Russian commander, the first Russian field marshal. Cadet corps and Russian cadets. See also in the Presidential Library
In 1759 he graduated with honors from the Noble Artillery School and was left with it as a teacher of mathematics. In 1761, Kutuzov was promoted to the rank of ensign engineer and sent to continue his service in the Astrakhan infantry regiment.
From March 1762, he temporarily served as adjutant of the Revel Governor-General, from August he was appointed company commander of the Astrakhan Infantry Regiment. In 1764-1765 he served in the troops stationed in Poland. From March 1765 he continued to serve in the Astrakhan regiment as a company commander.
In 1767, Mikhail Kutuzov was recruited to work on the Commission for the drafting of a new Code, where he acquired extensive knowledge in the field of law, economics and sociology. Since 1768, Kutuzov took part in the war with the Polish confederates. In 1770 he was transferred to the 1st Army, located in the south of Russia, and took part in the war with Turkey that began in 1768.
During the period Russian-Turkish war In 1768-1774, Kutuzov, while in combat and staff positions, took part in the battles at the Ryabaya Mogila tract, the Larga and Cahul rivers, where he showed himself to be a brave, energetic and enterprising officer.
In 1772, he was transferred to the 2nd Crimean Army, where he carried out responsible reconnaissance assignments, commanding a grenadier battalion. In July 1774, in a battle near the village of Shumy (now Upper Kutuzovka) north of Alushta, Mikhail Kutuzov was seriously wounded in the left temple by a bullet that came out near his right eye. For courage, Kutuzov was awarded the Order of St. George IV class and sent for treatment abroad. On his return, he was assigned to form the light cavalry.
In the summer of 1777, Kutuzov was promoted to colonel and appointed commander of the Lugansk Engineer Regiment. In 1783 he commanded the Mariupol Light Horse Regiment in the Crimea. For successful negotiations with the Crimean Khan, who ceded his possessions to Russia from the Bug to the Kuban, at the end of 1784 Kutuzov was promoted to major general and headed the Bug Chasseur Corps.
In 1788, during the siege of Ochakov, repelling a sortie by the Turks, he was seriously wounded in the head for the second time: a bullet pierced his cheek and flew into the back of the head. In 1789, Kutuzov took part in the battle of Kaushany, in the assaults on Akkerman (now the city of Belgorod - Dniester) and Bendery.
In December 1790, during the assault on Izmail, commanding the 6th column, Kutuzov showed high-willed qualities, fearlessness and perseverance. In order to achieve success, he timely brought reserves into battle and achieved the defeat of the enemy in his direction, which played an important role in capturing the fortress. Suvorov praised Kutuzov's actions. After the capture of Izmail, Mikhail Kutuzov was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed commandant of this fortress.
On June 15 (4 according to the old style), 1791, Kutuzov defeated the Turkish army at Babadag with a sudden blow. In the battle of Machinsky, commanding a corps, he showed himself to be a skilled master of maneuvering, bypassing the enemy from the flank and attacking from the rear, defeating the Turkish troops.
In 1792-1794, Mikhail Kutuzov headed the emergency Russian embassy in Constantinople, having managed to achieve a number of foreign policy and trade advantages for Russia, significantly weakening French influence in Turkey.
In 1794, he was appointed director of the land gentry cadet corps, in 1795-1799 - commander and inspector of troops in Finland, where he carried out a number of diplomatic assignments: he negotiated with Prussia and Sweden. In 1798, Mikhail Kutuzov was promoted to general of infantry. He was Lithuanian (1799-1801) and St. Petersburg (1801-1802) military governor. In 1802, Kutuzov fell into disgrace, was forced to leave the army and retire.
In August 1805, during the Russo-Austrian-French War, Kutuzov was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian army sent to help Austria. Having learned during the campaign about the surrender of the Austrian army of General Mack near Ulm, Mikhail Kutuzov undertook a march maneuver from Braunau to Olmutz and skillfully withdrew Russian troops from the blow of superior enemy forces, winning victories at Amstetten and Krems during the retreat.
The plan of action proposed by Kutuzov against Napoleon was not accepted by Alexander I and his Austrian military advisers. Despite the objections of the commander, who was actually removed from the leadership of the Russian-Austrian troops, the allied monarchs Alexander I and Franz I gave Napoleon the general battle of austerlitz ending in French victory. Although Kutuzov managed to save the retreating Russian troops from complete defeat, he fell into disgrace of Alexander I and was appointed to secondary posts: military governor of Kiev (1806-1807), corps commander in the Moldavian army (1808), Lithuanian military governor (1809-1811).
In the context of the impending war with Napoleon and the need to end the protracted war (1806-1812) with Turkey, the emperor was forced in March 1811 to appoint Kutuzov commander-in-chief of the Moldavian army, where Mikhail Kutuzov created mobile corps and proceeded to active operations. In the summer near Ruschuk (now a city in Bulgaria), Russian troops won a major victory, and in October Kutuzov surrounded and captured the entire Turkish army near Slobodzeya (now a city in Transnistria). For this victory, he received the title of count.
Being an experienced diplomat, Kutuzov achieved the signing of the Bucharest Peace Treaty of 1812, which was beneficial for Russia, for which he received the title of Most Serene Prince. At the beginning Patriotic War In 1812, Mikhail Kutuzov was elected head of the St. Petersburg, and then the Moscow militia. After the Russian troops abandoned Smolensk in August, Kutuzov was appointed commander in chief. Arriving in the army, he decided to give a general battle to Napoleon's troops near Borodino.
In the battle of Borodino, the French army did not achieve victory, but the strategic situation and lack of forces did not allow Kutuzov to go on the counteroffensive. In an effort to save the army, Kutuzov surrendered Moscow to Napoleon without a fight and, having made a bold flank march from the Ryazan road to Kaluga, stopped at the Tarutino camp, where he replenished the troops and organized partisan actions.
On October 18 (6, old style) Kutuzov, near the village of Tarutino, defeated the French corps of Murat and forced Napoleon to hasten the abandonment of Moscow. Having blocked the path of the French army to the southern Russian provinces near Maloyaroslavets, he forced it to retreat west along the devastated Smolensk road and, energetically pursuing the enemy, after a series of battles near Vyazma and Krasnoy, he finally defeated his main forces on the Berezina River. Thanks to the wise and flexible strategy of Kutuzov, the Russian army won a brilliant victory over a strong and experienced enemy. In December 1812, Kutuzov received the title of Prince of Smolensky and was awarded the highest military order of George, I degree, becoming the first full Knight of St. George in the history of the order.
At the beginning of 1813, Kutuzov led military operations against the remnants of the Napoleonic army in Poland and Prussia, but the commander's health was undermined, and death prevented him from seeing the final victory of the Russian army. On April 28 (16 according to the old style) April 1813, the Most Serene Prince died in the small Silesian town of Bunzlau (now the city of Bolesławiec in Poland). His body was embalmed and transported to St. Petersburg, buried in the Kazan Cathedral.
The military art of Kutuzov was distinguished by the breadth and variety of all types of maneuver in the offensive and defense, the timely transition from one type of maneuver to another. Contemporaries unanimously noted his exceptional mind, brilliant military and diplomatic talents and love for the Motherland.
Mikhail Kutuzov was awarded the Orders of St. Andrew the First-Called with Diamonds, St. George I, II, III and IV classes, St. Alexander Nevsky, St. Vladimir I degree, St. Anna I degree. He was a holder of the Grand Cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, was awarded the Austrian military order of Maria Theresa, I degree, the Prussian orders of the Black Eagle and the Red Eagle, I degree. He was presented with a golden sword "for courage" with diamonds and a portrait of Emperor Alexander I with diamonds.
Monuments to Mikhail Kutuzov were erected in many cities of Russia and abroad. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, the Orders of Kutuzov I, II and III degrees were established.
