Jean Comte Rapp
Memoirs of General Count Rapp, First aide-de-camp to Napoleon
CHAPTER XXXIII
The next day I went early to the Kremlin. Scarcely had I reached the palace, when Napoleon came out of it to leave Moscow for ever; he perceived me. "I hope that you will not follow me on horseback, you are not in a fit state to do it; you can get into one of my carriages." I thanked him, and replied that I thought I should be in a condition to accompany him. We quitted this capital, and we took the road of Kaluga; when we were about three leagues distance, the Emperor stopped to wait for news from Mortier, who had orders to destroy the Kremlin on leaving the place. He was walking in a field with M. Daru; this gentleman left him; I was called. "Well, Rapp, we are going to retreat to the frontiers of Poland by the road of Kaluga: I shall take up good winter-quarters. I hope that Alexander will make peace."—"You have waited a long time, Sire; the inhabitants foretel that it will be a severe winter."—"Poh! poh! with your inhabitants. It is the 19th of October to-day, you see how fine it is. Do you not recognise my star? Besides, I could not leave without sending on all the sick and wounded. I was not to give them up to the rage of the Russians."—"I believe, Sire, that you would have done better to have left them at Moscow; the Russians would not have hurt them; whilst they are exposed for want of aid to die on the road." Napoleon was not of that opinion; but all that he said to me in the way of encouragement did not deceive even himself; his countenance bore the marks of uneasiness.
At last an officer despatched from the Marshal arrived: it was my aide-de-camp Turkheim, who informed us that Moscow was tranquil; that some pulks of Cossacks had appeared in the environs, but they took care not to approach the Kremlin, or any of the quarters still occupied by the French troops. We proceeded on our march. In the evening we arrived at Krasno Pachra. The look of the country was not encouraging to Napoleon. The hideous aspect, the wild air of the slaves, was revolting to eyes accustomed to other climates. "I would not leave a man there; I would give all the treasures of Russia not to leave a single wounded man behind. We must take horses, waggons, carriages—every thing to carry them on. Send me a secretary." The secretary came; it was to write to Mortier what he had just been telling me. It is of use to copy the despatch: these instructions are not unworthy to be known. Those who have so often declaimed against his indifference should study them.
"To the Major-General
"Acquaint the Duke de Treviso, that as soon as his business in Moscow is finished, that is, on the 23d at three o'clock in the morning, he is to begin to march, and that he must come on the 24th to Kubinskoe; and from that place, instead of going to Mojaisk, he is to proceed to Vereia, where he will arrive on the 25th. He will serve as an intermediate force between Mojaisk, where the Duke d'Abrantes is, and Borowsk, where the army will be. It will be right for him to send officers to Fominskoe to inform us of his march; he will take with him the Adjutant-commandant Bourmont, the Bavarians, and the Spaniards who are at the palace of Gallitzin. All the Westphalians of the first and second posts, and all the Westphalians that he can find, he must assemble and direct towards Mojaisk: if they are not in sufficient number, he will protect their passage with the cavalry. The Duke de Treviso will inform the Duke d'Abrantes of every thing relative to the surrender of Moscow. It is necessary that he write to us to-morrow the 22d, not by the road of Desma, but by that of Karapowo and Fominskoe. On the 23d he will send us a letter by the road of Mojaisk: his officer will leave the road at Kubinskoe to come to Fominskoe, as the head-quarters on the 23d are likely to be at Borowsk or at Fominskoe. Whether the Duke de Treviso perform his operation at three o'clock in the morning of to-morrow the 22d, or on the 23d at the same hour, as I have since ordered him, he is in either case to follow these same directions; by these means the Duke de Treviso may be considered as the rear-guard of the army. I cannot too strongly recommend to place on the waggons belonging to the young guard, or those belonging to the dismounted cavalry, in short, on all that can be found, the men who remain still in the hospitals. The Romans gave civic crowns to those who saved citizens; the Duke will deserve as many as he may save soldiers. He must mount them on his horses, and on those of all his people.
