Few of our contemporaries know the name of Leonty Leontievich Bennigsen. It is rarely written about, little and contradictory. There is an opinion that General Bennigsen was not distinguished by military talent and was promoted through intrigue. Such an assessment appeared, apparently, as a result of the article by F. Engels '"Bennigsen" (1857). But if you carefully study the actions of the general in the battles of Pultusk, Preisisch-Eylau or Leipzig, you can not help but be convinced of the correctness of the assessment of his military abilities given by such a famous Russian commander, who did not complain about the Germans in the service in Russia, as A. P. Ermolov: "Of our modern military leaders [Bennigsen]" is indisputably the most experienced, knowledge of the military craft, studied on the basis of a deep theory."

Levin August Theophilus (Leonti Leontievich) Bennigsen was born on February 10, 1745 in Braunschweig and came from an old Hanoverian family. His interest in military service was shown very early: at the age of ten, he independently studied military sciences, drew maps, studied fencing and horse riding, and at the age of 14, he entered the military service in the Hanoverian army and 4 years later became a captain. In this rank, Bennigsen took part in the last campaign of the Seven Years ' War.

In 1773, Lieutenant Colonel Bennigsen joined the Russian army. He was appointed Prime Major in the Vyatka Musketeer Regiment, which participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774. In 1787, he was already the commander of the Izyum Light Horse regiment and participated in the next Russo-Turkish war as part of P. A. Rumyantsev's army. Successfully conducted combat operations during the storming of Ochakov and in the battles near Vendors established Bennigsen's reputation as a brave and determined regimental commander. He became even more famous during the Polish campaign of 1794. Major General Bennigsen, according to A.V. Suvorov, "discovered the qualities of a good cavalry officer-fervor, courage, speed" and was awarded the Order of St. George, 3rd class.

With the advent of the reign of Paul I, clouds began to gather over Bennigsen's head. The emperor did not trust him and in September 1798 conveyed to the general his opinion that he was "not very zealous especially for him personally." After such words of the autocrat, Bennigsen had no choice but to resign and leave St. Petersburg. Which he did.

Meanwhile, a plot against Paul was brewing in St. Petersburg. All those dissatisfied with the new emperor were grouped around the Zubovs and Count P. A. Palen, who was the head of the conspiracy. At the beginning of 1801, Pahlen secretly summoned Bennigsen to St. Petersburg. On the night of March 11-12, 1801, the general was among those who entered the bedroom of Emperor Paul I and killed him.

...In June 1802, Bennigsen was promoted to General of the Cavalry. During the campaign of 1806-1807, he commanded one of the corps of the 1st Russian Army, which operated against Napoleon's troops. On December 14, 1806, in the Battle of Pultusk with the French corps of J. Lannes and Gudin's division (only about 30 - 35 thousand people), the general skillfully forced the French to retreat. This was the first major success of Russian weapons after the Austerlitz defeat. Petersburg rejoiced. As a reward, Bennigsen received the Cross of the Order of St. George, 2nd class, and was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian forces operating against Napoleon in Poland.

After replacing the elderly Field Marshal Kamensky as commander-in-chief of the Russian forces, Bennigsen decided to immediately attack the enemy who had taken up winter quarters and try to defeat him. His first object he chose the corps of marshals M. Ney and J.-B. Bernadotte, who were on the left flank somewhat apart from the main forces of Napoleon. On January 4, the Russian army (about 78,000 men) launched an offensive from Biala to the west. But so it seemed, a well-thought-out plan was not carried out. Due to off-road conditions and freezing temperatures, Bennigsen's own indecisiveness could not achieve surprise. Ney, noticing the danger, quickly withdrew to join the main forces. On January 14, the opportunity to defeat Bernadotte was lost. The Russian vanguard had already cut off his retreat, but was pulled back by the commander-in-chief because of a false rumor about Napoleon's approach.

When Napoleon learned of Bennigsen's winter campaign, he immediately retaliated. He gathered all his forces (about 86,000 men) and went on the offensive from Allenstein (now Olsztyn, Poland) to the north in order to cut off the Russian army from the communication routes with Russia. Napoleon intended to use Bernadotte's corps as a decoy to lure the Russians to the west, and then strike with the main forces on the left flank and rear.

But Bennigsen refused to advance further and turned the front from the west to the south, from where the enemy was approaching. Thus, he parried the Napoleonic maneuver. At the same time, the Russian cavalry

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the patrol managed to intercept a courier with papers from Napoleon to Bernadotte. The whole plan of the enemy became clear, and Bennigsen gathered the whole army into a fist at Jankau. On January 22, Napoleon approached the position with the vanguard, which postponed the attack until the main forces arrived. Bennigsen did not wait for them and retreated under cover of darkness to a position northeast of Preisisch Eylau. The withdrawal of the main forces of the Russian troops was covered by Bagration's rearguard, which fought unequal battles with the French for four days.

