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Volume 8 From the Mediterranean to... Chapter 95 Battle in the direction of Moscow (2...

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    After the hasty end of Smolensk, the Russian army continued to retreat towards Moscow, with the French army in hot pursuit.  However, as Russia¡¯s armed forces move closer to Moscow, there are more and more criticisms from all aspects.  The officers and soldiers in the army became more and more complaining; the Russian people were also generally dissatisfied; and the panic among the upper class became more and more serious.  They asked: Is this how to hand over the entire Russia to Napoleon?  Why not fight to the end in Smolensk?  Where else are you going to retreat to?  Many nobles began to accuse General Barclay in front of the Tsar, saying that this man of German descent was a traitor and wanted to bring Napoleon to Moscow.  In the turbulent situation and in the face of various public opinions, Tsar Alexander had to make new decisions.  In order to comply with the wishes of the military and the people, he decided to appoint Kutuzov, a 61- or 17-year-old battlefield veteran.  On August 20, the Tsar appointed Kutuzov as commander-in-chief of all combat forces.  For Alexander, this appointment was made out of necessity.  He himself did not like Kutuzov. Everyone knew that Kutuzov was a man who had his own opinions on every situation. As early as after the Battle of Austerlitz, he separated from the army and lived in semi-seclusion.  life.  It¡¯s just that Kutuzov was very famous, and he was not only thorough and meticulous in combat, but also bold and brave. At that time, there was no suitable person except him who could clean up the mess, so the Tsar had to ask him to come out.  In early September, Russian officers and soldiers eager to fight warmly welcomed Kutuzov's arrival. They believed that he would meet their demands.  The casualties at Smolensk and the exhausting retreat did not dampen the morale of the Russian troops, who were confident in their abilities.  After returning from the Turkish battlefield, Marshal Kutuzov has been paying close attention to Napoleon's invasion of the motherland. He knows that General Barclay's decision is right.  It is impossible for the French army to fight a protracted war in a large and hostile country thousands of kilometers away from its homeland.  It's just that the Russian army is weak and should continue to trade space for time in order to create the best conditions for counterattack.  Of course, he also knows that even if he is of Russian descent, people are not satisfied with what Barclay has done and will not tolerate him doing it now.  Giving up Moscow without a fierce fight would be absolutely unacceptable.  It looked like this time, like at Austerlitz, he would have to fight against his will.  However, this time is different from that time. From a moral and political perspective, there is indeed a need to fight a war.  In order to fight this battle well, he chose the battlefield near the village of Borodino, one hundred and twenty-four kilometers west of Moscow, after careful consideration.  News that the Russians were preparing to launch a blockade to defend Moscow at Borodino was quickly reported to Prince Eugene by Major Kolecki, who in turn reported it to Napoleon.  The emperor seemed very happy that the day for the decisive battle with the Russian army was approaching.  Indeed, Kutuzov was preparing for a battle.  When he arrived to take command of the army, the Russian army had approximately 13,000 regular troops, 640 artillery pieces, 7,000 Cossack cavalry, and nearly 20,000 militiamen, totaling approximately 130,000 people.  The Russian army has a heroic and well-trained infantry, but its equipment is poor. It is only equipped with many muskets of different calibers and is at a disadvantage in terms of firepower.  However, they firmly believe in Suvorov's famous saying: Bayonets are more useful than bullets; the Russian cavalry includes the usual light cavalry regiments, heavy cavalry regiments and dragoons, and their equipment is much better than that of the French army when they first arrived in Borodino; in addition,  , the Russian army also has thousands of excellent Cossack cavalry. Although they are not good at fighting, they are good at pursuit, vigilance and ambush.  The Russian artillery has recently been reorganized and equipped with a batch of new weapons.  It is large in scale, including 44 heavy artillery batteries and 58 field artillery batteries.  Many of the Russian artillery came from the Moldavia Army. Their quality was comparable to that of the French army, but their quantity exceeded that of the French army. The French army had to abandon some artillery on the march because too many horses died.  In early September 1812, after Kutuzov personally conducted an on-site inspection, he ordered the construction of defensive positions.  He set up the front line of his position on the north-south line of Borodino village.  The front is about 8 kilometers wide and 3 to 4 kilometers deep.  The right edge of the position was a tributary of the Moskva River called the Kolocha River.  Due to such a natural barrier, the right wing of the position was not easily bypassed by the French army.  The edge of the left wing is at a village called Utitsa, followed by an impassable forest to the south.  The central position was located on a hilly area higher than the surrounding plains.  Generally speaking, the terrain of the left wing is relatively flat and exposed.  There are forests and shrubs behind the position, which facilitates the concealment and deployment of reserves and facilitates maneuvers.  The entire position is higher than the surrounding terrain and has a good view, which facilitates the artillery to exert firepower from a high position.  The fortification construction of the entire position, especially the configuration of the artillery positions, is relatively complete.  On the right wing, except for the infantry's civilIn addition, fifty-eight artillery launch fortifications were also built.  In the center of the position, there are fortifications for eighteen artillery pieces, which can cover the approaches to the west and northwest of the position.  On the left wing, thirty-six artillery pieces were built, but in fact only twenty-four artillery pieces were deployed to cover the approaches to the west and southwest at the same time.  In order to cover the more exposed left wing and promptly identify the attacking enemy's situation, the Russian army also built earth fortifications near the village of Shevardino on the left front of the position as an advance position.  