45 Dnevnik Chicherina, pp. 18–19, 28. Dnevnik Pavla Pushchina, Leningrad, 1987, pp. 61–2.
46 ‘Edling’, pp. 172–3, makes this point about mutual distrust.
47 E. F. Komarovskii, Zapiski grafa E. F. Komarovskago, SPB, 1914, p. 195. Shil’der, Imperator Aleksandr, vol. 3, pp. 88–90.
48 Shil’der, Imperator Aleksandr, pp. 90–92. ‘Edling’, pp. 174–5.
49 Sir Robert Wilson, The French Invasion of Russia, Bridgnorth, 1996, pp. 115–16.
50 Ibid., pp. 116–17.
51 Ibid.
52 ‘Edling’, pp. 178–9.
53 Correspondance de l’Empereur Alexandre, nos. 33, 38, 39, Catherine to Alexander, 6, 23 and 28 Sept., 1812 (OS), pp. 83–4, 93–6 and 98–9; nos. 73 and 74, Alexander to Catherine, 18 and 24 Sept. 1812 (OS), pp. 86–93, 96–8.
54 Elizabeth to the Margravine of Baden, 7 and 9 Sept. 1812, in Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, L’Impératrice Élisabeth, épouse d’Alexandre Ier, 4 vols., SPB, 1908–9, vol. 2ii, pp. 443–5.
55 Quoted in F. Ley, Alexandre Ier et sa Sainte-Alliance (1811–1825), Paris, 1975, pp. 49–55; ‘Edling’, pp. 176–9.
56 See Michaud’s account of the conversation in Shil’der, Imperator Aleksandr, vol. 3, prilozheniia, document VII, pp. 509–10.
Chapter 8: The Advance from Moscow
1 Kutuzov, vol. 4i, no. 187, Kutuzov to Alexander, 27 Aug. 1812 (OS), pp. 154–5; no. 241, Alexander to Kutuzov, 31 Aug. 1812 (OS), pp. 194–5.
2 The plans were set out in Alexander’s letter of 31 Aug. (OS) and also in the draft instructions to Chichagov, Tormasov, Wittgenstein and Steinhel which Chernyshev brought with him to Kutuzov’s headquarters. For the latter see prilozheniia 6, 7, 8 and 9 in Kutuzov, vol. 4i, pp. 463–70.
3 Kutuzov, vol. 4i, no. 322, Chernyshev to Alexander, 10 Sept. 1812 (OS), pp. 265–8.
4 Chernyshev’s own account of these actions is in RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3386, fos. 2ii–3ii: ‘Zhurnal voennykh deistvii General Adiutanta Chernysheva’. MVUA 1812, 20, no. 1, Wittgenstein to Alexander, 6 Nov. 1812 (OS), p. 4.
5 Eugen, Memoiren, vol. 2, pp. 169, 173. A. Brett-James (ed.), General Wilson’s Journal 1812–1814, London, 1964, p. 75.
6 A good translation of Davydov’s memoirs was recently published in English: In the Service of the Tsar against Napoleon: The Memoirs of Denis Davydov, trans Prince G. Trubetskoy, London, 2006.
7 T. J. Binyon, Pushkin: A Biography, London, 2002, p. 130.
8 I. Radozhitskii, Pokhodnyia zapiski artillerista s 1812 po 1816 god, 3 vols., Moscow, 1835, vol. 1, pp. 205–6. On Figner, see an anonymous article entitled ‘Uverennost’ v zvezde svoego schastiia’, Rodina, 8, 2002, pp. 47–50.
9 MVUA 1812, 18, no. 124, Davydov to Konovnitsyn, 21 Sept. 1812 (OS), p. 101.
10 P. Grabbe, Iz pamiatnykh zapisok: Otechestvenniaia voina, Moscow, 1873, pp. 97–8; V. von Löwenstern, Mémoires du Général-Major Russe Baron de Löwenstern, 2 vols., Paris, 1903, vol. 1, p. 296.
