the lion of the russian army - Florida State University

while Legrand’s advanced towards Redoubt No. 2. The French advanced under
murderous canister and musket fire and their casualties rapidly mounted. Nevertheless,
the 26 th Line carried the Redoubt No.2 and held out there for next hour until superior
Russian infantry and Russo-Prussian cavalry virtually annihilated it. The 55 th Line, sent
to rescue the 26 th , was also routed. The rest of the divisions of Legrand and Savary
formed squares and repulsed the cavalry charges until the arrival of the French chasseurs.
The fighting continued for over an hour before Legrand and Savary slowly retreated back
across the Spibach. However, their withdrawal exposed the left flank of St. Cyr and St.
Hilaire, who were engaged around the Redoubt No. 1. They found themselves in cross
fire and retired with heavy casualties. 147
It was already around 10:00 p.m.. The Allies considered the battle over and
victory theirs. Yet, shortly after ten, Marshal Lannes arrived on the battlefield and,
carried by incredible impetuosity, he launched another attack on the Russian positions in
the darkness. The Russians were prepared for the attack, thanks to a deserter. 148 As
Verdier’s division, reinforced by the 75 th Line of Legrand’s division, approached the
Redoubt No.2, it was met by ferocious canister fire and suffered appalling losses before
fleeing in disorder. A witness recalled, “About 11:00 p.m., the [French] shouted arrêtez le
combat along their line of tirailleurs … and the massacre, for no other term can be so
properly applied, terminated.” 149
The battle of Heilsberg is often overshadowed by other Napoleonic battles,
although it was a bloody fight and both sides suffered enormous casualties. Wilson
recalled a dreadful scene of battlefield, where “the ground between the wood [at Lawden]
and the Russian batteries, about a quarter of a mile, was a sheet of naked human bodies,
both banks of the river near Amt-Heilsberg. Bennigsen, Memoirs, Russkaya starina, 101
(February, 1901): 509.
147 For detailed discussion of late attacks see, Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, Campaigns of 1806-
1807, 311-15; Karpov, “Russian Operations in the 1806-1807 Campaigns,” RGVIA, f. 846, op.
16, d. 3161, ll.58-59.
148 Wilson, Brief Remarks, 146.
149 Ibid., 146-47; Bataille de Friedland, RGVIA, f. 846, op. 16, d. 3167, l.9-10.
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