side, made us conspicuous to their fire,
and dazzled us. We then first perceived, that owing to the darkness, our
batteries had been placed out of reach of the enemy, and it was
necessary to push them more forward. The enemy allowed this to be done:
he seemed to hesitate in being the first to break the awful silence.

The emperor's attention was then directed towards his right, when, all
at once, near seven o'clock, the battle began upon his left. Shortly
after, he was informed, that one of the regiments of Prince Eugene, the
106th, had got possession of the village of Borodino, and its bridge,
which it should have destroyed; but that being carried away by the
ardour of success, it had crossed that passage, in spite of the cries of
its general, in order to attack the heights of Gorcka, where it was
overwhelmed by the front and flank fires of the Russians. It was added,
that the general who commanded that brigade had been already killed, and
that the 106th regiment would have been entirely destroyed had it not
been for the 92d, which voluntarily ran up to its assistance, and
collected and brought back its survivors.

It was Napoleon himself who had just ordered his left wing to make a
violent attack. Probably, he had only reckoned on a partial execution of
his orders, and wished to keep the enemy's attention directed to that
side. But he multiplied his orders, used the most violent excitations,
and engaged a battle in front, the plan of which he had conceived in an
oblique order.

During this action, the emperor judging that Poniatowski was closing
with the enemy on the old Moscow road, gave him the signal to attack.
Suddenly, from that peaceful plain, and the silent hills, volumes of
fire and smoke were seen spouting out, followed by a multitude of
explosions, and the whistling of bullets, tearing the air in every
direction. In the midst of this noise, Davoust, with the divisions
Compans and Dessaix, and thirty pieces of cannon in front, advanced
rapidly to the first Russian redoubt.

The enemy's musketry began, and was answered only by the French cannon.
The French infantry marched without firing: it was hurrying on to get
within reach of and extinguish that of the enemy, when Compans, the
general of that column, and his bravest soldiers, were wounded and fell:
the rest, disconcerted, halted under the shower of balls, in order to
return it, when Rapp, rushing to replace Compans, again led his soldiers
on, with fix