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Vyazma (Russian: Вязьма) is a town and the administrative center of Vyazemsky District in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Vyazma River, about halfway between Smolensk, the administrative center of the oblast, and Mozhaysk.
Vyazma, today, is a placid regional center with a population of some 56,000 just off the Minsk Highway, the main road from Moscow to the West. Administratively a part of Smolensk Province,...
- William Brumfield
The Battles of Rzhev (Russian: Ржевская битва, romanized:Rzhevskaya bitva) were a series of Red Army offensives against the Wehrmacht between 8 January 1942 and 31 March 1943, on the Eastern Front of World War II. The battles took place in the northeast of Smolensk Oblast and the south of Tver Oblast, in and around the salient surrounding Rzhev.
- Inconclusive [1]
Jul 5, 2013 · Vyazma today is a placid regional center of some 56,000 just off the Minsk Highway, the main road from Moscow west. It is situated almost midway between two ancient centers of Russia’s destiny...
- William Brumfield
- Background
- Action
- Consequences
- References
- External Links
Napoleon's objective at this stage of the retreat was to lead the Grande Armée to the closest French supply depot, Smolensk, but the road from Moscow was 270 miles (430 km) long and impossible to defend. It was choked by partisan activity and Cossack raiding parties. French supply trains were routinely wiped out and 15,000 French troops were captur...
Russian cavalry attacks
At 8 am on 3 November, Miloradovich's cavalry attacked the disorganized French column holding the length of road which separated the I Corps from the IV and V Corps. Miloradovich also ordered his artillery, positioned on nearby heights, to begin a cannonade. With beautiful warm weather with bright sunshine the attack was a complete success, as it captured the French IV Corps baggage train and sent the French troops fleeing in disarray.Miloradovich then placed infantrymen and horse batteries a...
Eugène's counterattack
Fortunately for Davout, there was a weakness in the Russian plan of attack, in that the Russian cavalry had attacked the Vyazma-Fedorovskoye road that morning without the full support of the II and IV Infantry Corps (led by Duke Eugen of Württemberg and General Ostermann-Tolstoy respectively), which were located to the south and would not be able to reach the battlefield until 10 am, two hours after the action commenced. Miloradovich, fearing that the gap between Davout and the rest of the Fr...
Miloradovich repositions his troops
The Russians at this point had been repulsed at all points, but they were hardly finished with the battle. Having pulled back from Eugène's attack, Miloradovich ordered his troops to reposition themselves parallel to the road. A heavy cannonade was then commenced against Davout's troops as they retreated toward Vyazma.Davout's artillery was unable to respond effectively to the Russian fire, and panic broke out among his troops. Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur, an observer of the action on the...
The Battle of Vyazma represented a defeat of the Grande Armée's rearguard, as French losses in this battle, 6,000 to 8,000 casualties, including 4,000 lost as prisoners to the Russians, were prohibitive.[citation needed]The shock of the Russian attack reduced many French units to a state of disarray, and owing to the speed with which their retreat ...
Napoleon's Russian Campaign of 1812, Edward Foord, Boston, Little Brown and Company, ISBN 9781297620355Russia Against Napoleon, Dominic Lieven, Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0-14-311886-2Napoleon In Russia: A Concise History of 1812, 2004, Digby Smith, Pen & Sword Military, ISBN 978-1-84415-089-2The War of the Two Emperors, Curtis Cate, Random House, New York, ISBN 978-0-394-53670-5Media related to Battle of Vyazma (1812)at Wikimedia Commons- 3 November 1812 (22 Oct. by OS)
- Russian victory
One such settlement is the town of Vyazma, which Porkudin-Gorsky visited in the Summer of 1912 as part of a project to document sites connected with the centennial of the Napoleonic invasion of Russia.
Vyazma (vyäz´mə), city (1989 pop. 59,000), N central European Russia, on the Vyazma River, a tributary of the Dnieper. Founded in the 9th cent., Vyazma became an important trade and military center that was an object of contention among Russia, Lithuania, and Poland.
