r. Eugene having acted in perfect concert,
Poniatowski then advanced alone, and his task was completed by nine.
But he was so weakened by his terrific exertions that he could only
hold what he had gained. At ten Ney and Davout, reinforced by Friant,
seized the central redoubts; but they, too, were exhausted, and could
only hold the Russian line, which bent inward and stood without
breaking. Eugene then massed his whole division, and charged. The
resistance was stubborn, and the fighting terrific, but by three his
opponents yielded, his artillery opened, and he held his gains. About
the same time Junot reached Poniatowski, and their combined efforts
finally overpowered the Russian left. So superhuman had been the
exertions of both armies that they rested on their arms in these
relative positions all night, the Russians too exhausted to flee, the
French too weary to pursue. But early on the seventh the flight of
Kutusoff began, and the French started in pursuit.

Between the generals of the Russian rear and those of Napoleon's van
an agreement was made that if the former were left to pass through
Moscow unmolested, the latter should gain the city without a blow. The
contracting parties kept their pact; but the governor of Moscow
rendered the agreement void. Great crowds of the inhabitants joined
the Russian columns as, six days later, they marched between the rows
of inflammable wooden houses of which the suburbs were composed; and,
while they tramped sullenly onward, thin pillars of ascending smoke
began to appear here and there on the outer lines. But when, two hours
after the last Russian soldier had disappeared, the cavalry of Murat
clattered through the streets, the fires attracted little attention,
nor at the moment was Napoleon's contentment diminished by them, as,
from the "mount of salutation," whence pious pilgrims were wont to
greet the holy city, he ordered his guard to advance and occupy the
Kremlin, that fortress which enshrines all that is holiest in Russian
faith. Kutusoff, boasting that he had held his ground overnight, had
persuaded the inhabitants of Moscow, and even the Czar, that he had
been the victor, and that he was withdrawing merely to await the
arrival of the victorious and veteran legions from the Danube, when he
would choose his field and annihilate the invaders.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE EVACUATION OF MOSCOW[43]

[Footnote 43: References: Marguerou: Campagne de Russie,