Worlds Best Histories France Vol 7 by M. Guizot and Madame Guizot De Witt

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The whole army also felt itself beaten, and every heart was filled with
dejection. Already, during the march from Moscow to Malo-Jaroslawetz, many
carriages and badly harnessed wagons were left behind; but the train was
still enormous, accompanied by defenceless women and children. The wounded
of the last battle had been distributed amongst the different wagons and
carts. The dying were abandoned to their wretched fate on the battle-
field, under the cold rain which began to fall, or in the huts to which
they had been carried. The army left Malo-Jaroslawetz on the 27th October,
marching to Vereja, where Marshal Mortier rejoined them after
accomplishing his terrible mission. The ground was still quaking under his
feet when he left Moscow, bringing with him all the wounded. Such was the
emperor's express order, though the army convoys were already insufficient
for that necessary duty.

Mortier brought to Napoleon a prisoner, Count Wintzingerod, who had fallen
into his hands during the second burning of Moscow. That general was in
command of a body of partisans, and believed the French had evacuated the
capital. The emperor's anger burst forth against this German on finding
him in the Russian ranks. "You belong to no country!" he exclaimed
excitedly. "I have always found you among my enemies--with the Austrians
when I fought with Austria, with the Russians when Austria became my ally.
Yet by birth you belong to the Rhenish Confederation; you are a traitor--I
have the right to judge you. You will be tried by court-martial." Then
pointing to Count Narischkin, Wintzingerod's aide-de-camp, "This young man
does you too much honor by serving with you."

The general made no reply, even by the slightest movement or gesture. The
emperor's staff looked on in silence, and the French officers tried by
their attentions to make the prisoner forget the treatment. Every one knew
the cause of so much bitterness rising from Napoleon's heart to his lips.
For the first time in his life the conqueror was retreating.

He was retreating, and every day of their march made them feel more and
more the terrible difficulty, while proving its necessity. Napoleon
marched at the head of his army with his staff, without joining the main
body of the troops, or troubling himself about the fatigue and difficulty
experienced at every step by Marshal Davout, who had been appointed to
command the rear-guard and protect the retreat. General Grouchy's cavalry
were already exhausted, and could not assist him in this painful duty. The
marshal's old foot-soldiers alone remained--those who had so long fought
under his orders, having been formed under his strict and severe
discipline, and loving him while they feared him. At every stage Davout
found some carriage or cart had disappeared, left behind by the exhausted
horses and drivers, and he heard the cries of the wretched wounded men,
henceforward delivered up to the lances of the Cossacks or the severities
of the approaching winter. He saw unrolling and lengthening out before him
that train behind the army, despised by the soldiers remaining under arms,
and reinforced every day by laggards from all the corps. He was the last
to arrive at the hindmost posts after the troops defiling past had eaten
up all the resources of the villages and farms, burnt the shelters, and
sacked what they were unable to carry off. The complaints and demands of
the distinguished chief of his rear-guard made no impression on Napoleon.
"March quicker!" he kept repeating, without admitting the marshal to see
him, without ever going himself towards the rear of his army--apparently
indifferent to the sufferings he had produced, absorbed in gloomy silence,
surrounded by his lieutenants equally dejected. When passing Borodino,
where the battle-field was still covered with the corpses, of which savage
beasts were in undisputed possession, the rear-guard were still further
encumbered by the transport of the wounded, who had formerly been left at
Kolotskoi. Those whose wounds did not allow them to be removed were
entrusted by Dr. Larrey to the cares of the Russians, whom he had cured.
The army left Ghjat on the 1st November.

In spite of what was constantly being left behind from the baggage train,
the difficulty of the march daily increased on account of fatigue, the
want of horses, and the rigor of the climate. Marshal Davout often found
himself compelled to blow up artillery wagons which he could not take
further with him; and the cannon which were still dragged on became for
the most part useless. Immediately before him marched Prince Eugene's
forces. The viceroy, young and courageous, had not yet gained consummate
experience of war: the marshal urged him to make haste first in crossing
the Czarewo-Zaimitche and afterwards in the suburbs of Wiazma. Kutuzoff,
at first deceived as to our movements, had advanced southwards after the
battle of Malo-Jaroslawetz, but soon changed his direction and marched
upon Wiazma. A preliminary engagement near the bridge of Czarewo had
opened a passage for us. Then the march was again interrupted before
Wiazma. The Russian army occupied the ground on the left of the road.
Prince Eugene's forces, embarrassed by the convoy, had an engagement with
the enemy on the morning of the 2nd November, and the cannon were making
havoc in his ranks when Davout came to his assistance, and General Gerard
making a dash at the enemy's artillery, quickly cleared the road again. At
the noise of the cannon Marshal Ney halted in his march, and advanced
behind a small tributary of the Wiazma. The battle began so vigorously on
the part of our old soldiers that General Miloradowitch, who commanded the
Russians, did not dare longer to intercept their retreat. The regiments
defiled into Wiazma, but still continued firing. General Morand, who was
in command of the last battalions, was not rid of the pursuing enemy till
he reached the very camp, his soldiers presenting their bayonets. The
troops, who had thus gained another victory, encamped in the woods, with
no resource except the dying horses, which they slaughtered as they
required them, roasting the joints at the bivouac fires. The exhausted
soldiers slept.

