The Memoirs of General the Baron de Marbot

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During these blood-stained comings and goings, what was General
Saint-Cyr doing? He was following Oudinot about in silence, and
when asked for his opinion he merely bowed and said "Monseigneur
le Marachal...!" as if meaning since you have been made marshal,
you must know more than me, a simple general. So you can sort
this out for yourself.

Wittgenstein, having lost a great many men and despairing of
gaining victory by continued attacks in the area of the gardens,
ended up where he should have begun, by marching his troops
towards the meadows which bordered the Dvina. Up until this time
Oudinot had kept his twelve pounders and all his cavalry at this
spot, as if they had nothing to do with the fighting; but the
artillery general, Dulauloy, anxious about his guns, suggested to
the Marshal that he should send not only the large calibre guns
but also all the cavalry over to the left bank, on the pretext
that they got in the way of the infantry. When Oudinot asked
Saint-Cyr what he thought, instead of offering the sound advice
that the artillery and the cavalry should stay where they were,
on ground which allowed them to manoeuvre with ease and support
the infantry, he only repeated his endless "Monseigneur le
Marachal...". In the end, Oudinot, in spite of the opinion of
General Lorencez, his chief-of-staff, ordered the artillery and
the cavalry to withdraw to the other side of the river. This
ill-advised movement, which looked like the prelude to a retreat
and the total abandonment of Polotsk and the right bank, greatly
displeased the troops who were involved, and lowered the morale
of the infantry whose job it was to defend that part of the town
which faced the open ground. The spirits of the Russians were, on
the contrary, raised when they saw ten regiments of cavalry and
several batteries of guns leaving the field of battle. In an
effort to create confusion in this huge mass as it departed they
brought forward and fired their licornes, the hollow ammunition
of which acts first as a cannon-ball and then explodes like a
mortar bomb. The regiments next to mine had several men killed or
wounded. I was lucky enough to have none of my men hit though I
lost some horses. My own horse was hit in the head and as it
fell I went down with it and my injured shoulder struck hard on
the ground, which was very painful. If the Russian gun had been
elevated a bit more, it would have been I who was hit, fair and
square, and my son would have been an orphan a few hours after
first seeing the light of day.

The enemy now resumed their attack, and when, after crossing the
bridge, we looked back to see what was happening on the bank
which we had just left, we saw a disturbing spectacle. The
French, Bavarian and Croatian infantry were fighting bravely and
holding their own, but the Portuguese legion and the two Swiss
regiments fled before the Russians, and did not stop until,
having been driven into the river, they were in the water up to
their knees. Then, forced to face the enemy or drown, they at
last struck back, and by a constant barrage of fire they
compelled the Russians to draw back a little. The commander of
the French artillery, who had just crossed the Dvina with the
cavalry, skillfully made use of the opportunity to be useful, by
bringing his guns to the river bank and directing a heavy fire
across the stream at the enemy battalions drawn up on the
opposite bank.

This powerful intervention having stopped Wittgenstein's men at
this point, while the French, Bavarians and Croats drove them
back elsewhere, the fighting eased up and an hour before the end
of the day had degenerated into random firing. The Marshal,
however could not escape the fact that he would have to continue
fighting the next day; and so, preoccupied by a situation the
outcome of which he could not predict, and ruffled by the
obstinate silence of Saint-Cyr, he was walking his horse slowly,
followed by only one aide-de-camp, among musketeers of his
infantry, when enemy marksmen, seeing a rider with a plumed hat,
took aim and put a ball through his arm.

The Marshal at once informed Saint-Cyr of the injury and handing
to him the command of the army left him to sort matters out. He
himself left the field, crossed the bridge, stopped for a few
moments at the cavalry bivouac and quitting the army went to
Lithuania in our rear, to have his wound cared for. We did not
see him again for two months.

Chap. 11.

Saint-Cyr took up with a firm and skillful hand the reins of
command, and in a few hours completely changed the look of
things. Such is the influence of a man who is competent and who
inspires confidence. Marshal Oudinot had left the army in a
perilous state: part of his force driven back to the edge of the
river, and the rest scattered amongst the gardens where they were
firing at random; an inadequate lay-out of guns on the ramparts;
the streets of the town cluttered with wagons, baggage, sutlers
and wounded, all in complete confusion, while the troops had no
means of retreat, should they be overcome, other than the pontoon
bridge across the Dvina, a bridge which was very narrow and in
such a bad state that the water was six inches over the planking
of its platform. Finally, night was approaching and it was feared
that the shooting would lead to a general action which might be
disastrous in view of the disorder which ruled amongst the
regiments of different nationalities.

