Chapter 15 Chapter fifteen

At the beginning of October another messenger came to Kutuzov with a letter from Napoleon, proposing peace talks, falsely claiming that he was from Moscow.At that time Napoleon was already on the Stara Kaluzhskaya road not far in front of Kutuzov.To this letter Kutuzov gave the same answer as to the first letter brought by Loriston: peace talks, he said, were impossible. Shortly after this, Dolokhov's partisans, operating around Tarutino's left, sent a report of the presence at Fominsk of one of Brussier's divisions, which had lost contact with the rest of the troops. , are easily annihilated.Soldiers and officers called for action again.The generals on the staff, encouraged by the easy victory at Tarutino, insisted that Kutuzov follow Dolokhov's advice.Kutuzov, however, saw no need for any offensive, and made a compromise: to do what was right, to send a small force to Fominsk to attack Brussier.

By a singular coincidence, Dohturov accepted the task, which turned out to be the most difficult and important one.Dohturov—that's the humble, little Dohturov.Nobody ever described to us that he made battle plans, ran around in front of regiments, handed out crosses to artillery battalions, etc. Everyone thought he was indecisive and had no vision, but, that's the Doher Turov, throughout the Russo-French War—from Austerlitz to 1913—he was there to command wherever the battle was difficult.In the Battle of Austerlitz, when all the officers and men died and fled, and there was not even a general in the rear, he gathered the remnants, saved everything that could be saved, and stood firm at the August Dam. to the end.He was suffering from malaria, and he led 20,000 horses to Smolensk to defend the city against Napoleon's convoy.In Smolensk, at the Molokhovsky Gate, he had an attack of malaria, and just fell asleep, when the sound of the siege artillery woke him up, and the city of Smolensk held on for a whole day.In the battle of Borodino, Bagration was killed, nine-tenths of our left wing was lost, the French artillery was attacking there with all its strength, and it was sent there by none other than this indecisive and short-sighted Douglas. Kutuzov sent someone else, Khturov, and he hastened to correct the mistake.So the quiet little Dokhturov went there, and Borodino became the greatest honor of the Russian army.Many heroes are described to us in poetry and prose, but there is not a single mention of Dokhturov.

Again Dokhturov was sent to Fominsk, and from there to Maloyaroswitz, where he fought the last battle against the French, and it is clear that this is where the demise of the French began. contribute. , Many geniuses and heroes were described to us in several battles during this period, but about Dohturov is still not mentioned, or is understated, or vague.For Dohturov to avoid talking about it like this, on the contrary, it further confirms his advantages. Naturally, a person who does not understand the principle of the machine's operation will mistakenly think that this is the most important part of the machine when he sees the sawdust that accidentally falls in and hinders the machine's operation and keeps spinning in it.People who don't understand the principle of machine construction will not understand that the main part of the machine is not the sawdust that makes things mess up, but the little transmission gear that turns silently.

On October 10, when Dokhturov, on his way to Fominsk, arrived at the village of Aristovo, halted his advance, and was about to carry out the orders of his superiors correctly, on the same day, as if in a fit of madness, the entire French army was mobilized. Arriving at Murat's position, as though preparing for a battle, he suddenly turned left for no apparent reason on the Novokaluzhskaya road, and entered Fominsk, where only Brussier had previously been stationed.At this time, under the command of Dokhturov, in addition to the Dolokhov guerrillas, there were also two small guerrillas led by Figner and Seslavin.

On the evening of October 11, Cheslawin brought one of his captured French Guardsmen to the village of Aristovo to meet the commander.The prisoner said that the army that entered Fominsk that day was the vanguard of the entire army, and Napoleon was among them. It was already the fifth day since the entire army left Moscow.It was said that night.” Politically, exposing the monarch as a great harm to the world and affirming the chaos of the world, finally, a handyman came from Borovsk. He said that he saw a large number of French troops marching into the city The Cossacks of the Dolokhov Partisan Brigade also reported that they saw French troops marching down the road to Borovsk. All this information clearly shows that only one division was originally thought to be there, but now all The French troops, after they set out from Moscow, took an unexpected route - the Stara Kaluzhskaya road. Dohturov was unwilling to take any action, because he did not yet know what his responsibility was What. He was given the task of attacking Fominsk. But there was only one division of Brussier in Fominsk, and now it is the entire French army. Ermolov wanted to take the opportunity, but Dokhturov He insisted that he must wait for the order of the Supreme Lord, so he decided to send someone to report to the headquarters.

To this end, a shrewd and capable officer, Borhovidinov, was selected. In addition to submitting a written report, he had to be able to report the entire situation verbally.After eleven o'clock in the night, Borhovidinov accepted the written report and oral instructions, and led a Cossack and several horses that could be ridden in rotation, and galloped to the headquarters.