First Battle of Krasnoi | |||||||
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Part of the French invasion of Russia | |||||||
The crossing of the Dniepr by Christian Wilhelm von Faber du Faur | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
French Empire | Russian Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Michel Ney | Dmitry Neverovsky [1] | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
13,000 [2] | 6,000-7,000 [3] [2] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
500 killed, wounded or captured [3] [2] | 1,500 killed, wounded or captured [3] [2] |
The First Battle of Krasnoi was fought on 14 August between Ney's French troops and Neverovsky's Russian troops. It ended with a victory for the French, but the Russians retreated in good order to Smolensk.
Bagration had reinforced Neverovsky's troops with some cavalry and ordered him to cover Krasnoi ( Krasny) and especially westwards the direction of Orsha. [1]
Ney drove him out of Krasnoi and captured part of his artillery, the first trophies of the entire campaign. Neverovsky assembled his 6,000 to 7,000 men into a huge square Ney's cavalry could not break. The square moved across the field over a palisade fence and Ney's cavalry could not follow. Neverovsky's troops were able to get away in good order but left 1,500 men behind. [2]
Neverovsky returned to Smolensk and reported. [2] The battle of Smolensk started only two days later.