General Saint-Cyr's first act was to order the withdrawal of
those infantrymen who were in action, in the certainty that the
tired enemy would do the same, as soon as they were no longer
under attack.

The result was that soon the firing ceased on both sides. The
troops were able to re-form and to have some rest, and further
fighting was postponed until the next day. In order to put
himself in a more favourable position, Saint-Cyr used the night
to make preparations for the repulse of the enemy and to ensure a
line of retreat, should it be necessary. With this aim, he
gathered together all the corps commanders and after making clear
to them the dangers of the situation, one of the more serious of
which was the obstruction of the streets of the town and the
approaches to the bridge, he ordered that the colonels,
accompanied by several officers and with patrols, should go
through the streets, sending those men of their regiments who
were fit to their bivouac area, and all the wounded, sick, led
horses, sutlers and carts to the other side of the bridge.
General Saint-Cyr added that he would visit the town at daybreak
and would suspend from duty any corps commander who had not
carried out his instructions promptly! No excuse would be
accepted! There was a rush to obey. The sick and wounded were
carried to the left bank as well as everything which was not
actually required for combat. That is to say all the impedimenta
of the army. In this way the streets and the bridge were soon
completely clear. The bridge was strengthened and the cavalry and
guns brought back to the right bank and located in a suburb
furthest from the enemy; and then, to improve his means of
retreat, the prudent general had a second bridge made out of
empty barrels and planks, which was for the sole use of the
infantry. All these preparations having been completed before
daylight, the army awaited its enemies with confidence. The
latter, however, did not stir from their encampment, set up on
the open ground at the edge of the vast forest which surrounds
Polotsk on the side opposite to the river.

General Saint-Cyr, who had expected to be attacked in the early
morning, attributed the tranquillity which reigned in the Russian
camp to the tremendous losses they had suffered the previous day.

This may have been part of the reason, but the main cause of
Wittgenstein's inactivity was that he expected the arrival,
during the coming night, of a strong division of infantry and
several squadrons of cavalry from St. Petersburg, and he had
delayed his attack until he had received this powerful
reinforcement so that he might the more easily defeat us on the
day following.

Although the Polish nobles, the great landowners of the property
round Polotsk, did not dare to support us openly, they did so in
secret, and had no difficulty in providing us with spies. General
Saint-Cyr, uneasy at what was going on in the Russian camp,
arranged with one of these noblemen to have him send there one of
his more enlightened vassals. The landowner sent to the Russian
camp several cartloads of forage, and put amongst his carters his
bailiff, dressed as a peasant. This man, who was highly
intelligent, learned by chatting to Wittgenstein's soldiers that
they were expecting a large body of troops, and even witnessed
the arrival of some Cossacks and some cavalry, and was told that
several battalions would arrive at the camp around midnight.
Having gathered this information, the bailiff passed it to his
master, who hurried to warn the commander of the French forces.

When he heard this news, Saint-Cyr determined to strike at
Wittgenstein before the arrival of the expected reinforcements.
But as he did not want to be involved in a long drawn-out affair,
he warned his generals and corps commanders that he would not
attack until six in the evening, so that, as night would put an
end to the fighting, the Russians would be unable to exploit
their success if things went their way. It is true that if we
were victorious we would be unable to pursue the enemy in the
dark, but Saint-Cyr had no intention of doing this, and for the
moment wanted only to teach the Russians a lesson which would
drive them away from Polotsk. As the French general aimed at
taking the Russians by surprise, he ordered absolute calm to be
maintained in the town and above all in the lines of outposts.

