[8] Bagration was threatened with encirclement by French emperor Napoleon's forces under King Jerome to the west and Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout's I Corps to the north.

[6] Weakened by the transferral of his troops elsewhere and fatigue, Davout had 21,500–28,000 effectives on hand at Mogilev, including 22,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry, in three infantry division under generals Jean Dominique Compans, Joseph Marie Dessaix and Michel Marie Claparède and cavalry under generals Étienne de Bordesoule and Valence.v[6][1] Davout deployed his forces at Saltanovka, a naturally strong position.

[6] Davout constructed earthworks to strengthen his line, fortified the buildings on the main road and set up artillery batteries.

[6] At 07:00 on 23 July, VII Corps' advance guard of two Jäger battalions under Colonel Andre Glebov drove out Davout's outposts on the French left flank.

[6] Past Fatova, Davout had prepared an ambush with four battalions from the 108th Line, lying low amidst the wheat fields behind the village.

[6] The concealed French troops launched a devastating counterattack that caused heavy losses on the Russians and threw them back in disarray.

[4] Raevsky personally led the Smolensk Infantry Regiment to capture a dam and shield the attack of his main force.

[1] Tolstoy gives an account of the storming of the dam in War And Peace, Book III, Chapter 12 when an officer describes the event to a sceptical Count Nikolai.

The Second Western Army constructed a bridge south of Mogilev at Novy Bikhov and crossed the Dnieper toward Smolensk.

[11] Saltanovka is generally seen as a French victory but despite failing to link up with Barclay at Vitebsk, Bagration accomplished his objective of joining the main Russian force later at Smolensk, and avoided Napoleon's encirclement.