Genuine patriotism of the highest standard. According to V.N. Balyazin
And don't forget that fight...
By evening, the fighting began to subside. Both armies stood one against the other, bloodless, exhausted. I heard their ragged breathing... I saw their burning eyes... And the smell... death and life... Both armies stood one against the other. Tired, but still ready for the next fight.
The French retreated from the heights they occupied, while the Russians remained where they stood at the end of the battle.
Kutuzov measured out the room with a force he knew not where from, with a sweeping gait. At first, he intended to “start a new battle in the morning and stand to the end” and even ordered to prepare for the continuation of the battle. Everyone got together, laid out cards ... But around midnight a report came in about the losses, and they exceeded 45 thousand people killed and wounded ...
Kutuzov's head bowed heavily. It was unbearable to see how strong, courageous shoulders drooped. Inhuman torments tormented the fiery heart. But he could not take any other decision than to retreat. The French lost even more killed and wounded than the Russians - about 58.5 thousand soldiers and officers and 49 generals. However, they also had no choice - they had to go forward, to the end. And the Russians, having taken a step back, met the French with all the breadth of the Russian soul - Russian, loving their country to the point of madness and not wanting to give their expanses to anyone else !!!
The fight was tough...
The battle. What a small but powerful word. Horror, despair, pain, fear, death ... And on the other side of the scale - victory and life.
It is difficult to describe in words what happened then on the battlefield. Eyes tearing from the acrid smoke. Breathe heavily. Inhale. Exhalation. Another breath. Raging heartbeat. Exhalation. One breath of air. Cotton. I don't see anything. Exhalation. Breathe, you need to breathe. "Victory!" Come on, breathe! … Inhale. Exhalation. We won!!!
« Grand Army"Crashed against the indestructible army of Russia, and therefore Napoleon had the right to say:" The Battle of the Moscow River was one of those battles where the greatest virtues were shown and the least results were achieved.
And Kutuzov appreciated battle of Borodino in a different way: “This day will remain an eternal monument of courage and excellent courage Russian soldiers where all the infantry, cavalry and artillery fought desperately. Everyone's desire was to die on the spot and not yield to the enemy.
And therefore, equally blood and valor, courage and selflessness were put on the scales of victory by officers and generals: Russian Denis Davydov, Georgian Pyotr Bagration, German Alexander Figner, Tatar Nikolai Kudashev and Turk Alexander Kutaisov, Russia's faithful sons.
History has preserved for us the names of the heroes of Borodin, soldiers and non-commissioned officers - holders of the military order of Georgy Efrem Mityukhin, Jan Mats, Sidor Shilo, Petr Mileshko, Taras Kharchenko, Ignat Filonov and many others.
And this was the Russian people - many-sided, multilingual, different, united in a single impulse by a common destiny, as united as the state.
This was genuine patriotism of the highest standard and the greatest purity. The people acted on the field of Borodino as the creator of history and convincingly proved to themselves and to the whole world that there is no greater power on earth than love for the Fatherland. And there is nothing worse for the enemy than the desire to protect your loved ones and loved ones.
Honor and praise to you, heroes of Borodino!
And everlasting memory the fallen!
(D. V. Davydov. From the book Military notes.) (451 words.) No. 45 Holy places
From what grows a huge human love for everything that fits in one word - Motherland?
I was twenty years old when I came from Voronezh for my first paycheck to look at Moscow. Early in the morning from the train I went to Red Square. Heard the clock strike. I wanted to touch the brick in the wall with my hand, to touch the stones that lined the square. People hurried past. It was amazing - how can one walk hurriedly along this square, talk about the weather, about some petty things? In those days, they were not allowed into the Kremlin. I waited until the door at St. Basil's bars opened. I remember the stones on the narrow stairs - "how many people passed"!
Then I visited the Kremlin many times. Having already traveled around the world, I compared and always thought with pride: in no other city have I seen a square of such beauty, rigor, originality.
Is it possible to imagine this square without St. Basil's Cathedral? I'll tell you now amazing fact. I myself would not have believed it if I had not heard from a person who is deeply respected by everyone. Here is what Pyotr Dmitrievich Baranovsky, the best restorer of monuments of our antiquity, said: “Before the war, they call me to one high authority: “We will demolish the cathedral, we need to make Red Square more spacious. We instruct you to take measurements ... ”I then got a lump in my throat.
I couldn't speak, I couldn't believe right away... In the end, someone's unknown wisdom stopped the irreparable action. They didn't break..."
But after all, they could break it, so that cars would be freer on the square. What has time shown? On Red Square today, the same cars are completely forbidden to drive because of the holiness of this place and in view of a large number wishing to pass this area with simple steps.
Today, taking off our hats in front of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square, we remember the master who performed the miracle. Ancient architects, painters and carpenters could express their skill and talent only in the construction of monasteries, churches and cathedrals. Preserving the ancient church, we preserve the monument to craftsmanship.
And you can't delay. Everything requires careful treatment: ancient buildings, folk crafts, ancient utensils, paintings in temples, books and documents, names and graves of heroes. With all our worries about current affairs, about daily bread and about exploration of extraterrestrial distances.
When doing great things, we must know where we came from and how we started. Our deeds, in conjunction with the past, in conjunction with the surrounding world of nature and the fire of the hearth, are expressed by the dear word FROM ECH E S T V O. It is impossible to force one to love the Fatherland by decree. Love must be nurtured.
(According to V. M. Peskov.) (367 words.)
№46 Birth of a verse
In the winter of 1935, Lugovsky and I walked along the deserted Massandrovskaya Street in Yalta. It was overcast, warm and windy. Overtaking us, ran, rustling along the pavement, dried maple leaves. They stopped in crowds at crossroads, as if considering where to run next. But while they were whispering about it, the wind came up, twisted them into a crackling whirlwind and carried them away.