"This is what the Emperor did at the siege of Saint-Jean d'Acre. He ought the rather to take this step, because as soon as the convoy shall have joined the army, it will have waggons and horses, which the consumption of provisions will have rendered useless. The Emperor hopes that he shall have the pleasure of thanking the Duke de Treviso, for having saved five hundred men. He ought, as is but just, to begin with the officers, then the sub-officers, and to give the French the preference. He must assemble all the generals and officers, under his command, to make them sensible of the importance of this measure, and how much they will gain the Emperor's esteem, by saving for him five hundred men."
We marched on towards Borusk, where we arrived on the fourth day: the town was completely abandoned. In the mean time, Kutusow was peaceably engaged in issuing his proclamations: he was quite at ease in his camp at Tarentino; he kept up no watch, either on his front or wings; he had no idea at all of the movement we were making. He learned at last, that we were marching towards Kaluga; he soon broke up his cantonments, and appeared at Malojaroslawitz at the same time as our columns. The action began: we heard from Borusk a distant cannonade. I was suffering greatly from my wound, but I would not leave Napoleon: we mounted horse. We arrived towards evening in sight of the field of battle: they were still fighting; but the firing soon ceased. Prince Eugène had forced a position, which must have been defended to extremity. Our troops had covered themselves with glory. It is a day that the army of Italy ought to inscribe in its calendar. Napoleon bivouacked at a league and a half from the scene. The next day we took horse at half-past seven in the morning, to visit the ground on which the battle had been fought; the Emperor was placed between the Duke de Vicenza, Prince de Neuchâtel, and myself. We had scarcely quitted the huts where we had passed the night, when we perceived a cloud of Cossacks; they proceeded from a wood in advance on our right. They were drawn up in pretty regular files: we took them for French cavalry.
The Duke de Vicenza was the first who recognised them. "Sire, these are Cossacks."—"That is impossible," replied Napoleon. They rushed upon us shouting with all their might. I seized the Emperor's horse by the bridle; I turned it round myself. "But these are our troops?"—"They are the Cossacks; make speed."—"They are Cossacks, indeed," said Berthier.—"Without doubt," added Mouton. Napoleon gave some orders and withdrew. I advanced at the head of the squadron on duty: we were overthrown; my horse received a wound six inches deep, from a lance, and fell, with me under him: we were trampled under foot by these barbarians. Fortunately they perceived at some distance a troop of artillery; they ran towards the spot. Marshal Bessières had time to come up, with the horse grenadiers of the guard; he charged them, and retook from them the covered waggons and the pieces of cannon, which they were carrying away. I raised myself again on my legs; I was replaced in my saddle, and proceeded as far as the bivouac. When Napoleon saw my horse covered with blood, he feared that I had again been wounded: he asked me whether I was. I replied that I had got off with a few contusions. He then began to laugh at our adventure, which, nevertheless, I did not find very amusing.
I was well repaid by the account which he published of this affair; he loaded me with eulogiums: I never before experienced pleasure compared to that which I felt on reading the flattering things which he said of me. "General Rapp," says the bulletin, "had one horse killed under him in this charge. The intrepidity of which this general officer has given so many proofs, is manifested on all occasions." I repeat with pride the praises of this great man: I shall never forget them.
We returned to the field of battle: Napoleon wished to visit the place which had been the theatre of Prince Eugène's glory. He found that the position of the Russians had been excellent; he was astonished that they had allowed it to be forced. He perceived, from the appearance of the dead bodies, that the militia had been confounded with the troops of the line, and that if they had not fought with skill, they had gone to it at least with courage. The enemy's army retired some leagues, on the road to Kaluga, and encamped.