Kutuzovsky Prospekt (1957), as well as Kutuzovsky Proezd and Kutuzovsky Lane, were named after Kutuzov in Moscow. In 1958, the metro station of the Filevskaya line of the Moscow Metro was named after the commander.
Mikhail Kutuzov was married to Ekaterina Bibikova, the daughter of a lieutenant general, who later became a lady of state, Her Serene Highness Princess Kutuzova-Smolenskaya. The marriage produced five daughters and a son who died in infancy.
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Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov had a difficult fate, with ups and downs and the highest opals. On the path of a warrior to its peak, he walked for a long time, with great difficulty, having gone through more than one war. The talent of a military leader was especially brightly revealed at the end of his life, in the “thunderstorm of the 12th year”, when he happened to become not just a worthy rival of the French Emperor Napoleon, but his winner.
The commander could be proud of his pedigree, rooted in the distant XIII century. For centuries, the Kutuzov family served the Fatherland. His father was I.M. Golenishchev-Kutuzov, who started army service military engineer and ending it as a senator and lieutenant general of the engineering troops. He received from his contemporaries for his mind and education the nickname Reasonable Book. Mikhail was born in St. Petersburg on September 5, 1747. In 1761, 14-year-old Mikhailo Kutuzov, having "approximately" mastered the full curriculum, received the first officer rank of ensign engineer. At the age of 15, he was promoted to captain and appointed company commander in the Astrakhan Infantry Regiment, commanded by 32-year-old A.V. Suvorov. Baptism of fire 16-year-old infantry captain Kutuzov received in 1764 in Poland, where he went as a volunteer.
In the ranks of the army commander P.A. Rumyantsev, a 22-year-old officer distinguished himself in the battles near the Ryaba Mogila, on the Larga and Kagul rivers in the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. It was then that his undoubted commanding qualities appeared: courage and determination, resourcefulness and initiative, composure in critical situations of battle. The young officer demonstrated an enviable ability to deal with the soldiers, who earned glory for Russian weapons with their blood: he was able to lead people in battle.
At the end of the war, Lieutenant Colonel M.I. Kutuzov takes part in the reflection of the Turkish landing in the Crimea, near Alushta. In a battle near the village of Shumy (now Kutuzovka) he received a severe through wound in the head. Doctors considered the wound fatal, but the wounded man survived. In 1774 he was awarded the first Order of St. George the Victorious, 4th class. Then Empress Catherine II, experienced in people, said: “It is necessary to take care of Kutuzov. He will be a great general for me.”
At the age of 30, M.I. Kutuzov was promoted to colonel and appointed commander of the regiment. In this position, he showed himself brilliantly: he thoughtfully arranged officer cadres, correctly selected his closest assistants. He knew how to encourage zealous servants, treated negligent people strictly, up to their expulsion from the regimental staff. The regiment became one of the exemplary, and in 1782 its commander received the rank of brigadier.
In 1785, Major General M.I. Kutuzov is entrusted with the formation of the Bug Chasseur Corps. He quickly carried out "combat knocking together" in the spirit of Suvorov's "Science of Victory". He personally selected people, taught young soldiers who came from musketeer regiments, and recruits in marksmanship, skillful use of bayonet fighting, taught not to get lost in hand-to-hand combat, to easily navigate and move in the forest, field, mountains, summer and winter. He instilled the ability to act independently in loose formation.
The formation of M.I. Kutuzov as a military leader took place during the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791. The Bug Jaeger Corps takes part in the siege of the Ochakov fortress, Kutuzov receives a second through-the-hole bullet wound in the head, loses his right eye. The award for his courage was the Order of St. Anne immediately of the highest, 1st degree. In 1790 he took part in the assault on the Izmail fortress. Commands the sixth assault column that attacked the New Fortress. After the victorious attack A.V. Suvorov appoints a major general as commandant of Ishmael. For his valor during his assault, Mikhail Illarionovich was immediately awarded promotion and a military award - the rank of lieutenant general and the Order of St. George 3rd class. In 1791, he was awarded the Order of St. George the Victorious, 2nd class, for his distinction in the battle of Machinsky. It was already recognized by all the award of the commander's rank.
In 1792 Lieutenant General M.I. Kutuzov was sent as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Turkey, where he showed himself not only as a great diplomat, but also as a brilliant military intelligence officer. “As a statesman, he brought such great benefits to Russia in the field of military policy, which even the bright glory of the commander does not and should not overshadow,” said one of his contemporaries.
Upon returning to Russia, M.I. Kutuzov in 1794 was appointed chief director of the land gentry (cadet) corps: many of his pupils would become participants in the Patriotic War of 1812, famous military leaders.
Paul I, who became emperor in 1796, sends Kutuzov on a diplomatic mission to Berlin, the capital of Prussia, and promotes him to the generals of the infantry. After M.I. Kutuzov takes command of the Finnish Inspectorate and begins to prepare its troops in case of war against Sweden. The awards of the orders of John of Jerusalem and St. Andrew the First-Called follow. In 1799 M.I. Kutuzov is appointed Lithuanian military governor.
In May 1800, in Volyn, Mikhail Illarionovich began the formation of an army, one of two that were intended for operations against France. Commands troops on large maneuvers near Gatchina. On the western border of M.I. Kutuzov is subordinate to the troops of the Ukrainian, Brest and Dniester inspections.
NEW Emperor Alexander I appoints General of Infantry M.I. Kutuzov as military governor of St. Petersburg. But soon the monarch, dissatisfied with the actions of the city police, removes him from office. The fall lasted three years.
In 1805, the Russian-Austrian-French war began: the imperial aspirations of Napoleon Bonaparte could not but meet with opposition from the leading powers of Europe. Experienced General M.I. Kutuzov was appointed commander of the Podolsk army, which was ordered to be the first to come to the aid of the allies and enter into direct subordination to the emperor of Austria.
However, self-confident Austrians started the war without waiting for the approach of the allies. Decisively acting Napoleon at Ulm forced the army of General K. Mack to capitulate. Napoleon's strategy was to achieve major political goals by conducting lightning campaigns and campaigns, concentrating the main efforts to defeat the enemy in one or two pitched battles. This strategy then ensured victory for the Napoleonic army over the armies of Western European states.
So, the 32,000th Podolsk army (with the remnants of the Austrian troops - 50,000) was alone against more than 200,000 French army. Napoleon launched a new offensive. M.I. Kutuzov, having unraveled his plan, began to retreat, not linking himself to the defense of Vienna. He sought to wear down the enemy, after which he himself had to move on to active operations on the left bank of the Danube.
Near Krems on November 11, Napoleon first met a worthy opponent, calling the lost battle "a massacre." French losses more than doubled those of the Russians.
Soon the Austrians give Vienna to the French without a fight. The threat of encirclement looms over the Podolsk army. The army, hiding behind the rearguard detachment of Major General P.I. Bagration, begins to withdraw. At Schöngraben, a stubborn battle takes place, in which the French failed to gain the upper hand.
All Napoleon's plans to encircle and destroy the Kutuzov army are collapsing. Subsequently, A.P. Yermolov, the hero of the anti-Napoleonic wars, will say: "This retreat is rightly placed among the famous military events of the present time."
Skillfully breaking away from the pursuers, the Podolsk army at Olmutz connects with reinforcements. At the military council M.I. Kutuzov reasonably spoke out in favor of a further withdrawal to Moravia to gather forces. The Austrian generals opposed, supported by the emperors Alexander I and Franz I. The combined army, led by two monarchs, moved to Austerlitz, where Napoleon was already waiting for her.
On December 2, 1805, the Battle of Austerlitz took place, after which M.I. Kutuzov was actually removed from the main command, and the allied army was defeated.
