General Sokolnicki, a Polish officer attached to the General Staff, reported Russian troops on the road to Rudnia. Gudin’s division did not reach the front until 4 p.m., Poniatowski not until 5 p.m., and time was needed for the men to rest and to take up position. The critical period for the Russians was, in fact, over. Firing continued until dusk, but no attempt was made to press home an attack. The Russian main army was pouring down towards the city, and any success could hardly be more than a temporary one. Raievski’s fine resolution had robbed Napoleon of his chance; and it is no discredit to him that his own immediate peril had been less great than he had imagined. Bagration, despite his encouraging words, was not able to arrive to Raievski’s assistance until the evening, and as the distance from Katan to Smolensk is not more than 17 miles, it must be supposed that he felt himself obliged to halt in order to become satisfied that Napoleon’s reconnaissances did not prelude a serious attack. He himself hastened on to Smolensk, and having ascertained that Raievski was not as yet pressed and also, apparently, that no attack was intended at Katan, hurried back to the latter place and directed Borozdin on Smolensk. The Second Cuirassier Division had already been sent on. Raievski, feeling that cavalry was useless in the town, kept them on the north side of the Dnieper.[1] Barclay, having convinced himself of his error as to the direction of Napoleon’s attack, turned the heads of all his corps towards Smolensk, and the march was pressed with desperate energy. All through the hot summer’s day, over roads so bad as not to deserve the name, the Russian soldiers pressed forward. Tuchkov I with the 3rd and 4th Corps and Uvarov’s cavalry came from Kasplia by the Poriechie road; the Grand Duke Constantine, with the 2nd and 3rd, and Korf’s and Pahlen’s cavalry, from Volokovaia by Prikaz Vidra; Dokhturov from Nadva by the Rudnia road; while Borozdin and Vassilchikov marched along the bank of the Dnieper. Tuchkov’s and Dokhturov’s troops had to march over 24 miles in a direct line without allowing for sinuosities in the roads and additions occasioned by moving into position, Constantine’s over 22. Nevertheless, by five in the afternoon the whole army was within easy reach of the threatened town, and an hour later Borozdin’s leading brigade reached the bridge to the support of Raievski.