The day seemed very long. Everyone, even the General, in spite of
his sang-froid, constantly looked at his watch. Having observed
that, on the previous day, the absence of the French cavalry had
allowed the Russians to drive our left wing almost into the
Dvina, General Saint-Cyr, shortly before the attack, moved all
his squadrons, in silence, into a position behind some big shops,
on the other side of which lay the meadowland. It was on this
level ground that the cavalry could manoeuvre to fall on the
enemy right and give cover to the left wing of our infantry, of
which the first two divisions were to attack the Russian camp
while the third supported the cavalry and the remaining two
formed the reserve and protected the town. All was ready when, at
last, it was six o'clock, and the signal for the attack was given
by the firing of a cannon, followed by a volley from all the
French artillery, which landed numerous projectiles on the enemy
outposts and on the camp itself. At once our two first infantry
divisions, led by the 23rd Light, fell on the Russian regiments
positioned in the gardens, killing or capturing all whom they
encountered and chasing the rest back to the camp, where they
took many prisoners and captured several guns. This surprise
attack, although carried out in broad daylight, was so successful
that General Wittgenstein was dining peacefully in a little
country house near his camp when he was warned that French
skirmishers were in the court-yard. He jumped out of a window
and, mounting a Cossack horse which happened to be there, he
galloped away to join his troops. Our skirmishers took some fine
horses, documents, baggage wagons and wines belonging to the
General, also the silverware and some of the dinner laid on the
table. An immense quantity of booty was seized in the camp by
other units.

At the sound of this wholly unforeseen attack by the French,
panic spread amongst our enemies, the majority of whom took to
their heels without even picking up their weapons. The disorder
was complete; no one was giving orders, even though the approach
of our infantry was heralded by a fusillade of shots and the
sound of the drums beating the charge. The scene seemed set for a
resounding victory by the French troops, at whose head marched
Saint-Cyr with his customary calm. However, in war an unexpected,
and often unimportant, event can change a situation.

A large number of the enemy soldiers had reached in their flight
the rear area of the camp, where was encamped the squadron of
horse-guards which had arrived a few hours previously. This elite
unit was made up of young men selected from the best of the
nobility, and was led by a major of proven courage, whose elan,
it was said, was increased by generous draughts of liquor. When
he saw what was happening, this officer leapt on his horse and,
followed by some hundred and twenty cuirassed riders, he rushed
towards the French, whom he soon encountered. The first of our
battalions which he attacked belonged to the 26th Light. They put
up a vigourous resistance. The cavalry were repelled with
casualties, and were rallying to prepare for a second charge when
their Major, impatient at the time taken for the scattered
horsemen to regain their ranks, abandoned the unsuccessful attack
on the French battalion, and ordering his men to follow he led
them at the gallop in open order through the camp, which was full
of infantry, Portuguese, Swiss and even Bavarians, our allies,
some of whom, dispersed by the victory itself, were trying to
regroup while others were collecting the booty left by the
Russians.

The cavalrymen killed or wounded many of these soldiers and threw
the crowd into disarray. A disorderly withdrawal began which
degenerated into a mass panic. Now in a situation like this,
soldiers can mistake for the enemy their own troops who are
running to join them, so that, in a cloud of dust, it seems that
they are being attacked by a large force, when in most cases it
is only a handful of men. This is what happened here; the
horse-guards, scattered widely over the plain and pressing on
without a backward look, seemed to the fugitives to be a massive
force of cavalry, and so the confusion grew until it enveloped
the Swiss battalion in the middle of which General Saint-Cyr had
taken refuge. He was so much jostled by the mob that his horse
fell into a ditch.

The General, who was clad in a simple blue greatcoat, without any
badges of rank, lay motionless on the ground as the cavalry drew
near, and they thinking he was either dead or only a humble
civilian employee, passed by and continued their pursuit of the
fugitives. One does not know how matters would have ended had not
the gallant and quick-witted General Berckheim, at the head of
the 4th Cuirassiers, charged down upon the Russian cavalry, who
in spite of bravely defending themselves, were almost all killed
or made prisoner. Their valiant Major was among the dead. The
charge carried out by this handful of men could have had a
dramatic result if it had been followed up, and this fine feat of
arms goes to show once more that it is unexpected attacks by
cavalry that have the best chance of success.

General Saint-Cyr, having been picked up by our Cuirassiers,
ordered all the infantry divisions to advance immediately and
attack the Russians before they could recover from their
confusion. In this they were successful and the enemy were
decisively beaten, losing many men and a number of guns.

While this infantry battle was taking place before Polotsk,
another action was under way on their left, in the open plain
which bordered the Dvina. As soon as the cannon shot gave the
signal to engage, our cavalry regiments, led by Castex's brigade,
advanced rapidly towards the enemy who, for their part, advanced
towards us.

