The protagonist of Preussisch Eylau, the first battle that Napoleon could not win, was undoubtedly a Russian soldier. A real professional, whom, since the times of Peter the Great, it was customary not only to teach military affairs for a long time and persistently, but also to feed, dress and shoe, and also provide the best weapons at that time.
Under the command of such generals as Rumyantsev and Suvorov, and then their disciples, the Russian soldier could defeat anyone. Companions of Napoleon had time to feel this on themselves, and the campaign of 1805 was not easy for him, and at Austerlitz everything was decided by the tragic mistakes of the headquarters and the actual elimination of M. I. Kutuzov, then a general from infantry, from command.
Under Eylau, Russian soldiers did everything they could for victory, and even more. Fortunately, they did not have to repeat Weyrother's unsuccessful Austerlitz experiment, they only had to withstand. In this essay, we will not once again list examples of the amazing resilience of Russian soldiers, but only recall what the commander of the army, General Bennigsen, and only some of his closest associates, as well as the last of the commanders of the ally - Prussia, General von Lestok.
General Leonty Bennigsen, who stood at the head of the Russian army shortly before the skirmish at Eylau, can hardly be attributed to the "forgotten" heroes. Rather, overly patriotic historians preferred not to include him in the first row, although a lot has been written about Bennigsen, including on the pages of Military Review (https://topwar.ru/109032-general-bennigsen-kovarstvo-i-otvaga. html).
A native of Hanover, the same age as Kutuzov (born in 1745), he entered the Russian service as a 28-year-old major, having behind him little experience of participation in the Seven Years War. Bennigsen was once better known as one of the main participants in the conspiracy against Paul I. It was even believed that Alexander I never forgave him, which, however, did not prevent Bennigsen from being given high appointments and showered with awards. However, Bennigsen never received the field marshal's baton, unlike Kutuzov and the much less deserved Wittgenstein and Saken.
And yet he has a very worthy place in the military history of Russia, and his contemporaries, it seems, generally considered him one of the best military leaders in Russia. Even Leo Tolstoy drew attention to this on the pages of War and Peace: “… They said, on the contrary, that after all there was no one more efficient and more experienced than Bennigsen, and no matter how you turn, you will come to him …”, - this is just one of the many judgments about the candidacy of the commander-in-chief of the Russian army in 1812.
Even before the confrontation with Napoleon, during the first Polish campaign of 1792-1794, he was praised by Suvorov, who wrote that Bennigsen "discovered the qualities of a good cavalry officer - ardor, courage, speed." The general did not lose these qualities by the beginning of the 1806 campaign in Poland, and under Pultusk with a 40-thousandth corps, he inflicted a severe defeat on the Lann corps, reporting this as a victory over Napoleon himself. For which he received the Order of St. George, 2nd degree, as well as the command of the army.
However, already during the operation, which in the first days of February 1807 led the Russians and the French to Eylau, Bennigsen managed to miss several opportunities at once to beat Napoleon's marshals Ney and Bernadotte in parts. The general tried to cover Konigsberg with all his might, and also looked for connections with Lestock's Prussian corps, reinforced by several Russian regiments. The Prussians tried to rely on the coastal part of East Prussia, covering Danzig, from where an uninterrupted supply from England was established.
During the days of a slow retreat to the outskirts of Königsberg and the Russian border, General P. I. Bagration, at the head of the rearguard of Bennigsen's army, had to fight off the superior forces of the enemy more than once. On the night of February 8 (all dates - according to the new style) Bagration managed to preserve the burning Eylau for the Russians - in fact, an excellent defensive position. However, as a result of a terrible night of confusion, when Commander Bennigsen, having almost no idea about the case, actually removed himself from the leadership of the battle, the town was abandoned.
But perhaps, when the next morning the strongest snowstorm began, it even played into the hands of the Russians, since the artillery received an unexpected opportunity to almost point-blank shoot the French columns emerging from the narrow streets of Eylau. By that time, having a French report intercepted by the Cossacks, Bennigsen knew that Napoleon was planning to deliver the main blow to his left flank. For this, the 3rd corps of Marshal Davout hastily advanced to the battlefield. At the same time, the right flank was threatened with bypassing Ney, a parallel course to which von Lestock's regiments were moving towards the outskirts of Eylau.
