

In the picture of Hess, several important moments of the Battle of Borodino are grouped.

Of central interest is the retirement of Prince Bagration, the commander-in-chief of our 2nd Army. This episode is central to the film. Bagration, wounded in the leg, sits on the ground with his leg bandaged and speaks to General Konovnitsyn, who is standing next to him on horseback. Konovnitsyn turned out to be the eldest of the generals in this section of the position, and Bagration transferred command to him. To the wounded Bagration, the life-medical physician Villie runs to provide medical assistance.

Immediately, the wounded General Vorontsov is brought up on a cart. He commanded a consolidated grenadier division; in hand-to-hand combat, he was wounded by a bayonet, and his division was almost destroyed; in his notes, he speaks of his participation in the Battle of Borodino as follows: "My resistance could not be long, but stopped not before, as with the destruction of my division".

In the left corner of the picture - the square of the regiments of the Life Guards of Izmailovsky and the Life Guards of Lithuania, under the command of Colonel Khrapovitsky, repel the attack of the enemy cavalry (Nansouty and Montbrun).

Above the square of our guards regiments in the distance in the picture is the Shevardinsky redoubt, near which stands Napoleon with his retinue. From there, Murat's cavalry rushes to the attack and he is with her.

On the right side of the picture is a large fortification of our center (Raevsky's battery). What was taken by the enemy, it is taken back by Yermolov. Even more to the right - a large battery of our right flank; here - Barclay de Tolly (on foot) and even further Kutuzov. Ahead of them is the village of Borodino. Behind him, Uvarov's 1st cavalry corps and Platov's Cossacks bypass the left flank of the enemy location and suddenly appear on the flank and part of the rear of the corps of the Viceroy of Italy, Eugene Beauharnais.

In reality, all of the listed episodes of the Battle of Borodino did not take place at the same time, but the artist wanted to capture its most important moments in one picture. * . Another artist, the artist of the word (M. Yu. Lermontov) sang the Battle of Borodino in verse; Here are some wonderful verses from there:

We retreated silently for a long time,

It was annoying, they were waiting for the battle,

The old people grumbled:

“What are we? for winter quarters?

Don't the commanders dare

Aliens tear up their uniforms

About Russian bayonets?

And here we found a large field:

There is a roam where at will!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

And the sky just lit up

Everything suddenly stirred,

The formation flashed behind the formation.

Our colonel was born with a grip:

Servant to the king, father to the soldiers...

Yes, sorry for him: struck by damask steel,

He sleeps in the damp earth.

And he said, his eyes sparkling:

"Guys! Isn't Moscow behind us?

Let's die near Moscow

How our brothers died!”

And we promised to die

And the oath of allegiance was kept

We are in the battle of Borodino.

* It must be said that not all of the listed episodes of the Battle of Borodino are quite definitely visible in the picture; the last four are not quite clear, but we name them, guided by the inscriptions on the frame of this picture, hanging in the officers' collection of the Life Guards of the Izmailovsky Regiment.

The Life Guards of the Izmailovsky Regiment in the Battle of Borodino on August 26, 1812

At the beginning of the battle of Borodino, the entire guard was in reserve, but when the enemy launched violent attacks on the Bagration fleches, the regiments of the Life Guards Izmailovsky, the Life Guards Lithuanian and the Life Guards Finland were moved out of the reserve and sent to reinforce the troops operating at these fleches. Moving from reserves in dense columns (columns to attack), these regiments came under heavy fire from enemy artillery, but, despite it, bravely rushed to the attack.

A participant in the Battle of Borodino, the French General Pele, picturesquely describes the attacks of our troops at the Bagration Flushes and says: “As reinforcements approached the troops of Bagration, they marched forward over the corpses of the fallen with the greatest courage, in order to capture the lost points. Russian columns before our eyes moved like mobile trenches, sparkling with steel and flame. Struck by our grapeshot, attacked either by cavalry or by infantry, these brave warriors suffered enormous losses, but, having gathered their last strength, they attacked us as before.

A brigade from the regiments of the Life Guards of Izmailovsky and the Life Guards of Lithuania was commanded by the commander of the first of them Khrapovitsky. In the history of the first of these regiments (compiled in 1882), his participation in the Battle of Borodino is outlined as follows:

“Colonel Khrapovitsky, having built a brigade in columns for the attack, moved forward in perfect order at eight o'clock in the morning. On the way, the Izmailovites met a procession with the icon of the Smolensk Mother of God, returning from our left flank. Seeing this as a happy omen for themselves, the soldiers piously crossed themselves and moved forward with a firm spirit, despite the fact that enemy shells were already tearing their ranks.

“Of the first victims of the Battle of Borodino, a regimental drummer fell, walking next to Colonel Khrapovitsky. Both of his legs were shattered by the cannon ball (this is what is shown in the picture). Shells more and more often fell into the ranks of the Izmailovites. The bullets were already beginning to whistle strongly and, every now and then, people were dropping out of the ranks, but the regiment was moving calmly. Here the horse under Colonel Khrapovitsky reared up high and, tipping over on his back, remained in place a victim from an enemy bullet that hit him. Khrapovitsky got up, and the Izmailovites again saw him calmly riding in front of the regiment on a new horse.

Then the Izmailovsky Life Guards Regiment, together with the Lithuanian Life Guards, had to repel a number of violent and furious attacks by numerous French cavalry. They silently allowed the enemy cavalry to take 50 steps and only then fired at it with faithful, destructive fire, which upset it and put it to flight. According to the testimony of the commander of one of the battalions of the Life Guards of the Lithuanian Regiment, this battalion did not even open fire during one of the attacks on him by enemy cuirassiers, but silently waited for the galloping cavalry, holding guns in his hand and turning their barrels from side to side; the resulting flash of bayonets frightened the horses and held them back, and those that jumped, the soldiers stabbed with bayonets in the muzzle, then they themselves went on the attack on the frustrated cavalrymen, put them to flight and opened heavy fire on them in pursuit.

The attacks of the enemy cavalry on our infantry were moments of respite for her, since at that time the enemy artillery stopped firing at her.

After repulsing the cavalry attacks of the Life Guards. The Izmailovsky regiment was subjected to destructive fire from enemy artillery; it was about noon when the enemy bombarded our positions with shells. The regiment stood steadfastly, despising the danger and numerous casualties.

A grapeshot hit Colonel Khrapovitsky in the leg, but he remains in the ranks. Bandaging the wound, he cheerfully rides through the ranks of the brigade and thanks the heroes for their courage and steadfastness. But, having traveled around his battalions, he loses strength and orders to carry himself to the dressing station.

Soon afterwards, Colonel Kozlyaninov was wounded and forced to leave the line, as well as many more staff and chief officers and lower ranks. After shelling our positions with artillery, the enemy launched new attacks on them with infantry and cavalry. But the Izmailovites, although they suffered terrible losses, fought back with the same courage and steadfastness until the end of the battle, without losing to the enemy. They lost in this battle: 28 officers out of 51 and 1135 lower ranks out of 1920, i.e. more than a half.

Temporarily replacing the wounded Bagration in the main command in that section of the position where the Life Guards Izmailovsky Regiment operated, General Konovnitsyn in his report on the battle says this:

“I cannot speak with satisfied praise of the exemplary fearlessness shown on this day by the regiments of the Life Guards of Lithuania and the Life Guards of Izmailovsky. Arriving on the left flank, they unshakably withstood the heaviest fire of the enemy artillery, which showered their ranks with grapeshot. Despite the losses, they were in the best arrangement, and all the ranks, from the first to the last, one before the other, showed their zeal to die before yielding to the enemy. Three large cavalry attacks by enemy cuirassiers and mounted grenadiers on both regiments were repulsed by them with incredible success; for despite the fact that the carriages built by these regiments were completely surrounded, the enemy was driven off with extreme damage by fire and bayonets ... In a word, the Izmailovsky and Lithuanian regiments in the memorable Battle of Borodino on August 26 covered themselves in the sight of the entire army with unfading glory.

The Life Guards of the Izmailovsky Regiment were awarded the St. George Banners for the Battle of Borodino.

Battle of Borodino August 26, 1812

The picture reproduces an episode of an unexpected attack by our artillery corps under the command of Lieutenant General O.P. Uvarov on the left flank of Napoleon's army. This action was of great importance in the Battle of Borodino, although it did not achieve the goal intended by Kutuzov.

When, in the afternoon, Napoleon was preparing a decisive attack on our center, Uvarov's corps, which had previously stood behind our right flank, was pushed forward and directed around the left flank of the enemy location; Platov moved even further to the right with the Cossacks. The unexpected appearance of Uvarov’s corps on the flank of Napoleon’s army (here was the corps of the Viceroy of Italy), and Platov’s Cossacks in the rear, caused a stir in the enemy troops and diverted Napoleon’s attention from our center, forcing him to take up his left flank; the attack on our center was suspended and this suspension lasted for two hours; we took advantage of this break to put the troops of our center in order and to reinforce the weakened points of our position with reinforcements.

On the right side of the picture is the left flank of Napoleon's army, namely the viceroy's corps; Borodino is visible, occupied by the troops of his corps; in front of this village there is a bridge across the Kolocha River.

Riding a bay horse - Adjutant General, Lieutenant General O. P. Uvarov, a young cavalry general (39 years old) with the Order of St. George, 2nd degree. Behind him, in a Life Cossack uniform, is another young cavalry lieutenant general, adjutant general Count Orlov-Denisov (37 years old). Our cavalry attacks the enemy infantry and artillery. The enemy fights back, retreats and takes away the guns.

End of the Battle of Borodino

V.V. Vereshchagin, "The End of the Battle of Borodino"

The battlefield is littered with a pile of bodies. There are more dead than alive. Napoleon's soldiers, having occupied the fortifications ceded by us, exclaim: "Vive l "empereur!".

The French author, a participant in the battle (Labaume), describes the battlefield of Borodino after the battle as follows: “The middle of a large redoubt presented a terrible picture: the corpses were piled one on top of the other in several rows. Russians died, but did not give up. In the space of one square league there was no place uncovered with dead bodies ... One could see mountains of corpses, and where they were not, fragments of weapons, pikes, helmets, armor, cannonballs lay, covering the earth like hail after a strong thunderstorm ... "

After the battle, Napoleon's troops retreated to their former bivouacs. Napoleon declared the battle of Borodino his victory. But here is the state of the "winners" according to the description of French historians:

“After the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon’s troops spent a terrible night in their bivouacs, without lights, among the dead, dying and wounded. Only at dawn did they learn of the Russian retreat. It has hardly ever happened that the winners experienced such an extraordinary feeling after the victory: they were in a kind of stupor. After so many disasters, deprivations and labors endured in order to force the Russians to fight, after so many feats, courage, what are the consequences! - A terrible massacre ... and even greater than before, the uncertainty - how long the war will last and what its outcome will be.

In the evening after the battle, neither songs nor conversations were heard, sad and silent despondency prevailed. Napoleon himself could not sleep: it was not easy on his soul. His sleep was disturbed, or rather, he did not sleep at all. He exclaimed many times, turning quickly in bed: "quelle journee!" (What a day!). His headquarters at Shevardin was surrounded all night by the old guard: despite the significant distance from the battlefield, he considered this precaution necessary.

When, on the morning of the next day, he was informed of the retreat of the Russian troops, he said: “Let them retreat; and we will wait a few hours to attend to our unfortunate wounded.

