At the same time small units of Cossacks continued moving along the Ryazan road misleading French troops under the command of Murat.

[11] On 18 October 1812 Kutuzov ordered Bennigsen and Miloradovich to attack Murat's corps (20,000 men)[3] with two columns stealthily crossing the forest in the dead of night.

Bennigsen's main force included three columns led by Vasily Orlov-Denisov, Karl Gustav von Baggehufwudt and Alexander Osterman-Tolstoy respectively.

Murat was forced to retreat to escape being surrounded, but the Russian general Baggehufwudt was killed, while Bennigsen was concussed in the leg.

[14] The battle was a great victory for Kutuzov, boosting the morale of his forces, destroying valuable French cavalry units, and proving that Napoleon's once formidable army could be beaten on the battlefield.