The Army Changes Direction

After Malojaroslavets and Napoleon’s close encounter with the Cossacks,  fearing the army’s path was blocked by the enemy,  the army was ordered to reverse directions, then head north to rejoin the Smolensk-Moscow road.  This meant the army would now be travelling over country devastated earlier in the campaign by the retreating Russians and advancing Grande Armée.

Faber du Faur painted a scene from October 26, 1812 of a Cossack attack.  He begins his description with the night before, “After considerable effort, and constantly being hustled forward by out rearguard, we reached Borovsk on the 25th just as night was falling.  Here we made camp and found that most of the army had done likewise, but the town and a number of villages around were on fire; this, combined with the sea of campfires, transformed a mellow autumnal evening into a scene of awful grandeur.”

Before Borovsk, 26 October
by Faber du Faur

“On the morning of the 26th large bands of Cossacks attacked those villages that lined the Moscow road and killed, wounded or chased out those stragglers who had lodged there.  Next they attempted to attack the army’s camps, but a few discharges of cannon and a charge of Guard cavalry drove them off.  Nevertheless, they were visibly encouraged by our evident disorder, and these horsemen now grew far bolder than they had been at the beginning of the campaign.”

Scouts Plastuns
(Scouts crawling on their bellies)
Commemorative 1912 Russian
Candy Box Card

“It was here, at Borovsk, that fortune seemed to turn her back on us.  Here we received news of Malojaroslavets and, shortly afterwards, the order that we should march on Mojaisk, via Vereya, and re-join the Moscow-Smolensk road.  This we began to do on the afternoon of the 26th, even though it took us away from a region untouched by the hand of war and brought us back on to a road which had been transformed into a desert strewn with the dead and the dying even during our first passage.  This was the start of the retreat proper, and the event that signaled the destruction of the entire army.  We were promised comfortable winter quarters in Smolensk, amongst its richly provisioned stores and magazines.  But we were eighteen days’ march away from those stores – eighteen days at the mercy of hunger, the climate and our enemies!”

Sources:
With Napoleon in Russia: The Illustrated Memoirs of Faber du Faur, 1812, Jonathan North

Image and translation of Russian commemorative card provided by Alexey Temnikov

Exhausted Horses and Muddy Roads

Faber du Faur was travelling near the end of the column and records the difficulties they experienced on October 23, 1812, “Overcoming a number of difficulties, in part caused by our horses dropping from exhaustion and in part from the disorder reigning in the marching columns, we finally pushce dthrough the Desna and Krasnaya-Pakra defiles and, on 24 October, reached Czirikovo.  We then left the old Kaluga road, turning off to the right in order to gain, via Rudnevo, the new road.  As we made this oblique march we found ourselves bogged down in clay soil churned up by the rain, and it was here that we began to lose wagons, horses and caissons.  We had been able to reach Czirikovo without any such loss, but it had only been after a supreme effort and now our horses were exhausted.  From now on we abandoned or destroyed what we could not haul with us.  We even had to leave behind some of the more exhausted horses.

On the Road from Moscow to Kaluga,
Near Bykassovo, 23 October
by Faber du Faur

The rearguard burnt any wagons it came across so that they would not fall into enemy hands.  Sometimes soldiers did not even wait for the rearguard to come up but attempted to destroy vehicles then and there, placing the troops marching past in extreme danger.  Here, for example, as some artillerymen attempt to rid themselves of a caisson, a mounted gendarme rides up and fires his pistol at it in order to set it ablaze.  It explodes, costing the gendarme his life and burning a number of men most horribly.  These would die a miserable death but a few days later as the march continued.”

Source:
With Napoleon’s Army in Russia: The Illustrated Memoirs of Faber du Faur, 1812, Edited by Jonathan North

The Kremlin

Faber du Faur captured an image from one of his last days in Moscow as preparations for departure were being made.

In the Kremlin, Moscow
17 October
by Faber du Faur

In the Kremlin, Moscow, 17 October
“Moscow boasts hundreds of churches, resplendent with gold, silver and brightly coloured, shimmering domes, earning for its city, the ancient capital of the Czars, the title of the City of the Golden Cupolas.  It is an astonishing sight, the only one of its kind, perhaps, in the entire world.  The city is a wonder to behold in the sunlight, particularly as you emerge from the forests to the west of Moscow, on the Mojaisk road.”

“In October 1812 the square to the east of the church was covered with hundreds of French and Allied caissons which, owing to the lack of draught horses, had been deposited within the Kremlin’s walls.  The square was so congested that it was in fact rather difficult to find a suitable position from which to draw.”

“The caissons were abandoned when we commenced our retreat and gunpowder from them was later used for blasting mine galleries beneath the Kremlin.”

