the lion of the russian army - Florida State University

courier got lost in the bad weather and was captured before he could destroy the papers.
When these invaluable documents reached Bagration, he was initially suspicious of them
and suspected Napoleon wanted to mislead the Russians. He sent a courier to Bennigsen
with the French document 41 and ordered his troops to be on high alert and look for
additional intelligence. Two hours later, the Cossacks captured another courier who had a
copy of the previous letter. Prince Peter was now certain he had invaluable intelligence in
his hands. 42
Bennigsen was stunned by the captured correspondence and clearly saw that “he
was rushing blindly on to his destruction.” 43 He immediately sent out orders to withdraw
and concentrate his army at Jankovo. 44 Simultaneously, Bagration realized the danger of
remaining at his current positions and ordered the retreat on his own initiative. 45 He
organized his forces into two units with Markov marching to Osterode, while he
proceeded to Bergfried. 46 To conceal his withdrawal, he ordered the bivouac fires
doubled and one detachment to move constantly between the lines to convince the French
in the arrival of the reinforcements. In addition, he detached one regiment under Colonel
Anastasii Yurkovsky to attack Bernadotte’s outposts to feint an attack and then follow
41 Journal of Military Operations of the Russian Imperial Army, 67; Davidov, Recollections
on the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 207.
42 It is unclear how many messages Berthier dispatched to Bernadotte. The French sources
acknowledged only one courier being captured; however, most Russian sources referred to two
dispatches being intercepted by Bagration’s patrols. At the same time, Bernadotte received no
orders from headquarters, so he remained unaware of the Emperor’s intentions.
43 Antoine Jomini, Vie Politique et Militaire de Napoleon, racontée par lui même (Paris,
1827), II, 355. Wilson recalled, “This intelligence, which ought not to have been unexpected,
created some surprise.” Brief Remarks, 87;
44 Karpov, “Russian Operations in 1806-1807 Campaigns,” RGVIA, f. 846, op. 16, d. 3161,
ll. 29; Colmar, From Jena to Eylau, 206; Wilson, Brief Remarks, 87.
45 Yermolov, Memoirs, 77.
46
Yermolov, Memoirs, 76. Yermolov’s artillery company was attached to Markov.
According to Dumas, Bagration’s advance guard was deployed at Langout and Deutsch Eylau.
Précis des événemens militaires, XVII, 340.
315