Kutuzov decided not to give battle in the Tzarévo-Zaïmichi position. The decision was a perfectly sensible one. The responsibility was now his, and he as yet knew nothing of his army. He would naturally desire to become better acquainted with it, and as it was still some 130 miles from Moscow he might hope to find a stronger position. Toll and his staff were sent on ahead, and the army resumed its retreat, Konovnitzin with a force now augmented to 26 battalions and 72 squadrons covering the rear.
GENERAL OF CAVALRY COUNT PLATOV
Ataman of the Don Cossacks
Meanwhile the French were doggedly following, suffering much from fatigue and heat, and troubled, as usual, by internal dissensions. Davout accused Murat, apparently with great justice, of wasting the cavalry, and exhausting them by useless manœuvres and lack of proper care for their subsistence. He said that it wrung his heart—not a very tender organ—to see the wretched state of the reserve cavalry divisions, and declared that he would not allow his infantry to be so over-worked. Matters came to a head on August 28th in an open quarrel between the two leaders in Napoleon’s presence. Murat retorted to Davout’s accusation by a counter-charge of over-caution, and declared that they had better settle their differences by a duel! Napoleon rather added fuel to the flames, for he insinuated that had Murat been in Davout’s place in July he might have intercepted Bagration. Davout was also on bad terms with Berthier. There is no discovering the real cause of this, but it is certain that Davout’s fierce temper and rough manners made him many enemies.
The march of the army was toilsome. The wide road was occupied by the artillery and trains, five or six vehicles abreast, while along both sides tramped the infantry in heavy columns of companies or “divisions.” They suffered much from heat, which was aggravated by the dense clouds of dust raised by the marching columns; and the supply of water was scanty. Even the Russians occasionally felt the want of it, and it was naturally worse for the French, who found the wells drunk dry and the streams trodden into mud. At the same time it does not appear that the diminution in the ranks owing to these causes was exceptional, though it was certainly serious. The worst losses were among the horses, which suffered at once from lack of proper forage and from thirst. Corn and hay became more and more difficult to procure, and the rations of the unfortunate animals were made up with rye straw. The wastage among them was all the more serious because there was little hope of being able to replace them.
The villages along the route, and the few small towns, were for the most part deserted by their inhabitants, and in part at least destroyed. This was not invariably the case. Dorogobuzh—“Cabbage-town,” as the French soldiers called it from the cabbage fields amid which it lay—was uninjured, and three months later still contained some of its inhabitants. Gzhatsk also was uninjured. Viasma was partly destroyed, owing to fire spreading from a depôt of flour and spirits which the Russians had fired before retreating. Otherwise it is difficult to decide whether the destruction of houses and villages was due to French or Russians. It may be attributed to both at various times according to circumstances.
The Russians retired eastward through Gzhatsk, covered by their powerful rear-guard. On September 1 they were about Kolotskoï, a great monastery about 75 miles from Moscow, the rear-guard being a day’s march behind. At Kolotskoï Toll and Vistitski II, Bagration’s Quarter-master-General, recommended a defensive position at Borodino, a few miles farther on—probably in despair of being able to find anything better between it and Moscow. Napoleon either learned on the same day that the Russians had definitely turned to bay, or inferred that they were about to do so, for he stayed his advance at Gzhatsk in order to rally his forces for the impending struggle. The musters for the 2nd of September, including men temporarily detached or straggling who might rejoin within two or three days, and exclusive of head-quarter troops, showed nearly 135,000 sabres and bayonets. Two battalions of the 8th Corps were garrisoning Dorogobuzh and Viasma. Before the battle Napoleon was rejoined by Pajol’s division and by the 1st and 12th Light Cavalry Brigades—nearly 4000 sabres in all. For the head-quarters troops 3000 is a conservative estimate.
Napoleon made great efforts at this time to grapple with the disorder in his rear, and especially to reduce the vast trains of vehicles which impeded the march. There is abundant evidence that they were out of all proportion to the strength of the army, and the superfluity consisted chiefly of private carriages. Napoleon’s efforts produced little effect. He issued stringent orders, and himself directed the firing of some vehicles; but Baron Girod tells of at least one instance in which the fire was extinguished as soon as the Emperor’s back was turned, and in general the order remained a dead letter.
During the halt there was a good deal of rain, which did not improve the indifferent roads, but relieved the distress for water. The 4th, however, was fine, and early in the morning the French army resumed its advance. The order was as before, but, to Davout’s disgust, Compans’ division was placed under Murat’s direct orders. A provisional battalion of the Vistula Legion was left to garrison Gzhatsk. Konovnitzin made a stand at Gridnevo, about half-way to Borodino, withdrawing when Murat’s infantry turned his flank, his cavalry skirmishing steadily with the leading French squadrons. On the 5th he made another stand at Kolotskoï, and it was not until he saw Eugène’s corps marching past his right flank that he fell back into the main army behind the Kolotza.