Austria signed a humiliating peace with France. The royal court placed all responsibility for the defeat in the battle of Austerlitz on the commander, deprived of power.
On the battlefield M.I. Kutuzov will return only at the very end of the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812. However, after the unsuccessful assault on Brailov due to a conflict with the commander-in-chief, Field Marshal Prince A.A. Prozorovsky, in the spring of 1809, he was sent to a new "honorary exile", having received the appointment of the Vilna Governor-General.
The war dragged on. In March 1811, Emperor Alexander I was forced to appoint M.I. Kutuzov as commander-in-chief of the Moldavian army.
The Russian army crosses the Danube. On July 4, the fierce Ruschuk battle took place. It lasted 12 hours, and as a result, the army of the Grand Vizier Ahmet Pasha, who had a fourfold superiority in strength, was defeated and retreated. After that, M.I. Kutuzov went to a military trick in order to lure the defeated Turkish army to the opposite, left bank of the Danube. He decides to leave the Ruschuk fortress and after the victory ... retreat to the opposite shore. So the grand vizier found himself in a skillfully set trap.
The Turkish army, rushing after the Russians, was blocked. M.I. Kutuzov sent a letter to Akhmet Pasha and “resolutely demanded” that the enemy commander conclude an indefinite truce and give him the remnants of the Turkish army and its weapons “for preservation”. The Turks, who were not considered prisoners of war, but "guests" of the Russian army, received food from her. During the negotiations on May 27 in Bucharest, peace was signed with Turkey.
Peace has become a true triumph of the military-diplomatic activity of M.I. Kutuzov. 27 days before the start of the Napoleonic Russian campaign, the commander managed to destroy the strategic plans of Bonaparte: Russia not only secured its southern flank, but also became a Danubian power, and France lost an ally, whose participation in the war with Russia was a big bet.
Academician E.V. Tarle wrote: "Thus, Kutuzov the diplomat inflicted a heavy blow on Napoleon in 1812 even earlier than Kutuzov the military leader." Emperor Alexander I, having received news of the ratification of the “useful” Bucharest peace, elevated the commander, along with his offspring, “to the princely dignity of the All-Russian Empire” and conferred on him the title of lordship.
WITH THE BEGINNING of the invasion of Napoleon's army into Russia, General of Infantry M.I. Kutuzov was out of work in St. Petersburg. But soon he was given command of the Narva Corps to defend the capital. Nobility Assembly Moscow province, which was attended by the emperor himself, elects the commander to the post of head of the Moscow militia. The next day, the nobility of the capital province unanimously takes the same decision. Having received a message about the first such appointment, Mikhail Illarionovich exclaimed: “This is the best reward for me in my life!”
Meanwhile, the 1st and 2nd Western armies continued their retreat deep into Russia. The strategic defense of the Russian army was active. Its goal was to buy time and create favorable conditions for the defeat and expulsion of the enemy. The question arose of a single commander-in-chief. Emperor Alexander I instructed a specially created Special Committee to consider the issue of the candidacy of the commander-in-chief of all active armies. The committee met on the evening of August 5, the day the burning Smolensk was abandoned. The decision was made unanimously - Kutuzov: "All Russia wants his appointment." The sovereign approved the decision only on the 8th - at court they continued to consider the commander the “culprit” of the Austerlitz disaster.
The commander-in-chief arrived at the troops in Tsarevo-Zaimishche on August 17, which caused great enthusiasm among the lower ranks and officers. They started talking about a general battle, the field for which was found only near the city of Mozhaisk near the village of Borodino. On August 26, the “battle of the giants” took place here. Kutuzov reported to the emperor: "... Be that as it may, Moscow must be protected."
The battle of Shevardino became the prologue of the Battle of Borodino. A day later, the general battle itself took place. Napoleon hoped for a brilliant victory equal to the “Austerlitz sun”. Russian troops were ready to stand up for the Fatherland, for Moscow in a "mortal battle".
Officer of the 12th Light Artillery Brigade N.E. Mitarevsky, who was next to the commander at Borodino, wrote about Kutuzov: “Some kind of force seemed to come from the aged leader, inspiring those who looked at him. I believe that this circumstance was partly one of the reasons why our army, smaller in number, having lost confidence in success with incessant retreat, could with glory withstand the battle with an invincible enemy until then.
battle of Borodino did not reveal a winner. The official Kutuzov report stated that “the troops fought with incredible courage. Batteries passed from hand to hand and ended up with the fact that the enemy did not win a single step of land anywhere with their superior forces. The British writer Walter Scott in his book "The Life of Napoleon" writes: "... After the battle, the French retreated to their former places, leaving the bloodied battlefield in possession of the Russians."
After the battle on the Moskva River (as French historiography calls the battle of Borodino), Napoleon was forced to admit that out of the fifty battles he had given in this general battle, his troops showed the greatest valor and achieved the least success. The battle of Borodino revealed the crisis of Napoleon's general battle strategy. The Russian army continued to fight.
In the course of the Battle of Borodino, M.I. Kutuzova skillful maneuvering on the battlefield. The maneuver was used by him in order to put his troops in the most advantageous position in relation to the enemy, to create conditions for striking him and repelling his attacks. It is well known that the raid of the Cossack regiments of M.I. Platov and the cavalry corps F.P. Uvarov, held at a time of crisis. He upset the attack prepared by the enemy, forced Napoleon to transfer part of his forces to the breakthrough site.
For Borodino great commander Russia M.I. Kutuzov was granted the rank of field marshal general. Thanksgiving prayers were held in churches in honor of Borodin. Meanwhile, the Kutuzov army left the capital city of Moscow. The commander drove through its streets in a carriage with curtained windows: he understood the gravity of the decision made at the military council in Fili. This was done in the name of preserving the army for future victories. The further course of the Patriotic War showed that this was the right decision.
Having made the brilliantly executed Tarutinsky flank march-maneuver, the Russian army, which Napoleon had lost (!) From sight for several days, set up a fortified camp across the Chernishnia River. Under the leadership of M.I. Kutuzov, the Russian army was reorganized, understaffed, supplied with weapons, ammunition, food and prepared for active hostilities. The merit of M.I. Kutuzov is that he managed to successfully solve the main strategic task - to radically change the balance of power in favor of the Russian army. Its number was increased to 130 thousand people. Taking into account more than 100 thousand people of trained and trained replacements who directly participated in the hostilities, the superiority over the enemy has more than doubled.
In Tarutino M.I. Kutuzov completed the development of a plan for the encirclement and defeat of Napoleon's army with the participation of the army of Admiral P.V. Chichagov and the corps of General P.Kh. Wittgenstein. M.I. Kutuzov rejected Napoleon's proposals for peace or truce sent to the camp with the French General J.A. Laurinston.
The official historiographer of the Patriotic War of 1812, General A.I. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky wrote: “Staying in Tarutino was for Kutuzov one of the brilliant epochs of his glorious life. Since the time of Pozharsky, no one has stood so high in the sight of Russia ...
In Tarutino, in an incredibly short time, Kutuzov brought the army to the most harmonious position, tired of a thousand-mile retreat and bloody battles, handed weapons to the people, laid siege to Napoleon in Moscow and ... derived all the benefits from a new kind of war.
Having successfully implemented part of his strategic plan waging war and changing the line of operations of the main Russian army, M.I. Kutuzov switched to a new tactical solution - a "small war" - actions on communications and behind enemy lines with the help of army partisan and peasant detachments. As a result, the Grand Army of the Emperor of the French began to melt every day from the attacks of Russian flying squads. The "Small War" actually deprived the French of reinforcements, food and fodder.
