Book: History of the Expedition to Russia

C >> Count Philip de Segur >> History of the Expedition to Russia




Daylight at last appeared, exhibiting on one side the Russian battalions
and batteries, which on three sides, in front, on our right, and in our
rear, bounded the horizon, and on the other, Napoleon with his six
thousand guards advancing with a firm step, and proceeding to take his
place in the middle of that terrible circle. At the same time Mortier, a
few yards in front of his Emperor, displayed in the face of the whole
Russian army, the five thousand men which still remained to him.

Their object was to defend the right flank of the great road from
Krasnoe to the great ravine in the direction of Stachowa. A battalion of
_chasseurs_ of the old guard, formed in a square like a fortress, was
planted close to the high road, and acted as a support to the left wing
of our young soldiers. On their right, in the snowy plains which
surrounded Krasnoe, the remains of the cavalry of the guard, a few
cannon, and the four hundred cavalry of Latour-Maubourg (as, since they
left Smolensk, the cold had killed or dispersed fourteen hundred of
them) occupied the place of the battalions and batteries which the
French army no longer possessed.

The artillery of the Duke of Treviso was reinforced by a battery
commanded by Drouot; one of those men who are endowed with the whole
strength of virtue, who think that duty embraces every thing, and are
capable of making the noblest sacrifices simply and without the least
effort.

Claparede remained at Krasnoe, where, with a few soldiers, he protected
the wounded, the baggage, and the retreat. Prince Eugene continued his
retreat towards Liady. His engagement of the preceding day and his night
march had entirely broken up his corps; his divisions only retained
sufficient unity to drag themselves along, and to perish, but not to
fight.

Meantime Roguet had been recalled to the field of battle from Maliewo.
The enemy kept pushing columns across that village, and was extending
more and more beyond our right in order to surround us. The battle then
commenced. But what kind of battle? The Emperor had here no sudden
illumination to trust to, no flashes of momentary inspiration, none of
these great strokes so unforeseen from their boldness, which ravish
fortune, extort a victory, and by which he had so often disconcerted,
stunned, and crushed his enemies. All _their_ movements were now free,
all _ours_ enchained, and this genius of attack was reduced to defend
himself.

Here therefore it became perfectly evident that renown is not a vain
shadow, that she is real strength, and doubly powerful by the inflexible
pride which she imparts to her favourites, and the timid precautions
which she suggests to them who venture to attack her. The Russians had
only to march forward without manoeuvring, even without firing: their
mass was sufficient, they might have crushed Napoleon and his feeble
troop: but they did not dare to come to close quarters with him. They
were awed by the presence of the conqueror of Egypt and of Europe. The
Pyramids, Marengo, Austerlitz, Friedland, an army of victories, seemed
to rise between him and the whole of the Russians. We might almost fancy
that, in the eyes of that submissive and superstitious people, a renown
so extraordinary appeared like some thing supernatural; that they
regarded it as beyond their reach; that they believed they could only
attack and demolish it from a distance; and in short, that against that
old guard, that living fortress, that column of granite, as it had been
styled by its leader, human efforts were impotent, and that cannon alone
could demolish it.

These made wide and deep breaches in the ranks of Roguet and the young
guard, but they killed without vanquishing. These young soldiers, one
half of whom had never before been in an engagement, received the shock
of death during three hours without retreating one step, without making
a single movement to escape it, and without being able to return it,
their artillery having been broken, and the Russians keeping beyond the
reach of their musketry.

But every instant strengthened the enemy and weakened Napoleon. The
noise of the cannon as well as Claparede apprised him, that in the rear
of Krasnoe and his army, Beningsen was proceeding to take possession of
the road to Liady, and cut off his retreat. The east, the west, and the
south were sparkling with the enemy's fires; one side only remained
open, that of the north and the Dnieper, towards an eminence, at the
foot of which were the high road and the Emperor. We fancied we saw the
enemy covering this eminence with his cannon: in that situation they
were just over Napoleon's head, and might have crushed him at a few
yards' distance. He was apprised of his danger, cast his eyes for an
instant upon it, and uttered merely these words, "Very well, let a
battalion of my _chasseurs_ take possession of it!" Immediately
afterwards, without paying farther attention to it, his whole looks and
attention reverted to the perilous situation of Mortier.

