the lion of the russian army - Florida State University

2 nd Western Army marched another thirty five miles and arrived at Novogrudok, while its
advance guards reached the Niemen, crossed the river, and entered Nikolaev and Ivye. 17
The movement of the 2nd Western Army from Volkovysk to Novogrudok was
Bagration’s first success. Unable to confront the numerical superiority of the French
forces, he outdistanced them and gained a three to four day advantage. His army reached
the Niemen in five marches, covering 110 miles in five days, a remarkable feat. The field
engineers were already constructing ferry on the Nieman and a transport bridge at
Koledzany so Bagration hoped to continue his march on the next day (4 July).
In the meantime, the situation eventually deteriorated to the north. On 28 June, the
French occupied Vilna. The 1st Western Army of Barclay de Tolly, accompanied by Tsar
Alexander, eluded the battle and retreated in the direction of Drissa, destroying
Napoleon’s hopes of confronting the Russian army at Vilna. Consequently, Napoleon
decided to concentrate all his efforts against Bagration’s army. To determine the
direction of its retreat, Napoleon sent reconnaissance columns on the major roads from
Vilna to the south and southeast. On 29 June one of these advance guards, under General
Étienne Bordessoulle, moving to the south from Vilna, encountered a detachment of the
4 th Infantry Division under Major General Ivan Dorokhov, marching without maps from
Orany to unite with the main forces. 18 Dorokhov’s troops repulsed several attacks of the
French advance guard at Bolshye Solechniky. Facing numerically superior French troops,
Dorokhov decided to march southward to Ol’shany and join the main forces. At the same
time another French reconnaissance column, under General Claude Pajol, advancing
17 Correspondence of Bagration, 171. The cavalry rear guard under General Vasyl’chykov
halted at Velikaya Volya, and the infantry rear guard of Major General Vorontsov at Dzentsiola.
The same day the 27 th Infantry Division joined the Army; Wilson, Narrative of Events…, 38;
Fabry, Campaign de Russie, I, 233.
18 Thiers, Consulate and the Empire VIII, 19; Fabry, Campaign de Russie, I, 170-75; Davout,
Nicholas, Maréchal d’Empire, Memoires et souvenirs, (Paris, 1898), II, 77; Gallaher, The Iron
Marshal, 229; Hourtoulle, F. Davout le Terrible, (Paris, 1975), 218-223; Inostrantsev, Operations
of the 2 nd Western Army, 143-50.
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