In fact, the battle of Borodino is not famous in history, but it is still very important. The Russians stopped Napoleon on the outskirts of Moscow. Although it didn't have much effect, this battle has already represented the beginning of the collapse of Napoleon's army, so it is still very meaningful. We continue to look down!

On August 26th, A.D. 18 12, the Russian and French armies launched the largest battle in Borodino. The result of the battle was heavy casualties on both sides, and the French army won but failed to fully realize the strategic goal of annihilating the main force of the Russian army. The Russian army was repulsed in the favorable terrain, complete fortifications and full preparation, and was completely defeated at the tactical level. However, it successfully consumed a large number of effective forces of the French army, achieved some strategic goals, and gradually transferred the war initiative to the Russian army.

The Battle of Borodino, which took place on September 7th of 18 12, was the fiercest and bloodiest battle in the whole process of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Throughout the day, nearly 300,000 troops from both sides stormed each other, which was a big collision between French and Russian fanaticism and fierceness. Even the most elite troops failed to achieve decisive results. After the battle, the bodies of the soldiers of both sides were laid on the battlefield with a width of 8 kilometers. This battle finally went down in history as a huge war of attrition and massive bleeding.

Borodino village is located on the north bank of Kolocha River, which is120km west of Moscow. The road from Smolensk to Moscow passes through the north of the village, and the banks on both sides are steep and steep, forming a natural barrier. The central part is a relatively gentle Kurgannaya highland, which is convenient for army mobilization and layout. To the south of the village is a large forest, which is suitable for the army to hide and maneuver. In this terrain, as long as the defensive side arranges troops along the river barrier, it can greatly save two wings and concentrate on the frontal battlefield to attack the enemy. It is difficult for the attacker to detour on the battlefield, but he has to dig deep and storm, lengthen the front line in defense, and may encounter counterattack at any time.

Borodino was chosen as the battlefield by Russian military star Kutuzov. At the age of 67, he joined the army all his life. Fighting Poles and Turks, 1805 commanded Russian troops to fight Napoleon in Ostritz. Kutuzov is an excellent commander-in-chief, with a strong personality and keen eyes. Since the Franco-Russian War, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Buckley, has been retreating, and all the generals from the tsar to all levels are very dissatisfied with him. Hot-blooded Alexander I wanted to drive the French out of his country as soon as possible, so he was eager to fight Napoleon.

181August 2006 16, French and Russian armies fought fiercely in Smolensk. The Russian army abandoned the city again and the front line kept moving to Moscow. Alexander, I can't take it anymore. He dismissed Buckley, appointed Kutuzov as commander-in-chief of the Russian army, and mobilized various Russian troops to defend Moscow. At this time, Kutuzov was old, frail and blind, but he resolutely provoked the heavy responsibility of leading the whole army. He carefully analyzed the battlefield situation and thought that he could fight with the French army. Prepare to annihilate the enemy as much as possible by active defense, change the balance of forces between the enemy and ourselves, and save strength for future engagement and annihilation with the French army. Although the Russian army lost all the way, its main force was not damaged, and the hatred for the invaders made their morale even higher.

Russian cavalry units are excellent, divided into light cavalry, heavy cavalry and dragoons. Among them, the light cavalry and dragoons are equipped with rifles and machetes, and the heavy cavalry are equipped with breastplates and long-knife pistols. The three types of cavalry support each other, as an independent and powerful battlefield assault force, attacking enemy positions head-on. In addition, the Russian army also has thousands of excellent Cossack cavalry. They are fierce by nature. Although not good at frontal assault, but good at pursuit, alert and ambush. Every time they launch an attack, they roll in like a dark cloud on the battlefield, making the enemy shudder.

Russian infantry are quite brave and good at fighting, but they are poorly equipped. They are equipped with muskets of different calibers. It is not easy to replenish ammunition, and the speed of fire collection lags behind that of the French. However, they firmly believe in the famous saying of Russian Marshal suvorov: Bayonets are more useful than bullets. Russian artillery has recently been reorganized and equipped with a number of new weapons. Its scale is huge, including 44 heavy artillery companies and 58 wild artillery companies, which are higher than the French in quantity and quality. With such an army in hand, Kutuzov was full of confidence in the coming battle. As commander-in-chief, he also hopes to have a real battle with Napoleon, the world's number one.

Napoleon occupied Smolensk, but he still failed to destroy the main force of the Russian army, let alone bring Russia to its knees. At this time, it is near the end of August, and autumn in Russia is coming. Judging from the battlefield situation, even if the French army pushes forward again, the Russians will continue to retreat to further places, restore their strength and continue to fight. In that case, the last winter battle will come. Now Napoleon faced three choices: one was to retreat to China, which Napoleon would never consider; Second, stick to the Smolensk line in winter, so as to reorganize the army to attack the Russian army next spring; Third, move forward immediately, forcing the Russian army to fight the French army.