11 S. G. Volkonskii, Zapiski Sergeia Grigorovicha Volkonskogo (dekabrista), SPB, 1902, pp. 170–71, 189–94; Löwenstern, Mémoires, vol. 2, pp. 7, 182. Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, no. 163, Kutuzov to Alexander, 20 Oct. 1812 (OS), p. 175. For Arakcheev’s efforts to reduce his own contributions, see his angry correspondence with Governor Sumarokov of Novgorod in the summer and autumn of 1812 and his appeals for help to Balashev: P. I. Shchukin (ed.), Bumagi otnosiashchiiasia do otechestvennoi voiny 1812 goda, vol. 4, Moscow, 1899, pp. 118–27.
12 See, above all, G. Bibikov, ‘Aleksandr Khristoforovich Benkendorf (1781–1844): Istoricheskii ocherk’, Vestnik MGU, 1, 2007, pp. 36–60. Also an informative letter from Johann to Christoph Lieven, dated 5 Jan. 1811 (OS): BL Add. Mss 47410, p. 56.
13 Zapiski Benkendorfa, 1812 god: Otechestvennaia voina. 1813 god. Osvobozhdenie Niderlandov, Moscow, 2001, pp. 70–71.
14 All these statistics are drawn from Kutuzov, vol. 4i, no. 439, Kutuzov to Alexander, 22 Sept. 1812 (OS), pp. 353–61, and prilozheniia.
15 For example, on 22 September Kutuzov’s order of the day warned that remounts would soon be arriving from many sources and told his regiments to prepare to collect them. One such source was Tula province, whose governor had been told by Kutuzov to purchase 500 horses and send 2,000 militia horses to the army’s regular cavalry: Kutuzov, vol. 4i, nos. 287, 296, 320, pp. 246–7, 251, 264: the first two documents are letters of 6 and 7 Sept. (OS) to Governor Bogdanov, the third is an order of the day of 10 September.
16 Babkin, ‘Organizatsiia’, p 145. L. G. Beskrovnyi (ed.), Narodnoe opolchenie v otechestvennoi voine 1812 goda: Sbornik dokumentov, Moscow, 1962, nos. 452, 453, pp. 473–7. The first document is a report of 23 July (OS) from the Don region to Platov on the universal mobilization. The second is Platov’s October report to Alexander I on the results of the mobilization. See also V. M. Bezotosnyi, Donskoi generalitet i ataman Platov v 1812 godu, Moscow, 1899, pp. 92–6.
17 Viscount de Puybusque, Lettres sur la Guerre de Russie en 1812, Paris, 1816, pp. 142–4.
18 For Kutuzov’s comment, see A. I. Mikhailovskii-Danilevskii, Opisanie otechestvennoi voiny v 1812 godu, repr. Moscow, 2008, p. 384. Kutuzov, vol. 4i, no. 531, Alexander to Kutuzov, 2 Oct. 1812 (OS), pp. 431–2.
19 A. P. Ermolov, The Czar’s General, ed. and trans. A. Mikaberidze, Welwyn Garden City, 2007, pp. 178–80, covers Tarutino and Ermolov’s views on the command structure in the English translation of his memoirs. Prince Aleksandr Golitsyn, Kutuzov’s aide-de-camp, describes his rage in VS, 53/12, 1910, pp. 21–35, at p. 29: ‘Zapiska o voine 1812 goda A. B. Golitsyna’.
20 Barclay’s letter to Alexander of 24 Sept. 1812 (OS) on this score is in MVUA 1812, 18, no. 148, pp. 118–22.
21 N. A. Troitskii, Fel’dmarshal Kutuzov: Mify i fakty, Moscow, 2002, quotes Raevsky on pp. 232–3.
22 By far the fullest recent account of the battle is by V. A. Bessonov, ‘Tarutinskoe srazhenie’, in Epokha 1812 goda: Issledovaniia, istochniki, istoriografiia, TGIM, Moscow, 2006, vol. 5, pp. 101–53.
