The French losses were naturally much greater, since they had brought far larger numbers into action, but were apparently not heavier in proportion. Davout gave the losses of the 1st Corps at from 5000 to 6000 men. Gudin returned a loss in his single division of 294 killed and 1436 wounded, and his list was by no means complete. The 7th Léger, for example, figures in it for 655 casualties, while, according to its Colonel, it had 707. Ney, according to Martinien’s lists, had 129 officers killed and wounded in his infantry and cavalry, and his total loss must have been in the neighbourhood of 3500. Poniatowski reported a loss of 518 killed and 812 wounded; we must suppose that only the seriously hurt were registered. Reckoning the Polish losses at 2000, Ney’s at 3500, Davout’s at 5500, and adding a possible 1000 for losses among the artillery, reserve cavalry and Guard, we have a total of 12,000. Prisoners there were few on either side.
At 11 p.m. Barclay issued orders to evacuate Smolensk. He stated in his memoir to the Tzar that he had only intended to hold it to give Bagration time to get well forward on the Moscow road. This end was now attained, but the result of the order was what practically amounted to an open mutiny. A number of general officers, headed by the Grand Duke Constantine and by Bennigsen, who had no command and was not entitled to be present, went to Barclay’s quarters and furiously protested against the abandonment of the city. Sir Robert Wilson received urgent letters from many generals on the same subject. Bagration, though he was not personally concerned in the mutinous demonstration, was bitterly indignant at Barclay’s determination. He persisted that the First Army could easily hold its ground on the high ground behind Smolensk, while the Second Army could pass the Dnieper and attack Napoleon in flank. Barclay was of opinion that for the Second Army to adventure itself over the Dnieper would mean its destruction, and that, as regarded holding the line of the Dnieper, Napoleon had merely to extend his right to cut the Russian communications. Furthermore, he points out bitterly, operations of this kind, to be successful, require harmony between commanders. Towards the mutinous deputation he acted with firmness and dignity. He declined to withdraw his orders, and bade them leave his presence. Foiled in the attempt to bring pressure to bear upon him, the malcontents enlisted Wilson on their side, and induced him, as a personal friend of Alexander, to carry a letter to St. Petersburg demanding a new general. They also entrusted him with a declaration on their part that if orders came from the capital to suspend hostilities the army would regard them as not truly expressive of the Tzar’s real determination, and would continue the struggle. All this was not altogether discreditable to the hearts of the generals, if it did no special honour to their heads. Wilson, who had rather hastily concluded that Barclay was not a fit person for the post of commander-in-chief and was also, it is to be feared, unduly influenced by his personal feelings towards Bennigsen and Bagration, accepted the mission. The result of wasting time in this mutinous delegation was that the retirement from Smolensk was not properly carried out.
THE OLD FORTIFICATIONS OF SMOLENSK
The north-east front abutting on the river. The illustration gives a good impression of the deeply-sunken course of a Russian river
Dokhturov withdrew his four divisions from the city without great difficulty, carrying off all his guns and all but the most severely injured of his wounded, took up the temporary bridges, broke the permanent structure, and was safe. But in the confusion at head-quarters no measures had been taken for properly occupying the tête du pont on the right bank. At 2 a.m. Ney ascertained that the wall in his front was deserted and entered the city, while a little later Davout also marched in by the Malakova Gate. The bridge was broken, but the river was only four feet deep, and at 9 a.m. a detachment of 600 Württembergers and Portuguese dashed through it and surprised the tête du pont. The Chasseurs holding it were driven out pell-mell. Hügel’s Württemberg brigade at once followed; Ney brought up his artillery to the river’s edge and the work was maintained. Barclay could only mask it with his rear-guard, under Baron Korff, consisting of 7 regiments of Chasseurs and 3 of Lancers and Hussars, which occupied the northern suburb. Davout promptly set to work to restore the bridge.
Barclay did not at once commence his retreat. For this Clausewitz blames him severely, but it must be remembered that on the 16th his whole army had made a forced march, and that on the 17th part of it had been heavily engaged. Then also he was probably still harassed and distracted by the mutinous state of his subordinates. For the moment his firmness appears to have crushed insubordination. The Grand Duke was sent off to St. Petersburg under the pretext that his presence was needed there. Otherwise Barclay’s delay was perhaps due to a desire to mislead Napoleon as to his line of retreat. In this he certainly succeeded; but it was scarcely necessary to retain the whole of his army in position; a well-handled rear-guard could have masked the direction of the march.
Early on the 18th Napoleon was at the river-bank opposite Korff’s position, but then he appears to have retired to rest, after sending a brief letter to Maret at Vilna to announce the capture of Smolensk. He certainly may have needed sleep, and it may also be imagined that the bulk of the army, which had fought all day and been astir all night, was reposing. At any rate the day was one of inaction for both sides, except at the bridge, where desultory fighting went on until nightfall. Ney slowly reinforced the tête du pont by means of boats and rafts, but the bridge could not be completed until Korff withdrew. It does not seem to have been ready until late at night. During the day Junot’s corps and the head of the 4th reached Smolensk.
There is some reason to believe that on this day Bagration’s ugly temper led him into the commission of what was practically an act of treason. He took off his entire army to Solovievo, leaving only four regiments of Cossacks at the important road junction at Lubino. As the high-road by the river was commanded by French artillery on the south bank, Barclay would be forced to use for his retreat the cross-road by Gorbunovo, which reached the highway at Lubino, and certainly a handful of light horsemen was a most inadequate guard for this vital last point. Barclay says that he only learnt at the last moment that it was practically uncovered. Bagration’s retreat was natural, now that Smolensk was abandoned, but in leaving no infantry at Lubino, and not apparently informing his colleague, he committed, to say the least of it, a very dubious action. Otherwise the incident throws light on the bad staff-work of the Russians, and one may fairly ask why Yermólov and St. Priest were not in close and frequent communication with each other.
Between 7 and 8 p.m. Dokhturov, with the 5th and 6th Corps, and Korff’s and Pahlen’s cavalry (less detachments to rear-guard), was ordered to march by cross-roads to Solovievo. An hour or so later the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Corps, with Uvarov’s cavalry corps, started by the Gorbunovo track for Lubino. At this moment apparently, Barclay heard that there were no troops at that vital point except Karpov’s Cossacks. He at once directed Major-General Tuchkov III with the Yelisabetgrad Hussars, the Revel Regiment, the 20th and 21st Chasseurs and a horse artillery battery to hasten thither. At 2 a.m. Korff withdrew from before Smolensk.