Some of the Russian troops passing through Moscow that night looted shops in Red Square.
Summary:
When the Russian troops were passing through Moscow that night, they were delayed at the bridges. A great many soldiers turned back from the bridges and slipped stealthily and silently to the Red Square and began looting the shops. Crowds of soldiers entered the Bazaar empty-handed and emerged with big bundles of stolen goods. The few shopkeepers in the shops were helpless to stop this midnight looting. Their officers were unable to stop the men. Eventually, General Ermólov, coming up to the crowd and learning that soldiers were spilling into the shops while crowds of civilians blocked the bridge, ordered two guns to make a show of firing at the bridge. The crowd, crushing one another, upsetting carts, and shouting and squeezing desperately, cleared the bridge and the troops were able to resume their midnight retreat through Moscow.
quote from the chapter:
While the troops, dividing into two parts when passing around the Krémlin, were thronging the Moskvá and the Stone bridges, a great many soldiers, taking advantage of the stoppage and congestion, turned back from the bridges and slipped stealthily and silently past the church of Vasíli the Beatified and under the Borovítski gate, back up the hill to the Red Square where some instinct told them they could easily take things not belonging to them. Crowds of the kind seen at cheap sales filled all the passages and alleys of the Bazaar. But there were no dealers with voices of ingratiating affability inviting customers to enter; there were no hawkers, nor the usual motley crowd of female purchasers-but only soldiers, in uniforms and overcoats though without muskets, entering the Bazaar empty-handed and silently making their way out through its passages with bundles. Tradesmen and their assistants (of whom there were but few) moved about among the soldiers quite bewildered.
Book 11, Chapter 21
Some of the Russian troops passing through Moscow that night looted shops in Red Square.
Summary:
When the Russian troops were passing through Moscow that night, they were delayed at the bridges. A great many soldiers turned back from the bridges and slipped stealthily and silently to the Red Square and began looting the shops. Crowds of soldiers entered the Bazaar empty-handed and emerged with big bundles of stolen goods. The few shopkeepers in the shops were helpless to stop this midnight looting. Their officers were unable to stop the men. Eventually, General Ermólov, coming up to the crowd and learning that soldiers were spilling into the shops while crowds of civilians blocked the bridge, ordered two guns to make a show of firing at the bridge. The crowd, crushing one another, upsetting carts, and shouting and squeezing desperately, cleared the bridge and the troops were able to resume their midnight retreat through Moscow.
quote from the chapter:
While the troops, dividing into two parts when passing around the Krémlin, were thronging the Moskvá and the Stone bridges, a great many soldiers, taking advantage of the stoppage and congestion, turned back from the bridges and slipped stealthily and silently past the church of Vasíli the Beatified and under the Borovítski gate, back up the hill to the Red Square where some instinct told them they could easily take things not belonging to them. Crowds of the kind seen at cheap sales filled all the passages and alleys of the Bazaar. But there were no dealers with voices of ingratiating affability inviting customers to enter; there were no hawkers, nor the usual motley crowd of female purchasers-but only soldiers, in uniforms and overcoats though without muskets, entering the Bazaar empty-handed and silently making their way out through its passages with bundles. Tradesmen and their assistants (of whom there were but few) moved about among the soldiers quite bewildered.
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