Battle of Tarutino

Template:Short description Template:Use shortened footnotes Template:Campaignbox French invasion of Russia Template:OSM Location map The Battle of Tarutino (Template:Langx) was a part of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. In the battle, Russian troops under the general command of Bennigsen (as part of Kutuzov's army), on instructions from Kutuzov, launched an attack and defeated French troops under the command of Joachim Murat.Template:Sfn The battle is sometimes called the Battle of Vinkovo (Template:Langx) or the Battle of the Chernishnya (Template:Langx) after the local river. Many historians claim that the latter name is more fitting because the village of Tarutino was from the described events. In any event, the battle instigated the disastrous French retreat from Russia.

Preceding events

After the battle of Borodino, Kutuzov realized that the Russian army would not survive one more large engagement and ordered his soldiers to retreat to the south of Moscow to reinforce his army. At first it retreated in the south-east direction along the Ryazan road. When the army reached the Moskva River it crossed it and turned to the west to the Old Kaluga road. The army pitched camp in a village of Tarutino near Kaluga. At the same time small units of Cossacks continued moving along the Ryazan road misleading French troops under the command of Murat. When he discovered his error he did not retreat but made camp not far from Tarutino in order to keep his eye on the Russian camp, while Napoleon occupied Moscow. Template:Sfn

Battle

On 18 October 1812 Kutuzov ordered Bennigsen and Miloradovich to attack Murat's corps (20,000 men)Template:Sfn with two columns stealthily crossing the forest in the dead of night. Bennigsen's main force included three columns led by Vasily Orlov-Denisov, Karl Gustav von Baggehufwudt and Alexander Osterman-Tolstoy respectively. The other column was supposed to play an auxiliary role. In the darkness most of the troops got lost. By the morning only Cossack troops under the command of General Vasily Orlov-Denisov reached the original destination, suddenly attacked the French troops and captured the French camp with transports and cannons. Since other Russian units came late the French were able to recover. When the Russians emerged from the forest they came under French fire and suffered casualties. Murat was forced to retreat to escape being surrounded, but the Russian general Baggehufwudt was killed, while Bennigsen was concussed in the leg.Template:Sfn The French forces suffered more than 3,000 dead and wounded, 12 cannons, 20 caissons, 30 train-waggons had been taken, two generals killed,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn the Russians lost about 500 dead.Template:Sfn

Aftermath

The battle was a great victory for Kutuzov, boosting the morale of his forces, destroying valuable French cavalry units, and proving that Napoleon's once formidable army could be beaten on the battlefield. One day later, Napoleon started his own retreat from Moscow on the 19 October 1812 southwards in direction of Kaluga.Template:Sfn The next major battle was the Battle of Maloyaroslavets.

In popular culture

The battle is depicted in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. In the novel, Tolstoy claims that while the battle did not achieve any of its goals, it was exactly what the Russian army needed at the time, in that it exposed the weakness of the French army and gave Napoleon the push needed to begin his retreat.Template:Sfn

See also

• List of battles of the French invasion of Russia

Sources

• Bourgogne, Adrien Jean Baptiste François, Memoirs of Sergeant Bourgogne, 1812-1813[1] Bourgogne, Adrien Jean Baptiste François, Memoirs of Sergeant Bourgogne, 1812-1813 access-date=7 March 2021
• Chandler, David, The Campaigns of Napoleon New York, Macmillan, 1966[2] Chandler, David G., The Campaigns of Napoleon Access-date=7 March 2021
• Weider, Ben and Franceschi, Michel, The Wars Against Napoleon: Debunking the Myth of the Napoleonic Wars, 2007[3] Weider, Ben and Franceschi, The Wars Against Napoleon: Debunking the Myth of the Napoleonic Wars access-date=7 March 2021
• Zamoyski, Adam, Moscow 1812: Napoleon's Fatal March, 1980[4] Zamoyski, Adam, Moscow 1812, Napoleon's Fatal March access-date=7 March 2021
• "Тарутино". Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary: In 86 Volumes (82 Volumes and 4 Additional Volumes). St. Petersburg. 1890–1907.

External links

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Preceded by Siege of Burgos

Napoleonic Wars Battle of Tarutino

Succeeded by Second Battle of Polotsk