Then at last Davoust made his appearance, forcing his way through a
swarm of Cossacks, whom he drove away by a precipitate march. At the
sight of Krasnoe, this marshal's troops disbanded themselves, and ran
across the fields to get beyond the right of the enemy's line, in the
rear of which they had come up. Davoust and his generals could only
rally them at Krasnoe.

The first corps was thus preserved, but we learned at the same time,
that our rear-guard could no longer defend itself at Krasnoe; that Ney
was probably still at Smolensk, and that we must give up waiting for him
any longer. Napoleon, however, still hesitated; he could not determine
on making this great sacrifice.

But at last, as all were likely to perish, his resolution was fixed. He
called Mortier, and squeezing his hand sorrowfully, told him, "that he
had not a moment to lose; that the enemy were overwhelming him in all
directions; that Kutusoff might already reach Liady, perhaps Orcha, and
the last winding of the Boristhenes before him; that he would therefore
proceed thither rapidly with his old guard, in order to occupy that
passage. Davoust would relieve Mortier; but both of them must endeavour
to hold out in Krasnoe until night, after which they must come and
rejoin him." Then with his heart full of Ney's misfortune, and of
despair at abandoning him, he withdrew slowly from the field of battle,
traversed Krasnoe, where he again halted, and then cleared his way to
Liady.

Mortier was anxious to obey, but at that moment the Dutch troops of the
guard had lost, along with a third part of their number, an important
post which they were defending, which the enemy immediately after
covered with his artillery. Roguet, feeling the destructive effects of
its fire, fancied he was able to extinguish it. A regiment which he sent
against the Russian battery was repulsed; a second (the 1st of the
_voltigeurs_) got into the middle of the Russians, and stood firm
against two charges of their cavalry. It continued to advance, torn to
pieces by their grape-shot, when a third charge overwhelmed it. Fifty
soldiers and eleven officers were all of it that Roguet was able to
preserve.

That general had lost the half of his men. It was now two o'clock, and
his unshaken fortitude still kept the Russians in astonishment, when at
last, emboldened by the Emperor's departure, they began to press upon
him so closely, that the young guard was nearly hemmed in, and very soon
in a situation in which it could neither hold out, nor retreat.

Fortunately, some platoons which Davoust had rallied, and the appearance
of another troop of his stragglers, attracted the enemy's attention.
Mortier availed himself of it. He gave orders to the three thousand men
he had still remaining to retreat slowly in the face of their fifty
thousand enemies. "Do you hear, soldiers?" cried General Laborde, "the
marshal orders ordinary time! Ordinary time, soldiers!" And this brave
and unfortunate troop, dragging with them some of their wounded, under a
shower of balls and grape-shot, retired as slowly from this field of
carnage, as they would have done from a field of manoeuvre.




CHAP. VI.


As soon as Mortier had succeeded in placing Krasnoe between him and
Beningsen, he was in safety. The communication between that town and
Liady was only interrupted by the fire of the enemy's batteries, which
flanked the left side of the great road. Colbert and Latour-Maubourg
kept them in check upon their heights. In the course of this march a
most singular accident occurred. A howitzer shell entered the body of a
horse, burst there, and blew him to pieces without wounding his rider,
who fell upon his legs, and went on.

The Emperor, meanwhile, halted at Liady, four leagues from the field of
battle. When night came on, he learned that Mortier, who he thought was
in his rear, had got before him. Melancholy and uneasy, he sent for him,
and with an agitated voice, said to him, "that he had certainly fought
gloriously, and suffered greatly. But why had he placed his Emperor
between him and the enemy? why had he exposed himself to be cut off?"

The marshal had got the start of Napoleon without being aware of it. He
exclaimed, "that he had at first left Davoust in Krasnoe, again
endeavouring to rally his troops, and that he himself had halted, not
far from that: but that the first corps, having been driven back upon
him, had obliged him to retrograde. That besides, Kutusoff did not
follow up his victory with vigour, and appeared to hang upon our flank
with all his army with no other view than to feast his eyes with our
distress, and gather up our fragments."

Next day the march was continued with hesitation. The impatient
stragglers took the lead, and all of them got the start of Napoleon; he
was on foot, with a stick in his hand, walking with difficulty and
repugnance, and halting every quarter of an hour, as if unwilling to
tear himself from that old Russia, whose frontier he was then passing,
and in which he had left his unfortunate companions in arms.