One French colonel (Fesenzak), who was appointed commander of the regiment after the Battle of Borodino, says in his memoirs, “that he did not find the former cheerfulness in the soldiers, did not hear songs and conversations - they were immersed in gloomy silence. Even the officers walked as if lowered into the water. This despondency is strange after the victory, which seemed to open the gates to the enemy's capital..

One of the French historians of the war of 1812 (Marshal Saint-Cyr) spoke of the Battle of Borodino as follows: “The Russians, despite the most stubborn resistance, can be considered defeated only because they retreated, but they were not defeated, they were not thrown back in complete disorder in any of the sections of their position. The body was struck, but not the soul of the army. Their losses were great, even huge, but they were almost balanced by the losses of Napoleon, and meanwhile a great advantage remained on their side: their losses could be immediately rewarded by the reinforcements that they received daily, while the loss in our troops remained unrecoverable ".

Napoleon himself later spoke of the Battle of Borodino as follows: “Of all my battles, the most terrible is the one I fought near Moscow. In it, the French showed themselves worthy of victory, and the Russians acquired the right to be invincible ... Of the fifty battles I have given, the most valor was shown in the battle near Moscow and the least success was won..

In preparing the material, the book "Patriotic War of 1812 in the Pictures of Russian Artists" was used, Edition of I. S. Lapin, Paris. Website adaptation: S. Nikolaev.

battle of Borodino - the main battle of the Patriotic War of 1812, which took place on September 7 (August 26, old style) 1812.

Russian Imperial Army

Commander-in-Chief - Infantry General, Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov. The main forces of the Russian army were regular troops, consolidated into the 1st Western Army under the command of a general from infantry M. B. Barclay de Tolly and the 2nd Western Army under the command of Infantry General P.I. Bagration.

Grand Army

Commander-in-Chief - French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. In addition to the French troops, the Grand Army included contingents from the states of the Confederation of the Rhine, Westphalia, Bavaria, Württemberg, Cleve, Berg, Prussia, Saxony, the Netherlands, Nassau, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, Spain, the Kingdom of Naples, the Swiss Confederation, Portugal, Neuchâtel and other European states that were dependent on the French Empire.

The number of warring parties

There are two main versions of the count of the number of French troops participating in the battle. According to the so-called "Gzhatsk account", the Great Army before the battle consisted of 135,000 people with 900 guns. However, according to the second version, the number of French troops was approaching 185,000 people. with 1200 guns, these data are indicated on the Central Monument on the Borodino field. Such a difference in numbers is explained by the fact that on the transition from Gzhatsk to the Kolotsk Monastery, the Great Army was overtaken by reserve units, which gradually joined the army and were not taken into account during the roll call in Gzhatsk.

The number of Russian troops who took part in the battle is less controversial and amounts to 118,000 people. with 600 guns, including 10,000 warriors of the Moscow and Smolensk militias. It is impossible to consider the militias as full-fledged fighters, since they were practically unarmed and untrained, and were used as auxiliary personnel in the construction of fortifications and to collect and carry out the wounded from the battlefield.

Reasons for the fight

During the campaign of 1812 Napoleon Bonaparte planned to draw the Russian army into a general battle, during which, using a significant superiority in numbers, defeat the enemy and force Emperor Alexander I to surrender. But the Russian army systematically retreated deep into its territory, avoiding a decisive battle. However, the lack of serious fighting had a detrimental effect on the morale of both soldiers and officers, so the infantry general Kutuzov, recently appointed commander in chief, decided to give Bonaparte a general battle. He took into account that the French troops were forced to disperse their forces, and therefore the Grand Army was seriously reduced in numbers. At the same time, he had no illusions about the enemy’s forces and his capabilities and understood that Bonaparte, as a commander, was extremely dangerous, and his soldiers had great combat experience and were eager to fight. However, he also could not avoid a general battle, since a further retreat to Moscow without a serious battle would undermine the morale of the troops and cause distrust in the army in society. Considering all these factors, Kutuzov had no right to make a mistake and could not lose the upcoming battle, and the choice of the battle site was predetermined by these conditions.

Battlefield

The place of the upcoming battle was not chosen by the Russian quartermasters by chance. Their task was to choose a position that would neutralize the superiority of the Great Army in numbers, especially in the amount of artillery, while allowing covert maneuvering of reserves. The flanks of the position were supposed to exclude the possibility of deep detours, it was also important, if possible, to cover all the most important roads leading to Moscow through Mozhaisk, that is, the Old and New Smolensk roads, as well as the Gzhatsky tract. The battlefield can be considered an area stretching from north to south from Novy Selo to the village of Artemki and from west to east from Fomkino to Novaya village. The area is distinguished by a large number of streams, rivers and ravines that cross the battlefield from south to north. The Russian position was located in such a way that the attacking enemy, before reaching the distance of a rifle shot, was forced to force the ravines of the Kamenka River and the Semenovsky Creek on the left flank and in the center, as well as the valley of the Koloch River on the right flank, which were under fire from Russian artillery. This allowed the Russian troops to prevent the enemy from conducting coordinated attacks and slowed down his advance to the key points of the position.

Engineering equipment position. Fortification

The very nature of the area suggested the use of various fortifications to enhance its defensive potential. During August 23-25 ​​(September 4-6), 1812, Russian engineers carried out a huge amount of work. On a hill near the village of Shevardino, a redoubt for 5 guns was built, intended to cover the main Russian position and to divert the attention of the enemy from preparing the Russian army for a decisive battle. On August 24, French troops attempted to capture this fortification, this event went down in history as the Battle for the Shevardinsky Redoubt. The extreme right flank of the Russian position was covered by flashes near the village of Maslovo, the crossing over the Koloch River near the village of Borodino was covered by earth batteries near the village of Gorki. In the center of the position, at Kurgan height, a fortification was erected, known as the Rayevsky Battery. Further south, in the village of Semyonovskoye, an earthen fortification was also built. In the space between the Semenovsky ravine, the Utitsky forest and the ravine of the Kamenka river, several lunettes were erected, which became famous as Bagration's flushes. A system of notches was organized in the Utitsky forest, making it difficult for the enemy to move through the forest. Russian fortifications were distinguished by the use of the principle of crossfire, as well as the widespread use of wolf pits on the outskirts of them. Another feature of the Russian fortifications was the impossibility of using them by the enemy for their own purposes.

Side Plans

The battle of Borodino against the background of most other battles of that era is distinguished by the extreme bitterness of the combatants, largely due to the tasks of the warring parties. The defeat was unacceptable for both Kutuzov and Bonaparte. The defeat of the Russian army meant defeat in the war, since Kutuzov did not have any reserves capable of making up for losses and was not expected in the near future. Bonaparte also believed that in the event of a defeat, he had no chance of an early victory in the war, in order to fulfill his plan and capture Moscow, from which he intended to dictate peace terms, it was absolutely necessary for him to defeat the Russian army. Both commanders also understood that they were confronted by a strong, stubborn and dangerous enemy, and it would not be easy to achieve victory in the upcoming battle. The Russian commander-in-chief hoped to wear down the enemy, who was forced to attack a heavily fortified position, relying on a powerful system of fortifications. Drawn into the assault on the Russian fortifications, the enemy troops were vulnerable to counterattacks by both infantry and cavalry. An important condition for success was the preservation of the combat capability of the Russian army after the battle.

Bonaparte, on the contrary, intended to break through the Russian positions, capture its key points, and thereby, by disorganizing the Russian battle formations, achieve victory. Maintaining the combat capability of the Great Army was also a prerequisite for him, since it was almost impossible to count on replenishing losses and the ability to restore the combat capability of his troops in the depths of hostile territory. He also realized that without replenishment of provisions, fodder and ammunition, he would not be able to campaign for a long time. He did not know what reserves Kutuzov had, and how soon he would be able to make up for his losses, so that victory in the battle, and not just a victory, but the defeat of the Russian army, was the only possible way out of this situation for him.

Comparison of the warring parties

For more than a decade, Russian troops had periodically encountered the French on the battlefields, so that the Russian command was familiar with the tactics of the enemy, as well as with the fighting qualities of the French soldiers. The Russian infantry, hardened in wars with the Turks and the French, was a formidable force. Despite the fact that the Russian infantry battalions were inferior in number to the French, they were distinguished by greater mobility and maneuverability. The traditional qualities of a Russian soldier - steadfastness, perseverance and courage - were noted even by opponents. The Russian cavalry was distinguished by a good horse composition, well-trained horsemen, as well as a large number of courageous and enterprising commanders. Artillery, equipped with the latest technology of the time, had good tactical flexibility due to a convenient organizational structure and good training of commanders. The great advantage of the Russian troops was the high morale and moral unity of the personnel. The absence of language barriers and national contradictions, a single organizational structure simplified the leadership of the troops, which was also a considerable advantage compared to the enemy.

The Great Army, in contrast to the Russian Imperial Army, was a very mixed picture. In addition to the French units, it also included the troops of Bonaparte's satellite countries, often not at all burning with the desire to fight for completely alien interests, and often experiencing mutual hostility towards the French or their other allies. The French units were for the most part made up of veterans who had gone through many previous campaigns and had vast combat experience. The French soldiers, unlike their allies, idolized Bonaparte and were ready to carry out any of his orders. The French infantry traditionally operated in dense battle formations in large masses, which, coupled with the offensive impulse and high morale, made it an extremely dangerous enemy. However, the quality of the French cavalry left much to be desired, both in terms of the training of the cavalrymen themselves and the unsatisfactory condition of the horse composition, so Bonaparte relied more on the German and Polish cavalry. The national diversity of the Great Army could not but be reflected in the artillery, represented by many different systems and calibers. The great disadvantage of the Great Army was also the fact that the allied contingents were organized according to their own traditions and ideas about the military structure, which complicated their mixing into divisions and corps, as well as their management due to linguistic and national differences.

The course of the battle

The battle of Borodino began in the early morning of August 26 (September 7), 1812 at about 6 am. The French artillery opened fire on almost the entire front, shelling the Russian positions. Almost simultaneously with the opening of fire, the French columns began to move, advancing to the starting lines for the attack.

The first to be attacked by the Life Guards was the Jaeger Regiment, which occupied the village of Borodino. The division of General Delzon, consisting of the 84th, 92nd and 106th regiments of line infantry, taking advantage of the morning fog, made an attempt to dislodge the guards rangers from their positions, but ran into stubborn resistance. However, as a result of a flank attack by the 106th line regiment, the rangers were forced to leave Borodino and retreat across the Koloch River. The French tried to cross after them, but came under counterattack by the 1st, 19th and 40th Chasseurs and the Guards crew and, having suffered significant losses, were forced to retreat. The bridge across the Koloch was burned by the sailors of the Guards crew, and until the end of the battle, the French did not attempt to advance in this area.

Bagration's flashes on the left flank of the Russian position were occupied by the troops of the 2nd Combined Grenadier Division of Major General Vorontsov, as well as the artillery of the 32nd and 11th battery companies. In front of the flushes along the Kamenka River there were chains of Russian rangers. In the Utitsky forest, three regiments of chasseurs under the command of Prince I.A. covered the flush from the flank. Shakhovsky. Behind the fleches was Major General Neverovsky's 27th Infantry Division. The Semyonov heights were occupied by the 2nd Grenadier Division of Major General Duke Karl of Mecklenburg, as well as the 2nd Cuirassier Division of Major General Duka. They were opposed by the corps of Marshals Davout and Ney, General Junot, as well as the cavalry of Marshal Murat, supported by significant artillery forces. Thus, the number of enemy troops intended for operations against the Bagration Flushes reached 115,000 people.

