The Burning of Moscow
Page 48
82. Sokolskii’s letter in Garin, 48.
83. Soltyk, 253f.
84. Brandt, 227.
85. Kicheyev, 23–24.
86. Dumas, III, 446–447.
87. Chambray, II, 124.
88. 19th Bulletin, 16 September 1812, Les Bulletins de la Grande Armée, V, 298.
89. 20th Bulletin, 17 September 1812, Les Bulletins de la Grande Armée, V, 302–303.
90. See Arthur Chuquet, ed. Ordres et apostilles de Napoléon, 1799–1815 (Paris, 1911), II, 453.
91. 23rd Bulletin, 9 October 1812, Les Bulletins de la Grande Armée, V, 308.
92. Tutolmin to Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna, 23 November 1812, Chteniya v Imperatorskom obschestve istorii i drevnostei rossiiskikh 2 (1860), 168–169.
93. Rostopchin to his wife, 13 September 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1901), 461–462; Wyllie to Arakcheyev, 24 September 1812 in Dubrovin 1882, 133–136. According to Wyllie, 8,000 wounded were at the Golovinskie Kazarmy and another 5,000 at the Spasskie Kazarmy. Some 4,000 were lodged at the Alexandrov and Ekarinenskii Institutes, 3,000 at the Kudrinskii Institute, about 2,000 at the Western Palace and some 500 were billeted at private apartments.
94. Yermolov (1863), 190.
95. For example see Nikolai Raspopov, ‘Iz vospominanii Nikolaya Maksimovicha Raspopova,’ in Russkii arkhiv 9 (1879), 39–41.
96. For details see Mikhailovskii-Danilevskii, II, 331; S. Melgunov, ‘Rostopchin – Moskovskii glavnokomanduyushii,’ in Otechestvennaya voina i Russkoe obschestvo (Moscow, 1911), IV, 79–80; A. Smirnov, ‘Tak skolko ze ikh bylo. Ob ostavlennykh v Moskve ranenykh,’ in Proceedings of the III All-Russian Scientific Conference, 2000,
97. Miritskii to Tutolmin, 9 December 1812, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 50; Tutolmin to Emperor Alexander, 17 December 1812, in Chteniya v Imperatorskom Moskovskom obshestve istorii i drevnosti 2 (1860), 170.
98. Kicheyev, 41.
99. Norov, 206–207.
100. Turiot’s letter of 27 September 1812, cited in Soubiran, 257. Similar description in Larrey, IV, 31.
101. Turiot’s letter of 27 September 1812, cited in Soubiran, 263–264.
102. Kool, 53.
Chapter 7: In the Ruins of the Great City
1. Chambray, Labaume and others claim that Napoleon returned to the Kremlin on 20 September. However, Caulaincourt’s journal, together with Castellane’s diary and the memoirs of Peyrusse, Denniée, Pion des Loches and others clearly refer to his return on 18 September.
2. Soltyk, 263–265; Castellane, I, 155; Griois, II, 54.
3. Planat de la Faye, 90.
4. 19th Bulletin, 16 September 1812, Les Bulletins de la Grande Armée, V, 294, 297.
5. Caulaincourt, II, 16.
6. For reactions in Paris, see Correspondance et Relations de J. Fiévée avec Bonaparte, III, 239–240.
7. 20th Bulletin, 17 September 1812, Les Bulletins de la Grande Armée, V, 302–304.
8. Castellane, 155–156; Méneval, III, 66. Bourgogne, however, describes being dispatched with some 200 men to the Yellow Palace on 19 September, when Napoleon was already in the Kremlin. His account also confirms the burning of the palace ‘a quarter of an hour’ after his arrival there. Bourgogne, 38.
9. Much of what we know about her meeting with Napoleon comes from Aubert-Chalmé’s conversation with Chevalier d’Ysarn. Ysarn, 13–15. A slightly different version is reported in Popov, Frantsuzy v Moskve, 83–84.
10. Alexander Bulgakov to Natalya Bulgakova, 31 October 1812, in Russkii arkhiv (1866), 704–705.
11. Fain, II, 93–94.
12. Fain, II, 94–95.
13. Caulaincourt, II, 18.
14. Zemtsov, 84.
15. Eugène to his wife, 21 September 1812, in Mémoires et correspondence politique et militaire du Prince Eugène, VIII, 50.
16. Dumas, III, 450.
17. Fain, II, 95–97.
18. A number of historians date Napoleon’s return to 19 September but a closer examination of sources shows that he returned the day before.