In the evening he reached Dombrowna, a wooden town, with a population
like Liady; a novel sight for an army, which had for three months seen
nothing but ruins. We had at last emerged from old Russia and her
deserts of snow and ashes, and entered into a friendly and inhabited
country, whose language we understood. The weather just then became
milder, a thaw had begun, and we received some provisions.

Thus the winter, the enemy, solitude, and with some famine and bivouacs,
all ceased at once; but it was too late. The Emperor saw that his army
was destroyed; every moment the name of Ney escaped from his lips, with
exclamations of grief. That night particularly he was heard groaning and
exclaiming, "That the misery of his poor soldiers cut him to the heart,
and yet that he could not succour them without fixing himself in some
place: but where was it possible for him to rest, without ammunition,
provisions, or artillery? He was no longer strong enough to halt; he
must reach Minsk as quickly as possible."

He had hardly spoken the words, when a Polish officer arrived with the
news, that Minsk itself, his magazine, his retreat, his only hope, had
just fallen into the hands of the Russians, Tchitchakof having entered
it on the 16th. Napoleon, at first, was mute and overpowered at this
last blow; but immediately afterwards, elevating himself in proportion
to his danger, he coolly replied, "Very well! we have now nothing to do,
but to clear ourselves a passage with our bayonets."

But in order to reach this new enemy, who had escaped from
Schwartzenberg, or whom Schwartzenberg had perhaps allowed to pass, (for
we knew nothing of the circumstances,) and to escape from Kutusoff and
Wittgenstein, we must cross the Berezina at Borizof. With that view
Napoleon (on the 19th of November, from Dombrowna) sent orders to
Dombrowski to give up all idea of fighting Hoertel, and proceed with all
haste to occupy that passage. He wrote to the Duke of Reggio, to march
rapidly to the same point, and to hasten to recover Minsk; the Duke of
Belluno would cover his march. After giving these orders, his agitation
was appeased, and his mind, worn out with suffering, sunk into
depression.

It was still far from daylight, when a singular noise drew him out of
his lethargy. Some say that shots were at first heard, which had been
fired by our own people, in order to draw out of the houses such as had
taken shelter in them, that they might take their places; others assert,
that from a disorderly practice, too common in our bivouacs, of
vociferating to each other, the name of _Hausanne_, a grenadier, being
suddenly called out loudly, in the midst of a profound silence, was
mistaken for the alert cry of _aux armes_, which announced a surprise by
the enemy.

Whatever might be the cause, every one immediately saw, or fancied he
saw, the Cossacks, and a great noise of war and of alarm surrounded
Napoleon. Without disturbing himself, he said to Rapp, "Go and see, it
is no doubt some rascally Cossacks, determined to disturb our rest!" But
it became very soon a complete tumult of men running to fight or to
flee, and who, meeting in the dark, mistook each other for enemies.

Napoleon for a moment imagined that a serious attack had been made. As
an embanked stream of water ran through the town, he inquired if the
remaining artillery had been placed behind that ravine, and being
informed that the precaution had been neglected, he himself immediately
ran to the bridge, and caused his cannon to be hurried over to the other
side.

He then returned to his old guard, and stopping in front of each
battalion: "Grenadiers!" said he to them, "we are retreating without
being conquered by the enemy, let us not be vanquished by ourselves! Set
an example to the army! Several of you have already deserted their
eagles, and even thrown away their arms. I have no wish to have recourse
to military laws to put a stop to this disorder, but appeal entirely to
yourselves! Do justice among yourselves. To your own honour I commit the
support of your discipline!"

The other troops he harangued in a similar style. These few words were
quite sufficient to the old grenadiers, who probably had no occasion for
them. The others received them with acclamation, but an hour afterwards,
when the march was resumed, they were quite forgotten. As to his
rear-guard, throwing the greatest part of the blame of this hot alarm
upon it, he sent an angry message to Davoust on the subject.

At Orcha we found rather an abundant supply of provisions, a bridge
equipage of sixty boats, with all its appurtenances, which were entirely
burnt, and thirty-six pieces of cannon, with their horses, which were
distributed between Davoust, Eugene, and Latour-Maubourg.

Here for the first time we again met with the officers and gendarmes,
who had been sent for the purpose of stopping on the two bridges of the
Dnieper the crowd of stragglers, and making them rejoin their columns.
But those eagles, which formerly promised every thing, were now looked
upon as of fatal omen, and deserted accordingly.

