Who led the Battle of Borodino. Borodino field

“The RUSSIANS HAVE THE GLORY OF BEING UNDEFEATED”

After the battle of Smolensk, the retreat of the Russian army continued. This caused open discontent in the country. Under pressure from public opinion, Alexander I appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army. Kutuzov’s task was not only to stop Napoleon’s further advance, but also to expel him from Russian borders. He also adhered to retreat tactics, but the army and the whole country expected a decisive battle from him. Therefore, he gave the order to look for a position for a general battle, which was found near the village. Borodino, 124 kilometers from Moscow.

The Russian army approached the village of Borodino on August 22, where, at the suggestion of Colonel K.F. Tolya, a flat position with a length of up to 8 km was chosen. On the left flank, the Borodino field was covered by the impenetrable Utitsky forest, and on the right, which ran along the bank of the river. Kolochi, Maslovsky flashes were erected - arrow-shaped earthen fortifications. In the center of the position, fortifications were also built, which received different names: Central, Kurgan Heights, or Raevsky’s battery. Semenov's (Bagration's) flushes were erected on the left flank. Ahead of the entire position, on the left flank, near the village of Shevardino, a redoubt also began to be built, which was supposed to play the role of a forward fortification. However, the approaching army of Napoleon, after a fierce battle on August 24, managed to take possession of it.

Disposition of Russian troops. The right flank was occupied by the battle formations of the 1st Western Army of General M.B. Barclay de Tolly, on the left flank there were units of the 2nd Western Army under the command of P.I. Bagration, and the Old Smolensk Road near the village of Utitsa was covered by the 3rd Infantry Corps of Lieutenant General N.A. Tuchkova. Russian troops occupied a defensive position and were deployed in the shape of the letter "G". This situation was explained by the fact that the Russian command sought to control the Old and New Smolensk roads leading to Moscow, especially since there was a serious fear of the enemy’s outflanking movement from the right. That is why a significant part of the corps of the 1st Army was in this direction. Napoleon decided to deliver his main blow to the left flank of the Russian army, for which on the night of August 26 (September 7), 1812, he transferred the main forces across the river. I pound, leaving only a few cavalry and infantry units to cover my own left flank.

The battle begins. The battle began at five o'clock in the morning with an attack by units of the corps of the Viceroy of Italy E. Beauharnais on the position of the Life Guards Jaeger Regiment near the village. Borodin. The French took possession of this point, but this was their diversionary maneuver. Napoleon launched his main blow against Bagration's army. Marshal Corps L.N. Davout, M. Ney, I. Murat and General A. Junot were attacked several times by Semenov flushes. Units of the 2nd Army fought heroically against an enemy superior in numbers. The French repeatedly rushed into flushes, but each time they abandoned them after a counterattack. Only by nine o'clock did Napoleon's armies finally capture the fortifications of the Russian left flank, and Bagration, who at that time tried to organize another counterattack, was mortally wounded. “The soul seemed to fly away from the entire left flank after the death of this man,” witnesses tell us. Furious rage and a thirst for revenge took possession of those soldiers who were directly in his environment. When the general was already being carried away, cuirassier Adrianov, who served him during the battle (giving him a telescope, etc.), ran up to the stretcher and said: “Your Excellency, they are taking you to treatment, you no longer need me!” Then, eyewitnesses report, “Adrianov, in sight of thousands, took off like an arrow, instantly crashed into the ranks of the enemy and, having hit many, fell dead.”

The fight for Raevsky's battery. After the capture of the flushes, the main struggle unfolded for the center of the Russian position - the Raevsky battery, which at 9 and 11 a.m. was subjected to two strong enemy attacks. During the second attack, E. Beauharnais' troops managed to capture the heights, but soon the French were driven out of there as a result of a successful counterattack by several Russian battalions led by Major General A.P. Ermolov.

At noon, Kutuzov sent the Cossacks cavalry general M.I. Platov and the cavalry corps of Adjutant General F.P. Uvarov to the rear of Napoleon's left flank. The Russian cavalry raid made it possible to divert Napoleon's attention and delayed a new French assault on the weakened Russian center for several hours. Taking advantage of the respite, Barclay de Tolly regrouped his forces and sent fresh troops to the front line. Only at two o'clock in the afternoon did Napoleonic units make a third attempt to capture Raevsky's battery. The actions of Napoleonic infantry and cavalry led to success, and soon the French finally captured this fortification. The wounded Major General P.G., who led the defense, was captured by them. Likhachev. The Russian troops retreated, but the enemy was unable to break through the new front of their defense, despite all the efforts of two cavalry corps.

Results of the battle. The French were able to achieve tactical successes in all main directions - the Russian armies were forced to leave their original positions and retreat about 1 km. But Napoleonic units failed to break through the defenses of the Russian troops. The thinned Russian regiments stood to the death, ready to repel new attacks. Napoleon, despite the urgent requests of his marshals, did not dare to throw in his last reserve - the twenty thousandth Old Guard - for the final blow. Intense artillery fire continued until the evening, and then the French units were withdrawn to their original lines. It was not possible to defeat the Russian army. This is what the domestic historian E.V. wrote. Tarle: “The feeling of victory was absolutely not felt by anyone. The marshals were talking among themselves and were unhappy. Murat said that he did not recognize the emperor all day, Ney said that the emperor had forgotten his craft. On both sides, artillery thundered until the evening and bloodshed continued, but the Russians did not think not only of fleeing, but also of retreating. It was already getting very dark. A light rain began to fall. “What are the Russians?” - asked Napoleon. - “They are standing still, Your Majesty.” “Increase the fire, it means they still want it,” the emperor ordered. - Give them more!

Gloomy, not talking to anyone, accompanied by his retinue and generals who did not dare to interrupt his silence, Napoleon drove around the battlefield in the evening, looking with sore eyes at the endless piles of corpses. The emperor did not yet know in the evening that the Russians had lost not 30 thousand, but about 58 thousand people out of their 112 thousand; He also did not know that he himself had lost more than 50 thousand of the 130 thousand that he led to the Borodino field. But that he had killed and seriously wounded 47 (not 43, as they sometimes write, but 47) of his best generals, he learned this in the evening. French and Russian corpses covered the ground so thickly that the imperial horse had to look for a place to put its hoof between the mountains of bodies of people and horses. The groans and cries of the wounded came from all over the field. The Russian wounded amazed the retinue: “They did not emit a single groan,” writes one of the retinue, Count Segur, “perhaps, away from their own, they counted less on mercy. But it is true that they seemed more steadfast in enduring pain than the French.”

The literature contains the most contradictory facts about the losses of the parties; the question of the winner is still controversial. In this regard, it should be noted that none of the opponents solved the tasks set for themselves: Napoleon failed to defeat the Russian army, Kutuzov failed to defend Moscow. However, the enormous efforts made by the French army were ultimately fruitless. Borodino brought Napoleon bitter disappointment - the outcome of this battle was in no way reminiscent of Austerlitz, Jena, or Friedland. The bloodless French army was unable to pursue the enemy. The Russian army, fighting on its territory, was able to restore the size of its ranks in a short time. Therefore, Napoleon himself was most accurate in assessing this battle, saying: “Of all my battles, the most terrible is the one I fought near Moscow. The French showed themselves worthy of victory. And the Russians have gained the glory of being undefeated.”

RESCRIPT OF ALEXANDER I

“Mikhail Illarionovich! The current state of military circumstances of our active armies, although it was preceded by initial successes, the consequences of these do not reveal to me the rapid activity with which it would be necessary to act to defeat the enemy.

Considering these consequences and extracting the true reasons for this, I find it necessary to appoint one general commander-in-chief over all active armies, whose election, in addition to military talents, would be based on seniority itself.

Your well-known merits, love for the fatherland and repeated experiences of excellent feats acquire you a true right to this power of attorney of mine.

Choosing you for this important task, I ask Almighty God to bless your deeds for the glory of Russian weapons and may the happy hopes that the fatherland places on you be justified.”

KUTUZOV'S REPORT

“The battle of the 26th was the bloodiest of all those known in modern times. We completely won the battlefield, and the enemy then retreated to the position where he came to attack us; but an extraordinary loss on our part, especially due to the fact that the most necessary generals were wounded, forced me to retreat along the Moscow road. Today I am in the village of Nara and must retreat further to meet the troops coming to me from Moscow for reinforcements. The prisoners say that the enemy loss is very great and that the general opinion in the French army is that they lost 40,000 people wounded and killed. In addition to Divisional General Bonami, who was captured, there were others killed. By the way, Davoust is wounded. Rearguard action occurs daily. Now, I learned that the corps of the Viceroy of Italy is located near Ruza, and for this purpose the detachment of the Adjutant General Wintzingerode went to Zvenigorod in order to close Moscow along that road.”

FROM CAULAINCUR'S MEMOIRS

“Never before have we lost so many generals and officers in one battle... There were few prisoners. The Russians showed great courage; the fortifications and territory which they were forced to cede to us were evacuated in order. Their ranks were not disorganized... they faced death bravely and only slowly succumbed to our brave attacks. There has never been a case where enemy positions were subjected to such furious and systematic attacks and that they were defended with such tenacity. The Emperor repeated many times that he could not understand how the redoubts and positions that were captured with such courage and which we defended so tenaciously gave us only a small number of prisoners... These successes without prisoners, without trophies did not satisfy him... »

FROM THE REPORT OF GENERAL RAEVSKY

“The enemy, having arranged his entire army in our eyes, so to speak, in one column, walked straight to our front; Having approached it, strong columns separated from its left flank, went straight to the redoubt and, despite the strong grapeshot fire of my guns, climbed over the parapet without firing their heads. At the same time, from my right flank, Major General Paskevich with his regiments attacked with bayonets into the left flank of the enemy, located behind the redoubt. Major General Vasilchikov did the same thing to their right flank, and Major General Ermolov, taking a battalion of rangers from the regiments brought by Colonel Vuich, struck with bayonets directly at the redoubt, where, having destroyed everyone in it, he took the general leading the columns prisoner . Major Generals Vasilchikov and Paskevich overturned the enemy columns in the blink of an eye and drove them into the bushes so hard that hardly any of them escaped. More than the action of my corps, it remains for me to describe in a nutshell that after the destruction of the enemy, returning again to their places, they held out in them until against repeated attacks of the enemy, until the killed and wounded were reduced to complete insignificance and my redoubt was already occupied by the General. -Major Likhachev. Your Excellency himself knows that Major General Vasilchikov gathered the scattered remnants of the 12th and 27th divisions and, with the Lithuanian Guards Regiment, held until the evening an important height, located on the left limb of our entire line ... "

GOVERNMENT NOTICE ABOUT LEAVING MOSCOW

“With extreme and crushing heart of every son of the Fatherland, this sadness announces that the enemy entered Moscow on September 3rd. But let the Russian people not lose heart. On the contrary, let each and every one swear to be inflamed with a new spirit of courage, firmness and undoubted hope that all the evil and harm inflicted on us by our enemies will ultimately turn on their head. The enemy occupied Moscow not because he overcame our forces or weakened them. The commander-in-chief, in consultation with the leading generals, decided that it would be useful and necessary to give in for the time of necessity, in order to use the most reliable and best methods to turn the short-term triumph of the enemy into his inevitable destruction. No matter how painful it is for every Russian to hear that the capital city of Moscow contains within itself the enemies of its fatherland; but it contains them empty, naked of all treasures and inhabitants. The proud conqueror hoped, having entered it, to become the ruler of the entire Russian kingdom and prescribe to it such peace as he saw fit; but he will be deceived in his hope and will not find in this capital not only ways to dominate, but also ways to exist. Our forces gathered and now increasingly accumulating around Moscow will not cease to block all his paths and the detachments sent from him for food were exterminated daily, until he sees that his hope of defeating the minds of the capture of Moscow was in vain and that, willy-nilly, he will have to open a path for himself from her by force of arms..."