The retreat was intercepted: we threw ourselves to the right on Vereia; we arrived there early the next day, and slept there: it was in that town that Napoleon learned that the Kremlin had been blown up. General Winzengerode had not sufficiently restrained his impatience; he had ventured into this capital before our troops had evacuated it. They cut up his retreat; he tried to make them believe that he came to treat with them. He was born on the territory of the Confederation; he had no inclination to be made a prisoner; he was taken nevertheless, in spite of the white handkerchief that he was waving. Napoleon sent for him, and fell into a violent passion, treated him with contempt, branded him with the name of traitor, and threatened to punish him; he even told me that a commission must be named to proceed with the trial of the gentleman immediately; he had him escorted by chosen gendarmes, and ordered him to be confined au secret. Winzengerode sought several times to exculpate himself; but Napoleon would not hear him. It has been pretended in the Russian army that this general spoke with courage, and said very strong things to the Emperor. It is not the fact:—anxiety was marked on his countenance, every thing expressed the disorder of mind into which the Emperor's anger had thrown him. Each of us endeavoured to appease the Emperor; the King of Naples, the Duke de Vicenza particularly, suggested to him how much, in the present situation of things, any violence towards a man who hid his origin under the quality of a Russian general, would be to be lamented: there was no council of war, and the affair rested there. As for us, Winzengerode ought not to complain of our treatment: his situation inspired us all with interest. His aide-de-camp was treated with much kindness. Napoleon asked him his name. "Nareschkin," replied the young officer.—"Nareschkin! one of that name is not made to be the aide-de-camp of a deserter." We were hurt at this want of consideration; we sought every means imaginable to make the general forget it.
CHAPTER XXXIV
We set off the next day; and reached the great road from Moscow by Mojaisk.
The cold, the privations, were extreme; the hour of disasters had come on us! We found our wounded lying dead on the road, and the Russians waiting for us at Viasma. At the sight of these columns the soldiers collected a remnant of energy, fell upon them, and defeated them. But we were harassed by troops animated by abundance, and by hope of plunder. At every step we were obliged to halt, and fight; we slackened our march over a wasted country, which we should have gone over with the greatest rapidity. Cold, hunger, the Cossacks,—every scourge was let loose upon us. The army was sinking under the weight of its misfortunes; the road was strewed with the dead: our sufferings exceeded imagination. How many sick and wounded generals did I meet in this terrible retreat, whom I believed that I should never again see! Of this number was General Friant, whose wounds were still open; General Durosnel, who travelled with a nervous fever, almost continually delirious; and the brave General Belliard, who was wounded by a gun-shot, in the battle of the Moskowa. He had formerly penetrated nearly into Ethiopia; he had carried our colours farther than ever the Roman eagles had flown; he must have found a difference between the two climates.
We marched for Smolensko: it was to have been the end of our miseries; we were to have found there food and clothing, wherewith to defend ourselves from the pests which were consuming us: we were not more than eighteen leagues from it. Napoleon lodged in one of those little block-houses that had been constructed to receive detachments from fifty to sixty men, employed to protect the correspondence and communications. I was on duty: some time had elapsed since any despatches had arrived; at last one came. I delivered it to the Emperor. He opened the parcel with haste; a Moniteur was uppermost. He ran it over; the first article which caught his eye was the enterprise of Mallet; he had not read the despatches, he did not know what it was. "What is this! what! plots! conspiracies!" He opened his letters, they contained the detail of the attempt: he was thunderstruck. That police which knew every thing, which guessed at every thing, had suffered itself to be taken by surprise. Napoleon could not recover himself. "Savary in La Force! The minister of the police arrested, carried to a prison, and there shut up!" I went to transmit some orders. The event had already transpired. Surprise, astonishment were depicted on every countenance; and some reflections were made which till then had been withheld. The carelessness of the agents of the police was manifest. They are only alert because there is a general belief in their vigilance. Napoleon was not astonished that these wretches who frequent saloons and taverns, who obstruct every thing, who insinuate themselves every where, should not have found out the plot; but he could not conceive the weakness of Rovigo. "Why did he not rather let them kill him, than be arrested! Doucet and Hullin showed much more courage."
We proceeded on our journey; we crossed the Borysthenes. The Emperor fixed his head-quarters in a country-house that had been laid waste, twelve leagues from Smolensko, and one and a half behind the river. The banks, on the water-side, are very step in this part; they were covered with hoar frost. Napoleon was afraid that the artillery would not be able to get over them; he charged me to join Ney, who commanded the rear-guard, to remain with him till every thing was out of danger. I found the Marshal engaged in giving chase to the Cossacks: I communicated to him the orders that I had to transmit to him, and we retired to a block-house which was to support the passage, and where the head-quarters were fixed.
