As regards what is often considered Napoleon’s fatal error in not throwing in the Guard it is very doubtful whether it was an error at all. It must be remembered that Ney’s and Davout’s troops were almost, if not quite, fought out, that the Russians were still solid and undemoralised, and holding a position quite as strong as that from which they had been evicted; and that Kutuzov still had some almost untouched reserves. The Guard would have had no easy victory, and Napoleon was probably right when he refused to expose it to severe and perhaps fatal losses. He knew that the Russians were neither routed nor in disorder; and if they stood to fight again nearer Moscow he might yet have sore need of his Guard. He was 1200 miles from the frontier of his dominions, and in case of disaster all must depend upon it.
Of the minor tactics little need be said. On both sides they were crude and wasteful. There was a deficiency of infantry on the French side, and the cavalry was freely employed to supplement it, with the result that it was half destroyed. The infantry formations were dense and clumsy, it was a case of heavy mass pushing against heavy mass, with cavalry mingled in the melée, and all under the fire of a thousand or more pieces of artillery. It is no wonder that the losses were unprecedented on both sides.
Napoleon gave his loss at 10,000. French writers admit the suspicious round number of 28,000—6547 killed and 21,453 wounded—but Martinien’s lists show 49 generals and 1934 officers killed and wounded, and even allowing for the fact that many of the effectives were now low, and the proportion of officers to rank and file therefore higher than usual, this can scarcely imply less than 43,000 casualties. Even the troops which had never been sent forward had suffered somewhat from the cannonade.
BATTLE OF BORODINO (September 7th, 1812)
The losses of the First Russian Army from the 4th to the 7th of September are stated by Bogdanovich at 9252 killed and 19,226 wounded. Those of the Second Army may perhaps, since it contained only 54 battalions and 52 squadrons as against Barclay’s 122 battalions and 112 squadrons, be estimated at 12,000. Adding the losses of the militia, a total is obtained of possibly 41,000 or 42,000. Sir Robert Wilson estimates it at 1500 officers and 36,000 men. Buturlin gives 15,000 killed and 30,000 wounded.
Prisoners there were few—perhaps 1000 or 1200 French and 2000 Russians. The estimates of guns captured are somewhat vague. Kutuzov’s official figure of French guns taken and carried off by the Russians is 8. There may, of course, have been others disabled. The Russians seem to have lost about 18 in all.
On the field Borodino can scarcely be described as anything but a drawn battle. Napoleon had gained a little ground, but the Russian army was unbroken and apparently quite willing to renew the contest next day. Strategically the French appeared to have obtained a slight success, since they were able to continue their advance to Moscow. On the other hand, the battle, which ruined the cavalry and seriously shattered the infantry, brought ultimate ruin distinctly nearer. Perhaps its most noteworthy result was the extent to which the morale of the Napoleonic army was broken.