Lugovskoy looked with boyish admiration at the rush of leaves, then picked up one leaf and showed me:
Look, all dry maple leaves have tips bent to one side at a right angle. That is why the leaf runs from the slightest movement of air s on these bent ends, as on five sharp paws. What a small animal!
Massandrovskaya Street, which was at that time, has remained so now - unexpectedly picturesque and typically seaside. It is unexpectedly picturesque because, as if on purpose, many old weathered stairs, retaining walls, ivy, nooks and crannies, wild stone fences, crooked window blinds and small courtyards with withered flowers are collected on it. These courtyards abruptly break off to the coastal cliffs. Flowers are always swaying in the wind. When the wind intensifies, then salty splashes fly into the courtyards and settle on the multi-colored glass of the terraces.
I mention this because Lugovskoy loved Massandrovskaya Street and often showed it to friends who did not know this corner of Yalta.
On the evening of that day, when maple leaves were running along the streets next to us, Lugovskoy came to me and, obviously embarrassed, said:
You know, what a strange case. I just went to the telephone exchange to call Moscow, and from the very gates of our park a maple leaf followed me. When I stopped, he also stopped. When I walked faster, he also ran faster. He did not leave me a single step, but he did not go to the telephone exchange: the granite stairs there are too steep for him, and besides, this is an institution. Must be autumn leaves entry is prohibited. I patted his back and he waited for me at the door. But when I left, he was gone. Obviously, someone drove him away or crushed him. And, you know, I felt bad, as if I betrayed and did not save my funny little friend. Is it really stupid?
I don’t know, - I answered, - more sad ... Then Lugovskoy took out an empty box of Kazbek cigarettes from his jacket pocket and read the poems about this maple leaf that had just been written on the box - poems that looked like a sad and guilty smile.
I sometimes noticed such a smile on Lugovskiy's face. She appeared to him when he returned from his poems to ordinary life. He came from there as if blinded, and it took some time for his eyes to get used to the light of a winter December day.
Lugovsky had the quality of a true poet; he did not take poetry on the side. He himself filling it the world and all its manifestations, no matter how sublime or insignificant they may seem.
(K. G. Paustovsky. A handful of Crimean land.) (442 words.)
By evening, the fighting began to subside. Both armies stood one against the other, bloodless, exhausted, thinned, but still ready for further struggle. The French retreated from the heights they occupied, the Russians remained where they stood at the end of the battle.
Kutuzov at first intended to “start a new battle in the morning and stand to the end” and even ordered to prepare for the continuation of the battle, but when around midnight he received a report of losses - and they exceeded 45 thousand people killed and wounded - there was no other solution than retreat he could not accept. The French lost even more killed and wounded than the Russians, about 58.5 thousand soldiers and officers and 49 generals. However, they also had no choice - they had to go forward to the end. The "Great Army" crashed against the indestructible army of Russia, and therefore Napoleon had the right to say: "The Battle of the Moscow River was one of those battles where the greatest virtues were shown and the least results were achieved."
And Kutuzov assessed the battle of Borodino differently: “This day will remain an eternal monument of courage and excellent bravery of Russian soldiers, where all the infantry, cavalry and artillery fought desperately. Everyone's desire was to die on the spot and not yield to the enemy. The "twelve languages" of the Napoleonic army, gathered from all over Europe, were opposed by an even greater number of Russian "tongues", gathered from all over the empire.
Soldiers, officers and generals stood shoulder to shoulder on the Borodino field. Russian army, which rallied in its ranks Russians and Ukrainians, Belarusians and Georgians, Tatars and Germans, united by the consciousness of a common duty and love for their Fatherland. And therefore, equally blood and valor, courage and selflessness were put on the scales of victory by officers and generals: Russian Denis Davydov, Georgian Pyotr Bagration, German Alexander Figner, Tatar Nikolai Kudashev and Turk Alexander Kutaisov, Russia's faithful sons.
And yet, no matter how bright the flashes of this sparkling officer valor were, for all their beauty, they somehow resembled the solemn lights of a festive fireworks, while the avalanche, all-destroying soldier valor was like a mighty forest fire, which, roaring and raging, uncontrollably He walked like a high, hot wall, crushing and incinerating everything that stood in his way. History has preserved for us the names of the heroes of Borodin, soldiers and non-commissioned officers - holders of the military order of Georgy Efrem Mityukhin, Jan Mats, Sidor Shilo, Petr Mileshko, Taras Kharchenko, Ignat Filonov and many others. And this was the Russian people - many-sided, multilingual, different, united in single state common destiny, as united as the state.
This was genuine patriotism of the highest standard and the greatest purity. The patriotic people acted on the field of Borodino as a true creator of history and convincingly proved both to themselves and to the whole world that there is no greater force on earth than the masses of the people, united by the leaders of the people to achieve a majestic, understandable and close to their heart goal.
(V. N. Balyazin. 1000 entertaining stories from Russian history.) (418 words.) №48 Moskvich Pushkin
Somehow it happened that Moscow, with its characteristic careless generosity, gave Pushkin to St. Petersburg. And Pushkin came to court there. Of course, not to the royal court, things didn’t work out right away, but to the large common court of the Russian capital, which included people of different classes, different ranks and ranks, but united by the fact that they were all readers and admirers of Pushkin. But Alexander Sergeevich was a native of the old capital, he saw the light on German Street (now Bauman), but lived there for only four months, after which he was taken to the estate of his maternal grandfather O. A. Hannibal - Mikhailovskoye. The Pushkins returned to Moscow in 1801 and chose to live in the indigenous part of Moscow - the vicinity of Chisty Pond. The boulevard did not exist at that time; a stream flowed through the wasteland here. The Pushkins often changed apartments. For us, the most interesting house is 21 in the possession of the Yusupov princes. The Pushkins lived in a yellowish wooden mansion next to the stone Yusupov chambers.