“I humbly ask you... that these fortifications remain inviolable. Let time, and not the hand of man, destroy them; let the farmer, cultivating his peaceful field around them, not touch them with his plow; let them be sacred for the Russians in later times monuments of their courage; let our descendants, looking at them, be inflamed with the fire of competition and say with admiration: “This is the place where the pride of predators fell before the fearlessness of the sons of the Fatherland.”
M.I.Kutuzov, October 1812

09/01/2012 - celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Russian victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. Borodino Field - here in September 1812 the Russian army under the command of the famous commander Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov and the Grand Army of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte came together in a fierce confrontation. About 300 thousand people with 1200 artillery pieces took part in this grandiose battle.

In August 1812, on the Borodino field, two opposing armies met in a fierce battle: the Russian army under the command of infantry general Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov and the Grand Army of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. About 300 thousand people with 1,200 artillery pieces took part in this grandiose battle on both sides. On August 24, a fierce battle broke out near the village of Shevardino. An 11,000-strong detachment under the command of A.I. Gorchakov with 36 guns, supported by units of the 2nd Grenadier and 2nd Combined Grenadier Divisions, was repeatedly attacked by superior enemy forces.
On Napoleon's side, about 40 thousand people with 186 guns took part in this battle. Until nightfall, the Russians held their position at the Shevardinsky redoubt, which had been erected the day before as a forward stronghold to protect the left flank of the Russian army. Already at night, by order of the commander-in-chief, Lieutenant General Gorchakov withdrew the remnants of his troops to the main position near the village of Semenovskoye.
Losses in this battle on each side amounted to 6 thousand killed and wounded. On August 25, 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 August 26, by five o’clock in the morning the French army, consisting of about 135 thousand people and 587 guns. At about 6 o'clock in the morning on August 26, the famous Battle of Borodino began. The fighting continued until 9 pm. In the final part of the battle, Russian artillery distinguished itself, which “silenced the French artillery.”
By the end of the day on August 26, both armies remained on the battlefield. The battle of August 26, 1812 was the bloodiest in the military history of that time. The losses of each side amounted to 40 thousand killed, wounded and missing. Emperor Napoleon recalled later: “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.”
“This day will remain an eternal monument to the courage and excellent bravery of Russian soldiers, where all the infantry, cavalry and artillery fought desperately. Everyone’s desire was to die on the spot and not give in to the enemy,” - this is how M.I. gave such a high assessment of the Russian army on August 26. Kutuzov.

Borodino battle plan

Movement of military-historical reconstruction (“reenactment”).
Every year on the first Sunday of September, the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino is widely celebrated on the Borodino field. Tens of thousands of people come to Borodino to feel their involvement in the heroic past of the Russian state. A few days before the start of the holiday, participants in the military-historical reconstruction, members of military-historical clubs in Russia, near and far abroad, arrive on the Borodino field. Infantrymen, grenadiers, artillerymen, lancers, hussars, cuirassiers and dragoons of the Russian and Napoleonic armies of 1812 are located in two bivouacs, respectively. The day before, on Saturday, there is a dress rehearsal.
On Sunday, the holiday traditionally begins with solemn ceremonies at the command posts of M.I. Kutuzov in the village of Gorki and Napoleon near the village of Shevardino. At the Main Monument on the Raevsky Battery, the official part of the holiday takes place - giving military honors to the heroes of Borodin and laying wreaths. The culmination of the holiday is the military-historical reconstruction of episodes of the Battle of Borodino on the parade ground west of the village of Borodino. More than a thousand military history buffs, who made their own uniforms, equipment and weapons of the 1812 era, unite into the “Russian” and “French” armies to fight in the “battle of the giants.”
They demonstrate combat tactics, knowledge of the military regulations of that time, and mastery of firearms and bladed weapons. The spectacle ends with a parade of military history clubs and awards for those who distinguished themselves in the battle. On this day, more than 100 thousand people from Russia and foreign countries who are interested in the military history of the era of the Napoleonic wars gather on the Borodino field every year

Emperor Napoleon with his retinue - reconstruction

BATTLE OF BORODINO
The Battle of Borodino (in French history - the Battle of the Moscow River, French Bataille de la Moskova) is the largest battle of the Patriotic War of 1812 between the Russian army under the command of General M. I. Kutuzov and the French army of Napoleon I Bonaparte. It took place on August 26 (September 7), 1812 near the village of Borodino, 125 km west of Moscow.

During the 12-hour battle, the French army managed to capture the positions of the Russian army in the center and on the left wing, but after the cessation of hostilities, the French army retreated to its original positions. Thus, in Russian historiography it is believed that the Russian troops won, but the next day the commander-in-chief of the Russian army M.I. Kutuzov gave the order to retreat due to heavy losses and because Emperor Napoleon had large reserves that were rushing to the aid of the French army.

September 8 is the Day of Military Glory of Russia - the Day of the Borodino battle of the Russian army under the command of M.I. Kutuzov with the French army (this date was obtained by erroneous conversion from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar; in fact, the day of the battle is September 7).

Since the beginning of the invasion of the French army into the territory of the Russian Empire in June 1812, Russian troops have been constantly retreating. The rapid advance and overwhelming numerical superiority of the French deprived the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, General of Infantry Barclay de Tolly, of the opportunity 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 Borodina, 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.
On August 24 (September 5) the battle took place at the Shevardinsky redoubt, which delayed the French troops and gave the Russians the opportunity to build fortifications in the main positions.

Result of the battle

Monument inside the former ramparts of the Shevardinsky redoubt
The number of losses of the Russian army has been repeatedly revised by historians. Different sources give different numbers:

According to the 18th Bulletin of the Grand Army (dated September 10, 1812), 12-13 thousand killed, 5 thousand prisoners, 40 generals killed, wounded or captured, 60 captured guns. Total losses are estimated at approximately 40-50 thousand.
F. Segur, who was at Napoleon's headquarters, gives completely different data on the trophies: from 700 to 800 prisoners and about 20 guns.
A document entitled “Description of the battle near the village of Borodino, which took place on August 26, 1812” (presumably compiled by K. F. Tol), which in many sources is called “Kutuzov’s report to Alexander I” and dates back to August 1812, indicates a total of 25,000 people losses, including 13 killed and wounded generals.
38-45 thousand people, including 23 generals. The inscription “45 thousand” is engraved on the Main Monument on the Borodino Field, erected in 1839 [P 7], and is also indicated on the 15th wall of the gallery of military glory of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
58 thousand killed and wounded, up to 1000 prisoners, from 13 to 15 guns [P 8].
Data on losses are given here based on the report of the general on duty of the 1st Army immediately after the battle; the losses of the 2nd Army were estimated by historians of the 19th century, completely arbitrarily, at 20 thousand. These data were no longer considered reliable at the end of the 19th century; they were not taken into account in the ESBE, which indicated the number of losses “up to 40 thousand.”
Modern historians believe that the report on the 1st Army also contained information about the losses of the 2nd Army, since there were no officers left in the 2nd Army responsible for the reports.
42.5 thousand people - losses of the Russian army in the book by S. P. Mikheev, published in 1911.
According to the surviving reports from the RGVIA archive, the Russian army lost 39,300 people killed, wounded and missing (21,766 in the 1st Army, 17,445 in the 2nd Army), but taking into account the fact that the data in the reports for various reasons is incomplete (do not include losses of the militia and Cossacks), historians usually increase this number to 44-45 thousand people. According to Troitsky, data from the Military Registration Archive of the General Staff gives a figure of 45.6 thousand people.

Red Hill, monument

French casualty estimates
A significant part of the documentation of the Grand Army was lost during the retreat, so assessing French losses is extremely difficult. The question of the total losses of the French army remains open.
According to the 18th Bulletin of the Grande Armée, the French lost 2,500 killed and about 7,500 wounded, 6 generals killed (2 divisional, 4 brigade) and 7-8 wounded. Total losses are estimated at approximately 10 thousand people. Subsequently, these data were repeatedly questioned, and at present none of the researchers consider them to be reliable.
“Description of the Battle of the Village of Borodino”, made on behalf of M. I. Kutuzov (presumably K. F. Tolem1) and dated August 1812, indicates more than 40,000 total casualties, including 42 killed and wounded general
The most common figure in French historiography for the losses of the Napoleonic army of 30 thousand is based on the calculations of the French officer Denier, who served as an inspector at Napoleon’s General Staff, who determined the total losses of the French for 3 days of the battle of Borodino at 49 generals, 37 colonels and 28 thousand lower ranks, from 6,550 of them were killed and 21,450 were wounded. These figures were classified by order of Marshal Berthier due to a discrepancy with the data in Napoleon's bulletin about losses of 8-10 thousand and were published for the first time in 1842. The figure of 30 thousand given in the literature was obtained by rounding Denier’s data (taking into account the fact that Denier did not take into account 1,176 soldiers of the Grande Armée who were captured).
Later studies showed that Denier's data were greatly underestimated. Thus, Denier gives the number of 269 killed officers of the Grand Army. However, in 1899, the French historian Martinien, based on surviving documents, established that at least 460 officers, known by name, were killed. Subsequent studies increased this number to 480. Even French historians admit that “since the information given in the statement about the generals and colonels who were out of action at Borodino is inaccurate and underestimated, it can be assumed that the rest of Denier’s figures are based on incomplete data.”

The retired Napoleonic general Segur estimated the French losses at Borodino at 40 thousand soldiers and officers. A. Vasiliev considers Segur’s assessment tendentiously overestimated, pointing out that the general wrote during the reign of the Bourbons, without denying her some objectivity.
In Russian literature, the number of French casualties was often given as 58,478. This number is based on false information from the defector Alexander Schmidt, who allegedly served in the office of Marshal Berthier [P 9]. Subsequently, this figure was picked up by patriotic researchers and indicated on the Main Monument [P 10].
For modern French historiography, the traditional estimate of French losses is 30 thousand with 9-10 thousand killed. Russian historian A. Vasiliev points out, in particular, that the number of losses of 30 thousand is achieved using the following calculation methods:
a) by comparing data on the personnel of the surviving statements for September 2 and 20 (subtracting one from the other gives a loss of 45.7 thousand) with the deduction of losses in vanguard affairs and the approximate number of sick and retarded and
b) indirectly - by comparison with the Battle of Wagram, equal in number and in the approximate number of losses among the command staff, despite the fact that the total number of French losses in it, according to Vasiliev, is precisely known (33,854 people, including 42 generals and 1,820 officers ; under Borodin, according to Vasiliev, the loss of command personnel is considered to be 1,792 people, of which 49 are generals).

