September is the best time to remember the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino and to study the uniforms, weapons and household items of the soldiers of the war of 1812 in the museum-reserve “Borodino”. And if you’re lucky, get to the historical reconstruction of the famous battle. With details-Irina Romanova.
“A l‘arme! Marcher!” shouted an officer, and a platoon of French soldiers, shouldering their rifles, began to march. It was cold. It was drizzling. The soldiers ‘ white culottes (trousers) were splattered with mud up to their knees. At the striped milepost, the French were overtaken by Russian infantrymen in red and green uniforms. “The ruined path from Mozhay to Moscow” – they sang an old hiking song. The French responded by pulling the “Marseillaise”.
On this very field, on August 26 (September 7), 1812, Russian troops under the command of Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov gave battle to the Napoleonic army. At first I was unsure whether I should go here. In the 19th century, Borodino was a large memorial: with the grave of Prince Bagration on Kurgan Height, a museum full of memorabilia of the heroes of the war of 1812, and even a “disabled lodge”, where several veterans of the Battle of Borodino lived, who led visitors around the battlefield. However, during the Soviet years, most of the exhibits were lost, so when I got to Borodino in the early 90s, the wind was blowing in the fields there.
However, in recent years, the life of the museum has become very lively — the staff restored the old Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery, built in the 20s of the XIX century by the widow of General Tuchkov, Abbess Maria, and now they are restoring the old manor house and the park around it. There are also regular exhibitions that show new archaeological finds: weapons, uniforms, items of soldiers ‘ life of the Alexander era.
But the most interesting thing in Borodino is the military-historical reconstruction, which began to take place in 1992. The main one is Borodin Day, which is celebrated on the first Sunday of September. This holiday is attended by military-historical clubs from Russia, France, England, Poland, Canada, up to 2000 infantry, 300 cavalry, 400 artillery and 30 artillery pieces gather.
The celebrations usually begin in Shevardino-the village that was first attacked by Napoleon – with the laying of wreaths at the monument to the fallen French soldiers. At 11 am, the French guard is being formed on the Shevardinsky redoubt to the beat of drums. Napoleon rides out to her-in a gray greatcoat, on a white horse. Last year, Napoleon was played by the American actor Mark Schneider (“Ghost Hunter”, “Son of the Pink Panther”), who, as they say, has been traveling around Abukir, Austerlitz, and Waterloo for several years for fabulous fees. Kutuzov, on the other hand, was a veteran of reconstruction. His name was Pavel Timofeev, he is the director of the Novgorod prosthetic and orthopedic enterprise. It is said that before trying on the field marshal’s uniform, he visited the Kazan Cathedral, where Mikhail Illarionovich is buried, and asked permission to perform his role.
About three kilometers from Shevadino across the Koloch River is Borodino proper. It took the French a night to get there, but it took the children and me an hour and a half to get there. Together with us, men, horses, and cannons were moving towards the Borodino field. From time to time we exchanged a few words with the soldiers. So, the French naval gunners showed us the guns — real, the beginning of the XIX century. The dragoons told us that all the horses were shelled and were not afraid of the volleys of guns, and the gunners — that the guns that roared past us on the Mozhaisk highway-were from Mosfilm, they were filmed by Sergei Bondarchuk in the film “War and Peace”. Authenticity is the most important thing for reenactors. “If a soldier wears glasses, it’s horn-rimmed, if he smokes, it’s a pipe,” one of the soldiers explained. The only relief is that you can wear socks instead of footcloths, otherwise the soldiers wash their feet in blood on the march.
And here before us is the Borodino field-brown with autumn grass, with copses, surrounded by a chain of hills. On the French side, on the left flank, stands the corps of Prince Poniatowski, in the center-the corps of Marshals Ney and Davout, on the right flank — the troops of Prince Beauharnais. The Russians have the Semyonov Flushes on their left flank, and the Rayevsky battery in the center. The drums are beating. Napoleon and his staff go around the troops. Kutuzov encircles the shelves with the miraculous icon of Hodegetria. Suddenly the French attack, knocking the Russian huntsmen from their positions. Miniature villages-Semyonovskoye and Borodino-are burning. But the Russian infantry had already launched a counterattack…
Historically, the Battle of Borodino lasted 13 hours — the reconstruction was completed in an hour and a half. Its participants showed the main episodes of the battle: the battle for the Semyonovsky flushes, the French attack of the Rayevsky battery and the counterattack of General Yermolov, the cavalry battle for the village of Semyonovskoye and the artillery cannonade of two batteries — the Russian Kurgan and the Great French. The effect of the battle was complete. The guns roared, the ground shook, and the smoke from the shots covered the field, leaving rings in the sky. During the cavalry battles, horses slipped and fell on the sodden ground, and their riders fell head over heels into the mud. At each rifle salvo, the “wounded” fell, and the orderlies immediately ran up to them and took them somewhere in the woods.
— We can’t see from here, but there are a lot of women and children on the field right now, ” said a girl from the reconstruction club, who, according to her, had passed both Austerlitz and Waterloo. — There’s so much fun out there right now. You see, a “dead” infantryman fell in front of the guns. And the gunner bent down to him and wants to give him a drink of brandy. The infantryman “resurrected” and ran away!
After the battle, we visited the reenactors ‘ camp. White canvas tents, an armful of straw on the ground. At the entrance to the tent, many had wooden clogs, such as infantry soldiers used to change their shoes at halts, and flasks, hand-hollowed out of pumpkins, were attached to their hiking backpacks, which were thrown directly on the ground. In the camp fires were burning, the soldiers were warming themselves by the fire, cooking buckwheat porridge in cauldrons, drying socks. The doctor passed us with a valise in his hand. The doctor’s name was Monsieur Foucault, and he turned out to be a bank clerk from Normandy, but in his valise he had a scalpel, clamps, a scarring tool (a bloodletting tool), and a pair of tweezers for extracting bullets. I asked him what had brought him to Russia.
“A tribute to my memory — my great — grandfather was on the Russian campaign,” the doctor said. — And the adrenaline. On the Borodino field, we are putting on a show, but the powder in our guns is real!
Road
The museum can be reached by car: 108 km along the Minsk highway, then turn right to Mozhaisk, then 12 km from Mozhaisk to Borodino. By train: from Belorussky railway station by electric trains “Moscow-Borodino”, “Moscow-Gagarin”, “Moscow-Vyazma”. Then 3 km on foot.
Food
Usually during large reconstructions in Borodino there are mobile cafes where you can buy tea, coffee, sandwiches, pies. But it will not be superfluous to stock up on sandwiches.
What other reconstructions to see
On the second Sunday of October, participants of military-historical clubs restore episodes of the battles for Borodino in 1941. On the last Sunday of May, a holiday for schoolchildren “The Persistent Tin Soldier” is held, during which children can try on the uniform of a Russian infantryman, taste soldier’s porridge and ride a horse. In the summer, every two weeks, the museum organizes a weekend tour “Field of Russian Glory”, during which you can see all the exhibitions, visit the Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery, and visit the military-historical settlement “Doronino”.
Contacts: museum-reserve “Borodino”, tel.: (496-38) 6-32-23, excursion department-5-15-22; 5-15-46. website: www.borodino.ru