Bagration flèches The Bagration flèches ( ) are certain historic military earthworks named after Pyotr Bagration who ordered their construction . They were the pivotal Russian strongholds on the left flank during the Battle of Borodino in 1812 . Located south - west of the village of Semyonovskoye , the flèches consisted of two lunettes and one redan , which were stormed eight times in the course of the battle . The flèches were constructed by infantry divisions of the 2nd Army and militiamen to give an opportunity to the artillery of firing not only to the French front , but also the flank . Five hundred men were detailed to their construction from each division , except the 27th , which sent six hundred . The left work was erected by the 26th Infantry Division , the right by the 2nd Grenadier Division and the middle one by the 2nd Combined Grenadier . The construction was finished on August 25 , 1812 ( O . S . , used by the Russians ) ( September 6 , N . S . , used by the French ) . Attacks . The Bagration flèches were occupied by the 11th and the 32nd Russian Battery Companies . The left work had twelve guns , the middle one had seven and the right five . Each work also had one battalion from the 2nd Combined Grenadier Division . Twenty eight guns were stationed near the flèches . On August 26 / September 7 , about 6 a . m . , Napoleon launched the fight for the flèches according to plan . Two infantry divisions of Joseph Marie , Count Dessaix and Jean Dominique Compans , supported by 102 guns , assaulted the flèches directly . The first attack was repelled by fire from the guns and Jäger infantry units . In the second attempt , the French dragged their artillery closer to the Kamenka Brook and strengthened the troops with three extra infantry divisions from Michel Ney ' s corps , three from Joachim Murat ' s cavalry corps and additional artillery . After the attack at about 7 a . m . Compans ' troops burst into the left flèche . However the storm was repelled again by Russian infantry , the Akhtyr hussars and Novorossiya n dragoon s . Bagration ordered Nikolay Raevsky to move the entire line of his 7th Infantry Corps ( eight battalions ) to the left - flank works . During the struggle , several French generals were wounded , and Louis - Nicolas Davout received a concussion after falling from a horse killed under him . Before the third attack , Lieutenant - General Aleksandr Tuchkov was ordered to send reinforcements , the 3rd Infantry Division of Pyotr Konovnitsyn . At about 8 a . m . , after a bombardment , the French stormed the flèches again , some being eliminated with canister shot . Compans ' infantry retook the left flèche while Francois Roch Ledru des Essarts ' troops rushed into the spaces between flèches . The offensive was repulsed by a bayonet counter - attack of soldiers of the 2nd Combined Grenadier and 27th Infantry Divisions . At about 9 a . m . Napoleon ordered the fourth assault . The French succeeded in taking the flèches one hour later , but were driven out soon after . During the fifth attempt , at 11 a . m . , the French took the right and the left fortifications , and Tuchkov was killed . However , Konovnitsyn ' s division managed to counter - attack and repelled the French again . An attempt to gain the flèches ' rear through the forest failed . After regrouping , Jean Andoche Junot ' s infantry gained the rear of the troops defending the flèches , but it was overthrown shortly after , and Ney ' s and Davout ' s frontal attacks were also parried . The seventh assault was made futile by the Brest , Ryazan , Minsk and Kremenchug Infantry Regiments , while Ney ' s and Davout ' s offensives were warded off once more . The last storming was so powerful that the Russian artillery failed to stop the French columns . Bagration ordered the infantry to counter - attack and not to wait till the French approached the flèches . The fierce combat lasted about an hour . Bagration was badly wounded and evacuated from the battlefield . From 60 , 000 men assembled for storming the flèches , up to 30 , 000 were lost . Historians [ who ? ] have marked the slaughter as the " grave of the French infantry " . This had been the biggest battle ever recorded in terms of the casualty rate , around about half the people on the field of battle ended up as casualties . The number of the dead remained the highest until the first day of the Battle of the Somme in World War 1 .