A major encounter seemed imminent, and the good General Castex
said that although in spite of my recent injury, I had been able
to command the regiment during the fighting round Sivotschina and
Svolna, where it had been solely a matter of facing the fire of
the infantry and the guns, it would not be the same today when in
action against cavalry. During a charge I would be unable to
defend myself since, with my one arm, I could not hold my horse's
bridle and at the same time use my sabre. He therefore urged me
to remain behind on this occasion, with the reserve division of
infantry. I did not think that I should accept this well-meaning
advice, and I expressed so vehemently my wish not to be removed
from the regiment that the General gave way, but he arranged for
me to have behind me six of the best cavalrymen, led by Sergeant
Prud'homme, while at my side were four warrant officers, a
trumpeter and my orderly Fousse, one of the finest soldiers in
the regiment. Surrounded in this way, and placed in front of the
centre of a squadron, I was sufficiently protected; besides, in
an emergency, I would have dropped the reins to wield my sabre,
which hung by its sword-knot from my right wrist.

The meadow was large enough to hold two regiments in battle
order, so the 23rd and the 24th advanced in line. General
Corbineau's brigade, consisting of three regiments was in the
second line and the Cuirassiers followed, in reserve. The 24th,
which was on my left, faced a body of Russian dragoons, while I
was opposed to the Cossacks of the Guard, recognisable by the red
colour of their jackets and the fine quality of their horses
which, although they had arrived only a few hours ago, did not
appear in the least tired. We moved forward at the gallop, and
when we were at a suitable distance from the enemy, General
Castex ordered the charge and his whole brigade fell in one line
on the Russians. By the violence of this attack, the 24th
overwhelmed the dragoons who opposed them, but my regiment
experienced more resistance from the Cossacks, a chosen band of
men of superior stature and each armed with a 14 foot lance which
he well knew how to use. Some of my Chasseurs were killed and
many wounded, but once my gallant troopers had broken through
this line bristling with steel, they had the advantage, for the
long lances are ineffective against cavalry when those carrying
them are disorganised and closely engaged by adversaries who are
armed with sabres which they can use with ease, while the lancers
have great difficulty in presenting the point of their weapons.
Thus the Cossacks were forced to turn their backs, whereupon my
men slaughtered many of them and captured a large number of
splendid horses.

We were about to follow up this success when our attention was
drawn to a great tumult on our right, where we saw the plain
covered with fugitives, for this was the moment when the Russian
Chevalier-Gardes made their desperate attack. General Castex,
thinking it would be unwise to advance any further when our
centre appeared to be retreating in disorder, called for the
rally to be sounded and the brigade came to a halt.

We had,however, scarcely re-formed our ranks when the Cossacks,
emboldened by what was going on in the centre and burning to
avenge their previous defeat, charged back on the attack and
hurled themselves furiously on my squadrons, while the Grodno
Hussars attacked the 24th. The Russians, driven back at every
point by Castex's brigade, brought up successively their second
and third line, whereupon General Corbineau came to our
assistance with the 7th and 20th Chasseurs and the 8th Lancers,
and there ensued a great cavalry battle, the outcome of which
hung in the balance. Both our own and the Russian Cuirassiers
were advancing to join in when Wittgenstein, seeing his infantry
beaten and hard pressed by ours, sent word to his cavalry to
retire. They, however, were too hotly engaged for this command to
be easily executed. In the event, Generals Castex and Corbineau,
knowing that they would be supported by the Cuirassiers who were
close behind them, committed in turn both their brigades against
the Russians who were thrown into the greatest disorder and
suffered heavy casualties.

On arriving at the other side of the wood where our victorious
infantry and cavalry divisions were regrouping, General
Saint-Cyr, seeing that night was approaching, called off the
pursuit, and the troops returned to their bivouacs at Polotsk,
which they had quitted a few hours earlier. During the fighting
my wound had given me much pain, particularly when I had to
gallop my horse. My inability to defend myself often put me in a
difficult situation in which I might not have survived had I not
been surrounded by a group of stalwarts who never let me out of
their sight.

On one occasion, amongst others, I was pushed by the mob of
combatants into a group of Cossacks, where to save myself I had
to let go of the bridle and take up my sabre. I had, however, no
need to use it, for seeing their commanding officer in danger,
all ranks of my escort furiously attacked the Cossacks who were
now surrounding me, laid several of them in the dust and put the
rest to flight. My orderly Fousse, the finest of Chasseurs,
killed three of them and Warrant Officer Joly two. So I came back
safe and sound from this action, in which I had been determined
to take part in order to encourage the regiment, and to show them
afresh that as long as I could mount a horse it would be my
honour to lead them when danger threatened. Both the officers and
men of the regiment appreciated this, and the affection with
which I was already regarded by them was increased, as you will
see later, when I speak of the misfortunes of the great retreat.

