Book: History of the Expedition to Russia

C >> Count Philip de Segur >> History of the Expedition to Russia




After so warm a contest, the king of Naples and the viceroy were
hesitating about committing themselves to so covered a country, when the
emperor came up: both hastened to his presence, in order to show him
what had been done, and what still remained to be done. Napoleon
immediately ascended the highest rising ground, which was nearest to the
enemy. From thence his genius, soaring over every obstacle, soon
penetrated the mystery of the forests, and the depths of the mountains
before him; he gave his orders without hesitation; and the same woods
which had arrested the audacity of the two princes, were traversed from
end to end. In short, that very evening, Witepsk might have discerned
from the summit of her double eminence our light troops emerging into
the plain by which she is surrounded.

Here, every thing contributed to stop the emperor; the night, the
multitude of hostile fires which covered the plain, an unknown country,
which it was necessary to reconnoitre, in order to direct his divisions
across it, and especially the time requisite to enable the crowd of
soldiers to disengage themselves from the long and narrow defile through
which they had to pass. A halt was therefore ordered, for the purpose of
taking breath, reconnoitring, rallying, refreshing, and getting their
arms ready for the next day. Napoleon slept in his tent, on an eminence
to the left of the main road, and behind the village of Kukowiaczi.




CHAP. VIII.


On the 27th, the emperor appeared at the advanced posts before daylight;
its first rays exhibited to him at last the Russian army encamped on an
elevated plain, which commands all the avenues of Witepsk. The river
Luczissa, which has worn itself a deep channel, marked the foot of this
position. In advance of it 10,000 horse and some infantry made a show of
defending its approaches; the infantry was in the centre, on the main
road; its left in woody uplands; all the cavalry to the right in double
lines, supported by the Duena.

The front of the Russians was no longer opposite to our column, but upon
our left; it had changed its direction with that of the river, which a
winding had removed from us. The French column, after having crossed, by
means of a narrow bridge, the ravine which divided it from the new field
of battle, was obliged to deploy by a change of front to the left, with
the right wing foremost, in order to preserve the support of the river
on that side, and so confront the enemy: on the banks of this ravine,
near the bridge, and to the left of the main-road, there was an isolated
hillock which had already attracted the notice of the emperor. From that
point he could see both armies, being stationed on the flank of the
field of battle, like the second in a duel.

Two hundred Parisian _voltigeurs_ of the 9th regiment of the line were
the first to debouch; they were immediately pushed forward to the left,
in front of the whole Russian cavalry, like them supporting themselves
by the Duena, and marking the left of the new line; the 16th horse
chasseurs followed, and then some light pieces. The Russians coolly
allowed us to defile before them, and mature our attack.

Their inactivity was favourable to us; but the king of Naples, whose
brain was intoxicated by the general notice he attracted, yielding to
his usual impetuosity, urged the chasseurs of the 16th on the whole body
of the Russian cavalry. All eyes beheld with terror that feeble French
line, broken on its march by the deep ravines which intersected the
ground, advance to attack the enemy's masses. These unfortunate men,
feeling themselves sacrificed, proceeded with hesitating steps to
certain destruction. In consequence, at the first movement made by the
lancers of the Russian guard, they took to flight; but the ravine, which
it was necessary to pass, obstructed their flight; they were overtaken,
and precipitated into these shoals, where many of them perished.

At sight of this, Murat, grieved beyond measure, precipitated himself,
sabre in hand, in the midst of this medley, with the sixty officers and
horsemen surrounding him. His audacity so astonished the Russian
lancers, that they halted. While this prince was engaged, and the
_piqueur_ who followed him saved his life by striking down an enemy
whose arm was raised over his head, the remains of the 16th rallied, and
went to seek shelter close to the 53d regiment, which protected them.

This successful charge of the lancers of the Russian guard had carried
them as far as the foot of the hillock from which Napoleon was directing
the different corps. Some chasseurs of the French guard had just
dismounted from their horses, according to custom, in order to form a
circle around him; a few discharges from their carabines drove off the
assailant lancers. The latter, being thus repulsed, encountered on their
return the two hundred Parisian _voltigeurs_, whom the flight of the
16th horse chasseurs had left alone between the two armies. These they
attacked, and all eyes were instantly fixed on the engagement.