19. Dumas notes that ‘I was much astonished when I heard that the emperor had ordered [Berthier] and the Count de Narbonne to go themselves to the east part of [Moscow], where the ravages of the fire had been less extensive, and examine the fine summer-palace which had been preserved. This order clearly indicated the fatal resolution which the emperor had taken to return to Moscow, instead of falling back to the frontier of Lithuania, and going to meet his reinforcements and supplies, before the Russians should be able to harass his retreat. Dumas, III, 450–451.
20. Itinéraire des Archives de Caulaincourt, in Caulaincourt, Mémoires, II, 19f.
21. Ségur, Histoire de Napoleon, II, 63–64.
22. Caulaincourt, Mémoires, II, 21. ‘The city is almost completely reduced to ashes,’ confided Viceroy Eugène to his wife later that day. Eugène to his wife, 18 September 1812, Mémoires et correspondence politique et militaire du Prince Eugène, VIII, 48. See also Fantin des Odoards, 335; Castellane, I, 157.
23. Constant, III, Chapter XXV,
24. Napoleon to Cambacéres, 18 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1100. Also see Napoleon to Marie Louise, 18 September 1812, Ibid., 1101.
25. Report on Destroyed Buildings, July 1817, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 218–219; ‘Kratkaya zapiska ostavshimsya v tselosti zdaniyam v Moskve,’ in Russkii arkhiv (1864), 1203–1204.
26. Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 218f; Ministerstvo finansov 1802–1902 (St Petersburg, 1902) I, 616–617. ‘Even two hundred years from now,’ Napoleon lamented, ‘Russia will not recover what has been lost here. It will not be an exaggeration to state that the losses will exceed one billion [francs].’ Napoleon to Maret, 18 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1101.
27. Ségur, Histoire de Napoleon, II, 64–65.
28. Korbeletskii, 38.
29. Ségur, Histoire de Napoleon, II, 64–65.
30. Montesquiou-Fezensac, Journal de la Campagne de Russie, 57.
31. Walter, 43.
32. Itinéraire des Archives de Caulaincourt, in Caulaincourt, Mémoires, II, 19f.
33. Napoleon to Berthier, 18 September 1812, S.H.D., département de l’Armée de Terre, 17 C 113; Fain, II, 99. Fain notes that ‘this charitable mission was entrusted to an auditor of the State Council, Busch, who was known for his religious zeal’. Also see Napoleon to Berthier, 18 September 1812, in Correspondance de Napoléon, XXIV, No. 19209, 219; Korbeletskii, 36–39.
34. According to Fain, it was Napoleon’s secretary and interpreter Lelorgne. Fain, II, 99. Tutolmin’s letter of 19 September also notes that it was Lelorgne. However, his more detailed report, submitted on 17 December, notes that Napoleon also passed by the Foundlings Home on 17 September and dispatched General Dumas to pay his respects to Tutolmin. Zemtsov correctly points out that Napoleon could not have been near the Foundlings Home on the 17th since he was still at the Petrovskii Palace, and argues that Tutolmin simply made a mistake in dating the incident. It probably occurred on the 18th. Tutolmin to Emperor Alexander, 19 September 1812, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 64; Tutolmin to Empress Maria Feodorovna, 17 December 1812, in Chteniya v Imperatorskom Moskovskom obshestve istorii i drevnosti 2 (1860), 164; Zemtsov, Pozhar Moskvy, 106–107.
35. Itinéraire des Archives de Caulaincourt, in Caulaincourt, Mémoires, II, 19f.
36. Napoleon to Marie Louise, 18 September 1812, in Lettres inédites de Napoléon Ier à Marie-Louise, 78–80.
37. Bourgogne, 37.
38. Surrugues, 19.
39. Domergues, I, 47–48.
40. Kool, 53.
41. Napoleon to Maret, 18 September 1812, in Correspondance de Napoléon, XXIV, No. 19208, 219.
42. Castellane, I, 156–157.
43. Histoire de la destruction de Moscou en 1812, 1
03–104.
44. Christiani, 48.
45. Montesquiou-Fezensac, Journal de la Campagne de Russie, 59.
46. Muralt, 76.
47. Laugier, 83.
48. Russkii arkhiv (1864), 1201.
49. Montesquiou-Fezensac, Journal de la Campagne de Russie, 59.
50. Dumas, III, 453.
51. Beauvollier, 37.
52. Montesquiou-Fezensac, Journal de la Campagne de Russie, 64.
53. Kool, 53, 57.
54. Walter, 45.
55. Vionnet de Maringone, 42. Also see Kool, 53.
56. Thirion, 204.
57. Boulart, 262.
58. Combe, 106.
59. Walter, 45.
60. Brandt, 228.
61. Adam, 208.
62. Coignet did not mention the colonel’s name but observed that he ‘saw him afterwards at Vilna, frozen to death. God punished him. His servants robbed his body.’
