Battle of Smolensk (1812)
The Battle of Smolensk left a city of 2,250 buildings with only 350 still standing. Fire destroyed 84 percent of them. Of the roughly 15,000 people who lived there, about 1,000 were still among the smoking ruins when the fighting ended. It was the first major battle of the French invasion of Russia, fought from the 16th to the 18th of August 1812. Emperor Napoleon I led the attackers, and General Barclay de Tolly commanded the Russian defense. Why was Napoleon fighting at Smolensk at all, when he had spent weeks trying to force a battle somewhere else? What persuaded a Russian general who favored retreat to defend a walled city? And how did an attack with so much firepower still fall short of the decisive victory Napoleon wanted?
Napoleon stayed at Vitebsk until the 12th of August 1812, frustrated by a Russian army that kept slipping away. Barclay de Tolly's First Western Army had left on the 27th of July after an inconclusive fight, avoiding the general engagement Napoleon wanted. The emperor used the pause to reform the Grande Armée and wait for stragglers. General Jean-Andoche Junot had replaced King Jérôme as commander of the Westphalian VIII Corps. That corps joined Napoleon's main army near Orsha on the 4th of August.
After five weeks of nonstop operations, Napoleon's main strike force of 375,000 men had shrunk to 185,000. About 90,000 troops had been detached for various missions under Marshal Nicolas Oudinot and Generals Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, Jean Reynier and Victor de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg. Russian forces had inflicted thousands of combat losses. Yet the largest drain came from the need to garrison cities, towns, fortresses and forward supply depots.
Dysentery was the most notable killer among the tens of thousands of men lost to hunger and disease. Rapid forced marches had outrun the supply wagon trains, and desertion followed. The scorching July heat reduced the available water. Huge numbers of cavalry horses, transport horses and oxen also died, because there was little grazing and the wagons could not carry enough fodder. Across the lines, meanwhile, the Russian high command was tearing itself apart over whether to keep retreating.
On the 6th of August 1812, Barclay de Tolly agreed to an offensive after strong pressure from above and below, including threats of force. The loss of vast stretches of Russian territory had produced a crisis at the top. The so-called Russian faction gathered around Prince Pyotr Bagration and demanded an immediate all-out attack. Czar Alexander I and most of the officer corps backed them. The so-called foreign faction around Barclay, mostly officers of German extraction, wanted to keep delaying and withdrawing to dilute Napoleon's striking power.
Barclay did not know where the French were. He planned to outflank what he presumed was the isolated corps of Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais near Rudnia, destroy it, and punish the French who came to its aid. He advanced on Rudnia and Poryeche on the 7th of August. That same day, Count Matvei Platov's Cossacks defeated General Horace Sébastiani's cavalry near Inkovo, inflicting 600 French casualties.
On the 8th of August, false intelligence placed Eugène's corps at Poryeche, and Barclay turned half of his army to face north. Platov was ordered to rejoin him, and Bagration was told to move to Vidra. Bagration disobeyed. He feared a threat to his left flank from Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout, declared his army hungry and sick, and marched to Smolensk instead. Barclay failed to stop him and merely adjusted his own forces.
On the 11th of August, Barclay stayed put and fought only outpost skirmishes with the cavalry of Neapolitan King Joachim. On the 12th, his scouts found Poryeche empty, and he sent Platov to reconnoiter French movements. The offensive had failed through quarrels among the generals, Barclay's inactivity and pointless marches that cost time the Russians could not recover. Napoleon, for his part, had seen the offensive coming.
The clash at Inkovo on the 7th of August 1812 convinced Napoleon that a Russian attack was imminent. Worried, he deployed his army in a defensive posture around III Corps. By the 10th, Barclay's glacial slowness had persuaded him that the threat had passed. He had already directed Marshal Jacques MacDonald to cross the Daugava and help Oudinot's force. Oudinot and Saint-Cyr were ordered to attack Prince Peter Wittgenstein's 20,000-strong corps, so that it could not assist Barclay.
Napoleon then devised what became known as the Smolensk maneuver. The aim was to outflank Barclay from the south, cut the Russians off from Moscow and destroy their isolated army, which would end the war. He did this without knowing Barclay's exact location and was acting on instinct. To protect his lines of communications, he left a garrison of 3,800 men at Vitebsk, which later grew to 7,000.
