Patriotic War
After Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, Kulnev was entrusted with defending the roads leading to the capital, Saint Petersburg. On July 3, his detachment took prisoner a French general and 200 cavalrymen.
On 18 July, he led 5,000 cavalrymen — who formed a vanguard of Wittgenstein's corps — against Marshal Oudinot in the Battle of Klyastitsy. Taking prisoner 900 enemy soldiers, Kulnev crossed the Drissa River and clashed with a major French contingent. As the Russians came under heavy artillery fire, Kulnev was struck in the legs by a cannon ball and lost both limbs. He died from the effects of wounds received at this engagement.
Read more about this topic: Yakov Kulnev
Famous quotes containing the words patriotic and/or war:
“Yet some can be patriotic who have no self-respect, and sacrifice the greater to the less. They love the soil which makes their graves, but have no sympathy for the spirit which may still animate their clay. Patriotism is a maggot in their heads.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Now, were I once at home, and in good satire,
I’d try conclusions with those Janizaries,
And show them what an intellectual war is.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)