Dokhturov, Dmitrii

Dokhturov, Dmitrii Sergeevich 

Born 1756; died Nov. 14 (26), 1816, in Moscow. Hero of the Patriotic War of 1812; general of the infantry (1810).

Dokhturov entered the army in 1781 and served in the war between Russia and Sweden in 1788-90 and in the wars against Napoleonic France in 1805-07 and 1812-14. A division commander at Austerlitz, he commanded the center at Friedland and covered the retreat of the army beyond the Alle River. In 1812, Dokhturov was commander of the XI Corps—he led it out of an encirclement in the Lida region— and participated in the defense of Smolensk. At the battle of Borodino, Dokhturov first commanded the center-and then, after P. I. Bagration was wounded, the left wing. The speedy withdrawal of Dokhturov’s corps to Maloiaroslavets was decisive in the victorious outcome of the battle near that city. In 1814 he commanded the right wing of the Russian Army in their offensive on Paris.

REFERENCE

Voennaia gallereia 1812 goda, [vol. 1]. St. Petersburg, 1912.