The Grande Armée would advance in two huge columns, one under Napoleon and one under Davout. Napoleon's column held Joachim Murat's cavalry, the Imperial Guard, III Corps and IV Corps, and would cross the Dnieper at Rosasna. Davout's column, made up of I Corps, V Corps and VIII Corps, would cross at Orsha. Both would advance east along the left bank, then swing north to cut the Smolensk-Moscow road. Latour-Maubourg's cavalry would attack down the Dnieper as a diversion.
A thick cavalry screen under Generals Emmanuel de Grouchy, Étienne de Nansouty and Louis-Pierre Montbrun hid the deployment from the Russians. General Jean Baptiste Eblé's engineers built four pontoon bridges across the Dnieper near Rosasna on the night of the 13th to the 14th of August. By daybreak, the 175,000-strong Grande Armée was moving rapidly toward Smolensk. Its first collision came that same day at a town called Krasny.
Around 2:30 PM on the 14th of August 1812, about 20,000 Frenchmen under Murat and Marshal Michel Ney attacked Krasny, a town also spelled Krasnoi or Krasnoy. Barclay had left Generalmajor Neverovsky's 27th Division to guard it. Neverovsky had 5,500-7,200 infantry, 1,500 cavalry and 10-14 guns. Murat and Ney could not coordinate their infantry and cavalry, and the Russians escaped. The price was 1,500-2,300 men and seven guns, against about 500 French casualties. The French had several excellent chances to annihilate the force and let every one pass.
Neverovsky fell back into Smolensk and shut the gates behind him. The French could not take the city on the fly, and that imposed a disastrous delay on their operations. He asked Bagration for reinforcements and received Nikolai Raevsky's VII Corps. It arrived on the morning of the 15th of August to defend the southern bank of the Dnieper near Smolensk.
Barclay learned of the French attack from Neverovsky, and he misread it. He took Napoleon's advance for a retreat and prepared to capture Vitebsk, ordering Bagration to move south along the Dnieper. Bagration refused, pointing out that Smolensk, Neverovsky and Raevsky were in grave danger. Barclay then allowed him to deploy to the southern bank at Katan, and ordered General Dmitry Dokhturov's corps to join him. The governor of Smolensk was told to evacuate the city archives.
No decisive action followed, because Barclay was still unsure where Napoleon was. Czar Alexander left the army and handed command of the armies to Barclay, ordering him to defend Smolensk. Barclay decided to rush his men and Bagration's down the road from Vitebsk. With his whole plan hanging in the balance, Napoleon failed to act with enough vigor. He ordered a 24-hour halt to the advance.
Smolensk stood on the main western route linking Warsaw to Moscow, and before the First Partition of Poland it had been a border town of the Russian Empire. The Smolensk Kremlin was ringed by 38 bastion towers and a sturdy stone wall, and the River Dnieper flowed along its southern side. Inside the Assumption Cathedral hung one of the most venerated icons of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Our Lady of Smolensk, attributed to St Luke. Napoleon had assumed the Russians would meet him outside the walls to shield the city from destruction. By the 16th of August, he found it heavily fortified and held by Bagration's troops, soon reinforced by Barclay and the main Russian army. About 45,000 men of the Grande Armée would face about 30,000 Russians.
The main battle was fought on the 16th of August. A probing force captured two suburbs but failed to draw the Russians out. Napoleon then ordered a general assault by three corps, backed by two hundred artillery pieces. At first it went well, and the intense bombardment set the city on fire. But the French had no ladders or other gear to climb the walls, and Russian artillery fired back. By nightfall, most of the city was burning.
One participant in the assault left an account of that day. His column crossed the river below the city and stormed the northern suburbs, which were set on fire and burned away. His company's doctor, Staüble, had an arm shot off while crossing the stream and died afterward. In the confusion, the writer said, everyone fired and struck at the enemy in a wild madness, and no one could tell where he stood in the army.