The French lost 49 generals in killed and wounded, including 8 killed: 2 divisional (Auguste Caulaincourt and Montbrun) and 6 brigade. The Russians had 26 generals out of action, but it should be noted that only 73 active Russian generals took part in the battle, while in the French army there were 70 generals in the cavalry alone. The French brigadier general was closer to a Russian colonel than to a major general.

However, V.N. Zemtsov showed that Vasiliev’s calculations are unreliable, since they are based on inaccurate data. Thus, according to the lists compiled by Zemtsov, “during September 5-7, 1,928 officers and 49 generals were killed and wounded,” that is, the total loss of command personnel amounted to 1,977 people, and not 1,792, as Vasiliev believed. Vasilyev’s comparison of data on the personnel of the Great Army for September 2 and 20 also, according to Zemtsov, gave incorrect results, since the wounded who returned to duty in the time elapsed after the battle were not taken into account. In addition, Vasiliev did not take into account all parts of the French army. Zemtsov himself, using a technique similar to that used by Vasiliev, estimated French losses for September 5-7 at 38.5 thousand people. Also controversial is the figure used by Vasiliev for the losses of French troops at Wagram - 33,854 people - for example, the English researcher Chandler estimated them at 40 thousand people.

It should be noted that to the several thousand killed should be added those who died from wounds, and their number was enormous. In the Kolotsky monastery, where the main military hospital of the French army was located, according to the testimony of the captain of the 30th linear regiment, Ch. Francois, in the 10 days following the battle, 3/4 of the wounded died. French encyclopedias believe that among Borodin's 30 thousand victims, 20.5 thousand died or died from their wounds.

Overall result of the battle
The Battle of Borodino is one of the bloodiest battles of the 19th century and the bloodiest of all that came before it. According to the most conservative estimates of total losses, about 6,000 people were killed or injured on the field every hour, the French army lost about 25% of its strength, the Russian - about 30%. The French fired 60 thousand cannon shots, and the Russian side fired 50 thousand. 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 death toll, counting those who died from wounds, was much higher than the official number killed on the battlefield; The casualties of the battle should also include the wounded and later those who died. In the fall of 1812 - spring of 1813, the Russians burned and buried the remaining unburied bodies in the field. According to military historian General Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, a total of 58,521 bodies of those killed were buried and burned.
Russian historians and, in particular, employees of the museum-reserve on the Borodino Field, estimate the number of people buried on the field at 48-50 thousand people. According to A. Sukhanov, 49,887 dead were buried on the Borodino field and in the surrounding villages (without including the French burials in the Kolotsky Monastery).
Both commanders chalked up victory.
Napoleon's point of view was expressed in his memoirs:
The Battle of Moscow is my greatest battle: it is a clash of giants. The Russians had 170 thousand people under arms; they had all the advantages: numerical superiority in infantry, cavalry, artillery, excellent position. They were defeated! The undaunted heroes, Ney, Murat, Poniatovsky—that’s who owned the glory of this battle. How many great, how many beautiful historical deeds will be noted in it!
She will tell how these brave cuirassiers captured the redoubts, cutting down the gunners on their guns; she will tell about the heroic self-sacrifice of Montbrun and Caulaincourt, who met death at the height of their glory; it will tell how our gunners, exposed on a level field, fired against more numerous and well-fortified batteries, and about these fearless infantrymen who, at the most critical moment, when the general who commanded them wanted to encourage them, shouted to him: “Calm, all your soldiers decided to win today, and they will win!”
This paragraph was dictated in 1816.

A year later, in 1817, Napoleon described the Battle of Borodino as follows:
With an army of 80,000, I rushed at the Russians, who were 250,000 strong, armed to the teeth and defeated them...
Kutuzov in his report to Emperor Alexander I wrote:
The battle on the 26th was the bloodiest of all those known in modern times. We completely won the battlefield, and the enemy then retreated to the position in which he came to attack us.
Emperor Alexander I was not deceived about the actual state of affairs, but in order to support the people's hopes for a speedy end to the war, he declared the Battle of Borodino as a victory. Prince Kutuzov was promoted to field marshal general with an award of 100 thousand rubles. Barclay de Tolly received the Order of St. George, 2nd degree, Prince Bagration - 50 thousand rubles. Fourteen generals received the Order of St. George, 3rd degree. All lower ranks who were in the battle were granted 5 rubles each.

Since then, in Russian, and after it in Soviet (except for the period of the 1920-1930s) historiography, an attitude has been established towards the Battle of Borodino as an actual victory of the Russian army. In our time, a number of Russian historians also traditionally insist that the outcome of the Battle of Borodino was uncertain, and the Russian army won a “moral victory” in it.

Foreign historians, who have now been joined by a number of their Russian colleagues, view Borodino as an undoubted victory for Napoleon. As a result of the battle, the French occupied some of the forward positions and fortifications of the Russian army, while maintaining reserves, pushed the Russians back from the battlefield, and ultimately forced them to retreat and leave Moscow. At the same time, no one disputes that the Russian army retained its combat effectiveness and morale, that is, Napoleon never achieved his goal - the complete defeat of the Russian army.

The main achievement of the general battle of Borodino was that Napoleon failed to defeat the Russian army, and in the objective conditions of the entire Russian campaign of 1812, the lack of a decisive victory predetermined Napoleon’s final defeat.
The Battle of Borodino marked a crisis in the French strategy for the decisive general battle. During the battle, the French failed to destroy the Russian army, force Russia to capitulate and dictate peace terms. Russian troops inflicted significant damage on the enemy army and were able to conserve strength for future battles

historical reconstruction of the battle

MONUMENTS OF BORODINSKY FIELD
INDEX OF MONUMENTS
1. Field Marshal M.I. Kutuzov at the command post. To the north of the monument there are three Russian fortifications.
2. 1st and 19th Jaeger Regiments.
3. Life Guards to the Jaeger Regiment and sailors of the Guards crew.
4. Monument to the soldiers of the Russian army and the grave of General P. I. Bagration on the Raevsky battery. To the east, in the ravine of the Ognik stream, there is a Russian fortification for 3 guns.
5. 24th Infantry Division of General Likhachev.
6. Horse artillery.
7. 12th Infantry Division of General Vasilchikov.

8. Volyn Infantry Regiment.

9. 4th Cavalry Corps.

10. 3rd Infantry Division of General Konovnitsyn.

11. 2nd Grenadier Division of General Mecklenburg and Combined Grenadier Division of General Vorontsov.

12. Monument at the grave of General Neverovsky.

13. 27th Infantry Division of General Neverovsky.

14. Pioneer (engineer) troops.

15. 12th battery company.

16. To the French soldiers, officers and generals who died on the Borodino field. To the northeast there is a French fortification - the Fouche battery; to the southeast there is a French fortification - the Sorbier battery.

17. 4th Infantry Division.

18. 1st Cavalry Battery of the Life Guards Artillery Brigade.

19. Murom Infantry Regiment.

20. 2nd Cuirassier Division.

21. Battery No. 2 and light No. 2 companies of the Life Guards artillery brigade.

22. Life Guards Izmailovsky Regiment.

23. Life Guards Artillery Brigade.

24. Life Guards Lithuanian Regiment from the Moscow Regiment.

25. Life Guards Finnish Regiment and the grave of the captain of this regiment A.G. Ogarev.

26. Life Guards Lithuanian Regiment.

27. 3rd Cavalry Corps (General Dorokhov’s brigade). To the southeast, on the edge of the forest, there are two mass graves of Russian soldiers in 1812.

28. Astrakhan cuirassier regiment.

29. Cavalry Guards and Horse Guards.

30. 23rd Infantry Division of General Bakhmetyev. There are also three graves here: lieutenant S.N. Tatishchev and ensign N.A. Olenin from the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, captain of the Guards Jaeger Regiment A.P. Levshin and captain of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment P.F. Shaposhnikov.

31. 7th Infantry Division of General Kaptsevich.

32. 2nd Cavalry Battery of the Life Guards Artillery Brigade.

33. Pavlovsk Grenadier Regiment.

34. 17th Infantry Division of General Olsufiev.

35. 1st Grenadier Division of General Stroganov.

36. Monument-chapel of Tuchkov.

37. Nezhin Dragoon Regiment. In the distance, west of the river. Warriors, French fortifications Ev. Beauharnais.

43. Tomb of the unknown Russian soldier. Monuments at the mass graves of Soviet soldiers who died in the Great Patriotic War on the Borodino field in 1941-1942.

38. In the village of Gorki.

39. At the Borodino Military History Museum

40. Southeast of the village of Semenovskoye.

41. Near the village of Borodino station.

42. On the Utitsky mound. A - Shevardinsky redoubt B - Bagration's flushes C - Raevsky's battery D - Utitsky mound D - Maslovsky flashes.

SCHEME OF BORODINSKY FIELD
The area shown in the diagram belongs to the western outskirts of the Moscow region. According to its relief, it is part of the Moscow-Smolensk Upland. The territory of the district is crossed by the Moscow River. The source of this largest river in the Moscow region is located somewhat to the west. In the northern part of the region, the Moscow River, blocked by a dam, formed a large reservoir - the “Mozhaisk Sea”.

The history of this area is rich and interesting. The Moscow River was one of the main routes of communication in ancient Rus'. Fortress cities and villages built on its banks more than once took on the blows of foreign invaders. On the western approaches of the capital of our Motherland, great battles took place both in the Patriotic War of 1812 and in the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945. The Borodino field, located 124 km west of Moscow, will forever remain a field of glory for the Russian people and will serve as a formidable warning to its enemies.

Tourist routes in this area can be varied, but they all include a visit to the Borodino field and the Mozhaisk reservoir. Since it takes a relatively long time to arrive at the starting point of the journey and return to Moscow, the duration of the trips should be at least 2 - 3 days.

Here is a brief description of one of the routes: Art. Borodino - Uvarovka - village. Porechye - Mozhaisk reservoir - Mozhaisk, with a length of about 75 - 80 km. Traveling along this route with three overnight stays in the field gives the right to receive the "USSR Tourist" badge.

The starting point of the hike is St. Borodino, where people arrive by electric train from the Belorussky station. The station is located on the famous Borodino field.

Here, on September 7 (August 26, Old Style), 1812, the historical Battle of Borodino took place, in which the Russian army under the command of M.I. Kutuzov dealt a blow to the aggressive army of the French Emperor Napoleon, from which the enemy could no longer recover.

reconstruction of battles in the Great Patriotic War

State
Borodinsky
military-historical
museum-reserve
Acquaintance with the Borodino field usually begins with a visit to the Military History Museum, but you can also start from the village of Gorki, where during the Battle of Borodino the command post of M. I. Kutuzov was located; You can come here from the station by regular bus. From the high hill on which the monument to the great commander is erected, the entire Borodino field is clearly visible. The points for which the most fierce battles took place are visible - the Shevardinsky redoubt, Bagration's flashes, Raevsky's battery on Kurgan Heights and numerous monuments erected in honor of the military units that fought in the Battle of Borodino. Most of these monuments were built in 1912 (on the centennial anniversary of the battle) with voluntary donations from soldiers and officers of the Russian army.

