Battle of Smolensk (1812)
Battle of Smolensk (1812) | |||||||
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Part of the French invasion of Russia | |||||||
Battle of Smolensk on 18 August 1812, by Albrecht Adam | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
French Empire Duchy of Warsaw | Russian Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Napoleon Bonaparte |
Barclay de Tolly Pyotr Bagration Nikolay Raevsky Dmitry Dokhturov | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
45,000 of 180,000[1] | 30,000 of 120,000[1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
9,000-10,000 killed, wounded or captured[2][1][3] | 6,000-14,000 killed, wounded or captured[1][3] | ||||||
The Battle of Smolensk was the first major battle of the
Prelude
Vitebsk operation
The Russian First Western Army under General Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly slipped away from Vitebsk on 27 July after an inconclusive fight against Emperor Napoleon, avoiding a general engagement. Napoleon was frustrated by his inability to bring the Russian army to battle and lingered at Vitebsk until 12 August to reform his Grande Armée and wait for stragglers to catch up. General Jean-Andoche Junot replaced King Jérôme as commander of the Westphalian VIII Corps and the Corps joined Napoleon's main army on 4 August near Orsha.[6][7]
French situation
After five weeks of non-stop operations, the main 375,000-man strike force available to Napoleon had been reduced to 185,000 men by a host of factors.
Rapid forced marches and the inability of supply
Russian plan
The loss of vast stretches of Russian territory to the advancing French led to a crisis and shift in power in the Russian high command. An aggressive "Russian" faction around Prince
Barclay advanced on Rudnia and Poryeche on 7 August. Count
French plan
Napoleon had expected a Russian offensive and saw in it a great opportunity to envelop and annihilate the Russian army. He directed Marshal
The action at Inkovo on 7 August was seen by Napoleon as heralding an immediate Russian attack. Worried, he deployed his army in a defensive posture around
Battle of Krasnoy
Barclay had left Generalmajor Neverovski's 27th Division to guard Krasnoy, along with some cavalry and artillery. This force of 5,500–7,200 infantry, 1,500 cavalry and 10–14 guns was attacked by 20,000 Frenchmen under Murat and Marshal Michel Ney beginning around 2:30 PM on 14 August. Murat's and Ney's inability to coordinate their infantry-cavalry operations allowed the Russians to get away, at the cost of 1,500–2,300 Russian men and seven guns as well as 500 French casualties. The French had multiple excellent chances in the First Battle of Krasnoi to annihilate the Russians but failed to do so. Neverovski retreated into Smolensk, shutting the gates behind him. The French inability to capture the city on the fly imposed a disastrous delay on their operations.
Barclay learned of the French attack from Neverovski. He interpreted Napoleon's offensive as a retreat and prepared to capture Vitebsk.[19] He ordered Bagration to move south along the Dnieper. Bagration refused, pointing out that Smolensk, Neverovski and Raevsky were in grave danger.[19] He then received permission from Barclay to deploy to the Dnieper's southern bank at Katan. Barclay ordered General Dmitry Dokhturov's corps to join Bagration and directed the Smolensk governor to evacuate the city archives.[19] No decisive action was undertaken by Barclay due to uncertainty about Napoleon's locations. Czar Alexander left the army and turned over command of the armies to Barclay, ordering him to defend Smolensk. Barclay decided to rush his and Bagration's men down the road from Vitebsk to Smolensk. With his entire plan of operations hanging in the balance, Napoleon failed to act with sufficient vigor and ordered a 24-hour halt to the advance instead.[4]
Battle
Smolensk, a historic fortress city with a population of 12,600, resides along the primary Western route linking Warsaw to Moscow. Prior to the