To save his army, Barclay de Tolly abandoned the city. He destroyed the ammunition stores and bridges and left a small force to hold out for two days and cover his retreat. Around dawn on the 17th of August, Polish forces of the Grande Armée breached the walls, and within hours the main French forces were inside. Barclay kept troops on the far side of the river, blocking any crossing until the night of the 18th.
Barclay de Tolly claimed 4,000 Russian casualties, while Bogdanovich spoke of 6,000 men put out of action. The numbers inside the Russian army tell a harsher story. Dokhturov's VI Corps had 16,800 men available before the battle but only 6,000 able to fight at the end. That implies 10,800 casualties in a single corps. Prince Eugen of Württemberg's division alone lost 1,300 men. Among later historians, Gaston Bodart gave 6,000, David Chandler estimated 12,000-14,000, and Alexander Mikaberidze suggested 10,000.
Napoleon claimed that 700 Frenchmen were killed and 3,100-3,200 wounded. That claim is disputed, because Lobau's I Corps alone lost 6,000. Chandler puts French losses at 10,000, Mikaberidze also suggests 10,000, and Bodart lists 10,000 as well. Russian authors claimed that French losses reached as high as 20,000. Whatever the exact split, the combined toll topped 15,000, which made Smolensk one of the bloodiest battles of the invasion.
On the 29th of August 1812, Kutuzov took over the Russian army at Tsaryovo Zaymishche, replacing the unpopular Barclay de Tolly at the Tsar's order. He ordered his men to prepare for battle. Kutuzov understood that Barclay's decision to retreat had been correct. But the Tsar, the Russian troops and Russia itself could not accept any further retreat. His order to search for a battleground to the east led to the Battle of Lubino and then to Borodino.
Far from the Dnieper, in Warsaw, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier carries the battle's name. Its inscription reads SMOLENSK 17 VIII 1812.
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Common questions
When was the Battle of Smolensk fought?
The Battle of Smolensk was fought from the 16th to the 18th of August 1812. It was the first major battle of the French invasion of Russia.
Who fought in the Battle of Smolensk?
About 45,000 men of the Grande Armée under Emperor Napoleon I fought about 30,000 Russian troops under General Barclay de Tolly. Prince Pyotr Bagration's Second Army was also part of the Russian defense.
How much of Smolensk was destroyed in the Battle of Smolensk?
Of the city's 2,250 buildings, 84 percent were destroyed and only 350 survived intact. Of about 15,000 inhabitants, roughly 1,000 remained among the smoking ruins when the battle ended.
How many casualties did the Battle of Smolensk cause?
The Battle of Smolensk caused over 15,000 casualties, making it one of the bloodiest battles of the invasion. Estimates vary by source, and Napoleon's own claim of 700 French killed and 3,100-3,200 wounded is disputed.
Why did Barclay de Tolly abandon Smolensk in 1812?
Barclay de Tolly abandoned Smolensk to save his army. He destroyed the ammunition stores and bridges and left a small force to hold out for two days and cover his retreat.
What happened after the Battle of Smolensk?
Kutuzov replaced Barclay de Tolly and took over the Russian army on the 29th of August 1812 at Tsaryovo Zaymishche. His order to search for a battleground eastward led to the Battle of Lubino and Borodino.
Where is the Battle of Smolensk commemorated?
The Battle of Smolensk is commemorated on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw. The inscription reads SMOLENSK 17 VIII 1812.
All sources
9 references cited across the entry
- 1BookA German Conscript with NapoleonJakob Walter — 1938
- 2BookMilitär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905)Gaston Bodart — 1908
- 3BookThe Campaigns of NapoleonDavid G. Chandler — Weidenfeld & Nicolson — 1996
- 4BookWarfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015M. Clodfelter — McFarland — 2017
- 5BookItineraire de l'Empereur NapoleonP. Denniee — 1842
- 6BookNapoleon and the Operational Art of WarAlexander Mikaberidze — Brill — 2016
- 7BookThe Battle of Borodino: Napoleon Against KutuzovAlexander Mikaberidze — Pen & Sword — 2007
- 8BookNapoleon's Invasion of RussiaGeorge Nafziger — Presidio Press — 1988
- 9Book1812 : Napoleon's Russian campaignRichard K. Riehn — McGraw-Hill — 1990