The Russian loss appears to have been about 3000 men out of a total of about 18,000 actively engaged: of these perhaps 500 were prisoners. That of the allies was probably a little less. Schwarzenberg estimated the loss of the Austrians at about 1300, of whom 865 were in Bianchi’s division. Reynier only admitted 931 casualties.
Tormazov did not stay his retreat at Kobrin, but continued on his way southward, intending to make for the Styr and stand on the defensive behind it. His resolution was undoubtedly wise. With Chaplitz’s and Khovanski’s troops he had in hand 30,000 men, and might abide the chances of another battle. But his force was too small to rout Schwarzenberg’s, and a heavy defeat might leave Admiral Chichagov, who was at last on the way from Bukharest, too weak to face Napoleon’s right wing. On the other hand, by retreating on Lutsk he would lessen the distance between himself and the Admiral, would be in closer communication with his base at Kiev and Sacken’s reserves, and his position behind the marshy Styr might well induce the cautious Austrian general and his half-hearted or openly disaffected lieutenants to call a halt.
On the 13th there was some rear-guard fighting on the Kobrin road, but it was not serious, and Tormazov continued his retreat to Kovel, which he reached on the 24th. There he apparently would have stood firm, but Schwarzenberg threatening to turn his left he abandoned his position and marched towards Lutsk, where he arrived on the 29th. Schwarzenberg’s pursuit was not very energetic, owing to scarcity of supplies and the difficulty of the Pinsk fenlands.
Tormazov therefore found himself at the beginning of September in the same position which he had occupied five weeks before. His strategy had been far from faultless: in particular his detachments previous to the battle of Gorodeczna seem to have been unnecessarily large. His tactics at Gorodeczna had been bad at the outset, however much his boldness and energy may have compensated for his earlier carelessness. Still, whatever his faults, he had inflicted a heavier loss than he had sustained, and had drawn upon himself, away from the main theatre of war, the whole of the Austrian auxiliary army and the 7th Corps, as well as Kosinski’s Polish column from Zamosc. Moreover, Admiral Chichagov’s advanced guard was only fourteen or fifteen marches away, and might be relied upon to join him by the middle of September.
It has already been seen that when Barclay evacuated Drissa he had left Count Wittgenstein to cover the road to St. Petersburg. Wittgenstein had for his principal bases of operations the ancient towns of Pskov and Velikii Novgorod; his advanced depôt was Sebezh, some 60 miles from Polotsk, on the road to Pskov. In addition to his own 1st Corps he was given the bulk of the depôt troops at Drissa and Dünaburg, and his artillery was strengthened by a heavy battery. The 18 reserve battalions hardly mustered 5700 bayonets, but the 15 depôt squadrons could furnish 1900 sabres and lances, and included those of the Imperial Guard, some of the finest in Europe. Wittgenstein’s fighting strength, after the departure of Barclay, totalled some 29,000 men, of whom 4500 were cavalry and Cossacks, with 108 guns. Of this total 10 reserve battalions and 4 squadrons, about 3700 strong, were at Dünaburg; the rest were united under Wittgenstein’s immediate command.
The 1st Corps contained in its staff a considerable foreign element. Wittgenstein, his chief-of-staff, Major-General D’Auvray, and the Quartermaster-General Diebich, were all Germans. Wittgenstein himself was a man of no special talent, but active and energetic, and in the prime of life. D’Auvray was an older man, but possessed plenty of vigour, and was a good theoretical officer, though somewhat deficient in practical experience of warfare. Colonel Diebich, a Prussian, only twenty-seven years of age, was probably the most intellectually distinguished of the three. His enduring fame as “Zabalkanski”—the Balkan-Passer—dates from the year 1829, when he commanded in chief against the Turks. For the present all that need be observed is that the command of the Russian army of the Düna was in vigorous hands. Clausewitz notes that D’Auvray, especially, could “lay about him” at need; and doubtless the process was often necessary in dealing with the gallant but amateurish and frequently indolent Russian officers.
From Dünaburg to Riga, a distance of some 130 miles, there were practically no Russian troops. In the great Baltic port and its neighbourhood there were 30 depôt battalions, 8 squadrons, and some Cossacks and field artillery, which, with garrison troops, totalled perhaps 14,000 men, sufficient to defend the fortifications and outlying places, but not to furnish any considerable detachment for the field. Riga was furthermore defended by Russian and English gunboats and bomb-brigs; and naval assistance to almost any amount was available from the British Baltic fleet, should it be necessary. Riga was practically secure against any but a very large army. Its commander, Lieutenant-General Essen I, was an officer of no great ability, and in poor health.
The Russian forces therefore available for the defence of Kurland and the line of the Düna amounted in all to perhaps 43,000 men, but could be reinforced to nearly double that number by militia and regulars, the latter partly depôt troops, but chiefly belonging to Count Steingell’s army of Finland, soon rendered disposable by the conclusion of peace with Sweden.
Towards Riga Napoleon had directed the so-called 10th Corps, under Marshal Macdonald. It had, in fact, as Macdonald complained, no proper corps organisation or administration; and consisted of two distinct bodies—Grandjean’s Polish and German division, formerly attached to the 1st Corps, and the bulk of the Prussian contingent under General Grawert. The operations of the corps were languid; it certainly was not strong enough to besiege Riga; and Napoleon paid curiously little attention to it. It would almost seem as if his real object in constituting it at the last moment was to have the notoriously disaffected Prussian contingent accompanied and watched by a competent force of troops drawn from states which he regarded as devoted to him.
The 10th Corps, having swept the right bank of the Niemen, concentrated on Rossieni, whence it set out on July 8th for Riga, Grawert advancing directly on the port by way of Mitau, while Grandjean’s division, accompanied by Macdonald, moved on the right. Before the 30,000 or 32,000 men of the 10th Corps the Russian detachments in Kurland were helpless, and fell back at all points into Riga. By the 18th the invading forces were ranged along the Aa river, which passes by Mitau, the capital of Kurland, and, flowing nearly parallel to the Düna, enters the Baltic some 20 miles west of Dünamunde. Mitau, Bausk, and the other towns along the Aa were occupied, and the Prussians reached out with their left to the sea. Essen could form for field operations only a force of 8 depôt battalions, 8 squadrons, a battery and some Cossacks—4500 men at most, with 10 guns—which he sent under Lieutenant-General Lewis towards Bausk. Lewis was too late to defend Mitau or Bausk, and took up a defensive position at Eckau between the latter place and Riga. Against him Grawert advanced on July 19th with 7 battalions, 4 squadrons and 4 batteries—5000 men and 32 guns. Lewis was beaten with a loss of over 600 prisoners besides killed and wounded, and driven back upon Riga. The Prussians moved up nearer to the city, and Essen, on July 22nd, losing his head, ordered the suburbs to be fired. There was absolutely no need for this reckless step. Macdonald had not a siege gun within reach. The misery and destitution occasioned were, of course, terrible; the mere immediate material loss is said to have been valued at 15,000,000 paper rúbles (about £600,000).