The First Battle of Krasnoi was a battle fought on 14 August between Ney's French troops and Neverovsky's Russian troops. It ended with a victory for the French, but the Russians retreated in good order to Smolensk.

Prelude

Bagration had reinforced Neverovsky's troops with some cavalry and ordered him to cover Krasnoi and especially westwards the direction of

Orsha Orsha ( be, О́рша, Во́рша, Orša, Vorša; russian: О́рша ; lt, Orša, pl, Orsza) is a city in Belarus in the Vitebsk Region, on the fork of the Dnieper and Arshytsa rivers. History Orsha was first mentioned in 1067 as Rsha ...

Battle

Ney drove him out of Krasnoi and captured part of his artillery, the first trophies of the entire campaign. Neverovsky assembled his 6,000 to 7,000 men into a huge square Ney's cavalry could not break. The square moved across the field over a palisade fence and Ney's cavalry could not follow. Neverovsky's troops were able to get away in good order but left 1,500 men behind.

Aftermath

Neverovsky returned to Smolensk and reported. The battle of Smolensk started only two days later.

Notes

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