Valutina Hill

a village near Smolensk, in the area of which there was a battle between Russian and Napoleonic forces (also known as the battle of Lubino) on August 7(19) during the Patriotic War of 1812.

After taking Smolensk, Napoleon attempted to occupy the crossroads at the village of Lubino. This would have cut off the Russian First Army, which was retreating toward the Solov’eva crossing, from the Second Army, which was already approaching the Dnieper. On the approach to Lubino, P. A. Tuchkov, the commander of the advance guard of one of the columns of the First Army, noticed the threat of a breakthrough there by Marshal M. Ney’s corps. He swung west toward Valutina Hill and held back the enemy’s attack until 1500 hours. Then he moved back to a position on the Strogan’ River, where his advance guard, the cavalry corps of V. V. Orlov-Denisov, and the division of P. P. Konovnitsyn repulsed the attacks of four French corps. As a result, the enemy’s effort to break through in the Valutina Hill-Lubino sector failed, and the First Army was able to move back to the Dnieper. The French lost 8,000-9,000 men, the Russians 5,000-6,000.