Russian Eyewitness Accounts of the Campaign of 1807 by Alexander Mikaberidze

Author:Alexander Mikaberidze [Mikaberidze, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Modern / 19th Century
ISBN: 9781473850071
Publisher: Frontline Books
Published: 2015-02-19T22:00:00+00:00

Pavel Grabbe

By February 1807, Grabbe, serving in the artillery company of Fedor Schulman, had already fought at Golymin where he barely escaped being captured. At Eylau, he witnessed the destruction of Marshal Pierre Augereau’s corps.

The battle of Preussisch-Eylau was the first warning of Providence to Napoleon … I was then an artillery officer commanding two cannon attached to the Vladimirskii Regiment in Dokhturov’s corps, almost in the centre of our positions. So it was we who faced one of the columns of Marshal Augereau, whose corps was destroyed in the carnage … . A strong blizzard blinded us with snow. Suddenly everything calmed down and directly in front of my cannon, no more than thirty paces away, we saw a column of Frenchmen, who were also startled by the proximity of our line. My cannon were loaded with grape-shot since I had no roundshot and only five rounds of grape shot per gun. The grape-shot had a devastating effect at such close range. The column veered right and charged the second battalion of the Vladimirskii Regiment; I stood in the interval between the 2nd and 1st Battalion. Our men received the enemy with bayonets but the [French] broke through in the middle. I was still firing the last remaining grape-shot rounds when the artillerymen behind me shouted ‘Frenchmen’ and made me look around. Several Frenchmen stormed into the battery from behind but they were soon followed by our men and were all stabbed with bayonets; I was able to save only a few of them from the swords of my men. Our horses were wounded and all of the ammunition used. The bayonet melee ended up with the complete destruction of this enemy column. Mounds of corpses marked the sight of the carnage.

[After this fighting] I moved [my guns] behind the [front] line, not knowing what I should do next since I lacked ammunition and had wounded horses. A large part of our artillery, especially the heavy guns, was forced to leave its positions and move to the Königsberg road for the very same reasons. To understand how it happened that our artillery suffered from the lack of ammunition in the first half of the battle, one must realise that the contemporary mobile [artillery] parks were completely inadequate. Thus, after the battles of Pultusk and Golymin, the [artillery] caissons were not replenished. Yet I did not want to follow the retreating batteries. Upon spotting [General] Rezvyi, the commander of artillery, I stopped him and asked for more ammunition. Instead, he ordered me to join the retreating batteries and pointed towards the road. But I dragged my feet, concerned what the gallant soldiers of the Vladimirskii Regiment would think. Just then I saw the Pskovskii Regiment moving to replace [the Vladimirskii Regiment] in the front line. I knew that [my comrade Artillery Captain Fedor] Anders was with this regiment and went to see him. Meeting him was always a joyous occasion for me. Upon hearing my request to share his ammunition

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