Historical events of 1812 - Battle of Borodino. Battle of Borodino. French cavalry grave

Main battle Patriotic War 1812 between the Russian army under the command of General M.I. Kutuzov and the French army of Napoleon I Bonaparte occurred 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 with 1,200 artillery pieces took part in this grandiose battle on both sides. 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 the master of the world. There is only Russia left, but I will crush it.”- with these words, Napoleon and his 600,000-strong army crossed the Russian border.

Since the beginning of the French army's invasion of the territory Russian Empire in June 1812, Russian troops were constantly retreating. The rapid advance and overwhelming numerical superiority of the French made it impossible for the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, General of Infantry Barclay de Tolly, to prepare troops for battle. The prolonged retreat caused public discontent, so Emperor Alexander I dismissed Barclay de Tolly and appointed Infantry General 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, 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, preserve 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 battle formation of the Russian army was composed of three lines: the first contained infantry corps, the second - cavalry, and the third - reserves. The army's artillery 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 the 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 a smaller number 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 Raevsky 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.

Shevardinsky battle

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

Here the day before a pentagonal redoubt had been erected, which initially served as part of the position of the Russian left flank, and after the left flank was pushed back, it became a separate forward position. Napoleon ordered an attack on the Shevardin position - the redoubt prevented the French army from turning around.

To buy time for engineering work, Kutuzov ordered to detain the enemy near the village of Shevardino.

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

French infantry and cavalry totaling over 40,000 people 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. Before the French advanced units had time to approach the village of Valuevo, Russian rangers 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.

Napoleon's Grand Army lost about 5,000 people in the Battle of Shevardin, and the Russian army suffered approximately the same losses.

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

It was established that the main enemy forces were concentrating 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 positioning 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

On the eve of the great battle

25-th of August There were no active hostilities in the Borodino field area. Both armies were preparing for a decisive, general battle, conducting reconnaissance and building field fortifications. On a small hill to the southwest of the village of Semenovskoye, three fortifications were built, called “Bagration’s flushes”.

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

Emperor Napoleon Bonoparte on August 25 (September 6) personally reconnoitered the area of ​​the future battle and, having discovered the weakness of the left flank of the Russian army, decided to strike the main blow against it. 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 like an axis of approach, push Kutuzov’s 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 began to concentrate his main forces (up to 95 thousand) in the area of ​​the Shevardinsky redoubt on the evening of August 25 (September 6). The total number of French troops in front of the 2nd Army front reached 115 thousand.

Thus, Napoleon's plan pursued the decisive goal of destroying the entire Russian army in a general battle. Napoleon had no doubt about victory, the confidence of which he expressed in words at sunrise on August 26 """This is the sun of Austerlitz""!"

On the eve of the battle French soldiers Napoleon's famous order was read out: “Warriors! This is the battle you so desired. Victory depends on you. We need it; she will give us everything we need, comfortable apartments and a quick return to our homeland. Act as you acted at Austerlitz, Friedland, Vitebsk and Smolensk. May later posterity proudly remember your exploits to this day. Let it be said about each of you: he was in great battle near Moscow!"

The Great Battle Begins

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

The Battle of Borodino began at 5 a.m., in a day Vladimir icon Mother of God, on the day when Russia celebrates the salvation of Moscow from the invasion of Tamerlane in 1395.

The decisive battles took place over Bagration's flushes and Raevsky's battery, which the French managed to capture at the cost of heavy losses.

Battle scheme

Bagration's flushes

At 5:30 am on August 26 (September 7), 1812 More than 100 French guns began shelling 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 the tide in his favor.

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

Averyanov. Battle for Bagration's flushes

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

Evgeny Korneev. His Majesty's Cuirassiers. Battle of the brigade of Major General N. M. Borozdin

After strong artillery preparation, the French managed to break into the southern flush and into the gaps between the flushes. Around 10 o'clock in the morning the flushes 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 their original line.

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

IN 11 o'clock in the morning Napoleon threw about 45 thousand infantry and cavalry, and almost 400 guns into the new 4th attack against the flushes. The Russian troops had about 300 guns, and were 2 times inferior in number to the enemy. As a result of this attack, the 2nd Combined Grenadier Division of M.S. Vorontsov, which took part in the Battle of Shevardin and withstood the 3rd attack on the flushes, retained about 300 people out of 4,000.

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

At 12 noon , during the 8th attack, Bagration, seeing that the artillery of the flushes 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 brutal hand-to-hand battle ensued, which lasted about an hour. During this time, the masses of French troops were thrown back to the Utitsky forest and were on the verge of defeat. The advantage leaned towards the side of the Russian troops, but during the transition to a counterattack, Bagration, wounded by a fragment of a cannonball in the thigh, fell from his horse and was taken from the battlefield. The news of Bagration's injury instantly spread 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 this, 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 capability, which was revealed during the repulsion of an attack by 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 their attacks, except the last one, were repelled by the significantly 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, and also 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.

Battery Raevsky

The last battles of the Borodino battle in the evening took place at the battery of the Raevsky and Utitsky mounds.

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

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

The losses on both sides were enormous. A number of units on both sides lost most of their personnel. General Raevsky's corps lost over 6 thousand people. And, for example, the French infantry regiment Bonami retained 300 out of 4,100 people in its ranks after the battle for Raevsky’s battery. For these losses, Raevsky’s battery received the nickname “the grave of the French cavalry” from the French. At the cost of huge losses (the commander of the French cavalry, the general and his comrades fell at Kurgan Heights), French troops stormed Raevsky's battery at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

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

End of the battle

Vereshchagin. The end of the Battle of Borodino

After the French troops occupied the Raevsky battery, the battle began to subside. On the left flank, the French carried out ineffective attacks against Dokhturov's 2nd Army. In the center and on the right flank, matters were limited to artillery fire until 7 p.m.

V.V. Vereshchagina. The end of the Battle of Borodino

On the evening of August 26, at 18 o'clock, the Battle of Borodino ended. The attacks stopped along the entire front. Until nightfall, only artillery fire and rifle fire continued in the advanced Jaeger chains.