At about 6 o'clock in the morning, the divisions of Generals Desse and Kompan from the corps of Marshal Davout began to advance to their original positions for the attack. However, the French infantry faced the devastating fire of Russian artillery and the counterattack of the rangers, and was forced to abandon the development of the attack.

Regrouping, around 7 am, the French launched a second attack. During this attack, the enemy again encountered fierce resistance from the defenders of the flushes. Despite considerable losses, the infantrymen from the Kompan division managed to break into one of the flushes, but as a result of a well-coordinated attack by Russian infantry and cavalry of the Akhtyrsky Hussar and Novorossiysk Dragoon regiments, the French were forced to roll back again. The intensity of the battle is evidenced by the fact that by this moment Generals Rapp, Desse, Kompan and others were wounded, Marshal Davout himself was shell-shocked.

Bagration, seeing that the enemy was concentrating forces for a third, even more powerful attack, pulled the 3rd Infantry Division of Major General Konovnitsyn to the flushes, and Kutuzov allocated several battalions from the army reserve of the 1st consolidated grenadier division, the Life Guards Lithuanian and Izmailovsky regiments, as well as the 3rd cavalry corps and the 1st cuirassier division. Meanwhile, Bonaparte had already concentrated more than 160 guns against the flushes, as well as three infantry divisions from the corps of Marshal Ney and several cavalry formations of Marshal Murat.

At about 8 o'clock in the morning, the third attack of the flushes began. Russian artillery, firing buckshot from short distances, despite enemy fire, inflicted huge losses on the French columns. Despite this, the French infantry from the divisions of Compan and Ledru managed to break through into the left flech and into the intervals between other fortifications. However, the counterattack of the 27th Infantry and 2nd Combined Grenadier Divisions, supported by the cavalry of the 4th Cavalry Corps, forced the French to hastily retreat to their original positions.

Around 9 o'clock in the morning, Bonaparte launched a fourth flush attack. By this moment, the space in front of the flashes, dug up by cannonballs and littered with dead and dying people and horses, was already a terrible sight. Thick columns of French infantry again rushed to attack the Russian fortifications. The battle for the flashes turned into hand-to-hand combat on parapets, Neverovsky's infantrymen and Vorontsov's grenadiers fought with amazing tenacity, noted even by the enemy. Any improvised means, bayonets, cleavers, artillery accessories, rifle ramrods were used. Nevertheless, despite all the efforts of the defenders, by 10 o'clock in the morning the enemy managed to capture the flushes. However, Bagration introduces the 2nd Grenadier Division of Major General, Duke Karl of Mecklenburg and the 2nd Cuirassier Division of Major General Duki into battle. The remnants of Vorontsov's grenadiers and Neverovsky's infantry also joined the counterattack. The French, who suffered severely from the fire of Russian artillery, unable to use the captured fortifications, could not withstand the organized strike of the Russian units and left the flashes. The attack of the Russian cuirassiers was so swift that Marshal Murat himself barely escaped capture, having managed to hide in a square of light infantry.

At about 11 o'clock in the morning, the next, fifth flush attack begins. With powerful artillery support, the French infantry again managed to occupy the flashes, but then the 3rd Infantry Division of Major General Konovnitsyn entered the battle. During this counterattack, Major General Tuchkov 4th heroically died, with a banner in his hands, who led the attack of the Revel and Murom infantry regiments. The French are once again forced to abandon the flushes.

Bonaparte, seeing that the next attack again ended in failure, brought into battle the corps of General Junot, which included Westphalian units. Poniatowski's corps, which, according to Napoleon's plan, was supposed to bypass the flashes from the rear, got bogged down in battles near the village of Utitsa on the Old Smolensk road, and did not complete its task, the infantry of Davout and Ney suffered heavy losses and was exhausted, just like Murat's cavalry supporting their actions, but their goal - Bagration's flashes - still remained in the hands of the Russians. The sixth attack of the flushes began with the advance of Junot's Westphalians through the Utitsky forest to the flank and rear of the Russian fortifications. Despite the fierce resistance of the Russian rangers, the German infantrymen, pushing their way through the notches, still managed to complete their task. However, as soon as they emerged from the forest, the Westphalians were met by fire from the horse artillery battery of Captain Zakharov. Not having time to reorganize for the attack, the Westphalian infantry suffered heavy losses from canister shots and was immediately subjected to a counterattack by the Russian cavalry. The approaching 2nd Corps of Lieutenant General Baggovut stabilized the situation. The infantry attack of Ney and Davout, which was developing in the meantime, was repulsed again.

The seventh attack of the flushes was carried out by Bonaparte according to the same plan. The attack of Ney and Davout from the front and Junot from the flank again ran into fierce resistance. At the edge of the Utitsky forest, the Brest and Ryazan infantry regiments switched to the bayonet, disrupting another Westphalian attack. The losses of the Grand Army became heavier, attacks followed attacks, but the flushes were never taken.

At 12 noon, the eighth flush attack begins. About 45,000 infantry and cavalry, supported by fire from up to 400 artillery pieces, take part in it from the French side, the Russian troops concentrated in this sector hardly reached half of this number. The French infantry rushed into the frontal attack of the Russian fortifications, the numerical superiority allows it to ignore the artillery fire. Then Bagration, seeing that the situation was becoming critical, personally led the counterattack of the Russian infantry, during which he was wounded in the thigh and dropped out of the battle. The 2nd Western Army was led by General Konovnitsyn. Realizing that further retention of the half-ruined and littered with the bodies of the killed flushes is inexpedient, Konovnitsyn withdraws the surviving troops behind the Semenovsky ravine. An attempt by the French on the shoulders of the retreating Russian troops to break into Semenovskoye was repelled by dagger fire from Russian artillery stationed on the hills near the village.

At about 9 o'clock in the morning, at a time when the battle for Bagration's flushes was already in full swing, Bonaparte launched an attack on the center of the Russian position - Kurgan Height, on which there was a fortification that went down in history as Raevsky's Battery. The battery had 18 guns, as well as infantry from Major General Paskevich's 26th Infantry Division. The remaining formations of the 7th Infantry Corps of Lieutenant General Raevsky covered the battery from the flanks. According to the plan of Bonaparte, the 4th (Italian) corps of his stepson, Prince Eugene Beauharnais, was to act against the battery.

After a long artillery bombardment of the battery, the divisions of Generals Morand and Gerard moved on the attack, but their onslaught was repulsed by the hurricane fire of Russian guns. Around 10 am, Beauharnais brings Broussier's division into battle. During the attack, the 30th Line Regiment and the 2nd Baden Regiment managed to break into the battery. The Russian infantrymen began to roll back in confusion, but Major General Kutaisov, the chief of artillery of the 1st Western Army, who happened to be nearby, was able to inspire the soldiers by personally leading the counterattack of the Russian infantry. During a short but fierce bayonet battle, the fortification was cleared, and Brigadier General Bonami, who was at that moment on the battery, was captured. However, Kutaisov himself was killed in this battle.

To strengthen the defense of the battery, Barclay de Tolly sent the 24th Infantry Division of Major General Likhachev, to the right of the battery, the 7th Infantry Division of Major General Kaptsevich took up the defense. Beauharnais also regrouped his forces, but the planned third attack on Raevsky's battery was delayed for two hours due to Uvarov and Platov's cavalry suddenly appearing in the rear of the Great Army. Taking advantage of the moment, Kutuzov moves the 4th Infantry Corps of Lieutenant General Osterman-Tolstoy and the 2nd Cavalry Corps of Major General Korf, as well as the Life Guards Horse and Cavalier Guard regiments, to the battery area.

Convinced that the threat to his rear was over, Eugene de Beauharnais launched a third attack on the Raevsky Battery. The Italian Guard, supported by the cavalry of General Pear, takes part in it. At the same time, the cavalry of generals Caulaincourt and Latour-Maubourt rushed into the interval between the village of Semenovskoye and Kurgan height. Their task is to break through the Russian line, go to the flank of the battery and attack it from the rear. However, during this attack, General Caulaincourt dies, the attack of the French cuirassiers is repelled by Russian artillery fire. At the same moment, the Beauharnais infantry begins an assault on the fortification from the front. Infantrymen from the 24th Infantry Division of General Likhachev fought with unprecedented tenacity, however, by 4 pm the battery was taken, and Likhachev himself, wounded several times, was captured. A fierce cavalry battle broke out between the village of Semenovskoye and Kurgan heights, the Saxon cuirassiers of Lorzh and the Polish uhlans of Rozhnetsky tried to break through the Russian infantry square. Cavalrymen from the 2nd and 3rd cavalry corps of the Russian army came to her aid. However, despite strong resistance, Lorge's cuirassiers managed to break through into the depths of the Russian troops. At that moment, the Life Guards Cavalry and Cavalier Guard regiments entered the battle. Despite the numerical superiority of the enemy, the Russian Horse Guards rushed into a decisive counterattack. After a bloody battle, the Russian guards forced the Saxons to retreat.

The 7th Infantry Division of General Kaptsevich at the same time withstood the attacks of French, Italian and German cavalrymen from the Pear corps. Surrounded on all sides, the Russian infantry fought back desperately until the cavalry guards and Horse Guards, as well as cavalrymen from the 2nd and 3rd cavalry corps, came to their aid. Unable to withstand a desperate counterattack, having suffered huge losses, the French light cavalry was forced to retire.

At the same time there was a battle for the Semenovsky ravine. Having captured the flushes, Bonaparte realized that he could not achieve anything by this - the Russian troops occupied a new line of defense along the steep and swampy Semenovsky ravine and were ready to continue the battle. To the right of the ruins of the village of Semenovskoye, the remnants of the 27th Infantry and 2nd Combined Grenadier Divisions were located, touching their right flank with the Tobolsk and Volynsky infantry regiments. On the site of the village, units of the 2nd Grenadier Division took up the defense, to the south of it the 3rd Infantry Division was located. Their left flank was covered by the still fresh Life Guards of the Lithuanian and Izmailovsky regiments. These forces were commanded by Lieutenant-General Dokhturov, who succeeded Konovnitsyn, who took command of the 2nd Western Army in place of the badly wounded Bagration

Marshals Ney, Davout and Murat were well aware that their exhausted troops were not able to overcome this line and turned to Napoleon with a request to bring the last reserve into battle - the Old Guard. However, Bonaparte, rightly believing that such a risk was too great, refused, but transferred the guards artillery to their disposal.

At about one o'clock in the afternoon, Friant's division unsuccessfully attacked the village of Semenovskoye. The French infantry rolled back with heavy losses. At the same time, the heavy cavalry of General Nansouty entered the battle - in the space between the Utitsky forest and the village of Semenovskoye. However, they were blocked by the square of the Life Guards of the Lithuanian and Izmailovsky regiments. Being under heavy fire from enemy artillery, the guards infantry withstood three attacks by French cuirassiers. The cuirassiers of General Duka came to the aid of the guards, with a decisive blow throwing off the French heavy cavalry. The breakthrough of Latour-Maubourg's cavalry in the center was also prevented, and the battle began to fade.