Horses in the Assumption Cathedral

The cathedral on the right in the above painting with the silver domes is the Cathedral of the Assumption.  Faur included the following description giving the hundreds of years worth of history (even in 1812).  Contrast that with the images on the left.  “The Cathedral of the Assumption was founded in 1325 by Peter, Metropolitan of Kiev,

French in the
Assumption Cathedral
Commemorative 1912 Russian
Candy Box Card

and was completed in 1327.  Struck by lightning in 1492, it was rebuilt in 1519 by Grand Duke Ivan Ivanovitch.  The interior was decorated by gold-leaf frescos commissioned by Czar Ivan Feodorovitch in 1692, and Catherine II restored the Church in 1773.”

Sources:
With Napoleon in Russia: The Illustrated Memoirs of Faber du Faur, 1812, Edited by Jonathan North

Commemorative card image and translation provided by Alexey Temnikov

Contrasting Views in Moscow

In reading the eyewitness accounts of the occupation of Moscow, it is sometimes a study in contrast.  Compare the two paintings of peaceful scenes with well dressed soldiers to the description at the end by an author of a book published in 1914.  First, two paintings by Faber du Faur, both dated 11 October, with his accompanying descriptions:

In the Vicinity of Lafertovskaja Sloboda, Moscow, 11 October

In the Vicinity of
Lafertovskaja Sloboda
by Faber du Faur

“If you stand on the left bank of the Jausa, between the Military Academy and the Church of the Old Believers, with your back to the latter, you look out towards the Soltikov bridge and the road which runs between the German Quarter and the Vladimir Gate.  The banks of the river are tree-lined, and these trees partially obscure the Military Hospital and the Lafertovskaja suburb.  To the left can be seen a group of buildings occupied by Imperial Quarters and a number of the 25th Division’s officers.”

Moscow, 11 October

Moscow, 11 October
by Faber du Faur

“There was a particularly beautiful church, a little distance from the German Quarter, in the direction of the Kremlin.  It was remarkable chiefly on account of its multitude of bell-towers and had, by and large, escaped the flames, standing out from the desolation that surrounded it.  It took us some time to learn the name of the street, and the identity of the saint to whom this richly coloured church was consecrated.  There were too few inhabitants around to ask, and those that remained would flee as soon as they caught sight of us.  The street itself was so littered with debris that it was impossible to get from one end to the other.”

“Finally, by dint of persistence, I learned that the street was called Basmannaya and that the church was under the protection of Saint Nicetas.”

—

Here is a passage from Napoleon’s Campaign in Russia Anno 1812 by Dr. Achilles Rose:  “All eye-witnesses speak of the extreme destitution of the soldiers in regard to clothing after one month’s stay in Moscow.  Already at this time, even before the most terrible and final trials of the retreat which awaited them, one had to consider them lost.  When they first took to woman’s clothes or shoes or hats it was considered an amusement, a joke, but very soon a mantilla, a soutane, a veil became a precious object…”

“At first Napoleon reviewed the regiments near the ponds of the Kremlin, and at first reviews the troops marched proudly, briskly, with firm step, but soon they began to fail with astonishing rapidity.  They answered the roll of the drums calling them together, clad in dirty rags and with torn shoes, in fast diminishing numbers.  During the last weeks of their stay in Moscow many had reached the last stage of misery, after having wandered through the streets looking for a little bit of nourishment, dressed up as for a carnival, but without desire to dance, as one remarked in grim humor.”

Sources:
With Napoleon in Russia: The Illustrated Memoirs of Major Faber du Faur, 1812, Edited and translated by Jonathan North

Napoleon’s Campaign in Russia Anno 1812, by Achilles Rose, p. 34

 

 

An Idyllic Scene of Moscow

Faber du Faur managed to find a number of peaceful scenes to record as we shall see in today’s post and in the days to come.

The Church of the Old Believers,
Moscow, 3 October
by Faber du Faur

“III Corps’ artillery were quartered in the Military Academy, a building in the Laftertovskaja district on the left bank of the Jausa by the Soltikov bridge, throughout our stay in Moscow.”

“The surrounding area was magnificent, covered in trees and presenting a delightful appearance.  Exploring the area, we came across a beautiful church, hidden in a charming clump of trees.  It was a most dazzling sight: its cupolas were blue and speckled with golden stars and towered forth over the brilliant masses of autumnal leaves.  This was the Church of the Old Believers, although I was unable to discover whether it was actually frequented by Old Believers or whether it was just named after them.”

Source:

With Napoleon in Russia: The Illustrated Memoirs of Major Faber du Faur, 1812, Edited by Jonathan North

Scenes of Moscow

Faber du Faur’s scene dated October 2nd reflects for the first time that the weather is getting colder as evidenced by the great coat on the sentry and the accompanying description.

