Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

Bagration rode up to the highest point of our right flank and began to gallop downhill, from where the intermittent firing of guns could be heard, and the smoke was so thick that nothing could be seen.The closer they got to the valley, the less they could see, but the closer they felt to the real battle.They meet some wounded.Two soldiers were helping a wounded man without a military cap with his head dripping with blood from both sides.His voice was hoarse and he was spitting blood.It appeared that a bullet had struck the mouth or throat.Another wounded man they met, without a gun, was strenuously walking alone, groaning and shouting, the fresh wound made him shake his arm in pain, and the blood on his hand flowed to him like it was overflowing from a glass bottle. on the coat.It was clear from his face that he was not so much in pain as in terror.He was injured a minute ago.Having crossed the road, they descended a steep slope, where they saw some men lying on the ground; they also encountered a group of soldiers, some of whom were not wounded.The soldiers walked up the mountain with difficulty breathing, all looking at the general's face, talking loudly, and waving their arms.Lines of soldiers in gray overcoats could be seen through the smoke ahead; an officer, seeing Bagration, ran after the crowd of soldiers, shouting and telling them to turn around.Bagration rode up to the front of the procession, and now here and there there was rapid cracking of gunfire, which drowned out the conversation and the cries of commands.The air is full of gunpowder smoke.The faces of the soldiers were blackened with smoke, but they still looked alive.Some were pounding the powder with pickets, others were filling the gunpowder, drawing powder from bags, and still others were shooting.However, the smoke was not blown away by the wind, and it was not clear who they were shooting at.From time to time, pleasant humming and whistling can be heard. "What is this?" thought Prince Andrei, riding up to the group of soldiers, "this is not a skirmish line, because they are crowded together! This is not an attack, because they are not advancing ; nor could it be called a phalanx, because they were not standing properly."

A thin, feeble-looking little old man, the colonel, with a cheerful smile and a pair of eyelids covering more than half of his old eyes, giving him a meek look, rode up to Bagration. Before the Duke, receive him as a host receives a guest of honor.He reported to Prince Bagration that the French cavalry had attacked his corps, and though the attack had been repulsed, the corps had lost more than half its men.The regimental commander said the attack had been repulsed, and he had invented the military term for what happened in his regiment; but he himself did not know what had happened to the army under his command during this half-hour. events, so he could not say with certainty that the attack had been repulsed, or that the regiment had been crushed by it.When the battle started, all he knew was that shells and grenades began to be fired at the position of his regiment, hitting some men.Then someone yelled, "Cavalry," and our soldiers started shooting.Before this, the cavalry had been hidden, and it was not the cavalry that was shot at, but the French infantry who showed up in the valley and strafed our army.Prince Bagration nodded, expressing himself that the whole situation was exactly as he had expected it to be.Turning his face to the adjutant, he ordered him to bring down from the hill the two battalions of the 6th Chasseurs they had just passed close by.At this moment Prince Andrei was surprised by the change in Prince Bagration's face.There was a concentrated, cheerful, determined expression on his face, like someone taking the last few steps before diving in on a hot day.But there was neither dull sleep-deprived gaze, nor pretended thoughtfulness; a pair of firm, round eagle eyes looked forward with enthusiasm and a little contempt, evidently resting on nothing. Although his movements were the same as before, slow and rhythmic.

The regimental commander turned his face to Prince Bagration and begged him to retreat, because it was too dangerous. "My lord, for God's sake, do me a favor!" he said, looking at the officer in the suite, and begging him to prove the truth of what he said, but the officer in the suite turned his face away from him. "Look, please pay attention!" He called his attention to the bullets whizzing around them.He said it in the same tone of entreaty and reproach as a carpenter would say to the master who took up the axe: "We are used to what we do, and you will callus your hands." , as if bullets could not kill himself, his half-opened eyes gave him more persuasive force.The colonel agreed with the regimental commander and came to persuade them, but Prince Bagration did not answer them, but gave the order to stop shooting and organize the ranks to make way for the two battalions that were approaching.As he spoke, there was a gust of wind, and the curtain of smoke covering the valley was drawn from right to left by an invisible hand.A mountain on the opposite side appeared in front of them, and the French officers and soldiers on the mountain gradually moved forward.All eyes could not help looking at the French column winding its way along the terraces and approaching them step by step.You can see the furry hats worn by soldiers, you can distinguish officers from ordinary soldiers, and you can also see the military flag flapping on the flagpole.

