SMOLENSK
Napoleon's most implacable enemy
had always been England. Since he couldn't defeat the English
on the seas, he had to defeat them through commerce. Napoleon
declared a Continental blockade, and enforced it by occupying
Prussia. England retaliated with a real blockade. The neutrals
got caught in the middle. To enforce the Continental Blockade
and bring England to its knees Napoleon needed Russia's help.
So he cultivated a friendship with Czar Alexander to get him to
enforce a blockade too. At Tilsit Alexander agreed to the blockade.
As part of the agreement with Russia, Russian troops were supposed
to help Napoleon fight the Austrians in 1809. When they didn't
arrive in time, and Alexander lifted the blockade against England,
Napoleon began preparation for war against Russia, by reading
how Charlemagne and others had faired against Russia. He planned
to destroy the Russian army early, then winter in Smolensk. Considering
the war in Spain to be a mopping up exercise, Napoleon took away
his veteran troops and replaced them with secondary troops. He
drafted soldiers from Italy, Prussia, Austria and the German states.
He kept hoping Alexander would come to his senses before bloodshed
was spilt. But in June he finally invaded Russia, while the Russians
were about to attack him. The main object was to destroy Bagration's
army, but Jerome went too slowly, and even stopped for several
days, eventually leaving the army in anger when placed under Davout's
command. Bagration therefore escaped Napoleon's trap, and joined
Barclay de Tolly at Smolensk. Smolensk was a regional capital
with great religious significance. Napoleon thought the Russians
would have to fight there, and had planned a big fight here to
win the campaign. Barclay upset his plans. Taking time to rest
and remove precious artifacts the Russians remained in the vicinity
until Napoleon arrived. Napoleon deployed his troops in a semi-circle
around Smolensk and waited. In the morning hours heavy skirmishing
developed among the Russians and Wurttemburgers, and the Russians
sallied from the fortress to push the picquets out of the suburbs.
Napoleon waited until he received reports of columns of Russians
heading away. Napoleon then decided to outflank the Russians and
was forced to pin down the garrison to do so. At 2 PM he ordered
the attack. Heavy artillery fire from across the river hit the
Poles in the flank. Poniatowski set up a battery to supress the
enmy fire and pushed the cossacks out of the Nicolski suburb.
Polish infantry got into the Malakov suburb and headed for the
Malakov Gate. Ney's French and Wurttemburgers couldn't get into
the western suburbs. Davout made little headway against the southern
suburbs. Napoleon got all his howitzers in a battery and fired
on the city, in an attempt to set it aflame. He also got the Guard
artillery and all his 12-lbers into a battery and aimed them at
the fortress walls. The cannonballs bounced off. He then aimed
the guns at the bridges to slow down reinforcements from crossing.\par
By 5 PM Davout got up to the city walls. Barclay sent Eugene against
Poniatowski and Mouton, but was driven back. Ney still couldn't
make any headway. The Poles attacked the Malakov Gate heavily,
and Barclay sent reinforcements to prevent a breakthrough. The
Poles were pushed back. With nightfall the French were still outside
the city. The Russians had suffered 6000 casualties, the French
9000. The Russians slipped away quietly into the night, retreating
again.
