In the war of 1812 he commanded the right wing of the Russian Army in the First and Second battle of Polotsk. This fighting decided the fate of Saint Petersburg and earned Wittgenstein the title of "Saviour of Saint-Petersburg". Emperor Alexander I of Russia awarded him the Order of St. George. He tried to combine with Pavel Chichagov at the Battle of Berezina (November 1812), and later combined with the Prussian army corps under Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg.