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The Battle of Maloyaroslavets took place on 24 October 1812 as part of the French invasion of Russia. It was Kutuzov's decisive battle to force Napoleon to retreat northwest over Mozhaisk to Smolensk on the devastated route of his advance with a higher probability of starvation.
Dec 2, 2016 · The placid existence of Maloyaroslavets would be shattered — and most of the town destroyed — by the momentous events of late October 1812. Isolated in a half-ruined Moscow and with no prospects...
On Oct. 24, 1812, Russian forces mounted a furious defense of Maloyaroslavets, compelling Napoleon’s forces to retreat not southward to warmer territory, but back along an icebound road to ruin.
- William Brumfield
24-25 October, 1812. While in Moscow preparing for retreat, Napoleon Bonaparte decided to march his army south-west towards Kaluga, a city in a lush region where plenty of supplies could be found. He sent his stepson, Eugene Beauharnais, and 15,000 men ahead of the main Grande Armee to clear the way of any opposing Russian forces.
The long march to Moscow and the bloody Battles of Smolensk and Borodino lay the planks for the army’s coffin; a little-known battle in a town southwest of Moscow at Maloyaroslavets and the fatal council of war pushed on the lid, with the long torturous retreat driving in the nails.
The battle of Maloyaroslavets (24 October 1812) was one of the most important battles during Napoleon's invasion of Russia, and disrupted his original plans for the retreat from Moscow. Napoleon's army entered Moscow on 14 September, and attempted to open negotations with Tsar Alexander I.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Maloyaroslavets (mä´ləyärəslä´vyĬts), city, E central European Russia, on the Luzh River. In Oct., 1812, Russian forces in the city barred the road to Kaluga against Napoleon's retreating army, forcing it to retreat by way of Mozhaysk through devastated territory.
