Book Thirteen: 1812 - Chapter VII

by Leo Tolstoy

　　Meanwhile another column was to have attacked the French from thefront, but Kutuzov accompanied that column. He well knew thatnothing but confusion would come of this battle undertaken against hiswill, and as far as was in his power held the troops back. He didnot advance.

　　He rode silently on his small gray horse, indolently answeringsuggestions that they should attack.

　　"The word attack is always on your tongue, but you don't see that weare unable to execute complicated maneuvers," said he toMiloradovich who asked permission to advance.

　　"We couldn't take Murat prisoner this morning or get to the place intime, and nothing can be done now!" he replied to someone else.

　　When Kutuzov was informed that at the French rear- where accordingto the reports of the Cossacks there had previously been nobody- therewere now two battalions of Poles, he gave a sidelong glance at Ermolovwho was behind him and to whom he had not spoken since the previousday.

　　"You see! They are asking to attack and making plans of all kinds,but as soon as one gets to business nothing is ready, and the enemy,forewarned, takes measures accordingly."

　　Ermolov screwed up his eyes and smiled faintly on hearing thesewords. He understood that for him the storm had blown over, and thatKutuzov would content himself with that hint.

　　"He's having a little fun at my expense," said Ermolov softly,nudging with his knee Raevski who was at his side.

　　Soon after this, Ermolov moved up to Kutuzov and respectfullyremarked:

　　"It is not too late yet, your Highness- the enemy has not gone away-if you were to order an attack! If not, the Guards will not so much assee a little smoke."

　　Kutuzov did not reply, but when they reported to him that Murat'stroops were in retreat he ordered an advance, though at everyhundred paces he halted for three quarters of an hour.

　　The whole battle consisted in what Orlov-Denisov's Cossacks haddone: the rest of the army merely lost some hundreds of men uselessly.

　　In consequence of this battle Kutuzov received a diamond decoration,and Bennigsen some diamonds and a hundred thousand rubles, others alsoreceived pleasant recognitions corresponding to their variousgrades, and following the battle fresh changes were made in the staff.

　　"That's how everything is done with us, all topsy-turvy!" said theRussian officers and generals after the Tarutino battle, letting it beunderstood that some fool there is doing things all wrong but thatwe ourselves should not have done so, just as people speak today.But people who talk like that either do not know what they are talkingabout or deliberately deceive themselves. No battle- Tarutino,Borodino, or Austerlitz- takes place as those who planned itanticipated. That is an essential condition.

　　A countless number of free forces (for nowhere is man freer thanduring a battle, where it is a question of life and death) influencethe course taken by the fight, and that course never can be known inadvance and never coincides with the direction of any one force.

　　If many simultaneously and variously directed forces act on agiven body, the direction of its motion cannot coincide with any oneof those forces, but will always be a mean- what in mechanics isrepresented by the diagonal of a parallelogram of forces.

　　If in the descriptions given by historians, especially Frenchones, we find their wars and battles carried out in accordance withpreviously formed plans, the only conclusion to be drawn is that thosedescriptions are false.

　　The battle of Tarutino obviously did not attain the aim Toll hadin view- to lead the troops into action in the order prescribed by thedispositions; nor that which Count Orlov-Denisov may have had in view-to take Murat prisoner; nor the result of immediately destroying thewhole corps, which Bennigsen and others may have had in view; northe aim of the officer who wished to go into action to distinguishhimself; nor that of the Cossack who wanted more booty than he got,and so on. But if the aim of the battle was what actually resulted andwhat all the Russians of that day desired- to drive the French outof Russia and destroy their army- it is quite clear that the battle ofTarutino, just because of its incongruities, was exactly what waswanted at that stage of the campaign. It would be difficult and evenimpossible to imagine any result more opportune than the actualoutcome of this battle. With a minimum of effort and insignificantlosses, despite the greatest confusion, the most important resultsof the whole campaign were attained: the transition from retreat toadvance, an exposure of the weakness of the French, and theadministration of that shock which Napoleon's army had only awaited tobegin its flight.