It has been seen that when King Jerome resigned his command, the 5th and 8th Corps went to reinforce Davout, Latour-Maubourg to observe Bobruisk, while the 7th Corps returned to Slonim. Reynier was instructed to take the place of Schwarzenberg in guarding the frontier of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, while the latter marched on Minsk. Reynier himself was convinced that his corps was far too weak for the prescribed duty, while he had better information than his master of Tormazov’s real strength. Nevertheless he endeavoured to carry out Napoleon’s orders. On the 19th he ordered Klengel’s infantry brigade and a regiment of cavalry to take the place of an Austrian detachment at Kobrin. On the same day Schwarzenberg informed Napoleon that Tormazov had some 30,000 men at Lutsk. The Emperor, however, was sceptical. On the 22nd he ordered Reynier to enter Volhynia, saying that Tormazov’s “army” was merely a collection of reserve battalions. On the same day he told Davout that Tormazov had only 8000 men of 3rd battalions. The movements which he had ordered continued, and by the 24th the Austrians were about Slonim, on the way to Minsk, while the 7th Corps, moving in the opposite direction, was approaching Kobrin, some 30 miles east of Brest-Litovsk.
Napoleon’s information was hopelessly inaccurate. So far he could not be accountable for the unforeseen situation which was now to disclose itself. But his refusal to believe Schwarzenberg and Reynier is distinctly blameworthy, and can only be attributed to the fatal optimism which had now become fixed in him.
General Tormazov, when hostilities broke out, commanded an army which was neither concentrated nor complete in its organisation. Three infantry divisions, a brigade of combined Grenadier companies, 3 regiments of Hussars, and a cavalry corps 36 squadrons strong, were scattered over western Volhynia. General Sacken’s reserve troops—12 depleted battalions and 24 squadrons—were at Zaslavl and Staroï Konstantinov near the frontier of Podolia, and the irregulars were scattered along the Austrian and Polish borders. It was not until the middle of July that a respectable force was at last concentrated near Lutsk.
Tormazov’s original task was the defence of Volhynia, but Napoleon showed no intention of making any eccentric movements in that direction. On hearing of Bagration’s retreat on Bobruisk, he thought that he himself might be obliged to fall back towards Kiev, in order not entirely to lose touch with the Second Army. By the middle of July, however, the situation became clearer. The allied troops were pouring along the Warsaw-Smolensk road, and there were only few and small detachments guarding the Polish frontier. He therefore determined to invade the Grand Duchy of Warsaw by way of Lublin; and General Lambert, his cavalry commander, had already crossed the Bug, when he was recalled.
On July 17th instructions reached Tormazov from Alexander to advance northward against the flanks and rear of the forces that were opposed to Bagration. It is probable that this manœuvre promised more immediate results than the contemplated advance on Warsaw. At the same time it is by no means certain that Tormazov was wrong in his original decision. The capture of Warsaw would have been a terrific shock to Napoleon’s prestige. The Russians could not have held it long, but they would have been able to destroy the depôts there collected, and might have cut up Reynier’s corps had Napoleon, as was probable, urged it in overhasty pursuit of an enemy whose strength he underestimated. In that case Napoleon would have been obliged to divert against him not merely Schwarzenberg’s Austrians, but perhaps also the 8th Corps. In any case he would have been forced to employ some of his new formations in the rear to meet the irruption.
The plan now imposed upon Tormazov had the advantage that it must, in the nature of things, call back Schwarzenberg from his march to reinforce Davout. On the other hand, it involved passing the Pinsk Marshes, which would oppose a dangerous barrier to retreat in case of a reverse; and the chances of crushing the 7th Corps were minimised, since a few concentric marches would unite Reynier and Schwarzenberg.
General Sacken with his reserves had been left in eastern Volhynia; some of his troops were detached to strengthen the force at Mozyr. On July 22 Tormazov ordered Lambert to leave General Kruchov, with a brigade of dragoons and 2 regiments of Cossacks, to observe the Polish frontier, and with 4 battalions, 16 squadrons, 5 Cossack regiments and 6 guns, to march by both banks of the Bug upon Brest-Litovsk. Four battalions and 7 squadrons, under Major-General Melissino, were to make a demonstration towards Pinsk, while the corps of Kamenski and Markov advanced upon Brest-Litovsk and Kobrin. Tormazov’s strength, exclusive of Kruchov, was probably about 36,000 men, with 144 guns. He was consequently nearly three times as strong as Reynier’s corps; but the latter could be sustained within a few days by 30,000 Austrians.
On the 24th Reynier’s main body was about Bezdizh on the Brest-Litovsk-Pinsk high-road. Klengel’s brigade occupied Kobrin. Two squadrons of cavalry were at Brest, and another detachment was on the road to Pinsk. Reynier’s small corps was thus spread out over a line of 80 miles. Reynier appears to have realised his danger, and provided against it to the best of his ability by keeping his main body together. He was perhaps to blame in detaching Klengel, but in justice it must be said that his duties were out of all proportion to his strength.
On the 24th Lambert expelled the Saxon cavalry from Brest-Litovsk. Melissino drove in the outposts on Reynier’s left, and occupied Pinsk, expelling its Austrian garrison and capturing a gun. Reynier was thus alarmed on both flanks, and doubted in which direction to turn. Early on the 27th Tormazov’s advanced guard, under Major-General Chaplitz, approached Kobrin from the south, while at the same time Lambert’s cavalry came up from the west. His infantry, who were fatigued by hard marching, he had left in the rear.
Klengel’s brigade consisted of only about 2600 men with 8 guns. Obviously he could make no effective resistance to the Russian army; but he considered himself bound by Reynier’s orders to defend Kobrin to the last extremity. Reynier’s comment was that, being the advanced guard of the corps, the brigade should have retired when it became obvious that it ran the risk of being surrounded. It appears to be a somewhat uncertain point among military men as to how far detachment commanders are justified in departing from the letter of their orders. On the morning of the 27th Klengel’s line of retreat on Pruzhani was certainly open. On the other hand, his corps commander would probably come by the Pinsk road; and he appears to have made at least one attempt to break through in that direction, which gives some index to what was passing in his mind. By midday Lambert had cut the road to Pruzhani, and the brigade was surrounded. The Saxons were driven by overwhelming numbers from their hasty entrenchments into the town, and after a gallant resistance, and having expended all their ammunition, were forced, about 2 p.m., to surrender. They had lost 76 killed and 182 wounded, including 13 officers. Seventy-six officers and 2382 rank and file were captured, with 8 guns and 4 standards.[3] Reynier’s advance-guard had only reached Horodetz, about 11 miles east of Kobrin, when it was met by fugitives who bore tidings of the disaster.