Russia Against Napoleon (97 page)

40
SIM
, 1, no. 81, Alexander to Kutuzov, 24 Aug. 1812 (OS), pp. 64–5.

41 A. I. Ulianov, ‘Tarutinskii lager: “neudobnye” fakty’, in
Ot Tarutino do Maloiaroslavtsa: K 190-letiiu Maloiaroslavetskogo srazheniia
, Kaluga, 2002, pp. 23–36.

42 Radozhitskii,
Pokhodnyia zapiski
, vol. 1, p. 172. Viazemskii, ‘Zhurnal’, p. 215.
Correspondance de l’Empereur Alexandre
, nos. 33 and 37, Catherine to Alexander, 6 Sept. and 23 Sept. 1812 (OS), pp. 107–8, 119–22.

43 Meshetich, ‘Istoricheskie zapiski’, p. 50. L. G. Beskrovnyi (ed.),
Dnevnik Aleksandra Chicherina,
1812–1813, Moscow, 1966, pp. 14–16.

44 On Tishchenko, see
MVUA
1812, 19, pp. 335–6.
Istoriia leib-gvardii egerskago polka za sto let
1796–1896, SPB, 1896, p. 88. V. Kharkevich (ed.), 1812
god v dnevnikakh, zapiskakh i vospominaniiakh sovremennikov
, 4 vols., Vilna, 1900–1907, vol. 2, p. 200: ‘Opisanie srazhenii’.

45
Dnevnik Chicherina
, pp. 18–19, 28.
Dnevnik Pavla Pushchina
, Leningrad, 1987, pp. 61–2.

46 ‘Edling’, pp. 172–3, makes this point about mutual distrust.

47 E. F. Komarovskii,
Zapiski grafa E. F. Komarovskago
, SPB, 1914, p. 195. Shil’der,
Imperator Aleksandr
, vol. 3, pp. 88–90.

48 Shil’der,
Imperator Aleksandr
, pp. 90–92. ‘Edling’, pp. 174–5.

49 Sir Robert Wilson,
The French Invasion of Russia
, Bridgnorth, 1996, pp. 115–16.

50 Ibid., pp. 116–17.

51 Ibid.

52 ‘Edling’, pp. 178–9.

53
Correspondance de l’Empereur Alexandre
, nos. 33, 38, 39, Catherine to Alexander, 6, 23 and 28 Sept., 1812 (OS), pp. 83–4, 93–6 and 98–9; nos. 73 and 74, Alexander to Catherine, 18 and 24 Sept. 1812 (OS), pp. 86–93, 96–8.

54 Elizabeth to the Margravine of Baden, 7 and 9 Sept. 1812, in Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich,
L’Impératrice Élisabeth, épouse d’Alexandre Ier
, 4 vols., SPB, 1908–9, vol. 2ii, pp. 443–5.

55 Quoted in F. Ley,
Alexandre Ier et sa Sainte-Alliance (1811–1825)
, Paris, 1975, pp. 49–55; ‘Edling’, pp. 176–9.

56 See Michaud’s account of the conversation in Shil’der,
Imperator Aleksandr
, vol. 3,
prilozheniia
, document VII, pp. 509–10.

Chapter 8: The Advance from Moscow

1
Kutuzov
, vol. 4i, no. 187, Kutuzov to Alexander, 27 Aug. 1812 (OS), pp. 154–5; no. 241, Alexander to Kutuzov, 31 Aug. 1812 (OS), pp. 194–5.

2 The plans were set out in Alexander’s letter of 31 Aug. (OS) and also in the draft instructions to Chichagov, Tormasov, Wittgenstein and Steinhel which Chernyshev brought with him to Kutuzov’s headquarters. For the latter see
prilozheniia
6, 7, 8 and 9 in
Kutuzov
, vol. 4i, pp. 463–70.

3
Kutuzov
, vol. 4i, no. 322, Chernyshev to Alexander, 10 Sept. 1812 (OS), pp. 265–8.

4 Chernyshev’s own account of these actions is in RGVIA, Fond 846, Opis 16, Delo 3386, fos. 2ii–3ii: ‘Zhurnal voennykh deistvii General Adiutanta Chernysheva’.
MVUA
1812, 20, no. 1, Wittgenstein to Alexander, 6 Nov. 1812 (OS), p. 4.

5 Eugen,
Memoiren
, vol. 2, pp. 169, 173. A. Brett-James (ed.),
General Wilson’s Journal
1812–1814, London, 1964, p. 75.

6 A good translation of Davydov’s memoirs was recently published in English:
In the Service of the Tsar against Napoleon: The Memoirs of Denis Davydov
, trans Prince G. Trubetskoy, London, 2006.