Davout's blow was preceded by the attacks of the corps of Marshal Soult - on the right Russian wing and Marshal Augereau - in the center. It was this corps that, due to the blizzard that broke out, moved to the right from Eylau and came under the destructive canister fire of a 70-gun Russian battery. Bennigsen, whose headquarters was located near the village of Auklappen, several times went directly to the lines of the Russian infantry regiments, not letting go of control of the battle, and this is recognized by all memoirists, up to the very critical Ermolov and Davydov.
Bennigsen gave orders to the commander of the Russian reserve, General Dokhturov, who led a counterattack against the cavalry of Murat and Bessieres, which almost broke through the Russian center. After the divisions of Davout's corps entered the battle and the entire left flank of the Russian position was practically overturned, two episodes happened that still remain the subject of controversy for historians. Even during the annual reconstruction of the battle in the vicinity of modern Bagrationovsk, disputes arise as to how to portray Bennigsen.
It was at the very moment when Davout's troops captured Cuchitten and almost cut off the communications of the Russian army, Bennigsen hurried to the rear, and if you believe his memoirs, towards Lestock's suitable corps. There is still controversy about whether Bennigsen and Lestok met. Somewhere in the storerooms of German museums there are even paintings depicting this meeting, but critics of the Russian commander prefer to argue that he either got lost, or simply fled from the battlefield, considering the case lost. Let's take it as the main thing that Bennigsen returned.
Nevertheless, the old Prussian Lestok, who was already almost 70, arrived in time, and really rushed to Davout in the forefront of his hussars. Anton Wilhelm von Lestock, this old Prussian hussar whose ancestors were fugitive French Huguenots, died peacefully at the age of 77, six months before the end of the Napoleonic wars. But even at 75, he continued to fight Napoleon, and the famous: “a hussar who was not killed at 30 is not a hussar, but rubbish,” this is exactly about him.
Recall that these words are attributed just to the French - and Marshal Lann, and General Lasalle, and von Lestock was just lucky. It was lucky not to be killed at the age of 30 and survived as part of the Zieten regiment, which, even under Frederick the Great, was the first to be thrown into the thick of it. Lestok was lucky to be together with the Russians on the battlefield near Eylau and rightfully deserve the glory of the winner of Napoleon, or rather, one of the winners.
And Bennigsen, having returned to the headquarters, which had already moved to the rear of Tuchkov's right-flank corps, had time to the next controversial episode. However, there is much less debate about Bennigsen's role in this case; rather, they share the laurels. And they are divided by two much more famous, already in 1812, generals - Kutaisov and Ermolov.
Kutaisov ended up under Eylau as a commander of horse artillery, with the rank of major general, although he was only 22 years old. However, there is nothing to be surprised at, since the guard of Colonel Kutaisov was already 15 years old - thanks to the patronage of his father, the all-powerful favorite under Paul I. to another, from one battery to the other. And yet, no one said and will never say that his cavalry companies were at the right time in the right place without the knowledge of Kutaisov. However, without the knowledge of Commander-in-Chief Bennigsen, they could hardly be there either.
As for Yermolov, he is a 30-year-old veteran of the first Polish company of the 1790s and the Persian campaign, an ally of Suvorov who survived disgrace and arrest, could well have been under Eylau in the same rank as Major General Kutaisov. However, shortly before the second Polish company, with great difficulty, after nine years of service in one rank - lieutenant colonel, he finally got a promotion - to colonel.
And under the command of Ermolov was given only … a company of horse artillery, and he simply could not help but be jealous of Kutaisov. From the memoirs of the future conqueror of the Caucasus, it follows that it was he who made the necessary decision and brought two more to the retreating left flank, along with his cavalry company, in order to “strike at Davust”.
We will not even try to find out which of them - Kutaisov or Ermolov - swiftly drove 36 cannons of horse artillery under Auklappen and repulsed a new onslaught of Friant and Moran's divisions. Much more important is something else - the heroes of Eylau must be considered not only them, but also Lestok and even General Bennigsen. Even if he gave the order to retreat from the bloody field, where Napoleon for the first time could not win.
Field Marshal Kutuzov, who, by the way, fiercely hated Bennigsen, but at the same time tolerated him at the head of his headquarters in 1812, also ordered to retreat from Borodino. He also ordered to leave Moscow, for which he was hated by literally everyone. Kutuzov then endured insults for a long time, not responding to accusations and slander, in order to eventually "defeat the invincible." But for the first time such a definition applied precisely to Bennigsen.