In the fall of 1941, the Borodino field again found itself at the center of hostilities. The division under the command of Colonel V.I. Polosukhin fought fierce battles here with superior forces of the Nazi invaders for six days (from October 13 to 18). And now on the field next to the defensive structures of 1812 you can see reinforced concrete pillboxes, anti-tank ditches and trenches built in August - September 1941.

In a number of places - near the Borodino station, not far from the museum and next to the monument to M. I. Kutuzov, monuments were erected on the graves of Soviet soldiers who died in battles in the fall of 1941 and in January 1942, when the Soviet Army, liberating its native land, drove Nazis to the west.

In 1962, in connection with the 150th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812, by decision of the party and government, extensive construction and restoration work was carried out on the Borodino field.

Next to the Bagration flushes and former. The Borodino tourist base is located in the Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery.

Tourists arriving here spend ten days on excursions and hiking trips around the field and the surrounding area.

After viewing the monuments of the Borodino field, tourists head through Uvarovka to Porechye.

Their path passes by the villages of Shevardino and Fomkino along the former New or Great Smolensk road (or parallel to it, along the Kolocha river) to the ancient, half-destroyed Kolotsky monastery.

In the last century, before the advent of railways, the New Smolensk Road was the main highway connecting Moscow with the west; along it the Russian army retreated, and then pursued Napoleonic troops in 1812. The former Kolotsky monastery, located on a hill 10 km from the village of Shevardino, was built in the 16th century. under Ivan the Terrible. Nowadays, the few surviving monastery buildings house a school. After spending the night on Koloch, you need to walk to Uvarovka (the former regional center, 5 km from the monastery), and from there you can take a regular bus or hitch a ride to Porechye, which is 22 km from Uvarovka. The road on this section of the route is not of particular interest. Only at the bridge near the village of Glyatkovo (within 2 km to the end of the road) should you stop to admire the Moscow River in its upper reaches.

Porechye is an ancient village located on the left high, wooded bank of the fast-flowing Inocha, not far from its confluence with the Moscow River.

In one of the museum halls
At the end of the 18th century. here was an extensive and rich estate of the Counts Razumovsky, which later passed into the possession of the Counts Uvarov. One of the Uvarovs, a lover of archaeological excavations, in the middle of the last century created a museum of antiquities in his estate, as well as a rich library. Uvarov owned the Porechensk cloth factory, which was large at that time, employing about a thousand serfs. The main manor house (heavily damaged during the Great Patriotic War) had a portal of Ionic columns and ended with a belvedere, from where a beautiful view opened. Large two-story outbuildings have been preserved; one of them houses a school. A beautiful park has also been preserved, where tourists can find a good place to stop.

The famous forester K.F. Thürmer in 1857 - 1891. laid out tracts of artificial forest plantations in the Poretsky forestry. Now, on an area of ​​more than a thousand hectares, there are beautiful forests that make up the pride of the Moscow region.

After exploring the Porechye region and having rested, on the next day, or better yet, on the third day, tourists head to the Moscow River and the Mozhaisk Reservoir. You can either walk along the Inocha until it flows into the Moscow River and then along the right bank of the reservoir to Malovka or Pozdnyakovo; or a mountainous road through the forest to the village of Bolshoye Gribovo (4 km from Porechye on the left bank of the Moscow River). In the first half of the 19th century. this village belonged to the architect A.L. Vitberg. From here you have a beautiful view of the river valley. Following further, you can reach the village of Myshkino (11 km from Porechye), whose church tourists will see from afar. Nearby is a pier, from which there is a regular movement of spacious boats along the Mozhaisk Reservoir (it starts a little higher than Myshkino).

The further journey is usually made by boat along the reservoir. A two-hour trip along the expanse of water with stops at picturesque villages remains in the memory for a long time.

The Mozhaisk reservoir was formed in the spring of 1960, when the flood waters of the Moscow River, held back by a kilometer-long dam built near the village of Marfin Brod, overflowed, forming a “sea”.

The Mozhaisk reservoir is a nature reserve; Any pollution of its water is strictly prohibited. The reservoir is enriched with valuable species of fish, the fishing of which is permitted only with a fishing rod. The fishing and sports base of the "Fisherman-Sportsman" society provides members of the society with boats and overnight accommodation.

Having become familiar with the Mozhaisk hydroelectric complex, tourists head to the final destination of the route - Mozhaisk. Regular buses go there from the hydroelectric complex and from Borodino. You can also walk along the right bank of the Moscow River past the village of Marfin Brod to the ancient Luzhetsky Monastery.

Mozhaisk is one of the ancient Russian cities that arose at the intersection of trade routes from Moscow to the west.

In the 13th century he was part of the Smolensk principality. In 1303, it was captured by Moscow Prince Yuri Danilovich, and Mozhaisk became a border fortress in the west of the Moscow principality. Then the saying was born: “drive beyond Mozhai,” which meant drive beyond the boundaries of the Moscow principality. At one time it was the center of an appanage principality. In the fall of 1606, during the campaign of the rebel peasants under the leadership of I. I. Bolotnikov to Moscow, Mozhaisk joined the rebels. At the beginning of the 17th century. The dilapidated walls of the Mozhaisk Kremlin were replaced with new stone ones, and it acquired the appearance of a fortress.

In 1812, the Russian army was supplied through Mozhaisk, and the wounded were evacuated. Around the city, on the main roads, Denis Davydov’s detachment and other partisan detachments operated.

In October 1941, on the Minsk highway near Mozhaisk, Soviet troops fought heavy battles with superior Nazi forces. Three months later, during the advance of the Soviet Army, the Germans stubbornly held on to the approaches to the city for some time, but then, fearing encirclement, they began to hastily retreat. On January 20, 1942, the city was liberated. West of Mozhaisk, the commander of the glorious 32nd division, Colonel V.I. Polosukhin, died in battle.

Units of the 32nd, 50th and 82nd divisions took part in the battles for the liberation of Mozhaisk, Dorokhov and Borodino Field.

In recent years, Mozhaisk has improved significantly; There are a number of industrial enterprises operating in the city.

In Mozhaisk, tourists visit historical and architectural monuments: the ensemble of the former. Luzhetsky Monastery, the construction of which began in the 15th century. (Nativity Cathedral 1408-1426) and continued until the end of the 17th century; in the former Kremlin (from the walls of which only the foundation has survived) - the restored Old St. Nicholas (1462-1472) and New (1802-1804) cathedrals, very beautiful, built on the edge of a steep cliff; Akiman single-domed church of the 15th century. They also get acquainted with housing and cultural construction, visit the graves of Colonel V.I. Polosukhin and other heroes of the liberation of Mozhaisk, buried in the city garden.

You can travel along the described route in reverse order, starting from Mozhaisk; electric trains arrive here from the Belorussky station much more often than at the station. Borodino. Then the first overnight stay after visiting Mozhaisk and the waterworks can be in Pozdnyakovo, Malovka or another convenient point on the shore of the reservoir, where you arrive by boat; the second - in Porechye and the third - on the river. Koloche, on the approach to the Borodino field. Return to Moscow - from st. Borodino or from Mozhaisk, where people come from Borodino by regular bus.

Those who wish to limit themselves to a one-day trip to this area are recommended to take an electric train to the station. Borodino, explore the Borodino field and visit the military history museum; From there, take a regular bus towards Mozhaisk to the “Gidrouzel” stop; walk 3 km from this stop to the Mozhaisk reservoir, and then return to Mozhaisk by regular bus.

This excursion can be carried out in reverse order, starting from Mozhaisk. From the city, take a bus to the reservoir and waterworks, from here go to the "Gidrozel" stop and take a regular bus to Borodino Field.

Fans of water travel can kayak along the river in May - mid-June. Koloche from the village of Borodino to the dam at the mouth of the river near Staroye Selo. Kayaks must be carried by hand across the dam. Travel along the Mozhaisk Reservoir along its banks can be made throughout the summer. Anyone traveling in the Moscow region should remember that forests and green spaces on the banks of the Mozhaisk Reservoir, as well as the Moscow River and its tributaries, are part of the water protection zone and therefore need to be especially protected.

MUSEUM OF BORODINO
The State Borodino Military Historical Museum-Reserve is located in the Mozhaisk district of the Moscow region, 120 km west of Moscow.
The official name of the FBGUK museum is “State Borodino Military-Historical Museum-Reserve.” The abbreviated official name is the Borodino Field Museum-Reserve.
The State Borodino Military Historical Museum-Reserve has the status of a federal state cultural institution, is included in the list of federal state museums (approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of January 5, 2005 N 4-r) and reports directly to the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
The Borodino Field Museum-Reserve was founded by decree of the emperor on August 26, 1839 on the site of the Battle of Borodino and is the oldest museum in the world created on battlefields.
By Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR dated May 31, 1961 No. 683, the Borodino Field was declared the State Borodino Military-Historical Museum-Reserve, including memorial sites and historical monuments of the Borodino Field and the State Borodino Military-Historical Museum.
In 1995, by decrees of the President of the Russian Federation, the State Borodino Military Historical Museum-Reserve, including the territory with historical and cultural monuments located on it, was included in the State Code of Especially Valuable Objects of the Cultural Heritage of the Peoples of the Russian Federation (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of January 24, 1995 No. 64), as well as in the List of objects of historical and cultural heritage of federal (all-Russian) significance (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of February 20, 1995 No. 176).
The State Borodino Military Historical Museum-Reserve has branches in the city of Mozhaisk - the Mozhaisk Museum of History and Local Lore (created by order of the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR dated 01/07/86 No. 4) and the House-Museum of the artist S.V. Gerasimova.
Currently, the museum's efforts are aimed at the formation and development of the museum collection, ensuring the safety of museum funds, and creating optimal conditions for their storage. One of the important tasks of the museum-reserve is the acquisition, storage, accounting, and cataloging of museum collections (funds). The priority direction of the museum’s activities has become exhibition work. An important area of ​​the museum’s activities remains the restoration of movable and immovable monuments. No less significant is the work on the preparation and further implementation of projects and plans for the reconstruction of lost immovable monuments of history and culture, reconstruction, restoration, preservation and further museumification of the historical and cultural landscape and individual monuments and objects of the Borodino Field.
One of the main activities of the museum remains research, educational and publishing work. Scientific conferences are held annually. The publishing and scientific-educational activities of the museum are aimed at publishing the results of scientific research, materials of annual scientific conferences, popularizing historical and cultural monuments located on the territory of the museum-reserve, its collections, and attracting a wider circle of the population to the museum.
Currently, more than 200 people work at the State Borodino Military Historical Museum-Reserve.

