Barclay had made up his mind to fight at Vitebsk. His reasons, as detailed to the Tzar, were that Napoleon had in hand only the Guard, the 3rd and 4th Corps, and Murat’s cavalry, while the steadiness of the Russian troops in the recent fighting gave good hopes of victory; and that he felt it his duty to draw Napoleon’s attention upon him and give Bagration time wherein to come up. As regards the first reason he did not know that Napoleon had with him three divisions of Davout’s corps, and was therefore 30,000 stronger than his estimate. Respecting the second, if Bagration really were making the terribly dangerous march from Mohilev by Orsha and Babinovichi, Barclay was indeed bound to fight for the sake of his comrade. That the plan of attempting a junction by way of Orsha was hazardous is clear, but it scarcely affects Barclay’s reasoning. On the assumption that Bagration was coming by the Orsha road, and that Napoleon was only 90,000 strong, his determination was not unwise. The Russian army was drawn up on the 27th behind the Luchizza, a stream flowing into the Düna just below Vitebsk. Clausewitz criticises the position severely; but he seems rather prone to ignore the fact that good tactical positions are not plentiful in Russia--as he himself elsewhere admits. Strategically it had the grave defect of lying almost parallel to the Orsha road by which communications with Bagration were expected to be established. But it is at any rate certain that it would, like the faulty position of Eylau, have been defended with desperate courage. An advance-guard of 8 battalions, 2 Cossack regiments and all the regular light cavalry was stationed on the left bank of the Luchizza, under General Pahlen, the commander of the 3rd Cavalry Corps. Though the Russian army had suffered less than its opponents during the long marches from the Niemen to Vitebsk it had not escaped considerable losses by disease and fatigue. The reinforcements along the Düna had mostly been assigned to Wittgenstein. Platov and Dorokhov were also absent. Barclay’s strength at Vitebsk appears to have been about 82,000 men, of whom 14,000 were cavalry--mostly regulars--and over 400 excellently horsed guns.