23 Eugen, Memoiren, vol. 2, pp. 175–82, gives a graphic but fair account.
24 Bennigsen’s view is best put in a letter to his wife of 10 Oct. 1812 (OS): no. 177, pp. 223–5 in N. Dubrovin (ed.), Otechestvennaia voina v pis’makh sovremennikov, Moscow, 2006. The casualty figures are from Bessonov, ‘Tarutinskoe’, pp. 142–3, though A. I. Ulianov cites higher ones in Entsiklopediia, p. 694. Kutuzov’s report to Alexander on Tarutino is in Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, no. 16, Kutuzov to Alexander, 7 Oct. 1812 (OS), pp. 16–19.
25 P. de Ségur, History of the Expedition to Russia, 1812, 2 vols., Stroud, 2005, vol. 2, pp. 75–8, recalls some of Napoleon’s thinking on the various possibilities. Napoleon himself spelled them out in a number of letters and memorandums written in Moscow in October 1812: see Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, 32 vols., Paris, 1858–70, vol. 24, especially no. 19237, notes, undated, pp. 235–8, but also his letters to Berthier of 5 and 6 Oct. and to Maret of 16 Oct.: nos. 19250, 19258, 19275, pp. 246–7, 252–4, 265–6.
26 Ségur, History, vol. 2, pp. 82–3; A. de Caulaincourt, At Napoleon’s Side in Russia, New York, 2003, pp. 136–8; Duc de Fezensac, Souvenirs militaires, Paris, 1863, p. 258. Brett-James, Wilson’s Journal, p. 80. On the astonishing level of plundering in the Italian campaign, see Martin Boycott-Brown, The Road to Rivoli, London, 2001, pp. 287–8, 306, 335–6.
27 The key report from Dokhturov to Kutuzov, written at 9.
30 p.m. on 22 October, is in Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, no. 59, pp. 75–6.
28 The best account of the battle is by A. Vasil’ev, Srazhenie pri Maloiaroslavtse 12/24 oktiabria 1812 goda, Maloiaroslavets, 2002; see p. 27 for the information on the 6th Jaegers. The entries on the battle and the monastery in Entsiklopediia, on pp. 437–9 and 472, are very useful too.
29 Kutuzov’s account is in his report to Alexander of 16 Oct. 1812 (OS), which enclosed his army’s journal of military operations: Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, no. 119, pp. 128–34.
30 Sir Robert Wilson, The French
Invasion of Russia, Bridgnorth, 1996, p. 234.
31 His comment about England is cited by Troitskii, Fel’dmarshal Kutuzov, p. 278.
32 Many of Wilson’s letters both to the emperor and to his compatriots are published in Dubrovin (ed.), Otechestvennaia voina. They were drawn from police files. Bennigsen’s letter of 8 October (OS) asking Alexander to return to headquarters is published in MVUA 1812, 19, pp. 344–5.
33 N. Shil’der, Imperator Aleksandr pervyi: Ego zhizn’ i tsarstvovanie, 4 vols., SPB, 1897, vol. 3, p. 124.
34 See e.g. Alexander’s comments to Wilson in Vilna in December 1812 or the Grand Duchess Catherine’s annoyance about Kutuzov’s huge popularity and how unworthy of it he was: Wilson’s Journal, p. 95. Correspondance de l’Empereur Alexandre, no. 46, Catherine to Alexander, 25 Nov. 1812 (OS), pp. 108–9.
35 Kutuzov, vol 4ii, no. 192, pp. 195–201, journal of military operations. MVUA 1812, 19, e.g. Ermolov to Kutuzov, 18 Oct. 1812 (OS), p. 73; Platov to Kutuzov, 20 Oct. 1812 (OS), p. 78.
36 P. B. Austen, 1812: Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia, London, 2000, p. 47.
37 F. Glinka, Pis’ma russkogo ofitsera, Moscow, 1987, p. 371.
38 S. V. Gavrilov, Organizatsiia i snabzheniia russkoi armii nakanune i v khode otechestvennoi voiny 1812 g. i zagranichnykh pokhodov 1813–1815 gg.: Istoricheskie aspekty, candidate’s dissertation, SPB, 2003, p. 109, for the statistics quoted here.