There is a multi-faceted fort in the center of this position as the backbone fortification.  Kutuzov¡¯s position selection and fortification setup are closely related to his combat intentions.  He wanted to rely on the favorable terrain in this plain area and use active defense methods to kill and injure the enemy's effective forces as much as possible, while preserving his own strength and creating conditions for completely crushing the attacking enemy.  To this end, he specially arranged the Russian army in depth and echelon. The specific deployment is: dividing the Russian army into four defense groups, namely the right wing, the center, the left wing and the reserve group.  The First Army, commanded by Barclay, was divided into two groups: the right wing and the center group: the right wing group was composed of the Second Infantry Corps, the Fourth Infantry Corps and the Second Cavalry Corps; in order to ensure the actions of the right wing troops, four were deployed in front of it.  The Cossack Cavalry Regiment and three Chasseur Regiments; the central group consists of the Sixth Infantry Corps and the Third Cavalry Corps; the reserve of the legion consists of the First Cavalry Corps and an independent Cossack Cavalry Corps, concealed on the right rear of the legion  .  The Second Army, commanded by Bagration, constitutes the left-wing group, under the jurisdiction of the 7th and 8th Infantry Corps and the 4th Cavalry Corps; the Army's reserve consists of a mixed grenadier division and a cuirassier division.  Behind the more exposed left wing.  The forest area connected to the left edge was defended by eight Cossack cavalry regiments and a militia regiment.  The total reserve of the Russian army includes the 3rd and 5th infantry corps and a cuirassier division, as well as the artillery reserve with 324 artillery pieces. These troops are all deployed in the rear area in the center of the position.  In order to destroy the enemy's effective forces as much as possible, the Russian army is divided into three lines of configuration in terms of specific deployment: the first line is the infantry corps, the second line is the cavalry corps, and the third line is the reserves of each unit and the general reserve.  In front of the first line of infantry, a skirmisher line composed of hunting cavalry was also deployed.  The second line of cavalry is about 300 to 400 steps away from the first line of infantry, and the subsequent reserve is about 800 meters away from the second line of cavalry.  This deployment shows that the Russian army¡¯s defense has a certain depth, which facilitates extensive maneuvering of troops and weapons on the battlefield.  According to Kutuzov's idea, this would force Napoleon to carry out a frontal attack under unfavorable circumstances. Once the situation was favorable, the Russian army could launch a counterattack on the French army's flank and rear.  Napoleon¡¯s strategic proposition has always been to crush the enemy in a decisive battle.  Since entering the heart of Russia, he has been eager for the opportunity to fight a decisive battle.  Therefore, after learning that Kutuzov was preparing for the battle, he seemed extremely excited.  Yes, long-distance pursuit and excessive fatigue have greatly reduced the French army's strength.  Now, the French army only has 135,000 troops and 587 artillery pieces left.  Even so, Napoleon was still full of confidence.  He believed that success or failure depended on this one move and was determined to concentrate the main force to completely defeat the Russian army.  After learning the general situation of the Russian army's position, the experienced Napoleon immediately made the decision to direct the main assault on the Russian army's left wing, that is, the defense line of the Bagration Army, to implement a frontal breakthrough, and then to the rear of the Russian army's right wing, and will  The Russian army was compressed to the Kolocha River and annihilated.  In order to ensure the success of the breakthrough, he once again used the method of concentrating superior forces in the main direction and decided to put two-thirds of the existing troops, about 86,000 troops, on a two and a half kilometer section to carry out the attack.  In order to cooperate with the frontal breakthrough in the main direction, one corps each was used to assist in Borodino on the right wing of the Russian army and Utitsa on the edge of the left wing to contain and attract the Russian army's strength.  This method of frontal attack was not necessarily perfect even at the time.  In view of the fact that the Russian army fought very tenaciously in the outpost battle and a frontal breakthrough was not that easy, Marshal Davout once suggested that part of the force should be used to detour from the Russian army's left edge to disrupt the Russian army's rear and cut off the passage to Moscow.  retreat.  It later proved that Marshal Davout's suggestion was extremely wise. However, Napoleon was overconfident and feared that any complex maneuver deployment would cause the Russian army to retreat again because it felt threatened in the rear, so he did not adopt Davout's correct idea.  The outpost battle of Borodino took place on September 5 in the village of Shevardino.  At that time, the Russian army stationed about 12,000 troops in this forward position, including 8,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, and 36 artillery pieces.  The French army, which was closely pursuing them, immediately seized the Russian army and carried outIn the attack, the French army invested approximately 30,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, and 186 artillery pieces.  The Russian army fought tenaciously in the defensive battle. The battle lasted until late at night. The French army fought hand-to-hand and finally captured the main fortification, the multi-faceted fort. Only then did the remaining defenders have to withdraw to the main position.  A herald at the headquarters was extremely excited and joked to the victorious soldiers: "Guys, the emperor is very satisfied with you. He sent me to kiss your big mud-covered butts." At this time, Ke  Major Letsky did not participate in any battles. He and his teammates were only responsible for the safety of Prince Eug¨¨ne.  It was precisely because of this fierce battle that Kutuzov not only won a certain amount of time, which could be used to improve the fortifications on the position, but also was able to more accurately determine the deployment of the French army and its main direction of attack.  ¡­¡­
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