[2][3][4] The Moscow military governor, Count Fyodor Rostopchin, has often been considered responsible for organising the destruction of the former capital to weaken the French army in the scorched city even more.

[14][15] Before leaving Moscow, Count Rostopchin supposedly gave orders to the head of police (and released convicts) to have the Kremlin and major public buildings (including churches and monasteries) set on fire.

According to Germaine de Staël, who left the city a few weeks before Napoleon arrived, and afterward corresponded with Kutuzov, it was Rostopchin who ordered his own mansions to be set on fire, so no Frenchmen should lodge in it.

[16] The French actress Louise Fusil, who was living in Moscow, wrote that the fire started at Petrovka Street and offers more details in her memoirs.

[18] The sight of the fire deeply disturbed Napoleon who was horrified and intimidated at the Russian resolution to destroy their most sacred and beloved city before surrendering it.

"[19] The catastrophe started as many small fires, which promptly grew out of control and formed a massive blaze from the northeast, according to Larrey.

[21] Tolstoy, in his book War and Peace, suggests that the fire was not deliberately set, neither by the Russians nor the French, but was the natural result of placing a deserted and mostly wooden city in the hands of invading troops.

[22][23] Kutuzov's food supplies and reinforcements were mostly coming up through Kaluga from the fertile and populous southern provinces, his new deployment gave him every opportunity to feed his men and horses and rebuild their strength.

On the other hand, Napoleon personally made sure that enough food was delivered to Moscow to feed all the Russians left behind who were fed regardless of sex or age.

To begin with, the destruction of Moscow was not so complete that there did not remain enough houses, palaces, churches, and barracks to accommodate the entire army [for a whole month].