63. Laugier, 73–74.
64. Tolstoy, War and Peace, 227.
65. Beauvollier, 37–38
66. Pion des Loches, 300.
67. Brandt, 228.
68. Itinéraire des Archives de Caulaincourt in Caulaincourt, II, 37f-38.
69. Schom, 634–635.
70. Caulaincourt’s journal also shows that Napoleon made extended daily trips to visit various parts of Moscow between September 30 and October 11, staying at the Kremlin only on four days when he was reviewing troops.
71. Napoleon to Maret, 24 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1110. In another incident Napoleon advised his Chief of Staff, ‘I noticed in the status reports that the 6th Battalion of the 19th Line has been ordered to proceed to Smolensk. This is an error. Convey orders to Vilna and to Minsk to direct this battalion to Polotsk, where its corps is located.’ Napoleon to Berthier, 4 October 1812, in Ibid., 1131.
72. Napoleon to Maret, 28 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1119.
73. Napoleon mobilized over 650,000 men for the campaign and about 500,000 of these actually entered Russia. Of these, the Central Army Group – the Imperial Guard, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Army Corps, and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Reserve Cavalry Corps – amounted to some 380,000 men. Strategic and operational considerations, battle losses, illness and desertion in the first two months of the war reduced this force to some 180,000 men at Smolensk and 134,000 at Borodino. The Grande Armée lost some 35,000 men in the subsequent battle at Borodino. Berthier to Napoleon, 28 September 1812, in General Derrécagaix, Le Maréchal Berthier, Prince de Wagram & de Neuchatel (Paris, 1905), II, 437–438. This total excludes Andoche Junot’s 8th Corps at Mozhaisk.
74. Montesquiou-Fezensac, Journal de la Campagne de Russie, 51.
75. John H. Gill, ‘The Rheinbund in Russia 1812: The Württemberg Experience,’ paper presented at the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era (Dallas TX, 2013). I am grateful to the author for allowing me to consult it.
76. In late September Davout’s corps continued to hold the western suburbs of Moscow, while Ney’s 3rd Corps held positions in the southeastern suburbs, controlling the roads to Tula and Ryazan. The troops from the 8th Corps were initially west of the Dorogomilovskii barrier but were then moved back to Mozhaisk. The 5th Corps initially took up positions near the village of Petrovskoe on the Vladimir road, but then moved to the Tula road around 21 September. Murat’s advanced guard, consisting of the 2nd and 4th Cavalry Corps, with additional light cavalry brigades and infantry divisions of the 1st and 3rd Corps, held positions in the eastern suburbs of Moscow in the first two days of the occupation. On 16–17 September Sebastiani led part of the advanced guard (the 4th Cavalry Corps and part of the 2nd Cavalry Corps) in the wake of the Russian army as far as Bronitz, before realizing he had lost the enemy force. Defrance’s carabiniers, meanwhile, remained on the Kaluga road until 23 September. Claparade’s Vistula Legion, supported by Subervie’s 16th Light Brigade, initially observed the Vladimir road but the Poles were then moved to the Ryazan road, where they took quarters in the village of Panki. Subervie’s men, meanwhile, remained on the Vladimir road, advancing beyond Bogorodsk before veering to the southeast and arriving at Podolsk. When Napoleon moved to the Petrovskii Palace, he was followed by the Old Imperial Guard, which took up positions around the palace; the Young Guard remained deployed around the Kremlin, which was in turn held by a sole battalion of the Old Guard. The Guard Cavalry Division was still southwest of Moscow and approached the city only after 19 September. The 4th Corps, which approached Moscow from the northwest, also retained considerable forces in that area. It was soon joined by the 1st and 3rd Reserve Cavalry Corps, which took up positions on both sides of the roads leading to Tver and Dmitrov. According to one eyewitness, the officers of the Grande Armée demonstrated a thorough knowledge of Moscow’s streets as they deployed the units throughout the city. ‘Our consul Dorfland had supplied the best information and topographical details before the start of the war. He was present with the army and his directions were conveyed to everyone, from officers to the last soldier. It was remarkable to observe the French amidst this enormous city, some eight hundreds lieues from the motherland, orienting and moving their units in the Kremlin, Kitai-gorod or Belyi Gorod as if it was all taking place in their garrison hometown.’ Domergues, I, 50.
77. Napoleon to Maret, 23 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1110. For conscription issues see Napoleon to Clarke, 8 October 1812, Ibid., 1169–1170.
78. Napoleon to Maret, 23 September 1812; Napoleon to Berthier, 5–6 October 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1110, 1135–1137, 1154. Napoleon told Clarke, his Minister of War, to raise reinforcements for the Guard voltigeurs and tirailleurs and dispatch four foreign regiments, deployed in Italy and Holland, to Poland. Napoleon to Clarke, 21 September–5 October 1812, in Ibid., 1106, 1137–1138.