"They went well," said one of Bagration's attendants. The head of the column had already descended into the valley.Armed conflict should take place on this slope. The remnants of our regiment who had been thrown into the battle hurriedly organized their teams and walked to the right.The two battalions of the 6th Chasseurs came in neat formation behind them, driving off the stragglers.They had not yet reached Bagration when they heard the heavy step of a great crowd marching in unison.Coming from the left flank came a company commander who was closest to Bagration; the company commander had a round face, a well-built figure, and an expression of foolish joy on his face.It seems that at this moment, he has nothing on his mind other than walking past the chief in arrogance.

With the pride that his presence at the front gave him, he walked with the ease and joy of swimming on his muscular legs, straightening himself up without effort, his brisk steps and pace matched his own. The heavy footsteps of the soldiers are very different.By his thigh was a long, thin, narrow sword unsheathed (not a curved little sword like a weapon), and he looked now at the chiefs and now back; body, in order not to stray.He seemed to be concentrating all his energies on passing the chiefs in the most graceful manner, feeling in his heart that he was able to accomplish the task brilliantly, and was therefore very happy.He seemed to be saying in his heart at every step: "Left...left...left...," the faces of the densely packed soldiers showed various serious expressions. It made them feel inconvenient, as if every one of these hundreds of soldiers said in his heart every other step: "Left...left...left..." The fat major, panting heavily, walked in disorder, from Go around a bush on the road.A straggling soldier, panting and frightened because of his lack of discipline, walked quickly and caught up with the company.A cannonball squeezed the air, flew over the heads of Prince Bagration and his entourage, and also hit the column to the rhythm of "Left-Left!"The company commander's boastful voice could be heard: "Come closer!" The soldiers arced around the place where the shells fell. The old cavalrymen, the flanking non-commissioned officers, fell behind near the dead, and then caught up with their own troops. Jumping, changing steps, following the steps of the team, he looked back angrily.In the eerie silence, in the monotonous sound of footsteps landing at the same time, it seemed that "left... left...

Left..." voice. "Well done, comrades!" said Prince Bagration. "For-big-people!..." This shout resounded through the team.A sad-faced soldier approached from the left, shouting, and glanced at Bagration as if to say: "We know that ourselves." The other soldier did not look back, as if afraid of being distracted, He opened his mouth, yelled, and walked across on foot. An order was issued to stop advancing and take off the rucksack. Bagration dismounted, having bypassed the procession passing by him.He gave the reins to the Cossack, took off his shawl and handed him over, stretched his legs, and straightened his cap.The advance of the French column, led by officers, emerged from the foothills.

"God bless!" said Bagration in a resolute audible voice, and for a moment, turning his face to the front of the line, waving his hands lightly to and fro, he seemed to be taking the clumsy steps of a knight with difficulty, along the The uneven battlefield is gone.Prince Andrei felt that he was being drawn forward by some insurmountable force, and he was very lucky. ① 1 An attack was made here, of which Thiers says: "Les russss second duisirent, vailla-ment, etchoserate aguerre, onvitdeuxmassesdinfanterie marcherresolument lune contrelautres ansquancunedesdeuxdedaavantdetreabordee" (The Russians displayed heroism, which is rare in war. Hand to hand, no one makes concessions, until a fight to the death.) Napoleon said on St. Helena: "Quelquesbataillonsrussesmontrerentdelintrepidites."-Author's Note. (Several battalions in Russia have shown great intrepidity. ——Russian editor's note.)

The Frenchman was already very close, and Prince Andrew, walking side by side with Bagration, could make out the Frenchman's shoulder straps, red epaulets, and even his face. (He clearly sees an old French officer, climbing the bushes with his gaited feet, and struggling up the hill.) Prince Bagration gave no new orders, and remained silent in front of the ranks. walking.Suddenly gunshots rang out among the French, the second, the third... There was a puff of gunpowder smoke and crackling shots in the chaotic enemy ranks.A few of our men fell, among them the round-faced officer who marched merrily and vigorously.But at the very moment when the first shot was fired, Bagration looked back and shouted: "Hurrah!"

There was a drawn-out chants of "Ulla-ra" in our ranks.Our officers and soldiers chased after each other, and overtook Prince Bagration; the ranks, although irregular, were cheerful and active, and began to run down the hill in droves in pursuit of the routed French.