Battle of Borodino

:Another Battle of Borodino took place in October 1941.

The battle

When Napoleon was faced with the Russian defences his usual tactical skill appears to have left him, as he ordered a frontal assault straight at the Russians. This is often attributed to his ailment at the time. It is believed he was seeking a decisive encounter that would destroy the Russian army in one day. The initial French attack was successful if costly; the King of Naples, Joachim Murat, directed a joint cavalry and infantry attack that by early afternoon had broken through the Russian line and seized the Rayevski Redoubt, lost it and retaken it. But the Russians committed their reserves and the battle ground down into a bloody attritional mess. A Russian counter-attack was broken by artillery; as night fell, both sides broke away and the Russian forces retreated, at first only a few miles, but later that night they began to withdraw all the way past Moscow.

Related Topics:
Napoleon - Naples - Joachim Murat

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