Disorder was already regularly organized, and had enlisted in its ranks
men who showed their ability in its service. When an immense crowd had
been collected, these wretches called out "the Cossacks!" with a view to
quicken the march of those who preceded them and to increase the tumult.
They then took advantage of it, to carry off the provisions and cloaks
of those whom they had thrown off their guard.

The gendarmes, who again saw this army for the first time since its
disaster, were astonished at the sight of such misery, terrified at the
great confusion, and became discouraged. This friendly frontier was
entered tumultuously; it would have been given up to pillage, had it not
been for the guard, and a few hundred men who remained, with Prince
Eugene.

Napoleon entered Orcha with six thousand guards, the remains of
thirty-five thousand! Eugene, with eighteen hundred soldiers, the
remains of forty-two thousand! Davoust, with four thousand, the remains
of seventy thousand!

This marshal had lost every thing, was actually without linen, and
emaciated with hunger. He seized upon a loaf which was offered him by
one of his comrades, and, voraciously devoured it. A handkerchief was
given him to wipe his face, which was covered with rime. He exclaimed,
"that none but men of iron constitutions could support such trials, that
it was physically impossible to resist them; that there were limits to
human strength, the utmost of which had been exceeded."

He it was who at first supported the retreat as far as Wiazma. He was
still, according to his custom, halting at all the defiles, and
remaining there the very last, sending every one to his ranks, and
constantly struggling with the disorder. He urged his soldiers to insult
and strip of their booty such of their comrades as threw away their
arms; the only means of retaining the first and punishing the last.
Nevertheless, his methodical and severe genius, so much out of its
element in that scene of universal confusion, has been accused of being
too much intimidated at it.

The Emperor made fruitless attempts to check this discouragement. When
alone, he was heard compassionating the sufferings of his soldiers; but
in their presence, even upon that point, he wished to appear inflexible.
He issued a proclamation, "ordering every one to return to their ranks;
if they did not, he would strip the officers of their grades, and put
the soldiers to death."

A threat like this produced neither good nor bad impression upon men who
had become insensible, or were reduced to despair, fleeing not from
danger, but from suffering, and less apprehensive of the _death_ with
which they were threatened than of the _life_ that was offered to them.

But Napoleon's confidence increased with his peril; in his eyes, and in
the midst of these deserts of mud and ice, this handful of men was still
the grand army! and himself the conqueror of Europe! and there was no
infatuation in this firmness; we were certain of it, when, in this very
town, we saw him burning with his own hands every thing belonging to
him, which might serve as trophies to the enemy, in the event of his
fall.

There also were unfortunately consumed all the papers which he had
collected in order to write the history of his life, for such was his
intention when he set out for this fatal war. He had then determined to
halt as a threatening conqueror on the borders of the Duena and the
Boristhenes, to which he now returned as a disarmed fugitive. At that
time he regarded the _ennui_ of six winter months, which he would have
been detained on these rivers, as his greatest enemy, and to overcome
it, this second Caesar intended there to have dictated his Commentaries.




CHAP. VII.


Every thing, however, was now changed; two hostile armies were cutting
off his retreat. The question to decide was, through which of them he
must attempt to force his way: and as he knew nothing of the Lithuanian
forests into which he was about to penetrate, he summoned such of his
officers as had passed through them in order to reach him.

The Emperor began by telling them, that "Too much familiarity with great
victories was frequently the precursor of great disasters, but that
recrimination was now out of the question." He then mentioned the
capture of Minsk, and after admitting the skilfulness of Kutusoff's
persevering manoeuvres on his right flank, declared "that he meant to
abandon his line of operations on the Minsk, unite with the Dukes of
Belluno and Reggio, cut his way through Wittgenstein's army, and regain
Wilna by turning the sources of the Berezina."

Jomini combated this plan. That Swiss general described the position of
Wittgenstein as a series of long defiles, in which his resistance might
be either obstinate or flexible, but in either way sufficiently long to
consummate our destruction. He added, that in this season, and in such a
state of disorder, a change of route would complete the destruction of
the army; that it would lose itself in the cross-roads of these barren
and marshy forests; he maintained that the high road alone could keep it
in any degree of union. Borizof, and its bridge over the Berezina, were
still open; and it would be sufficient to reach it.

He then stated that he knew of a road to the right of that town,
constructed on wooden bridges, and passing across the marshes of
Lithuania. This was the only road, by his account, by which the army
could reach Wilna by Zembin and Malodeczno, leaving Minsk on the left,
its road a day's journey longer, its fifty broken bridges rendering a
passage impracticable, and Tchitchakof in possession of it. In this
manner we should pass between the two hostile armies, avoiding them
both.