Marshal Ney, in his turn, had charge of the rear-guard. The emperor felt
himself condemned by the stern and impassible judgment of Davout, whom he
had left alone to bear the heaviest burden; and he blamed the slowness of
his movements for the unfortunate battle of Wiazma, and the responsibility
of all the hardships undergone by the rear-guard. Like Massena in
Portugal, Davout found himself in disgrace because he was blamed with
faults which he had not committed, and which he was unable to rectify.

Meantime they had approached Smolensk. Alarming news awaited Napoleon at
Dorogobouje. He had long reckoned on the assistance of the 9th corps,
which Marshal Victor was bringing him from Germany. Scarcely had the new
troops arrived at Smolensk, according to the emperor's order, than they
found themselves obliged to go to the assistance of our left wing, which
was threatened by Count Wittgenstein. A large reinforcement had joined the
Russian army at this point. After a conference at Abo, in Finland (28th
August, 1812), between the Prince Royal of Sweden and the Emperor
Alexander, the Russian forces promised to Bernadotte for the conquest of
Norway had advanced from Finland into Livonia. Marshal Macdonald was
compelled to abandon the siege of Riga in order to support the Prussians
on the lower Dwina. Marshal St. Cyr, in his turn, found himself threatened
on the 18th October by forces superior to his own, and had fought a second
battle before Polotsk, and successfully defended the town; but when
attacked by Wittgenstein and the forces arrived from Finland, on both
banks of the Dwina, he was compelled to withdraw behind the Oula
(connected with the Berezina by the Lepel canal). Being severely wounded
in the last engagement, he had given up the command to Marshal Oudinot,
who was anxiously waiting for Marshal Victor's arrival. The approach of
Admiral Tchitchakoff was already announced; returned from Turkey with a
large army, the negotiator of the treaty of Bucharest had, with
Tormazoff's assistance, driven General Reynier and Prince Schwartzenberg
behind the marshes of Pinsk; and, after leaving General Sacken with 25,000
men to keep the allies in check, was now advancing towards the upper
Berezina, to support Count Wittgenstein. Thus, on reaching Smolensk,
Napoleon was about to find the place almost destitute of troops, while the
left wing was in very great danger, attacked at the same time by
Wittgenstein, the Finland troops, and Tchitchakoff. The supplies even were
smaller than was expected, on account of the difficulty of conveyance. The
soldiers were delighted as they came near Smolensk. The emperor knew that
the halt must be short; nevertheless, he ordered Victor to join Oudinot
immediately in order to make a joint attack upon Wittgenstein; and wrote
General Reynier and the Austrians to pursue Admiral Tchitchakoff. He also
asked for one of the divisions of Marshal Augereau to be sent from
Germany; and separating the troops which still remained, in order to
facilitate the food-supply during their journey, he continued his march
upon Smolensk, whilst Prince Eugene took the road for Doukhowtchina, with
instructions to protect Vitebsk if necessary.

The main army resumed its march on the 6th November. On the 7th and 8th
the cold became so keen, and the ice on the roads so dangerous, that the
horses could not advance, and it was necessary to leave behind some
cannon. On the 9th the viceroy reached the banks of the Vop, a small
stream which in winter becomes a rapid torrent, its channel being already
choked with ice. Before the engineers had completed a bridge, the crowd of
the soldiers and runaways rushed headlong upon it and broke it down. The
cavalry forded the stream, the troops following them with the water up to
their shoulders. The field-pieces, the baggage, and ammunition-wagons, one
after another crushed down the banks and ploughed through the channel,
frequently plunging into the mire, and being left there. It became
impossible to cross; and the wretches who were following the army found
themselves left behind, and delivered up to the vengeance of the Russians
or the cruelties of the Cossacks, who ran up in eager hordes. In despair
and terror, they struggled to cross the river, leaving behind them the
wagons which still afforded them some supplies, and many perished. Even
the soldiers who had fallen behind the army pillaged the baggage which had
been abandoned on the bank. Blood flowed also in the midst of this
horrible confusion, for the Cossacks, eager for booty, joined with the
disbanded soldiers. Some brave men several times braved the dangers of
crossing the stream to save the lives of the defenceless women and
children.