The main battle was fought on 16 August. An initial probing force captured two suburbs but failed to bring the Russians out to battle. Napoleon ordered a general assault with three corps of the Grande Armée, supported by two hundred artillery pieces. This was initially successful, the intense artillery bombardment setting the city on fire. French forces lacked ladders or climbing apparatus to scale the city walls and were under counter fire from Russian artillery. By nightfall, most of the city was burning.[21]
So, as soon as day broke —we marched against the city. The river was crossed below the city. The suburbs on the northern side were stormed, set on fire, and burned up. My company's doctor, named Staüble, had his arm shot away in crossing the stream, and he died afterward. No longer could I pay any attention to my comrades and, therefore, knew not in what way they perished or were lost. Everyone fired and struck at the enemy in wild madness, and no one could tell whether he was in front, in the middle, or behind the center of the army.[22]
To save the army, Barclay de Tolly abandoned the city destroying all ammunition stores and bridges leaving a small force to hold out for two days to cover his retreat. Around dawn on 17 August, Grande Armée Polish forces successfully breached the walls, and in a few hours the main French forces entered the city. Barclay retained forces on the other side of the river preventing a crossing until the night of August the 18th. The city was almost completely destroyed.[20]
Casualties
Barclay de Tolly claimed 4,000 Russian casualties, while Bogdanovich spoke of 6,000 hors de combat. Docturov's VI Corps had 16,800 men available prior to the battle but only 6,000 capable of combat at its end, which would mean 10,800 casualties for one Russian corps alone. Prince Eugen of Württemberg's division lost 1,300 men alone. Gaston Bodart gave 6,000.[1] whilst David Chandler estimates them as 12,000–14,000.[3] Alexander Mikaberidze suggests 10,000 Russian casualties at Smolensk.[5][23]
Napoleon claimed 700 French killed and 3,100–3,200 wounded. His estimate is disputed, as I Corps alone under Lobau lost 6,000.[23] Chandler puts French losses at 10,000,[3] while Mikaberidze also suggested 10,000. Bodart listed 10,000.[1] Russian authors claimed the French losses were as high as 20,000.[5]
Aftermath
The Tsar replaced the unpopular Barclay de Tolly with Kutuzov, who took over the army on 29 August at
Legacy
The Battle of Smolensk is commemorated on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw, with the inscription SMOLENSK 17 VIII 1812.
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Bodart 1908, p. 436.
- ^ Clodfelter 2017, p. 164.
- ^ a b c d Chandler 1996.
- ^ a b Nafziger 1988, pp. 185–186.
- ^ a b c Mikaberidze 2007, p. 17.
- ^ Nafziger 1988, p. 180.
- ^ a b Mikaberidze 2016, p. 296.
- ^ Nafziger 1988, pp. 180–181.
- ^ Mikaberidze 2016, pp. 296–297.
- ^ a b Nafziger 1988, p. 181.
- ^ Mikaberidze 2016, p. 297.
- ^ a b c d Mikaberidze 2016, p. 298.
- ^ Nafziger 1988, pp. 181–182.
- ^ Mikaberidze 2016, p. 295.
- ^ Nafziger 1988, p. 182.
- ^ Nafziger 1988, pp. 182–183.
- ^ Nafziger 1988, pp. 183–185.
- ^ Bodart 1908, p. 435.
- ^ a b c Nafziger 1988, p. 185.
- ^ a b Riehn 1990, p. 216.
- ^ Denniee 1842.
- ^ Jakob Walter (1938). A German Conscript with Napoleon. at the Internet Archive
- ^ a b Nafziger 1988, p. 195.
- ^ Riehn 1990, pp. 235–238.
References
- Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved 4 April 2021.
- Chandler, David G. (1996). The Campaigns of Napoleon. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-74830-0.
- Clodfelter, M. (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015 (4th ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-7470-7.
- Denniee, P. (1842). Itineraire de l'Empereur Napoleon. Paris.
- Mikaberidze, Alexander (2016). Leggiere, M. (ed.). Napoleon and the Operational Art of War. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-27034-3.
- ISBN 978-1-84884-404-9.
- Nafziger, George (1988). Napoleon's Invasion of Russia. Presidio Press. ISBN 0-89141-322-7.
- Riehn, Richard K. (1990). 1812 : Napoleon's Russian campaign. ISBN 9780070527317. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
External links
- Media related to Battle of Smolensk (1812) at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Battle of Gorodechno |
Napoleonic Wars Battle of Smolensk (1812) |
Succeeded by First Battle of Polotsk |