Childhood impressions are the strongest, they remain in the memory forever, no matter how her subsequent life loads her. Red chambers, a huge garden opposite, with alleys, a pavilion, grottoes, artificial ruins and statues, forever struck the imagination of an impressionable boy.
Current page: 5 (total book has 8 pages)
Moreover, after the capture of the Kurgan Heights by the French, the Russians seized the initiative. Barclay transferred Baggovut's corps in time to help Bagration and did not allow the French to bypass his position on the left. The chief of staff of the 1st Army, Major General A.P. Yermolov, seeing that the French were dragging guns to Kurgan height, stopped the retreating, took four more regiments from the reserve and led them to counterattack. Yermolov had with him a dozen soldier's St. George's crosses with ribbons. He rode ahead of the advancing and threw orders into the crowd of enemies, and the soldiers rushed forward, knowing that whoever picks up the order first, he will belong to him.
However, on the left flank, the last French attack was successful.
The 57th regiment from Davout's corps, without shots, with bayonets at the ready, broke through to the Russian guns. Seeing this, Bagration exclaimed: "Bravo!" - and he himself led a consolidated column of cavalry and infantry in a counterattack. But happiness changed him - a fragment of the nucleus hit the prince in the left leg. Losing consciousness, Bagration fell off his horse and was carried from the battlefield.
Lieutenant-General D.S. Dokhturov, who arrived to replace him, stopped the faltering troops and ordered: “Moscow is behind us! Everyone should die, but not a step back!”
He withdrew the remnants of the 2nd Army beyond the village of Semyonovskaya and again stood firmly on the new frontier.
By this time, the center of the battle had moved to the Kurgan height area, where Raevsky's battery was stationed.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, the French began its decisive assault, supported by the fire of three hundred guns. Now three infantry and one cuirassier division, which raced ahead, went up to the height.
A participant in the battle, Labom, recalled: “It seemed that the whole hill turned into a moving iron mountain. The brilliance of weapons, helmets and shells, illuminated by the sun's rays, mixed with the fire of guns, which, bringing death from all sides, made the redoubt look like a volcano in the center of the army. Cuirassiers, cut in from the flank, were supported by infantry from Gerard's division, marching along the front.
The division of General P. G. Likhachev is all, up to last person, fell at a height without taking a single step back. Old man Likhachev shouted: “Remember, guys, we are fighting for Moscow!” And when he was left alone, he tore off his uniform on his chest and went to the French bayonets. Wounded, he was taken prisoner.
The French took Raevsky's battery at three o'clock in the afternoon. And she was a spectacle that surpassed in horror everything that could be imagined. Approaches, ditches, the inner part of the fortifications - all this disappeared under an artificial hill of the dead and dying, the average height of which was equal to six to eight people piled on top of each other, ”wrote one of the participants in the battle.
In the words of the French officer Caesar Laugier, "the division of Likhachev that died here seemed to be guarding its redoubt even dead."
The key to the Borodino position was taken by Napoleon, but this did not decide the matter in his favor: the Russian infantry retreated behind a nearby ravine and again lined up in battle formation.
Napoleon made a last desperate attempt to crush the Russians and threw two cavalry corps into the center.
Barclay, who rushed here, opposed them with two Russian cavalry corps - K. A. Kreutz and F. K. Korf. He not only built this lava into battle formation, but he himself led it into battle, in which he cut like a simple cavalryman. A little later he wrote: "Then began the most stubborn cavalry battle that has ever happened."
In this battle near Barclay, five horses fell, his adjutants were killed and wounded, his hat and cloak were shot through, but, as F. Glinka wrote, "with icy calmness he squeezed himself into the most dangerous places."
One of the bravest Russian generals M. A. Miloradovich, seeing this, exclaimed: "He has nothing but life in reserve."
The onslaught of the French cavalry was repulsed, the enemy cavalry retreated.
End of the battle
Napoleon had one last chance to win the battle - to throw into battle his main reserve - the "old" guard, consisting of nineteen thousand of the best of the best soldiers and officers, each of whom distinguished himself in at least four campaigns and served flawlessly for at least ten years.
But he did not dare to do this, saying: "At eight hundred leagues from France, one cannot risk the last reserve."
And the Russians, meanwhile, by the end of the day managed to bring into battle all the reserves, including the guards.
Apart from the assault on the Bagration Flushes and Raevsky's battery, and all the troop movements associated with this movement, almost no other serious tactical maneuvers were undertaken during the Battle of Borodino, except for mutual attempts to make flank bypass cavalry raids.
First, such an attempt was made by Poniatowski, trying to bypass Bagration's troops from the south, then at the opposite, northern, end of the battlefield, the Russian cavalrymen and Cossacks of Generals Uvarov and Platov made the same maneuver.
(In Soviet historical literature, this raid is considered the pinnacle of the military art of Kutuzov and his associates. In fact, such an assessment sins with a clear exaggeration. Four thousand five hundred Russian horsemen were soon stopped by French cavalrymen from the Ornano division and returned with nothing.)
After the battle, Kutuzov presented all the generals for awards, except for Uvarov and Platov, thus evaluating their participation in the battle near the village of Borodino.
Outcome of the battle
By evening, the fighting began to subside. Both armies stood one against the other - bled, exhausted, thinned, but still ready for further struggle.
The French retreated from the heights they occupied, the Russians remained where they stood at the end of the battle.
Kutuzov at first intended to “start a new battle in the morning and stand to the end” and even ordered to prepare for the continuation of the battle, but when around midnight he received a report on losses (and they exceeded forty-five thousand people killed and wounded), then there was no other solution than retreat he could not accept. The French lost even more killed and wounded than the Russians - about fifty-eight and a half thousand soldiers and officers and forty-nine generals. However, they also had no choice - they had to go forward to the end.
The "Great Army" crashed against the indestructible army of Russia, and therefore Napoleon had the right to say: "The Battle of the Moscow River was one of those battles where the greatest virtues were shown and the least results were achieved."
