Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

It was five o'clock in the morning and it was still dark.None of the troops in the center, the reserves, nor Bagration's right flank moved, but the infantry, cavalry, and artillery columns on the left rose from their bivouacs and began to move. They must leave the heights and attack the French. The right wing, according to the deployment of the march, forced its right wing to retreat to the Bohemian mountains.They threw all kinds of unnecessary things into the campfire, and a puff of smoke irritated their eyes.It was very cold at this time, and it was dark all around.The officers hurriedly drank tea and had breakfast. The soldiers chewed dry bread and stamped their feet hastily. They gathered opposite the campfire to keep warm. All the things that are not needed for walking are thrown into the firewood pile and burned together.Austrian column captains came and went between the Russian units, acting as heralds and heralds of the march.As soon as the Austrian officer appeared near the regimental commander's quarters, the regiment was in motion: soldiers ran away from the campfires, hid their pipes in their boots, their bags in their wagons, and lined up with their muskets.The officers buttoned up their uniforms, wore sabers, shouldered their knapsacks, shouted, and patrolled the queue. The convoy soldiers and orderlies were all harnessing, packing, and fastening the carts.The adjutant, the battalion commander, and the regimental commander all mounted their horses, crossed themselves, and issued final orders and instructions to the remaining baggage soldiers, entrusting them with various affairs; at this time, the monotonous footsteps of thousands of people could be heard Voice.The column was setting off, going nowhere, because there were so many people all around, because the fire was smoking, and because the fog was getting thicker, they could not see not only where they had started, but also where the column was coming in.

The soldier on the march is surrounded, confined, and led by his own regiment like a sailor on a warship.No matter how far he traveled, no matter how strange, unknown and dangerous latitudes he entered, always around him were those colleagues, those teams, the man named Ivan Mitrich. The sergeant, the dog of the company called Zhuchka, the chiefs, like the sailors, always surrounded him with the decks, masts, and cables of the ships.A soldier doesn't often want to know what latitude his ship is in, but on days of battle, God knows how, there comes out of nowhere in the army's psyche a tone that everyone thinks is serious, and it means The approach of the decisive and joyous moment aroused a curiosity not befitting a soldier's nature.The soldiers are excited and excited on the days of battle, trying to go beyond the interests of their regiment, they listen, watch, and greedily inquire about what is going on around them.

The fog was so thick that, although it was dawn, it was impossible to see anything ten paces away.The shrubs are like big trees, and the flat ground is like a steep bank or a ramp.Here and there, from all directions, it was possible to meet an enemy invisible ten paces away.But the column still walked for a long time in the foggy and unfamiliar place, sometimes descending and ascending the hill, sometimes rounding the garden and the courtyard wall, but nowhere did they meet the enemy.On the contrary, now in front, now in the rear, the soldiers saw from all sides that our Russian columns were also advancing in that direction.Every soldier feels happy in his heart, because he knows that many, many of our officers and soldiers are also heading in the same direction as he is going, that is, heading in that unknown direction.

"Look, people from the Kursk Corps have also passed by." Someone said in the procession. "My brother, how many of our armies have been raised! I saw them last night, and there was no end to them. All in all, it's like Moscow!" Although none of the heads of the columns went to the front of the line to talk to the soldiers (as we saw at the council of war, the heads of the columns were in a bad mood and expressed dissatisfaction with the military actions they had taken, so Just follow orders, although the soldiers are happy to participate in the battle as usual, especially to participate in the offensive battle, but the chiefs don't care about making the soldiers happy).After walking through the fog for an hour or so, most of the army should have stopped advancing, but a disgustingly disturbed consciousness spread through the ranks.How this awareness spread is difficult to determine, but it overflowed with unchanging and extraordinary rapidity, like the imperceptible and irresistible torrent of water in a valley.There is no doubt about this.If the Russian army lacked allies and fought alone, then, nine times out of ten, it would be a long time before this so-called sense of confusion became common belief, but now everyone is in a sincere and exceedingly happy mood. The cause of this disorder was attributed to the confused Germans, and everyone was convinced that this pernicious disorder was created by the sausage merchants (an insulting nickname for the Germans).

"Why did it stop? Is it blocked? Is it a Frenchie?" "No, I didn't hear anything. Otherwise, the gun would have been shot." "No, urging the others to go out, and going out, and standing in the middle of the field without a clue—these damned Germans have got everything mixed up. What a bunch of muddle-headed bastards!" "I'd like to send them to the front. Otherwise, I'm afraid they'll be huddled in the back. See, here they are, empty-bellied." "What? Go there quickly? It is said that those cavalry blocked the road." The officer said.

"Well, the damned Germans don't even know their own land," said another officer. "Which division are you from?" the adjutant called as he approached. "The Eighteenth Division." "Then why are you staying here! You should have gone to the front a long time ago, and you won't be able to make it through the night like this." "Look, that's a stupid order; they don't know what they're doing." said the officer as he walked away. Then the officer walked by, shouting angrily and speaking in something other than Russian.