7 T. J. Binyon,
Pushkin: A Biography
, London, 2002, p. 130.

8 I. Radozhitskii,
Pokhodnyia zapiski artillerista s
1812
po
1816
god
, 3 vols., Moscow, 1835, vol. 1, pp. 205–6. On Figner, see an anonymous article entitled ‘Uverennost’ v zvezde svoego schastiia’,
Rodina
, 8, 2002, pp. 47–50.

9
MVUA
1812, 18, no. 124, Davydov to Konovnitsyn, 21 Sept. 1812 (OS), p. 101.

10 P. Grabbe,
Iz pamiatnykh zapisok: Otechestvenniaia voina
, Moscow, 1873, pp. 97–8; V. von Löwenstern,
Mémoires du Général-Major Russe Baron de Löwenstern
, 2 vols., Paris, 1903, vol. 1, p. 296.

11 S. G. Volkonskii,
Zapiski Sergeia Grigorovicha Volkonskogo (dekabrista)
, SPB, 1902, pp. 170–71, 189–94; Löwenstern,
Mémoires
, vol. 2, pp. 7, 182.
Kutuzov
, vol. 4ii, no. 163, Kutuzov to Alexander, 20 Oct. 1812 (OS), p. 175. For Arakcheev’s efforts to reduce his own contributions, see his angry correspondence with Governor Sumarokov of Novgorod in the summer and autumn of 1812 and his appeals for help to Balashev: P. I. Shchukin (ed.),
Bumagi otnosiashchiiasia do otechestvennoi voiny
1812
goda
, vol. 4, Moscow, 1899, pp. 118–27.

12 See, above all, G. Bibikov, ‘Aleksandr Khristoforovich Benkendorf (1781–1844): Istoricheskii ocherk’,
Vestnik MGU
, 1, 2007, pp. 36–60. Also an informative letter from Johann to Christoph Lieven, dated 5 Jan. 1811 (OS): BL Add. Mss 47410, p. 56.

13
Zapiski Benkendorfa, 1812 god: Otechestvennaia voina. 1813 god. Osvobozhdenie Niderlandov
, Moscow, 2001, pp. 70–71.

14 All these statistics are drawn from
Kutuzov
, vol. 4i, no. 439, Kutuzov to Alexander, 22 Sept. 1812 (OS), pp. 353–61, and
prilozheniia
.

15 For example, on 22 September Kutuzov’s order of the day warned that remounts would soon be arriving from many sources and told his regiments to prepare to collect them. One such source was Tula province, whose governor had been told by Kutuzov to purchase 500 horses and send 2,000 militia horses to the army’s regular cavalry:
Kutuzov
, vol. 4i, nos. 287, 296, 320, pp. 246–7, 251, 264: the first two documents are letters of 6 and 7 Sept. (OS) to Governor Bogdanov, the third is an order of the day of 10 September.

16 Babkin, ‘Organizatsiia’, p 145. L. G. Beskrovnyi (ed.),
Narodnoe opolchenie v otechestvennoi voine
1812
goda: Sbornik dokumentov
, Moscow, 1962, nos. 452, 453, pp. 473–7. The first document is a report of 23 July (OS) from the Don region to Platov on the universal mobilization. The second is Platov’s October report to Alexander I on the results of the mobilization. See also V. M. Bezotosnyi,
Donskoi generalitet i ataman Platov v
1812
godu
, Moscow, 1899, pp. 92–6.

17 Viscount de Puybusque,
Lettres sur la Guerre de Russie en
1812, Paris, 1816, pp. 142–4.

18 For Kutuzov’s comment, see A. I. Mikhailovskii-Danilevskii,
Opisanie otechestvennoi voiny v
1812
godu
, repr. Moscow, 2008, p. 384.
Kutuzov
, vol. 4i, no. 531, Alexander to Kutuzov, 2 Oct. 1812 (OS), pp. 431–2.

19 A. P. Ermolov,
The Czar’s General
, ed. and trans. A. Mikaberidze, Welwyn Garden City, 2007, pp. 178–80, covers Tarutino and Ermolov’s views on the command structure in the English translation of his memoirs. Prince Aleksandr Golitsyn, Kutuzov’s aide-de-camp, describes his rage in
VS
, 53/12, 1910, pp. 21–35, at p. 29: ‘Zapiska o voine 1812 goda A. B. Golitsyna’.

20 Barclay’s letter to Alexander of 24 Sept. 1812 (OS) on this score is in
MVUA
1812, 18, no. 148, pp. 118–22.

21 N. A. Troitskii,
Fel’dmarshal Kutuzov: Mify i fakty
, Moscow, 2002, quotes Raevsky on pp. 232–3.

22 By far the fullest recent account of the battle is by V. A. Bessonov, ‘Tarutinskoe srazhenie’, in
Epokha
1812
goda: Issledovaniia, istochniki, istoriografiia
, TGIM, Moscow, 2006, vol. 5, pp. 101–53.

