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Borodino - September 7th, 1812
Epilog


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At 6 in the morning, the battle began by a heavy artillery fire and some 
french succeses : Prince Eugène's Italian divisions captured Borodino, 
Marshal Davout made progress with his assault on the Semenovskoe position 
and Poniatowski seized Utitza and a good part of the surrounding woods.

Russian reserves were being committed in large numbers, and Kutuzov 
desperately began to withdraw many formations from his right wing to 
reinforce his left and center. This involved a huge time delay for the 
troops to march three miles across shot and shell, through smoke, and 
around and through other units. 

But a first attack on the Great Redoubt failed and Marshal Davout and 
Prince Poniatowski were stopped by russian forces. At 10:00 AM, the 
battle had become a meat-grinder, a struggle of attrition - with 
Napoléon holding only his Imperial Guard and cavalry as his sole 
reserves. By 12:00 PM Marshal Murat launched his heavy cavalry in 
force and overran the flèches. However, the Russians regrouped on the 
Psarevo plateau. By 3:00 PM the redoubt was now firmly in French 
hands after a succesfull attack of Eugene's corps supported by 
Caulaincourt's cavalry.

At this moment, appeals for the Guard to advance and seize the center 
fell on deaf ears. By 3:30 PM, Kutuzov had ordered the Russian Imperial 
Guard Corps to counterattack in the center. But they are stopped by a 
the french artillery reserve. When the night come, the French have 
captured the entire Russian starting positions, but the latter have 
merely fallen back to their second line and both armies occupied the
 field.

For each side, the looses was very high : 33,000 men for the frenchs and
44,000 for the russians. Overnight, Kutuzov decided to withdraw and to 
evacuate Moscow. Napoléon was left to occupy an almost empty city. 

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