30. The Battle At Krasny November, 16 (November,4),1812 (Zhilin "The Patriotic War Of 1812", Moscow,1988; Beskrovny L.G. "Russian Military Art Of XIX Century", Moscow,1974)

On November 9th, Napoleon arrived at Smolensk. The worn out, battered French Corps had been straggling into the city the whole week. Only about 50 thousand soldiers and officers were left in the French army. Most Corps had nothing but their names. The Corps of Junot and Poniatowsky contained only 700 to 800 soldiers each. Of all the French Cavalry, including all four reserve Corps. less than 5 thousand remained. The hopes of Napoleon to find big reserves of food in Smolensk were dashed; only very small stocks were found - barely enough food to feed his army for several days. He did not allow his troops to rest for long. After 4 days in Smolensk he put them in order, but decided to retreat further to the West where he planned to form a new army and begin a new campaign. All witnesses said these plans were unrealistic. It was necessary to leave Smolensk quickly because the Russian army and partisan detachments were surrounding the city on all sides, and the main forces of the Russian army were moving westward of Smolensk, about to cut off all ways of retreat. The French army set out from Smolensk in five lines: On November 13th the rest of the Corps of Junot and Poniatowsky went towards the town of Krasny; a day later, the Guard with Napoleon followed; on the 15th, the Corps of Beauharnais; on the 16th, the rest of the Corps of Davout and finally, on November 17 the - Ney's corps. Leaving the city, the French set fire to the buildings and blew up the ancient city fortifications. The columns of the French troops and transports moved along the road toward Krasny for most of a week. The intervals between them, fixed by Napoleon, had enabled the troops to rest in settlements because the winter frosts were coming. But by dividing the army into small waves, Napoleon made it possible for the Russians to defeat his army - part by part. The Russians soon took advantage of this. On November,13 (the day when the first French wave left Smolensk) Kutuzov ordered the troops of General Miloradovich that had turned from the Solovieva crossing and were now were turning from the South, to move quickly to the road between Smolensk and Krasny to block the enemy's retreat .Also there were the Cossack regiments of Orlov-Denisov and the partisan detachment of Denis Davidov. On November,14 the main forces of the Russian army (the 3rd, 5th, 6th and 8th Infantry Corps) set out from the village of Shelkanovo and moved to Krasny to intercept the Napoleonic army. By November 15th, they were already 4 kilometers to the South-East of Krasny, camped between the villages of Shilovo and Novoselki. The troops of Miloradovich came to the high road, took the flank position relative to the enemy columns and opened fire. The same day, in the region of Pzhavka village, Miloradovich's troops attacked the French Guard rear-guard, inflicting heavy losses. They captured about 2 thousand Men and 11 artillery guns. At the same time, the forces of Generals Borozdin and Orlov-Denisov, acting on the country roads near the main high road, defeated and captured the separated groups of French soldiers. The partisan detachments of Denis Davidov, Seslavin and Figner made numerous raids on the French columns along the road from Smolensk to Krasny and further to the town of Orsha. They also sent Kutuzov very important reports about the condition and positions of the French army, and on the roads they scattered leaflets for the French soldiers that had been written by Kutuzov's Staff. (1) Kutuzov decided to strike a new blow to the French army near the town of Krasny. From November,16 to November,18 there was very serious fighting in the town. Napoleon, with the Guard, had broken through to Krasny, but realizing his mistake, stopped any further movement of his troops and waited for the arrival of all his troops that had left Smolensk, They tried to push troops of Miloradovich from the road but had little success. The battle at Krasny (from the picture by M.O.Mikeshin) Kutusov took advantage of this situation and attacked the French columns stretched along the road to prevent their joining the others. He cut off the retreat route from Smolensk to Krasny and on to Orsha. To accomplish this the Russian army was divided into three detachments. The one under General Tormasov consisted of the 5th, 6th and 8th Infantry Corps. The 1st Cuirassier Division was given a task: On the morning of November 17th, they were to move from Shilovo village, and pass Krasny from the South through the villages of Sidorovichi, Kutkovo and Sorokino. Coming to the village Dobroe, just to the rear of the French army. There, they were to cut off the path of retreat to Liady. The detachment of Miloradovich consisted of the 2nd and the 7th Infantry and the 2nd Cavalry Corps, settled, hidden, at the villages of Merlino and Rzhavka, they would let the Corps of Marshal Davout pass to Krasny and then attack them from behind. The detachment under the command of D.V.Golitsyn, consisted of the 3rd Infantry Corps and the 2nd Cuirassier Division, was ordered to move to the village Uvarovo and attack the French in Krasny. As a result of these coordinated actions the blows fell upon the French army from all sides: The troops of General Tormasov cuff off the path of retreat from Krasnoe, Miloradovich pressed the enemy from the rear, and D.V.Golitsyn attacked the center. Marshal Ney in 1812 The Corps of Beauharnais, moving to Krasny, was defeated by Miloradovich; the others reached Krasny by roundabout ways through the forest. General Ermolov, who was in Miloradovich's detachment, reported, "The enemy, retreating in disorder, was attacked by the vanguard of General Miloradovich on the high Smolensk road near the village of Rzhavka. The resistance was weak, all them are fleeing in horror" (2) The Corps of Davout, attacked by surprise from the rear, suffered the same fate. The panic-stricken French scattered through the forests, abandoning artillery guns, transports and arms. The attempts of Napoleon to reorganize the resistance by his Guard and the rest of the defeated Corps was unsuccessful. He did not wait for the end of the battle, but left the whole Corps of Ney to the mercy of fate, and went with the Guard and his retinue through the forest to Liady village and then on to Dubrovno, where he ordered the army to retreat from Krasny. He stayed there only briefly, then retreated to Orsha. In the battle at Krasny, the Corps of Ney was totally destroyed (3) . It had left Smolensk on November 17th, and tried to break to Krasny, but they were met by mortal artillery fire and the Russian Cavalry. They suffered terrible losses; killed, wounded and captured officers and men. The survivors finally laid down their arms and surrendered. In all, there were more than 12 thousand soldiers and officers captured. Only a few (including Marshal Ney) managed to retreat through the forest, cross the Dnieper river near Syrokorenie and reach Orsha. The crossing of the Dnieper by Ney's troops was terrible as the ice was too thin. Many soldiers, officers, heavy carriages full of wounded or ill soldiers, foreigners and their wives and children (from Moscow), broke through the ice and drowned. Of the 3000 people with Ney, 2000 were lost crossing the river. 1. The Patriotic War Of 1812. The Materials of the Military Historical Archive, V.19, p.166; Leaflets of The Patriotic War of 1812. The Collection Of Materials. Moscow,1962; Tartakovsky A.G. "The Military Publicism Of 1812 ", Moscow, 1967 The Patriotic War Of 1812 . The Materials of the Military Historical Archive, V.19, p.30 M.I.Kutuzov. V.4, Part 2, p. 330-332