39 Kutuzov, vol 4i, no. 536 and annex, Kutuzov to Lanskoy, 3 Oct. 1812 (OS), pp. 439–40. See also Gavrilov, Organizatsiia, pp. 158–9.
40 RGVIA, Fond 103, Opis 210/4, Sv. 1, Delo 1: fos. 1–2, Kutuzov’s circular to twelve governors of 15 Sept. 1812 (OS); fos. 28–9, Lanskoy’s report to Kutuzov of 9 Oct. (OS).
41 RGVIA, Fond 103, Opis 210/4, Sv. 1, Delo 1: fos. 38–9: Major-General Potulov to Bennigsen, 11 Oct. 1812 (OS); NB the letter was received on 16 Oct.; fos. 77–8, Lanskoy to Kutuzov, 11 Nov. (OS); fo. 97, Santi to Kutuzov, November but no day given; fos. 113–14, Lanskoy to Kutuzov, 11 Dec. (OS); fos. 126–7, Lanskoy to Kutuzov, 15 Dec. (OS); fos. 137–8, Lanskoy to Kutuzov, 23 Jan. 1813 (OS). On winter clothing, see e.g. Kutuzov, vol. 4i, no. 387, Kutuzov to Kaverin, 13 Sept. 1812 (OS), p. 305.
42 See e.g. Kutuzov’s letters to Nikolai Bogdanov, the governor of Tula, of 19 and 24 Oct. (OS): Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, nos. 159 and 196, pp. 169–70 and 205–6.
43 Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, no. 195, pp. 203–4, 24 Oct. 1812 (OS): an Order of the Day. Mikhailovskii-Danilevskii, Opisanie 1812, p. 457, writes that 74 million rubles’ worth of property was destroyed in Smolensk province in 1812. Gavrilov, Organizatsiia, p. 159.
44 Eugen, Memoiren, vol. 2, pp. 204–7. Entsiklopediia, p. 170, states that the Russians lost 1,800 men, the enemy 7,000. Radozhitskii, Pokhodnyia zapiski, vol. 1, pp. 250–51.
45 Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, prilozhenie 21, p. 719, has a table showing the temperature month-by-month in 1812 in various places with statistics indicating how much this diverged from the norm. Anyone using this table must remember that the months are according to the Russian calendar. R. M. Zotov, Sochineniia, Moscow, n.d., p. 611, on how winter came suddenly in 1812. It would be tedious to list all the Russian sources which criticize French excuses about the weather, but see e.g. V. Kharkevich (ed.), 1812 god v dnevnikakh, zapiskakh i vospominaniiakh sovremennikov, 4 vols., Vilna, 1900–1907, vol. 1, pp. 80–81, for General Kreutz’s comments. Baron Fain, Manuscrit de Mil Huit CentDouze, Paris, 1827, pp. 151–2.
46 Radozhitskii, Pokhodnyia zapiski, vol. 1, pp. 256–67.
47 Puybusque, Lettres, pp. 105–15: 7, 10, 12 Nov. 1812. Fezensac, Souvenirs, p. 276.
48 T. von Bernhardi, Denkwürdigkeiten aus dem Leben des kaiserlichen russischen Generals der Infanterie Carl Friedrich Grafen von Toll, 5 vols., Leipzig, 1858, vol. 4, p. 307.
49 Eugen, Memoiren, vol. 2, pp. 241–50. Löwenstern, Mémoires, vol. 1, p. 348.
50 Both M. I. Bogdanovich, Istoriia otechestvennoi voiny 1812 goda, 3 vols., SPB, 1859–60, vol. 3, pp. 101–46, and Entsiklopediia, pp. 379–80, give accurate and fair accounts. Eugen, Memoiren, vol. 2, pp. 268–70 explains Ney’s escape from the Russian perspective.
