nearby villages, sometimes miles away from the battle-field, there to fall
into the hands of the Cossacks.

The Westphalians remained on the battle-field surrounded by corpses and
dying men, and they were forced to change position from time to time on
account of the stench. The scenes of suffering and distress which the
battle-field presented everywhere surpassed all description; the groans of
the mutilated and dying followed the men on guard even at a distance, and
especially was this terrible during the night; it filled the heart with
horror, von Borcke said that soldiers, at the request of some of the
wounded in extreme agony, shot them dead and turned the face away while
shooting. And soon they considered this an act of pity. The officers even
induced them to look for those who could not be saved, in order to relieve
them from their suffering. When von Borcke was riding on horseback over the
battle-field on the 5th. day after the battle he saw wounded soldiers lying
alongside the cadaver of a horse, gnawing at its flesh. During the night
flames could be seen here and there on this field of death; these were
fires built by wounded soldiers who had crawled together to protect
themselves from the cold of the night and to roast a piece of horseflesh.
On September 12th. the Westphalians moved to Moshaisk, which was deserted
by all inhabitants, plundered, and half in ashes. While the battle raged
several thousand wounded Russians had taken refuge there, who now, some
alive and some dead, filled all the houses of the town. Burnt bodies were
lying in the ruins of the houses which had been burnt, the entrance of
these places being almost blockaded by cadavers. The only church, which
stood on the public square in the middle of the town, contained several
hundred wounded and as many corpses of men dead for a number of days. One
glance into this infected church, a regular pest-house, made the blood
curdle. Surgeons went inside and had the dead piled up on the square around
the church; those still alive and suffering received the first aid, order