On reaching Doukhowtchina, Prince Eugene learned that Vitebsk had fallen
into the hands of Wittgenstein. Thus the cruel day's march just made by
the army of Italy proved useless. The viceroy set fire to the small town
where he found temporary shelter and a few supplies, and then advanced
towards Smolensk, where Napoleon had arrived on the evening of the 9th.

There also there was nothing but discontent, dejection, and, for a short
time, disorder. The emperor had only allowed the guard to enter the town,
and both lodgings and provisions were reserved for this favorite corps,
the only remnant saved from shipwreck, who had only undergone the
hardships of the campaign without any share in the battles. The mob of
camp-followers, deaf to discipline, forced open the gates, and general
pillage had commenced when the emperor's order was modified. The troops
lay down in the streets and squares, overpowered by fatigue, and fell down
exhausted beside the fires which had been lighted. Then arrived Prince
Eugene's troops, more decimated than all the others by the frightful
disaster on the banks of the Vop. Marshal Ney had been fighting since they
left Dorogobouje, sustaining all his soldiers by his indomitable courage
and the steadiness of his physical and mental energy, playing in turns the
part of general, captain, and soldier, seizing the musket as it fell from
the hands of a dying grenadier to fire, himself, upon the enemy, and
purposely slackening the march of the rear-guard in order to give time to
all to reach Smolensk. The news brought there from all quarters, like
bulletins of some deadly agony, no longer allowed even the soldiers the
vain hope of several days of rest. General Hilliers, who had advanced
according to orders on the Jelnia road, was surprised by the Russians, and
having lost 2000 men, returned to Smolensk, to find himself degraded in
the eyes of all the army, and was sent back to France, to be tried there
by court-martial. Prince Schwartzenberg was doubtful, he said, about
leaving Warsaw unprotected; and Admiral Tchitchakoff advanced unchecked,
and was already threatening Minsk, where the great bulk of our supplies
was collected together. Victor and Oudinot had not dared to risk a
decisive engagement; and the two Russian armies were about to combine in
order to bar our passage over the Berezina, the only way of safety to
return to Poland. There was not a moment more to be lost in effecting that
fatal junction. The emperor resolved to march immediately towards Vilna,
still intending to make an attack upon Admiral Tchitchakoff, and
entrusting the leaders of his left wing with the duty of at last defeating
Wittgenstein. But by one of those blunders which seemed to indicate some
failure in his genius and foresight, he ordered the marshals to follow him
one after another; and taking no account of Kutuzoff's army, he left
Smolensk on the 14th November. Prince Eugene, Davout, and Ney were to
evacuate their cantonments on the 15th, 16th, and 17th respectively, and
the gallant leader of the rear-guard was to bury the cannon, destroy the
ammunition, and blow up the walls surrounding the town. The great army by
this time scarcely amounted to 36,000 fighting men; and the cavalry,
entirely under the orders of General Latour-Maubourg, only counted 1800
horse. Napoleon followed on the left bank the road from Smolensk to
Orscha, without taking the precaution to place between him and General
Kutuzoff the rapid current of the Dnieper. He was soon to pay dearly for
this fault. Scarcely had he reached Krasnoe than he found General
Sebastiani, who had preceded him, blockaded in a church by a body of the
enemy. Kutuzoff was approaching with 50,000 soldiers, and making ready,
with the assistance of several bands of Cossacks, to cut our long columns.
On his march Napoleon found at every step ambulance-wagons, and those of
runaways, half buried in the snow, and still containing frozen corpses.
The emperor halted to wait for those corps which were to rejoin him, and
were seriously exposed by their isolation. Prince Eugene had already
forced a passage before Krasnoe upon the Lossmina, being therefore
compelled to sacrifice Broussier's division, which remained in battle
order, threatening the Russian army with a renewal of the attack upon the
heights which had been vainly attempted on the evening before. All the
rest of the main army succeeded in escaping, with the assistance of the
darkness, and the snow, which deadened the noise of the footsteps. The
troops left in the rear could only be saved by the approach of Davout and
Ney.

