Smolensk!
O Mother of God,
save Thy servants.
O Mother of God,
save Thy servants.
Glory be to Father, and to Son,
and to Holy Ghost,
now and ever and unto
ages of ages.
O Mother of God,
save Thy servants from calamity,
for to Thee we all fly
as our invincible Bulwark and
Protectress,
Look with favor,
O merciful Mother of God,
upon my shameful thought and
words and deeds
and assuage the pangs of me
the sufferer.
For we have no other helper,
for we have no other hope
but only Thee, our protectress.
Help us, having compassion on us.
In Thee we rest our hopes,
and Thee we glorify.
For we are Thy servants,
and we are not ashamed of Thee.
He knew that the morrow's battle
would be the most dreadful of
all those he had taken part in,
and the plain possibility of death
presented itself to him
vividly,
almost like an awesome certainty.
The fatherland... The loss of Moscow.
And tomorrow I'll be killed.
What is the trial for,
since I never will be?
I am not!
So for whom is it a trial?
New conditions of life will arise
about which I will know nothing.
I'll no longer exist.
I won't exist anymore.
I won't exist anymore.
Your Highness, the left flank
of the second battalion
has been brought in closer
to the village of Semyonovskaya.
Sentries have been posted in each
squadron.
Who's there?
What brings you here?
This is really unexpected!
I have come, you know... simply...
It's interesting.
I wanted to see the battle.
What's new in Moscow? My family?
Have they finally arrived there?
Yes, they have. Julie Drubetskaya
told me they had.
I went to see them, but I missed
them. They've gone to the estate.
Today I rode around
the disposition of the troops.
As a civilian I can't really say
I fully understand,
but I think I've understood
the general position.
I believe that our position...
I think that
the left flank is feeble,
while the right flank is extended
too far.
So the whole position of our troops
is clear to you?
Yes, but how do mean?
Victory does not depend,
and will never depend
on arms, nor even on numbers,
and least of all, on strategy.
On what does it depend?
It all depends on a feeling that's
within me, within every soldier.
Why were we defeated at Austerlitz?
Positions?
Absurd. There's no such thing.
We just wanted to leave
the battlefield quickly.
And so tomorrow what will happen?
To me, it's simple enough:
A hundred thousand Russian and
a hundred thousand French troops
will meet to fight. The fact is that
those 200,000 are going to fight.
Those who fight the hardest and
spare themselves the least will win.
Tomorrow, whatever may happen,
we shall win the battle!
Your Excellency, that's the plain
truth! Who would spare himself now?
The soldiers in my battalion
wouldn't drink their vodka!
"It's no day for that" is what they
said.
Carried into a wide extent of
country.
In that open country I have a father
and son and sister at Bald Hills.
They've given all Europe up to him,
and now they've come to teach us.
Fine teachers!
So you think the battle tomorrow
will be a victory?
Yes. There's one thing I would do,
if I were in power.
I wouldn't take prisoners.
The French have destroyed my home
and are coming to destroy Moscow.
They have outraged and are
outraging me every second.
They are my enemies.
They are all criminals.
And so think all the army.
They must be put to death.
They plunder, they kill my father,
and talk of generosity to a foe.
No prisoners, but go to give
and to meet death!
War is not a polite recreation,
but the vilest thing in life.
And we ought to understand that
and not play at war.
We ought to accept it solemnly
as a fearful necessity.
Enough lying: If it's war,
then it's war and not a game.
They meet together to murder one
another, as we shall do tomorrow;
they slaughter and mutilate
tens of thousands of men,
and then offer up thanksgiving
services
for the number of men they have