79. Napoleon to Maret, 23 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1110.
80. Napoleon to Maret, 23 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1110. A week later, in a letter to his foreign minister, Napoleon voiced his harshest criticisms of the Poles: ‘It seems my ambassador is an imbecile who does nothing and that the ministers of the grand duchy do not do anything either … Inform them of my strongest dissatisfaction at this exceedingly ill will … It is ridiculous that while I am suffering huge expenses for their cause, they do not want to cover even the simplest expenditures related to the maintenance of their corps.’ Napoleon to Maret, 30 September 1812, in Ibid., 1123.
81. Napoleon to Berthier, 27 September-5 October 1812, S.H.D., département de l’Armée de Terre, 17 C 113.
82. Napoleon to Berthier, 19 September 1812, S.H.D., département de l’Armée de Terre, 17 C 113; Napoleon to Berthier, 21–23 September 1812 in Correspondance de Napoléon, XXIV, Nos. 19216–19217, 19220. He also made arrangements to have Russian prisoners of war transported from Poland and east Prussia to France. Napoleon to Berthier, 19 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1101.
83. Napoleon to La Riboisière; Napoleon to Maret, 23 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1109–1110.
84. Napoleon to Maret, 29 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1121.
85. Napoleon to General La Riboisière, 18 September 1812, Correspondance de Napoléon, XXIV, No. 19210.
86. Napoleon to General La Riboisière, 3 October 1812, Correspondance générale, XII, No. 31793, 1127.
87. According to the report, the 1st, 3rd and 4th Corps, the reserve cavalry and the Guard were supposed to have 524 pieces, but only 381 were actually present in Moscow (with another 83 en route). Equally alarming was the situation with the artillery caissons. The 1st Corps was supposed to have 200 caissons but mustered 139, the 4th Corps had 310 instead of 390 and the reserve cavalry had 266 out of 310. This meant that only 715 caissons were available, instead of the supposed 900.
88. Napoleon to General La Riboisière, 3 October 1812, Correspondance générale, XII, No. 31794, 112
7.
89. Napoleon to Berthier, 7 October 1812, S.H.D., département de l’Armée de Terre, 17 C 114.
90. Napoleon to La Riboisière, 8 October 1812, Correspondance générale, XII, 1173; Napoleon to Clarke, 11 October 1812 S.H.D., département de l’Armée de Terre, 17 C 326; Napoleon to Berthier, 12 October 1812, in Chuquet, Ordres et apostilles de Napoléon, 461.
91. Napoleon to Maret, 29 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1121. Similar sentiment – ‘I have the greatest need for horses’ – in Napoleon to Maret, 6 October 1812, Ibid., 1158–1159.
92. Napoleon listed ‘Hannover, Berlin, Glogau, Elbing, Thorn, Modlin, Koenigsberg, Gumbinen, Kovno, Vilna, Minsk, Merech, Lepel, Glubokoe, Smolensk, Mozyr, etc.’ Napoleon to General Durosnel, 19 September 1812, Correspondance générale, XII, 1102.
93. Napoleon to Maret, 29 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1121.
94. Ordre du jour, 18 September 1812, ‘Extraits du Livre d’Ordres du 2e Régiment de Grenadiers a pied de la Garde imperiale,’ in Carnet de la Sabretache 8 (1900), 575.
95. Ordre du jour, 18 September 1812, ‘Extraits du Livre d’Ordres du 2e Régiment de Grenadiers a pied de la Garde imperiale,’ in Carnet de la Sabretache 8 (1900), 576.
96. Pion des Loches, 303.
97. Berthier to Davout, 19 September 1812, RGVIA f. 846, op. 16, d. 3587, l.1; Berthier to Eugène, 19 September 1812, in Mémoires et Correspondance … du Prince Eugène, VIII, 49.
98. Vionnet de Maringone, 33.
99. Lossberg, 190.
100. Kool, 52–53.
101. Berthier to Davout, 20 September 1812, RGVIA f. 846, op. 16, d. 3587, l.2; Berthier to Eugène, 20 September 1812, in Mémoires et Correspondance … du Prince Eugène, VIII, 49–50.
102. Berthier to Davout, 21 September 1812, RGVIA, f. 846, op. 16, d. 3587, l.3.
103. Chambray, I, 366; Napoleon to Berthier, 21 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1105.
104. Roguet, IV, 492.
105. Bourgogne, 30–31.
106. Ysarn, 26–27. Also see G. Lecointe de Laveau, Mosca avanti e doro l’incendio (Milan, 1818), 111–112.