-Kutuzov was in Gorki, near the center of the Russian position. The
attack directed by
Napoleon against our left flank had been several
times repulsed. In the center the French had not got beyond Borodino, and
on their left
flank Uvarov's cavalry had put the French to
flight.
Toward three o'clock the French attacks ceased. On the faces of all who
came from the
field of battle, and of those who stood around
him, Kutuzov noticed an expression of extreme tension. He was satisfied
with the day's
success- a success exceeding his
expectations, but the old man's strength was failing him. Several times
his head dropped
low as if it were falling and he dozed off.
Dinner was brought him.
Adjutant General Wolzogen, the man who when riding past Prince Andrew had
said, "the
war should be extended widely," and whom
Bagration so detested, rode up while Kutuzov was at dinner. Wolzogen had
come from
Barclay de Tolly to report on the progress of
affairs on the left flank. The sagacious Barclay de Tolly, seeing crowds
of wounded men
running back and the disordered rear of the
army, weighed all the circumstances, concluded that the battle was lost,
and sent his
favorite officer to the commander in chief with
that news.
Kutuzov was chewing a piece of roast chicken with difficulty and glanced
at Wolzogen
with eyes that brightened under their
puckering lids.
Wolzogen, nonchalantly stretching his legs, approached Kutuzov with a
half-contemptuous smile on his lips, scarcely touching the
peak of his cap.
He treated his Serene Highness with a somewhat affected nonchalance
intended to show
that, as a highly trained military man, he left
it to Russians to make an idol of this useless old man, but that he knew
whom he was
dealing with. "Der alte Herr" (as in their own set
the Germans called Kutuzov) "is making himself very comfortable," thought
Wolzogen,
and looking severely at the dishes in front of
Kutuzov he began to report to "the old gentleman" the position of affairs
on the left flank
as Barclay had ordered him to and as he
himself had seen and understood it.
"All the points of our position are in the enemy's hands and we cannot
dislodge them for
lack of troops, the men are running away
and it is impossible to stop them," he reported.
Kutuzov ceased chewing and fixed an astonished gaze on Wolzogen, as if
not understand
what was said to him. Wolzogen, noticing
"the old gentleman's" agitation, said with a smile:
"I have not considered it right to conceal from your Serene Highness what
I have seen.
The troops are in complete disorder..."
"You have seen? You have seen?..." Kutuzov shouted frowning, and rising
quickly he
went up to Wolzogen.
"How... how dare you!..." he shouted, choking and making a threatening
gesture with his
trembling arms: "How dare you, sir, say that
to me? You know nothing about it. Tell General Barclay from me that his
information is
incorrect and that the real course of the battle
is better known to me, the commander in chief, than to him."
Wolzogen was about to make a rejoinder, but Kutuzov interrupted him.
"The enemy has been repulsed on the left and defeated on the right flank.
If you have
seen amiss, sir, do not allow yourself to say
what you don't know! Be so good as to ride to General Barclay and inform
him of my
firm intention to attack the enemy tomorrow,"
said Kutuzov sternly.
All were silent, and the only sound audible was the heavy breathing of
the panting old
general.
"They are repulsed everywhere, for which I thank God and our brave army!
The enemy is
beaten, and tomorrow we shall drive him
from the sacred soil of Russia," said Kutuzov crossing himself, and he
suddenly sobbed
as his eyes filled with tears.
Wolzogen, shrugging his shoulders and curling his lips, stepped silently
aside, marveling
at "the old gentleman's" conceited
stupidity.
"Ah, here he is, my hero!" said Kutuzov to a portly, handsome,
dark-haired general who
was just ascending the knoll.
This was Raevski, who had spent the whole day at the most important part
of the field of
Borodino.
Raevski reported that the troops were firmly holding their ground and
that the French no
longer ventured to attack.
After hearing him, Kutuzov said in French:
"Then you do not think, like some others, that we must retreat?"
"On the contrary, your Highness, in indecisive actions it is always the
most stubborn who
remain victors," replied Raevski, "and in
my opinion..."
"Kaysarov!" Kutuzov called to his adjutant. "Sit down and write out the
order of the day
for tomorrow. And you," he continued,
addressing another, "ride along the line and that tomorrow we attack."
While Kutuzov was talking to Raevski and dictating the order of the day,
Wolzogen
returned from Barclay and said that General
Barclay wished to have written confirmation of the order the field
marshal had given.
Kutuzov, without looking at Wolzogen, gave directions for the order to be
written out
which the former commander in chief, to avoid
personal responsibility, very judiciously wished to receive.
And by means of that mysterious indefinable bond which maintains
throughout an army
one and the same temper, known as "the
spirit of the army," and which constitutes the sinew of war, Kutuzov's
words, his order for
a battle next day, immediately became
known from one end of the army to the other.
It was far from being the same words or the same order that reached the
farthest links of
that chain. The tales passing from mouth to
mouth at different ends of the army did not even resemble what Kutuzov
had said, but the
sense of his words spread everywhere
because what he said was not the outcome of cunning calculations, but of
a feeling that
lay in the commander in chief's soul as in that
of every Russian.
And on learning that tomorrow they were to attack the enemy, and hearing
from the
highest quarters a confirmation of what they
wanted to believe, the exhausted, wavering men felt comforted and
inspirited.
HELP