Napoleon and The Grand Army in Russia 1 p.171

"Kutusov, on abandoning Moscow, retreated on the road to Kalouga. On the 15th of September the Russian army halted at Panki, four or five leagues from Moscow; the 16th it crossed the Moskova, at Borskoe. Kutosov then resolved to assume an offensive position, on the flank of the line of communications; this would enable him to cover Kalouga and the southern provinces of Russia. The position of Taruntino, behind the Nara, which would give him the advantage of menacing the central road from Moscow to Kalouga, at the same time enabling him to advance by the two other two great roads, which pass by Zerpouchow and Marojaroslawitz, was chosen as a halting place by the Russian army.

The King of Naples at first believed that the enemy had retired directly on Occa, but as soon as he learnt the real movement of the Russian army, he followed its new direction. Some military men are surprised that Kutusov, if he had not the intention of engaging in a second battle before abandoning Moscow, should have retreated on his capital, and afterwards take from thence the route to Kalouga; a movement he might have made, directly and with ease, from Mojaisk, it appears that the effects of his loss at the battle of Moscowa, (Borodino, Editor's note), completely deranged the plans of the Russian general, and that, outflanked on his right by the Poles, he could only expect to make his flank movement with safety, by covering himself by the Moskowa, beyond Moscow.

Mr. de Segur does not give any detail of military manoeuvres; he is fonder of giving sketches, which he probably copied from the Russians, or derived from his own imagination, as the greater part of his work. He supposes that the Russian soldiers heard the attacking of the flames at seven or eight leagues from Moscow. He says that the "fire of their sombre and threatening looks might be seen answering these flames, which they regarded as our work; it already betrayed that ferodous revenge which was rankling in their hearths, and which spread throughout the whole empire, and to which so many Frenchmen fell victims."

Note from Editor: The above is an excerpt from Gourgaud's work which is A Critical Examination of Philip de Segur's Work on the Campaign of Russia. Gourgaud was Napoleon's ADC during the campain and went to St. Helena with him. The controversy ended in a famous duel.

Footnote

1 Above quotation from the English translation of Gorgaud's Napoleon and the Grand Army in Russia, first published in Philadelphia in 1829.

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