The Borodino position has often been spoken of as an admirable one for defence. Clausewitz, who knew it, is of a very different opinion; and in all probability it was selected simply because there was no likelihood that anything better would present itself in the endless plain-lands. It had one grave strategic defect. Some way to the west the great road forks, the branches uniting again at Mozhaïsk, about 6 miles east of Borodino. It was therefore necessary to hold two roads instead of one, and to be strong on both. At Borodino they are 2-1/2 miles apart, the new road, on which Borodino stands, lying to the north. The Kolotza rivulet makes a very acute angle with the new road, running for a considerable distance nearly parallel with it, always in a gully with steep banks. After passing Borodino, which lies on its left bank, it flows north-eastward with a very sinuous course to join the Moskva, about 2-3/4 miles farther on. The Moskva itself flows south-eastward to the high-road at the village of Uspenskoïe, three miles from Borodino, where it turns eastward towards Mozhaïsk. In the angle formed by the two streams lies a low partly wooded plateau, its base formed by a rivulet which joins the Kolotza at Borodino. At its south-western angle stood the hamlet of Gorki, about a mile from Borodino. A few hundred yards higher up another streamlet joined the Kolotza from the south-east. This streamlet, called after the hamlet of Semenovskoï, about a mile and a quarter south of Borodino, flows in a little ravine, and the ground between it and the Gorki rivulet forms another low plateau, not more than 30 feet high, but with a fairly steep western drop. It descends very slightly towards the east for about a mile, until it is crossed by another brook flowing in a gully. The eastern bank of this gully is the higher, and the ground extends eastward in another low plateau on which lies the village of Tzarévo, a mile and a half east of Semenovskoï. Just west of Gorki there is a low knoll, and another a mile due south-east of Gorki, and about 1100 yards north of Semenovskoï. From Semenovskoï to the old road at the village of Utitza is about a mile and a quarter, and from the latter village extended northward for about 1000 yards a thick wood. Three-quarters of a mile east of Utitza is a knoll, and a little eastward again another low plateau. South of the old road extended marshy woods, though a little south of Utitza there was a clearing round the hamlet of Michino. Patches of wood were scattered over the whole position. The villages were all log-built and useless for defence. From Utitza by Borodino to the junction of the Kolotza with the Moskva is a distance of almost 5 miles. To the west of the Borodino-Utitza line the country is of the same character, only slightly lower. At the village of Shevardino, a mile westward from Semenovskoï, is a low knoll. The villages were of so little consequence that it is superfluous to name them.