No mention has, so far, been made of the movements on the extreme French right, where Savary was left in command of the 5th corps, to guard the approaches to Warsaw by the Narew and Bug, and to cover the right rear of the movement northwards. The corps at his disposal consisted of Suchet’s and Gazan’s divisions, with Becker’s dragoon division; in all, about 18,000 men. Opposed to him, between the Narew and the Bug, were the two divisions from the army of Moldavia, under Essen I. There was also Sedmaratzki's 6th division at Goniondz, which might have to be reckoned with.

Savary’s instructions [1] were, if he found Essen only in small force about Nur, to attack him. If, on the contrary, the Russian general had been reinforced, Savary would only hold Brok and Ostrolenka with cavalry. In any case his object was to cover the right bank of the Narew, from the mouth of the Omulew to Sierock, and to guard the latter place strongly, as well as the course of the Bug between it and the Austrian frontier. He was to bridge the Bug near Sierock, and to press on the completion of the tête de pont at Pultusk. If forced to retire on Pultusk with the bulk of his force, he would require a regiment to guard the Bug from Sierock to the Austrian frontier. The cavalry in Ostrolenka would require a small infantry force to support it.

Essen, meanwhile, had, on the 27th January, advanced from Bransk to Wyoki Mazowiecki, whence he reinforced Sedmaratzki with 3 infantry regiments from the 9th division.

On the 3rd February, the French were driven out of Ostrow. About this time, Savary received orders to abandon Brok and retire upon Ostrolenka, so as to strengthen his communication with the Emperor’s army. Davout, it will be remembered, had left a detachment at Myszienec. Oudinot also was on the march from Lowicz to Prasznitz, to assist in filling the gap with his grenadier division.

When Savary took command of his corps, he found himself in the unpleasant position of being junior to his divisional generals. It is not very clear why Suchet, a tried lieutenant, should have been superseded by him. He found the troops suffering severe privations, marauding in large numbers in search of food. Therefore, in order to facilitate supplies, he marched to Ostrolenka by Pultusk, which, as he himself admits, exposed Becker, between the rivers, to great risk. [2]

After Eylau, Essen was ordered by Bennigsen to drive back Savary, who, at the same time, had made up his mind to assume the offensive. The French advanced cavalry captured a copy of Bennigsen’s despatch. Savary also received information that Essen had sent 4000 or 5000 men across the now frozen Narew, at Tykoczyn, to turn his left.

He decided to hold Ostrolenka on the defensive, whilst he assumed the offensive on the right bank of the river. This was on the 15th February. In the low hills outside Ostrolenka he left 3 brigades, flanking them with batteries on the opposite bank. On the morning of the 16th, he moved out against the Russian force coming down the right bank. Gazan, meeting the enemy on the march, drove them back on a narrow road between two woods, before they had a chance of deploying. They were pursued for some 5 miles.

In the meanwhile, a brisk artillery fire, at Ostrolenka, warned Savary that his troops on the left bank were engaged. The Russians moving forward in three columns had been firmly met by Reille, commanding the three brigades in Ostrolenka, amongst which were part of Oudinot’s grenadiers. Though he was driven into the town, the flanking artillery fire from across the river had already checked the Russians. Savary now passed the river with the rest of Oudinot’s grenadiers and Suchet’s division, the latter called in from the Omulew. Issuing from the town, Savary drew up his troops in two lines. On the left, leaning on the river, the grenadiers, and the cavalry; in the centre, Suchet; on the right, Campana’s brigade (Gazan’s division). In this formation he moved against the Russian position on the sand hills. Thence he dislodged them with a loss of about 1000 men and; guns. [3]

The Russian advance on the right bank had not been in as great force as Essen had intended. Sedmaratzki’s division had been summoned to join Bennigsen, and there remained only the 3 regiments, under Wolkonski, which Essen had sent to reinforce him. After their repulse by Gazan, they also were ordered to join Bennigsen. After the failure of his attempt on Ostrolenka, Essen fell back again, on the 17th, to Wyoki Mazowiecki. Savary, under orders from the Emperor, holding Ostrolenka with a detachment and repairing the bridge there, confined himself generally to the occupation of winter quarters along the right banks of the Omulew and Narew down to Sierock. Oudinot, who had temporarily turned aside to assist Savary, resumed his march to Willemburg.

Savary’s action at Ostrolenka, though not anything very remarkable as a victory, had been useful in disclosing the fact that the Russians were in no great strength on this side, and that Napoleon had little to fear from any attempt to strike his communications with Warsaw. When he had Masséna in command of the 5th corps, on the marshal’s arrival from Italy, there was little need for anxiety, especially looking to the great entrenched camps which had been created at Sierock, Warsaw, and Modlin.

[1]  Berthier to Savary, dated Praszmitz, 31st January, 1807; printed, Dumas, xviii. 377. [Back to paragraph text]

[2]  Savary remarks that, luckily for him, the Emperor’s attention was too much taken up with the events in his own front to allow him to give much consideration to details on the Narew. But for this, he says, more forcibly than elegantly, “j’aurais eu la tête lavée de main de maître pour m’y être mépris” (Savary, iii. 46).[Back to paragraph text]

[3]  Hœpfner (iii. 280) says only 2 guns. [Back to paragraph text]