Historical and cultural landscape

The historical and cultural landscape of the Borodino field is all the surviving evidence of the battle, everything that reminds of the battle of the giants. At the beginning of the 19th century, the surroundings of the village. Borodino was a typical area for the western Moscow region without a special name.

Its relief developed during the post-glacial period. The fate of this western outskirts of the Moscow lands, annexed to the Moscow Principality at the beginning of the 14th century, was determined by its border with Lithuania and the passage of the ancient Smolensk road through it. During the Time of Troubles of the early 17th century, these lands were subjected to such severe devastation “from all sorts of vagabonds and rebels and from the Poles” that even after 200 years many villages were considered “wastelands” or disappeared forever. At the beginning of the 19th century, this area consisted of 57 land dachas, including 4 villages, 15 villages and 4 hamlets, connected by a network of country roads. In 13 settlements there were one-story wooden manor houses, in 6 estates there were orchards. Most of the forests looked like groves and copses of birch, aspen, spruce, and sometimes alder, hazel, and willow. The banks of the ravines were free of thickets. About 70% of the Borodino field was open space. The presence of communications (Old and New Smolensk roads), natural obstacles (the Koloch and Voina rivers, over 15 streams with ravines), ridges and hills suitable for equipping firing positions, as well as a combination of wooded and open spaces made this area quite convenient for battle. The reason for its transformation into a cultural landscape and heritage site was the general battle between the Grand Army of Emperor Napoleon I (about 132 thousand people, 589 guns) and Russian troops under the command of General M. I. Kutuzov (135 thousand people, 624 guns) on August 26 1812. It lasted about 15 hours, both sides fired about 120 thousand guns and 3 million rifle shots. By the spring of 1813, about 49 thousand remains of fallen soldiers of both armies and about 39 thousand fallen horses were buried and burned here. As a result, on an area of ​​about 100 square meters. km, the material and information imprint of the battle was recorded.

This area was named Borodino Field and turned into a military-historical landscape. The transformation of the Borodino battlefield into a cultural landscape is the result of three main factors: natural processes, the resumption of economic activity (disappearance of traces of destruction, “war wounds”) and memorialization - recognition by society of the special cultural value of a given place. 25 years after the battle, a memorial and museum complex began to form on the Borodino field. In 1839, it included: a plot of land (about 800 hectares) with the ruins of earthen fortifications and mass graves, bought by Emperor Nicholas I, a symbolic monument to the soldiers of the Russian army and the grave of General P. I. Bagration on the Raevsky battery, a temple and a palace park ensemble in the village of Borodino, the first buildings of the Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery. In 1912, 33 monuments were erected at the locations of Russian military units. The locations of the command posts of M.I. Kutuzov and Napoleon were recorded with monuments that became landscape dominants.

Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery

5 artillery fortifications were recreated in the form they had before the start of the fighting. The centennial anniversary of the battle can be considered a time of relative completion of the process of formation of the associative cultural landscape of the Borodino field. In the 1920s and 30s, monuments were destroyed on the Borodino field due to ideological reasons. As a result of the construction of the forward line of the Mozhaisk defense line and the six-day battles in October 1941 with fascist troops, the second historically significant layer of the cultural landscape of the Borodino field was formed. In the 1950-80s, extensive restoration work was carried out; all the monuments and ensemble of the Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery were restored. New memorial signs were installed on 3 mass graves discovered in the forest in 1812, sites of military operations of the militia and Cossacks. A monument to the soldiers of the 5th Army was also erected - a T-34 tank and tombstones on 9 mass graves of Red Army soldiers. Currently, the cultural landscape of the Borodino field, which includes monuments-evidence of the events of 1812 and 1941, memorial sites and memorial signs, retains its authenticity and integrity. An integral expression of the special value of the Borodino field is the transformation of the word Borodino into an associative concept of national and international scale, like Marathon, Waterloo, Verdun, Stalingrad.

Military gallery of Borodino field

The exposition “Military Gallery of the Borodino Field” is located in the refectory of the Church of the Beheading of John the Baptist of the Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery, founded by M.M. Tuchkova, the widow of General A.A. Tuchkov, who died in the Bagration flushes. On the day of the temple holiday, September 11, the Russian Orthodox Church commemorates all “leaders and warriors who laid down their lives on the battlefield,” including the heroes of Borodin.
The exhibition features 73 portraits of generals and officers of the Russian army. These are all the graphic images of the participants in the Battle of Borodino, which have now been collected in the collection of the Borodino Museum-Reserve. Among them are not only famous commanders, but also little-known, “ordinary” generals.
All engravings and lithographs were created in the first half of the 19th century. Many of them were executed based on lifetime portraits by famous engravers A.G. Ukhtomsky, A.A. Florov, S. Cardelli. Some of the portraits were made by G. Dow and T. Wright based on original paintings by the author of the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace, English portraitist George Dow. The images of Borodin’s heroes have reached us thanks to the lithographs of I.A. Klyukvin, K. Kraya and I. Pesotsky. Repeated reproductions of these portraits indicate the popularity and recognition of the merits of the defenders of the Fatherland in the heroic year of 1812.
More than a third of the military leaders presented in the exhibition were wounded or shell-shocked in battle. Traces of the fiery whirlwind that raged on the Borodino field on August 26, 1812 are archaeological finds - lead and grapeshot bullets, fragments of grenades, cannonballs, bayonets, fragments of firearms and bladed weapons.
The electronic “Borodin Memory Book” contains information about military service, participation in hostilities, injuries and awards of more than eleven thousand participants in the Battle of Borodino - generals, officers and soldiers of the Russian army. This information is linked to a map that shows the monuments and memorial sites of the Borodino field where they distinguished themselves.
The exhibition “Military Gallery of the Borodino Field” was created in preparation for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino.
Authors' team:
State Borodino Military Historical Museum-Reserve: Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation A.V. Gorbunov (scientific supervisor), Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation V.E. Anfilatov, E.V. Semenishcheva, with the participation of O.V. Gorbunova, T.Yu. Gromova, Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation G.N. Nevskoy, L.V. Smirnova, D.G. Celorungo, M.N. Celorungo, T.I. Janzen.

Museum-Art LLC: Honored Artist of the Russian Federation A.N. Konov (artistic director), V.E. Voitsekhovsky, A.M. Gassel, S.I. Zinovieva, V.A. Pravdin.

RNII Heritage named after D.S. Likhachev: E.A. Vorobyova, A.V. Eremeev, S.A. Pchelkin.

Borodino during the Great Patriotic War

The exhibition was created for the 40th anniversary of the Victory. It is located in one of the buildings of the Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery, where a mobile field hospital was located from July to September 1941, and is dedicated to the events of the Great Patriotic War. In October 1941, soldiers of the 5th Army detained the Nazi invaders rushing to Moscow for six days on the Borodino field. Documents, photographs, weapons, trophies, personal belongings of the Red Army soldiers tell about that period of the war, which Marshal G.K. Zhukov called the most difficult in the battle for Moscow. In the Hall of Memory there are lists of those killed on the Borodino field in 1941-1942.

Height Roubaud

Poets, writers, and artists visited the Borodino field at different times and reflected their impressions in their works.
One of the famous paintings dedicated to the “battle of the giants” is the panorama of F.A. Rubo "Battle of Borodino", created for the 100th anniversary of the War of 1812.
While working on the panorama, F.A. Roubaud visited the Borodino field twice (in April 1910 and August 1911) and the height where he made the initial sketches eventually became a historical site.
The Rubo height was equipped according to the design of the architect V.Ya. Sidnina as a memorial place in 1992, on the 180th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino.
For the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, the Borodino Museum has developed an excursion “The Heights of Roubaud”.

Palace and park ensemble in the village of Borodino

The palace and park ensemble in the village of Borodino, created in 1839, is inextricably linked with the Battle of Borodino - the general battle of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the creation of a memorial on the Borodino field.
The ensemble included the Church of the Nativity (1701), a wooden palace rebuilt from a manor house, three cavalry outbuildings, a “dining hall”, an “English garden” - a park, and outbuildings.
Until 1912, the palace and park ensemble in the village. Borodino, along with the Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery and the monument on the Raevsky Battery, was one of the main attractions of the Borodino field.
The goal of recreating the palace and park ensemble, begun in 2009, is to organize in it a memorial and historical center of the Borodino Museum-Reserve, including museum display objects and service buildings. Archaeological research was carried out on the territory of the palace and park ensemble. For the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino, the park, the external appearance of the “dining hall” buildings (repositories), the Imperial Palace and the “confectionery outbuilding” were completely recreated. Walking along the alleys of the park, visitors can see the restored bust monument to Emperor Alexander II.

Mozhaisk Museum of History and Local Lore

The Mozhaisk Museum of History and Local Lore is a branch of the State Borodino Military Historical Museum-Reserve.

In 1905, a museum of visual aids was organized at the local Zemstvo to help students. With the participation of Countess P.S. Uvarova, it gradually turned into a historical and local history one. The museum now has exhibits transferred from the rich collection of the Uvarov counts, which was kept on the Porechye estate in Mozhaisk district.
After the February Revolution of 1917, the museum was left without supervision. Its exhibits were distributed to Mozhaisk schools, and some of them ended up in a museum organized by local cooperation. This museum existed until the fire of 1920, when almost all of its exhibits were lost in the fire. In the 1920s, through the efforts of local historians N.I. Vlasyev, head of the historical and archaeological section of the Mozhaisk Society of Local Lore, and V.I. Gorokhov, a local chronicler, the museum was revived.
Before the outbreak of hostilities in 1941, the museum’s collections were evacuated to the Regional Museum of Local Lore in Istra, from where they did not return after the war for various reasons. In 1964, on the initiative of Mozhaisk teachers A.A. and B.L. Vasnetsov, a museum was organized at school No. 1, which became the basis for the revival of the city local history museum. The Mozhaisk Museum of History and Local Lore was reopened in 1981 for the 750th anniversary of the city. Since 1986, the museum has become a branch of the State Borodino Military Historical Museum-Reserve.
In 1985, the House-Museum of People's Artist of the USSR S.V. was opened in Mozhaisk. Gerasimov, which since 1990 has become a branch of the Borodino Military Historical Museum-Reserve within the structure of the Mozhaisk Museum of History and Local Lore.
The funds of the Mozhaisk Museum of History and Local Lore include collections of historical and everyday objects, archaeological finds, documents and photographs, a collection of paintings and graphics by Mozhaisk artists, S.V. Gerasimov and his students.
Currently, in the building of the local history museum there is an exhibition hall in which visitors get acquainted with historical and everyday objects of the 18th-20th centuries from the museum’s collection.
In the House-Museum of S.V. A permanent memorial exhibition has been opened for Gerasimov, and exhibitions of works by his students are regularly organized.

Objects on display at the Mozhaisk Museum of History and Local Lore:
The territory of the former Mozhaisk Kremlin, earthen ramparts, entrance gates, Novo-Nikolsky Cathedral (1684-1812), Peter and Paul Church (1848).
Luzhetsky Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ferapontov Monastery (XV-XIX centuries).
Memorial complex dedicated to the memory of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, the defenders and liberators of the Mozhaisk land in 1941-1942.

The museum annually hosts local history readings.

The museum is open daily from 9.00 to 17.00,
except Monday and the last Friday of the month.

Address:
143200, Mozhaisk, Komsomolskaya square, 2.
Directions: from Mozhaisk bus station by bus
to the stop "House of Culture" or "Komsomolskaya Square".
phones: 8(496-38) 20-389, 8(496-38) 42-470

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
http://www.borodino.ru
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
Borodino and its surroundings, Tourist scheme
Monuments of the Borodino Field, Main Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Moscow, 1972.
http://www.photosight.ru/
Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
http://www.skitalets.ru/
Wikipedia website.

The Battle of Borodino became the most large-scale during the war of 1812, when the Russian army under the command of Kutuzov and the French army under the command of Napoleon met on the Moscow River near the village of Borodino. The drama of the battle is best evidenced by the words of the Emperor of France, who stated that the French deserved victory, and the Russians earned the right to be undefeated.

At an artillery position (Russian battery on Bagration's flushes). Artist R. Gorelov

The Battle of Borodino is one of the bloodiest battles of the 19th century. During this battle, Napoleon was not able to achieve the success he expected. According to him, the French soldiers showed the greatest courage precisely in the battle 125 kilometers from Moscow, but, nevertheless, they achieved the least success.

The Russian army under the command of M.I. Kutuzov remained undefeated, although he suffered significant losses, both in the command staff and in the lower ranks. Napoleon lost a quarter of his army on the Borodino field. In order to encourage the Russian people, Emperor Alexander I announced victory over the enemy. In turn, the French monarch did the same.
Nevertheless, the Russian troops survived this battle: Kutuzov managed to preserve the army, which was the most important thing at that time. “It’s not for nothing that all of Russia remembers Borodin’s Day,” after all, thanks to the heroism and courage of Russian military commanders and soldiers, the Fatherland was saved.

Before the Battle of Borodino

Events in the political arena of Europe at the beginning of the 19th century inexorably led the Russian Empire to a great war and, ultimately, to the main battle for the freedom of the Fatherland. The Battle of Borodino, which did not bring victory to the Russian soldiers, became the key one that destroyed the power of Napoleon. During the war with Napoleonic France, the alliance of Prussia, Russia, Britain, Sweden and Saxony was defeated. At that time, Russia was drawn into yet another armed conflict with the Ottoman Empire, which had a significant impact on the weakening of its military power. As a result in 1807 A bilateral peace treaty was signed between Russia and France, known in history as Tilsitsky. During the negotiations, Napoleon gained a powerful military ally against Britain, its main rival in Europe. Also, the two empires were obliged to provide each other with military assistance in all endeavors.

Napoleon's plans for a naval blockade of his main rival were crumbling, and accordingly his dreams of domination in Europe were crumbling, since this was the only way to bring Britain to its knees.
IN 1811 Napoleon, in a conversation with his ambassador in Warsaw, stated that he would soon rule the whole world, the only thing stopping him was Russia, which he was going to crush.

Alexander I was in no hurry, in accordance with the Treaty of Tilsit, to ensure a naval blockade of Great Britain, bringing the war with France and the Battle of Borodino closer. On the contrary, having lifted the restriction on trade with neutral countries, the Russian autocrat was able to trade with Britain through intermediaries. And the introduction of new customs rates contributed to an increase in duties on goods imported from France. The Russian emperor, in turn, was not pleased that, in violation of the Treaty of Tilsit, French troops were not withdrawn from Prussia. Also, no less anger of the autocrat from the Romanov dynasty was caused by France’s desire to restore Poland within the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in connection with which Alexander’s relative’s lands were taken away, and which implied mandatory territorial acquisitions of Poland at the expense of Russia.

* Also, historians often recall the issue of Napoleon’s marriage as one of the reasons for the development of conflict in relations between the two countries. The fact is that Napoleon Bonaparte was not of noble birth and was not perceived as an equal in most of the royal houses of Europe. Wanting to rectify the situation by becoming related to one of the ruling dynasties, Napoleon asked Alexander I for his hand, first his sister, then his daughter. In both cases, he was refused: due to the engagement of Grand Duchess Catherine and the young age of Grand Duchess Anna. And the Austrian princess became the wife of the French emperor.
Who knows, if Alexander I had agreed to Napoleon’s proposal, maybe the battle of Borodino would not have taken place.

All the facts mentioned indicate that war between France and Russia was inevitable. September 7 according to the new style, the troops of France and its allies crossed the border of the Russian Empire. From the very beginning of the war, it was clear that the Russians were not going to seek a meeting with Napoleon's army on the battlefield in a general battle. 1st Western Army under the command of a general Barclay de Tolly moved deeper into the country. At the same time, the emperor was constantly in the army. True, his stay in the active army did more harm than good and brought confusion to the ranks of military commanders. Therefore, under the plausible pretext of preparing reserves, he was persuaded to go to St. Petersburg.

Connecting with 2nd Western Army of General Bagration, Barclay de Tolly became the commander of the formation and continued the retreat, which caused indignation and murmur. Eventually General Kutuzov replaced him in this position, but did not change his strategy and continued to withdraw the army to the East, keeping his troops in excellent order. At the same time, the militia and partisan detachments attacked the attackers, wearing them down.

Having reached the village of Borodino, from where it was 135 kilometers to Moscow , Kutuzov decides on a general battle, because otherwise he would have to surrender the white stone without a fight. On September 7, the battle of Borodino took place.

Forces of the parties, commanders, course of battle

Kutuzov led the army 110-120 thousand people, inferior in number to the army of Napoleon, who had under his command 130-135 thousand. People's militia from Moscow and Smolensk arrived to help the troops in the amount of 30 thousand people However, there were no guns for them, so they were simply given pikes. Kutuzov did not use them in battle, realizing the senselessness and disastrous nature of such a step for people loyal to the Fatherland, but entrusted them with the responsibility of carrying out the wounded and other assistance to the regular troops. According to historical data, the Russian army had a slight advantage in artillery.

The Russian army did not have time to prepare defensive fortifications for the battle, so Kutuzov was sent to Shevardino village detachment under command General Gorchakov.

September 5, 1812 years, Russian soldiers and officers defended the pentagonal redoubt near Shevardino until the last. Only closer to midnight the French division under the command General Compan managed to break through to the fortified village. Not wanting people to be killed like cattle, Kutuzov ordered Gorchakov to retreat.

6 September both sides carefully prepared for the battle. It is difficult to overestimate the feat of the soldiers near the village of Shevardino, which allowed the main forces to prepare for the battle properly.

The next day the battle of Borodino took place: the date September 7, 1812 will become the day of the bloody battle, which brought glory to Russian soldiers and officers as heroes.

Kutuzov, wanting to cover the direction to Moscow, concentrated on his right flank not only large forces, but also reserves, knowing from experience their importance at the critical moment of the battle. The battle formations of the Russian army made it possible to maneuver throughout the entire battle space: the first line consisted of infantry units, the second line consisted of cavalry. Seeing the weakness of the Russian left flank, Napoleon decided to deliver his main blow there. But it was problematic to cover the enemy’s flanks, so they decided to carry out a frontal attack. On the eve of the battle, the commander of the Russian army decided to strengthen his left wing, which turned the French emperor's plan from an easy victory into a bloody clash of opponents.

At 05:30 100 French guns They began to fire at the positions of Kutuzov’s army. At this moment, under the cover of the morning fog, a French division from the corps of the Viceroy of Italy moved to attack in the direction of Borodino. The rangers fought back as best they could, but were forced to retreat under pressure. However, having received reinforcements, they launched a counterattack, destroying a large number of the enemy and putting them to flight.

After this, the battle of Borodino acquired a dramatic tone: the French army attacked the Russian left flank, commanded by Bagration. 8 attack attempts were repulsed. The last time the enemy managed to break into the fortifications, but a counterattack under the command of Bagration himself forced them to falter and retreat. At that moment, the commander of the left wing of the Russian army, General Bagration, fell from his horse, mortally wounded by a cannonball fragment. This became one of the key episodes of the battle, when our ranks wavered and began to retreat in panic. General Konovnitsyn after Bagration was wounded, he took command of the 2nd Army and managed, although in great disorder, to withdraw the troops beyond Semenovsky ravine.

The Battle of Borodino is marked by another historically significant episode of outstanding courage on the left flank of the Russian army, in addition to the defense of Bagration's flushes.

Episode of the Battle of Borodino (in the center of the canvas is General N.A. Tuchkov). Chromolithography by V. Vasiliev. End of the 19th century

Fight for Utitsky Kurgan was no less hot. During the defense of this important line, not allowing Bagration's troops to be bypassed from the flank, the general's corps Tuchkov 1st Despite the onslaught and powerful artillery fire, the French fought back to the last. When the French managed to dislodge the infantry corps from their positions, General Tuchkov 1st led the troops in his last counterattack, during which he was killed, resulting in the return of the lost mound. After him General Baggovut took command of the corps and withdrew it from the battle only when they were abandoned Bagration's flushes, which threatened the enemy to enter the flank and rear.

Napoleon tried to win the Battle of Borodino, finally defeating the Russians on the flank. But attacks on Semenovsky ravine did not bring any results to Napoleon. His troops on this flank were exhausted. Moreover, the area here was well covered by Russian artillery. Also, the entire 2nd Army was concentrated here, which made the attack deadly for the French troops. Napoleon decides to strike at the center of defense of Kutuzov's army. At this moment, the commander of the Russian army launches a counterattack to the rear of Napoleon’s troops, by the forces of Platov’s Cossacks and Uvarov’s cavalry, contributing to the delay of the attack on the center for two hours. However, during the long, fierce battle for Raevsky battery (center of Russian defense), held with heavy losses, the French managed to capture the fortifications. However, even here the desired success was not achieved.

Cavalry attack of General F.P. Uvarov. Colored lithograph by S. Vasiliev based on the original by A. Desarno. 1st quarter of the 19th century

Napoleon was begged by the generals to bring the guard into battle. But the Emperor of France, not seeing a decisive advantage in his favor in any part of the battlefield, abandoned this idea, retaining his last reserve. With the fall of Raevsky's battery, the battle died down. And at midnight an order came from Kutuzov to retreat and cancel preparations for the battle of the next day.

Results of the battle

The battle of Borodino was completely at odds with the plans of the Emperor of France. Napoleon was also depressed by the small number of captured trophies and prisoners. Having lost 25 percent of his army, unable to make up for it, he continued the attack on Moscow, the fate of which was decided in a hut in Fili a few days later. Kutuzov retained the army and took it to replenish it beyond Mozhaisk, which contributed to the further defeat of the invaders. Russian losses amounted to 25 percent.
Many verses, poems and books will be written about this battle; many famous battle painters will write their masterpieces in memory of this battle.

Today, September 8, is the Day of Military Glory in memory of those who, risking their lives and not sparing their heads, saved the Fatherland on the day of the Battle of Borodino in 1812.