On the extreme left flank of the Russian position, on the Old Smolensk Road, a detachment under the command of Lieutenant General Tuchkov 1 operated as part of the 3 Infantry Corps, six Cossack regiments of Major General Karpov 2 and warriors of the Moscow and Smolensk militias. The task of the detachment was to cover the Old Smolensk road and prevent a possible deep bypass of the left flank of the Russian army. The detachment occupied positions on a hill near the village of Utitsy, later called the Utitsky mound.

At about 8 o'clock in the morning, the advanced detachments of the corps of Marshal Poniatovsky, consisting of Polish units and subunits, appeared on the Old Smolensk Road. Poniatowski's goal was a deep detour of the Russian left flank, and the Russian troops that unexpectedly appeared on his road prevented him from performing this maneuver. At that moment, Tuchkov 1st sent the 3rd Infantry Division of Major General Konovnitsyn to help the defenders of the fleches, weakening his forces. Poniatowski, with the support of artillery, tried to shoot down the detachment of Tuchkov 1st from his position on the move, but was unsuccessful. At about 11 o'clock in the morning, the Poles resumed their attacks, and achieved temporary success, capturing the Utitsky Kurgan. However, Tuchkov 1st, having led the attack of the Pavlovsky Grenadier and Belozersky and Wilmanstrand Infantry Regiments, forced the Poles to retreat to their original positions, while Tuchkov 1st himself was mortally wounded during this counterattack. Command over the troops of his detachment passed to Lieutenant General Baggovut.

Having regrouped, at about one in the afternoon, Poniatowski again tried to break the Russian detachment, bypassing it from the flank. However, the Tauride Grenadier and Minsk Infantry Regiments thwarted this maneuver with a desperate counterattack. The Poles did not leave attempts to defeat the enemy until dusk, but General Baggovut, Karl Fedorovich / Baggovut repelled all their attacks with bold and decisive actions, forcing them to retreat behind the village of Utitsy and go on the defensive.

On the extreme right flank of the Russian army, events developed less dramatically. At about 10 o'clock in the morning, when the onslaught of French troops along the entire line began to intensify, Kutuzov ordered Lieutenant General Uvarov and Ataman Platov to make a cavalry raid behind the lines of the Great Army in order to distract the enemy and ease his pressure on the Russian defenses. At about one o'clock in the afternoon, cavalrymen from Uvarov's 1st Cavalry Corps, much to the surprise of the French, suddenly appeared near the village of Bezzubovo. The cavalry division of General Ornano hastily withdrew across the Voina River, but the squares of the 84th line regiment, which was in the area after the morning battle for the village of Borodino, were in the way of the Russian cavalry. Having withstood several unsuccessful attacks, under the fire of Russian horse artillery, the French infantrymen were forced to retreat. Meanwhile, Platov's Cossacks went deep into the rear of the Great Army along the forest roads, appearing near the village of Valuevo, where the main rear services of the French were located. Their appearance caused great concern to Bonaparte, who was forced to temporarily suspend active operations in the center. In order to eliminate the threat on his left flank, Napoleon decided to remove about 20,000 people from the direction of the main attack, thereby giving the Russian troops such a necessary respite.

End of the battle. Results

Around 6 pm the battle gradually ended. By 9 o'clock, the French made their last attempt to bypass the Russian positions through the Utitsky forest, but were met with well-aimed fire from the riflemen of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment, and were forced to abandon their plans. Napoleon realized that even having captured the flushes and the Kurgan heights, he could not break the resistance of the Russian Imperial Army. The capture of these points did not change the situation in his favor, since the main line of Russian troops was not broken through, and the main forces of the Great Army were spent on their assault. Already at dusk, the French emperor gives the order to leave the captured Russian fortifications and retreat to their original positions. Costing such huge losses, Bagration's flushes and Raevsky's Battery turned out to be useless for the French. The losses of the Grand Army amounted to 58,000 soldiers, 1,600 officers and 47 generals killed, wounded and missing. The battle cost the Russian troops the loss of 38,000 soldiers, 1,500 officers and 29 generals killed, wounded and missing.

For Napoleon, the general battle ended in vain. He did not achieve any of his goals, the Russian army retained its combat capability, and Bonaparte could not call the battle a victory either. Most of the experienced, hardened soldiers were killed in the battle, and no reserves could make up for this loss. The future of the campaign was also in doubt. The morale of the army has fallen.

On the contrary, Kutuzov had every reason to consider the battle his success. Despite heavy losses, his army did not allow itself to be defeated and maintained a high morale until the end of the battle. The line of Russian troops was not broken, and the enemy was exhausted and bled. However, despite the general desire to continue the battle the next day, Kutuzov ordered a general retreat. He understood that without the approach of reserves and proper rest, the army was not able to continue the campaign and bring the war to a decisive victory, while Bonaparte's losses were irreparable, and every extra day of the war moved him more and more away from a successful outcome for him.

M.I. Kutuzov wrote about the results of the battle as follows: “The battle that took place on the 26th was the most bloody of all those that are known in modern times. The place of the battle was completely won by us, and the enemy then retreated to the position in which he came to attack us.

And here is Napoleon's assessment: “The Battle of the Moscow River was one of those battles where the greatest virtues were shown and the least results were achieved. The French in it showed themselves worthy of victory, and the Russians deserved the right to be invincible.

The battle of Borodino in 1812 is one of the most glorious pages of Russian history. A lot has been written about him, which is quite fair and deserved. The right to be considered invincible for Russian soldiers was recognized by Napoleon, while he himself, according to his associates, considered the Battle of Borodino in 1812 (in the French version of Bataille de la Moskova) the most glorious of all fifty that he spent during his military career.

"Borodino" as a poetic chronicle of events

L. N. Tolstoy and Honore de Balzac, A. S. Pushkin and Prosper Merimee (and not only French and Russian classics) wrote brilliant novels, stories, essays dedicated to this legendary battle. But the poem “Borodino” by M. Yu. Lermontov, familiar from childhood, given all its poetic genius, ease of reading and intelligibility, can rightfully be considered a chronicle of those events and be called “The Battle of Borodino in 1812: a summary”.

Napoleon invaded our country on June 12 (24), 1812 in order to punish Russia for its refusal to participate in the blockade of Great Britain. “We retreated in silence for a long time...” - in each phrase there is a fragment of the history of this huge national victory.

Retreat as a brilliant decision of Russian commanders

Having survived the bloody and longer subsequent wars, we can say that they retreated not so long: the Battle of Borodino in 1812 (the month is indicated depending on the style) began at the end of August. The patriotism of the whole society was so high that the strategically justified withdrawal of troops was perceived by the majority of citizens as treason. Bagration called the then commander-in-chief a traitor right to his face. Retreating from the borders inland, M. B. Barclay de Tolly and M. I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov, who replaced him in this post - both infantry generals - wanted to save the Russian army, wait for reinforcements. In addition, the French were advancing very quickly, and it was not possible to prepare troops for battle. And the goal to exhaust the enemy was also present.

Aggressive discontent in society

The retreat, of course, caused dissatisfaction with both the old warriors and the civilian population of the country ("... the old people grumbled"). In order to dampen the indignation and ardor for a while, the talented commander Barclay de Tolly was dismissed from his post - as a foreigner, in the opinion of many, completely devoid of a sense of patriotism and love for Russia. But no less brilliant Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov continued his retreat, and retreated all the way to Smolensk, where the 1st and 2nd Russian armies were to join. And these pages of the war are full of exploits and Russian military leaders, especially Bagration, and ordinary soldiers, because Napoleon did not want to allow this reunion. And the fact that it did happen can already be regarded as one of the victories in this war.

Merging the two armies

Further, the united Russian army moved to the village of Borodino, which is 125 km from Moscow, where the famous battle of Borodino in 1812 took place. It became impossible to continue further retreat, Emperor Alexander demanded to stop the advance of the French army to Moscow. There was also the 3rd Western Army under the command of A.P. Tormasov, located much south of the first two (its main task was to prevent the capture of Kyiv by Austrian troops). In order to prevent the reunification of the 1st and 2nd Western armies, Napoleon sent the cavalry of the legendary Murat against Barclay de Tolly, and sent Marshal Davout against Bagration, who was subordinate to 3 columns of troops. In the current situation, retreat was the most reasonable decision. By the end of June, the 1st Western Army under the command of Barclay de Tolly received reinforcements and the first rest in the Drissa camp.

Army Darling

Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration, a representative of one of the glorious military dynasties of Russia, aptly described by M. Yu. Lermontov as “the servant of the tsar, the father of the soldiers”, had a harder time - he fought his way through, inflicting significant damage on Davout near the village of Saltanovka. He managed to force the Dnieper and join the 1st Army, leading a tough rearguard battle with French Marshal Joachim Murat, who was never a coward and covered himself with glory in the battle of Borodino. The Patriotic War of 1812 named the heroes of both sides. But Russian soldiers defended their Motherland. Their fame will live forever. Even during the containment of Murat's cavalry, General Osterman-Tolstoy ordered his soldiers to "stand and die" for Russia, for Moscow.

Legends and real feats

Legends shrouded the names of famous generals. One of them, passed from mouth to mouth, says that Lieutenant General Raevsky raised his young children in his arms, dragging the soldiers into the attack by personal example. But the real fact of extraordinary courage is captured on the chromolithography of A. Safonov. Bleeding, wounded General Likhachev, brought under the arms to Napoleon, who was able to appreciate his courage and wanted to personally hand him a sword, rejected the gift of the conqueror of Europe. That is why the Battle of Borodino in 1812 is glorious, because absolutely everyone - from the commander to the simple soldier - performed incredible feats that day. So, the sergeant major of the Jaeger regiment Zolotov, who was on the Raevsky battery, jumped from the height of the mound onto the back of the French General Bonami and dragged him down, and the soldiers, left without a commander and confused, fled. As a result, the attack was thwarted. Moreover, the sergeant major delivered the captive Bonami to the command post, where M.I. Kutuzov immediately promoted Zolotov to an officer.

unjustly persecuted

The Battle of Borodino (1812) can undoubtedly be called a unique battle. But there is one negative feature in this uniqueness - it is recognized as the bloodiest among the one-day battles of all times and peoples: "... and the mountain of bloody bodies prevented the cannonballs from flying." However, most importantly, none of the commanders hid behind the backs of the soldiers. So, according to some evidence, under the full cavalier of the Order of St. George, the war hero Barclay de Tolly, five horses were killed, but he never left the battlefield. But it was still necessary to endure the dislike of society. The battle of Borodino in 1812, where he showed personal courage, contempt for death and amazing heroism, changed the attitude of soldiers towards him, who had previously refused to greet him. And, despite all this, the clever general, even at the council in Fili, defended the idea of ​​​​surrendering the current capital to Napoleon, which Kutuzov expressed with the words "burn Moscow - save Russia."

Bagration flushes

Flesh is a field fortification, similar to a redan, smaller in size, but with a large angle facing the top towards the enemy. The most famous flashes in the history of wars are the Bagrationovs (originally "Semenovskie", after the name of a nearby village). The battle of Borodino in 1812, whose date according to the old style falls on August 26, became famous for centuries for the heroic defense of these fortifications. It was then that the legendary Bagration was mortally wounded. Refusing amputation, he died of gangrene, 17 days after the Battle of Borodino. It is said about him: "... smitten with damask steel, he sleeps in the damp earth." A warrior from God, a favorite of the entire army, he was able to raise troops to the attack with a single word. Even the name of the hero was deciphered as God-rati-he. The forces of the "Great Army" outnumbered the defenders of Russia in numbers, training, and technical equipment. An army of 25 thousand people, supported by 102 guns, was thrown into the flushes. She was opposed by 8 thousand Russian soldiers and 50 guns. However, the fierce attacks of the French were repulsed three times.

