Battle of Mogilev

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Battle of Mogilev
General Rajewski's courage. History painting by Nikolaj Semjonowitsch Samokisch (1860–1944)
General Rajewski's courage. History painting by Nikolaj Semjonowitsch Samokisch (1860–1944)
date July 23, 1812
place Mogilev
output Tactical tie
Parties to the conflict

France 1804First empire France

Russian Empire 1721Russian Empire Russia

Commander

Louis Nicolas Davout

Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration

Troop strength
28,000 20,000
losses

1,000-4,134

2,548

The Battle of Mogiljow (French: Moguilev ) also known as the Battle of Saltanovka , took place on July 23, 1812; it was part of the French campaign in Russia .

prehistory

Napoléon Bonaparte crossed the Memel near Kovno on June 24, 1812 and arrived in Vilnius on June 28 , where he was received with open arms by the Lithuanians. The Russian army had withdrawn.

While General Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly with 130,000 men, the route to St. Petersburg revealed, drawing on the Daugava advanced, the general assured Pyotr Bagration with the 2nd Army the way to Moscow , relying on the Dnepr .

Between the two rivers lies hilly terrain in which the watershed between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea runs. Here lies a corridor 80 kilometers wide, between Vitebsk and Smolensk , through which Napoleon intended to lead his Grande Armée , 640,000 men, 60,000 horses and 1,200 cannons strong, towards Moscow.

On July 7th, General Bagration received the order in Bobruisk to move with his troops to the left of the Dnieper in order to prevent the French from crossing, or at least to hold them up in front of Smolensk until General Barclay de Tolly would arrive with reinforcements .

For the Grande Armée, the only possible crossing point was across the Dnieper at Mogiljow. Général Louis Nicolas Davout and his troops were only 85 kilometers from the city and were the first to reach it after a forced march.

The battle

Memorial chapel at the site of the battle

After Bagration found out that Davout was already in Mogilev, he decided to attack. He wanted to try to push the French back across the river, or at least to prevent them from proceeding further, so that Barclay de Tolly could have appeared in time.

Bagration ordered General Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Rajewski , who was closer to Mogilev, and his 20,000-strong unit to stop the French corps of General Davout. This was 28,000 strong and consisted of the Compans Division , the Dessaix Division and the Claparède Division ; as well as the cavalry of Generals de Bordesoulle and de Thiembronne . Davout had received orders from Napoleon not to pursue the enemy in order not to split his own forces. General Rajewski fought for ten hours at the head of his attackers, only to retreat in good order to the field fortifications at Saltanovka (south of Mogilev). This operation allowed Bagration to withdraw his 30,000-strong unit to the Dnieper on Nowy Bychow (today: Novy Bykhaw) (south of Mogiljow).

The Russians lost a total of 2,548 men, the French 4,134. Davout, on the other hand, claimed to have lost only 1,000 men, 100 of them from the 108 e régiment d'infanterie de ligne as prisoners .

literature

  • David G. Chandler : The campaigns of Napoleon . Weidenfeld, London 1993, ISBN 0-297-81367-6 .
  • Victor Duruy : Histoire de France, Vol. 2 . New edition Hachette, Paris 1905 (EA Paris 1862).
  • Alain Pigeard: Dictionnaire des batailles de Napoléon (Bibliothèque Napoléonienne). Tallandier, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-84734-073-4 .
  • George Nafziger: Napoleon's Invasion of Russia . Presidio Press, London 1998, ISBN 0-891-41661-7

Footnotes

  1. ^ Victor Duruy: Histoire de France, Vol. 2 , p. 661.
  2. ↑ George Nafziger: Napoleon's Invasion of Russia , p. 126.
  3. ↑ Alain Pigeard: Dictionnaire des batailles de Napoéon , pp 551-552.

Coordinates: 53 ° 54 ′ 0 ″  N , 30 ° 20 ′ 0 ″  E