Battle at Borodino Field

The Battle at Borodino Field was a part of the Battle of Moscow, on the Eastern Front of World War II. While referring to the battle in Russian, the Borodino Field is actually more commonly applied rather than just Borodino, cf. Georgy Zhukov ("...this division [32nd] was forced to cross the arms with the enemy on the Borodino Field...").[1]

Battle at Borodino Field
Part of the Battle of Moscow

Monument to the " Dead of the Great Army" on the Shevardinsky Redoubt
Date13 October 1941 – 18 January 1942
Location55°30′31″N 35°49′16″E / 55.50861°N 35.82111°E / 55.50861; 35.82111
Result German victory in October
Soviet victory in January
Belligerents
 Germany  Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Günther von Kluge Dmitry Lelyushenko
Strength
2nd SS Division Das Reich
10th Panzer Division
18th Panzer Brigade
19th Panzer Brigade
32nd Rifle Division
82nd Rifle Division
36th Motorcycle Regiment
509th Anti-Tank Regiment

At noon on 13 October 1941, German Junkers and Messerschmitt aircraft appeared over the Borodino Field,[2] site of the climactic 1812 French-Russian clash. On 16 October, severe fighting broke out in the center of Borodino Field. Subsequently, the Germans managed to take the field. The Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery was burnt and the Borodino Museum suffered damage.[1] Borodino Field was freed by the 82nd Soviet Rifle Division during the Russian counter offensive.

Reportedly, Col. Victor Polosukhin of the Red Army, whose unit was on Borodino Field, looked in on the museum shortly before it was damaged. He signed the visitors' guestbook and under "Purpose of Visit" wrote "I have come to defend the battlefield".[3]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Бородино в годы Великой Отечественной Войны. 1941-42 гг. (in Russian). Borodino.ru. Archived from the original on 5 April 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  2. ^ Lelyushenko, D. (1987). Moscow-Stalingrad-Berlin-Prague. Moscow: Nauka. p. 62.
  3. ^ Braithwaite, Rodric. Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War. Random House, 2006, p. 210

Sources

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  • За нами Москва. Бородино. 1941. Воспоминания. М., 2007 (memoirs and letter extracts of Soviet 5th Army soldiers)
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