23 Eugen,
Memoiren
, vol. 2, pp. 175–82, gives a graphic but fair account.

24 Bennigsen’s view is best put in a letter to his wife of 10 Oct. 1812 (OS): no. 177, pp. 223–5 in N. Dubrovin (ed.),
Otechestvennaia voina v pis’makh sovremennikov
, Moscow, 2006. The casualty figures are from Bessonov, ‘Tarutinskoe’, pp. 142–3, though A. I. Ulianov cites higher ones in
Entsiklopediia
, p. 694. Kutuzov’s report to Alexander on Tarutino is in
Kutuzov
, vol. 4ii, no. 16, Kutuzov to Alexander, 7 Oct. 1812 (OS), pp. 16–19.

25 P. de Ségur,
History of the Expedition to Russia,
1812, 2 vols., Stroud, 2005, vol. 2, pp. 75–8, recalls some of Napoleon’s thinking on the various possibilities. Napoleon himself spelled them out in a number of letters and memorandums written in Moscow in October 1812: see
Correspondance de Napoléon Ier
, 32 vols., Paris, 1858–70, vol. 24, especially no. 19237, notes, undated, pp. 235–8, but also his letters to Berthier of 5 and 6 Oct. and to Maret of 16 Oct.: nos. 19250, 19258, 19275, pp. 246–7, 252–4, 265–6.

26 Ségur,
History
, vol. 2, pp. 82–3; A. de Caulaincourt,
At Napoleon’s Side in Russia
, New York, 2003, pp. 136–8; Duc de Fezensac,
Souvenirs militaires
, Paris, 1863, p. 258. Brett-James,
Wilson’s Journal
, p. 80. On the astonishing level of plundering in the Italian campaign, see Martin Boycott-Brown,
The Road to Rivoli
, London, 2001, pp. 287–8, 306, 335–6.

27 The key report from Dokhturov to Kutuzov, written at 9.

30 p.m. on 22 October, is in
Kutuzov
, vol. 4ii, no. 59, pp. 75–6.

28 The best account of the battle is by A. Vasil’ev,
Srazhenie pri Maloiaroslavtse 12/24 oktiabria 1812 goda
, Maloiaroslavets, 2002; see p. 27 for the information on the 6th Jaegers. The entries on the battle and the monastery in
Entsiklopediia
, on pp. 437–9 and 472, are very useful too.

29 Kutuzov’s account is in his report to Alexander of 16 Oct. 1812 (OS), which enclosed his army’s journal of military operations:
Kutuzov
, vol. 4ii, no. 119, pp. 128–34.

30 Sir Robert Wilson,
The French Invasion of Russia
, Bridgnorth, 1996, p. 234.

31 His comment about England is cited by Troitskii,
Fel’dmarshal Kutuzov
, p. 278.

32 Many of Wilson’s letters both to the emperor and to his compatriots are published in Dubrovin (ed.),
Otechestvennaia voina
. They were drawn from police files. Bennigsen’s letter of 8 October (OS) asking Alexander to return to headquarters is published in
MVUA
1812, 19, pp. 344–5.

33 N. Shil’der,
Imperator Aleksandr pervyi: Ego zhizn’ i tsarstvovanie
, 4 vols., SPB, 1897, vol. 3, p. 124.

34 See e.g. Alexander’s comments to Wilson in Vilna in December 1812 or the Grand Duchess Catherine’s annoyance about Kutuzov’s huge popularity and how unworthy of it he was:
Wilson’s Journal
, p. 95.
Correspondance de l’Empereur Alexandre
, no. 46, Catherine to Alexander, 25 Nov. 1812 (OS), pp. 108–9.

35
Kutuzov
, vol 4ii, no. 192, pp. 195–201, journal of military operations.
MVUA
1812, 19, e.g. Ermolov to Kutuzov, 18 Oct. 1812 (OS), p. 73; Platov to Kutuzov, 20 Oct. 1812 (OS), p. 78.

36 P. B. Austen,
1812: Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia
, London, 2000, p. 47.

37 F. Glinka,
Pis’ma russkogo ofitsera
, Moscow, 1987, p. 371.

38 S. V. Gavrilov,
Organizatsiia i snabzheniia russkoi armii nakanune i v khode otechestvennoi voiny
1812
g. i zagranichnykh pokhodov
1813–1815
gg.: Istoricheskie aspekty
, candidate’s dissertation, SPB, 2003, p. 109, for the statistics quoted here.