Results of the Battle of Borodino

What were the results of this bloodiest of battles? Very sad for Napoleon, because there was no victory here, which all those close to him had been waiting in vain for the 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 maintained the integrity of the position and its communications, repelled many French attacks, and itself counterattacked. 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 Semyonov flushes. But the fortifications on them were almost completely destroyed, and by the end of the battle Napoleon ordered them to be abandoned and the troops to be withdrawn to starting positions. Few prisoners were captured (as well as guns); Russian soldiers took with them most of their wounded comrades. The general battle turned out to be not 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. A radical change occurred in the campaign of 1812. The Russian army survived the battle with the strongest enemy and its fighting spirit only grew stronger. Soon its numbers and material resources will be restored. Napoleon's army lost heart, lost the ability to win, the aura of invincibility. Further events will only confirm the correctness of the words of the military theorist Carl Clausewitz, who noted that “victory lies not simply 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 was the one I fought near Moscow. The French showed themselves worthy of winning, and the Russians showed themselves worthy of being 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 severe: in the Russian army 4 generals were killed and mortally wounded, 23 generals were wounded and shell-shocked; In the Great 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. Conservative estimates of total casualties indicate that 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 were more than modest for a great commander accustomed to victories.

The main achievement of the general battle of 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 lay at the basis of 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 eight times, calling the day of the battle "a grand memorable day in Russian history" and "Bonaparte's fatal battle." 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, understanding the influence on these events of the unfavorable strategic situation 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 significance of the Battle of Borodino in the minds of the Russian people

The Battle of Borodino continues to occupy important place in the historical consciousness of very broad layers of Russian society. Today, along with similar great pages of Russian history, it is being falsified by the camp of Russophobic-minded figures who position themselves as “historians.” By distorting reality and forgeries in custom-made publications, at any cost, regardless of reality, they are trying to convey 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 happens 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 shape Russia in the consciousness modern society precisely as a great power. Throughout the modern history of Russia, Russophobic propaganda has been loosening these bricks.

Material prepared by Sergey Shulyak

Even Borodin’s contemporaries and eyewitnesses assessed the results of the battle differently; everything was considered controversial: from the number of losses to the tactical and strategic results.

Number of armies and number of losses
If we take the average figure, then in total about 140-150 thousand people took part in the battle on the French side. The number of Russian troops is even more controversial, since it is unclear exactly how many militias and Cossacks were in the army. But on average the Russian army numbered 120-130 thousand people. The overall numerical superiority of the French remained, although at the time of the general battle it no longer looked so noticeable. But all researchers and contemporaries are unanimous on one thing - the number of personnel, regular troops was higher among the French.

The number of losses suffered by the parties in the battle of September 7, 1812 on the Borodino field is an even more controversial issue than the question of the size of the armies. The French estimate the number of Russian losses at 50 thousand people. Modern researchers generally agree with this, believing that Russian troops lost from 40 to 50 thousand people killed and wounded. French losses amounted to about 35-40 thousand people.

Results of the French, or the Discouragement of the Grand Army

Napoleon on the Borodino Heights. Hood. V.V. Vereshchagin, 1897
click to enlarge

Even more difficult is the issue of assessing the results of the battle. By the end of the battle, the French managed to take possession of both flushes, the village of Semenovskoye, and Kurgannaya Heights. From a tactical point of view, this could be perceived as a victory for French weapons, as another major battle that would be included in the treasury of Napoleon’s great victories. The French themselves thought so, calling this battle “The Battle of the Moscow River.” But those who were close to Napoleon that day were perplexed and upset. The marshals noticed that Napoleon behaved very strangely during the battle and made several very uncharacteristic mistakes for him. In particular, he threw Ney into flushes when his troops should have been thrown at Kurgan Heights. This decision of Napoleon led to the fact that almost all of his available infantry, which should have been used in other sectors of the battle, was drawn into the battles for the flushes. There were other miscalculations that the marshals noticed.

These mistakes of Napoleon look doubly strange if we remember how the French emperor behaved on the night of September 7th. The main question that interested him was whether Kutuzov had left. After all the attempts to force a general battle on the Russians, it seemed incredible that Kutuzov himself agreed to give it. This was a unique chance to destroy the Russian army, a chance that had to be taken at all costs. That is why, on the eve of the general battle, he rejected Davout’s proposal to flank the Russian position, fearing that he would thereby “scare off” Kutuzov. Napoleon counted on the offensive impulse of his troops and his own military genius. But the Russian troops held the defense very stubbornly, and only in the afternoon they were driven out of the defensive lines. But no matter how hard the French tried, they only managed to push back the Russian ranks, but not break through them, much less destroy them.

In this regard, the situation did not change at all for Napoleon. Before the battle, he saw a combat-ready Russian army in front of him, but even after the battle he saw the same one in front of him. Thinned and withdrawn, but still not broken. On the evening of September 7, Napoleon did not yet know exactly how many troops he had lost, but he knew already then that he had lost 50 of his best generals.

Refusal of the captured Russian general Likhachev to accept the sword from Napoleon's hands. Chromolithography by A. Safonov (early 20th century)
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Napoleon himself summed up the battle with the words: “The Battle of the Moscow River was one of those battles where the greatest merit was demonstrated and the least results were achieved.”

After the battle, the Grand Army was despondent. Even the veterans could not remember such bloody battles ending with such a frivolous result. The French saw victory, saw that the positions were captured, but there were absolutely no attributes of this victory. There were practically no prisoners, no captured banners, no captured guns.

All this had an extremely negative impact on the morale of the French army. A general battle took place, and they were unable to defeat the enemy. Before Borodin, at the decisive moment, the Russians retreated and did not allow the French to express themselves. This gave rise to the feeling that the campaign was dragging on, but did not give rise to doubts about the final victory. Now the soldiers and officers of the Great Army no longer had the same confidence in their own abilities.

Russian results, or inspired retreat

Mikhail Kutuzov during the Battle of Borodino. Hood. A.P. Shepelyuk, 1952
click to enlarge

The position of the Russian army was no easier. There were 27 generals left on the battlefield, including the young and promising A.I. Kutaisov, General P.G. Likhachev, wounded and captured by the French. But the hardest thing was all about the injury of the “2nd commander” - Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration.

True, the morale of the army strengthened so much that everyone expected the battle to continue the next day. Kutuzov had a plan to continue the battle the next day if circumstances turned out well for him. But in the battle he made several mistakes, and the results exceeded all his fears. Too fearful for the right flank, Kutuzov did not send reinforcements to Bagration for too long. This led to large losses in the Second Western Army, so almost every French attack ended in the occupation of flushes, and only successful counterattacks carried out by Bagration made it possible to regain the fortifications. At critical moments, this could lead to the defeat of the entire left flank, and in such cases Barclay de Tolly saved the situation by transferring part of his troops from the center to the flushes. As a result, at the cost of incredible efforts, the French were able to occupy all the Russian defensive points, and, starting in the afternoon, Russian losses became higher than French losses.

