the lion of the russian army - Florida State University

Among these sharpshooters, one Russian chasseur distinguished himself
by his determination and bravery. He placed himself right opposite us, on
the very bank of the river behind some willows and we could not silence
him by concentrating our fire on him nor by the use of a guns, which
demolished all the trees behind him…. He continued to shoot until
nightfall. On the following day, we visited this memorable position out of
curiosity and found the body of our foe, face downward, among broken
and splintered trees. A non-commissioned officer of the Russian chasseurs,
he had been killed by one of our cannon balls. 82
According to witnesses, the Russians at Smolensk were so anxious for battle that
their commanders had to use swords to drive them from sites where they needlessly
exposed themselves to slaughter by the French artillery. One of the participants recalled,
I found the commander of the regiment Major General Tsibylsky in full
uniform, mounted on horseback among his marksmen. He replied that he
was unable to restrain his men, who, after exchanging a few shots with the
French… repeatedly tried to dislodge them by bayonet assaults, without
awaiting orders…. Many other regiments acted likewise…. Light wound
were ignored until the wounded fell from exhaustion and loss of blood. 83
Meanwhile, Barclay and Bagration held a war council in the evening of 17
August. Both commanders realized that Napoleon might feign his attack on Smolensk
and move his troops to Dorogobouzh to cut the Moscow route and the Russian line of
communication. Therefore, it was agreed that the 1 st
Western Army would stay at
Smolensk to fight the French, while Bagration’s army would march to Dorogobouzh,
fifty miles from Smolensk, to protect the road to Moscow. 84 Thus, Bagration moved to
Dorogobouzh in accordance with Barclay de Tolly’s orders, and not on his own authority as it is
usually asserted. Also, it is noteworthy that Barclay, who declined battle at Vitebsk because
82 Faber du Faur, G. de. La Campagne de Russie (1812) d’après le journal illustré d’un
témoin oculaire (Paris, 1895); See also Rossetti, Journal d’un compagnon de Murat, 103-104;
Fezensac, Journal of the Russian Campaign, 31-32.
83 Tarle, Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia, 145. The author did not refer to the original source.
84 Bagration to Alexander, 17 August 1812, Correspondence of Bagration, 231; Fabry,
Campaign de Russie, IV, 484-500; Fezensac, Journal of the Russian Campaign, 30; Davout,
Memoires et souvenirs, II, 88-89; Clausewitz, The Campaign of 1812 in Russia, 123-24, 126-27.
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