And Kutuzov assessed the Battle of Borodino in a different way: “This day will remain an eternal monument to the courage and excellent courage of Russian soldiers ...”
And when he said “Russians”, he saw not only Russians, but also all those who were already called “Russians” then.
The "twelve languages" of the Napoleonic army, gathered from all over Europe, were opposed by an even greater number of Russian "languages", gathered from all over the empire.
Soldiers, officers and generals of the Russian army stood shoulder to shoulder on the Borodino field, rallying Russians and Ukrainians, Belarusians and Georgians, Tatars and Germans in their ranks, united by a sense of common duty and love for their Fatherland.
And therefore equally blood and valor, courage and selflessness were put on the scales of victory by officers and generals: Russian Denis Davydov, Georgian Pyotr Bagration, German Alexander Figner, Tatar Nikolai Kudashev and Turk Alexander Kutaisov - Russia's faithful sons.
And yet, no matter how bright the flashes of this sparkling officer valor were, for all their beauty they somehow resembled the solemn lights of a festive fireworks, while the avalanche, all-destroying soldier valor was like a mighty forest fire, which, roaring and raging, uncontrollably went high hot wall, crushing and incinerating everything that stood in his way.
History has preserved for us the names of the heroes of Borodin, soldiers and non-commissioned officers - cavalrymen of the Military Order of George: Ephraim Mityukhin; Jan Mats, Sidor Shilo, Petr Mileshko, Taras Kharchenko, Ignat Filonov and many others.
And this was the Russian people - many-sided, multilingual, different, united in a single state by a common destiny, as single as the state.
This was genuine patriotism of the highest standard and the greatest purity. The patriotic people acted on the Borodino field as a true creator of history and convincingly proved to themselves and to the whole world that there is no greater force on earth than the masses of the people, united by the leaders of the people to achieve a majestic, understandable and close to their heart goal.
MOSCOW IN 1812
Commander-in-Chief of Moscow F. V. Rostopchin
Count Fyodor Vasilyevich Rostopchin was his best friend throughout the reign of Paul I, the sovereign did not look for his soul in him. On the day of the death of Catherine II, he, along with Arakcheev, was next to the new emperor, sorted out the papers of the deceased and was honored to keep the seal of Pavel Petrovich. Rostopchin was immediately granted the rank of adjutant general and appointed a member of the Military Collegium. He received the Order of St. Anne of the 2nd and 1st degrees with an interval of five days, a day later he became a major general, and, finally, a week later he received as a gift a luxurious mansion on Millionnaya Street - not far from the Winter Palace.
On the occasion of the coronation, Rostopchin received from Paul on April 5, 1797, the Order of Alexander Nevsky and an estate in the Oryol province with four hundred and seventy-three serfs. Deftly maneuvering between Empress Maria Fedorovna and Pavel's favorites Nelidova and Lopukhina, he almost always remained among Paul's closest friends, carrying out the most important and most delicate orders of the emperor. At the end of 1800, Rostopchin became the de facto Minister of Foreign Affairs, and after his "Memorial" about the change in Russian foreign policy, Pavel took a sharply hostile course towards England. However, it should be noted that Rostopchin more than once kept Pavel from rash steps in foreign policy, three times dissuading Paul from declaring war on Prussia and twice from breaking off diplomatic relations with England.
June 28, 1799 Rostopchin was awarded the order St. Andrew the First-Called, and at the same time he was entrusted with the leadership of a very important and equally delicate service in matters of marriages in the family of the emperor. Not only Russian courtiers, but also foreign diplomats fawned over Rostopchin: he was awarded four foreign orders, but remained himself - disinterested, frank and fearless. When Pavel offered him a princely title, he asked to give his old father - a retired major - the rank of a real state councilor, which Pavel did.
But the emperor was distinguished by absurdity, unpredictability and instant variability in likes and dislikes. Place best friend, Rostopchina, was occupied near him by his barber Count Kutaisov, the military commandant of St. Petersburg Count Palen and Major General Count Arakcheev.
On February 20, 1801, three weeks before the murder, Pavel sent Rostopchin and his entire family to their estate near Moscow, resigning from all posts. Nevertheless, Rostopchin retained a feeling of sincere affection for Pavel and therefore openly reacted with hostility to Alexander I, knowing about his complicity in the murder of his father.
From 1801 to 1812, Rostopchin lived on his Voronovo estate, from time to time reminding himself of himself in one way or another: either starting a patriotic literary controversy directed against Napoleon and French influence in Russia, or directly addressing the emperor with an offer of his services in any capacity , then some extravagant act that struck the imagination of the Moscow noble society, busy with incessant amusements, balls, fireworks, card games, duels, red tape, secular idle talk and different kind holidays that cost a lot of money and gold.
During these endless feasts and amusements, the most incredible things were done. Rostopchin became the hero of one of these tricks. Once he sent a huge pie to A. S. Nebolsina’s name day. The birthday girl ordered to cut it before serving, and when the cake was cut, a dwarf emerged from it with a bouquet of forget-me-nots and a cake in his hands.
Rostopchin was one of the richest nobles in Moscow. His country estate Voronovo stood among such estates as Ostankino and Kuskovo of the Sheremetevs, as well as Arkhangelsk, which belonged to Princess Golitsyna, and in 1810 bought from her for two hundred and forty-five thousand rubles by Prince Yusupov.
Wealth, nobility, wide hospitality, an undoubted worldly mind and diverse connections in the world, primarily in St. Petersburg, and, of course, pronounced patriotism made F. V. Rostopchin a prominent and authoritative figure among the Moscow nobility. Be that as it may, but by 1812 he acquired not only in Moscow, but also in Russia, a strong reputation as a patriot, hater of France and Bonaparte.