On this occasion, once more, Napoleon recovered that unconquerable
resolution which had carried him to the summit of power. Determined not to
leave his army and lieutenants, he marched before them on the Smolensk
road with his guards, who were henceforward subjected to all the hazards
of battle. The village Koutkowo, occupied by the Russians, was retaken,
the emperor himself being on foot, because the icy ground made riding
impossible. The Russian batteries ploughed up the ground held by the
French, and the noise of the battle was heard. Davout was at hand, after
rallying the poor remainder of the Broussier division, and the artillery
with Generals Lariboisiere and Eble; and dashing in dense columns with his
four divisions upon General Miloradowitch, who defended the valley of the
Lossmina, he soon opened a bloody passage, and rejoined the guard grouped
round Napoleon. Krasnoe was thus surrounded by a semicircle of our troops,
disputing the enemy's positions step by step; but Admiral Tormazoff was
now on our rear, in order to hold the Orscha road. The emperor saw that he
should be speedily hemmed in, and resolved to resume his march, without
waiting for Ney's regiments. He thus devoted him to certain loss; but in
the stern necessity which compelled him, Napoleon had not the courage to
accept the responsibility of the act which he was about to accomplish.
Ordering Mortier to start with the guards, he imposed on Davout the double
duty of waiting for Ney and not separating himself from Mortier. In
presence of these contradictory instructions, and with an overwhelming
sense of their responsibility, Davout made an effort to hold his ground,
his divisions having replaced on the plateau of Krasnoe the regiments of
the young guard, which had now begun defiling towards Orscha. Napoleon
marched in front with the old guard, undergoing as they went a deadly fire
from the Russians. Tormazoff's columns seemed to wait for the final orders
to cut the passage of what were left of the great army. Kutuzoff resisted
the urgent advice of Tormazoff as well as the arguments and excitement of
General Wilson, who had been sent to him by the English Government. "You
think the old man is a fool," he said repeatedly, "that he is timid, and
without energy: you are young, and don't understand. If Napoleon turned
back, none of us dare meet him; he is still terrible. If I bring him back
to the Berezina, ruined and without an army, I shall have accomplished my
task." Thus protected by the terrible renown of his name, the emperor
advanced to Liady.

Davout resisted to the last moment; but Marshal Mortier, who was hurrying
to leave Krasnoe, urged him to start. The roads were about to be barred;
the bullets were falling in showers on the little town; the marshal's
three divisions only amounted to 5000 men, and all the rest of the army
were being withdrawn. As he left the plateau of Krasnoe, Mortier ordered
the guard to keep step. "You hear, soldiers?" cried General Laborde; "the
general orders the ordinary step. Slow time, soldiers. March!" It was in
the same way that Davout's troops defiled, constantly turning round to
fire at the squadrons of the enemy's cavalry, closely pursuing them. When
the exhausted corps were again brought together at Liady, the faces of all
were still more gloomy than on the previous evening. Besides their
physical sufferings, there was now added the burden of a bitter regret.
Their desertion of Marshal Ney weighed on the consciences of all.

Ney had been warned neither of the danger which threatened him nor of the
isolation in which he was to be left, because a courier sent by Davout was
taken by the enemy. When he came face to face with Kutuzoff's army, before
Krasnoe, he still felt sure of passing there, where his comrades had gone
before him. A determined attack under a rain of shot having been
unsuccessful, the marshal saw the uselessness of the attempt, and without
for an instant losing his presence of mind or his courage, he resolved to
effect a movement during the night towards the Dnieper, cross the river,
and escape by the right bank, in order to regain the main army. "But if
the Dnieper is not frozen, what shall we do?" said some of the officers.
"It will be frozen!" retorted the general, curtly; "besides, frozen or
not, we shall do as we can--but we shall cross."

They did cross, to the profound astonishment of the Russians, who believed
the general and his soldiers were at last caught, and to the unspeakable
delight of the forces collected at Orscha. Prince Eugene and Marshal
Mortier took up their positions in front of their companions-in-arms,
saved by a determination and courage really marvellous. Only 1200 men
rejoined the army, out of 7000 forming the third corps when they left
Smolensk. On the plateau of Krasnoe, in the skirmishes against the
Cossacks of Platow, and by the sides of the ice-covered roads, Ney had
everywhere left dead bodies, wounded and dying men, besides men
overpowered by the hardships and incapable of any effort.