Both armies concluded these foot soldiers to be lost; but though
single-handed, they did not despair of themselves. In the first
instance, their captains, by dint of hard fighting, obtained possession
of a ground intersected by cavities and thickets which bordered on the
Duena; there the whole party instantly united, urged by their warlike
habits, by the desire of mutual support, and by the danger which stared
them in the face. In this emergency, as always happens in imminent
dangers, each looked to his neighbour; the young to their elders, and
all of them to their chiefs, in order to read in their countenances what
they had to hope, to fear, or to perform; each aspect was replete with
confidence, and all, relying on their comrades, relied at the same time
more upon themselves.

The ground was skilfully turned to account. The Russian lancers,
entangled in the bushes, and obstructed by the crevices, couched their
long lances in vain; they were struck by our people's balls while they
were endeavouring to penetrate their ranks, and fell, wounded, to the
earth; their bodies, and those of their horses, added to the
difficulties of the ground. At length they became discouraged, and took
to flight. The joyful shouts of our army, the crosses of honour, which
the emperor instantly sent to the bravest of the group, his words,
afterwards perused by all Europe,--all taught these valiant soldiers the
extent of a glory, which they had not yet estimated; noble actions
generally appearing quite ordinary to those who perform them. They
imagined themselves on the point of being killed or taken; and found
themselves almost at the same instant victorious and rewarded.

Meanwhile, the army of Italy and the cavalry of Murat, followed by three
divisions of the first corps, which had been confided, since they left
Wilna, to count Lobau, attacked the main-road and the woods which formed
the support of the enemy's left. The engagement was, in the first
instance, very animated; but it terminated abruptly. The Russian
vanguard retreated precipitately behind the ravine of the Luczissa, to
escape being thrown into it. The enemy's army was then entirely
collected on the opposite bank, and presented a united body of 80,000
men.

Their determined countenance, in a strong position, and in front of a
capital, deceived Napoleon; he conceived that they would regard it as a
point of honour to maintain their ground. It was only eleven o'clock; he
ordered the attack to cease, in order to have an opportunity of
exploring the whole front of the line, and preparing for a decisive
battle on the following day. In the first instance, he proceeded to post
himself on a rising ground among the light troops, in the midst of whom
he breakfasted. Thence he observed the enemy's army, a ball from which
wounded an officer very near him. The subsequent hours he spent in
reconnoitring the ground, and in waiting for the arrival of the other
corps.

Napoleon announced a battle for the following day. His parting words to
Murat were these:--"To-morrow at five o'clock, the sun of Austerlitz!"
They explain the cause of that suspension of hostilities in the middle
of the day, in the midst of a success which filled the army with
enthusiasm. They were astonished at this inactivity at the moment of
overtaking an army, the pursuit of which had completely exhausted them.
Murat, who had been daily deluded by a similar expectation, remarked to
the emperor that Barclay only made a demonstration of boldness at that
hour, in order to be enabled more tranquilly to effect his retreat
during the night. Finding himself unable to convince his chief, he
rashly proceeded to pitch his tent on the banks of the Luczissa, almost
in the midst of the enemy. It was a position which gratified his desire
of hearing the first symptoms of their retreat, his hope of disturbing
it, and his adventurous character.

Murat was deceived, and yet he appeared to have been most clear-sighted;
Napoleon was in the right, and yet, the event placed him in the wrong;
such are the freaks of fortune! The emperor of the French had correctly
appreciated the designs of Barclay. The Russian general, believing
Bagration to be still near Orcha, had resolved upon fighting, in order
to give him time to rejoin him. It was the intelligence which he
received that very evening, of the retreat of Bagration by Novoi-Bikof
towards Smolensk, which suddenly changed his determination.

In fact, by daybreak on the 28th, Murat sent word to the emperor that he
was about to pursue the Russians, who had already disappeared. Napoleon
still persisted in his opinion, obstinately affirming that the whole
enemy's army was in front of him, and that it was necessary to advance
with circumspection; this occasioned a considerable delay. At length he
mounted his horse; every step he took destroyed his illusion; and he
soon found himself in the midst of the camp which Barclay had just
deserted.

