(12 bns, Krementchug, Minsk, Tobolsk & Volhynie Inf., 4th & 34th Jägers) to defend the redoubt. Along with IV Corps’ artillery, they enfiladed the Russians. Seizing the Semyanovka heights, Ney & Davout set up a battery. & 2 Jäger regiments retook it in a bayonet charge. Yermolov brought up 3 horse artillery batteries, blasting Raevsky’s open rear. (12 bns, Ladoga, Orel, Nivegorod & Poltava Inf., 5th & 42nd Jägers). crossed the Semyanovka, seizing Raevsky from Paskevitch’s div. Broussier’s (18e Légère, 9e, 35e & 53e Ligne, Joseph Bonaparte Inf.) & Morand’s (15 bns, 13e Légère, 17e & 30e Ligne) divs. IV Corps’ artillery drove the Russians back to Raevsky. (16 bns, 8e Légère, 84e, 92e & 106e Ligne, 1st Croats) garrisoned Borodino. Advancing further, they lost cohesion & were driven back. The Battle of Borodino by Louis-François Lejeune, 1822īeauharnais’ IV Corps seized Borodino from the Guard Jägers. Napoleon refused reinforcement requests, reluctant to commit the Imperial Guard. Without Bagration, Russian morale collapsed. (17 bns, 15e Légère, 33e & 48e Ligne, Joseph Bonaparte Inf.) held the field. The Grand Battery shredded Tolly’s arriving reinforcements. Knorring drove Murat to take cover behind the Wurttemberg Infantry. Bagration personally led some attacks & was wounded at 11:00 by cannonball splinters, dying later. Knorring’s (20 squadrons, Ekaterinoslav, Gluchov, Malaya Rus, Novgorod & Voyenny Orden Cuirassiers) & Neverovsky’s (12 bns, Odessa, Simbrisk, Tarnopol & Vilna Inf., 49th & 50th Jägers) divs. Murat’s cavalry circled the fleches, charging Bagration’s infantry, who formed squares. Masses of corpses & wounded impeded movement. At 09:00, Tolly sent 3 Guards regiments, 8 grenadier battalions & 20 guns. He fell so hard he was reported dead, but rose & led again. Seeing the confusion, Davout personally led the 57e forward. Massed artillery fired on them as they exited the woods, wounding both generals. (10 bns, 85e & 108e Ligne) attacked the north one. Compans’ division (20 battalions, 25e, 57e, 61e & 111e Ligne) attacked the south fleche. At 06:00, a 102-gun Grand Battery fired on Kutuzov’s center. Poniatowski would outflank Kutuzov’s left. Napoleon ordered Davout to assault the fleches head-on. The fleches had shallow ditches, open embrasures & were too wide, exposing men inside. The understrength & underserved left was very vulnerable. As such, the strongly fortified right held most of his men & artillery. Despite pleading, Kutuzov didn’t move men from his right to cover his left. Pyotr Bagration’s 2nd Army (34,000 men) held the left. Barclay de Tolly’s 1st Army (80,000 men) held the right. Further back, the Raevsky redoubt, 19 guns with a clear field of fire, covered it. On 7 September, his center earthworks arced from Moskva River on the right, running along the Kolocha tributary to Utitsa on the left. Shevardino’s fall unanchored Kutuzov’s left.
The fight cost 4-5,000 French & 6,000 Russian casualties. At dusk, Gorchakov retreated on Kutuzov’s orders. On 5 September Murat attacked with Nansouty’s I & Montbrun’s II Cavalry Corps & Davout’s I Infantry Corps. Judging it too exposed, he fell back, leaving 20,000 men under Gorchakov to cover him. The Shevardino redoubt initially held his left. The Raevski redoubt guarded his center-right. 3 arrow shaped fleches guarded his center-left. Kutuzov had steadily fallen back before Napoleon. 7 September 1812 marks the Battle of Borodino in Napoleon Bonaparte’s Russian invasion when his 86,000 French, German & Polish infantry & 28,000 cavalries defeated Field Marshal Prince Mikhail Kutuzov’s 72,000 Russian infantry & 17,500 cavalries.