Through Russian Snows (28 page)

Sir Robert reached St. Petersburg on the 24th of August, but it was not
until ten days later that he saw the Emperor, who had gone with Lord
Cathcart, the British Ambassador, to meet the King of Sweden, and to
conclude the negotiations that secured his co-operation. The information
that General Wilson had brought of the admirable behaviour of the army
did much to allay the alarm that prevailed in St. Petersburg; and, after
dining with the Emperor on the evening of the arrival of the latter at
his capital, he had a long private interview with him. The Emperor had
already been made acquainted with the dissatisfaction in the army, and
Marshal Kutusow had been sent to replace General Barclay, and he asked
Sir Robert whether he thought the new commander would be able to restore
subordination and confidence in the army. Sir Robert replied that he had
met the marshal, and had informed him of the exact state of things
there: that the latter had conjured him to acquaint the Emperor with the
fullest details, and in accordance with that request, and in order to
prevent his Majesty having the pain of hearing it from the lips of one
of his own subjects—who perhaps would be less able to convince him of
the intense feeling of loyalty to himself that still prevailed—he had
consented to be the mouthpiece of the generals of the army. He then
reported to him the interviews that he had had with the general
officers, suppressing the names of those present, and the message they
had desired him to deliver.

The Emperor was greatly moved. However, the manner in which the general
fulfilled the mission with which he was charged, and his assurances that
the act of seeming insubordination and defiance of the imperial
authority was in no way directed against him, but against his advisers,
whom they believed to be acting in the interests of Napoleon, had their
effect, and the Emperor promised to give the matter every
consideration, and to answer him definitely on the following day. At
the next meeting he gave Sir Robert his authority to assure the army of
his determination to continue the war against Napoleon while a Frenchman
remained in arms on Russian soil, and that, if the worst came to the
worst, he would remove his family far into the interior, and make any
sacrifice rather than break that engagement. At the same time, while he
could not submit to dictation in the matter of his ministers, he could
assure them that these should in no way influence him to break this
promise.

During Sir Robert's stay in St. Petersburg the Emperor took every
occasion to show him marked favour, as if anxious to assure those whose
views Sir Robert had represented, that he was in no way displeased with
them for the attitude they had assumed; and upon his leaving to rejoin
the army the Emperor directed him to repeat in the most formal manner
his declaration that he would not enter into or permit any negotiations
with Napoleon; and added that he would sooner let his beard grow to his
waist, and eat potatoes in Siberia.

Frank had been active during the battle of Loubino. Sir Robert Wilson
had taken up his post with Touchkoff during the action which was so
desperately fought to cover the retreat of the main army, and Frank had
acted as aide-de-camp, and, having carried orders to various parts of
the field, had excellent opportunities of seeing the whole of the
battle; and the Russian general in making his report of the engagement
had mentioned his name among those who had rendered distinguished
services. His horse had been shot under him, his cap had been carried
away by a bullet, and he had received a slight flesh wound in his leg.
Although this was of small consequence, it had caused the insertion of
his name among those of the officers wounded in the battle. He was to
see no more fighting for a time; for, although the army of Wittgenstein
fought two or three severe actions with the divisions of St. Cyr and
Oudinot, the main army fell back without again fighting until it took up
the position that Marshal Kutusow had selected for giving battle.

BORODINO

Barbarously as the French army behaved on its advance to Smolensk,
things were even worse as they left the ruined town behind them and
resumed their journey towards Moscow. It seemed that the hatred with
which they were regarded by the Russian peasantry was now even more than
reciprocated. The destruction they committed was wanton and wholesale;
the villages, and even the towns, were burnt down, and the whole country
made desolate. It was nothing to them that by so doing they added
enormously to the difficulties of their own commissariat; nothing that
they were destroying the places where they might otherwise have found
shelter on their return. They seemed to destroy simply for the sake of
destruction, and to be animated by a burning feeling of hatred for the
country they had invaded.

Since the days of the thirty years' war in Germany, never had war been
carried on in Europe so mercilessly and so destructively. As he saw the
ruined homes or passed the bodies of peasants wantonly shot down, Julian
Wyatt regretted bitterly that he had not been content to remain a
prisoner at Verdun. Battles he had expected; but this destruction of
property, this warring upon peaceful inhabitants, filled him with
horror; his high spirits left him, and he no longer laughed and jested
on the march, but kept on the way in the same gloomy silence that
reigned among the greater part of his companions. When half way to
Moscow a fresh cause of uneasiness manifested itself. The Russians no
longer left their towns and villages for the French to plunder and burn,
but, as they retreated, themselves applied fire to all the houses, with
a thoroughness and method which showed that this was not the work of
stragglers or camp-followers, but that it was the result of a settled
plan. At last news came that the Russians had resolved to fight a
pitched battle at Borodino, and the spirits of the army at once rose.

Napoleon halted them for two days, in order that they might rest and
receive provisions from the baggage trains following. On the 4th of
September they marched forward as before, in three columns, preceded by
Murat's cavalry, which brushed aside the hordes of Cossack horse.
Half-way to Gratz, a Russian division stoutly held for some time a
height up which the road wound, but after some sharp fighting was forced
to retreat.