As soon as the danger is new, this time big war with Napoleon became obvious, Rostopchin went to St. Petersburg, achieved a meeting with Alexander and asked the tsar to allow him, "without choosing in advance any appointment or place, to be with him." Alexander affectionately received Rostopchin and invited him to take the place of the aged Gudovich, becoming the Moscow military governor-general.
A little before this meeting, Alexander received a letter of resignation from Gudovich, and on May 13, 1812, he signed a decree appointing Rostopchin as the Moscow military governor-general. And on May 18, two more were added to this decree: according to the first, Rostopchin received the rank of general from infantry, according to the second he became commander in chief.
In the very first days of his tenure as the Moscow commander-in-chief, F. V. Rostopchin showed himself as a person accessible to everyone and for everyone. He seriously and meticulously delved into cases and complaints, often traveled around Moscow and, noticing any disorder, immediately eliminated it. Officials who showed sluggishness, heartlessness, and even more so greed, were mercilessly punished. “Two days was enough for me to throw dust in my eyes that I am tireless and that I am seen everywhere.”
He paid particular interest to the last Moscow Freemasons, paying not only close, but even painful attention to the merchant's son Vereshchagin, who translated Napoleon's speech in Dresden to the princes of the Confederation of the Rhine and his letter to the King of Prussia. He considered this a hostile act towards Russia and asked Alexander to sentence Vereshchagin to life imprisonment or death. Alexander ignored this request.
When on June 12, 1812, the "Great Army" crossed the Neman and began the invasion of Russia, Rostopchin launched an unusually vigorous activity to prepare Moscow to repel the enemy. First of all, he began to refute reports of the retreat and failures of the Russian troops, then he began to compose and print leaflets with patriotic appeals and messages from Barclay's army headquarters.
Before Alexander I arrived in Moscow, Rostopchin printed his manifesto-appeal in thousands of copies, explaining the purpose of the tsar's visit and his hopes for Moscow and Muscovites...
Moscow on the eve of the Battle of Borodino
While the French were approaching the borders of the Moscow province, work was in full swing in Moscow to turn the city into a strategic base for Russia. There, the creation of recruiting depots was completed, where recruits were trained, arsenals were replenished, and warehouses with uniforms, fodder and provisions were created. Moscow artisans made gunpowder, sabers, cannonballs, cartridges and bullets, entrenching tools, cartridge boxes and camping wagons. Uniforms, overcoats were sewn here, boots were sewn, hospitals were deployed, and soldiers' children were distributed to educational homes.
The extraordinary enthusiasm of all sections of Moscow society led to the fact that the nobles, able to bear arms, almost all went to the militia and the army. In addition, the Moscow nobility decided to hand over every tenth serf to the militia. The richest Moscow landowners - Demidov, Saltykov, Dmitriev-Mamonov - organized regiments with their own money and kept them until the end of the war. In total, Moscow nobles donated about three million rubles during the war, and merchants - more than ten million.
University students, seminarians, priests, priests, tradesmen, artisans and other free people went to the militia, which consisted of twelve regiments with a total number of thirty thousand people. However, Rostopchin assured Kutuzov that the 80,000-strong “Moscow force” was about to go to his aid, but the result was almost three times more modest.
At the same time, an active evacuation of a huge mass of property from Moscow began. On August 9, the first convoys with the sick and wounded began to arrive in the capital. Rostopchin immediately launched a network of infirmaries, of which the Golovin Palace became the largest. In order to provide the wounded with food, he called on Muscovites to make voluntary donations, to pay more attention to the wounded: “They lie in the Golovinsky Palace. I examined them, gave them a drink and put them to bed. After all, they fought for you, do not leave them, visit and talk. You also feed the convicts, and these are the sovereign's faithful servants and our friends - how not to help them.
Simultaneously, the loading and removal of hundreds of thousands of clerical and judicial files from the archives of the Senate and courts of all instances, the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, colleges and dozens of offices began. In addition, government property was taken out of the Armory, the Patriarchal sacristy, from Moscow churches and monasteries. Rostopchin managed to collect more than fifty thousand carts from the unoccupied counties of the Moscow province by the French, but they were still not enough, and therefore much was left in Moscow.
Flour and cereals, entrenching tools, ammunition were taken out to meet the Russian army, but the supply for all this was not enough, and Kutuzov demanded and demanded help.
On August 22, Kutuzov's army approached the village of Borodino and immediately began to strengthen the position chosen for the general battle. And on August 26 at half past six in the morning one of greatest battles world military history. Its outcome is known: at midnight from August 26 to 27, the Russian army left its positions and retreated beyond Mozhaisk, the first county town of the Moscow province on its way.
Waiting for the enemy
Retreating to Moscow, Kutuzov did not lose hope of uniting with the "Moscow force", but it was still not there. On August 28, in the village of Krutitsy, Kutuzov's order was read to the troops, which stated: “We will give him (the enemy - V.B.) the final blow. For this, our troops are going to meet fresh troops, burning with the same zeal to fight the enemy. However, there were still no reserves, and his subsequent letters to Rostopchin began to end with the phrase: "For God's sake, I ask for help as soon as possible."
On the night of August 31, the army received an order to march towards Moscow, and soon its vanguard stopped at the Dorogomilovskaya outpost, the right flank was located near the village of Fili, and the left leaned on the Sparrow Hills.
Three days earlier, on August 28, convoys with the wounded near Borodino entered Moscow. An eyewitness to what was happening officer S. N. Glinka wrote about this: “The grave plain of Borodino moved into the walls of Moscow in its terrible, grave volume. The wounded were laid out on raincoats, overcoats, on straw and right on the ground at the Smolensk market. The townsfolk hurried to wash their dried wounds and tied them with handkerchiefs, towels, and bandages from cut shirts.