"Taffa-Rafa," he murmured, he couldn't make out what he was saying," said the soldier, imitating the departing general, "I'm going to shoot them scumbags!" "It was ordered to arrive at the destination after eight o'clock, but we haven't walked halfway yet. What kind of order is this!" Repeated voices came from all around. The troops fought with a passion which began to turn into remorse, which turned into hatred; hatred of muddled orders, hatred of the Germans. The reason for the chaos was that when the Austrian cavalry on the left was marching, the Supreme Leader thought that our central position was too far from the right, so he ordered all the cavalry to move to the right.Thousands of cavalry advanced ahead of the infantry, who had to wait.

The Austrian column captain and the Russian general clashed at the front.The Russian general yelled at the cavalry to stop, and the Austrians tried to prove that it was not he who was at fault, but the Supreme Commander.At that time, the troops felt depressed and dejected, so they stopped in place.After an hour's delay, the troops advanced and at last made their way down the hill.The fog on the mountain gradually dispersed, and the fog became thicker below the mountain where the troops passed.Ahead of the mist there came burst after burst of gunfire, at various intervals, the first shots without rhythm.Tra da... Da da, and then more and more rhythmic and frequency, and the battle began on the Holderbach River.

Because the Russians did not expect to meet the enemy on the river below the mountain, they encountered the enemy unexpectedly in the fog, they did not hear the words of the supreme commander to motivate the soldiers, and there was a general awareness in the troops that they were already late.The main thing is that, seeing nothing in front of and around them in the thick fog, the Russians lazily and slowly shot at the enemy, advanced a little, stopped again, and did not receive timely reports from the chief and adjutants. Ordered, instead of looking for their own troops, they wandered in foggy, unfamiliar territory looking for their way.This is how the first, second, and third columns going downhill began fighting.Kutuzov himself was in the fourth column, which was stationed on Platz Heights.

The fog still hangs down the mountain, and here the battle has begun.The weather on the mountain is clear, but there is no movement ahead.Whether the entire force of the enemy was, as we had surmised, ten versts away, or whether it was lingering in this mist, no one knew until after eight o'clock. It was nine o'clock in the morning.The mist spread like an ocean over the lowlands below, but on the highlands in the village of Schlapanitz it was perfectly clear.Napoleon, accompanied by several marshals, was stationed on this height.Above the mist, the clear sky was blue.The spherical sun is like a big crimson hollow buoy, rippling on the surface of the milky white misty sea.Not only all the French troops, but also Napoleon himself and his headquarters were not quartered across the small rivers, across the villages of Sokolnitz and Schlapanitz, where we were planning to occupy the They were stationed on this side of the creek, so close to our army that Napoleon could distinguish our cavalry from our infantry with the naked eye.Napoleon, riding a gray Arabian pony and wearing the blue overcoat he had worn in Italy, stood a few paces ahead of his marshals.He gazed in silence at the hills, which seemed to emerge from a sea of ​​mist, along which the Russian troops advanced at a distance; and he listened to the sound of gunfire from the valley.At that time, not a single muscle was trembling on his thin face, and his shining eyes were fixed on one place without moving.His assumption turned out to be correct.Part of the Russian troops went downhill into the valley adjacent to the swamp and the lake, moving towards the swamp and lake, and part of the officers and soldiers vacated the Platz Heights, which he planned to attack and believed to be the key position of the position.In the mist he saw, in the depression formed between the two big mountains near the village of Platz, the Russian columns were all heading towards the valley in one direction, their bayonets flashing, and they gradually disappeared one by one in the sea of ​​mist.He received information last night, heard the sound of wheels and footsteps in the middle of the night, and the Russian column was marching in an orderly manner. Based on all these circumstances, he clearly saw that the Allies believed that he was in front of them. The advancing columns near the Platz Heights formed the center of the Russian army, which was weakened enough to attack without difficulty, but he had not yet begun to fight.

Today is a solemn day for him - the anniversary of his coronation.Before dawn, he slept for a few hours, feeling refreshed and full of energy. With the happiness of everything going well, he got on his horse and galloped to the field.He stopped there motionless, looking at the highlands emerging from the mist, and his indifferent face had an expression of special confidence that deserved the happiness of the world, just like the face of a happy boy in love. expression.The marshals stood behind him, not daring to distract him.Now he looked at Platts Heights, and now at a sun emerging from the mist. When the sun had come fully out of the mist and cast its blazing light on the field and the mist (as if all he had been looking forward to was the day of the battle), he took off a glove from his fair, white hand, and with it Make a gesture to several marshals and issue an order to go to war.Several marshals, accompanied by their adjutants, galloped in different directions. A few minutes later, the main body of the French army was advancing rapidly towards the Platz Heights. The Russian troops were walking towards the valley on the left. It is getting more and more empty.