Napoleon began the general battle by attacking the left flank with Marshal P. F.'s corps. Augereau. But he lost his way and went straight to the center of the Russian troops, where he was met at point-blank range with buckshot from 70 guns and a bayonet charge. Half of the French corps fell on the spot, the rest fled. To save them, Napoleon sent 75 squadrons of his cavalry under the command of Marshals I. Murat and J.-B. Bessieres into battle. The attack of the French Guards cavalry was repulsed by infantry fire and the bold performance of the Elisavetgrad and Pavlograd Hussar regiments, the Don Cossacks of Kiselyov. Denis Davydov, a brilliant hussar who participated in the battle, described this attack in his" Military Notes " as follows:: "The field hummed, and the snow, blasted by 12 thousand united horsemen, rose and curled from under them... Cannon, rifle fire, and the slingshots of bayonets set up by our infantry did not block the disastrous tide. The French cavalry crushed everything and reached the second line and the reserve, but then the pressure of its waves broke on the rock. The second line and the reserve resisted and ... reversed the surging mass. Then this cavalry, in turn pursued by our cavalry, retreated."

Soon the corps of Marshal L.-N. Davout, who approached, covered the left flank of the Russian troops and knocked it out of position after a fierce battle. The situation was saved by the timely commissioning of the horse-artillery companies of Generals A. P. Ermolov and L. M. Yashvil, who literally flew out in front of the front of our infantry and stopped the advancing Davout columns with buckshot. Marshal Ney's corps, attacking the right flank of the Allied forces, shot down the 8-thousandth Prussian detachment of Major General Lestock that was there and went to the rear of the Russian army. But he was also stopped by the infantry and cavalry of the reserve. A stubborn battle along the entire front continued until the evening. At 10 o'clock, Bennigsen ordered a retreat due to a lack of combat supplies. That same night, Napoleon also retreated to the town of Landsberg. The next day, the French returned to their positions to collect the abandoned guns. On the Russian side, losses amounted to up to 26,000 people, the French losses-about 30,000 people.

Napoleon's plan to cut off the Russian army from its main base in Konigsberg and from the borders by a double sweep was shattered by its resilience. Napoleon spent nine days on the battlefield, trying to prove not only to Europe, but also to himself that he had won. Although the great general himself felt that the victory was Pyrrhic.

In addition to some strategic gains in the campaign, the Russian army achieved some moral victory at the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, refuting the legend of the all-conquering military genius of Napoleon and his army.

Bennigsen sent a report to St. Petersburg about the success achieved, to which he received the following response from the Emperor Alexander: "You can easily imagine, General, the joy I experienced at the news of the happy outcome of the battle of Preisisch-Eylau. You, General, were destined for glory . to be the winner of someone who has never been defeated before." For this battle, L. L. Bennigsen was awarded the Order of St. John the Baptist. St. Andrew the First-Called.

In February, after the battle of Preisisch-Eylau, Bennigsen achieved some strategic success, but could not use it. Then setbacks began: disorganization of the army, lack of ammunition and provisions. To top it all off, the defeat at the Battle of Friedland on June 2, 1807. The consequence of the peace of Tilsit, concluded by Russia and France, was the dismissal of Bennigsen from the service.

In June 1812, the general again returned to the active army, and after the appointment of Kutuzov as commander-in-chief, he received the post of Chief of the General Staff. At first, the relationship between Kutuzov and Bennigsen developed. Kutuzov considered the general's advice useful. Presenting Bennigsen for the award after the Battle of Borodino, Kutuzov wrote about him to the emperor:"...Since my arrival in the army, [Bennigsen] has been my most diligent assistant on all occasions;

in fact, on August 26... General Bennigsen was very helpful to me with his advice, being personally in the most dangerous places." And this is about Bennigsen, who was about 70 years old!

During the campaign of 1813, the general commanded the reserve army, and then led Russian troops in the battles of Lutzen, Bautzen and Leipzig. Bennigsen's successful actions in the" battle of the nations " near Leipzig earned him the title of count. For the siege of Hamburg in 1814, Bennigsen was awarded the Cross of the Order of St. George, 1st class. In the same year, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Southern Army in Bessarabia, and four years later he finally resigned and retired to his Hanover estate. L. L. Bennigsen died on October 3, 1826.

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