Based on the memoirs of eyewitnesses and participants of the Battle of Borodino, the organizational principles of providing medical assistance to the Russian and French armies and the principles of medical care on the battlefield are reviewed. Accounts of eyewitnesses who received medical help or watched as it was provided, in comparison with data on the “standards of care” established during the period, allows us to compile the complete picture of the level of medical support during the battles of the 1812 campaign