Battle of Ostrovno

Date	25 July 1812
Location	Ostrovno, Governorate of Vitebsk, Belarus
Result	French victory Russian retreat

Belligerents

Russian Empire

First French Empire

Commanders and leaders

General Ostermann-Tolstoy

King Joachim of Naples
General de Nansouty

Strength

2 infantry divisions
cavalry
66 guns

1 infantry division plus 2 battalions
32 squadrons

Casualties and losses

2,500 killed and wounded,
150 prisoners,
eight guns

unknown

The Battle of Ostrovno (French: Combat d'Ostrowno) was a military engagement that took place on 25 July 1812, between French forces under the command of King of Naples Joachim Murat and Russian forces under General Ostermann-Tolstoy and ended with the Russian forces retreating from the battlefield.

With the beginning of the Russian campaign in late June 1812, Emperor Napoleon I launched with his Grande Armée, in a series of envelopment maneuvers of the Russian Imperial armies before him, with the first such maneuver failing before the city of Vilna, virtually without any engagement taking place. Napoleon then launched a second such attempt towards Vitebsk, in a bid to turn the main Russian army under Barclay de Tolly. With French forces moving through different routes in the direction of Vitebsk, a first major engagement took place on 25 July near Ostrowno, 30 kilometers west of Vitebsk, when General Etienne de Nansouty's 1st Cavalry Reserve Corps encountered the forces of Russian General Alexander Ivanovich Ostermann-Tolstoy.

Early on, in the morning of 25 July, General Nansouty set two of his divisions in motion, from the village of Boudilova and towards Ostrovno, in accordance with the orders he had received from the Emperor. Meanwhile, Murat, commanding the French forces in this sector, departed from the village of Beshankovichy with two battalions of the 8th Light infantry regiment, and headed towards Nansouty's position. Following Murat was the entire IV Army Corps of Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais, spearheaded by the division of General Delzons, which was followed at some distance by that of General Broussier.

...
Wikipedia