The power of the Russian spirit

The battle of Borodino in 1812 lasted 12 hours, the date of which rightfully became the Day of Russian military glory. From that moment on, the courage of the French army was lost forever, and its glory began to fade steadily. Russian soldiers, including 21,000 unfired militias, remained for centuries undefeated by the united army of all of Europe, therefore, the center and left flank occupied by the French immediately after the battle were withdrawn by Napoleon to their original positions. The entire war of 1812 (the Battle of Borodino in particular) incredibly rallied Russian society. In the epic of Leo Tolstoy, it is described how high society ladies, who, in principle, did not care about everything primordially Russian, appeared in the “society” with baskets for making dressings for the wounded. The spirit of patriotism was fashionable. This battle showed how high the military art of Russia is. The battlefield was brilliantly chosen. The field fortifications were built in such a way that they could not serve the French in case of capture.

sacramental phrase

Separate words deserve the Shevardinsky redoubt, the battle for which began two days earlier, not on August 26, 1812 (Battle of Borodino), but on August 24 (according to the old style). The defenders of this advanced position surprised and puzzled the French with their stamina and courage, because 10,000 cavalry, 30,000 infantry and 186 guns were thrown to take the redoubt. Attacked from three sides, the Russians held their positions until the start of the battle. One of the attacks on the French was personally led by Bagration, who forced the superior forces of the "invincible" to roll back from the fortification. From here came the phrase said in response to the question of Emperor Napoleon: “Why has the Shevardinsky redoubt not been taken yet?” - "Russians die, but do not give up!"

war heroes

The battle of Borodino in 1812 (September 8, according to a new style) demonstrated to the whole world the high professionalism of Russian officers. The Winter Palace has a Military Gallery, which contains 333 portraits of the heroes of the Battle of Borodino. The amazing work of the artist George Dow and his assistants V. A. Golike and A. V. Polyakov captured the color of the Russian army: the legendary Denis Davydov and A. P. Yermolov, the Cossack chieftains M. I. Platov and F. P. Uvarov, A. A. Tuchkov and N. N. Raevsky - all these handsome men in magnificent uniforms, with insignia, arouse admiration among museum visitors. The military gallery makes a very strong impression.

Worthy memory

The battle of Borodino in 1812 (the month will forever remain double: the Day of Military Glory is celebrated in September, although the battle took place in August according to the old style) will forever remain in the memory of the descendants of those who gave their lives defending the Fatherland. Both literary works and masterpieces of architecture remind of him: the Arc de Triomphe in Moscow, the Narva Gates and the Alexandria Column in St. Petersburg, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Borodino Battle Panorama Museum, a monument to the defenders of Smolensk and a stele on the site of Raevsky's battery, the estate of the cavalier-maiden Durova and the immortal "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy ... There are countless monuments throughout the country. And rightly so, because the day and month of the Battle of Borodino in 1812 changed the self-consciousness of Russian society and left a mark on all its layers.

The Patriotic War of 1812 was the greatest test for the Russian people and at the same time a turning point in the spiritual life of the whole country. The enemy's invasion of Russia, the battle of Borodino, the fire of Moscow, the tense struggle against the armies of Napoleon caused a mighty popular upsurge.

Napoleon long and carefully prepared for war with Russia. Two operational plans for possible military operations were prepared. The first provided for the luring of Russian armies beyond the borders of the Russian Empire, into the territory of the Duchy of Warsaw dependent on Napoleon, the encirclement and defeat of Russian troops. The second plan called for a decisive blow to the Russians. The emperor intended to cross the Neman with the forces of a 610,000-strong army and beat the enemy in one pitched battle.

The Russians chose a defensive war plan, and the military command drew up a disposition for the deployment of three Western armies. The 1st Western Army, the largest (commander-in-chief - Minister of War M. B. Barclay de Tolly; more than 120 thousand with 550 guns stood at the crossroads to St. Petersburg and Moscow, between the city of Vilna (Vilnius) and the upper reaches of the Neman River, occupying a defense line of 180-200 km.

The 2nd Western Army of Bagration (about 45 thousand with 180-200 guns) defended a line 100 km south of the 1st Army. It was assumed that she would close the road to Moscow and Kyiv, acting on the flank of Napoleon's army. The 3rd Western Army of A.P. Tormasov (45 thousand with 170 guns) stood much to the south, 200 km from Bagration in the Lutsk region in Volyn. Its main task was to protect Kyiv from a possible invasion by Austrian troops.

On June 11-18, the French "Great Army" crossed the Russian border. On June 13, the city of Kovno was occupied, and on the 16th the French entered Vilna; On June 19, having clarified the situation, Napoleon decided not to allow the Russian armies to join. Against the army of Barclay de Tolly, he led Murat's cavalry, and against the army of Bagration, Napoleon - 3 columns of troops that were subordinate to Marshal Davout. The French emperor expected this maneuver to strike at the flank of the troops of the 2nd army moving north.

Under the circumstances, both Russian armies were forced to start a retreat to join. By June 29, the 1st Army concentrated in the Drissa camp, where it received reinforcements (10 thousand people) and rest.

The actions of the 2nd Army took place in a difficult situation. By 21, having passed 80 km, the army reached Nikolaev and the next day began crossing the Neman. But it soon became known that the enemy was striving to cut off all escape routes for her. Then Bagration decided to fight his way through. July 14 at the village. Saltanovka, Bagration, rushing out of encirclement, dealt a serious blow to Davout's troops, and on 13-14, when Bagration's forces were crossing the Dnieper, the 1st Army fought several heated rearguard battles. On July 13, under Ostrovshchina, General Osterman-Tolstoy ordered his troops to "stand and die", holding back Murat's attacks. The next day there was a fight Kakuvyachyne. The Russians retreated to Vitebsk, where Napoleon approached on July 15.

However, the French failed to impose a general battle here. On July 22, breaking away from the French, the 1st and 2nd Russian armies joined near Smolensk. The initial period of the war is over. The enemy troops withdrew beyond the Western Dvina-Dnepr line. Napoleon achieved a major political success. In his hands were Lithuania, Belarus and most of Courland.

Napoleon had to abandon the attack on Petersburg. Having captured Riga, it was impossible to carry out offensives along the coast; The Kiev direction lost its meaning after Davout refused to oppose Russia. The only option left was an attack on Moscow. Napoleon regrouped his troops, and also rebuilt the rear. The new operating line ran from Warsaw to Minsk, Orsha and further to Smolensk.

For the Russians, Moscow became the main operational direction. It turned out that the Russian army did not have a reserve base behind the line of the Dvina and the Dnieper. The question arose again of basing, of new lines of operations. But it was no longer Barclay de Tolly, not Bagration, but Kutuzov who had to solve them.

The main event of the Patriotic War of 1812 was undoubtedly the famous battle on August 26 (September 7) not far from Mozhaisk, near the village of Borodino.

Pursuing the retreating Russian troops, Napoleon all the time strove for a pitched battle, hoping to destroy the Russian army and end the war with one blow. At the beginning of the campaign, he had a great chance of winning, as he had a significant superiority in strength. Having delved into the vast expanses of Russia for almost 1000 km, Napoleon faced the fact of a gradual alignment of the balance of power. However, before the battle of Borodino, the French army was still numerically superior to the Russian, and, in addition, Napoleon hoped for a qualitative superiority of his troops and command staff. Therefore, he was firmly convinced of his victory and set himself the goal of completely defeating the Russians in a decisive battle and thereby opening his way to Moscow, after the capture of which he would quickly conclude peace. The battle of Borodino clearly showed the failure of Napoleon's strategy.

Kutuzov, having taken command of the army stationed in Tsarevo-Zaimishche on August 17, also considered it necessary to give the French a general battle on the way to Moscow. He knew that Napoleon still had a numerical superiority over the Russian army. He highly appreciated the military talent of Napoleon and his marshals, as well as the combat effectiveness of the French troops. But Kutuzov hoped to compensate for the superiority of the French by the skillful organization of the battle in a pre-selected position. The goal of the battle Kutuzov set was the defeat of the attacking army of Napoleon and the defense of Moscow.

Upon arrival at Tsarevo-Zaimishche, Kutuzov rode around the intended position on horseback and made sure that it was impossible to take the battle on it. The commander-in-chief decided to continue the retreat until a more favorable situation.

On August 22, Kutuzov with the main forces approached the village of Borodino. The commander of the Russian rearguard, General P.P. Konovnitsyn, having endured two heated battles with the French avant-garde: at Gridnev, about 25 km from Borodino, and at the Kolotsky Monastery, about 10 km from Borodino, joined the main forces on the same day.

So, on the morning of August 22, 1812, the main forces of the Russian army began to concentrate in the area of ​​​​the village of Borodino. M. I. Kutuzov carefully examined the area and ordered the construction of fortifications to begin.

The area in the area of ​​Borodino (located 12 km west of Mozhaisk) is heavily hilly and crossed by a significant number of rivers and streams that have formed deep ravines. The eastern part of the Borodino field is more elevated than the western. The river flows through the village. Koloch. It has a high and steep bank, which well covered the right flank of the position of the Russian army. The left flank approached a shallow forest, heavily overgrown with dense shrubs and swampy in places. This forest presented serious difficulties for the movement of significant masses of enemy infantry and cavalry, in the event of an attempt to make a flank bypass. Most of the tributaries of the Kolocha - the river Voina, the streams Semenovsky, Kamenka, Ognik and others, the banks of which were densely overgrown with shrubs, crossed the Borodino field from south to north and therefore could serve as a convenient position for shooters. From west to east through vil. Valuevo passed Bolshaya, or New, Smolenskaya road, which was of great strategic importance. Almost parallel to it, about 4 km south of the village of Borodino, the Old Smolensk road passed. Having taken a position at Borodino, the Russian army had the opportunity to cover both of these roads leading to Moscow. In the depths of the position, the terrain was also wooded. It made it possible to successfully position and camouflage reserves well.

On the right flank, well protected by the high banks of the Kolocha and essentially impregnable to the enemy, as well as in the center, Kutuzov decided to deploy significant forces: three infantry, three cavalry corps and a large Cossack detachment of General M. I. Platov. By deploying his troops in this way, the commander sought to force the French emperor to conduct a frontal offensive with the main forces in a narrow defile between Koloch and Utitsky forest, excluding the possibility of enveloping the flanks of the Russian position. The troops of the right flank, occupying a position near the New Smolensk road, were a strong grouping of infantry and cavalry, which posed a serious threat to the left wing of the Napoleonic army. These troops could also be used as a reserve. Kutuzov ordered the construction of bridges, crossings over ravines and streams so that, if necessary, it would be possible to transfer the troops of the right flank to the left at the moment when the enemy would launch an offensive there with the main forces. The most vulnerable part of the Borodino position was its left flank. Kutuzov understood this well and took measures to strengthen his position with engineering structures. On the left flank, near vil. Semenovskoye, three flushes (earth fortifications) were built, which later received the name "Bagration's", since during the Battle of Borodino they were defended by Bagration's troops. To the west of the flushes there was an advanced fortification - the Shevardino redoubt. On the right flank, near vil. Maslovo, the Russians erected a group of earthen fortifications, redoubts and lunettes. In the center, at the height of Kurgannaya, they built an 18-gun battery, which went down in history as the Raevsky battery.