A part of the infantry crossed over, the remainder bivouacked in a little wood, on the bank where we were. We were engaged all night in getting the cannon across. The last was on the ascent, when the enemy appeared. They attacked immediately, with considerable masses; we received their charges without being shaken; but our end was attained: we had no object in fighting; we retreated. We left behind a few hundreds of men, whom wounds and exhaustion had put out of a condition to follow. Poor creatures! they complained, they groaned, and called for death; it was a heart-rending sight; but what could we do. Every one was bending under the burthen of life, and supported it with difficulty; no one had sufficient strength to share it with others. The Russians pursued us, they wished to pass by main force. Ney received them with that vigour, that impetuosity, which he always displayed in his attacks: they were repulsed, and the bridge became a prey to the flames. The firing ceased, we withdrew during the night. I joined Napoleon at Smolensko the day after the next in the evening. He knew that a ball had grazed my head, and that another had killed my horse; he observed to me: "You may be at ease now, you will not be killed this campaign."—"I hope that your Majesty may not be deceived; but you often gave the same assurance to poor Lannes, who nevertheless was killed."—"No! no! you will not be killed."—"I believe it; but I may be still frozen to death." The Emperor bestowed eulogiums on Marshal Ney. "What a man! what a soldier! what a vigorous fellow!" He only talked thus by exclamations; he could not find words to express the admiration which this intrepid Marshal inspired him with. The Prince de Neuchâtel entered; the conversation again turned on Mallet and Savary. Napoleon was merry at the expense of the Duke; his surprise, his arrest, were the subject of a thousand pleasantries; of which the burthen always was, that he should rather have been killed, than have allowed himself to be taken.
CHAPTER XXXV
The retreat had been disastrous. Every scourge that Nature has in store we had experienced; but every day brought us nearer to Smolensko: we were to find in that town repose and abundance. We were marching, hope sustained us; she too was going to abandon us; our misfortunes were to be as unheard-of as our victories. The fourth corps lost its cannon; Augereau's brigade was destroyed, and Witepsk taken; we had no more ammunition, or means of subsistence; we were in a frightful situation: it was necessary to be resigned. We put ourselves in motion; we arrived the following day at Krasnoi. Kutusow, who was bearing on us with all his forces, had already an advanced-guard there; it retired at the sight of our soldiers, and took post a league farther on, halting on the left on the borders of a forest, which it covered with fires. Napoleon sent for me, and said—"We have the Russian infantry quite close to us; it is the first time that they have shown so much boldness. I command you to charge them with the bayonet about midnight, surprise them, teach them not to be so desirous to approach so near to my head-quarters. I place at your disposal all that remains of the young guard." I had made all the preparations, I was waiting near the fire of a Polish bivouac till the hour should arrive, when General Narbonne came and said, "Give up your troops to the Duke de Treviso; his Majesty does not wish you to be killed in this affair; he reserves for you another destiny." I received this counter-order with pleasure, I did not conceal it. I was weakened by fatigue, by sufferings, and cold. I was not inclined to march against the enemy; moreover, his Cossacks had already given him the alarm; he was prepared; he received us as well as he could. He was nevertheless beaten and thrown back on his masses, which were in positions parallel to the road, and extended in some sort from Smolensko to Krasnoi; they attacked us in flank, they ought to have been able to defeat us. Fortunately the illusion of our glory still continued; we were protected by the remembrance of our victories. Kutusow saw from a distance our columns which were defiling on the road, but did not venture to attack them. He decided at last on running the risk; but a peasant informed him that Napoleon was at Krasnoi, that the guard occupied all the neighbourhood. This news damped his courage: he revoked the orders that he had despatched.
