the lion of the russian army - Florida State University

French did not gain a step of ground, though they attacked with fiery and were superior
in numbers. The hand-to-hand combat [shtikovaia rabota] continued until 5.00 p.m.” 98
Bagration was charging the Poles when he received an urgent message from
Suvorov to turn back. When Bagration engaged Dombrowski, a gap 99 opened between
him and Shveikovsky’s division and the French did not waste time exploiting it. Victor
and Rusca moved their fifteen battalions against Shveikovsky’s five, encircled the
Russian troops 100 and inflicted heavy casualties on them, capturing four cannon. 101
Rosenberg’s regiment was deployed in a square and fired in every direction. 102 Prince
Bagration described the ferocious fighting and his heavy losses. He recalled, “I realized
that I could not hold the line and would be forced to retreat if the enemy got any
reinforcements. My troops were completely worn out and, under heavy enemy fire, their
number decreased with each passing minute. It was unbearably hot… In addition, the
muskets got fouled and did not fire. So I rode to [Suvorov] for reinforcements.” 103 He
98 Razskazi starogo voina o Suvorove, 134. English observer described the fighting on the
Allied right flank: “On the 19 th , while the Allies were preparing to make [an] attack, the French
began a heavy fire upon the whole line. For a moment, they succeeded in turning the right of the
Russians at Cassaleggio, and obliged them to fall back; but at this instant Prince Prokration [sic,
Bagration], who had been detached with the same intent on the enemy’s left, fell upon their rear
and flank, and took one piece of cannon and many prisoners.” William Bentinck to Lord
Grenville, 23 June 1799, in The Times, 11 July 1799.
99 Clausewitz referred to an “opening of 1,500 steps’ Die Feldzuge von 1799, V, 460.
Petrushevsky estimated gap’s width as one verst (0.663 mile). Generalissimo Prince Suvorov,
586.
100 These Russian troops were the regiments of Rosenberg and Shveikovsky and a battalion of
the Arkhangelogorod Regiment.
101 Suvorov to Paul, 30 June 1799, Correspondence of Suvorov, 254; Buturlin, Campagne de
1799, 93; Gachot, Souworow en Italie, 263; V. Maksutov, Istoria 25-go pekhotnogo
Smolenskogo polka za 200 let ego sushestvovania, 1700-1900 [History of the 25 th Infantry
Smolensk Regiment During 200 Years of its Existence, 1700-1900], (St. Petersburg, 1901), 621,
639-40.
102 Clausewitz, Die Feldzuge von 1799, V, 460; Petrushevsky, Generalissimo Prince Suvorov,
587; Jomini, Histoire critique et militaire, XI, 364. Though surrounded, Rosenberg occasionally
counterattacked and inflicted heavy casualties on the French. Suvorov: Documents, IV, 173.
103 Razskazi starogo voina o Suvorove, 134. Also see Petrushevsky, Generalissimo Prince
Suvorov, 587-88.
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