By the time it approached Borodino, Napoleon's army had suffered very heavy losses (killed, sick, deserters). Significant detachments were assigned to guard the sprawling lines of communication to secure the flanks of the main forces advancing on Moscow. Only about 130 thousand soldiers of the "Great Army" reached Borodino. (Kutuzov M. I. Materials of the anniversary session of the military academies of the Red Army dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of M. I. Kutuzov,-Military Publishing House, 1947. P. 88.) But these were selected soldiers, the most powerful, persistent in battles, confident in their own invincibility, in the outstanding qualities of their generals and officers, the brilliant of the military talent of their leaders. They believed Napoleon, who said that they were facing the last crushing one; according to Russian, after which they will have rich booty in Moscow, a choir of an apartment, generous rewards and a happy return home. Thus set up, well trained and organized, the French army near Borodino was a formidable force. She rushed into battle to overturn the last obstacle - the Russian army, blocking the road to Moscow and to the world. Napoleon Bonaparte brought the best part of his army to the Borodino field: the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th corps, reserve cavalry, as well as the elite of the French troops - the Imperial Guard, led by marshals Mortier and Bessières. But no less formidable force opposed the French on the Borodino field. The Russian army, reorganized in the period 1807-1813, was not much inferior to the French. And with courage, boundless readiness to defend the Motherland from the conquerors, the Russians surpassed Napoleon's army.

In the Patriotic War of 1812, the names of Bagration, Dokhturov, Barclay de Tolly, N. N. Raevsky, Konovnitsyn, Miloradovich, Platov and many others were covered with immortal glory. As for the soldiers, although there were many recruits in Kutuzov's army, there were also veteran heroes of the Suvorov and Kutuzov campaigns, especially non-commissioned officers. Many of them had already fought the French in 1799, 1805 and 1807. These veterans, no less than Napoleon's Old Guard, had the right to consider themselves invincible, and the young soldiers of the Russian army were equal to them.

All the memoirs of contemporaries testify to the high patriotic upsurge in the ranks of the Russians on the Borodino field. The army had long been waiting for a decisive battle with the enemy and grumbled, complaining about the constant retreat. When it became clear to everyone that the battle would really be given, that the retreat was over, the Russian troops began to prepare for battle. They decided to die, but not let the French go to Moscow. The officers asked Kutuzov's permission to dress up in battle uniforms. The soldiers cleaned and sharpened weapons, put uniforms and equipment in order. The heroic Russian army was preparing for the last formidable parade. In front of the Russian position was the Shevardinsky redoubt, which had the character of an advanced fortification. Behind him lay the entire left flank of the Russians, where at vil. Semenovskoye fortifications were erected. On August 24, the battle of the troops of General M. D. Gorchakov on the 2nd took place with the main forces of Napoleon for Shevardino. Until the very night, the Russians held back the attacks of the French, thus giving Bagration time to strengthen his positions.

After a tough battle on August 24, the Russians occupied the line of Maslovo, Borodino, Semenovskoye, Utitsa. The French began to deploy for an attack on the front west of Borodino, Aleksinki, Shevardino and south. On August 25, both sides prepared for battle, reconnaissance ended and final orders were given. The French conducted a series of military operations (reconnaissance) north of Borodino and south of Utitsa, which confirmed Napoleon's assessment of the terrain in these directions: it was unsuitable for large masses of troops. Judging by the available data, on August 25, both commanders - Napoleon and Kutuzov - as a result of the battle for the Shevardinsky redoubt and reconnaissance, adopted the following battle plans.

NAPOLEON'S PLAN. With a massive blow of infantry and cavalry, with the support of powerful artillery fire, to break through the Russian combat position in the Semenov flushes sector, the Kurgan battery. Following this, introduce reserves into the breakthrough, direct a strike to the north at the flank of the Russian grouping that covered the New Smolensk road, press it against the Moscow River and destroy it. At the same time, on the flanks against Borodino and Utitsa, carry out auxiliary attacks, of which the attack on Utitsa, which contributed to the breakthrough from the south near the Semenov flushes, was to be of particular importance.

PLAN KUTUZOV. By the evening of August 24, Kutuzov quite accurately determined the direction of the main attack of the French. In this regard, he made a partial regrouping on August 25, strengthening his left flank. In its final form, Kutuzov's plan boiled down to inflicting the greatest possible losses on the enemy in the direction of his main attack by stubborn resistance of limited forces and upsetting him. At the same time, to maintain complete freedom of maneuver of their reserves, placing them during the battle outside the reach of the enemy. Accordingly, Kutuzov deployed a large contingent of troops, reliably covering the New Smolensk road.

On August 26 at 5:30 the sun came out. Napoleon's order was read to the troops. It said: “Warriors! Here is the fight you've been longing for. Victory is up to you. She is necessary for you, she will provide us with everything we need: comfortable apartments and a speedy return to the fatherland. Act as you acted under Austerlitz, Friedland, Vitebsk, Smolensk. May later posterity proudly remember your exploits in this day. Let them say about each of you: he was in the great battle near Moscow! (Rastunov I. I. Patriotic War of 1812. M., 1987. P. 22.)

The dawn broke, the fog dissipated, the first ray of the sun flashed. "This is the sun of Austerlitz!" Napoleon exclaimed. A heavy gun rumbled from the direction of the Russian positions, as it seemed that the French were approaching. But there was no movement yet.

At about six o'clock in the morning an attack began against the right flank of the Russians on the village of Borodino. The soldiers of the Life Guards of the Chasseurs Regiment engaged in a firefight with the enemy, and then in hand-to-hand combat. In his report to Alexander I about the battle of Borodino, Kutuzov writes that the Life Guards of the Chasseurs Regiment stopped the enemy and that for more than an hour, in full view of the entire army, they held back the onslaught of the French.

However, the Russians had to retreat behind the river. Koloch. The French on the shoulders of the retreating broke into their positions. But at that moment, the 1st Jaeger Regiment arrived in time to help the Life Guards Jaeger Regiment. Connecting with the retreating, he rushed to the enemy. With a cry of "Hurrah!", the Russians not only drove the enemy from their positions, but also themselves, having crossed the river. Kolocha, broke into the French positions. However, it was very risky to stay there, and the Russian soldiers moved back, and the last retreating ones set fire to the bridge across the river. During the entire battle of Borodino in this area, the French and Russians limited themselves to skirmishing. The attack on the village of Borodino is over. However, this enemy offensive was demonstrative in nature. The main events unfolded at the Bagration flushes of the 1st battery of Raevsky.

At 6 o'clock the troops of Marshal Davout launched an attack on the flushes. The flashes were defended by the consolidated grenadier division of M. S. Vorontsov and the 27th infantry division of D. N. Neverovsky. Despite the triple superiority of the enemy, the Russians fought courageously and were fearless. They met the attacking columns of the French with powerful artillery fire, and after approaching they rushed at the enemy with hostility. The enemy could not stand it and, leaving piles of dead and wounded, randomly retreated. The first French attack on the fleches bogged down.

At this time, on the extreme left flank, near the village of Utitsa, the French attacked the Russians. Rather, the Poles attacked, since the corps of I. A. Poniatovsky, who was entrusted with this sector of the front, mainly consisted of Poles. Poniatowski managed to capture the village of Utitsa. The commander of the Russian troops in this area, Tuchkov, moved to the Utitsky Kurgan and entrenched himself there.

At 7 o'clock the enemy resumed the attack on the flushes. The goal of heavy losses, he managed to capture the left flush of the Semenov fortifications. By order of Bagration, several battalions counterattacked the enemy on the flank. The taken aback French were thrown back, having suffered new heavy losses in people. The second attack also ended in a bloody French failure. Napoleon was overwhelmed by the stubborn resistance of the Russians. Reinforcing Davout's troops with Ney's corps and Murat's cavalry, he gave the order to resume the onslaught. In turn, Bagration took the necessary measures to strengthen the defense. He moved the 1st Grenadier and 3rd Cuirassier Divisions to the front line from the reserve. Here he also sent 8 battalions from Raevsky's 7th Corps, which defended itself north of the flushes and, in addition, placed the 3rd infantry division of Konovnitsyn near the village of Semenovskoye. Kutuzov, who closely followed the course of the battle, sent large reserves to reinforce Bagration's troops. However, the transfer of these forces could be carried out no earlier than in 1.5-2 hours. It follows that when repulsing the next attack of the French, Bagration had to rely only on his own forces.

At 8 o'clock, after artillery preparation of 160 guns, the enemy launched a third attack. Coming out of the forest, the French lined up in several dense columns and moved to the Bagration flushes. Russian artillerymen, having waited for the enemy at the nearest shot, opened deadly fire on him. At the same time, the infantry fired several volleys. The French fell in dozens. But it is necessary to note the courage of the enemy. Under canister fire, the French imperturbably continued to move towards the flushes, where they managed to break into at the cost of incredible efforts. But at that moment, Count Vorontsov with his grenadier battalions hit with bayonets. A strong onslaught mixed the ranks of the Napoleonic soldiers and forced him to retreat back in confusion. Then the French tried with a dashing attack of the cavalry to capture the flushes that had just been beaten off from them. The French cavalry, which swiftly rushed at the Russians, was met by the Life Guards of the Izmailovsky, Lithuanian and Finnish regiments, which, lining up in a square, bristling with bayonets, were waiting for the enemy. Having let the enemy in on a rifle shot, they opened fire, which forced the enemy to retreat. The retreating French cavalry and the cuirassiers who came to the rescue, turning around, again rushed at the Russians. And again, our soldiers, letting the enemy get closer, opened rifle fire on him. Those who were able to break through to the ranks were stabbed with bayonets.

At this time, Poniatowski tried several times to take the Utitsky barrow. Surrounding the mound on all sides, the enemy attacked the 1st Grenadier Division. In his report, Kutuzov wrote later: “The brave grenadiers, after waiting for the enemy, opened the most severe fire on him and, without any delay, rushed at him with hostility. The enemy could not withstand such a swift attack, left the place of battle with damage and disappeared into the nearby forests. Lieutenant General Tuchkov was wounded by a bullet in the chest, and Lieutenant General Alsufiev took command of him. (Ibid., p. 141.)

Thus, the first stage of the battle ended with minor French successes in the directions of auxiliary attacks and a decisive failure in the direction of the main attack. Both commanders begin to pull up fresh forces here.

By order of Napoleon, at about 9 o'clock, the attacks on Bagration's fleches were resumed.

During the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th attacks, the area around the Bagration Flushes was littered with the corpses of Russians and Frenchmen. The French attacked Bagration's flushes continuously. The infantry, which the Russians threw back with bayonet strikes, was replaced by cavalry, which was fired upon by a few surviving Russian cannons. At a time when the enemy cavalry and infantry were reorganizing and stocking up on ammunition, French artillery was constantly hitting the Russian positions.

