The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-23

Hour after hour the Emperor faced the hard choice presented to him. mur- muring as he paced his headquarters debating with himself. Should he stop or turn back or go on? Could his army winter at Smolensk? Dared he retreat and present himself beaten man be- fore a mutinous Europe? Must he advance, even at the risk of the fate of Charles XII of Sweden, the latest invader to plunge into the overwheln- ing spaces of Russia
 The problem really had passed be- yond his own decision. In supreme emergencies the will of an army al- ways overrules the will of it's com mander. When the soldiers have had enough of fighting, the battle is end ed, regardless of the wishes of the geenral. And when they are starving, they can be successfully marched only in the direction of food.
 Napoleon knew that he no longer commanded, but only followed his troops. Tt is dreadful" he confessed. but from Wilma half the army con- sisted of stragglers; now they form two-thirds of It. With it's compost tion and in its disorganization, motion alone keeps this army together. One may advance at the head of it, but not stop or go back"
 With nothing but starvation and dis ease behind him and the ruins of a burned and deserted city about him, Napoleon passed out of the gate of Smolensk in the middle of the night late in August and took the road to Moscow on the heels of the ever-re- treating Russians Meanwhile the Czar vowed to his British military adviser, Sir Robert Wilson, q would sooner let my beard grow to my breast than per. init any negotiation with Napoleon xyf n o5 Erar remains the soil of Russia"
 The Czar was as helpless as Napo- leon in choosing his course and only obeyed the wishes of his army While the invaders had advanced to SmoiensK across Lithunaia looking for something to eat, the Russians. knowing they were divided and outnumbered, fell back, looking for safety. They did not care to sacrifice themselves in the de- fense of the alien Lithuanians and had been perfectly willing to retreat. But when they found their forces united at Smolensk and felt the soil of Russia proper under their feet. their spirit changed instantly. for fleeing dog will turn upon the pursuer at his own gate.
 Trey rebelled against the strategfsts who had abandoned Smolenslx and they indig- nantly insisted upon defending their homes and their altars. Their cutcry compelled the Czar to replace the retreat ing commander, Barclay de Folly, gen. eral of Scotch descent, with the veteran, General Kutusof Although Kutusof was ! and too fat to sit on a horse, he was an old-fashioned Russian who had just returned from hard fighting in the Turk ish war to be hailed as the national hero. Besides, he proclaimed his desire to settle a score with Napoleon, who had whipped him at Austerlitz seven years before.
 
 The BlOodiest Battle
 But he really did not wish to give battle again to the victor of Austerlitz. and he continued to retire and surrender Russian soil. as Barclay had done, until his army protested. After he had fallen back to within 75 miles of Moscow. he reluctantly yielded to the pressure from his officers and men and from the in- dignant nobles of that city and drew up his 120,C00 soldiers across the road where it passes at the village of Borodino, over a branch of the Moskova river.
 There he paraded before his kneeline warriors a most venerated image of the Holy Virgin, and the priests of the Greek church gave them absolution. with the injunction to die. if they must to save the holy city of Russia from the sacri- legious hordes of the west. Napoleon. on the other hand. displayed to his guard on an easel in front of his tent . large ppr- Louise had sent him from Paris.