51 Dnevnik Pavla Pushchina, Leningrad, 1987, pp. 71–2.
52 Eugen, Memoiren, vol. 2, p. 275.
53 Gavrilov, Organizatsiia, pp. 154–71. Upravlenie General-Intendanta Kankrina: Generalnyi sokrashchennyi otchet po armiiam…za pokhody Frantsuzov, 1812, 1813, 1814 godov, Warsaw, 1815, p. 79. On the troops’ exhausting marches down snow-bound side roads, see Zapiski o pokhodakh 1812 i 1813 godov ot Tarutinskago srazheniia do Kul’mskago boia, SPB, 1834, part 1, p. 40. The book is anonymous because its author, V. S. Norov, had been imprisoned after the Decembrist rising of 1825 and wrote it in custody.
54 There are interesting sidelights on this from Kutuzov’s discussions with the captured Puybusque: Lettres, especially as recorded in his letters of 11 and 18 Dec. 1812 (OS), pp. 141 ff. Note too Kutuzov’s earlier comments to Wilson and Bennigsen discussed in this chapter and his later conversations with Alexander and Shishkov which I will discuss in Ch. 9.
55 The letter is in a footnote on p. 282 of Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, no. 295.
56 Kutuzov’s two letters to Chichagov are in Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, no. 295, 3 Nov. 1812 (OS), pp. 282–3, and no. 363, 10 Nov. 1812 (OS), pp. 344–5. His letter to Wittgenstein of 8–9 November is in the same volume, no. 349, pp. 334–5. His comment to Ermolov is cited by V. S. Norov who was an aide-de-camp and an officer of the Guards Jaegers, one of the Guards regiments entrusted to Ermolov. See Norov’s Zapiski, p. 75. Ermolov quotes the first but not the second sentence in his memoirs and he was best placed to know exactly what Kutuzov said. Norov may have been embellishing his tale. But the words he ascribes to Kutuzov do sum up an attitude which comes across in many accounts, including Ermolov’s: see A. P. Ermolov, Zapiski A. P. Ermolova 1798–1826, Moscow, 1991, pp. 243–6.
57 Carl von Clausewitz, The Campaign of 1812 in Russia, London, 1992, pp. 213–14.
58 The basic narrative here comes from Bogdanovich, Istoriia…1812, vol. 2, ch. XXXI, pp. 442 ff. and vol. 3, ch. XL, pp. 205 ff. See RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3419: ‘Iskhodiashchii zhurnal Generala Sakena’, fos. 4i–ii, Sacken to Kutuzov, 21 Feb. 1813 for his complaint that he and his men had sacrificed themselves for the common good without hope of personal recognition.
59 Bogdanovich, Istoriia…1812, vol. 3, pp. 206–35. A. G. Tartakovskii (ed.), Voennye dnevniki, Moscow, 1990, pp. 211–25, covers the advance to the Berezina.
60 Bogdanovich, Istoriia…1812, vol. 3, p. 236.
61 See Oertel’s letter to Chichagov of 3 Nov. 1812 (OS): MVUA 1812, 21, pp. 115–17; Chichagov to Alexander, 17 Nov. 1812 (OS): SIRIO, 6, 1871, pp. 56–8.
62 MVUA 1812, 19, Wittgenstein to Alexander, 19 Oct. 1812 (OS), p. 265.
63 Marshal Gouvion Saint-Cyr, Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire militaire sous le Directoire, le Consulat et l’Empire, Paris, 1831, vol. 3, pp. 201–3.
64 Bogdanovich, Istoriia…1812, vol. 3, pp. 198–204. MVUA 1812, 19, Wittgenstein to Alexander, 26 Oct. 1812 (OS), p. 268; Wittgenstein to Alexander, 31 Oct. 1812 (OS), pp. 270–72. Gavrilov, Organizatsiia, p. 163. See e.g. Alexander’s letter to Kutuzov of 30 Oct. 1812 (OS) in SIM, 2, no. 270, pp. 140–41, and Kutuzov’s letter to Wittgenstein of 3 Nov. (OS) on the same danger in Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, no. 293, pp. 280–81.