After the defeat in the Battle of Tarutino, Napoleon began to retreat. Leaving Moscow gave him a chance to save the Great Army, or rather what was left of it. Leaving the city, he gave a barbaric order - to blow up the Moscow Kremlin. But the rain put out some of the wicks, and the appearance of Cossack patrols did not allow the miners to fulfill the order of the emperor.
Army partisans guarded the French on all roads. Having received the news that Bonaparte was moving to Kaluga, Kutuzov decisively and quickly blocked his path at Maloyaroslavets. In a bloody battle, the French occupied a burned-out town on the Puddle River, but did not dare to break through further. Napoleon turned his army to the Smolensk road ravaged by his army, along which the invader went to Moscow.
Kutuzov switched to parallel pursuit of the Great Army. On the heels of the retreating were the Cossack regiments of the Don ataman M.I. Platov and the army vanguard of the infantry general M.A. Miloradovich. There were daily clashes.
The Great Army during the Kutuzov "small war" was melting before our eyes. The Russian commander demanded the main thing from the troops: not to give the Napoleonic troops a day of rest, not to allow them to change the route of flight from Russia. Giving orders to the chief of his staff, Major General A.P. Yermolov, the commander-in-chief pointed out: "The army needs speed!"
For the liberation of the ancient city-fortress on the Dnieper, Emperor Alexander I granted His Serene Highness Prince M.I. Kutuzov the title Smolensky.
The crossing of the Berezina became a real tragedy for the French army. Those remnants of it that were able to avoid death here finally melted away on their last journey to the state border. The Grand Army ceased to exist as a military force. Arriving in Vilna, Kutuzov, with every right to do so, was able to notify the people of Russia, the army and Emperor Alexander I: "The war ended with the complete extermination of the enemy."
DURING the war, M.I. Kutuzov enriched the art of war with new methods of action. M.I. Kutuzov skillfully applied the offensive along the outer lines of operations by delivering concentric strikes in order to encircle and destroy enemy troops. This method proved to be effective in the battle on the Berezina. Napoleon, unlike M.I. Kutuzova preferred to operate along internal lines of operations and sought to achieve success by delivering strong blows to disunited separate parts of the enemy. This method of conducting an offensive brought success in wars in which small armies participated in a limited area. In the Patriotic War of 1812, military operations were carried out by numerically grown armies in a theater with a frontal width of more than 600 kilometers and a depth of up to 1,000 kilometers. Under these conditions, the conduct of the offensive along the internal lines of operations was no longer effective.
The award for the victory for the commander-in-chief of the main active army, Field Marshal His Serene Highness Prince Smolensky M.I. Kutuzov became the highest military award of the Fatherland - the Order of St. George, 1st degree. He became the first of four people in the 148-year history of the existence of the Russian Imperial Military Order to earn all four of its degrees. Such an honor after him will be awarded to commanders in the field marshal rank M.B. Barclay de Tolly, I.I. Dibich-Zabalkansky and I.F. Paskevich-Erivansky. The great Suvorov did not lead this glorious cohort only for the reason that he received his first George the Victorious immediately of the 3rd class, bypassing the lowest degree.
Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, with his military feat, entered forever into Russian history as the savior of the Fatherland. Expressing the general feelings of the people and the army, the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin wrote:
When the voice of the people's faith
I called out to your holy gray hair:
"Go rescue!" You got up and saved.
With the name of commander M.I. Kutuzov is associated with the beginning of the liberation campaigns abroad of the Russian army in 1813-1814, which ended with the capture of Paris. Its commander-in-chief was well aware that the extermination of the Great Army did not yet mean the collapse of the Napoleonic French Empire. Leading the military operations of the Russian-Prussian troops, Kutuzov, in addition, "uses all means in order to attract the people" of the Duchy of Warsaw to the side of Russia. Success crowned his diplomatic efforts to withdraw Austria from the war. The Prussian monarch Friedrich Wilhelm III conferred on the commander at once two highest orders of the now allied kingdom - the Black Eagle and the White Eagle. In his penultimate letter to the family of M.I. Kutuzov wrote: “I have so many worries, I have to bother so much that God forbid I stay alive.” He felt that his strength, undermined by the tension of the war, was leaving him.
The allied forces of Russia and Prussia were advancing along the land of Saxony, approaching its capital city of Dresden. The last stop was the town of Bunzlau. Here Mikhail Illarionovich fell ill, although, overcoming his illness, he continued to lead the troops, signing orders and instructions. In Bunzlau, he was brought the keys to the fortress of Thorn, which capitulated to the Russian troops. 
The great commander of Russia passed away on Wednesday, April 28, at 21:30. The news of his death came to the active army on the eve of the battle with the French near Lutzen. Emperor Alexander I ordered this sad news to be kept secret for the time being, so as not to undermine the spirit of the troops before the battle.
"Savior of the Fatherland" in the "thunderstorm of the 12th year" Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov was buried with full honors on June 11 in the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. When the funeral train from the Silesian Bunzlau arrived in the city of Narva, ordinary people unharnessed their horses from the wagon and rolled it in their arms to the capital of Russia with a large gathering of saddened people.
The bright memory of the great warrior Fatherland has been alive for two hundred years. It is in monuments, names of streets, squares, settlements, metro stations, in books, films, canvases, for the soldiers of Russia, starting from the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, in the military order of Kutuzov of three degrees.
LEADERSHIP art of M.I. Kutuzov is carefully preserved and creatively used in our time. Generals and officers Armed Forces Russia is studying the military heritage of the commander. They draw interesting and instructive lessons from how, for example, M.I. Kutuzov the problem of interaction between troops. Its practical implementation was hampered by the extremely limited possibilities for the rapid movement of troops, the imperfection of the means of communication of that time. Despite this, during the war of 1812 it was possible to achieve coordinated actions of the troops. The direct organizers of this interaction were the commander-in-chief of the Russian army M.I. Kutuzov and the General Staff, which was created in accordance with the "Institution for the management of a large army in the field." The Commander-in-Chief and the General Staff coordinated the actions of the army, corps and partisan detachments by purpose, place and time by setting specific tasks and issuing orders. The main document that determined the tasks of the troops and the nature of their interaction was the "Table of Army Movements" introduced by Kutuzov. The main method of management used by the commander-in-chief was the setting of tasks by issuing written orders and instructions, through officers and generals of the General Staff, orally in person.
M.I. Kutuzov, while retaining the overall leadership of military operations, skillfully relied in his activities on the General Staff, provided the commanders of the armies and corps commanders with broad initiative and independence. In the course of the war, the role of headquarters as command and control bodies increased significantly, which helped to increase the effectiveness of troop operations. Napoleon, not trusting his headquarters and corps commanders, sought to resolve all issues personally, replacing his subordinate generals. This method of control turned out to be ineffective in a war characterized by an increased spatial scope and the participation of mass armies in it.
For the military art of M.I. Kutuzov is characterized by the skillful use of reserves. For example, in the Battle of Borodino, he allocated one infantry corps, a cuirassier division and artillery in the amount of 306 guns to his main reserve. In addition, each wing had special reserves: the right wing - 9 Cossack regiments and a cavalry corps, the left wing - grenadier and cuirassier divisions, two artillery brigades. In terms of their strength and composition, these reserves were capable of solving important tactical tasks in the course of battle and battle. In defense, the reserves were entrusted with the tasks of restoring the situation in one of the sections of the position, of conducting counterattacks and delivering surprise strikes against the enemy. In the offensive, the reserves were used to develop success, consolidate the achieved lines and pursue the retreating enemy.
In achieving success in battle, M.I. Kutuzov attached great importance to the skillful use of all troops. Infantry in offensive and defensive battles skillfully combined fire, maneuver and bayonet strikes and, in cooperation with cavalry and artillery, decided the outcome of the battle and battle.
Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, who with his courage and military labor put himself in the ranks of the great commanders of the Fatherland, was and remains a role model for generals and officers of the modern Russian army.
