On this day 204 years ago, one of the battles took place, which forever entered not only textbooks on Russian history, but the very historical memory of Russia. We are talking, of course, about the Battle of Borodino, the day of which is celebrated as the Day of Military Glory of Russia on the basis of Federal Law No. 32-FZ of March 13, 1995. Despite the fact that the Battle of Borodino itself on September 8, 1812 did not actually reveal the winner, it proved that the invincibility of the huge Napoleonic army is nothing more than a myth.
The most famous statement of Napoleon, who was eager to conquer Russia, about the battle at Borodino is a statement published in the writings of the historian Mikhnevich:
Of all my battles, the most terrible is the one I gave near Moscow. The French in it showed themselves worthy to win, and the Russians acquired the right to be invincible … Of the fifty battles I have given, in the battle of Moscow (the French) showed the most valor and won the least success.
Valor was lacking not only on the part of the French, but because of the least success, Napoleon hit the bull's eye. According to historians, having brought about 135 thousand troops to Moscow, the French emperor came across the comparable forces of the Russian army - up to 125 thousand people. At the same time, Kutuzov's army had a certain advantage in weapons and strategic position. It is not for nothing that the Battle of Borodino is called one of the bloodiest battles in the history of mankind - each of the armies that met in a bloody battle near Moscow lost up to a third of their personnel (including sanitary losses).
In different historiographic sources, the losses of the parties are estimated approximately the same: the losses of Kutuzov - about 42 thousand killed and wounded, the loss of Napoleon - about 40 thousand.
The battle of Borodino began with a shot at about 6 am from the French Sorbier battery. After that, the French infantry launched an attack on Borodino and Semyonovskie flushes.
After about 2 hours, Borodino was in the hands of the Napoleonic army. In this direction, the French were opposed by the Life Guards Jaeger Regiment, which could not withstand the onslaught of two regiments of the French infantry division. It came to an open bayonet attack, during which Russian soldiers were pushed back to the right bank of the Koloch River. Trying to build on the success, the French faced the approaching forces of other Russian jaeger regiments, destroying up to 80% of the personnel of the 106th linear regiment of Napoleon's army. The French were driven off the right bank of the Kolocha, and they abandoned further attempts to regain their advantage on the right bank.
Semyonovskie flushes were defended by the 2nd division of General Vorontsov. The soldiers took the fight with the support of the combined grenadier battalions. The battles went on with varying success. Until now, scientists argue about how many times the French tried to attack Russian positions in this direction.
To help their infantry on the offensive, the Napoleonic army used an increasing number of guns with each new attack on the flashes.
From the records of that time:
The French attacked fiercely, but Russian soldiers more than once accompanied them on bayonets to the forest.
During the battle, General Vorontsov was wounded in the leg. By 12 o'clock, no more than 300 people remained from his division. Realizing that the army was suffering, in fact, senseless losses, MI Kutuzov gave the order to withdraw the regiments beyond the Semyonovsky ravine. At the same time, the soldiers took advantageous positions on the heights, which were immediately attacked by Napoleon's infantry and cavalry units.
Against this background, the Cossacks of Ataman Platov and the cavalry of General Uvarov were sent into battle against the so-called Italian wing of Napoleon's army. Cossacks and cavalrymen crushed the left wing of the French, and Napoleon had to engage in a regrouping of forces, which allowed Kutuzov to make retaliatory maneuvers. The maneuvers of the Russian army resulted in the strengthening of the left wing and the center of the defensive positions.
After 14:00, the hussars and dragoons of General Dorokhov carried out a successful attack on the French cuirassiers, forcing them to retreat to the positions where the batteries were located. At this moment, the French artillery became more active, seeking to stop the counter-offensive in this sector of the battle. Russian cannons also started talking, which turned the battle into an artillery duel without close combat. After a while, infantry and cavalry attacks on Russian positions resumed.
At about 16 o'clock, the French captured Kurgan Hill and launched an offensive against the positions of the Russian army to the east of the object. The cuirassiers of General Shevich responded to the Napoleonic infantry. The guards defeated the Saxon infantry sent by Napoleon to the Russian positions. The remnants of the attackers' formation were forced to return to their original positions.
By about 6 o'clock in the evening, the battle began to lose strength. The battle finally turned into a rifle and artillery firefight. For about 4 hours, the cannonballs flew over a battlefield strewn with thousands of bloody bodies. By 22 o'clock, Napoleon realized that, having lost about 40 thousand killed and wounded, near Moscow, he advanced about a kilometer, having in his assets the captured Borodino, Semyonovskie flashes and Kurgan heights, destroyed almost to the ground. Trying to organize a new attack from these positions, reduced to zero, had no practical sense, and Napoleon decided to withdraw his “Great Army” to the starting lines, fearing night raids by the Cossacks.
At the same moment, on the orders of Kutuzov, Russian troops retreated to Mozhaisk. At that time, the sides did not yet know about the enemy's withdrawal. It was only later that it became clear that the Borodino field remained "no-man's", having turned into a huge cemetery for infantrymen, cavalrymen and grenadiers of both armies.
Despite the actual outcome of a draw, it is safe to say that at Borodino Napoleon's army was largely drained of blood and lost that feeling, that halo of invincibility that it acquired over the long years of military campaigns. From the moment of the Battle of Borodino, a clear degradation of the "Great Army" has been noted, the remnants of which, following the results of the Patriotic War of 1812, barely carried their feet from the Russian land, being "escorted" by the imperial army of Russia to Paris.