Every thing about it exhibited the science of war; its advantageous
site; the symmetry of all its parts; the exact and exclusive nicety in
the use to which each of them had been destined; the order and neatness
which thence resulted; in fine, nothing left behind, not one weapon, nor
a single valuable; no trace, nothing in short, in this sudden nocturnal
march, which could demonstrate, beyond the bounds of the camp, the route
which the Russians had taken; there appeared more order in their defeat,
than in our victory! Though conquered, their flight left us lessons by
which conquerors never profit; whether it be that good fortune is
contemptuous, or that it waits for misfortune to correct it.

A Russian soldier, who was surprised asleep under a bush, was the
solitary result of that day, which was expected to be so decisive. We
entered Witepsk, which was found equally deserted with the camp of the
Russians. Some filthy Jews, and some Jesuits, were all that remained;
they were interrogated, but without effect. All the roads were
abortively reconnoitred. Were the Russians gone to Smolensk? Had they
re-ascended the Duena? At length, a band of irregular cossacks attracted
us in the latter direction, while Ney explored the former. We marched
six leagues over a deep sand, through a thick dust, and a suffocating
heat. Night arrested our march in the neighbourhood of Aghaponovcht-china.

While parched, fevered, and exhausted by fatigue and hunger, the army
met with nothing there but muddy water. Napoleon, the King of Naples,
the Viceroy, and the Prince of Neufchatel, held a council in the
imperial tents, which were pitched in the court-yard of a castle,
situated upon an eminence to the left of the main road.

"That victory which was so fervently desired, so rapidly pursued, and
rendered more necessary by the lapse of every succeeding day, had, it
seemed, just escaped from our grasp, as it had at Wilna. True, we had
come up with the Russian rear-guard; but was it that of their army? Was
it not more likely that Barclay had fled towards Smolensk by way of
Rudnia? Whither, then, must we pursue the Russians, in order to compel
them to fight? Did not the necessity of organizing reconquered
Lithuania, of establishing magazines and hospitals, of fixing a new
centre of repose, of defence, and departure for a line of operations
which prolonged itself in so alarming a manner;--did not every thing,
in short, decidedly prove the necessity of halting on the borders of old
Russia?"

An affray had just happened, not far from that, respecting which Murat
was silent. Our vanguard had been repulsed; some of the cavalry had been
obliged to dismount, in order to effect their retreat; others had been
unable to bring off their extenuated horses, otherwise than by dragging
them by the bridle. The emperor having interrogated Belliard on the
subject, that general frankly declared, that the regiments were already
very much weakened, that they were harassed to death, and stood in
absolute need of rest; and that if they continued to march for six days
longer, there would be no cavalry remaining, and that it was high time
to halt.

To these motives were added, the effects of a consuming sun reflected
from burning sands. Exhausted as he was, the emperor now decided; the
course of the Duena and of the Boristhenes marked out the French line.
The army was thus quartered on the banks of these two rivers, and in the
interval between them; Poniatowski and his Poles at Mohilef; Davoust and
the first corps at Orcha, Dubrowna, and Luibowiczi; Murat, Ney, the army
of Italy and the guard, from Orcha and Dubrowna to Witepsk and Suraij.
The advanced posts at Lyadi, Vinkowo, and Velij, opposite to those of
Barclay and Bagration; for these two hostile armies, the one flying from
Napoleon, across the Duena, by Drissa and Witepsk, the other, escaping
Davoust across the Berezina and the Boristhenes, by way of Bobruisk,
Bickof, and Smolensk, succeeded in forming a junction in the interval
bounded by these two rivers.

The great divisions of the army detached from the central body were then
stationed as follows: To the right, Dombrowski, in front of Bobruisk and
opposed to the corps of 12,000 men commanded by the Russian general
Hoertel.

To the left, the Duke of Reggio, and St. Cyr, at Polotsk and at Bieloe,
on the Petersburgh road, which was defended by Wittgenstein and 30,000
men.

At the extreme left were Macdonald and 38,000 Prussians and Poles,
before Riga. They extended their line towards the right upon the Aa, and
in the direction of Duenabourg.

At the same time, Schwartzenberg and Regnier, at the head of the Saxon
and Austrian corps, occupied, towards Slonim, the interval between the
Niemen and the Bug, covering Warsaw and the rear of the grand army,
which was menaced by Tormasof. The Duke of Belluno was on the Vistula
with a reserve of 40,000 men; while Augereau assembled an eleventh army
at Stettin.