Of the three options, wintering in Smolensk is the best. At this time, the French army has been greatly reduced due to long-distance marching and combat injuries. In addition, we should divide our forces to protect stations, supply points and bridges on the traffic line. Napoleon's troops capable of fighting were less than 6.5438+0.7 million. Moreover, materials have been exhausted, food is becoming more and more scarce, a large number of horses have died, cavalry strength has been greatly reduced, and artillery has gradually fallen behind because there is no horse drag. In addition, the French army is often harassed by a handful of Russian troops and guerrillas, making its military strength exhausted and its morale declining. The French army urgently needs a period of rest to cultivate its fighting capacity and launch a new attack. However, Napoleon thought twice and decided to put all his eggs in one basket and venture eastward. Napoleon believed that if it really stopped moving forward, it would give Russia more than half a year to breathe, and the tsar would take this opportunity to mobilize and train the new army and get material assistance from Britain. By then, not only will the Russian army be stronger than it is now,

Moreover, it is difficult to guarantee that the backyard of France will not catch fire, especially the Spanish peninsula that Napoleon was most worried about. Only in this way, Napoleon was determined to put all his eggs in one basket in order to seize the main force of the Russian army for a decisive battle as a bargaining chip in this century. On August 29th, Napoleon led the main force of the French army to leave Smolensk and headed east along the road to Moscow.

Kutuzov carefully arranged the Borodino battlefield by using the terrain. The front of the Russian position is 8 kilometers wide, and the right wing is close to the Kolocha River; The left wing is connected with the impassable Utica forest; Relying on Kurgannaya highland, the central government built the Layevski redoubt on it as a defense support point; There are forests and shrubs behind the main position, which is convenient for concealed deployment of troops and maneuver; To the south of the redoubt, the Russian left wing is mainly flat land, swamp and jungle. Here, the Russian army mainly takes Kaya village in Semenoff as the main support point, and there are three small defensive redoubts nearby, mainly Bagration redoubt. Kutuzov thought that the French army would advance along Smolensk.

Tusk Avenue advanced, so the most powerful Barclays Corps was arranged on the right wing of the position; The centre and the left flank were defended by Bagration's troops. Relatively speaking, Bagration's defense line is too long, giving the French an opportunity; About 2 kilometers in front of the main position on the left, the Russian army built a fortress in Zino, Shewar, which was defended by 1 division. The total strength of Russian troops in Borodino position is 6.5438+0.22 million, and there are about 640 guns.

On September 5, Napoleon's army arrived in Borodino. When Napoleon was patrolling the position, he found that the Russian Cervar Guinaudeau Mianbao was located in front of the left-wing position and threatened to attack the French side. He immediately ordered Davu's troops to pull out the nail. The battle lasted from sunset until nearly midnight, and the French army finally captured the redoubt. The Russian army lost about 5000 people, and the remaining troops returned to the main position.

On September 6, Napoleon inspected the battlefield again to determine the deployment of troops. French infantry is based on the army, and there are also divisions, regiments, battalions and companies. The weapons are mainly carbine and flintlock. Most of the people who invaded Russia this time were veterans who had fought for many years and had rich combat experience. French cavalry is also organized by the army, with divisions and regiments under its jurisdiction. Each regiment has 250 squadrons, which are divided into carbine cavalry, breastplate cavalry, dragoon cavalry, hussars, hunting cavalry and so on. Among them, the breastplate cavalry is equipped with saber and pistol, and the carbine cavalry carries a carbine in addition to the saber pistol, which is considered as a heavy cavalry. Hussars and hunting cavalry are light cavalry, equipped with machetes and carbines. The dragoons can perform reconnaissance and harassment tasks, and are equipped with sabers, pistols and dragoons muskets. French cavalry is the most elite cavalry in Europe. It was Napoleon's initiative to form a legion of cavalry to charge at the most critical moment of the battlefield, and it was an invincible force in all previous battles.

In addition, Napoleon also had a world-famous imperial guard, all composed of the most elite veterans, divided into grenadier corps and hunting corps, wearing bear fur hats and bright red feathers. This unit will never easily appear on the battlefield, but as long as it does, it must be at a critical moment. Because the French army was scattered on the Long March route, the total strength of attacking Borodino was about 654.38+0.3 million, with 587 cannons, which was not dominant for the Russian army.