Even at Orscha the disorder was so great that it threatened to infect the
regiments of the old guard. The emperor harangued them energetically.
"Grenadiers," said he, "we are retiring without being conquered by the
enemy; let us not be so by ourselves; let us give the example to the army!
Several from amongst you have already deserted their eagles, and even
their arms. It is to you alone that I address myself to have this disorder
stopped. Act justly towards each other. It is to yourselves that I entrust
your discipline!" An appearance of order was restored; but the regular
distributions were impossible. Famishing wretches, soldiers, and those of
the camp-followers who still remained, all rushed upon the provision-
stores. Panics also continually increased the tumult. "The Cossacks! There
are the Cossacks!" was frequently shouted.

At Orscha, moreover, as well as at Smolensk and Dorogoubouge, ominous news
reached the emperor. Tchitchakoff, who had not been pursued by
Schwartzenberg, had carried Minsk, one of the most important rallying-
points on the Vilna road, and the centre of our principal supplies. The
Polish general Bronikowski being unable with 3000 men to defend the place,
had joined Dombrowski, who was covering the Dnieper, and both guarded the
bridge of Borisow on the Berezina with insufficient forces. Should the
bridge fall into the hands of Admiral Tchitchakoff, the army would be
blockaded behind the Berezina, or compelled to ascend to its source at the
risk of being attacked by Count Wittgenstein. Marshals Victor and Oudinot,
with their weak and decimated regiments, could not succeed in dislodging
the enemies from their position near Smoliantzy on the Oula. Thus marching
a second time over the roads which he had recently trod full of hope,
Napoleon found himself threatened on his left by Tchitchakoff holding
Minsk, on his right by Wittgenstein and Steinghel; behind him Kutuzoff was
advancing; before him it was now doubtful if the Berezina could be
crossed. The conception of a last and powerful combination arose in that
inexhaustibly fertile mind. He sent to Oudinot the order to march towards
the Berezina to support the Poles at Borisow. Victor was to check
Wittgenstein, so as to give the great army time to cross the river.
Napoleon could then rally the two marshals, whose forces still amounted to
25,000 men; he should attack and recover Minsk, send for Schwartzenberg,
and when thus master of all the scattered remnants of his army, make a
crushing attack upon the Russian troops, and gain a victory before
returning to Poland. With this hope, Orscha was evacuated on the 20th
November, under a cold rain, which penetrated the soldiers' clothes, and
then froze on their bodies. The emperor ordered the greater part of the
convoys to be sacrificed. The leaders of divisions alone kept carriages.
The wounded and several fugitive families still followed with great
difficulty on carts and wagons.

On the 22nd, at Tolocsin, the emperor learned that, after a keenly-fought
battle, the Russians had taken Borisow and the bridge over the Berezina.
He dismounted, and showing more uneasiness than he had yet done, called to
his side General Dode de la Brunerie, an officer of the engineers, whom he
had already distinguished. "They are there!" said he, without further
explanation. The general easily divined the emperor's meaning. They both
entered a hut, and Napoleon, spreading out his maps on a rickety table,
discussed with Dode the resources still at his command. The general's plan
was to ascend the course of the Berezina, declaring that he knew several
fords, and that they could then advance quickly upon Wilna by Gloubokoi.
They might indeed be met by Wittgenstein, but Tchitchakoff covered
Borisow, and would be certain to burn the bridge over the Berezina if he
saw it threatened.

The emperor listened as he kept looking at his maps. At last something
arrested his attention, the sight of a name of ill-omen: "Poltava!
Poltava!" he repeated. Then, as if more conscious than ever of the
superiority of his glory and destiny over the heroic adventures of King
Charles XII., he went up to General Jomini, who had just entered, and
said, "When one has never met with defeats, he ought to have them great in
proportion to his success." At the same time, while considering vaster
plans, now chimerical by reason of the exhaustion and dejection of his
troops, he resolved to push on to the Berezina, retake the bridge of
Borisow, and throw another over the river in spite of the Russians, and
thus, at any cost, recover Wilna by the shortest road. Scarcely was his
mind made up, when the means of effecting it were presented. General
Corbineau, formerly despatched by General St. Cyr to assist the Bavarians,
found himself at liberty on account of their inactivity; and conceiving
the idea of rejoining the great army, he crossed the Berezina by a ford
which he had long known, and brought Napoleon 700 horse, a valuable
reinforcement at such a moment of extreme distress. He learned at the same
time, that Marshal Oudinot had driven the Russians from Borisow without
being able to prevent them from burning the bridge. He could there check
Tchitchakoff, and leave Napoleon time to throw over the ford at Studianka
a simple bridge of tressels, which was the only apparatus General Eble had
been able to preserve during their rout. The engineers were secretly and
expeditiously ordered to go to this place.