Taking all this into account, Kutuzov decided to retreat to Moscow. By giving this battle, he assured everyone, from Alexander to the common soldier, that the fate of Moscow was being decided in this battle. But with all this, Kutuzov could not help but understand that a general battle cannot become a turning point, but it can become an event that will create the preconditions for such a turning point in the future. From this point of view, he has succeeded so far. Russian troops responded to the challenge of a formidable enemy and were not defeated. It was a good start, but main question- the fate of Moscow - has not yet been finally decided. And the results of the Battle of Borodino did not allow Kutuzov to avoid this issue. Sooner or later this issue will appear on the agenda, and it will appear categorically. A decision will have to be made, and the decision is clear.

But for now, the Russian troops continued to retreat with a feeling of victory. Many wondered why the army continued to retreat, but no one doubted that another major battle would take place near Moscow. What Kutuzov was thinking at that moment, no one could say.

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Chronicle of the day: Rearguard battle at Mozhaisk

Contrary to the expectations of many, Kutuzov did not continue the battle. At midnight, Russian troops left their position at Borodino and began to retreat through Mozhaisk towards Moscow. The withdrawal of Russian troops was covered by Platov’s rearguard, located in Mozhaisk. Napoleon continued the pursuit and ordered Murat's vanguard to move to Mozhaisk. At about five o'clock in the afternoon the French opened artillery fire and the rearguard battle at Mozhaisk. The French attacked Don Cossacks light cavalry, but Russian artillery fire stopped their advance. The battle turned into an artillery duel that lasted until the evening. Platov's rearguard remained in its original position, while the main forces continued to retreat.

Person: Tuchkov Nikolay Alekseevich (First)

Tuchkov Nikolai Alekseevich (First) (1761/1765-1812)
Of the four Tuchkov brothers, Nikolai Alekseevich had probably made the most impressive career by 1812. Being recorded with early years a conductor in an engineering regiment, entered service only in 1778 as an adjutant, in 1783 he became a second lieutenant of the Gunner Regiment. For the first time he took part in hostilities during the Russian-Swedish War (1788-1790). After graduation, he transferred to the Murom Infantry Regiment, commanded a battalion during the suppression of the Polish uprising of Tadeusz Kosciuszko, for which he received the Order of St. George, 4th degree and the rank of colonel with transfer to the Belozersky Musketeer Regiment. In 1797, Nikolai received another promotion (major general) and was appointed chief of the Sevsky Musketeer Regiment, with which he fought in almost all possible European campaigns until 1812.

Nikolai Alexandrovich especially distinguished himself in the famous Swiss campaign of A.S. Suvorov, when, having got together with the corps of A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov was surrounded near Zurich, formed his forward detachment in a dense column and broke through the encirclement with a bayonet strike, for which he was promoted to lieutenant general.

During the Prussian campaign, Nikolai Alekseevich commanded one of the divisions and in the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau he managed not only to repel enemy attacks, but also to go on a counter-offensive. For this war he receives his second George.

In 1808 N.A. Tuchkov took part in the Russian-Swedish War and, among other things, managed to repel the Swedish landing near Abo; in 1811 he was appointed military governor of the Podolsk and Volyn provinces.

During the War of 1812, he commanded the 3rd Infantry Corps and took part in the battles of Ostrovno, Smolensk, and Valutina Gora. IN Battle of Borodino his corps blocked the Old Smolensk Road and defended the Utitsky Kurgan. In fact, the general's corps had to hold back the entire onslaught of Poniatowski's division. At one point in the battle, when the French managed to capture the mound after a hurricane of artillery shelling, Nikolai Alekseevich personally led the counterattack of the Pavlovsk Grenadier Regiment. Kurgan was taken, but Tuchkov was seriously wounded in the chest and was forced to leave the battlefield, transferring command to Baggovut.

After the battle he was sent to Mozhaisk, and then to Yaroslavl, where he died at the end of October. Nikolai Alekseevich was buried in the Tolga Monastery.

August 26 (September 7), 1812
battle of Borodino
Person: Montbrun, Louis-Pierre
Battle of Borodino

August 25 (September 6), 1812
Troops are preparing for a general battle
Person: Carl Philipp Gottlieb von Clausewitz
Eve of Borodin

August 24 (September 5), 1812
First act of the Battle of Borodino
Person: Andrey Ivanovich Gorchakov
Battle for Shevardinsky redoubt

August 23 (September 4), 1812
Preparation for Borodino
Person: Dmitry Ivanovich Lobanov-Rostovsky
General battle: to be or not to be?

August 22 (September 3), 1812
Approach to the pitched battle position
Person: Nikolai Nikolaevich Raevsky
"Roman" Nikolai Raevsky


The main battle of the Patriotic War of 1812 took place on August 26 (September 7) near the village of Borodino near Mozhaisk, 124 km from Moscow. In French historiography, this battle is called the Battle of the Moscow River. His Serene Highness Prince M.I. Golenishchev-Kutuzov, having decided to enter into a general battle, proceeded from several factors. He took into account the mood of the army, which was eager to engage the enemy in battle and the understanding of the fact that the ancient Russian capital could not be given up without a battle.

For the battle site, it was necessary to choose a position that would satisfy Kutuzov’s basic requirements. The field had to accommodate the main forces of the army, be able to build them in deep order, allow the troops to maneuver, and have natural obstacles for better defense. In addition, the army should have been able to block the New and Old Smolensk roads leading to Moscow. Quartermaster General Tol discovered this position in front of the city of Mozhaisk. In the center of the field stood the village of Borodino, from which the battle received its name.

Napoleon on the Borodino Heights. Vereshchagin (1897).

The number of armies and the location of Russian troops

The Russian army (the combined 1st and 2nd Western armies of Barclay de Tolly and Bagration) consisted of about 120 thousand people: 103 thousand regular troops, about 7-8 thousand Cossack and other irregular cavalry, 10 thousand. warriors mainly of the Moscow and Smolensk militias (according to other sources, about 20 thousand militias) and 624 field artillery guns. It is also necessary to take into account that the regular troops included about 15 thousand recruits who underwent only initial military training.