And then they began to carry the wounded home, because by August 28 there were so many empty and abandoned houses that many thousands of crippled soldiers and officers could easily accommodate in them. A day later, the Muscovites came into great confusion: they began to break taverns, gather in crowds, demanding from the authorities to lead them towards the enemy. They began to issue weapons from the arsenals, but no one organized volunteers, and they waited in vain from sunrise to sunset for the Moscow commander-in-chief, who, in posters posted the day before, promised to lead the townspeople and lead them "to the adversary."
Rostopchin ordered that the ropes at the church bells be cut off so that they would not sound the alarm, calling for robberies and rebellion. He also ordered the closure of all drinking houses, wine shops and cellars and forbade the sale of wine. No matter how fair these measures were, they aroused dissatisfaction with Rostopchin among the Moscow poor.
Such was the situation in Moscow before the retreating Russian army approached the city.
On September 1, in the village of Fili, in the hut where Kutuzov stopped, a military council was held, at which it was decided to surrender Moscow to Napoleon without a fight.
In the journal of military operations we read the following about the council in Fili. “September 1. The army retreated to Moscow; camped: the right flank before the village of Fili, the center between the villages of Troitsky and Volynsky, and the left flank before the village of Vorobyov; the rearguard of the army at the village of Setun.
This day will remain forever unforgettable for Russia, for the council gathered at Field Marshal Prince Kutuzov in the village of Fili decided to save the army with a donation from Moscow. The members who made up this were the following: Field Marshal Prince Kutuzov, generals: Barclay de Tolly, Bennigsen and Dokhturov; Lieutenant Generals: Count Osterman and Konovnitsyn, Major General and Chief of Staff Yermolov and Quartermaster General Colonel Tol.
The field marshal, presenting the position of the army to the military council, asked the opinion of each of the members on the following questions: should the enemy be expected in position and give him a battle, or surrender the capital without a battle? To this, General Barclay de Tolly replied that it was impossible to accept battles in the position in which the army was located, and that it was better to retreat with the army through Moscow on the road to Nizhny Novgorod, as the point of our main communications between the northern and southern provinces.
General Bennigsen, who chose a position in front of Moscow, considered it irresistible and therefore offered to wait for the enemy in it and give battle.
General Dokhturov was of the same opinion. General Konovnitsyn, finding the position in front of Moscow unfavorable, offered to go to the enemy and attack him where they met, in which generals Osterman and Yermolov also agreed; but this latter added the question: do we know the roads along which the columns should move against the enemy?
Colonel Toll presented the complete impossibility of holding the army in the position chosen by General Bennigsen, because with the inevitable loss of the battle, and with it Moscow, the army was subjected to complete annihilation and the loss of all artillery, and therefore proposed to immediately leave the position at Fili, make a flank march with lines to the left and position the army on the right flank to the village of Vorobyeva, and on the left between the New and Old Kaluga roads in the direction between the villages of Shatilovo and Voronkov; from the same position, if circumstances require, retreat along the Old Kaluga road, since the main supplies of food and the military are expected in this direction.
After this, the field marshal, turning to the members, said that with the loss of Moscow, Russia had not yet been lost, and that his first duty was to save the army, to get closer to those troops that were going to reinforce it, and by the very concession of Moscow to prepare for the inevitable death of the enemy, and therefore intends to , passing Moscow, retreat along the Ryazan road.
As a result of this, the army was ordered to be ready to march ... "
And although this decision was made primarily thanks to Kutuzov, he himself was the hardest of all. “The old field marshal,” writes historian N. A. Troitsky, “understood no worse than any of his generals what Moscow means to Russia. How long ago had he directly spoken and written to Rostopchin and to the tsar himself that he considered it his duty to “save Moscow”, that “the loss of Russia was connected with the loss of Moscow”! Now, left without reinforcements, he saw better than anyone that Russia could be saved only by sacrificing Moscow, and he deeply experienced the gravity of such a sacrifice: several times that night they heard him crying. For the Russian people at that time, Moscow was the true capital. Therefore, the Russian army took the decision to leave Moscow painfully. “What a horror, what a shame, what a shame for the Russians!” - General D.S. Dokhturov wrote to his wife in those days ... The soldiers cried, grumbled: “It would be better for everyone to lie down dead than to give Moscow!” - And they were annoyed at Kutuzov : "Where did he take us?"
“The armies are marching out this night…”
On September 2, the army went through Moscow. Together with her, they moved through all Moscow outposts - northern, eastern and southern - many thousands of carts and carriages, tens of thousands of citizens who left the city on foot. This movement was reminiscent of a gigantic human flood that rushed at once through all the squares, markets and lanes. Kutuzov did not yet know how great the dissatisfaction of the Muscovites against him was, and at first he rode through the city on horseback, but then he got into a carriage and asked his adjutant, Prince A. B. Golitsyn, to accompany him from Moscow "so that as much as possible they would not meet with anyone" .
The organization of the passage of troops through the city of Kutuzov instructed Barclay. He gave him this order immediately after the council in Fili on September 1, and at the same time Barclay wrote to Rostopchin: “The armies are moving out this number at night in two columns, of which one will go through the Kaluga outpost, and the other will go through the Smolenskaya ... I ask you to order to receive all the necessary measures to preserve peace and quiet, both on the part of the remaining inhabitants, and to prevent the abuse of the troops by placing police teams in all the streets. For the army, it is necessary to have as many guides as possible, to whom all the big and country roads would be known.
Rostopchin quickly and accurately carried out the order, and discipline during the passage of troops through Moscow was the strictest. Barclay spent eighteen hours in the saddle and left Moscow with the last detachment at 9 pm. Together with him left Moscow and Rostopchin. As Governor General of Moscow, Rostopchin considered it his duty to be with the army as long as it remained within the Moscow province.
And already on the evening of September 2, the soldiers and officers of the retreating Russian army saw the glow of the Moscow fire on the horizon ...
