Battle of the Slash

To the north of the main - Moscow - direction of Napoleon's advance, 2 of its separate corps advanced:

• Marshal Oudinot - the main goal is to act on St. Petersburg .
• Marshal MacDonald - the task is to act in the Riga direction, it is possible to occupy Riga and contribute to the Udino corps. In addition, it was necessary to establish supplies to the main army of food and fodder .

They were opposed by the 1st Infantry Corps of Lieutenant General Wittgenstein , specially allocated for the cover of St. Petersburg . In addition, the Governor General of Essen , Riga, had forces up to 18 thousand soldiers for the defense of Riga . The Wittgenstein corps, being obviously weaker than either of the two opposing corps, could not resist their combined forces. However, the French acted separately.

In addition, on the way to the French corps stood a natural water barrier - the Western Dvina River . While Marshal MacDonald acted against the Essen forces in Riga near the mouth of the Dvina, Oudinot tried to cross the Dvina in Dinaburg , but could not overcome the resistance of the garrison. Climbing upstream, Udino crossed the Dvina near Polotsk (northern Belarus ). The French intended to cut off Wittgenstein from the rear on the Pskov tract.

General Wittgenstein was in a desperate situation, the only chance to stop the French was to take advantage of MacDonald's remoteness, and despite the inequality of forces, attack the Oudinot corps.

On July 16 (29), 3 French cavalry regiments (12 squadrons) were unexpectedly attacked by four squadrons of the Grodno hussar regiment under the command of Major General Kulnev with 500 Cossacks who joined the attack. Despite the numerical superiority, the French were overturned.

At the same time, Marshal Udino occupied the village of Klyastitsy, having in service 28 thousand soldiers and 114 guns against 17 thousand Russians. However, General Wittgenstein decided to attack, taking advantage of the stretched French forces. Kulnev’s vanguard (3,700 horsemen, 12 guns) moved ahead, followed by Wittgenstein’s main forces (13 thousand soldiers, 72 guns).

On July 18 (31), at 2 pm, the Russian avant-garde under the command of Kulnev encountered the French avant-garde near the village of Yakubovo. The encounter continued until the end of the day. Kulnev tried to oust the French from the village, but after a series of fierce battles, the French kept the village.

On August 19 (1), the main forces of the Russians entered the battle, and after several attacks and counterattacks, Yakubovo was captured. Odin was forced to retreat to the Klyastitsy.

The continuation of the attack on Klyastitsy meant crossing the river Beggar . Odino placed a powerful battery on the opposite bank of the river and ordered the only bridge to be burned. While Kulnev’s detachment was crossing the ford to bypass the French positions, the 2nd battalion of the Pavlovsky Grenadier Regiment went right over the burning bridge and attacked the enemy. The French were forced to retreat further.

Major General Kulnev continued the pursuit of 2 cavalry regiments with the support of the Cossacks, an infantry battalion and an artillery battery. After crossing the River Drissa on July 20 ( August 1 ), he was ambushed near the village of Boyarschino. French artillery shot Kulnev’s detachment from the dominant heights. He himself was mortally wounded: the cannonball tore off his legs above his knees.

In pursuit of the Russian avant-garde, the French General Verdier, in turn, came under Golovchitsa to the main forces of General Wittgenstein and was defeated. In this battle, Wittgenstein was slightly injured in the cheek.

Marshal Oudinot retreated behind the Western Dvina , leaving behind the fortified Polotsk , and, thus, the French attack on St. Petersburg failed. Moreover, fearing the actions of General Wittgenstein on the supply routes of the Great Army , Emperor Napoleon was forced to weaken the main group of troops, sending the corps of General Saint-Cyr to the aid of Udino.

In a report to Emperor Alexander I, General Wittgenstein calculated the number of prisoners at 3 thousand; he estimated the number of killed and wounded Frenchmen from the words of prisoners at 10 thousand ^[1] .

This was the first major victory in this war, greatly raising the profile of General Wittgenstein. He was awarded the Order of St. George, 2nd degree . Emperor Alexander I called him the savior of St. Petersburg. From the people, Wittgenstein received the honorary title of "Defender of Petrov Castle", first sounded in a song ending with the words:
Praise, praise you, hero!
That the city of Petrov is saved by you!

The victory at Klyastitsy was won by Russian troops on the day of memory of the Right Prince Roman . In memory of this, the image of Saint Prince Roman was written on the wall of the Moscow Church in honor of Christ the Savior .

In 1962, a monument was erected in the center of the village to commemorate the victory of the Russian troops near Klyastitsy. ^[2]

• The set of monuments of history and culture of Belarus. - Minsk: BelSE them. Petrusya Brovki, 1985 .-- 496 p. - 8000 copies. (In Belorussian)

• Klyastitsy // From the book of A. Begunova "Everyday life of the Russian hussar during the reign of Alexander I", M., Young Guard, 2000.
• Report by P. H. Wittgenstein of July 21 (August 2), 1812
• Klyastitsky battle
• From a general Wittgenstein’s commentary to Alexander I on the victory at Klyastitsy on July 19 (July 31), 1812
• Unknown facts of the Klyastitskaya battle were found by the teacher and artist Dmitry Kuzyakov .