On the day of the battle, the “Grand Army” of the French emperor numbered about 135-136 thousand soldiers with 587 field artillery pieces. In addition, the French army had approximately 15 thousand auxiliary forces (non-combatants), whose combat capability and functions corresponded to the Russian militias. The number of armies opposing each other still causes debate among researchers. The French army had not only a numerical superiority, but also a qualitative one - the French infantry mainly consisted of experienced soldiers, Napoleon had superiority in heavy cavalry. However, these advantages were balanced by the Russian fighting spirit and the high morale of the army.

The position of the Russian army on the Borodino field was about 8 kilometers long. In the south it began near the village of Utitsa, and in the north - near the village of Maslovo. The right flank, approximately 5 km long, ran along the bank of the Koloch River and well covered the New Smolensk Road. In the event of an unfavorable outcome of the battle, Mikhail Kutuzov could only withdraw his troops along this road. Here the Russian position was protected from the flank by a dense forest, which excluded the enemy’s outflanking maneuver. In addition, the terrain here was hilly, intersected by rivers and streams. Natural obstacles were reinforced by a number of fortifications: Maslovsky flushes, gun positions, abatis.

The position on the left flank was more open, so there were more field fortifications here. Semenovsky (Bagrationovsky) flushes were built on the left flank. The Shevardinsky redoubt was located ahead of them. However, the fortifications were not completed at the start of the battle. The center of the Russian army's position was based on the Raevsky Battery (battery of the Kurgan Heights), the French called it the Great Redoubt.

The battle formation of the Russian army was composed of three lines: the first contained infantry corps, the second - cavalry, and the third - reserves. The army's artillery was evenly distributed throughout the position.

On August 24, the battle for the Shevardinsky redoubt took place. 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. On August 25 there was a lull, both sides were preparing for the decisive battle, and the construction of defensive structures continued. According to ancient tradition, the Russian army prepared for a decisive battle as if it were a holiday. The soldiers washed, shaved, put on clean linen, confessed, etc. Napoleon Bonaparte personally reconnoitered the positions of the Russian army.

The position of the troops before the Battle of Borodino on August 26, 1812 (map source: http://www.mil.ru/).

Start of battle (5:30–9:00)

At 5:30 am, about 100 French guns opened fire on the positions of the Russian left flank. Simultaneously with the shelling of Russian positions, Delzon's division from the 4th Corps of Beauharnais moved to the village of Borodino (the center of the Russian position). The first to meet the onslaught of the enemy was His Majesty's Life Guards Jaeger Regiment under the command of one of the bravest regimental commanders, Karl Bistrom. For about half an hour, the guards repelled the onslaught of superior enemy forces (the regiment lost more than a third of its strength). Then, under the threat of being outflanked, they were forced to retreat across the Kolocha River. One of the French regiments also crossed the river. Barclay de Tolly threw three regiments of chasseurs into battle. The rangers overthrew the French (the French 106th regiment was almost completely destroyed) and burned the bridge across the river. The battle ended by 8 o'clock in the morning, the French retained the village of Borodino, but they were unable to cross the Koloch River.

The main action took place on Bagration's flushes. Flashes were called field fortifications, which consisted of two faces, each 20-30 m long, at an acute angle, the corner with its apex facing the enemy. They were defended by the 2nd Combined Grenadier Division of General Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov. Each flush was defended by one battalion. The French, after an artillery bombardment, attacked the fléches. The divisions of Generals Dessay and Compan from the 1st Corps of Davout went on the offensive. From the very beginning the battle became fierce and stubborn. It is still unknown exactly how many enemy attacks followed the Semenov flushes. The fortifications changed hands several times. Napoleon unleashed the main blow on the left flank, trying from the very beginning of the battle to turn the tide in his favor. The battle was accompanied by an artillery duel, in which dozens of guns took part (the French were constantly increasing the number of guns in this direction). In addition, several large clashes of cavalry formations took place on the left flank. The Russian cavalry was not inferior to the enemy, and the “Great Army” lost up to half of its cavalry on the Borodino field. Subsequently, Napoleon was never able to restore the strength of his cavalry.

Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov.

In the first attack, the French infantry overcame the resistance of the rangers and made their way through the Utitsky forest. However, when the divisions of generals Dessay and Compan began to line up on the edge opposite the southernmost flush, they came under heavy fire from Russian artillery and were overturned by a flank counterattack by Vorontsov's rangers. At 8 o'clock the French launched a second attack and captured the southern flush. The commander of the 2nd Army, Bagration, sent the 27th Infantry Division of General Dmitry Petrovich Neverovsky, as well as the Akhtyrsky Hussar and Novorossiysk Dragoon Regiments to help Vorontsov’s division to strike the enemy’s flank. The French were driven out of their fortifications and suffered heavy losses. So, Marshal Davout was shell-shocked, both division commanders - Dessay and Compana - and almost all the brigade commanders were wounded. Russian troops also suffered severe losses: Vorontsov’s combined grenadier division practically ceased to exist, with only about 300 people left in it. Vorontsov himself was wounded in the leg when he led the last battalion of the division in a bayonet attack.

Battle of Borodino from 5:00 to 9:00.

Battle of Borodino (9:00–12:30)

Napoleon intensified the pressure on the left flank: three infantry divisions of Ney’s 3rd Corps and three of Murat’s cavalry corps launched a third attack. The number of artillery barrels in this direction was increased to 160 units.

Bagration expected an enemy attack and ordered the commander of the 7th Infantry Corps, Raevsky (he was defending the central position), to immediately advance the entire second line of his troops to the flushes. He also instructed the commander of the 3rd Infantry Corps, Tuchkov, to immediately send the 3rd Infantry Division of General Pyotr Petrovich Konovnitsyn to the Semenovsky flashes. In addition, at the request of Bagration, Kutuzov sent the reserve Life Guards Lithuanian and Izmailovsky regiments, the 1st Combined Grenadier Division, the regiments of the 3rd Cavalry Corps and the 1st Cuirassier Division to the left flank. At the same time, the 2nd Infantry Corps of Baggovut from the 1st Army began to move from the right flank to the left.