Guarding III Corps’ Artillery Park,
By the Vladimir Gate, Moscow, 2 October
by Faber du Faur

“III Corps’ artillery park was situated by the Vladimir Gate and was guarded by Württemberg, French and Dutch troops.  Soon, however, the position was deemed vulnerable and the park was relocated in a square, with sentries being lodged in a merchant’s house close by.  The rest of III Corps’ artillery were quartered a short distance from the park.”

“Here we see the park’s sentries a their posts.  Cold nights and mornings had already led to the troops’ adopting some strange costumes: one of the sentries, a Dutch gunner, keeps out the cold with a fur cap, warms his hands in a muff and, under his greatcoat, sports a nightgown.  Such precautions were but the prelude to the universal adoption of attempts to keep out the cold.”

Source:

With Napoleon in Russia: The Illustrated Memoirs of Major Faber du Faur, 1812, Edited by Jonathan North

Moscow, 24 September

Faber du Faur painted a scene of the aftermath of the fire in Moscow accompanied by this description:  “On the 14th our troops had made their way over the heights before Moscow.  From there they looked down on the thousand golden domes of the magnificent city of the Czars. In the centre of the city we could see the Kremlin.  The city was shrouded in silence; a mute canvas lay before us.  No smoke rose from the city’s chimneys, no curious inhabitants came to stare at the victorious foreigners, no deputation came to implore mercy from the vanquishers.  Moscow, just like Smolensk, Dorogobouye, Viasma and the others before it, had been abandoned by its inhabitants and Murat, with his cavalry corps, trailing the Russian rearguard through the city’s streets, heard noting bu the echo of his horses’ hooves.”

Moscow, 24 September
by Faber du Faur
Note the melted copper roof
in the middle and the body
near the soldiers

“Our arrival was the signal for the fire.  On the night of the 14th to 15th the Russians set fire to a number of areas but seemed to concentrate on the shops in the Chinese quarter.  Despite every effort to put out the conflagration, the fire raged until the 19th, and on the 20th the catastrophe was complete.  Two-thirds of the city’s buildings were now nothing more than heaps of ashes.  Moscow became the grave of our every hope.  There was an odious and penetrating smell of burning infecting the air; tracts of land contained nothing more than rubble and ashes, collapsed roofs and corpses.  Few areas had escaped from the fire and perhaps only the Kremlin, and a handful of suburbs, along with a number of palaces, churches and monasteries, had been spared and served as oases in this desert of ash.”

“Here and there groups of unfortunate inhabitants could be seen wandering in the grim labyrinth, hoping to discover that some part of their home had escaped destruction or to dig up some miserable food in order to prolong their unhappy existence.  Our troops were everywhere, hoping to discover some trophy and, like children, satisfy their greed with some bauble, only to discard it as soon as they came across some other novelty.  Few – too few – took the opportunity to prepare themselves for the encroaching Russian winter.  That which was valuable or useful was soon squandered, and order was only restored when it was too late, detachments being sent into the city with specific orders to procure necessities and supplies.”

Source:

With Napoleon in Russia: The Illustrated Memoirs of Faber du Faur, 1812, Jonathan North

Some Means to Prolong their Pitiful Existence

Another post from Faber du Faur as he traveled the road to Moscow and observed the wretched conditions of the wounded from Borodino.

On the Main Road Between
Mojaisk and Krymskoi,
18 September
by Faber du Faur

“Crowds of wounded from both armies were scattered in countless villages after the battle of Borodino.  Sooner or later these villages, either by chance or deliberately, burnt to the ground.  It was then that these unfortunates, unable to flee on account of their wounds, found themselves at the mercy of the flames.  It was not unusual to find charred corpses laid out on floors in serried lines.  Those that survived, some horribly mutilated, sought some means to prolong their pitiful existence.”

Source:

With Napoleon in Russia: The Illustrated Memoirs of Major Faber du Faur, 1812, Edited by Jonathan North

The Field at Borodino September 17

Faber du Faur’s unit passed back over the field on September 17 and was able to describe and paint the scene, “Here, close by, in all its horror, was the valley of the Shevardino, close to where Morand’s division had been positioned at the start of the battle.  This is the battlefield long after the furious fighting had subsided, long after those violent passions had cooled, long after the powerful exclamations of honour and duty, which so stifle man’s humanity, had died away.  Now the battlefield has assumed the aspect we see before us, the ferocious masses of troops having been called away to some other scene of victory, and the silence of the tomb reigns supreme.  Bodies lie in heaps, enemy and friend alike united in profound peace.  Here and there a horse is still moving, having survived its deceased rider.”

