November, 21 (November,9),1812
(Zhilin "The Patriotic War Of 1812", Moscow,1988;
Beskrovny L.G. "Russian Military Art Of XIX Century", Moscow,1974;
E.V.Tarle, Complete Works, Volume VII., Moscow 1959)
The Retreat
(the picture by Vereschagin)
In the town of Orsha, Napoleon reorganized his troops. After joining the troops from the Dvina river, his forces totaled about 75 thousand.
Only 40 thousand of these were still effective, the rest merely dragging themselves along. Napoleon realized the danger of this situation and took only the minimum of artillery and transports, leaving everything else behind. The main task now was to cross the Berezina river and get to Vilno before the hard winter frosts. They would also have to cross the Niemen river, but the most serious challenge was the Berezina.
The Retreat from Russia
(from the picture by W.Kossak)
Napoleon with his Guard was approaching this mortally dangerous barrier that he had to cross - or die.
It was written Napoleon had near 40 thousands effective troops. These men were mostly the purely French units. Tens of thousands of the Italians, Germans, Polish and Dutch dragged themselves along after them.
They moved like machines, falling down, freezing to death in silence as their comrades went past, ignoring their plight. But the Old Guard withstood all adversities with fortitude.
Denis Davidov in one of his books described the picture that he remembered for all his life:
"The Old Guard approached, Napoleon himself among them. We mounted our horses again and rushed to the high road. The French saw our noisy crowd, cocked their guns and continued their way proudly, not hurrying their steps. Many times we tried to tear off at least a single private from these close ordered columns, but they were like granite and remained safe in spite of all our efforts; I will never forget the firm step and stern carriage of these warriors,tried and tested by all manner of death. In their blue uniforms with white belts, high bear fur caps and red plumage and epaulets they looked like poppy flowers in the middle of the snow covered fields. Our cossacks could only buzz around the enemy columns, sometimes capturing some dropped transports or guns. The columns sometimes scattered or stretched out along the road, but remaining secure. Our officers, uriadniks (Cossack sergeants) and many cossacks charged the enemy, but without success. The columns moved one after another, driving us away by rifle fire and jeering at our useless riding around them. The Guard with Napoleon passed by our cossacks like a 100-gun battleship moving grandly between fishing-boats" (1) .On the third day after leaving Orsha, the French advance mounted patrols saw a span of dull water in front of them. They saw a wide river with banks covered with silt. It was not yet frozen over, but the first small ice-floes were already in sight. To cross this river in summer was a very difficult thing, and now, as it was just beginning to freeze, crossing would be much harder.
It was the Berezina.
- Davidov. D.V. "Collected Works", Volume II, p.108-109