Murder of Vereshchagin
Before leaving Moscow, Rostopchin committed an act that many later could not understand, but assessed as unjustifiably cruel and senseless. At 10 am on September 2, he left his house on Bolshaya Lubyanka to a huge crowd that had gathered to find out from the commander in chief himself whether Moscow would really be surrendered. In order to divert their attention and direct the passions of those gathered in a different direction, Rostopchin ordered the merchant's son Vereshchagin, who had been arrested the day before, and another prisoner, the fencing teacher Frenchman Mouton, to be brought. And here, pointing from the balcony of his house at Vereshchagin, Rostopchin began to shout that he was the only Muscovite who had betrayed the Fatherland, and after that he ordered two dragoon non-commissioned officers to hack him to death with sabers. Meanwhile, Vereshchagin did not even think about any betrayal. Vereshchagin fell without uttering a word, and was torn to pieces by the crowd that had gathered here. And Rostopchin released Muton, saying: “I leave you life. Go to your people and tell them that the unfortunate one whom I punished was the only Russian traitor to his Fatherland.
Having thus managed to divert attention from himself, Rostopchin ran into the back rooms, jumped out into the courtyard through the back stairs and, hastily getting into the carriage, left. Having avoided immediate danger, Rostopchin drove out onto the streets of Moscow and rushed to the nearest Serpukhov outpost in order to leave the city as soon as possible.
"Destroy everything with fire..."
While the Russian army was leaving Moscow for the Ryazan and Vladimir roads, Napoleon's army entered the streets of the Mother See through Dorogomilovo and Arbat. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the emperor himself drove with his retinue to Poklonnaya Gora and, gazing at the panorama of Moscow, exclaimed: “Finally, this famous city!” Napoleon began to wait for the deputation in order to receive the keys to the city and conduct a surrender ceremony, but no one appeared, and he drove along the Arbat, marveling that the city was empty and there was no one on the streets. He drove to the Kremlin, drove into it and, never met by anyone, stopped at the residence of the Russian tsars.
From the very first minutes, reports began to come to him that in Moscow there were huge stocks of flour and sugar, wine and vodka, warehouses with cloth and linen, furs and leathers.
But in less than a few hours, other reports appeared: fires break out one after another in different parts of the city, and judging by how many there are, this is not the work of individuals, but a pre-planned and organized action.
When, before dusk, Napoleon climbed the Kremlin wall, he saw the fire already raging with might and main.
He did not know that on the morning of September 2, Rostopchin ordered the police bailiff P. Voronenko "to try to destroy everything with fire," and the bailiff with the people entrusted to him carried out this order "in different places, as far as possible, until 10 o'clock in the evening." On the same day, leaving Moscow, Kutuzov ordered to burn all warehouses and stores with vital supplies and weapons.
For more than a century and a half, historians have been interested and worried about the question: “Who burned Moscow in 1812?” There is a lot of literature devoted to this problem. But, in fact, all of it was divided into two camps: those who blamed the French and their allies for the Moscow fire, and those who argued that Muscovites themselves were the arsonists. Today this issue has been resolved irrevocably: with the exception of a few special cases, Moscow was burned by the Russians. The fact that, on the orders of Kutuzov and Rostopchin, all “fire-extinguishing shells” were taken out of Moscow and more than two thousand firefighters left the city, both commanders-in-chief, both the army and the capital, directly admitted.
Taking out fire-fighting equipment in a hurry, Rostopchin left in Moscow one hundred and fifty-six cannons, seventy-five thousand rifles, forty thousand sabers, twenty-seven thousand cannonballs - in total worth more than two million rubles. But worst of all, more than twenty-five thousand wounded were abandoned in Moscow, of which several thousand were burned in the fire of the Moscow fire. Both Kutuzov and Rostopchin deliberately set fire to Moscow. A month after the fire, on October 5, when the representative of Napoleon Loriston arrived at the headquarters of the Russian commander-in-chief for negotiations, Kutuzov told him: “I know very well that the Russians did it. Imbued with love for the motherland and ready for self-sacrifice for it, they perished in the burning city.
Echoing him, the hero of the war of 1812, General A.P. Yermolov, wrote: “With our own hands, the flame that devours it has been blown apart. It is in vain to lay the blame on the enemy and make excuses for what exalts the honor of the people.
The Moscow fire lasted six days. From its initial centers, which broke out simultaneously in Karetny Ryad, Gostiny Dvor and Zamoskvorechye, the fire instantly spread to neighboring areas and soon raged throughout the city, destroying about two-thirds of Moscow. At the end of 1811, there were nine thousand one hundred and fifty-one residential buildings in Moscow, of which there were six thousand eight hundred and fifty-four wooden and two thousand five hundred and sixty-seven stone ones. After the fire, two thousand one hundred wooden houses and six hundred and twenty-six stone houses survived. Of the three hundred and twenty-nine churches, only one hundred and twenty-one survived.
Much has already been written about the Cossacks. I will tell you a little about the Cossack women. The Cossacks knew that their wives were “bone of their bones and flesh of their flesh” of their Cossack family. And the Cossacks were proud of their origin. There is a saying: “Do not hurt the sore - I am a Cossack!”
Here is how one describes historical event with the participation of the Cossacks Denis Kozlov:
At the beginning of June 1774, the fortress of Mozdok was shocked by the news: a strong Turkish corps, with many mountain detachments that joined it, went on a campaign with the aim of burning all the Russian settlements along the Terek. The Mozdok garrison prepared for battle. Cossacks began to arrive from neighboring villages to defend the fortress. Their wives and children, with all the property that could be taken away, left for Naur. Colonel Saveliev went there with small forces to calm the families of the Cossacks and protect them in the event of an attack by insignificant enemy detachments that could act separately from the main forces.
June 11th was Spirit Day. The Cossacks who remained in Naur with their families and the soldiers not employed in the service, led by Colonel Savelyev, were in the church. Suddenly shots rang out from the side of the pickets. The colonel ran out into the yard and ran into a Cossack who had arrived from the fortress of Mozdok.