The Emperor was staggered; but as his pride revolted at the appearance
of avoiding an engagement, and he was anxious to signalize his departure
from Russia by a victory, he sent for General Dodde, of the engineers.
As soon as he saw him he called out to him, "Whether shall we retreat by
Zembin, or go and beat Wittgenstein at Smoliantzy?" and knowing that
Dodde had just come from the latter position, he asked him if it was
approachable?

His reply was, that Wittgenstein occupied a height which entirely
commanded that miry country; that it would be necessary for us to tack
about, within his sight and within his reach, by following the windings
and turnings of the road, in order to ascend to the Russian camp; that
thus our column of attack would be long exposed to their fire, first its
left and then its right flank; that this position was therefore
unapproachable in front, and that to turn it, it would be necessary to
retrograde towards Witepsk, and take too long a circuit.

Disappointed in this last hope of glory, Napoleon then decided for
Borizof. He ordered General Eble to proceed with eight companies of
sappers and pontonniers to secure the passage of the Berezina, and
General Jomini to act as his guide. But he said at the same time, "that
it was cruel to retreat without fighting, to have the appearance of
flight. If he had any magazine, any point of support, which would allow
him to halt, he would still prove to Europe that he always knew how to
fight and to conquer."

All these illusions were now destroyed. At Smolensk, where he arrived
first, and from which he was the first to depart, he had rather been
informed of, than witnessed his disaster. At Krasnoe, where our miseries
had successively been unrolled before his eyes, the peril had distracted
his attention; but at Orcha he could contemplate, at once and leisurely,
the full extent of his misfortunes.

At Smolensk, thirty-six thousand combatants, one hundred and fifty
cannon, the army-chest, and the hope of life and breathing at liberty on
the other side of the Berezina, still remained; here, there were
scarcely ten thousand soldiers, almost without clothing or shoes,
entangled amidst a crowd of dying men, with a few cannon, and a pillaged
army-chest.

In five days, every evil had been aggravated; destruction and
disorganization had made frightful progress; Minsk had been taken. He
had no longer to look for rest and abundance on the other side of the
Berezina, but fresh contests with a new enemy. Finally, the defection of
Austria from his alliance seemed to be declared, and perhaps it was a
signal given to all Europe.

Napoleon was even uncertain whether he should reach Borizof in time to
meet the new peril, which Schwartzenberg's hesitation seemed to have
prepared for him. We have seen that a third Russian army, that of
Wittgenstein, menaced, on his right, the interval which separated him
from that town; that he had sent the Duke of Belluno against him, and
had ordered that marshal to retrieve the opportunity he had lost on the
1st of November, and to resume the offensive.

In obedience to these orders, on the 14th of November, the very day
Napoleon quitted Smolensk, the Dukes of Belluno and of Reggio had
attacked and driven back the out-posts of Wittgenstein towards
Smoliantzy, preparing, by this engagement, for a battle which they
agreed should take place on the following day.

The French were thirty thousand against forty thousand; there, as well
as at Wiazma, the soldiers were sufficiently numerous, if they had not
had too many leaders.

The two Marshals disagreed. Victor wished to manoeuvre on the enemy's
left wing, to overthrow Wittgenstein with the two French corps, and
march by Botscheikowo on Kamen, and from Kamen by Pouichna on Berezina.
Oudinot warmly disapproved of this plan, saying that it would separate
them from the grand army, which required their assistance.

Thus, one of the leaders wishing to manoeuvre, and the other to attack
in front, they did neither the one nor the other. Oudinot retired during
the night to Czereia, and Victor, discovering this retreat at daybreak,
was compelled to follow him.

He halted within a day's march of the Lukolmlia, near Sienno, where
Wittgenstein did not much disturb him; but the Duke of Reggio having at
last received the order dated from Dombrowna, which directed him to
recover Minsk, Victor was about to be left alone before the Russian
general. It was possible that the latter would then become aware of his
superiority: and the Emperor, who at Orcha, on the 20th of November, saw
his rear-guard, lost, his left flank menaced by Kutusoff, and his
advance column stopped at the Berezina by the army of Volhynia, learned
that Wittgenstein and forty thousand more enemies, far from being beaten
and repulsed, were ready to fall upon his right, and that he had no time
to lose.

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