On the Field of Borodino,
September 17
By Faber du Faur

“As we drew closer we could see that the corpses were, after eleven days, rotting away.”

“Below darkened skies, bands of fog, as though out of compassion, shielded us from seeing more of this vast scene of desolation.  Even so, we could plainly see the blood-soaked contours of the grand redoubt, the possession of which had been contested with such unabated fury.  A column had been erected within the redoubt bearing an inscription to the effect that here lay Montbrun and Caulaincourt, surrounded by fallen heroes.”

“The glory of our own troops was enshrined in these very redoubts, for it was here that Murat, overwhelmed by superior numbers, had sought shelter amongst us.”

“Here, on this field, we inscribed in the pages of history that never-to-be-forgotten name of Borodino.  No struggle had ever been so stubbornly contested; none had seen such numbers employed or such casualties on such a restricted area.”

—

“The bridge over the Kolotscha, situated just behind Borodino, was the scene of a bloody struggle on the 7th.”

The Bridge Over the Kolotscha,
Near Borodino Village,
17 September
by Faber du Faur

“The battle had opened with the seizure of Borodino village.  The 106th Line Regiment had been ordered to storm the village.  Having done so, they charged on over the bridge, towards the Gorki heights.  There, met by superior numbers, and confronted by a murderous fire from Russian entrenchments, they were thrown back to the bridge, having sustained terrible casualties.  The 92nd Line were rushed to their support, saving the bridge from destruction.”

“During the battle the bridge had been cleared by throwing any corpses into the river.  I saw that few now remained, hinting lightly at the terrible struggle that had taken place at this bridge over the Kolotscha.”

—

Eleven days after the bloody battle we marched over the corpse-strewn field.  Here the most horrific scenes lie far away in the distance and silence shrouds the countryside round about, for the angel of death had stalked this land.”

Behind the Village of Borodino,
By the Main Road to Moscow,
17 September
by Faber du Faur

“Those who fought at Borodino will recognize the picture, drawn from the main Moscow road and looking back on the scene of destruction.  On the right, in the valley where the Slonetz meets the Kolotscha, is Borodino village, the dome of its church looking down sadly on the ruins of Semenovskii to the left.  It was here, between these two points, that the battle was fought; the fight was bitter but our troops were ultimately victorious.”

—

Note that in the images above, all of the bodies have bare feet.  By now, having marched hundreds of miles across Europe, shoes were in short supply.   Aubin Dutheillet, a 21-year-old lieutenant with the 57th Line Regiment of I Corps wrote that during the battle, “General Teste’s ADC suffered the same fate [killed]; and by this time I was so short of footwear I stripped the unfortunate ADC, still not cold, of the boots he had on his feet to put them on my own!”

Sources:

With Napoleon in Russia: The Illustrated Memoirs of Faber du Faur, Edited by Jonathan North

1812: Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia, Paul Britten Austin, p. 275

Borodino Aftermath

Faber du Faur painted and wrote about the aftermath including the fate of the Russian prisoners captured the day before.

Near Valueva, 8 September
by Faber du Faur

“Borodino was fought with 120,000 men on each side and more than 1,000 pieces of artillery vomiting death and destruction the entire day.  The Russians, pushed back from their positions and entrenchments, finally conceded defeat and withdrew from the field of battle soaked in the blood of more than 25,000 dead, whose bodies littered the field between Borodino and Semenovskii.  And what were the fruits of victory?  Virtually nil.  Few trophies fell to the victors that bloody day – something that had characterised the campaign to date.  Each army corps had triumphed, yet still we were cheated of a decisive victory.  And we had sustained heavy casualties.”

After the Battle of Borodino
Commemorative 1912 Russian
Candy Box Card

“The Russian army had been beaten but not destroyed.  It withdrew in good order and the victors, who had hoped to savour the fruits of a victory long-promised, including winter quarters and a prompt return to their homeland, found themselves suffering as much now as they had before the battle.  Most of the victors would see the prize, Moscow; would see it ruined and in flames; would experience the cold and the frost of the retreat; and would perish in the icy fields of Russia.”

“The trophies were out of all proportion to the sacrifices we had made – some thirty guns, mostly taken in the redoubts, some of which were too badly damaged to be of service, and some 1,000 prisoners.  These were our spoils!”

“The fate of these prisoners was terrible.  Taken to Smolensk, they were dragged towards the Prussian frontier, tormented by hunger and deprived of even the most basic necessities, and almost all perished before leaving their native land.”

Source:

With Napoleon in Russia: The Illustrated Memoirs of Major Faber du Faur, 1812, Edited by Jonathan North

Image and translation of commemorative 1912 Russian card provided by Alexey Temnikov