Boyarin Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, even before the accession of Peter I, had a lot of merits before Russia - military and diplomatic. But he did not get into favor with Peter at all for them. In 1698, when the tsar returned from a trip abroad, Sheremetev was the only one of all the Moscow boyars who met him dressed in full European uniform - in a "German" dress, without a beard and with a cross knight of malta on the chest. Peter realized that such a person can be relied upon.
And for sure: Sheremetev served the young tsar faithfully. It all started, however, with a major setback. In 1700, near Narva, Boris Petrovich commanded the noble cavalry, which was the first to run away under the onslaught of the Swedes.
But Sheremetev quickly learned a bitter lesson and a few months later, on December 29, he won the first victory in the Northern War over the Swedes at the Erestvehr manor in Estonia.
Peter, to celebrate, rewarded the winner in a royal way: he granted the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called and a field marshal's baton. Both awards were still a novelty in Russia then.
In the summer of 1702, Sheremetev captured an amazing trophy in Marienburg - Marta Skavronskaya, a pupil of Pastor Gluck. From Boris Petrovich, she passed to Menshikov, and Peter took Martha from Danilych, baptizing her into Catherine. In 1712 they got married. From now on, Sheremetev's position at court was finally consolidated. Only he and Prince-Caesar Romodanovsky were admitted to the tsar without a report. And although they were not close to the tsar, Peter's respect for the first Russian field marshal was great. Suffice it to say that Sheremetev was released from the obligation to drain the Great Eagle Cup at royal feasts. You need to see this bottomless vessel at least once in order to understand what a heavy duty our hero was spared.
Sheremetev traveled all the roads of the Northern War, was commander-in-chief in the battle of Poltava, took Riga, suppressed the evil Astrakhan rebellion, shared the shame of the Prut campaign with the tsar, led Russian regiments to Pomerania ...
In 1712, 60-year-old Boris Petrovich requested to retire. He dreamed of taking monastic vows in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. But Peter, who loved surprises, instead of a monastic hood presented Sheremetev with a beautiful bride - his relative, Anna Petrovna Naryshkina (nee Saltykova). The old field marshal did not refuse the new service. He performed his marital duty as honestly as he had done in the military. For seven years, the young wife bore him five children.
Shortly before his death, in 1718, Sheremetev showed himself to be a man of honor, refusing to participate in the trial of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich under the pretext of poor health.
However, his health was really undermined by many years of military labors.
In 1719, Peter personally interred the ashes of the first Russian field marshal.
In his will, Sheremetyev asked to be buried in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, but Peter I, having decided to create a pantheon in St. Petersburg, ordered Sheremetyev to be buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The body of the first Russian field marshal was interred on April 10, 1719. The Tsar followed the coffin from the field marshal's house, located on the Fontanka, opposite the Summer Garden, to the monastery, accompanied by the court, foreign ministers, generals and two guards regiments, Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky. On the grave of Sheremetev, Peter ordered to put a banner with the image of a field marshal.
P.S.
The first Russian field marshal was a man of humor, as evidenced by the following story.
“Sheremetev near Riga wanted to hunt. There was then in our service some prince from the coast, they said, from Mecklenburg. Pyotr Alekseevich caressed him. He also went for the field marshal (B.P. Sheremetev). Until they reached the beast, the prince asked Sheremetev about Malta; how he didn’t get rid of it and wanted to know if he had traveled anywhere else from Malta, then Sheremetev took him around the whole world: he decided to go around all of Europe, look at Constantinople, and in Egypt, fry, look at America. Rumyantsev, Ushakov, the prince, the usual conversation of the sovereign, returned to dinner. At the table, the prince could not be quite surprised how the field marshal managed to travel around so much land. "Yes, I sent him to Malta." - "And from there, wherever he was!" And told all his journey. Pyotr Alekseevich was silent, and after the table, leaving to rest, ordered Rumyantsev and Ushakov to stay; then giving them question points, he ordered to take an answer from the field marshal on them, among other things: from whom did he have a vacation to Constantinople, to Egypt, to America? Found him in the heat of a story about dogs and hares. “And the joke is not a joke; I myself go with a guilty head, ”said Sheremetev. When Pyotr Alekseevich began to scold him for fooling the foreign prince like that: “He’s a rather poor kid,” Sheremetev answered. “There was nowhere to run from the demands. So listen, I thought, and he hung his ears.
Lubyanovsky F.P. Memoirs. M., 1872, p. 50-52.
However, such tricks did not prevent foreigners from considering him the most polite and cultured person in Russia. The count knew Polish and Latin well.
As noted already, the Land Gentry (since 1800 - 1st) Cadet Corps was the first of the Cadet Corps created in Russia.
Many future military leaders who gained fame on the battlefields were trained within its walls. Giving its pupils thorough military training and a comprehensive education, the cadet corps eventually became not only prestigious military educational institution, but also a major center of education and culture, a genuine "knight's academy".
Below we will talk about some graduates of the SShKK - the 1st KK, who distinguished themselves both in the Russian-Turkish wars and in battles with Napoleon's army.
9.1. "THE LEADER IS INTELLIGENT, SKILLED, DEMANDING"
Among the names that make up the military pride of Russia, the name of the famous Russian commander Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev shines like a star of the first magnitude.
Count Petr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev was born on January 4 (15), 1725 in Moscow. His father, general-in-chief Alexander Ivanovich Rumyantsev, a descendant of ancient, but not noble and poor Kostroma landowners, occupied an honorable place among the favorites of Peter the Great, who highly valued him as a brave officer, an honest, efficient and knowledgeable diplomat.
The commander's mother. Maria Andreevna, belonged to the noblest family of her time. Her grandfather, Artamon Sergeevich Matveev, was the "near boyar" of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, whose second wife. Natalya Kirillovna, was a pupil in her grandfather's family. Mother's father, Andrei Artamonovich. - a prominent diplomat, associate of Peter I.
The future field marshal was named after the emperor. As a six-year-old boy, Peter was enlisted as a soldier and studied at home under the supervision of his father, who was exiled during the reign of Anna Ioannovna to his village. The boy received a good education at home, spoke French and German, and read a lot.
In 1739, young Rumyantsev was sent to Berlin as an embassy nobleman to acquire skills in the diplomatic service. But the next year, he was recalled for pranks and leprosy, and he enters the Land Gentry Cadet Corps. He studied there for only four months. The young man was not carried away by uniform studies in the corps, and, taking advantage of the fact that his father, who had returned from exile, was at that time Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Constantinople, he left his studies. P.A. graduated Rumyantsev from the cadet corps in October 1740 with the rank of second lieutenant. He began his service in the troops in Finland. In 1741 he was already a captain.
For the delivery of the peace treaty signed by his father in the city of Abo with Sweden in 1744, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna immediately promoted Rumyantsev to colonel and appointed him commander of the Voronezh Infantry Regiment. The brilliant young officer "exceeded his comrades in daring, ardently loved the fair sex and was loved by women." At this time, he was known for various kinds of eccentricities and scandalous tricks, which were noticed by the empress herself.
However, things have gradually changed over the years. This was facilitated by his marriage in 1748 to Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Golitsyna, the daughter of the famous Field Marshal Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn, an associate of Peter the Great. In the same year, P. A. Rumyantsev participates in the campaign of the Russian corps of Prince V. A. Repnin to the Rhine to assist the Austrians fighting against the French in the Netherlands. The campaign allowed Rumyantsev to practically get acquainted with the military art of European armies. He persistently and seriously engaged in improving combat training and improving the living conditions of the soldiers entrusted to him, he reads a lot of literature relating to military and state issues. Natural abilities and good knowledge help him become an experienced and educated officer. On the eve of the Seven Years' War 1756-1763. he is entrusted with the formation of new grenadier regiments and the reorganization of part of the dragoon regiments into cuirassiers. Throughout 1756, the young Major General P. A. Rumyantsev was preparing subordinate regiments for the campaign.