The French, after a heavy artillery bombardment, broke into the southern flush. During this battle, General Neverovsky was wounded. The 2nd Cuirassier Division from Borozdin's 8th Corps overthrew the enemy formations. Moreover, the Russian cavalrymen almost captured the king of the Kingdom of Naples and the commander of the French cavalry, Joachim Murat; he was saved by the infantry. However, in a fierce battle, the French were able to defend the captured fortifications.

The situation was corrected by the attack of Konovnitsyn’s division; he arrived at the flushes at 10 o’clock and knocked out the enemy with a bayonet strike. During this battle, brigade commander Alexander Alekseevich Tuchkov 4th died. He led the attack of the Revel and Murom regiments and was mortally wounded in the chest (they could not take him out of the battlefield and bury him). After Bagration was wounded, Konovnitsyn led the defense of the left flank; the general, while repelling enemy attacks, was wounded twice, but did not abandon his soldiers.

Around the same time, Junot’s 8th Corps passed through the Utitsky forest to the rear of the Semenovsky flushes. The situation was saved by the 1st cavalry battery of Captain Zakharov, which at that time was moving towards the flushes. Having discovered the enemy, Zakharov deployed his guns and opened fire on the Westphalians who were building. The arriving regiments of Baggovut's 2nd Corps struck with bayonets and overthrew the enemy.

At the 11th hour, Napoleon threw up to 45 thousand bayonets and sabers into a new attack, concentrating up to 400 guns against the Russian left flank. Bagration led his forces - about 20 thousand soldiers - on a counterattack. A brutal hand-to-hand battle ensued, which lasted about an hour. During it, the advantage began to lean in favor of the Russian troops, but Bagration's wound - a cannonball fragment crushed the hero's tibia in his left leg (the hero died of blood poisoning on September 12 (25), 1812) - led to the confusion of the troops and they began to retreat. Konovnitsyn took command. He withdrew the soldiers behind the Semenovsky ravine, the flashes remained with the French. Behind the ravine there were reserve batteries and guards regiments; the French did not dare to attack the new Russian positions on the move. There was a brief lull on the left flank.

Pyotr Petrovich Konovnitsyn.

Battle for the Kurgan Battery. Napoleon, in order to support the attack on the Semenov flushes and prevent the Russian command from transferring troops from the center to the left flank, gave the order to his left wing to strike the Russian troops at Kurgan Heights and capture it. This position was defended by the 26th Infantry Division of General Ivan Fedorovich Paskevich from the 7th Raevsky Corps. At the beginning of the battle, the battery itself had 18 guns. Units of the 4th Corps of the Viceroy of Italy Eugene Beauharnais went on the offensive. Enemy forces crossed the Koloch River and struck the Great Redoubt.

By this point, Raevsky had sent his entire second line to defend Semenovsky flushes. The first enemy attack was repelled by artillery fire. Beauharnais almost immediately launched a second attack. Kutuzov brought into battle the entire horse artillery reserve of 60 guns and part of the light artillery of the 1st Army. However, the enemy, despite heavy artillery fire, was able to break into Russian positions.

At this time, the chief of staff of the 1st Western Army, Alexey Petrovich Ermolov, and the chief of artillery of the entire army, Alexander Ivanovich Kutaisov, were passing by the height. They organized and led a counterattack by the 3rd battalion of the Ufa Infantry Regiment and the 18th Jaeger Regiment. At the same time, the regiments of Paskevich and Vasilchikov hit the enemy flanks. Russian soldiers recaptured the redoubt with a bayonet attack, and the enemy suffered heavy losses. Brigadier General Bonamy was captured. During the battle, Kutaisov died. Ermolov led the defense of the battery until he was shell-shocked, then he handed over command to General Pyotr Gavrilovich Likhachev. Paskevich's division was almost completely destroyed, Raevsky's corps was taken to the rear and replaced by Likhachev's 24th Infantry Division.

Battle for the Utitsky Kurgan. In the very south of the Russian position, the 5th Corps (Polish) of General Poniatowski moved around the left flank of the Russian position and at about 8 o'clock in the morning near the village of Utitsa collided with the 3rd Infantry Corps of General N.A. Tuchkov 1st. At this moment, Tuchkov had already sent Konovnitsyn’s 3rd Infantry Division to Bagration’s disposal and had only one division – the 1st Grenadier Division. The enemy pushed Tuchkov's soldiers out of Utitsa. Russian soldiers retreated to the Utitsky Kurgan. All attempts by the Poles to move forward and capture the mound were repulsed. However, at about 11 o'clock Poniatowski, having received the support of Junot's 8th Corps, was able to capture the Utitsky Kurgan. Tuchkov personally led the counterattack of the Pavlovsk Grenadier Regiment and recaptured the position. But in this attack the brave commander received a mortal wound. He was replaced by Baggovut. He left the position only around one o'clock in the afternoon, when it became known about the fall of Semenov flushes.

Nikolai Alekseevich Tuchkov.

At about 12 noon, Kutuzov and Napoleon regrouped their troops on the battlefield. Kutuzov sent reinforcements to the defenders of Kurgan Heights and strengthened the left flank, where units of the 2nd Army retreated beyond the Semenovsky ravine.

Battle of Borodino from 9:00 to 12:30.

To be continued…

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 entire country. The enemy's invasion of Russia, the Battle of Borodino, the fire of Moscow, and the intense struggle with Napoleon's armies caused a powerful popular upsurge.

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

The Russians chose a defensive plan of war, and the Military Command drew up a disposition for the deployment of three Western armies. 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 of the roads 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.

Bagration's 2nd Western Army (about 45 thousand with 180-200 guns) defended a line 100 km south of the 1st Army. It was assumed that it 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 further south, 200 km from Bagration in the Lutsk region in Volyn. Its main task is to protect Kyiv from a possible invasion by Austrian troops.

On June 11-18, the French “Grand 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 ascertained the situation, Napoleon decided not to allow the Russian armies to unite. He brought out Murat's cavalry against Barclay de Tolly's army, and Napoleon - 3 columns of troops, which were subordinate to Marshal Davout, against Bagration's army. The French emperor hoped with this maneuver to strike the flank of the troops of the 2nd Army moving to the north.

