The Sun.
London, England, 1812-09-09 00:00:00

The 16th and half of the 17th was tissed in obi-:
settrAtion. A fire of musketry Was kept up .alOng
thd line. The encnw iiceupied.SMolensk°
30,000 men, and the re ma.; ncer tf their army was
formed upon the Rue' positions upon the right
batik of that river, opposite to the town, and
communicating by three bridges. Smolensk° is
eorrsidered as a strong town by the Russians, and
the bulwark of MoseoW-.

On the 17th, at two in the.afternoon, seeing
that the enemy had not debouched, that they were
fortifying-themselves, in Smplensko, and that they
refused` battle, notwithstanding the orders they
had received, and the fine pOsition they might
have occupied; their right
,upon Smolensko, and
their left:UpOn the banks of the i3Orysthenes. The
energy's General wanted resolution.
The Emperor marched upon the right, and or-;
detect Prince. Poniatowski to change. his front,
the right hi advance, and to place his right to the
lioristhene, occupying one of' the suburbs 'b'y
posts and batteries, to destroy the buidge, and hi-
tercept the communicatiOn of the town with the
•
bank. • ,

During this time' the Prince of tektinbl receiv-
ed orders tOuttack tivo of .the suburbs, which the
enemy had.entrenehed 200 toises distance frown the
anTh'Which were each defended by seven or
eight thousand men,: arid heavY canum. . General
CoulA -Friant Ilini orders to evnapletethe invest-
.
mint, in turniug right towards Prince Ponia,:
towski's: corps, and his. left Witte right of the at-
tack made by the Prince of .Eektuuhl.. At tlVoin
the afternoon, Count Bruyeres division of cavalry,
after having driven away the Cossacks and ene-
my's cavalry, and approached the bridgeltighest
up the rive.• e a battery of 10 pieces of artillery
was established. upon this ground,• and fired with
grape-shot upon that part of the: enemy's army,
Which was upon the 'right bank of the river, and
-quickly obligedthe Russian masses of infantry to
evacuate' that position. - • • '
The enemny-then plaml.two batteries of twenty.
.pieces of cannon in ,acoaVent,. to annoy the bat,
tery which pl:iye,d upon the bridge. The Prince
of-Eckmidrientrusted the, attack of the right sub-
urbs to- Coot: Mbrand, and that of the left to
General Count Gudin.
. At three, the cannonade commenced. At half
past four, a very brisk fire 'of musketry began ;
and at five, the divisions.of Morand and Gtidin
carried the entrenched enemy's suburbs, with a'
cool and rare intrepidity, and pursued them to
the covered way, which was covered with Russian
dean.' Upon- our left the Duke of Elchingen at•
tacked -the position 'which the enemy had 'without.
the town, seized•upOn it, and pursued the enemy.
to •th glacis. .
At' five o'clock ,the communication of the town
with the right bank became difficult, and could
only be accomplished by. isolated men. Three
batteries of breaching 12-pounders were placed
acrainst. the walls at six- in the evening, one by
iriant's. division, and the two others. by Mp-
rand and Gmidin's divisions. We drove the ene-
my froni ,all the towersi by howitzers, which
played': on them The- General of Artillery',„
Count Sorbur, rendered the occupation of
.the
covered way
.by the enemy impassable, by two
enfiladed batteries. Nevertheless the enemy, who,
from two in the afternoon; perceived that we had
serious intentions against the town, sent
visions and two regiments of infantry of.the guard'
to reinforce the four divisions which were in time
t own. These 'United forces'composed half of the
ussian army;- the battle continued the whole
night ; three hreaching batteries played with the
utmost activity. Two companies
,of miners were
attached to the ramparts.
The town was nOw on fire in the middle of, a.
fine August-nig-ht. Smolensk° offered. the French
a spectacle similar to: that which an, eruption of
Vesuvius pre'seuts to 'the inhabitants of Naples---
An hour after midnight, the enemy abandoned the
town, and retired across the river. At two o'clock
the grenadiers, Who first led to the attack, no
longer found- resistance, the place was 'evacuated ;
200 pieces of cannon, and one of the first-towns in
Russia were in our power, and that too in sight of
the whOle Russian Army.
The combat of:Smolensk°, which we might
justly-terra a battle, an hundied.thonsand men
having been engaged on the different sides;.caused
the Russians a...105s of 4,700 men_ left dead on
the field Of battle, t:?f .2800 prisoners, the greater'
part ,of'which"' are wounded; aud.of 7 to 8000
wounded. Amongst the dead were. found five
RUSSi'an.(eneralo—Ourloss amounts to 700 killed
and. 3100 or 3200 Wounded, The General.
of brigade_ G:rabousLi 'was killed; and ,the;Ge-
nerals of brigade -Graucleau and Dalton. wounded.
All the troops have rivalled each other in intre--
pidity. The field Of battle has afforded to the
view of 200,000 persons who, can, attest it, the
sight'of one -French Corpse laying•-•upon the dead
bodies of seven or-eight Russians--; Meanwhile
the Russians. were protected by the -musketry fire
from their trenches during a part of the days of
the pith and 17th.
On thelBthave established the bridges over the'
Borysthene, which the enemy had burnt, bat did.
not succeed in quenching the fire, which consuthed
the town; until the day of the 18th, the french
sappers having worked with great activity. The
houses in the city Were filled with Russians, dead
.and dying.
- Of twelVe divisions, which composed the grand
Russian :army, two divisions have been hroken,,
,and defeated ie the combats of Ostrowna ; two.
have. met with the same fate in the battle of Mo-
hilow ; and six in the battle of Smolew>ko. They
have only two 'divisions of the Guards which re•
main entire.
The deeds of bravery which redound honour on
the army, and which have distinguished such
numbers of soldiers in the battle of Smolensk°,
shall be 'the subject of a particular report. Never
has the French army shewn greater intrepidity
than iu this campaign.