As to Wilna, the Duke of Bassano remained there, surrounded by the
envoys of several courts. That minister governed Lithuania, communicated
with all the chiefs, sent them the instructions which he received from
Napoleon, and forwarded the provisions, recruits, and stragglers, as
fast as they arrived.

As soon as the emperor had made up his mind, he returned to Witepsk
with his guard: there, on the 28th of July, in entering the imperial
head-quarters, he laid down his sword, and abruptly depositing it on his
maps, with which his tables were covered, he exclaimed; "Here I stop!
here I must look round me; rally; refresh my army, and organize Poland.
The campaign of 1812 is finished; that of 1813 will do the rest."




BOOK V.




CHAPTER I.


With the conquest of Lithuania, the object of the war was attained, and,
yet, the war appeared scarcely to have commenced; for places only had
been vanquished, and not men. The Russian army was unbroken; its two
wings, which had been separated by the vivacity of the first onset, had
now united. We were in the finest season of the year. It was in this
situation that Napoleon believed himself irrevocably decided to halt on
the banks of the Boristhenes and the Duena. At that time, he could much
more easily deceive others as to his intentions, as he actually deceived
himself.

His line of defence was already traced upon his maps; the siege-equipage
was proceeding towards Riga; the left of the army would rest on that
strong place; hence, proceeding to Duenabourg and Polotsk, it would
maintain a menacing defensive. Witepsk, so easy to fortify, and its
woody heights, would serve as an entrenched camp for the centre. Thence,
towards the south, the Berezina and its marshes, covered by the
Boristhenes, supply no other passage but a few defiles; a very few
troops would be sufficient to guard them. Further on, Bobruisk marked
out the right of this great line, and orders were given to obtain
possession of that fortress. In addition, an insurrection of the
populous provinces of the south was calculated on; they would assist
Schwartzenberg in expelling Tormasof, and the army would be increased by
their numerous cossacks. One of the greatest proprietors of these
provinces, a nobleman in whom every thing was distinguished, even to his
external appearance, hastened to join the liberators of his country. He
it was whom the emperor intended for the leader of this insurrection.

In this position nothing would be wanting. Courland would support
Macdonald; Samogitia, Oudinot; the fertile plains of Klubokoe, the
emperor; the southern provinces would effect the rest. In addition, the
grand magazine of the army was at Dantzic; its intermediate ones at
Wilna and Minsk. In this manner the army would be connected with the
country which it had just set free; and all things appertaining to that
country--its rivers, marshes, productions, and inhabitants, would be
united with us: all things would be agreed for the purposes of defence.

Such was Napoleon's plan. He was at that time seen exploring Witepsk and
its environs, as if to reconnoitre places where he was likely to make a
long residence. Establishments of all kinds were formed there.
Thirty-six ovens, capable of baking at once 29,000 pounds of bread, were
constructed. Neither was utility alone attended to; embellishment was
also considered. Some stone houses spoiled the appearance of the square
of the palace; the emperor ordered his guard to pull them down, and to
clear away the rubbish. Indeed, he was already anticipating the
pleasures of winter; Parisian actors must come to Witepsk; and as that
city was abandoned, fair spectators must be attracted from Warsaw and
Wilna.

His star at that time enlightened his path: happy had it been for him,
if he had not afterwards mistaken the movements of his impatience for
the inspirations of genius. But, whatever may be said, it was by himself
alone that he suffered himself to be hurried on; for in him every thing
proceeded from himself; and it was a vain attempt to seduce his
prudence. In vain did one of his marshals then promise him an
insurrection of the Russians, in consequence of the proclamations which
the officers of his advanced guard had been instructed to disseminate.
Some Poles had intoxicated that general with inconsiderate promises,
dictated by the delusive hope common to all exiles, with which they
flatter the ambition of the leaders who rely upon them.

But Murat was the individual whose incitements were most frequent and
animated. Tired of repose, and insatiable of glory, that monarch, who
considered the enemy to be within his grasp, was unable to repress his
emotions. He quitted the advanced guard, went to Witepsk, and in a
private interview with the emperor, gave way to his impetuosity. "He
accused the Russian army of cowardice; according to him it had failed
in the _rendezvous_ before Witepsk, as if it had been an affair of a
duel. It was a panic-struck army, which his light cavalry alone was
sufficient to put to flight." This ebullition extorted a smile from
Napoleon; but in order to moderate his fervour, he said to him, "Murat!
the first campaign in Russia is finished; let us here plant our eagles.
Two great rivers mark out our position; let us raise block-houses on
that line; let our fires cross each other on all sides; let us form in
square battalion; cannons at the angles and the exterior; let the
interior contain our quarters and our magazines: 1813 will see us at
Moscow--1814 at Petersburgh. The Russian war is a war of three years!"