Under the current conditions, both Russian armies were forced to begin a retreat to unite. By June 29, the 1st Army concentrated in the Dris 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 covered 80 km, the army reached Nikolaev and the next day began crossing the Neman. But it soon became known that the enemy was trying to cut off all escape routes. Then Bagration decided to fight his way through. July 14 near the village. Saltanovka, Bagration, rushing out of encirclement, dealt Davout’s troops a serious blow, and on 13-14, when Bagration’s forces were crossing the Dnieper, the 1st Army fought several heated rearguard battles. On July 13, at Ostrovshchina, General Osterman-Tolstoy ordered his troops to “stand and die”, holding back Murat’s attacks. The next day the battle of Kakuvyachine took place. The Russians retreated to Vitebsk, where Napoleon approached on July 15.

However, the French failed to force a general battle here. On July 22, breaking away from the French, the 1st and 2nd Russian armies united near Smolensk. Initial period the war is over. The enemy troops retreated beyond the Western Dvina-Dnieper line. Napoleon achieved great political success. Lithuania, Belarus and most of Courland were in his hands.

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

For the Russians, Moscow became the main operational area. It turned out that beyond the line of the Dvina and Dnieper the Russian army did not have a reserve base. The question of basing and new operational lines arose again. 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, undoubtedly, was the famous battle of August 26 (September 7) near Mozhaisk, near the village of Borodino.

Pursuing the retreating Russian troops, Napoleon always strived for a general 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 achieving victory, since he had a significant superiority in forces. Having delved almost 1000 km into the vast expanses of Russia, Napoleon faced the fact of a gradual equalization of the balance of forces. However, before the Battle of Borodino, the French army was still numerically superior to the Russian one, and, in addition, Napoleon hoped for the qualitative superiority of his troops and command staff. Therefore, he was firmly confident in his victory and set himself the goal of completely defeating the Russians in a decisive battle and thereby opening the way to Moscow, after the capture of which he could 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 roads 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 skillfully organizing the battle in a pre-selected position. The goal of the battle was the defeat of Napoleon's attacking army and the defense of Moscow.

Upon arrival in Tsarevo-Zaimishche, Kutuzov rode around the intended position on horseback and became convinced that it was impossible to accept a battle there. The commander-in-chief decided to continue the retreat until more favorable conditions.

On August 22, Kutuzov with his main forces approached the village of Borodino. The commander of the Russian rearguard, General P. P. Konovnitsyn, having withstood two heated battles with the French vanguard: at Gridnev, about 25 km from Borodin, and at the Kolotsky Monastery, about 10 km from Borodin, 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 Borodino region (located 12 km west of Mozhaisk) is very 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 part. The river flows through the village. Kolocha. It has a high and steep bank, which well covered the right flank of the Russian army position. The left flank approached a shallow forest, heavily overgrown with dense bushes 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 flanking move. Most of the tributaries of the Kolocha - the Voina River, the Semenovsky, Kamenka, Ognik and other streams, the banks of which were densely overgrown with bushes, crossed the Borodino field from south to north and therefore could serve as a convenient position for riflemen. From west to east through the village. The Great, or New, Smolensk Road, which was of great strategic importance, passed through Valuevo. Almost parallel to it, about 4 km south of the village of Borodina, ran the Old Smolensk Road. 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 area was also wooded. It made it possible to successfully position and well camouflage reserves.

On the right flank, well protected by the high banks of 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 placing his troops in this way, the commander sought to force the French emperor to conduct a frontal attack with his main forces in a narrow defile between Koloch and the Utitsky forest, excluding the possibility of covering the flanks of the Russian position. The troops of the right flank, occupying a position near the New Smolensk road, represented a strong group of infantry and cavalry, which posed a serious threat to the left wing of 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, the troops of the right flank could be transferred to the left at the moment when the enemy launched an offensive there with the main forces. The most vulnerable part of Borodino's position was its left flank. Kutuzov understood this well and took measures to strengthen his position engineering structures. On the left flank, near the village. Semenovskoe, three flashes (earthen 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 flashes there was a forward fortification - the Shevardinsky redoubt. On the right flank, near the village. 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 suffered very heavy losses (killed, sick, deserters). Significant detachments were allocated to guard the extended communications supporting 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, - Voenizdat, 1947. P. 88.) But these were selected soldiers, the strongest, most persistent, seasoned in battles, confident in their own invincibility, in the outstanding qualities of their generals and officers, and in the brilliant military talent of their leader. They believed Napoleon, who said that they would face the last crushing one; in Russian, after which they will find rich booty in Moscow, a choir of the apartment, generous rewards and happy return home. Thus configured, the well-trained and organized French army at Borodino was a formidable force. She was eager to fight in order to overthrow the last obstacle - the Russian army, which was blocking the road to Moscow and to peace. 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 an equally formidable force confronted the French on the Borodino field. The Russian army, reorganized in the period 1807-1813, was not much inferior to the French. And in courage and boundless readiness to defend their 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 Suvorov’s and Kutuzov’s campaigns, especially non-commissioned officers. Many of them had already fought with 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 looked up 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 constant retreats. 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 rather than let the French get to Moscow. The officers asked Kutuzov's permission to dress in ceremonial uniforms for battle. The soldiers cleaned and sharpened their weapons, put their 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 a forward fortification. Behind him lay the entire left flank of the Russians, where near the village. Semenovskoe fortifications were erected. On August 24, a battle took place between the troops of General M.D. Gorchakov 2nd and the main forces of Napoleon for Shevardino. Until nightfall, the Russians held back the French attacks, thereby 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 deploying to attack on the front west of Borodino, Aleksinka, Shevardino and to the south. On August 25, both sides prepared for battle, reconnaissance was completed and final orders were given. The French carried out 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 the action of 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, supported by powerful artillery fire, break through the Russian combat position in the Semyonovsky flushes, Kurgan battery. Following this, introduce reserves into the breakthrough, direct a strike to the north at the flank of the Russian group covering the New Smolensk road, press it to the Moscow River and destroy it. At the same time, launch auxiliary attacks on the flanks against Borodino and Utitsa, of which the attack on Utitsa, which would facilitate a breakthrough from the Semyonov flushes from the south, was to be especially important.

KUTUZOV'S PLAN. By the evening of August 24, Kutuzov quite accurately determined the direction of the French main attack. 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 through stubborn resistance from limited forces and frustrating him. At the same time, maintain complete freedom of maneuver for your reserves, positioning them out of reach of the enemy during the battle. Accordingly, Kutuzov deployed a large contingent of troops, reliably covering the New Smolensk road.

