Second Battle of Polotsk

Background. Throughout the summer and early fall of 1812, Russians and French were stalemated at Polotsk. The first battle of Polotsk, an inconclusive engagement fought in August, had kept Wittgenstein's army at bay and was considered a success by Napoleon. The French position at Polotsk protected Vitebsk, one of three massive supply depots Napoleon had established in the western part of the Russian Empire.

Commanders. Peter Wittgenstein, a field marshal in the Imperial Russian Army, commanded the right wing of the Russian Army in the First and Second battles of Polotsk. Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, made a Marshal of the Empire in 1812, commanded the VI Corps of the Grande armée during the Russian campaign and had defeated Wittgenstein at the First Battle of Polotsk on 18 August 1812.

Aftermath. After the Russian victory, Wittgenstein's troops captured the French supply depot at Vitebsk two weeks later, inflicting a logistical disaster on Napoleon's fast-collapsing Russian operation. Wittgenstein's victory also set the stage for the Battle of Berezina in November, in which three Russian armies converged on Napoleon from separate directions.