P. A. Rumyantsev participated in the Seven Years' War from the first to the last day, consistently commanding a separate consolidated cavalry detachment, an infantry brigade, a division, and a corps. The victories of the Russian army at Gross-Egersdorf (1757) and Kunersdorf (1759) are inextricably linked with the initiative, decisive and unconventional actions of Rumyantsev. For distinction in the battle of Kunersdorf, which ended in the complete defeat of the army of the Prussian king Frederick II, where the division of P. A. Rumyantsev occupied the center of the position of the Russian army, he was awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky with the motto "For Labor and Fatherland".
The military talent of P. A. Rumyantsev was especially clearly manifested in the Kolberg operation in 1761. Russian troops already twice, in 1758 and 1760, besieged the Prussian fortress Kolberg, located on the coast of the Baltic Sea, in Pomerania. Both sieges were unsuccessful, despite the fact that at that time the fortress was still weakly fortified and its garrison did not exceed a few hundred people. Meanwhile, Kolberg was of great importance to both warring parties. Located at a distance of more than two hundred kilometers from Berlin, it opened the way for the Russians to the capital of Prussia. Using the port of Kolberg, the Russians could deploy a powerful supply base for their troops, bringing everything they needed to it by sea. This reduced several times the mileage of horse-drawn transport, which, with the roads of that time, was the bottleneck in the conduct of the war.
The plan for 1761 provided for the allocation of a sufficiently strong separate corps for operations against Kolberg. Their command was entrusted to P. A. Rumyantsev. The siege was carried out in cooperation with the fleet, which blocked the fortress from the sea, landed troops and bombarded the fortifications. The task facing Rumyantsev was difficult. Around Kolberg, the Prussians created a strong fortified camp in which the corps of the field troops of the Prince of Württemberg defended. The supply of the fortress and the camp was carried out along the communication Lower Oder - Kolberg. The enemy tried to break the blockade of the fortress by the actions of the cavalry corps detached from the main forces of the Prussian army. A series of clashes took place, as a result of which communication was cut off, the troops of the Prince of Württemberg were forced to leave the camp near Kolberg and the fortress capitulated on December 5, 1761.
This was Rumyantsev's first independent operation. In the course of its implementation, some innovations in Russian military art also appeared. So, during this period, Rumyantsev formed two light battalions in the troops of the siege corps. The directive by which they were introduced also gave instructions on the tactics of these units. In particular, P. A. Rumyantsev recommended, when pursuing the enemy, “let out the best shooters in one line”. Such a line, when operating on rough terrain, turned into a loose formation. The area most advantageous for the use of light infantry, the directive indicated forests, villages and other cramped passages. This was the starting point for the broad development in the Russian army of a new type of infantry - the Jaeger - and a new method of fighting - loose formation.
After the capture of Kolberg, it seemed that the final defeat of Prussia was inevitable and close. But the death of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna on December 25, 1761 and the accession to the throne of Peter III brought a change in the political situation. Peter III, a friend and admirer of the Prussian king, makes peace with Frederick II and returns East Prussia to him.
However, Peter III was able to appreciate P. A. Rumyantsev. He grants him the rank of general-in-chief, awards the orders of St. Anna and St. Andrew the First-Called and appoints him Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army in the impending war with Denmark to restore the unity of the Duchy of Holstein. This appointment cost Rumyantsev subsequently many troubles, since after the removal of Peter III from the throne, Rumyantsev did not swear allegiance to Catherine II until he was convinced of the death of the deposed emperor. For this, Catherine removed him from the post of Commander-in-Chief, appointing General-in-Chief Pyotr Ivanovich Panin in his place.
P. A. Rumyantsev filed a letter of resignation. However, Catherine II provided only leave for treatment, and six months later offered to become the commander of the Estland division. Soon (in November 1764) she appointed him governor-general of Little Russia, president of the Ukrainian Collegium and chief commander of the Ukrainian and Zaporizhzhya Cossack regiments and the Ukrainian division. Until 1768, Rumyantsev dealt with the administrative structure of Ukraine, the reorganization of subordinate troops, and carried out a number of measures to organize a reliable defense of the southern borders of Russia from the devastating raids of the Crimean Tatars, which were then part of Turkey. The southern border at that time passed east of the Dnieper along the open steppe, approximately from Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk), south of Bakhmut (Artemovsk) and further to the fortress of St. Dmitry of Rostov (Rostov) to the mouth of the Don.
The border was covered by a fortified "Ukrainian line", on which local troops were located in separate detachments (the so-called cordon guard method). Tatar detachments of cavalry easily broke through this cordon, committed atrocities, robbed the population, captured prisoners and left with impunity back to the steppes. Rumyantsev organized the defense in a new way. Having concentrated a smaller part of the troops in several fortifications that blocked the most important areas of possible enemy strikes, he formed three detachments from the main forces in the rear, the purpose of which was to intercept and destroy the Tatars when they broke through the "Ukrainian line".
The expediency of P. A. Rumyantsev’s measures was fully justified in 1768. Then, from a large detachment of Tatars who broke through to Ukraine, only a few returned without any prey. But for a cardinal solution of the border issue, Rumyantsev, back in 1765, in his note “Military and Political Notes,” considered it absolutely necessary to return the Slavic lands lost during the period of the Tatar invasion. The Sea of Azov and the Northern Black Sea region were captured first by the Tatar khans, who formed the Crimean Khanate, and then by the Ottoman Empire, which subjugated the Crimean Khanate. More than once, Russian troops went to the Crimea to liberate their ancestral lands. But Peter's campaign to the Prut in 1711 was unsuccessful. The war of 1736-1739 was also unsuccessful. Therefore, the struggle with Turkey was inevitable.
By the 70s. 18th century The political situation in Europe has changed. Fearing the excessive strengthening of Russia, the European powers in every possible way counteracted its successes. Thus, Austria, Prussia and France took a lively part in organizing and supporting the uprising in Poland. In 1768, when Russia was already fighting the Polish Confederates, France secured Turkey's entry into the war. In the autumn of 1768, the Turkish sultan demanded from the Russian ambassador Alexei Mikhailovich Obreskov the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Podolia. Obreskov, referring to the lack of authority to do so, refused. Then Turkey declared war on Russia.
In the course of the struggle against the Poles and Turks, Russia had to put up two armies and four corps. The first army operated in Moldavia, Wallachia and on the Danube; the second - in Ukraine and on the Dniester, and then against the Crimea. The corps acted against the Polish confederates in the Crimea, Kuban and Transcaucasia. In the campaign of 1769, Rumyantsev commanded the 2nd (Ukrainian) army, which had an auxiliary task. But the main task - a campaign on the Danube - was to be solved by the first army under the command of Rumyantsev's comrade-in-arms in the Seven Years' War, General-in-Chief A. M. Golitsyn. The actual course of the 1769 campaign was reduced to the struggle for the Khotyn fortress on the right bank of the Dniester, which was conducted by Golitsyn sluggishly, with excessive caution. Thanks to the active actions of Rumyantsev, who moved the army to the Bug River, and strong forward detachments to the Dniester River and the Bendery fortress, the Turkish commander-in-chief - the grand vizier was misled about the number of Rumyantsev's forces and intentions. And so he acted in the Hoti region indecisively. The diversion of part of the Turkish forces against the 2nd Army contributed to Golitsyn's victory near Khotyn. Dissatisfied with the slowness of Golitsyn. Catherine II replaced him with Rumyantsev. September 27, 1769 II. A. Rumyantsev took command of the first army. General-in-chief P.I. Panin was appointed commander of the second army.
