Cover photo: “Marshal Ney Supporting the Rear Guard during the Retreat from Moscow”. The legendary rear guard retreat of Marshal Ney at Losvinka, depicted by the French painter, known for his paintings of the Napoleonic Wars, Adolphe Yvon.

Departing from Moscow on October 18, 1812, Napoleon’s once-great army would attempt to retreat and settle in Smolensk, 430 kilometers west, where they would winter. Over the next three weeks, the army faced deprivation, loss of morale, lax discipline, lack of horses and supplies, severe cold, and constant attacks from Cossacks and other Russian units. Despite reaching the city on November 9, Napoleon realized that Smolensk did not offer what he desired and chose to continue his retreat towards Minsk, mistakenly believing that the Russian army was now at a distance. However, Kutuzov was following the French on a parallel path to the south, avoiding areas economically devastated by previous battles.

As a result, he arrived in a better position at the same location as the French, with 60,000 men in his regular army and 20,000 Cossacks harassing them. Against them were 50,000 weary French soldiers and another 35,000 in a state of flight. The first skirmishes took place on November 15, in and around Krasny. Napoleon, personally commanding 16,000 men of the Imperial Guard, marched on the heights along the road, where 17,000 men of Russian General Miloradovich were positioned. Impressed by the order and calmness of the elite Guard units, the Russian decided not to confront them but to bombard from a distance. However, the Russian artillery did not prevent the Guard from continuing towards Krasny without significant damage. Some Cossack units under Denisov decided to attack. The description by the Russian General Davydov is characteristic of the outcome:

“In the afternoon, we saw the old Guard surrounding Napoleon. The enemy soldiers (French) observed our insubordination but kept their weapons ready and continued their path without haste. Like pieces of granite, they seemed invulnerable. I will never forget the incredible determination of these soldiers, for whom the threat of death is a daily and familiar experience. With their large bear-skin hats, their blue uniforms, their red plumes, and their epaulets, they looked like poppies in the snow-covered battlefield… One phalanx after another found death, scattering it with their weapons and laughing at our insignificant cavalry. The Imperial Guard, with Napoleon among them, passed through our Cossack ranks like a ship with a hundred cannons would pass through a fleet of fishing boats.”

The next day, on 16/11, Miloradovich’s soldiers blocked the road leading to Krasny and inflicted heavy losses on the 4th Corps of Eugène de Beauharnais, which lost 2,000 men along with its supplies and artillery. At three o’clock on the afternoon of November 17, the 9,000 men of Davout’s 1st Corps rushed towards Krasny. Reports of Eugene’s defeat the previous day were so horrific that Davout deemed it necessary to abandon his original plan to wait for Ney’s 3rd Corps, which had not yet left Smolensk. Miloradovich was granted permission to continue his attack with a massive artillery barrage on Davout near Yeskovo. Chaos ensued, and panicked, the French troops began to retreat only to be mercilessly slaughtered by the Russian cavalry.

At this critical moment, Napoleon felt that, for the first time in weeks, he had the initiative. According to the writings of the French general and later diplomat Armand de Caulaincourt: “The turn of events, which overturned all of the Emperor’s calculations, would have overwhelmed any other general. But the Emperor was stronger in adversity and became more stubborn when danger seemed imminent.” Just before nightfall, Napoleon prepared his Imperial Guard to carry out a feigned attack against Miloradovich and the bulk of the Russian army, hoping to repel the Russians long enough to receive reinforcements from Davout and Ney and immediately resume his retreat. Meanwhile, the Russians were preparing for the final blow against the Corsican emperor…

At five o’clock in the afternoon of November 17, 1812, 11,000 men, including 6,000 from the Young and Old Guard, under Edward Mortier, emerged from Krasny to secure the outskirts of the city to the east and southeast and to gain time for the remaining French forces. Napoleon took command of the grenadiers of the Old Guard, declaring, “I’ve played the Emperor long enough! It’s time to play the general!”

“Regiments and artillery blocked the horizon from three sides – in front, to our right, and behind us.” Despite their overwhelming local numerical superiority, Kutuzov did not dare to attack, so the Russians spent the rest of the day, just outside the Guards, out of range of French rifles and bayonets, content to cannonade them from a distance. A new clash erupted in the nearby village of Uvarovo, where the French drove out the Russians there but then suffered heavy losses from Russian artillery. The latter would have a terribly bloody task to perform that day. Davout’s pursued units, who had constantly had Cossacks on their heels, now also faced incendiary shells. A first attempt to retake the village with armored cavalry was repelled by the Guards, but the second shattered their lines. Russian cannons then decimated a second unit that attempted to hold the defensive line.

Around 11 a.m. on November 18, as the Imperial Guard, despite heavy losses, held near Uvarovo, Napoleon received reports that Tormasov’s troops were ready to march west from Krasny. These news, combined with the terrible bleeding of the Guards, forced Napoleon to abandon the idea of resisting long enough to allow Ney’s Third Corps to reach Krasny. The resilience of the Guards was rapidly dwindling, and Mortier ordered a retreat before the remaining troops were encircled and destroyed.

As if in an exercise and utterly disciplined, despite the incredible hardships of so many days and the horrific losses, the Guards turned and continued their march towards Krasny, facing a tremendous artillery barrage on the road. November 17, 1812, was perhaps the bloodiest day of all. Only 3,000 men out of 6,000 had survived the Russian bombardments of Uvarovo. Kutuzov and 70,000 soldiers rushed to occupy Krasny and its surroundings on the evening of the same day.

At 3:00 p.m. on November 18, Ney’s Third Corps made contact with Miloradovich, who had sent 12,000 men to a hill overlooking the deep ravine of Losmina. Ney still had 8,000 soldiers and 7,000 fugitives under his command. Believing that Davout was still in Krasny, just behind Miloradovich’s columns, Ney rejected an offer of honorable surrender and attempted to pass forcefully through the enemy ranks. The French troops, gathering every ounce of morale, managed to break through the first two lines of Russian infantry. However, they reached their limit. The third line, along with the artillery, counterattacked and overwhelmed them.

The description by the British eyewitness Sir Robert Wilson is more than vivid: “Forty guns simultaneously unleashed their flames and threw their devastating fire at the attacking French. Most Russians, shouting their ‘huzza!’ in advance, charged with fixed bayonets and without a single volley from their rifles. A brief, bloody struggle followed, and the enemy, unable to contain themselves, were driven into the ravine. The hilltop and slopes were covered with dead and dying Frenchmen. All Russian weapons were dripping with blood, and the wounded, in their desperate state, cried ‘death’ as the greatest mercy that could be shown to them.”

The tremendous defeat of the Third Corps was so complete that Miloradovich once again made an offer of surrender. Yet again, Ney refused to submit, and with only 2,000 survivors – what remained of his army – he managed to escape, pursued into the forest by Matvei Platov’s Cossacks. The day before, he had declared that “all Cossacks and Russians in the world would not prevent me from rejoining the army.” His actions showed he meant every word. For the next two days, Ney and his small contingent repelled the attacks of the Cossacks, marching westward through paths in search of Napoleon’s army.

Soon his detachment consisted of only 800 battle-hardened survivors, and on November 20, Ney and Napoleon finally found themselves near Orsha. For the utterly devastated French troops, this event was emotionally equivalent to a great victory. Ney’s composure in the face of defeat at Krasny earned him immortality in the annals of military history as Napoleon bestowed upon him the title of “Bravest of the Brave.” The French suffered a total of 10,000 dead and wounded, with 20,000 men unable to move still surrendering. The Russians, on the other hand, had around 5,000 dead and wounded.