Tell me, uncle, is it not for nothing that Moscow, burned by fire, was given to the French?

Lermontov

The Battle of Borodino was the main battle in the War of 1812. For the first time, the legend of the invincibility of Napoleon's army was dispelled, and a decisive contribution was made to changing the size of the French army due to the fact that the latter, due to large-scale casualties, ceased to have a clear numerical advantage over the Russian army. In today's article we will talk about the Battle of Borodino on August 26, 1812, consider its course, the balance of forces and means, study the opinion of historians on this issue and analyze what consequences this battle had for the Patriotic War and for the fate of two powers: Russia and France.

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Background of the battle

The Patriotic War of 1812 at the initial stage developed extremely negatively for the Russian army, which constantly retreated, refusing to accept a general battle. This course of events was perceived extremely negatively by the army, since the soldiers wanted to take the battle as quickly as possible and defeat the enemy army. Commander-in-Chief Barclay de Tolly understood perfectly well that in an open general battle the Napoleonic army, which was considered invincible in Europe, would have a colossal advantage. Therefore, he chose a retreat tactic in order to exhaust the enemy troops, and only then accept the battle. This course of events did not inspire confidence among the soldiers, as a result of which Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov was appointed commander-in-chief. As a result, several significant events occurred that predetermined the preconditions for the Battle of Borodino:

• Napoleon's army advanced deep into the country with great complications. Russian generals refused a general battle, but actively got involved in small battles, and partisans were also very active in fighting. Therefore, by the time Borodino began (late August - early September), Bonaparte’s army was no longer so formidable and significantly exhausted.
• Reserves were brought up from the depths of the country. Therefore, Kutuzov’s army was already comparable in size to the French army, which allowed the commander-in-chief to consider the possibility of actually entering the battle.

Alexander 1, who by that time, at the request of the army, had left the post of commander-in-chief, allowed Kutuzov to make his own decisions, insistently demanded that the general take the battle as soon as possible and stop the advance of Napoleon’s army deep into the country. As a result, on August 22, 1812, the Russian army began to retreat from Smolensk in the direction of the village of Borodino, which is located 125 kilometers from Moscow. The place was ideal to take the battle, since excellent defense could be organized in the Borodino area. Kutuzov understood that Napoleon was only a few days away, so she threw all her strength into strengthening the area and taking the most advantageous positions.

Balance of forces and means

Surprisingly, most historians who study the Battle of Borodino still argue about the exact number of troops on the warring sides. The general trends in this matter are such that the newer the research, the more data showing that the Russian army had a slight advantage. However, if we look at Soviet encyclopedias, they present the following data, which presents the participants in the Battle of Borodino:

• Russian army. Commander - Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov. He had at his disposal up to 120 thousand people, of which 72 thousand were infantrymen. The army had a large artillery corps, numbering 640 guns.
• French army. Commander - Napoleon Bonaparte. The French emperor brought a corps of 138 thousand soldiers with 587 guns to Borodino. Some historians note that Napoleon had reserves of up to 18 thousand people, which the French emperor retained until the last and did not use them in the battle.

Very important is the opinion of one of the participants in the Battle of Borodino, the Marquis of Chambray, who provided data that France fielded the best European army for this battle, which included soldiers with extensive experience in warfare. On the Russian side, according to his observations, they were basically recruits and volunteers, who, by their entire appearance, indicated that military affairs was not the main thing for them. Chambray also pointed to the fact that Bonaparte had a large superiority in heavy cavalry, which gave him some advantages during the battle.

Tasks of the parties before the battle

Since June 1812, Napoleon had been looking for opportunities for a general battle with the Russian army. The catchphrase that Napoleon expressed when he was a simple general in revolutionary France is widely known: “The main thing is to force battles on the enemy, and then we’ll see.” This simple phrase reflects the entire genius of Napoleon, who, in terms of making lightning-fast decisions, was perhaps the best strategist of his generation (especially after the death of Suvorov). It was this principle that the French commander-in-chief wanted to apply in Russia. The Battle of Borodino provided such an opportunity.

Kutuzov's tasks were simple - he needed active defense. With its help, the commander-in-chief wanted to inflict the maximum possible losses on the enemy and at the same time preserve his army for further battle. Kutuzov planned the Battle of Borodino as one of the stages of the Patriotic War, which was supposed to radically change the course of the confrontation.

On the eve of the battle

Kutuzov took a position that represents an arc passing through Shevardino on the left flank, Borodino in the center, and the village of Maslovo on the right flank.

On August 24, 1812, 2 days before the decisive battle, the battle for the Shevardinsky redoubt took place. This redoubt was commanded by General Gorchakov, who had 11 thousand people under his command. To the south, with a corps of 6 thousand people, General Karpov was located, who covered the old Smolensk road. Napoleon identified the Shevardin redoubt as the initial target of his attack, since it was as far as possible from the main group of Russian troops. According to the plan of the French emperor, Shevardino should have been surrounded, thereby withdrawing the army of General Gorchakov from the battle. To do this, the French army formed three columns in the attack:

• Marshal Murat. Bonaparte's favorite led a cavalry corps to strike Shevardino's right flank.
• Generals Davout and Ney led the infantry in the center.
• Junot, also one of the best generals in France, moved with his guard along the old Smolensk road.

The battle began on the afternoon of September 5th. Twice the French tried unsuccessfully to break through the defenses. Towards evening, when night began to fall on the Borodino field, the French attack was successful, but the approaching reserves of the Russian army made it possible to repel the enemy and defend the Shevardinsky redoubt. The resumption of the battle was not beneficial for the Russian army, and Kutuzov ordered a retreat to the Semenovsky ravine.

Initial positions of Russian and French troops

On August 25, 1812, both sides carried out general preparations for the battle. The troops were putting the finishing touches on defensive positions, and the generals were trying to learn something new about the enemy's plans. Kutuzov's army took up defense in the form of a blunt triangle. The right flank of the Russian troops passed along the Kolocha River. Barclay de Tolly was responsible for the defense of this area, whose army numbered 76 thousand people with 480 guns. The most dangerous position was on the left flank, where there was no natural barrier. This section of the front was commanded by General Bagration, who had 34 thousand people and 156 guns at his disposal. The problem of the left flank became significant after the loss of the village of Shevardino on September 5. The position of the Russian army met the following tasks:

• The right flank, where the main forces of the army were grouped, reliably covered the path to Moscow.
• The right flank allowed for active and powerful attacks on the enemy’s rear and flank.
• The location of the Russian army was quite deep, which left ample room for maneuver.
• The first line of defense was occupied by infantry, the second line of defense was occupied by cavalry, and the third line housed reserves. A widely known phrase

reserves must be maintained for as long as possible. Whoever retains the most reserves at the end of the battle will emerge victorious.

Kutuzov

In fact, Kutuzov provoked Napoleon to attack the left flank of his defense. Exactly as many troops were concentrated here as could successfully defend against the French army. Kutuzov repeated that the French would not be able to resist the temptation to attack a weak redoubt, but as soon as they had problems and resorted to the help of their reserves, it would be possible to send their army to their rear and flank.

Napoleon, who carried out reconnaissance on August 25, also noted the weakness of the left flank of the Russian army's defense. Therefore, it was decided to deliver the main blow here. In order to divert the attention of Russian generals from the left flank, simultaneously with the attack on Bagration’s position, an attack on Borodino was to begin in order to subsequently capture the left bank of the Kolocha River. After capturing these lines, it was planned to transfer the main forces of the French army to the right flank of the Russian defense and deliver a massive blow to the army of Barclay De Tolly. Having solved this problem, by the evening of August 25, about 115 thousand people of the French army were concentrated in the area of ​​​​the left flank of the defense of the Russian army. 20 thousand people lined up in front of the right flank.

The specificity of the defense that Kutuzov used was that the Battle of Borodino was supposed to force the French to launch a frontal attack, since the general front of the defense occupied by Kutuzov’s army was very extensive. Therefore, it was almost impossible to get around him from the flank.

It is noted that on the night before the battle, Kutuzov strengthened the left flank of his defense with the infantry corps of General Tuchkov, as well as transferring 168 artillery pieces to Bagration’s army. This was due to the fact that Napoleon had already concentrated very large forces in this direction.

Day of the Battle of Borodino

The Battle of Borodino began on August 26, 1812 in the early morning at 5:30 am. As planned, the main blow was delivered by the French to the left defense flag of the Russian army.

An artillery shelling of Bagration's positions began, in which more than 100 guns took part. At the same time, General Delzon’s corps began a maneuver with an attack on the center of the Russian army, on the village of Borodino. The village was under the protection of the Jaeger regiment, which could not resist the French army for long, the number of which on this section of the front was 4 times greater than the Russian army. The Jaeger Regiment was forced to retreat and take up defense on the right bank of the Kolocha River. The attacks of the French general, who wanted to move even further into the defense, were unsuccessful.

Bagration's flushes

Bagration's flushes were located along the entire left flank of the defense, forming the first redoubt. After half an hour of artillery preparation, at 6 o'clock in the morning Napoleon gave the order to launch an attack on Bagration's flushes. The French army was commanded by generals Desaix and Compana. They planned to strike at the southernmost flush, going to the Utitsky forest for this. However, as soon as the French army began to line up in battle formation, Bagration's chasseur regiment opened fire and went on the attack, disrupting the first stage of the offensive operation.

The next attack began at 8 o'clock in the morning. At this time, a repeated attack on the southern flush began. Both French generals increased the number of their troops and went on the offensive. To protect his position, Bagration transported the army of General Neversky, as well as the Novorossiysk dragoons, to his southern flank. The French were forced to retreat, suffering serious losses. During this battle, both generals who led the army in the assault were seriously wounded.

The third attack was carried out by the infantry units of Marshal Ney, as well as the cavalry of Marshal Murat. Bagration noticed this French maneuver in time, giving the order to Raevsky, who was in the central part of the flushes, to move from the front line to the second echelon of defense. This position was strengthened by the division of General Konovnitsyn. The attack of the French army began after a massive artillery preparation. The French infantry struck in the interval between the flushes. This time the attack was successful, and by 10 o'clock in the morning the French managed to capture the southern line of defense. This was followed by a counterattack launched by Konovnitsyn’s division, as a result of which they managed to recapture the lost positions. At the same time, General Junot's corps managed to bypass the left flank of the defense through the Utitsky forest. As a result of this maneuver, the French general actually found himself in the rear of the Russian army. Captain Zakharov, who commanded the 1st horse battery, noticed the enemy and struck. At the same time, infantry regiments arrived at the battlefield and pushed General Junot back to his original position. The French lost more than a thousand people in this battle. Subsequently, historical information about Junot's corps is contradictory: Russian textbooks say that this corps was completely destroyed in the next attack of the Russian army, while French historians claim that the general participated in the Battle of Borodino until its very end.