65 V. Kriuchkov, 95-i pekhotnyi Krasnoiarskii polk: 1797–1897, SPB, 1897, p. 172. Gavrilov, Organizatsiia, p. 161, on requisitioning in Mogilev province.
66 Ermolov, Zapiski, pp. 244–8.
67 P. Pototskii, Istoriia gvardeiskoi artillerii, SPB, 1896, pp. 207–10. (Norov), Zapiski, pp. 76–7; Istoriia leib-gvardii egerskago polka za sto let 1796–1896, SPB, 1896, pp. 88–94.
68 S. Gulevich, Istoriia leib gvardii Finliandskago polka 1806–1906, SPB, 1906, pp. 256–61. (Norov), Zapiski, pp. 76–7.
69 Chichagov’s letters to Alexander constitute his first defence of his actions: see SIRIO, 6, 1871, pp. 51–67: 17 and 18 Nov. 1812 (OS). In
the memoir material, perhaps the best defence comes in an article by General Ivan Arnoldi: ‘Berezinskaia pereprava’, VS, 53/9, 1910, pp. 8–20. The main recent defence is by I. N. Vasilev, Neskol’ko gromkikh udarov po khvostu tigra, Moscow, 2001.
70 Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, no. 363, Kutuzov to Chichagov, 10 Nov. 1812 (OS), pp. 344–5. Clausewitz, Campaign, p. 210.
71 Ermolov, Zapiski, p. 251.
72 Bogdanovich, Istoriia…1812, vol. 3, pp. 255–61. Mikhailovskii-Danilevskii, Opisanie 1812, p. 519.
73 Arnol’di, ‘Berezinskaia pereprava’, pp. 11–12.
74 The best Russian descriptions are Bogdanovich, Istoriia…1812, vol. 3, pp. 263–76, and Vasil’ev, Neskol’ko gromkikh udarov, pp. 190–200, 248–68.
75 Bogdanovich, Istoriia…1812, vol. 3, pp. 270–72, 277–84, 297. Vasil’ev, Neskol’ko gromkikh udarov, pp. 235–48, 268–85. Clausewitz, Campaign, pp. 204–8.
76 Ermolov, Zapiski, pp. 254–5.
77 Both Bogdanovich, Istoriia…1812, vol. 3, p. 288, and Bernhardi, Denkwürdigkeiten, vol. 4, p. 319, make this point.
78 Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, no. 563, Kutuzov to Alexander, 19 Dec. 1812, pp. 551–4. N. Murav’ev, ‘Zapiski Murav’eva’, RA, 3, 1885, pp. 389–90. The numbers do not include Osten-Sacken’s corps.
79 I. I. Shelengovskii, Istoriia 69-go Riazanskago polka, 3 vols., Lublin, 1911, vol. 2, p. 192. Upravlenie General-Intendanta, pp. 108–16.
80 Upravlenie General-Intendanta, pp. 114–16.
81 Kutuzov, vol. 4ii, no. 516, Kutuzov to Alexander, 1 Dec. 1812 (OS), pp. 494–5.
Chapter 9: 1813: The Spring Campaign
1 C. F. Adams (ed.), John Quincy Adams in Russia, New York, 1970, pp. 458–9. VPR, 7, no. 120, Rumiantsev to Alexander, 27 June/9 July 1813, pp. 293–4; no. 158, Rumiantsev to Alexander, 18/30 Sept. 1813, pp. 386–9.
2 Countess Choiseul-Gouffier, Historical Memoirs of the Emperor Alexander I and the Court of Russia, London, 1904, p. 148.
3 S. I. Maevskii, ‘Moi vek ili istoriia generala Maevskago’, RS, 8, 1873, p. 253.
4 ‘Grafinia Roksandra Skarlatovna Edling: Zapiski’, in A. Libermann (ed.), Derzhavnyi sfinks, Moscow, 1999, p. 181.
Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace Page 77