It was thus that his genius conceived every thing in masses, and his eye
expatiated over an army of 400,000 men as if it were a regiment.

That very day he loudly addressed an administrator in the following
words: "As for you, sir, you must take care to provide subsistence for
us in these quarters; for," added he, in a loud voice, and addressing
himself to some of his officers, "we shall not repeat the folly of
Charles the Twelfth." But his actions in a short time belied his words;
and there was a general astonishment at his indifference to giving the
necessary orders for so great an establishment. To the left no
instructions were sent to Macdonald, nor was he supplied with the means
of obtaining possession of Riga. To the right, it was Bobruisk which it
was necessary to capture; this fortress stands in the midst of an
extensive and deep marsh; and it was to a body of cavalry that the task
of besieging it was committed.

Napoleon, in former times, scarcely ever gave orders without the
possibility of being obeyed; but the prodigies of the war of Prussia had
since occurred, and from that time the idea of impossibility was not
admitted. His orders were always, that every thing must be attempted,
because up to that time every thing had succeeded. This at first gave
birth to great exertions, all of which, however, were not equally
fortunate. Persons got discouraged; but their chief persevered; he had
become accustomed to command every thing; those whom he commanded got
accustomed not to execute every thing.

Meantime Dombrowski was left before that fortress with his Polish
division, which Napoleon stated at 8000 men, although he knew very well
that it did not at that time amount to more than 1200; but such was his
custom; either because he calculated on his words being repeated, and
that they would deceive the enemy; or that he wished, by this
exaggerated estimate, to make his generals feel all that he expected
from them.

Witepsk remained for survey. From the windows of its houses the eye
looked down perpendicularly into the Duena, or to the very bottom of the
precipices by which its walls are surrounded. In these countries the
snow remains long upon the ground; it filters through its least solid
parts, which it penetrates to a great depth, and which it dilutes and
breaks down. Hence those deep and unexpected ravines, which no
declination of the soil gives reason to foresee, which are imperceptible
at some paces from their edge, and which on those vast plains surprised
and suddenly arrested the charges of cavalry.

The French would not have required more than a month to render that city
sufficiently strong as even to stand a regular siege: the natural
strength of the place was such as to require little assistance from art,
but that little was denied it. At the same time a few millions, which
were indispensable to effect the levy of the Lithuanian troops, were
refused to them. Prince Sangutsko was to have gone and commanded the
insurrection in the South, but he was retained in the imperial
head-quarters.

But the moderation of the first discourses of Napoleon had not deceived
the members of his household. They recollected that, at the first view
of the deserted camp of Barclay, and of Witepsk abandoned, when he heard
them congratulating each other on this conquest, he turned sharply round
to them and exclaimed, "Do you think then that I have come so far to
conquer these huts?" They also knew perfectly, that when he had a great
object in view, he never devised any other than a vague plan, preferring
to take counsel of opportunity; a system more conformable to the
promptitude of his genius.

In other respects, the whole army was loaded with the favours of its
commander. If he happened to meet with convoys of wounded, he stopped
them, informed himself of their condition, of their sufferings, of the
actions in which they had been wounded, and never quitted them without
consoling them by his words, or making them partakers of his bounty.

He bestowed particular attention on his guard; he himself daily reviewed
some part of them, lavishing commendation, and sometimes blame; but the
latter seldom fell on any but the administrators; which pleased the
soldiers, and diverted their complaints.

Every day he went and visited the ovens, tasted the bread, and satisfied
himself of the regularity of all the distributions. He frequently sent
wine from his table to the sentinel who was nearest to him. One day he
assembled the _elite_ of his guards for the purpose of giving them a new
leader; he made them a speech, and with his own hand and sword
introduced him to them; afterwards he embraced him in their presence. So
many attentions were ascribed by some, to his gratitude for the past; by
others, to his exigency for the future.

Copyright (c) 2007. knowncrafts.net. All rights reserved.