At about 10 o'clock the French launched a large flush attack. This time, against 18,000 soldiers of Bagration and 300 guns on a front of 1.5 km, Napoleon moved 45,000 of his soldiers and 400 guns. The Russians met the enemy with a crushing bayonet strike. A hand-to-hand fight ensued. The Russian officer F.I. Glinka, a participant in the Battle of Borodino, wrote: “... The picture of that part of the Borodino field near the village of Semenovskoye was terrible, where the battle was in full swing, like in a cauldron. Thick smoke and bloody steam eclipsed the midday sun. Some sort of faded, uncertain twilight lay over the field of horrors, over the field of death. Nothing could be seen in this twilight, except formidable columns, advancing and broken, squadrons running ... The distance presents a view of perfect chaos: torn, broken French squadrons collapse, agitate and disappear in smoke, giving way to infantry, marching harmoniously! The orders were given, and our entire left wing, in its entire length, moved from its place and went with a quick step at bayonets. Agreed! .. “There is no language to describe this dump, this knocked down, this lingering crack, this last struggle of a thousand! Everyone grabbed the bowl of fatal scales in order to pull them over to their side ... And the Russians did not give up an inch of their place. ” (Rastunov I. I. Patriotic War of 1812 - Knowledge, 1987. P. 23.)

In this battle, Bagration was wounded, a fragment of a French grenade hit him in the leg. The flashes have been captured. Immediately the corps of Ney and the cavalry of M. -V. -N. Latour-Maubourt and E.-A. -M. The Nansouti rushed into the breach. The Russians, under the onslaught of the enemy, had to withdraw. The command of the Semyonov flushes was temporarily taken over by Konovnitsyn. A very difficult task fell to his lot: until a new general was appointed to the place of the wounded Bagration, while the forces allocated by the command from the reserve were moving to help the 2 Army, he had to keep the enemy rushing forward at all costs.

Dokhturov, who soon arrived on the left flank and was appointed to replace Bagration, found the 2nd Army bleeding, but was ready to fight to the end.

At the same time, in the center of the Russian position, the French stubbornly stormed the Rayevsky battery, approximately in the middle of the 7th French attack on Bagration's flashes, Barclay de Tolly noticed the enemy moving towards the center of the Russian position. To reinforce the center of the Russians, the commander of the 1st Army ordered the 4th Corps to join the right wing of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, which, with the Semenovsky and Finland regiments, remained in reserve. Behind these troops he placed the 2nd and 3rd cavalry corps, behind them were the regiments of the cavalry and horse guards. As soon as the Russians settled in new positions, they were subjected to fierce artillery fire, after which the enemy advanced in dense columns on the Raevsky battery and overturned the 26th division, which could withstand his superior forces. A difficult situation has arisen.

Kutuzov ordered General Yermolov to go to the artillery of the left flank and put it in order. The chief of the main staff of the 2nd Army, Count E.F. Saint-Prix, was wounded, and Yermolov was to take command. Yermolov took with him three companies of horse artillery.

Driving past Raevsky's battery, Yermolov saw that the position was captured by the French, and the Russians were fleeing. Realizing the danger of the situation, the brave general immediately began to act. He rushed to the 6th Corps, the closest to the height, ordered the 9th Battalion of the Ufa Infantry Regiment to move quickly forward and stop the fleeing and retreating 18th, 19th and 40th Chasseurs. The enemy could not use the guns of the captured battery, but, pulling up his light artillery, he began to shower the Russian troops from the flanks. The three cavalry companies that accompanied Yermolov stopped on the left flank of his small position and, diverting fire on themselves, made it possible to capture the lost battery. Yermolov later recalled: “The battery and the slope of the hill to the top were covered with the bodies of the enemy. All those who resisted paid with their lives, only Brigadier General Bonami was taken prisoner, having received twelve wounds with bayonets. All of our lost guns were returned, but the damage from my part in terms of people was terrible ”(Borodino. Documents, letters, memoirs. P. 358.)

At this time, a fierce battle was going on on the Utitsky Kurgan for mastering the height. Poniatowski first occupied this mound, but was soon driven out of there.

Thus, the 3rd stage of the battle ended with a major success for the French in the main direction. The Russian front was broken through, and the breakthrough was only weakly closed east of Semenovsky. It took time for the new reinforcements sent here by Kutuzov to approach. The position of the Russians was difficult. But the French also needed reserves and fresh forces. Napoleon reluctantly agreed to the use of the Young Guard to increase the breakthrough at the Semyonov Fleches.

But here Kutuzov makes a brilliant move. He sends the cavalry of Platov and F. P. Uvarov to the rear of the French. Uvarov's cavalry captured Bezzubovo, but here they were detained by the French (more precisely, by the Italian units of the French army). The Cossacks, breaking into the rear of the French, made a panic there. Napoleon stopped the 3rd attack of the French troops on the Raevsky battery and the movement of the Young Guard, and he himself went to the left flank to clarify the situation. He spent about 2 hours on this, during which Kutuzov completed the regrouping of troops and firmly secured his left flank. Thus, the time for success was lost.

At about 2 p.m., the French attacked Raevsky's battery for the 3rd time. As a result of this attack, by 17 o'clock in the afternoon, the defenders of the battery were almost completely destroyed, and the French took possession of it. The Russians retreated without panic, by order of the command. The French then tried to attack the Russians in their new position, but to no avail. At the end of the day, Poniatowski managed to capture the Utitsky mound.

By 18 o'clock the Russians were firmly entrenched in the position of Gorka - the Old Smolensk road. Seeing the futility of further attacks, Napoleon ordered them to stop and withdraw troops to the river. Ring for the night. The battle of Borodino is over.

The opponents dispersed, leaving mountains of corpses and wounded on the battlefield. In this battle, the losses of the Russians were no less than the losses of the French. Various sources give completely different casualty figures for both sides. However, it is officially known that after the flight of the Napoleonic army from Russia, 58,520 human corpses and 35,478 horse corpses were found on the Borodino field. No wonder Borodino was called by contemporaries "the grave of the French cavalry." (Levitsky N. War of 1812. M., 1938. S. 26.)

It is also difficult to determine the winner of this bloody battle. You can argue for a long time who won on this terrible day. But, despite the seemingly “indisputable” defeat of the Russians, Napoleon suffered a crushing moral defeat in the Battle of Borodino. After August 26, the combat energy of the French army began to steadily fall. The blow inflicted on her by the Russians near Borodino was ultimately fatal.

The battle of Borodino entered the history of the liberation struggle of the peoples of our country as one of its brightest pages. The legendary feat of the heroes of Borodin was an inspiring example of the patriotic fulfillment of duty to the Motherland for subsequent generations of Russian people.

The main battle of the Patriotic War of 1812 between the Russian army under the command of General M. I. Kutuzov and the French army of Napoleon I Bonaparte took place on August 26 (September 7) near the village of Borodino near Mozhaisk, 125 km west of Moscow.

It is considered the bloodiest one-day battle in history.

About 300 thousand people participated in this grandiose battle on both sides with 1200 artillery pieces. At the same time, the French army had a significant numerical superiority - 130-135 thousand people against 103 thousand people in the Russian regular troops.

Prehistory

“In five years I will be master of the world. There is only Russia left, but I will crush it.”- with these words, Napoleon and his 600,000th army crossed the Russian border.

Since the beginning of the invasion of the French army into the territory of the Russian Empire in June 1812, Russian troops have constantly retreated. The rapid advance and the overwhelming numerical superiority of the French made it impossible for the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Infantry General Barclay de Tolly, to prepare the troops for battle. The protracted retreat caused public discontent, so Emperor Alexander I removed Barclay de Tolly and appointed General of Infantry Kutuzov as commander-in-chief.

However, the new commander-in-chief chose the path of retreat. The strategy chosen by Kutuzov was based, on the one hand, on exhausting the enemy, on the other hand, on waiting for reinforcements sufficient for a decisive battle with Napoleon's army.

On August 22 (September 3), the Russian army, retreating from Smolensk, settled down near the village of Borodino, 125 km from Moscow, where Kutuzov decided to give a general battle; it was impossible to postpone it further, since Emperor Alexander demanded that Kutuzov stop the advance of Emperor Napoleon towards Moscow.

The idea of ​​​​the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Kutuzov, was to inflict as many losses as possible on the French troops through active defense, change the balance of forces, save Russian troops for further battles and for the complete defeat of the French army. In accordance with this plan, the battle formation of the Russian troops was built.

The order of battle of the Russian army was composed of three lines: the first was for the infantry corps, the second for the cavalry, and the third for the reserves. The artillery of the army was evenly distributed throughout the position.

The position of the Russian army on the Borodino field was about 8 km long and looked like a straight line running from the Shevardinsky redoubt on the left flank through a large battery on Red Hill, later called the Raevsky battery, the village of Borodino in the center, to the village of Maslovo on the right flank.

The right flank formed 1st Army of General Barclay de Tolly consisting of 3 infantry, 3 cavalry corps and reserves (76 thousand people, 480 guns), the front of his position was covered by the Kolocha River. The left flank was formed by the smaller 2nd Army of General Bagration (34 thousand people, 156 guns). In addition, the left flank did not have such strong natural obstacles in front of the front as the right. The center (the height near the village of Gorki and the space up to the Rayevsky battery) was occupied by the VI Infantry and III Cavalry Corps under the general command Dokhturova. A total of 13,600 men and 86 guns.

Shevardino fight

The prologue of the Battle of Borodino was battle for the Shevardinsky redoubt on August 24 (September 5).

Here, the day before, a pentagonal redoubt was erected, which at first served as part of the position of the Russian left flank, and after the left flank was pushed back, became a separate advanced position. Napoleon ordered to attack the Shevardinsky position - the redoubt prevented the French army from turning around.

To gain time for engineering work, Kutuzov ordered the enemy to be detained near the village of Shevardino.

The redoubt and the approaches to it were defended by the legendary 27th division of Neverovsky. Shevardino was defended by Russian troops consisting of 8,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry with 36 guns.

The French infantry and cavalry, totaling over 40,000 men, attacked the defenders of Shevardin.

On the morning of August 24, when the Russian position on the left was not yet equipped, the French approached it. No sooner had the French forward units reached the village of Valuevo than the Russian chasseurs opened fire on them.

A fierce battle broke out near the village of Shevardino. During it, it became clear that the enemy was going to deliver the main blow to the left flank of the Russian troops, which was defended by the 2nd Army under the command of Bagration.

During the stubborn battle, the Shevardinsky redoubt was almost completely destroyed.

The great army of Napoleon lost about 5,000 people in the battle of Shevardino, the Russian army suffered approximately the same losses.

The battle at the Shevardino redoubt delayed the French troops and gave the Russian troops the opportunity to gain time to complete the defensive work and build fortifications on the main positions. The Shevardinsky battle also made it possible to clarify the grouping of French troops and the direction of their main attack.

It was established that the main enemy forces were concentrated in the Shevardin area against the center and left flank of the Russian army. On the same day, Kutuzov sent Tuchkov's 3rd Corps to the left flank, secretly placing it in the Utitsa area. And in the area of ​​​​the Bagration Flushes, a reliable defense was created. The 2nd Free Grenadier Division of General M.S. Vorontsov occupied the fortifications directly, and the 27th Infantry Division of General D.P. Neverovsky stood in the second line behind the fortifications.

Battle of Borodino

Before the great battle

25-th of August in the area of ​​the Borodino field, active hostilities were not conducted. Both armies were preparing for a decisive, general battle, conducting reconnaissance and erecting field fortifications. Three fortifications were built on a small hill to the south-west of the village of Semenovskoye, called the "Bagration Flushes".