We had long before taken the measure of his capacity; we always took it into our account; it was one of our resources; he might nevertheless change his mind, rush to arms, and destroy us. We all perceived it; but we had no news from Eugène. Davoust and Ney were in the rear; we could not leave them. The temperature moreover became every day more severe; the Russians also suffered; they had slumbered hitherto, they might slumber still. Napoleon resolved to take the chance of it; he waited. Every thing turned out as he had foreseen. Milloradowitz wished to intercept the fourth corps, but he could not reach it. Five thousand infantry, who had neither horses to clear away the assailants, nor cannon to defend themselves with, constantly repulsed the multitudes of soldiers which were rushing on them, made head against all this advanced-guard, and escaped. Davoust followed; the enemy flattered themselves that they could take their revenge on the Marshal, but the Emperor prevented it. He extended his line on the left of Krasnoi, brought some troops into action, and opened a pretty well sustained fire of artillery. Kutusow, alarmed at the sight of the 14 or 15,000 men who had been drawn together, recalled his detached corps: the Marshal passed over, and came to take part in the action. The end was attained, the firing ceased, and the retreat commenced. The enemy tried to prevent it; but the first regiment of the voltigeurs of the guard repulsed all their attacks; neither the cavalry, the infantry, nor grape shot could move it: it perished on the spot. This heroic resistance struck the Russians; they discontinued the pursuit. As soon as we were out of one embarrassment, we fell into another. We in number from 14 to 15,000 men, had ventured to place ourselves in line against Kutusow's 20,000; we had extricated ourselves, without a reverse, from a situation where we ought to have been all taken; but our provisions, our rear was lost. Minsk had been surprised; the army of Moldavia covered the Beresina; Ney was still behind: never had our situation been so terrible. Napoleon, who was astonished at this disastrous complication of affairs, despatched orders to resume the offensive, and to take Polosk. Success appeared to him easy. "If the Duke de Belluno shew energy, the enterprise cannot fail; the character of the troops that he commands ensures it. It is Ney that I am uneasy about; what is to become of him." This Marshal was in an unparalleled situation; all the valour, the sang froid, and perseverance of that intrepid warrior were necessary to extricate him; he had received on the night of the 16th or 17th news of Eugène's battle, and Davoust's departure. These two events could not move him. "All the Cossacks of Russia," said he, on learning it, "should not hinder me from executing my instructions; I will not depart from them a tittle." He concluded his arrangements, and proceeded to march: 6,000 infantry, three hundred horses, and twelve pieces of cannon composed all his force. He was annoyed by the light troops of the enemy which hovered round his flanks; he was marching in close order, ready to receive any attack. At three o'clock, his vanguard reached Katowa, and halted in sight of the corps of Milloradowitz. The weather was foggy; neither party could see what troops were before them. Ney crosses a ravine which separated him from the enemy's troops, breaks through the first line, routs the second, and would have defeated the whole army if the ravages of the artillery had not prevented him. He was obliged to sound a retreat; but his attack had been so impetuous that they dared not pursue him. He lighted night-fires, as if he intended to stop all night: the Russians imitated him. As soon as he had taken some rest, he removed his quarters, and resolved to interpose the Borysthenes as a line of separation between him and the enemy's troops, which were too numerous for him to be able to force: he rushed into the stream, on the ice, and reached the opposite bank; but new dangers were awaiting him there.
The Cossacks covered the plain; they charged us, and kept up a furious fire of grape shot. Ney, who could not make any return to this destructive cannonade, hastened his march, dispersing, overthrowing every thing that dared oppose him. He marched for a wood which was not far distant; he was on the point of reaching it, when a battery was unmasked on him and disorganized his column. The soldiers waver and throw down their arms, but the Marshal soon restores them to their courage; his words, his voice, his example, encourage the most timid: they rush on; the enemy's artillery fly; we are masters of the wood. But there were neither roads nor paths through this thicket; it was intersected by so many ravines, and there were so many obstacles, that it was with infinite difficulty that it was traversed: nearly all the matériel was left in it. The Cossacks became the more daring; for two days they never ceased renewing their attacks: but they had themselves been obliged to make a circuit, their cannon was in arrear, they had no artillery; a few voltigeurs did justice on them. Ney was close upon Orsza: the night was advanced; he marched in silence: he flattered himself that he had at last ridded himself of the enemy. On a sudden he perceives the fires of bivouacs, he discovers the camp of a numerous army. He did not know whether he should rejoice or tremble, whether they were Russians or French, when a fire opened upon him removes his uncertainty: the reconnoitring parties are received with discharges of musquetry; explosions, cries, drums, are mingled and confounded together; one would have thought that we were to give battle to all Russia. Furious at seeing danger return at the moment when he thought that he had escaped from it, the Marshal makes an effort to open a passage; he rushes towards the fires—but the camp is deserted: it is a trick, a stratagem. Platoff had, it appears, taken us for his own troops; he had thought to frighten us with shadows. The Duke disdained to follow a few Cossacks, who had been employed in this phantasmagoria; he continued his march, and three leagues further on reached the fourth corps.