What's wrong? - Quietly, so as not to induce unnecessary panic, Savelyev asked.
Turks with highlanders approached the fortress and laid siege to it. However, large forces advanced to Nauru. They'll be here in about an hour.
But the enemy appeared faster than expected. Half an hour later, the village was surrounded by an eight thousandth army. Colonel Savelyev, an experienced officer seasoned in military campaigns, a few days before the attack ordered that the settlement be surrounded by a large rampart with thorny thorns, a redoubt and four guns should be placed on it, and the moat should be strengthened with horns.
When the attack began, Savelyev personally led the defense. To help a small number of soldiers and Cossacks, not having time to change into festive sundresses and dresses, Cossack women poured out onto the rampart, armed with sickles, pitchforks and scythes.
Smeared with soot, often wounded, the Cossack women ran from the cauldron with tar to the moat, dousing the next wave of attackers. But soon there was nothing left at the bottom of the boiler, and the enemy again went on the assault.
Girls, - shouted one of the oldest residents of the village of Fedotya, - drag the festive cabbage soup that they cooked for the Cossacks, maybe these Turks did not try Cossack food.
The ingenious invention of the Cossack woman was immediately picked up by the village women, and cabbage soup poured into the cauldron, where the resin was once boiled.
Oh, women, - Fedotya shouted, laughing and encouraging her countrywomen, - and our husbands will beat us when they find out who we fed today.
Large, gray-haired, with a wrinkled, soiled coal and a sooty face, she resembled an epic witch. While Colonel Savelyev led the Cossacks and soldiers, Fedotya led the "woman's army" with scythes and sickles to the shaft, ordered others to drag cast-iron cannons to the place where the onslaught of the enemy intensified.
Not afraid of the whistling of bullets and the whooping of the attackers, women fought next to the old, hardened warriors, often even engaging in hand-to-hand combat. At one point, the enemy almost broke through the defense. The highlanders climbed across the ditch. The situation was saved by a young Cossack woman. Rushing at the enemy with a scythe, she cut his throat, took away her gun and immediately opened fire on a narrow passage where the enemy was rushing.
The battle went on for twelve hours. The besieged were waiting for help, but it did not come. Large forces of Chechens and Kumyks approached Mozdok, and weakening the defense of the fortress would lead to the complete destruction of all Russian settlements. The road from Kizlyar was also blocked. The defenders of Naur had to rely only on their own strength.
By evening, the fighting began to subside. The Turks withdrew their troops from the moat.
You can’t let them rest,” Savelyev said. - You need to make a night out.
A Cossack named Pereporkh volunteered for a risky operation, and his friends went with him. Taking a gun with them, they crawled into the reeds and stopped in front of the Turks' headquarters.
In the middle of the night, a cannon shot rumbled, after which an indiscriminate rifle fire began from the Turkish side ...
The daredevils did not return by dawn. Savelyev built the remaining defenders of the village near the rampart to commemorate the heroes. He spoke about the feat of the Cossacks, who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the Fatherland, when his speech was interrupted by the laughter of the villagers. Rip off the heads returned safe and sound, with a breech cannon and a captured Turk.
After interrogation of the foreigner, it turned out that Pereporkh had killed Kalga's nephew, the Turkish commander, and several respected murzas with a successful shot.
The next morning, the Turks lifted the siege and headed away from the Terek. On the way, they were fired again from the fortress of Mozdok.
To commemorate this event, a special frontier in the name of the Apostles Bartholomew and Barnabas was completed in the Naur church, and the day of June 11 was celebrated in the Mozdok regiment until 1917.
Many residents of Naur were awarded medals established by Empress Catherine II for the Turkish war of 1769-1774.
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Sentences with "quiet"
We found 26 sentences containing the word "quiet". See also synonyms for "quiet".
Meaning of the word
- Then the sounds of the march began to fade away, subside.
- And now the husband's voice, at first loud, became subside and finally froze.
- Shouts and coldness made her subside, close in on yourself.
- After nine o'clock in the morning the artillery cannonade became a little subside.
- After about an hour, the shooting gradually became subside the militants left.
- Having received a proper rebuff, the enemy did not resume attacks, and by evening the battle became subside.
- However, yesterday evening she began subside as if by itself, regardless of the course of the battle.
- The battles in the Berdichev area, which in places were bloody and stubborn, begin subside.
- After fifteen minutes of processing the second line, the enemy artillery fire became noticeable subside.
- By the evening of the next day, the fire began subside, warehouses of wood, wooden houses of Shcherbakov Lane, a crowded market burned to the ground.
- The fighting in the Berdichev area continued all day and became subside only in the evening.
- But now he has become subside and finally gone completely.
- At last the noise in the hall became subside, and I felt that perhaps I could continue.
- However, against expectations, the firing from the north became subside.
- Taking advantage of the moment when the terrible noise became subside, I lit a cigarette and, slowly, went into the ditch.
- The mourners began their farewell ritual, and the sobs gradually subside.
- Hall became subside, and suddenly a cry of "bravo" broke into the silence.
- These arrests were subside during the first months of 1939.
- By 2 p.m., however, the fight was definitely subside and finally stopped completely.
- The emotional charge was thrown out and the fire of mutual claims on the ice became subside.
- The flame, which a moment ago did not succumb to firefighters, they say, immediately became subside.
- Let's calm down, and a herd of sea cats, undisturbed, remains on the shore.
- We calm down, but then again on purpose we begin to whisper in order to call Eremeevna again.
- Remains only calm down the rustling of a long dress and a wonderful smell.
- The passage of another procession to the sobs of mourners and gradually calm down The clatter of hooves only added to our mother's excitement.
- Gentle calm down The sound “te-te-te”, which is well known to us, turns out to be pleasant for bears as well.
Source - introductory fragments of books from LitRes.
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