On June 24, 1812, the largest army the world had ever seen invaded the vast Russian Empire, led by Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon managed to reach Moscow, but was eventually forced to abandon it badly. On October 20, 1812, the retreat began. But the Russians attacked and defeated the French outposts in Vinkovo.
Napoleon had two options, either to retreat by the way he had gone to Moscow, looting everything, or by the way through Kaluga.He chose the latter so that the army could find supplies. The French army marched along the old Moscow-Kaluga road, which, after crossing the Desna River, turned west, passing through Maloyaroslavets. The small and insignificant, otherwise, village was a road junction.
As the French army slowly retreated the Russian commander-in-chief Kutuzov did not seem to react. As recently as October 22, he ordered General Doctorov's 6th Army Corps (SS) to track the main phalanx of the retreating French army and try to capture the hub of Maloyaroslavets.
An insignificant village
But Napoleon also knew the importance of Maloyaroslavets and had ordered the IV SS of, under Josephine's ex-husband's son, Eugène de Boarnet, to occupy it, securing a bridgehead on the river Lutza, which flowed north of the village.
Malogyaroslavets was a small village. To the north, as mentioned, flowed the small river Ludza, the two banks of which were connected by a wooden bridge. There were forests on either side of the village, which limited the possibilities of maneuvering. South of the village there were the villages of Nemtsovo, to the west, and Marino, to the east. The French forces arrived, on the afternoon of October 23, at the bridge over the river Lutza.
The opponents
The vanguard of the IV SS was the 13th Infantry Division (MP) under Major General Delzon, the 14th MP, the Italian 15th MP, the Italian Guards Division. It also had two cavalry brigades, one Italian and one Bavarian. The IV SS was also reinforced with the 3rd MP and the 5th MP of the I SS.
On the other hand, Doctorov's 6th SS had the 7th MP (Kaptsevich), the 24th MP (Likachev) and the Cossack division, under the famous general Platov. Doctorov was reinforced, after the start of the battle, by the 7th SS (2 MP) and one MP of the 1st SS.
In total the Russians started the battle with 12,000 infantry and about 3,000 Cossacks. They were gradually reinforced with 10,000 more men and artillery, bringing their total number of guns to 84. On the other hand, Eugene de Boarnet's IV SS had about 24,000 men.
Russian surprise
As Delzon's men secured the Louja bridge, on the evening of 23 October the bulk of the 13th MP advanced and captured the village. Delzon immediately sent a report to Napoleon, informing him that the important hub village of Maloyaroslavets had been taken without a fight.
After his success, however, Delzon decided to withdraw his forces, except for two battalions of infantry, from the village. Delzon acted thus and because he feared Russian night action against him, but also because he considered that controlling the bridge was more important than controlling the village itself. But in the evening, with as much secrecy as possible, Doctorov's Russian 6th SS moved towards the village. The Russians surprised and neutralized the French objectives and forced Deljon's two battalions in the village to flee in disorder, in a state of panic.
Immediately the Russians began to fortify the village, also deploying their artillery on the southern heights. The Russian guns were positioned in such a way as to completely control the passage of the river, through the bridge.
At the same time, the fugitive French were spreading panic to their colleagues north of the bridge. If Doctorov had not stopped at Maloyaroslavets and continued his attack, he might have destroyed the entire 13th French MP. However, having clear orders and fearing to attack with his entire body, in the middle of the night, he decided to confine himself to occupying the village.
In this way, however, Deljon gained the necessary time to restore order to his men and to inform de Boarnet's corporal of the Russian move. The latter hastened with all his forces towards the vital village, believing, however, that the surprise which Deljon's force had suffered was due to some small Russian detachment. At first light on October 24, however, de Boernay, not being able to know the strength of the Russian position, ordered Deljon to attack with his division immediately.
Massacre for a village
Doctorov had taken advantage of the darkness to deploy his two MPs inside and south of the village, while on his left flank he ordered his Cossacks, under Platov , in order to control, at this point, the bank of the river, so that the French would not attempt to ford the river there.
Accordingly, he also deployed a flank guard on his right flank, between the village church and a small forest. Deljon launched his attack as ordered, but his assault phalanxes were slaughtered by Russian artillery before they could reach the bridge.
He himself, personally leading his soldiers, received two fireballs in the head and fell dead. It was only when de Boarnet saw with his own eyes the mass of Russian artillery cutting his men to pieces that he understood that he had before him no small Russian detachment, but a force of at least an army corps, as it really was.