Arriving at the troops of the first army, Rumyantsev leaves Hoti not a garrison, withdraws the main forces to winter quarters, and allocates a strong detachment to occupy Moldavia. The Turks are defeated at Focsani. Bucharest, Zhurzhey and Brailov. But still the Brail fortress remains behind them. In the winter and spring periods, P. A. Rumyantsev did a lot of work to prepare the army troops for the upcoming campaign of 1770. It was to this period (March 8, 1770) that he developed a manual called “Rite of Service”, which defines the basic principles of training and education of troops . The need for such a document was caused by the imperfection of the existing statutes, the bulk of which, although published in 1763 - 1766. and took into account the combat experience of the Seven Years' War, but did not give clear and detailed instructions regarding the internal, garrison and field services. As a result, there was great discord among the troops both in the organization of these types of service and in the training of soldiers. Many military leaders, not content with existing charters, developed their own instructions. Since 1788, Rumyantsev's "rite of service" has been extended to the entire army as a mandatory charter. "The introduction of the main provisions of this document into the life of the troops of the first army contributed to an increase in its combat effectiveness already in the upcoming operations of the summer of 1770.
According to the plan developed in St. Petersburg by the military council under the empress, the main task in the campaign of 1770 was assigned to the second army. She was instructed to seize a strategically important object - the Bendery fortress in the lower reaches of the Dniester. The first army was supposed to ensure the actions of the second from the Danube and hold Moldavia. However, the mode of action of the first army was not indicated. Taking advantage of this, Rumyantsev immediately outlined an offensive plan for the army: to move between the Prut and Seret rivers and prevent the Turks from entering the left bank of the Danube. From the units of the advance detachment occupying Moldavia, Rumyantsev knew that by the spring of 1770 the main forces of the Turkish army were gradually concentrating on the right bank of the Danube near Isaccha, where they were preparing to cross the river. Large forces of the Tatar cavalry intended to strike in the direction of Iasi. To avoid defeat in parts, Rumyantsev ordered the advanced corps under the command of Lieutenant General X. F. Shtofeln to withdraw north to join the army, while he himself left the camp near Khotyn with the main forces and moved south along the left bank of the Prut.
Crimean Tatars, noticing the withdrawal of the troops of the advanced corps, from May 14 they proceed to decisive actions, trying to break the corps in parts. However, in several major skirmishes, detachments of the corps successfully repulsed the attack of the Tatars and by the end of May concentrated on the western bank of the Prut River against the Ryabaya Mogila tract. From June 1 to June 10, the position of the corps was very difficult, but the new corps commander, Lieutenant General N.V. Repnin, managed to hold the occupied area until the main forces approached. The mountainous terrain and bad roads hampered the march of Rumyantsev's troops. But their movement was much faster due to the new organization of the march. Rumyantsev led the main forces of the army in seven columns with the expectation that they could quickly reorganize into three squares in the event of a meeting with the enemy cavalry. Having traveled more than 100 kilometers in five days, the army of P. A. Rumyantsev on June 9 arrived at the Tsetsora tract.
On June 11, after building a pontoon bridge across the Prut, N.V. Repnin's corps moved to the eastern bank. Small detachments of Major General G. A. Potemkin and Colonel N. N. Kakovinsky were left on the western coast. Under the cover of Repnin's corps, the main forces of the army secretly approached and concentrated in front of the position of the Tatars and Turks in the Ryabaya Mogila tract. Rumyantsev's forces at the same time reached 39 thousand people with 115 guns. The enemy had 50 thousand Tatars and 22 thousand Turks, a total of 72 thousand people with 44 guns. After a thorough reconnaissance, Rumyantsev divides the attacking troops into four groups and on June 17, on a common signal, attacks the enemy from different directions. At the same time, the detachment of G. A. Potemkin crossed the Prut and hit the rear of the enemy. Such an attack gave him the impression of complete encirclement. Turks and Tatars rushed to flee to the south. To pursue them, Rumyantsev sent the entire cavalry, but she could not keep up with the light Tatar and Turkish horses.
The Russian cavalry, carried away by the chase, allowed the Turkish infantry to leave. The Russian infantry could not keep up with the fleeing Turks. As a result, the Turks, although in disarray, but in the bulk eluded destruction. The victory at Ryaba Mogila opened the Prut river valley to the Russians. However, the uncertainty of the situation forced P. A. Rumyantsev to act with caution.
By this time, the main forces of the Turks had not yet built a bridge near Isakcha and were on the right bank of the Danube. Therefore, the army of P. A. Rumyantsev, maintaining the initiative, continued its march along the Prut, putting forward strong vanguards for reconnaissance. Intelligence established that the enemy, numbering up to 80 thousand people - about 15 thousand Turks and 65 thousand Tatars - again took an advantageous natural and well-fortified position at the confluence of the Larga River with the Prut. In addition, the Grand Vizier sent several thousand Turks from the right bank of the Danube to help the troops operating on the Larga. Having assessed the situation, P. A. Rumyantsev decides to attack the enemy and defeat him before reinforcements arrive from the Danube. July 5 at the military council. On July 7, Russian troops attacked the enemy. All troops took part in the attack, except for the detachment of Colonel N.N. Kakovinsky. The offensive was envisaged by three groups: the right group of Lieutenant General P.G. Plemyannikov - 6000 people with 25 guns; the left group, which consisted of two detachments: Quartermaster General F.V. Bauer - 4,000 people with 14 guns and Lieutenant General N.V. Repnin - 11,000 people with 30 guns; the main forces under the personal command of P. A. Rumyantsev - 19,000 soldiers with 50 guns.
By two o'clock, all groups took up their starting position and launched an offensive, by four, the detachments of P. G. Plemyannikov, N. V. Repnin and F.V. Bauer shot down advanced posts and approached the enemy fortifications. The enemy opened heavy artillery fire. For fire reinforcement of the detachments of P. V. Repnin and F. V. Bauer, P. A. Rumyantsev sends a field artillery brigade from the main forces under the command of Major General P. I. Melissino, consisting of 17 guns. The destructive fire of the brigade P. I. Melissino forced the Turkish artillery to quickly fall silent. Unable to withstand the fire of infantry and artillery from different directions, the enemy fled rapidly, leaving about a thousand people killed on the battlefield, 33 guns, 8 banners and the entire camp. Rumyantsev's army lost 90 people (29 killed and 61 wounded). However, the main forces of the enemy, despite the decisive defeat, again managed to escape. The Turks retreated to the south, the Tatars to the southeast.
For this victory, Catherine II sent the winner the Order of St. George of the 1st degree - the highest military award, established in 1769. In her letter to P. A. Rumyantsev, the empress wrote: “In my century you will occupy an invariably excellent place as a reasonable, skillful and diligent leader. I consider it my duty to give you this justice ... ".
On July 14, the Grand Vizier, without waiting for the bridge to be built, crossed the Danube with the main forces on 300 ships. 150 thousand people were transferred to the left bank, including 50 thousand infantry, 100 thousand cavalry and 130 guns. Both armies gradually drew closer. Rumyantsev's position became very dangerous. Ahead, he had huge forces of the Turks, and from the east - a great threat to the communications of the army was the masses of the Tatar cavalry numbering up to 80 thousand people, who, recovering from the defeat at Larga, made a strategic bypass of the Russian army. Therefore, to cover transports with food, Rumyantsev had to allocate a strong corps of about 10 thousand people. After that, 27,750 people remained in the main forces of the first army, including non-combatants.
When the armies approached within 7 kilometers, the Turks camped on the eastern bank of the Cahul River (the left tributary of the Danube). Having assessed the features of the terrain, P. A. Rumyantsev decided to attack them, despite the huge numerical superiority of the enemy, and deliver the main blow to his left flank, holding down the actions of the Turks in the center and on the right flank with relatively small forces. To this end, he concentrated a grouping of up to 19 thousand people against the left flank of the enemy.