On August 26 at 5:30 a.m. the sun came out. Napoleon's order was read to the troops. It said: “Warriors! This is the battle you've been wanting. Victory depends on you. She is necessary for you, she will provide us with everything we need: comfortable apartments and a quick return to our homeland. Act as you acted at Austerlitz, Friedland, Vitebsk, Smolensk. Let later posterity proudly remember your exploits to this day. Let it be said about each of you: he was in the great battle near Moscow!” (Rastunov I.I. Patriotic War of 1812. M., 1987. P. 22.)

Dawn broke, the fog cleared, the first ray of sun flashed. “This is the sun of Austerlitz!” - Napoleon exclaimed. A heavy gun thundered 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 Russian right flank on the village of Borodino. The soldiers of the Life Guards Jaeger Regiment entered into a shootout with the enemy, and then into hand-to-hand combat. In his report to Alexander I about the battle of Borodino, Kutuzov will write that the Life Guards of the Jaeger 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 across the river. Kolocha. The French, on the shoulders of the retreating troops, burst into their positions. But at that moment the 1st Jaeger Regiment arrived to the aid of the Life Guards Jaeger Regiment. Having united with the retreating forces, he rushed at the enemy. With a cry of “Hurray!”, the Russians not only drove the enemy from their positions, but also crossed the river themselves. Kolocha, they broke into the French positions. However, it was very risky to remain there, and the Russian soldiers moved back, and the last ones to leave set fire to the bridge across the river. During the entire Battle of Borodino in this sector, the French and Russians limited themselves to skirmishing. The attack on the village of Borodino ended. However, this enemy offensive was of a demonstrative nature. The main events unfolded at the Bagration flushes of the 1st battery of Raevsky.

At 6 o'clock, Marshal Davout's troops began attacking the flushes. The flushes were defended by the combined grenadier division of M. S. Vorontsov and the 27th infantry division of D. N. Neverovsky. Despite the enemy's triple superiority, the Russians fought courageously and were undaunted. They met the attacking columns of the French with powerful artillery fire, and after approaching, they rushed at the enemy with bayonets. The enemy could not stand it and, leaving piles of dead and wounded, retreated in disorder. The first French attack on flushes failed.

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

At 7 o'clock the enemy resumed the attack on the flushes. With the aim of heavy losses, he managed to capture the left flank of the Semyonov fortifications. By order of Bagration, several battalions counterattacked the enemy on the flank. The taken aback, the French were driven back, suffering new heavy casualties. The second attack also ended in bloody French failure. Napoleon was amazed at the stubborn resistance of the Russians. Having reinforced 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 promoted the 1st Grenadier and 3rd Cuirassier divisions from the reserve to the front line. Here he also sent 8 battalions from Raevsky’s 7th Corps, which defended north of the flashes and, in addition, stationed Konovnitsyn’s 3rd Infantry Division near the village of Semenovskoye. Kutuzov, who closely followed the progress 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 repelling the next attack of the French, Bagration had to rely only on his own strength.

At 8 o'clock, after an 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 towards Bagration's flushes. Russian artillerymen, having waited for the enemy for the nearest grape shot, opened deadly fire on him. At the same time, the infantry fired several volleys. The French fell in dozens. But we must note the courage of the enemy. Under grapeshot fire, the French calmly continued to move towards the flushes, where they, at the cost of incredible efforts, managed to break into. But at that moment Count Vorontsov with his grenadier battalions struck with bayonets. The strong onslaught mixed up the ranks of Napoleonic soldiers and forced him to retreat back in confusion. Then the French tried with a dashing cavalry charge to capture the flushes that had just been recaptured from them. The French cavalry, quickly rushing towards the Russians, was met by the Life Guards Izmailovsky, Lithuanian and Finnish regiments, which, lined up in a square, bristling with bayonets, were waiting for the enemy. Having let the enemy approach a rifle shot, they opened fire, which forced the enemy to retreat. The retreating French cavalry and the cuirassiers who arrived in time turned around and 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 bayoneted.

At this time, Poniatowski tried several times to take the Utitsky mound. Having surrounded the mound on all sides, the enemy launched attacks on the 1st Grenadier Division. In his report, Kutuzov later wrote: “The brave grenadiers, having waited for the enemy, opened the most brutal fire on him and, without hesitating at all, rushed at him with bayonets. The enemy could not withstand such a rapid attack, left the battlefield 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 areas of auxiliary attacks and a decisive failure in the direction of the main attack. Both commanders begin to bring in fresh forces here.

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

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

Around 10 o'clock the French began a large attack of flushes. This time, against Bagration’s 18 thousand soldiers and 300 guns on a 1.5 km front, Napoleon moved 45 thousand of his soldiers and 400 guns. The Russians met the enemy with a crushing bayonet strike. An oncoming hand-to-hand fight ensued. A participant in the Battle of Borodino, Russian officer F.I. Glinka wrote: “...The picture was terrible of that part of the Borodino field near the village of Semenovskoye, where the battle was boiling like in a cauldron. Thick smoke and bloody steam obscured the midday sun. Some kind of faded, uncertain twilight lay over the field of horrors, over the field of death. In this twilight, nothing was visible except formidable columns, advancing and defeated, fleeing squadrons... The distance presents a view of complete chaos: torn, broken French squadrons crash, worry and disappear in the smoke, giving way to infantry marching orderly!.. Having comprehended the intention of the marshals and seeing the formidable movement of the French forces, Prince Bagration conceived a great deed. The orders were given, and our entire left wing, in its entire length, moved from its place and advanced at a rapid pace with bayonets. We agreed!.. “There is no language to describe this dump, this crash, this lingering crash, this last struggle of a thousand! Everyone grabbed the fatal scales to pull them to their side... And the Russians did not give up an inch of ground.” (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 Ney’s corps and M.-V.’s cavalry. -N. Latour-Maubourg and E. -A. -M. The Nansoutis rushed into the resulting gap. The Russians had to retreat under enemy pressure. Konovnitsyn temporarily took command of the Semenov flushes. A very difficult task fell to his lot: until a new general was appointed to replace the wounded Bagration, while the forces allocated by the command from the reserve moved to the aid of the 2nd Army, he needed to hold back the enemy rushing forward at any cost.

