The positions of the opposing armies were as follows: On the French side Murat’s force was near Voronovo, some 18 miles north of Tarutino. At Fominskoië, 15 or 16 miles west of Voronovo, was Broussier’s division of the 4th Corps, which had been sent thither a few days earlier. Junot, with the 8th Corps, was about Mozhaïsk. The rest of the Grande Armée was in and around Moscow.
Marshal Kutuzov was encamped with his Corps de Bataille about Tarutino, while Miloradovich with the advance-guard was pushed forward to observe Murat. Platov’s Flying Corps and other light detachments were in the vicinity of Tarutino; Dorokhov was at Vereia; and Winzingerode’s cavalry observed Moscow, as before, on the north and east.
Marshal Mortier was left by Napoleon to complete the evacuation of Moscow and to execute the abominable order to destroy the Kremlin. He had under his command Laborde’s division of the Young Guard, Charrier’s brigade of dismounted troopers, a brigade of light cavalry, and some artillery and sappers—about 9000 men in all. He was to hold the Kremlin for a few days and to give out that Napoleon would soon return, while clearing the ruins of such wounded, non-combatants and refugees.
The rest of the Guard, the 1st, 3rd and 4th Corps, began to evacuate Moscow in the night of October 18-19. There was great confusion, owing to the crowding of the trains into the Moscow-Kaluga road, and the march was slow. Recklessness and the breakdown of discipline were everywhere apparent. When the 3rd Corps reached its rendezvous at the monastery of Semenovski it was found to be in flames, and it is astounding to read that quantities of provisions were burned in it. It is useless to seek for excuse for the commission of such an act; it was simple insanity.
The army advanced along the eastern road directly upon Tarutino. Eugène opened the march, and behind him came the 1st and 3rd Corps and the Guard. The advance by the western road appeared to threaten a frontal attack on the position of Tarutino, but on reaching the Pakhra, the Emperor diverted the columns on to the western route. Murat’s force was broken up. The King himself with the relics of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Cavalry Corps was directed upon Fominskoië; Poniatowski’s corps on Vereia, to recover that place from Dorokhov. Ney was to take Murat’s place at Voronovo, the Vistula Legion, the remains of the 4th Cavalry Corps and the cavalry of the 1st Corps being also placed at his disposal. He had in all about 16,000 men and over 100 guns—sufficient under his resolute leadership to hold Miloradovich in check. There was also the possibility that his presence at Voronovo would induce Kutuzov to believe that the whole French army was advancing by the eastern road; and in any case it would divert attention from the flank movement by the western one.
The diversion of the advance to the western road was a well-conceived manœuvre, and had it been carried out with greater rapidity it might have achieved brilliant results. The distance to Maloyaroslavetz by the French line of march is about 72 miles, which the leading troops covered by the evening of the 23rd. As the roads were poor and the cross-tracks unspeakable, and there was besides some rain to make them worse, the army cannot be said to have done badly. But its march, encumbered as it was by interminable trains of artillery and baggage, was not speedy enough for the emergency. The attention of the Russian staff, indeed, appears to have been riveted upon the eastern road, for it was not until the 22nd that Kutuzov learned that there were French troops at Fominskoië. Considering that it was probably merely a powerful screen for foraging operations, Kutuzov directed Dokhturov, with the 6th Corps and the light cavalry of the Imperial Guard, to attack and drive it back. Miloradovich was ordered to demonstrate against the force in his front so as to prevent it detaching succours to the division at Fominskoië. This was on the evening of the 22nd. Eugène’s corps, with Delzons’ division leading, was between Fominskoië and Borovsk; Davout and the Guard were about Fominskoië. At midnight on the 23rd Ney started from Voronovo for Borovsk in pouring rain which simply obliterated the tracks and seriously impeded the march. He was also harassed by detachments of Cossacks. Poniatowski arrived at Vereia early on the 23rd and, after some fighting, drove out Dorokhov, who retired by cross-roads towards Maloyaroslavetz. Late on the same day Delzons occupied Maloyaroslavetz with his advanced guard of two battalions.
Dokhturov, accompanied by Yermólov and by Sir Robert Wilson, left Tarutino early on the 23rd. The 6th Corps, owing to its terrible losses at Borodino, was only 10 regiments strong, even with the addition of one or two from corps which had suffered less. One of them, moreover, was detached to Ozharovski’s column. Dokhturov had, therefore, only 18 battalions, 7 batteries and the 3 regiments of the light cavalry of the Guard—about 12,000 men in all, with 84 guns. By the afternoon he had arrived at a point 5 or 6 miles from the western road, between Fominskoië and Borovsk, and there received information that 12,000 French troops were in his front. He consulted with his subordinates and with Wilson, and it was decided, rightly, to halt and await events, since if this body were isolated it would probably remain on the defensive. If, on the other hand, it continued to advance it was probably the head of a formidable force—perhaps the entire French army. Very soon intelligence came from Seslavin that Moscow was evacuated and the French army marching across from the eastern road to Fominskoië; and immediately afterwards a report from Dorokhov announced that a Cossack post at Borovsk had been expelled by Delzons. Dokhturov promptly took his decision. He could no longer hope to intercept the French at Borovsk, so must make a dash for Maloyaroslavetz, and there bar the road. He sent off word to Tarutino of his intelligence and intentions, and started his force for the vital point, arriving there in the night of the 23rd-24th.
Napoleon himself reached Borovsk on the 23rd. Thence he despatched orders to Baraguay d’Hilliers to move out from Smolensk towards Ielnia. He evidently expected to carry out his manœuvre without hindrance. In a letter to Eugène, dated at 7.30 p.m., he appears to have discovered the presence of Dokhturov, but to have anticipated an attack on the flank of his columns rather than an attempt to bar his way. As he dictated this despatch all the Russian commanders in touch with him had full information of his manœuvre, Kutuzov had been warned, and Dokhturov was marching hard for Maloyaroslavetz!
At 1 a.m. Mortier in Moscow ordered the firing of the mines which had been laid under the buildings in the Kremlin and elsewhere. They were charged with 183,000 pounds of powder, and great damage was wrought, but by no means the complete destruction intended by Napoleon. Mortier, who hated the ignominious task which he had been set by his master, is said, doubtless with truth, to have been by no means sorry at the comparatively small results of the Emperor’s vandalism.
Winzingerode, who was already in the suburbs with his troops, pressed forward rather inconsiderately to reoccupy the Kremlin, riding himself in advance without an escort, attended only by a single aide-de-camp. The result was that he was taken prisoner, though he made a dishonourable, if not entirely inexcusable, attempt to escape by waving his handkerchief and pretending to have come on a parley. Mortier quite rightly declined to listen, and detained him. The evacuation was then completed. The Marshal made the most strenuous efforts to save all the invalids and to alleviate their sufferings as far as possible, but so great was the deficiency of transport that many hundreds had to be left behind. Eighteen guns, doubtless rendered unserviceable, were also abandoned. The gigantic convoy, guarded by Mortier’s small force, moved not by the main road to Smolensk, but by cross roads on Vereia.