The offensive began at about 5 am on 21 July. It did not come as a surprise to the Turks, who on the night before the attack had greatly strengthened their positions. On a front of up to 2 kilometers, they built four rows of trenches, placing them in tiers along the heights of the ridges, and met the Russian troops with strong artillery fire. Numerous cavalry attacked the Russian square. The Russians repelled these attacks with destructive fire. However, when there was success in the center, the supreme vizier threw his selected army there - 10 thousand Janissaries, who managed to break the central square and partially put his troops to flight. At this critical moment, P. A. Rumyantsev personally rushes into the thick of the battle against the Janissaries, stops the trembling soldiers and organizes a rebuff to the counterattacking enemy.
Taking advantage of the delay, the Russian troops captured the left flank of the Turkish trenches and broke into them. This success facilitated a frontal attack on the Turkish position. The central square moved its ranks and rushed forward. Through the triple ditches, the Russians broke into the fortifications. The vizier, struck by the defeat of the Janissaries, took to flight. By 10 o'clock the Russians had taken all the fortifications. The Turkish losses were enormous. The entire Turkish camp, convoy, 140 guns went to the winners. Pursuing the enemy, the corps of F.V. Bauer defeated him at Kartal, and the corps of I.V. Repnin captured the fortress of Izmail. More than 20 thousand Turks died on the battlefield and drowned in Cahul and the Danube.
In the battle of Kagul, at Kartal and Izmail, 60 banners and signs, 203 guns, a lot of ammunition and the entire convoy were taken, more than 2 thousand people were captured. Russian troops lost 353 people killed, 550 were wounded and 11 people were missing.
Rumyantsev, without stopping, went forward and took fortresses one after another: August 22 - Kiliya, September 15 - Akkerman, November 10 - Brailov. Rumyantsev's name thundered throughout Europe. He won a decisive victory on the Cahul River with a balance of power that is hard to find in the history of wars. For the victory at Cahul, P. A. Rumyantsev received the rank of Field Marshal12. In honor of the glorious victory of Rumyantsev, the Cahul obelisk was erected in the Catherine Park of Tsarskoe Selo, and the soldiers called their commander "a direct soldier."
In the victorious campaign of 1770, Russia pushed back its southern border to the shores of the Black Sea and the Danube River. Next in line was the task of mastering the Crimea. It was successfully solved in the campaign of 1771 by the second army, commanded by General-in-Chief V. M. Dolgoruky. Rumyantsev's army in this campaign firmly held the conquered areas on the northern bank of the Danube and captured part of the Turkish fortresses on its southern bank. But the long-awaited peace did not come. Negotiations were held from May 1772 to March 1773, the parties were in a state of truce. However, the Turks did not accept the conditions of Russia, and the negotiations ended inconclusively.
In 1773, P. A. Rumyantsev, at the insistence of Catherine II, transfers military operations beyond the Danube, to Bulgaria. Despite the difficult situation of the army, caused by insufficient staffing and provision of troops, due to frequent strikes, he firmly seizes the initiative and fetters the actions of the enemy. One of the methods of such fettering of the enemy at the same time in several directions was the so-called searches - partial strikes to a limited depth on the enemy's fortified points with a return to their original position. Major General A. V. Suvorov, Lieutenant General G. A. Potemkin, Major General O. A. Veisman distinguished themselves in these battles. But by autumn, the depletion of troops and supplies reached such proportions that P. A. Rumyantsev was forced to stop further actions and give the order to be placed in winter quarters.
By the beginning of the 1774 campaign, the forces of Rumyantsev's army were very limited. It numbered no more than 55 thousand people, taking into account all the replenishment. The cadres of glorious veterans of 1770 by this time had greatly thinned out. They melted in battles and difficult campaigns. However, the energetic measures taken by the Field Marshal to train replacements and put together completed units ensured the high combat readiness of the army. fighting started in April. P. A. Rumyantsev divided his army into three main groups, instructing the divisions of Lieutenant General I. P. Saltykov to besiege Ruschuk, the divisions of Lieutenant General F. I. Glebov - Silistria, the divisions of Lieutenant General M. F. Kamensky and General Major A.V. Suvorov to move through Bazardzhik to Shumla and tie up the army of the vizier before the end of the siege of Silistria and Ruschuk.
On June 20, A.V. Suvorov defeated the 25,000th Turkish corps at Kozludzha. M. F. Kamensky moved to Shumla and blocked the forces of the vizier in the fortress with an unexpected maneuver. The Turks asked for peace. In accordance with the powers presented by Catherine II, Field Marshal P. A. Rumyantsev signed the long-awaited peace treaty in the village of Kuchuk-Kainardzhi. The Turks accepted all the conditions of the Russians. Russia has become a Black Sea power. Strengthened its position in the south, in the Caucasus and the Balkans. The empress generously rewarded the outstanding commander. He received a field marshal's baton, strewn with diamonds, a sword with diamonds, a diamond laurel wreath and an olive branch, a diamond St. Andrew's star, the title of Transdanubian and other awards.
At the end of the war, Field Marshal P.A. Rumyantsev, showered with awards, returned to the post of Governor-General of Ukraine, where he was again involved in the reorganization, education and combat training of the army. He expressed his thoughts in a memorandum to Catherine II in 1777, known as "Thought"13. In 1776, on the orders of Catherine II, Rumyantsev accompanies the future Emperor Pavel Petrovich to Berlin on the occasion of his marriage to the niece of the Prussian King Frederick II, who arranged a solemn meeting for the illustrious commander and awarded him the Order of the Black Eagle.
During the second Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791. P.A. Rumyantsev again in the army. Catherine II appointed him Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army, which was auxiliary to the main Yekaterinoslav Army, headed by General-General G. A. Potemkin. This appointment deeply offended the Field Marshal, and he, citing illness, asked for his resignation. Catherine II did not let P. A. Rumyantsev retire. She left him his posts in Ukraine, but removed him from the leadership of the army and replaced N.V. Repnin. The old field marshal went to his estates near Kiev and never left them. Here, in 1791, he received news of the death of G. A. Potemkin and expressed sincere regret about this. Despite all personal grievances, P. A. Rumyantsev highly appreciated the activities of G. A. Potemkin for the benefit of Russia and its army.
In 1794, Catherine II ordered P. A. Rumyantsev, who commanded Russian troops in Podil and Volhynia, to assist General-in-Chief N. V. Repnin in his actions against Poland. Rumyantsev entrusted this to General-in-Chief A.V. Suvorov, who was under his command, giving him a directive demanding vigorous action. Suvorov brilliantly completed the campaign in Poland, for which he was awarded the rank of Field Marshal. The empress awarded P. A. Rumyantsev with a house in St. Petersburg, in front of which stood a monument with the inscription “To the victories of Count Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky”, as well as villages in the Lithuanian province. The death of Empress Catherine II deeply upset Rumyantsev. He survived her by only 32 days. December 19, 1796 the great commander died.
In memory of his services to the Fatherland, Emperor Paul I declared three days of mourning for the army. The remains of the Field Marshal were transported to Kyiv and buried in the Pechersk Lavra, near the kliros of the Assumption Church.
The Russian army, and especially people who knew P. A. Rumyantsev closely, highly appreciated him. He was in many ways an innovator in the field of Russian military art. A follower of the military school of Peter the Great, P. A. Rumyantsev broke the outdated provisions of the charters in matters of life, training of troops and combat. He did a lot in terms of the development of Russian military-theoretical thought. Thanks to people like Rumyantsev, Russian military art in the second half of the 18th century. reached an exceptional rise, far ahead of the military art of other countries.