So he ordered the suspension of the attack and hastened to deploy all of his body's artillery – about 60 guns – north of the bridge. However, having also spotted the Russian flank guards, fearing any possible Russian hyperkerotic movement, he himself deployed flank guards on both sides of the bridge, which he reinforced with artillery.
At the same time, he deployed to the front line the two divisions of the I SS, the 3rd and 5th MP, which, although strained due to previous losses, were capable of fighting. To the left of these divisions were Italian divisions. Immediately after the French artillery opened fire, trying to silence the opposing guns.
While this artillery duel was taking place, the French and Italian assault phalanxes rushed against the village. The veteran men of the French I SS managed to break through the Russian defense, after a fierce clash, from the cluster, with bayonets.
The French captured the village, but the Russians simply retreated, about 300 meters behind the last houses of it, without losing their morale. There they regrouped and counterattacked, before the French could establish themselves in the burning village. After a brief but deadly engagement, conducted with incredible brutality, the French were repulsed and the Russians again won what was left of Maloyaroslavets.
Hand wrestling
But de Boarne persisted and launched a new attack, with the vanguard of the Italians, this time, his soldiers. The Italians gallantly rushed forward with their bayonets drawn, marching at a rapid pace, in the formation of a phalanx of attack, in ranks.
The Russian infantry met them with heavy fire. The muskets were "lit," literally. The barrels of many were so filled with gunpowder residue that they could no longer be used. The Russians fought with fanaticism. The officers and priests of the regiments still encouraged the soldiers against the "godless" enemies. The Italian phalanxes, despite the losses, reached the Russian positions, and then, in the ruins, a terrible fight began, hand to hand, with swords, bayonets, wood and stones from the demolished houses, but also with the fists.
After a few bloody minutes of the hour de Boarnay's outnumbered men prevailed and pushed the Russians back again. But again they did not flee, but regrouped again and immediately counterattacked, fully justifying the maxim of the time which said: "it is 10 times easier to kill a Russian than to make him flee".
Four more times de Boarnet threw his forces into the attack against the village, winning it temporarily and losing it immediately after a direct Russian counter-attack. The only result was the accumulation of dead and wounded among the avalanches. There was no way to collect the wounded, let alone transport them. Most of them lay helpless on the ground, begging, in vain, their still standing colleagues for some water. Many burned, trapped, in the burning buildings of the village.
In the end, however, de Boarnay's men remained masters of the village, since Doctorov's forces, numerically inferior in any case, had been decimated. Losses were heavy in the other camp as well, but de Boernay had almost twice as many infantry as Doctorov.
But where the French general thought he had won the battle, Russian reinforcements appeared. It was Raevsky's 7th Russian SS, which, under the orders of the Russian commander-in-chief Marshal Kutuzov, rushed towards the sound of the cannons. The arrival of the two divisions of the 7th SS allowed Doctorov to launch another counterattack, capturing, for the seventh time , the village.
And de Boarne had not said his last word, but he responded by throwing the 15th Italian MP into battle , which he kept, until then, in reserve, once again overthrowing the Russians and taking over what was left of the village.
After this development, Doctorov did not insist any longer. He decided to withdraw his forces south of the village, but always controlling the road to Kaluga. His retreat was covered by his Cossacks, whom de Boarnet's overworked men did not attempt to engage.
Fatal ending
It had been almost six hours since the battle began and the men could hardly drag their weary legs anymore. The losses were very serious. In total, the French, who considered themselves victorious, because they remained masters of the field, had about 6,000 dead and wounded, compared to about 7,000 dead and wounded of the "defeated" Russians.
In the meantime, Kutuzov's entire army approached the area, so the occupation of the village proved to be a godsend for the French, since the road to Kaluga was now blocked by an entire enemy army.
In order to open the most suitable retreat passage for the Grand Army, Napoleon would have to risk fighting a big battle, against the enemies, who, however, were ready and fanatical waiting for him. After all, in Malogyaroslavets the Russians had once again given examples of their courage and fanaticism.
An hour after the end of the battle, Napoleon reached the river Lutza, ahead of the Grand Army. He saw the battlefield and, having been informed of Kutuzov's movement, realized that there was no way his army could pass the Kaluga road unscathed. So he made the fatal decision. The Grand Army would retreat by the road by which it had reached Moscow, a veritable "road of perdition," according to the Bible.
The death sentence of Napoleon's Grand Army was signed in Malogyaroslavets.