The Russian position at Borodino was a strong one. The right was covered
by the rivulet of Kolocza, which was everywhere fordable, but ran
through a deep ravine. Borodino, a village on the banks of this rivulet,
formed their centre, and their left was posted upon steeply rising
ground, almost at right angles with their right. Borodino itself—which
lay on the northern side of the Kolocza—was not intended to be held in
force. The rivulet fell into the river Moskwa half a mile beyond
Borodino. Field-works had been thrown up at several points, and near the
centre were two strong redoubts commanding Borodino and the high-road.
Other strong works had been erected at important points.

PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF BORODINO.

Considerably in advance of the general line of the position a strong
work had been erected; this it was necessary to take before the main
position could be attacked, and at two in the afternoon of the 5th,
Napoleon directed an assault to be made upon this redoubt. It was
obstinately held by the Russians. They were several times driven out,
but, as often, reinforcements came up, and it was captured by them;
and finally, after holding it until nightfall, they fell back to their
main position, the loss having been heavy on both sides. The next day
was spent by Napoleon in reconnoitring the Russian position and deciding
the plan of attack. Finally he determined to make a strong demonstration
against the village of Borodino, and, under cover of this, to launch his
whole army upon the Russian left wing. On the morning of the 7th,
Napoleon posted himself on an eminence near the village of Chewardino.
Near the spot, earthworks were thrown up during the night for the
protection of three batteries, each of twenty-four guns. Davoust and Ney
were to make a direct attack on the enemy's left. Poniatowski was to
endeavour to march through the woods and gain the rear of the Russian
position. The rest of the force were to keep the Russian centre and
right in check. The Imperial Guard formed the reserve.

On the Russian side Bagration's army formed the left, Beningsen's the
centre, and Barclay's the right. The French force numbered about
150,000, the Russian from 80,000 to 90,000. The French had a thousand
guns, the Russians 640. At six in the morning of the 7th of September
the French batteries opened fire along the whole line, and the Russians
at once replied. The roar of artillery was incessant, and ere long the
rattle of musketry swelled the din, as Davoust launched the division of
Desaix, and Ney that of Campans, against three small redoubts in front
of the Russian position. Impetuous as was the assault, the Russians
received it with unflinching courage; two of the Russian generals were
wounded, but the assault was repulsed. Ney moved up another division,
and after severe fighting the redoubts were carried. They were held,
however, but a short time, for Woronzow led forward his grenadiers in
solid squares, and, supporting the advance by a charge of cavalry,
recaptured them, and drove the French back across the ravine in front of
them.

There was now a short pause in the attack, but the roar of artillery and
musketry continued unbroken. Poniatowski now emerged from the wood, and
fell upon the Russian left rear, capturing the village of Outitska.
Touchkoff, a brother of the general who had been captured at Loubino,
who commanded here, fell back to a height that dominated the village and
the ground beyond it, and maintained himself until mid-day. On the
French left, where the Viceroy Beauharnois commanded, the advance was
stubbornly opposed, and the French artillery was several times silenced
by the guns on the eminence. At last, however, the Russians were driven
across the rivulet, and the French occupied Borodino. Leaving a division
of infantry to protect his rear, the Viceroy crossed the stream and
advanced against a great battery in front of the village of Gorki.
Davoust and Ney remained motionless until nine o'clock, as Napoleon
would not forward the reinforcements they had asked for until he learned
that Poniatowski had come into action, and that the Viceroy had crossed
the stream and was moving to the attack of the Russian centre. Now,
reinforced by the division of Friant, they moved forward.

For an hour the Russians held their advanced works, and then were forced
to fall back; and the French, following up their advantage, crossed a
ravine and occupied the village of Semianotsky, which had been partially
destroyed on the previous day by the Russians, so that if captured it
would afford no cover to the French. It was but for a short time that
the latter held it. Coming up at the head of his grenadiers, Touchkoff
drove them out, recrossed the ravine, and recaptured the advance works
they had before so obstinately contested. In turn the French retook the
three redoubts; but, again, a Russian division coming up wrested the
position from them, and replanted their flag there. Napoleon, seeing
that no impression could be made on the Russian left, now sent orders
to the Viceroy to carry the great redoubt before Gorki. In spite of the
difficulties presented by the broken ground, the three French divisions
pressed forward with the greatest gallantry, and, heedless of the storm
of grape poured upon them, stormed the redoubt. But its late defenders,
reinforced by some battalions from Doctorow's corps, dashed forward to
recover the position, and fell with such fury upon the French that the
regiment that had entered the redoubt was all but annihilated, and the
position regained, while at the same moment two regiments of Russian
cavalry fell upon reinforcements pressing forward to aid the defenders,
and threw them into disorder.

The Viceroy now opened fire on the redoubt with all his artillery,
inflicting such loss upon the defenders that it was soon necessary to
relieve them with a fresh division. Ney, finding it impossible to carry
and hold the three redoubts in front of him, directed Junot to endeavour
to force his way between the main Russian left and Touchkoff's division;
but he was met by Prince Eugene's Russian corps, which brought his
advance to a standstill. Junot's presence there, however, acted as a
support to Poniatowski, who, covered by the fire of forty pieces of
cannon, advanced against Touchkoff's division. For a time he gained
ground, but the Russian general, bringing up all his troops, assumed the
offensive, and, driving Poniatowski back, recovered the lost ground. The
brave Russian leader, however, was mortally wounded in the fight. It was
now twelve o'clock, and so far the French had gained no advantage.
Napoleon felt the necessity for a decisive effort, and concentrating his
whole force, and posting 400 guns to cover the advance, sent it forward
against the Russian left.