The 4th assault on Bagration's flushes began at 11 o'clock. In the battle, Napoleon used 45 thousand troops, cavalry and more than 300 guns. By that time Bagration had less than 20 thousand people at his disposal. At the very beginning of this assault, Bagration was wounded in the thigh and was forced to leave the army, which negatively affected morale. The Russian army began to retreat. General Konovnitsyn took over command of the defense. He could not resist Napoleon, and decided to retreat. As a result, the flushes remained with the French. The retreat was carried out to the Semenovsky stream, where more than 300 guns were installed. The large number of the second echelon of defense, as well as a large number of artillery, forced Napoleon to change the original plan and cancel the attack on the move. The direction of the main attack was transferred from the left flank of the Russian army's defense to its central part, commanded by General Raevsky. The purpose of this attack was to capture artillery. The infantry attack on the left flank did not stop. The fourth attack on the Bagrationov flushes was also unsuccessful for the French army, which was forced to retreat across the Semenovsky Creek. It should be noted that the position of the artillery was extremely important. Throughout the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon made attempts to capture enemy artillery. By the end of the battle he managed to occupy these positions.

Battle for Utitsky Forest

The Utitsky forest was of great strategic importance for the Russian army. On August 25, on the eve of the battle, Kutuzov noted the importance of this direction, which blocked the old Smolensk road. An infantry corps under the command of General Tuchkov was stationed here. The total number of troops in this area was about 12 thousand people. The army was positioned secretly in order to suddenly strike the enemy’s flank at the right moment. On September 7, the infantry corps of the French army, commanded by one of Napoleon’s favorites, General Poniatowski, advanced in the direction of the Utitsky Kurgan to outflank the Russian army. Tuchkov took up defensive positions on Kurgan and blocked the French from further progress. Only at 11 o'clock in the morning, when General Junot arrived to help Poniatowski, the French launched a decisive blow on the mound and captured it. Russian general Tuchkov launched a counterattack, and at the cost of his own life managed to return the mound. Command of the corps was taken by General Baggovut, who held this position. As soon as the main forces of the Russian army retreated to the Semenovsky ravine, the Utitsky Kurgan, a decision was made to retreat.

Raid of Platov and Uvarov

At the moment of the critical moment on the left flank of the defense of the Russian army at the Battle of Borodino, Kutuzov decided to let the army of generals Uvarov and Platov into battle. As part of the Cossack cavalry, they were supposed to bypass the French positions on the right, striking in the rear. The cavalry consisted of 2.5 thousand people. At 12 noon the army moved out. Having crossed the Kolocha River, the cavalry attacked the infantry regiments of the Italian army. This strike, led by General Uvarov, was intended to force battle on the French and divert their attention. At this moment, General Platov managed to pass along the flank without being noticed and go behind enemy lines. This was followed by a simultaneous attack by two Russian armies, which brought panic to the actions of the French. As a result, Napoleon was forced to transfer part of the troops that stormed Raevsky’s battery in order to repel the attack of the cavalry of the Russian generals who went to the rear. The battle of the cavalry with the French troops lasted several hours, and by four o'clock in the afternoon Uvarov and Platov returned their troops to their original positions.

The practical significance of the Cossack raid led by Platov and Uvarov is almost impossible to overestimate. This raid gave the Russian army 2 hours to strengthen a reserve position for an artillery battery. Of course, this raid did not bring a military victory, but the French, who saw the enemy in their own rear, no longer acted so decisively.

Battery Raevsky

The specificity of the terrain of the Borodino field was determined by the fact that in its very center there was a hill, which made it possible to control and shell the entire adjacent territory. This was an ideal place to place artillery, which Kutuzov took advantage of. The famous Raevsky battery was deployed in this place, which consisted of 18 guns, and General Raevsky himself was supposed to protect this height with the help of an infantry regiment. The attack on the battery began at 9 am. By striking at the center of Russian positions, Bonaparte pursued the goal of complicating the movement of the enemy army. During the first French offensive, General Raevsky’s unit was deployed to defend Bagrationov’s flushes, but the first enemy attack on the battery was successfully repulsed without the participation of infantry. Eugene Beauharnais, who commanded the French troops in this sector of the offensive, saw the weakness of the artillery position and immediately launched another blow on this corps. Kutuzov transferred all the reserves of artillery and cavalry troops here. Despite this, the French army managed to suppress the Russian defenses and penetrate his stronghold. At this moment, a counterattack by Russian troops was carried out, during which they managed to recapture the redoubt. General Beauharnais was captured. Of the 3,100 French who attacked the battery, only 300 survived.

The position of the battery was extremely dangerous, so Kutuzov gave the order to redeploy the guns to the second line of defense. General Barclay de Tolly sent an additional corps of General Likhachev to protect Raevsky's battery. Napoleon's original plan of attack lost its relevance. The French emperor abandoned massive attacks on the enemy's left flank, and directed his main attack on the central part of the defense, on the Raevsky battery. At this moment, the Russian cavalry went to the rear of the Napoleonic army, which slowed down the French advance by 2 hours. During this time, the battery's defensive position was further strengthened.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, 150 guns of the French army opened fire on Raevsky's battery, and almost immediately the infantry went on the offensive. The battle lasted about an hour and, as a result, Raevsky’s battery fell. Napoleon's original plan hoped that the capture of the battery would lead to dramatic changes in the balance of forces near the central part of the Russian defense. This did not turn out to be the case; he had to abandon the idea of ​​attacking in the center. By the evening of August 26, Napoleon's army had failed to achieve a decisive advantage in at least one sector of the front. Napoleon did not see significant prerequisites for victory in the battle, so he did not dare to use his reserves in the battle. Until the last moment, he hoped to exhaust the Russian army with his main forces, achieve a clear advantage in one of the sectors of the front, and then bring fresh forces into battle.

End of the battle

After the fall of Raevsky's battery, Bonaparte abandoned further ideas of storming the central part of the enemy's defense. There were no more significant events in this direction of the Borodino field. On the left flank, the French continued their attacks, which led to nothing. General Dokhturov, who replaced Bagration, repelled all enemy attacks. The right flank of the defense, commanded by Barclay de Tolly, had no significant events, only sluggish attempts at artillery bombardment were made. These attempts continued until 7 pm, after which Bonaparte retreated to Gorki to give the army a rest. It was expected that this was a short pause before the decisive battle. The French were preparing to continue the battle in the morning. However, at 12 o'clock at night, Kutuzov refused to further continue the battle and sent his army beyond Mozhaisk. This was necessary in order to give the army a rest and replenish it with manpower.

This is how the Battle of Borodino ended. Until now, historians from different countries argue about which army won this battle. Domestic historians talk about the victory of Kutuzov, Western historians talk about the victory of Napoleon. It would be more correct to say that the Battle of Borodino was a draw. Each army got what it wanted: Napoleon opened his way to Moscow, and Kutuzov inflicted significant losses on the French.

Results of the confrontation

The casualties in Kutuzov's army during the Battle of Borodino are described differently by different historians. Basically, researchers of this battle come to the conclusion that the Russian army lost about 45 thousand people on the battlefield. This figure takes into account not only those killed, but also the wounded, as well as those captured. During the battle of August 26, Napoleon's army lost a little less than 51 thousand people killed, wounded and captured. The comparable losses of both countries are explained by many scholars by the fact that both armies regularly changed their roles. The course of the battle changed very often. First, the French attacked, and Kutuzov gave the order to the troops to take up defensive positions, after which the Russian army launched a counteroffensive. At certain stages of the battle, Napoleonic generals managed to achieve local victories and occupy the necessary positions. Now the French were on the defensive, and the Russian generals were on the offensive. And so the roles changed dozens of times during one day.

The Battle of Borodino did not produce a winner. However, the myth of the invincibility of Napoleonic army was dispelled. Further continuation of the general battle was undesirable for the Russian army, since at the end of the day on August 26, Napoleon still had untouched reserves at his disposal, totaling up to 12 thousand people. These reserves, against the backdrop of a tired Russian army, could have a significant impact on the result. Therefore, having retreated beyond Moscow, on September 1, 1812, a council was held in Fili, at which it was decided to allow Napoleon to occupy Moscow.

Military significance of the battle

The Battle of Borodino became the bloodiest battle in the history of the 19th century. Each side lost about 25 percent of its army. In one day, the opponents fired more than 130 thousand shots. The combination of all these facts later led to the fact that Bonaparte in his memoirs called the Battle of Borodino the largest of his battles. However, Bonaparte failed to achieve the desired results. The illustrious commander, accustomed exclusively to victories, formally did not lose this battle, but did not win either.

While on the island of St. Helena and writing out his personal autobiography, Napoleon wrote the following lines about the Battle of Borodino:

The Battle of Moscow is the most important battle in my life. The Russians had an advantage in everything: they had 170 thousand people, an advantage in cavalry, artillery and terrain, which they knew very well. Despite this we won. The heroes of France are generals Ney, Murat and Poniatowski. They own the laurels of the winners of the Moscow Battle.

Bonaparte

These lines clearly show that Napoleon himself viewed the Battle of Borodino as his own victory. But such lines should be studied exclusively in the light of the personality of Napoleon, who, while on the island of St. Helena, greatly exaggerated the events of past days. For example, in 1817, the former Emperor of France said that in the Battle of Borodino he had 80 thousand soldiers, and the enemy had a huge army of 250 thousand. Of course, these figures were dictated only by Napoleon’s personal conceit, and have nothing to do with real history.

Kutuzov also assessed the Battle of Borodino as his own victory. In his note to Emperor Alexander 1 he wrote:

On the 26th, the world saw the bloodiest battle in its history. Never before has recent history seen so much blood. A perfectly chosen battlefield, and an enemy who came to attack but was forced to defend.

Kutuzov

Alexander 1, under the influence of this note, and also trying to reassure his people, declared the Battle of Borodino as a victory for the Russian army. Largely because of this, in the future, domestic historians also always presented Borodino as a victory of Russian weapons.

The main result of the Battle of Borodino was that Napoleon, who was famous for winning all the general battles, managed to force the Russian army to take the fight, but failed to defeat it. The absence of a significant victory in the general battle, taking into account the specifics of the Patriotic War of 1812, led to the fact that France did not receive any significant advantages from this battle.

Literature

• History of Russia in the 19th century. P.N. Zyryanov. Moscow, 1999.
• Napoleon Bonaparte. A.Z. Manfred. Sukhumi, 1989.
• Trip to Russia. F. Segur. 2003.
• Borodino: documents, letters, memories. Moscow, 1962.
• Alexander 1 and Napoleon. ON THE. Trotsky. Moscow, 1994.

Panorama of the Battle of Borodino

The main battle of the Patriotic War of 1812 between the Russian army under the command of General M.I. Kutuzov and the French army of Napoleon I Bonaparte took place 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 invasion of the French army into the territory of the Russian Empire in June 1812, Russian troops have been 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 gain time for engineering work, Kutuzov ordered the enemy to be detained 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, Napoleon's famous order was read to the French soldiers: “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 the 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., on the day of the Vladimir Icon of the 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 their original 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 an 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 spirit of the Russian people was manifested, is one of the cornerstones that build Russia in the consciousness of modern society as a great power. Throughout the modern history of Russia, Russophobic propaganda has been loosening these bricks.

Material prepared by Sergey Shulyak