Due to the shortage of troops and terrain constraints, Napoleon did not adopt the strategy of bypassing the Russian army from the flank, but decided to attack from the front. Napoleon ordered Dawu to lead 1 army to attack Bagration Rinport on the left of Russian army; Ney's 3rd Army, with the close cooperation of Juno's 8th Army, took the guards as the strategic reserve, and attacked Semenoff Kaya village south of Layevski's redoubt, the central defense line.

Oren's fourth army fought on the north bank of Kolocha River, its task was to destroy Borodino village, and then crossed the river with three special pontoons to attack the redoubt in Layevski. Poniatowski's fifth army attacked the Russian left wing along Smolensk Avenue; Miao La, on the other hand, commanded 1, 2, and 4 cavalry, which dealt a decisive blow to Russian troops in the central and left. It can be seen that Napoleon has targeted the weakness of the Russian central and left-wing defense lines and is determined to achieve a breakthrough from here.

At 6 o'clock on the morning of September 7, the French army concentrated all the artillery fire and violently bombarded Russian positions. The Russian army did not show weakness and fought back. The two sides had a gun battle for several hours, and the whole battlefield was full of sand and stones, filled with smoke, and no one was seen at 100 meters. Subsequently, the French army launched an attack on all fronts. Dawu 1 Army stormed the redoubt in Bagration, and the Russian artillery fire was fierce, and the bodies of the French army were everywhere. Subsequently, the Russian infantry fired intensive bullets, disrupting the French offensive formation, and the two sides subsequently launched a deadly hand-to-hand combat.

In the scuffle, Dawu's mount was hit and he was injured by the earthquake. He had to withdraw from the battlefield and hand over the command to the French commander Desai. The two sides repeatedly confronted each other, and the French army once captured the Russian position, but was driven out again under the counterattack of Russian reinforcements. Desai reorganized the French army and stormed the fortress of Bagration again. Marshal Miao La's cavalry also joined the fight. The whole battlefield is full of artillery bombardment, bayonet warfare and cavalry melee. The armies of both sides frantically collided on the ground again and again, fighting to the death.

During the battle, Prince Bagration, commander of the left-wing Russian army, was shot and died two weeks later. Regardless of casualties, the French army charged again and again, and finally captured two redoubts, and mercilessly stormed the main redoubt. The fighting continued until noon. After eight consecutive attacks, the French army finally captured the redoubt in Bagration.

While the French attacked Bagration's redoubt, poniatowski's 5th Army also made a detour to the Russian left-wing defence. At 8 o'clock in the morning, the armies of both sides fought fiercely. Due to the deployment of some Russian troops to support Bagration's redoubt, the French army quickly occupied the village of Ujicha and continued to advance in depth. Kutuzov hurriedly pulled out 1 troops from the right wing to stop the French army from advancing stubbornly. After fierce fighting, the French offensive was stopped, but Russian commander Tuchkov was also killed in the battle.

On the Russian right, Prince Eugè ne led the French 4th Army to attack the Barclay troops in Borodino village. After several rounds of fierce fighting between the two sides, the Russian army took the initiative to retreat to the main position after minor casualties. The French army occupied the village of Borodino, then crossed the Kolocha River with a pontoon at 9: 30 in the morning and began to attack the redoubt in Layevski. The French army first bombarded the redoubt with artillery, which caused great losses to the Russian cavalry standing behind the redoubt.

Later, the French infantry bravely rushed to the redoubt. The Russian troops guarding here are in a bitter struggle because they have allocated some troops to support their left wing. The French army's first attack was repelled by Russian artillery fire, but it soon launched a second attack. Regardless of casualties, the French army stepped on the hail in a square formation and stubbornly attacked the redoubt. Soldiers from both sides immediately launched a face-to-face life-and-death struggle, with swords and shadows in the redoubt and shouting ShaSheng shaking the earth.

After several hand-to-hand battles, the Russian army drove the French out of the position. When Napoleon saw this, he immediately put grouchy's third reserve cavalry into battle. The French cavalry raised their sabres and killed the Russian position. The Russian army immediately formed an infantry phalanx and fired in a dense volley. At that time, it rained heavily, and the French cavalry was beaten. The French army launched several attacks in a row, until it was close to noon, and still failed to capture the redoubt in Layevski.

In order to reverse the passive situation of the right wing, Kutuzov sent 1 cavalry troops and more than 8,000 Cossack cavalry on the Don River to cross the Kolocha River and attack the village of Borodino occupied by the French army. A French cavalry rushed up to fight and was quickly dispersed by Russian cavalry. The French 1 division left in Borodino village immediately formed a phalanx to stop the Russian cavalry with intensive firepower. After more than an hour of fierce fighting, the Russian army suffered heavy losses and had to give up the attack.