Combat between cavalry units is infinitely less murderous than
that involving the infantry, also the Russians are as a rule
maladroit in the handling of their weapons, and their incompetent
leaders do not always know how to employ their cavalry to best
advantage. So that although my regiment was fighting the Cossacks
of the Guard, considered one of the finest units in the Russian
army, we did not suffer a great many casualties. I had eight or
nine men killed and some thirty wounded; but amongst those last
was Major Fontaine. This very fine officer was in the thick of
the fighting when his horse was killed; his feet were entangled
in the stirrups and he was trying to free himself with the help
of some Chasseurs who had gone to help him when a Cossack
officer, bursting through the group at the gallop, leaned
dexterously from his saddle and dealt Fontaine a terrible sabre
slash which blinded his left eye, damaged the other and split
open his nose. However, as the Russian officer, proud of this
exploit, was leaving the scene, one of our Chasseurs shot him in
the back at six paces, so avenging his squadron commander. As
soon as possible M. Fontaine's injury was dressed and he was
taken to Polotsk to the Jesuit monastery, where I visited him
that same evening. I admired the resignation with which this
courageous soldier bore the pain and disability of becoming
almost completely blind, since which time he has not been able to
continue in active service. This was a great loss for the 23rd,
in which he had been since its creation, liked and respected by
all; I was much moved by his misfortune.

I was now the only senior officer in the regiment and I had to
see to all the requirements of the service, which was a major
task.

You may think that I have gone into too much detail about the
various actions in which 2nd Corps was involved, but as I have
said, I enjoy recalling the great conflicts in which I have taken
part, and speak of these times with pleasure, for it then seems
to me that I am once more in the field, surrounded by my brave
companions, almost all of whom have now, alas, quitted this life.

To return to the present campaign: anyone but Saint-Cyr, after
such a hard-fought action would have reviewed his troops to
congratulate them on their success and enquire into their needs.
Scarcely, however, had the last shot been fired, when Saint-Cyr
shut himself up in the Jesuit monastery and spent all his days
and part of the night playing his violin...a ruling passion from
which only marching to attack the enemy could distract him.
Generals Lorencez and Wrede, given the task of deploying the
troops, sent two divisions of infantry and the Cuirassiers to the
left bank of the Dvina. The third French division and the
Bavarians stayed in Polotsk, where they were employed to build
the fortifications of a vast entrenched camp, before acting as a
support to the troops which from this important point were
covering the left and rear of the "Grande Armee" on its march to
Smolensk and on to Moscow. The light cavalry brigades of Castex
and Corbineau were positioned two leagues in front of this camp,
on the left bank of the Polota, a little river which joins the
Dvina at Polotsk. My regiment went into bivouac near a village
called Louchonski. The colonel of the 24th set up his a quarter
of a league to the rear, covered by the 23rd. We stayed there for
two months, during the first of which we did not go very far.
When he heard of the victory won at Polotsk by Saint-Cyr, the
Emperor sent him the baton of Imperial Marshal. Instead of using
the occasion to visit his troops, the new Marshal retired into
even deeper seclusion, if that were possible. No one could
approach the head of the army, which earned him the nick-name
amongst the soldiers of the "Owl." More than this, although the
huge monastery had more than a hundred rooms which would have
been most useful for the wounded, he lived there alone, and
considered it a great concession that he allowed senior officers
who were wounded to be received in the outhouses. They were
allowed to remain there for forty-eight hours, after which their
comrades had to take them to the town. The cellars and granaries
of the monastery were bursting with provisions amassed by the
Jesuits; wine, beer oil, flour, etc., all were there in
abundance; but the Marshal had taken charge of the keys of the
store-rooms and nothing came from them, even for the hospitals.
It was with the greatest difficulty that I obtained two bottles
of wine for the injured Fontaine. The extraordinary thing was
that the Marshal used hardly any of these provisions for himself,
for he was a man of extreme sobriety, but also highly eccentric.
The army complained loudly about his behaviour,and those same
provisions which he refused to distribute to his troops were, two
months later, consumed by flames and the Russians, when the
French were forced to abandon the burning monastery and town.