attack upon the
great bastion he had before captured, and the whole line again advanced.
While the Viceroy attacked the great redoubt in front, Murat sent a
division of his cavalry round to fall upon its rear, and, although swept
by artillery and infantry fire, the brave horsemen carried out their
object, although almost annihilated by the fire of the defenders of the
redoubt.

The French infantry took advantage of the attention of the defenders
being diverted by this attack, and with a rush stormed the work; the
four Russian regiments who held it fought to the last, refusing all
offers of quarter, and maintaining a hand-to-hand conflict until
annihilated. The Russian artillery, in the works round Gorki, swept the
redoubt with their fire, and under its cover the infantry made repeated
but vain attacks to recapture it, for their desperate bravery was
unavailing against the tremendous artillery fire concentrated upon them,
while the French on their part were unable to take advantage of the
position they had gained. Napoleon, indeed, would have launched his
troops against the works round Gorki, but his generals represented to
him that the losses had already been so enormous, that it was doubtful
whether he could possibly succeed, and if he did so, it could only be
with such further loss as would cripple the army altogether.

At three o'clock Napoleon, whose whole army, with the exception of the
Imperial Guard, had been engaged, felt that nothing further could be
done that day, and ordered the battle to cease. He had gained the three
redoubts on the Russians' left and the great redoubt captured by the
Viceroy, but these were really only advanced works, and the main
position of the Russians still remained entirely intact. At night the
French retired from the positions they had won, to those they had
occupied before the battle begun, retaining possession only of the
village of Borodino. The loss of the combatants during the two days'
fighting had been nearly equal, no less than 40,000 men having been
killed on each side, a number exceeding that of any other battle in
modern times. Napoleon expected that the Russians would again give
battle next morning, but Kutusow, contrary to the opinion of most of his
generals, decided on falling back. Beningsen, one of his best officers,
strongly urged him to take up a position at Kalouga, some seventy miles
to the south of Moscow. The position was a very strong one. Napoleon
could not