At the same time of fierce fighting between the left and right wings, Napoleon ordered Davao and Ney's troops to jointly attack the village of Kaya in Semenoff, south of Layevski's polyhedron fort, and Juno's eighth army and French cavalry also took part in the fighting. As usual, the French army bombarded the Russian army first, and then the French cavalry and infantry lined up in a neat phalanx to attack the Russian positions. Russian artillery unceremoniously threw shells at the French army.

Then the Russian dragoons rushed to the French army like lightning, and the cavalry of both sides collided like two long walls, and the discerning combat knives immediately crashed into one piece. While the cavalry were fighting, the Russian infantry also fought their way out and started hand-to-hand combat with the French infantry. In this bloody battle, which is rare in the world, the soldiers of both sides showed great courage and boldness. Marshal Nye went forward, personally led his troops behind enemy lines, and struggled hard at the most critical moment. After the war, Napoleon awarded him the title of Prince of Moscow.

The scuffle lasted until noon, and in a sea of dead mountains and blood, the Skaya region of Semenoff finally fell into the hands of the French army. At this time, the French frontline troops also suffered heavy casualties and were unable to continue to expand their achievements. Ney and Miao La turned to Napoleon for emergency help, hoping to break through the Russian defense line at a stroke when the Russian army was teetering and winning. However, Napoleon hesitated for a moment and refused to use his best guard to participate in the war. In a foreign battlefield thousands of miles away from France, he can't take risks with his last reserves.

Afterwards, it was proved that the battle of Borodino could not make the French army win a decisive victory, and the guards were the backbone of the whole army and were firm and reliable at any time, which fully showed their valuable role in the later French retreat. Because the French army did not advance, the Russian army quickly mobilized troops to stabilize the central defense line.

This cruel battle is bound to last until the afternoon. The whole front, the French still need to conquer the redoubt of Layevski. When the Russian army occupies this place, it will pose a deep threat to the French army on the left and right wings. Because Russian cavalry harassed Borodino village, Prince Euren readjusted his forces, and it was not until nearly 3 pm that he launched a large-scale attack on the redoubt again. In order to cooperate with the French attack, the French artillery occupying Semenoff Skaya and Borodino concentrated their superior artillery fire and imposed a cross-fire blockade on the redoubt in Layevski.

French cavalry and infantry once again rushed to Russian positions with an avalanche. After the heavy artillery fire, the Russian army also fought back and repeated the melee of thousands of troops. Both sides tried their best here, and teams of infantry and cavalry went into the big battle. The battlefield was full of shouts and killings, the impact of spears, the whine of the wounded and the neighing of horses.

The French army stubbornly advanced and squeezed into the redoubt step by step. The red-eyed French army chased Russian gunners everywhere, and the bodies were everywhere in the redoubt, which was terrible. At about 4 pm, the French army finally won the redoubt in Layevski. Later, Prince Euren assembled all available cavalry in the highland behind the redoubt, and fiercely killed the Russian troops preparing to counterattack. In the last fierce battle of the day, cavalry, infantry and artillery of both sides repeatedly attacked and killed, and people and horses filled the highland behind the redoubt.

The fighting continued until the evening, and the Russian army finally couldn't hold on. While working hard, I gradually retreated to the rear. The French army was also exhausted, and Napoleon did not order the pursuit. Early the next morning, Kutuzov withdrew his troops from the battlefield. The Russian army paid a huge price, but it still didn't stop the French army, and there was no reserve team to supplement it, so it had to retreat to Moscow.

In the Battle of Borodino, both sides suffered extremely heavy casualties. Russian troops suffered 44,000 casualties, captured more than 1,000 people and lost 40 cannons. There were 36,000 French casualties. The two sides also lost a large number of senior generals, including 22 Russian soldiers and 38 French soldiers. As a result of the fighting, the Russian army failed to achieve the goal of stopping the French army. Similarly, Napoleon's goal of annihilating the main force of the Russian army has not been achieved.

Nearly two months later, Napoleon led his troops to retreat from Moscow. When passing through the battlefield of Borodino again, thousands of Russian and French bodies remained in the same place, no one buried and touched them, and they had rotted. This tragic scene made the French army demoralized, defeatism spread rapidly, and the rout accelerated. They just want to leave Russia as soon as possible, which Napoleon never expected.

As far as Napoleon is concerned, the battle of Borodino still fully demonstrated his keen vision of judging the battlefield situation and choosing the breakthrough point, and the use of artillery was still perfect. The soldiers gave their lives, and the French army did its best. However, with so much blood shed, the victory is still far away, which has shown how beyond imagination the successful experience of the French army in shallow and deep operations in Central Europe can be applied to the huge Russian battlefield. The fate star of Napoleon's empire quickly slipped into the abyss.