Soon, Dokhturov, who was appointed to replace Bagration, arrived on the left flank and 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 Raevsky’s battery; approximately in the middle of the 7th French attack on Bagration’s flushes, Barclay de Tolly noticed the enemy’s movement towards the center of the Russian position. To reinforce the Russian center, 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 the 2nd and 3rd cavalry corps were located, and behind them were regiments of the cavalry guard and horse guards. As soon as the Russians settled in new positions, they were subjected to brutal artillery fire, after which the enemy advanced in dense columns towards Raevsky’s battery and overthrew the 26th Division, which could withstand its superior forces. A difficult situation has arisen.

Kutuzov ordered General Ermolov 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 Ermolov had to take command. Ermolov took with him three companies of horse artillery.

Driving past Raevsky's battery, Ermolov saw that the position had been captured by the French and the Russians were fleeing. Realizing the danger of the current situation, the brave general immediately began to act. He rushed to the 6th Corps, 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 Jaeger Regiments. The enemy could not use the guns of the captured battery, but, having pulled up his light artillery, began to shower Russian troops from the flanks. The three cavalry companies accompanying Ermolov stopped on the left flank of his small position and, diverting fire to themselves, made it possible to capture the lost battery. Ermolov recalled later: “The battery and the slope of the hill to the top were covered with enemy bodies. All those who resisted paid with their lives, only one was captured, Brigadier General Bonamy, who received twelve wounds with bayonets. Our lost guns were all returned, but the damage from my side to some of the people was terrible” (Borodino. Documents, letters, memories. P. 358.)

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

Thus, the 3rd stage of the battle ended with a major French success in the main direction. The Russian front was broken through, and the breakthrough was only weakly closed east of Semenovsky. It took time for new reinforcements sent here by Kutuzov to arrive. 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 on the Semenov flushes.

But then 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 was detained here by the French (more precisely, by the Italian units of the French Army). The Cossacks, breaking into the rear of the French, caused panic there. Napoleon stopped the 3rd attack of 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 third time. As a result of this attack, by 17:00 in the afternoon, the defenders of the battery were almost completely destroyed, and the French took possession of it. The Russians, without panic, retreated by order of the command. Next, the French tried to attack the Russians on their new position, but unsuccessfully. At the end of the day, Poniatowski managed to capture the Utitsky Kurgan.

By 18 o'clock the Russians were firmly entrenched in the position of Gorki - Old Smolensk Road. Seeing the futility of further attacks, Napoleon ordered them to be stopped and the troops to be withdrawn to the river. Shooting at night. The Borodino battle is over.

The opponents dispersed, leaving mountains of corpses and wounded on the battlefield. In this battle, Russian losses were no less than French losses. Different sources give completely different figures for losses on both sides. However, it is officially known that after the flight of 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. P. 26.)

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

The Battle of Borodino went down in the history of the liberation struggle of the peoples of our country as one of its most striking pages. The legendary feat of Borodin's heroes became an inspiring example of patriotic fulfillment of duty to the Motherland for subsequent generations of Russian people.

The largest event of the Patriotic War of 1812 occurred on August 26, 125 kilometers from Moscow. The Battle of Borodino Field is one of the bloodiest battles of the 19th century. Its significance in Russian history is colossal; the loss of Borodino threatened the complete capitulation of the Russian Empire.

The commander-in-chief of the Russian troops, M.I. Kutuzov, planned to make further French offensives impossible, while the enemy wanted to completely defeat the Russian army and capture Moscow. The forces of the parties were almost equal to one hundred thirty-two thousand Russians against one hundred thirty-five thousand French, the number of guns was 640 against 587, respectively.

At 6 o'clock in the morning the French began their offensive. In order to clear the road to Moscow, they tried to break through the center of the Russian troops and bypass their left flank, but the attempt ended in failure. The most terrible battles took place on Bagration's flashes and General Raevsky's battery. Soldiers were dying at the rate of 100 per minute. By six o'clock in the evening the French had captured only the central battery. Later, Bonaparte ordered the withdrawal of forces, but Mikhail Illarionovich also decided to retreat to Moscow.

In fact, the battle did not give victory to anyone. The losses were enormous for both sides, Russia mourned the death of 44 thousand soldiers, France and its allies mourned the death of 60 thousand soldiers.

The Tsar demanded another decisive battle, so the entire general headquarters was convened in Fili, near Moscow. At this council the fate of Moscow was decided. Kutuzov opposed the battle; the army was not ready, he believed. Moscow was surrendered without a fight - this decision became the most correct in recent years.

Patriotic War.

Battle of Borodino 1812 (about the Battle of Borodino) for children

The Battle of Borodino of 1812 is one of the large-scale battles of the Patriotic War of 1812. It went down in history as one of the bloodiest events in the nineteenth century. The battle took place between the Russians and the French. It began on September 7, 1812, near the village of Borodino. This date personifies the victory of the Russian people over the French. The significance of the Battle of Borodino is enormous, since if the Russian Empire had been defeated, this would have resulted in complete surrender.

On September 7, Napoleon and his army attacked the Russian Empire without declaring war. Due to their unpreparedness for battle, Russian troops were forced to retreat deeper into the country. This action caused complete misunderstanding and indignation on the part of the people, and Alexander was the first to appoint M.I. as commander-in-chief. Kutuzova.

At first, Kutuzov also had to retreat in order to gain time. By this time, Napoleonic army had already suffered significant losses and the number of its soldiers had decreased. Taking advantage of this moment, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army decides to fight the final battle near the village of Borodino. On September 7, 1812, early in the morning, a grandiose battle began. Russian soldiers withstood the enemy's attack for six hours. The losses were colossal on both sides. The Russians were forced to retreat, but were still able to maintain the ability to continue the battle. Napoleon did not achieve his main goal; he was unable to defeat the army.

Kutuzov decided to involve small partisan detachments in the battle. Thus, by the end of December, Napoleon’s army was practically destroyed, and its remainder was put to flight. However, the result of this battle is controversial to this day. It was unclear who should be considered the winner, since both Kutuzov and Napoleon officially declared their victory. But still, the French army was expelled from the Russian Empire without capturing the desired lands. Later, Bonaparte will remember the Battle of Borodino as one of the most terrible in his life. The consequences of the battle were much more severe for Napoleon than for the Russians. The morale of the soldiers was completely broken. The huge losses of people were irreparable. The French lost fifty-nine thousand men, forty-seven of whom were generals. The Russian army lost only thirty-nine thousand people, of whom twenty-nine were generals.

Currently, the day of the battle of Borodino is widely celebrated in Russia. Reconstructions of these military events are regularly carried out on the battlefield.

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