plausible. Even if we take the lowest possible figure, a modern observer
has commented that this is the equivalent of a fully loaded Boeing 747
crashing with no survivors every five minutes for eight hours. Whenever
the Emperor trained his field-glasses on the Great Redoubt, he was cast
down by what he saw: the Russians fought with such fanatical
stubborness that he remarked wearily to Berthier and Caulaincourt:
'These Russians let themselves be killed as if they were not human beings
at all but machines; they are not taken prisoner ... this is not helping us.
They are citadels which only cannonballs can demolish.'
During the night of 7 September the Russians stole away from their
second line of def ence. No attempt was made to impede their departure,
since the exhausted French army had been fought to a standstill. Kutusov
took the difficult but heroic decision to abandon Moscow, arguing that as
long as the Army continued in being Russia could prevail, despite the loss
of its great city. Seven days of unopposed marching brought the Emperor
within sight of the cupolas and onion-domes of Moscow which, despite
its population of 25o,ooo, retained its medieval look. But instead of the
deputation of Muscovite nobles he had expected to 'wait on' him, he
found merely another ghost town. Only 25,000 people were left in the
deserted and eerie city and these, apart from foreigners and the sick and
wounded, were the criminals that Kutusov would not allow to join in the
mass exodus.
The day after Napoleon entered Moscow, a great fire engulfed the city
and raged unchecked for three days. Properly speaking, several indepen
dent fires were started simultaneously by Russian arsonists under the
orders of the Governor of Moscow, Count Rostopchin, who had
distributed explosive fuses to groups of saboteurs. When the French tried
to extinguish the flames, they discovered that Rostopchin had removed all
fire engines and destroyed all other fire-fighting equipment. Napoleon
expressed disgust at this action by the Russians: surely only barbarians
would burn down their own cities: could anyone imagine him ordering
the gutting of Paris? But the rankers in the Grand Army took advantage
of the three-day confusion to loot and pillage with impunity, telling
anyone who questioned their actions that they were 'salvaging' goods
from the inferno.
It was r8 September before the Emperor managed to stop the looting,
restore discipline and put his commissariat on a proper basis. Taking up
residence in the Kremlin, Napoleon remained blithely confident that he
had only to sit it out and Alexander would come begging to make peace.
While he waited for emissaries to arrive, the Russians played him at his
own game and so regained the initiative. Kutusov encouraged fraternization
marcin
(Marcin)
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