The result of the operations on the Düna and in Volhynia had been that by the end of August, Wittgenstein was standing on the defensive at Sivokhino faced by a considerably superior force under St. Cyr, while in Volhynia Tormazov had been driven to cover behind the Styr. He also was opposed by forces considerably larger than his own, but Admiral Chichagov was now advancing fast from Moldavia, and within a few weeks the scale would be turned heavily against the invaders. On August 28th the Tzar and the Crown Prince of Sweden met at Abo. The result was the treaty of Abo, which freed Count Steingell’s Russian army of Finland for service against Napoleon. Reinforcements to the number of about 15,000 men, of whom 10,000 were St. Petersburg militia, were ordered to join Wittgenstein. To co-ordinate the movements of the widely scattered forces which from Finland to Moldavia were converging upon the theatre of war an elaborate plan of operations was worked out by Alexander and his council. It was far too detailed, required an impossible exactness of co-operation from the commanders, and assumed as complete the processes of reinforcement which had often hardly commenced. In its main lines it was as follows:-- [Illustration: MARSHAL GOUVION ST. CYR Commander of the 6th (Bavarian) Army Corps and victor of first battle of Polotsk, Aug. 18th, 1812 From the picture by H. Vernet at Versailles] Chichagov was to concentrate at Ostrog, in Volhynia, and reach Pinsk by September 20th. He was to march upon and capture Minsk and then occupy the line of the Berezina in conjunction with Wittgenstein, while Tormazov held in check or drove back Schwarzenberg. Wittgenstein, reinforced by 19,000 militia and 9000 regulars, was to cross the Düna, supported by Steingell, attack St. Cyr in the rear and, having beaten him, was to push on to co-operate with Chichagov. Steingell, with 14,000 men of the army of Finland, was to go to Riga. The Riga garrison, 20,000 strong (it was actually much less), was to attack and contain Macdonald, while under cover of this demonstration Steingell advanced on Polotsk to co-operate with Wittgenstein. Then, while the latter moved on to effect a junction with Chichagov, Steingell was to pursue St. Cyr towards Vilna. General Ertel’s force at Mozyr was to move northward and join Chichagov in the neighbourhood of Minsk. The main object of the operations is clearly to bar Napoleon’s homeward march from Moscow by a competent force. But the orders were too minute in some respects and vague in others. They spoke of such events as the defeat of Schwarzenberg by Tormazov as if they were certain to materialise, were clogged with superfluous regulations of detail, and took little account of the practical difficulties of organising and moving troops in a country like Russia. The strategy in broad outline was executed; no more could have been expected.