Rostóv reaches the village of Pratzen. He finds only disorganized crowds of troops jostling about and still being fired upon. Nicholas continues searching, once spotting the Emperor but not approaching to help him. The battle is lost.
Rostóv reaches the village of Pratzen. He finds only disorganized crowds of troops jostling about and still being fired upon. Nicholas continues searching, once spotting the Emperor but not approaching to help him. The battle is lost.
Book 3, Chapter 18
Rostóv reaches the village of Pratzen. He finds only disorganized crowds of troops jostling about and still being fired upon. Nicholas continues searching, once spotting the Emperor but not approaching to help him. The battle is lost.
Summary:
By the time Nicholas reaches Pratzen it’s clear the battle is lost. The French have taken the Heights and are firing upon the Russian troops. The officers have fled Pratzen, and the message Nicholas was sent to deliver is now completely irrelevant. Nicholas continues to search for Kutúzov. He hears rumors that Kutúzov or the Emperor have been wounded or killed. Someone says the commanders have gone to Hosjeradek, so Nicholas goes there. He sees from ten to fifteen dead and wounded lay on each couple of acres along the way. The wounded made distressing screams and groans. The French see Rostóv moving and fire a few shots at him, and he hears the balls whiz by. Hosjeradek is a bit more orderly, since it is beyond the range of the French guns. At one point, he spots the Emperor apparently needing some assistance, but even though he has dreamed of the chance to help the Emperor, it does not seem the thing to do now. The Russians positions are greatly disordered everywhere. They have been soundly beaten that day. The French are receiving almost no return fire from the Russians. A group of men attempting to cross the Augesd dam scramble onto the ice, which breaks up drowning some of them.
quote from the chapter:
Before five in the evening the battle had been lost at all points. More than a hundred cannon were already in the hands of the French.
Przebyszéwski and his corps had laid down their arms. Other columns after losing half their men were retreating in disorderly confused masses.
The remains of Langeron’s and Dokhtúrov’s mingled forces were crowding around the dams and banks of the ponds near the village of Augesd.
After five o’clock it was only at the Augesd Dam that a hot cannonade (delivered by the French alone) was still to be heard from numerous batteries ranged on the slopes of the Pratzen Heights, directed at our retreating forces.
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