According to ancient tradition, the Russian army prepared for the decisive battle as if it were a holiday. The soldiers washed, shaved, put on clean linen, confessed, etc.

On August 25 (September 6), Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte personally reconnoitered the area of ​​the future battle and, having discovered the weakness of the left flank of the Russian army, decided to strike at it the main blow. Accordingly, he developed a battle plan. First of all, the task was to capture the left bank of the Kolocha River, for which it was necessary to capture Borodino. This maneuver, according to Napoleon, was supposed to divert the attention of the Russians from the direction of the main attack. Then transfer the main forces of the French army to the right bank of the Kolocha and, relying on Borodino, which has become, as it were, the axis of entry, push the Kutuzov army with the right wing into the corner formed by the confluence of the Kolocha with the Moscow River, and destroy it.

To accomplish the task, Napoleon on the evening of August 25 (September 6) began to concentrate the main forces (up to 95 thousand) in the area of ​​​​the Shevardinsky redoubt. The total number of French troops in front of the front of the 2nd Army reached 115 thousand.

Thus, Napoleon's plan pursued the decisive goal of destroying the entire Russian army in a pitched battle. Napoleon did not doubt the victory, the confidence in which, at sunrise on August 26, he expressed the words """This is the sun of Austerlitz""!".

On the eve of the battle, the famous order of Napoleon was read to the French soldiers: "Warriors! Here is the battle you have been longing for. Victory is up to you. We need it; she will give us everything we need, comfortable apartments and a speedy return to the fatherland. Act as you did at Austerlitz, Friedland, Vitebsk and Smolensk. May later posterity proudly remember your exploits in this day. Let them say about each of you: he was in the great battle near Moscow!

The beginning of the great battle

M.I. Kutuzov at the command post on the day of the Battle of Borodino

The battle of Borodino began at 5 o'clock in the morning, on the day of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, on the day when Russia celebrates the salvation of Moscow from the invasion of Tamerlane in 1395.

Decisive battles unfolded for Bagration's flashes and Raevsky's battery, which the French managed to capture at the cost of heavy losses.

Battle scheme

Bagration flushes

At 5:30 am August 26 (September 7), 1812 more than 100 French guns began to bombard the positions of the left flank. Napoleon unleashed the main blow on the left flank, trying from the very beginning of the battle to turn its course in his favor.

At 6 o'clock in the morning after a short cannonade, the French attack on Bagration's flushes began ( flushes called field fortifications, which consisted of two faces 20–30 m long each at an acute angle, the corner with the top facing the enemy). But they came under shotgun fire and were driven back by a flank attack by rangers.

Averyanov. Battle for Bagration's flashes

At 8 o'clock in the morning the French repeated the attack and captured the southern flush.
For the 3rd attack, Napoleon reinforced the attacking forces with 3 more infantry divisions, 3 cavalry corps (up to 35,000 people) and artillery, bringing its strength to 160 guns. They were opposed by about 20,000 Russian troops with 108 guns.

Evgeny Korneev. Cuirassiers of His Majesty. The battle of the brigade of Major General N. M. Borozdin

After heavy artillery preparation, the French managed to break into the southern flush and into the gaps between the flushes. Around 10 am the fleches were captured by the French.

Then Bagration led a general counterattack, as a result of which the flushes were repulsed, and the French were thrown back to the starting line.

By 10 o'clock in the morning, the entire field over Borodino was already covered with thick smoke.

IN 11 o'clock in the morning Napoleon threw in a new 4th attack against the flushes about 45 thousand infantry and cavalry, and almost 400 guns. The Russian troops had about 300 guns, and were inferior in number to the enemy by 2 times. As a result of this attack, the 2nd combined-grenadier division of M.S. Vorontsov, which participated in the Shevardino battle and withstood the 3rd attack on flushes, retained about 300 people out of 4,000 in its composition.

Then, within an hour, 3 more attacks from the French troops followed, which were repulsed.

At 12 noon , during the 8th attack, Bagration, seeing that the artillery of the flashes could not stop the movement of the French columns, led a general counterattack of the left wing, the total number of troops of which was approximately only 20 thousand people against 40 thousand from the enemy. A fierce hand-to-hand fight ensued, which lasted for about an hour. During this time, the masses of French troops were driven back to the Utitsky forest and were on the verge of defeat. The advantage was leaning towards the Russian troops, but during the transition to the counterattack, Bagration, wounded by a fragment of the cannonball in the thigh, fell off his horse and was taken out of the battlefield. The news of the wounding of Bagration instantly swept through the ranks of the Russian troops and undermined the morale of the Russian soldiers. Russian troops began to retreat. ( Note. Bagration died of blood poisoning on September 12 (25), 1812)

After that, General D.S. took command of the left flank. Dokhturov. The French troops were bled dry and unable to attack. The Russian troops were greatly weakened, but they retained their combat effectiveness, which was revealed during the repulse of the attack of fresh French forces on Semyonovskoye.

In total, about 60,000 French troops took part in the battles for the flushes, of which about 30,000 were lost, about half in the 8th attack.

The French fought fiercely in the battles for the flushes, but all but the last of their attacks were repulsed by the much smaller Russian forces. By concentrating forces on the right flank, Napoleon ensured a 2-3-fold numerical superiority in the battles for flushes, thanks to which, as well as due to the wounding of Bagration, the French still managed to push the left wing of the Russian army to a distance of about 1 km. This success did not lead to the decisive result that Napoleon had hoped for.

The direction of the main attack of the "Great Army" shifted from the left flank to the center of the Russian line, to the Kurgan Battery.

Raevsky battery

The last skirmishes of the Battle of Borodino in the evening took place at the battery of Raevsky and Utitsky Kurgan.

A high mound, located in the center of the Russian position, dominated the surrounding area. A battery was installed on it, which had 18 guns by the beginning of the battle. The defense of the battery was assigned to the 7th Infantry Corps of Lieutenant General N.N. Raevsky, which consisted of 11 thousand bayonets.

At about 9 o'clock in the morning, in the midst of the battle for Bagration's fleches, the French launched the first attack on the Raevsky battery.A bloody battle took place on the battery.

Losses on both sides were huge. A number of units on both sides lost most of their composition. The corps of General Raevsky lost more than 6 thousand people. And, for example, the French infantry regiment Bonami retained 300 out of 4100 people in its ranks after the battle for Raevsky’s battery. Raevsky’s battery received the nickname “grave of the French cavalry” from the French for these losses. At the cost of huge losses (the general commander of the French cavalry and his comrades-in-arms fell at Kurgan height), the French troops stormed Raevsky's battery at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

However, the capture of Kurgan height did not lead to a decrease in the stability of the Russian center. The same applies to the flushes, which were only defensive structures of the position of the left flank of the Russian army.

End of the battle

Vereshchagin. End of the Battle of Borodino

After the Raevsky battery was occupied by the French troops, the battle began to subside. On the left flank, the French carried out unsuccessful attacks against Dokhturov's 2nd Army. In the center and on the right flank, the matter was limited to artillery fire until 7 pm.

V. V. Vereshchagin. End of the Battle of Borodino

On the evening of August 26, by 18 o'clock, the battle of Borodino was over. Attacks stopped along the entire front. Until the very night, only artillery skirmishes and rifle fire continued in the advanced jaeger chains.

The results of the battle of Borodino

What were the results of this most bloody of battles? Very sad for Napoleon, because there was no victory here, which all those close to him had been waiting in vain for a whole day. Napoleon was disappointed with the results of the battle: the "Great Army" was able to force the Russian troops on the left flank and center to retreat only 1-1.5 km. The Russian army retained the integrity of the position and its communications, repelled many French attacks, while counterattacking itself. The artillery duel, for all its duration and fierceness, did not give advantages to either the French or the Russians. French troops captured the main strongholds of the Russian army - the Raevsky battery and the Semyonovsky flashes. But the fortifications on them were almost completely destroyed, and by the end of the battle, Napoleon ordered them to leave and withdraw the troops to their original positions. Few prisoners were captured (as well as guns), Russian soldiers took with them most of the wounded comrades. The general battle turned out not to be a new Austerlitz, but a bloody battle with unclear results.

Perhaps, in tactical terms, the Battle of Borodino was another victory for Napoleon - he forced the Russian army to retreat and give up Moscow. However, in strategic terms, it was a victory for Kutuzov and the Russian army. In the campaign of 1812 there was a radical change. The Russian army withstood the battle with the strongest enemy and its morale only got stronger. Soon its numbers and material resources will be restored. Napoleon's army lost heart, lost the ability to win, the halo of invincibility. Further events will only confirm the correctness of the words of the military theorist Karl Clausewitz, who noted that "victory lies not just in capturing the battlefield, but in the physical and moral defeat of the enemy forces."

Later, while in exile, the defeated French emperor Napoleon admitted: “Of all my battles, the most terrible is what I fought near Moscow. The French showed themselves worthy of victory in it, and the Russians - to be called invincible.

The number of losses of the Russian army in the Battle of Borodino amounted to 44-45 thousand people. The French, according to some estimates, lost about 40-60 thousand people. The losses in the command staff were especially heavy: in the Russian army 4 were killed and mortally wounded, 23 generals were wounded and shell-shocked; in the Grand Army, 12 generals were killed and died of wounds, one marshal and 38 generals were wounded.

The battle of Borodino is one of the bloodiest battles of the 19th century and the bloodiest of all that came before it. According to the most conservative estimates of cumulative losses, 2,500 people died on the field every hour. It is no coincidence that Napoleon called the battle of Borodino his greatest battle, although its results are more than modest for a great commander accustomed to victories.

The main achievement of the general battle at Borodino was that Napoleon failed to defeat the Russian army. But first of all, the Borodino field became the cemetery of the French dream, that selfless faith of the French people in the star of their emperor, in his personal genius, which underlay all the achievements of the French Empire.

On October 3, 1812, the English newspapers The Courier and The Times published a report from the English ambassador Katkar from St. Petersburg, in which he reported that the armies of His Imperial Majesty Alexander I had won the most stubborn battle of Borodino. During October, The Times wrote about the Battle of Borodino 8 times, calling the day of the battle "a grandiose memorable day in Russian history" and "the fatal battle of Bonaparte." The British ambassador and the press did not consider the retreat after the battle and the abandonment of Moscow as a result of the battle, realizing the impact on these events of a strategic situation unfavorable for Russia.

For Borodino, Kutuzov received the rank of Field Marshal and 100 thousand rubles. The tsar granted Bagration 50 thousand rubles. For participation in the Battle of Borodino, each soldier was given 5 silver rubles.

The meaning of the Battle of Borodino in the minds of the Russian people

The Battle of Borodino continues to occupy an important place in the historical consciousness of very broad sections of Russian society. Today it, along with similar great pages of Russian history, is being falsified by the camp of Russophobic-minded figures who position themselves as "historians". By distorting reality and forgery in custom publications, at any cost, ignoring reality, they are trying to bring to wide circles the idea of ​​a tactical victory for the French with fewer losses and that the Battle of Borodino was not a triumph of Russian weapons.This is because the Battle of Borodino, as an event in which the strength of the spirit of the Russian people was manifested, is one of the cornerstones that build Russia in the minds of modern society precisely as a great power. Throughout the entire modern history of Russia, Russophobic propaganda has been loosening these bricks.

Material prepared by Sergey Shulyak