Book: History of the Expedition to Russia

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But Wittgenstein having made his attack before Tchitchakof, the nearer
and more pressing danger had attracted every one's attention; the wise
instructions of the 6th of October had not been repeated by Napoleon,
and they appeared to have been entirely forgotten by his lieutenant.
Finally, when the Emperor learned at Dombrowna the loss of Minsk, he had
no idea that Borizof was in such imminent danger, as when he passed the
next day through Orcha, he had the whole of his bridge-equipage burnt.

His correspondence also of the 20th of November with Victor proved his
security; it supposed that Oudinot would have nearly arrived on the 25th
at Borizof, while that place had been taken possession of by Tchitchakof
on the 21st.

It was on the day immediately subsequent to that fatal catastrophe, at
the distance of three marches from Borizof, and upon the high road, that
an officer arrived and announced to Napoleon this fresh disaster. The
Emperor, striking the ground with his stick, and darting a furious look
to heaven, pronounced these words, "It is then written above that we
shall now commit nothing but faults!"

Meanwhile Marshal Oudinot, who was already marching towards Minsk,
totally ignorant of what had happened, halted on the 21st between Bobr
and Kroupki, when in the middle of the night General Brownikowski
arrived to announce to him his own defeat, as well as that of General
Dombrowski; that Borizof was taken, and that the Russians were following
hard at his heels.

On the 22d the marshal marched to meet them, and rallied the remains of
Dombrowski's force.

On the 23d, at three leagues on the other side of Borizof, he came in
contact with the Russian vanguard, which he overthrew, taking from it
nine hundred men and fifteen hundred carriages, and drove back by the
united force of his artillery, infantry, and cavalry, as far as the
Berezina; but the remains of Lambert's force, on repassing Borizof and
that river, destroyed the bridge.

Napoleon was then at Toloczina: he made them describe to him the
position of Borizof. They assured him that at that point the Berezina
was not merely a river but a lake of moving ice; that the bridge was
three hundred fathoms in length; that it had been irreparably destroyed,
and the passage by it rendered completely impracticable.

At that moment arrived a general of engineers, who had just returned
from the Duke of Belluno's corps. Napoleon interrogated him; the general
declared "that he saw no means of escape but through the middle of
Wittgenstein's army." The Emperor replied, "that he must find a
direction in which he could turn his back to all the enemy's generals,
to Kutusoff, to Wittgenstein, to Tchitchakof;" and he pointed with his
finger on the map to the course of the Berezina below Borizof; it was
there he wished to cross the river. But the general objected to him the
presence of Tchitchakof on the right bank; the Emperor then pointed to
another passage below the first, and then to a third, still nearer to
the Dnieper. Recollecting, however, that he was then approaching the
country of the Cossacks, he stopped short, and exclaimed, "Oh yes!
Pultawa! that is like Charles XII.!"

In fact, every disaster which Napoleon could anticipate had occurred;
the melancholy conformity, therefore, of his situation with that of the
Swedish conqueror, threw his mind into such a state of agitation, that
his health became still more seriously affected than it had been at
Malo-Yaroslawetz. Among the expressions he made use of, loud enough to
be overheard, was this: "See what happens when we heap faults on
faults!"

Nevertheless, these first movements were the only ones that had escaped
him, and the valet-de-chambre who assisted him, was the only person that
witnessed his agitation. Duroc, Daru, and Berthier have all said, that
they knew nothing of it, that they saw him unshaken; this was very true,
humanly speaking, as he retained sufficient command over himself to
avoid betraying his anxiety, and as the strength of man most frequently
consists in concealing his weakness.

A remarkable conversation, which was overheard the same night, will show
better than any thing else, how critical was his position, and how well
he bore it. It was getting late; Napoleon had gone to bed. Duroc and
Daru, who remained in his chamber, fancying that he was asleep, were
giving way, in whispers, to the most gloomy conjectures; he overheard
them, however, and the word "prisoner of state," coming to his ear,
"How!" exclaimed he, "do you believe they would dare?" Daru, after his
first surprise, immediately answered, "that if we were compelled to
surrender, we must be prepared for every thing; that he had no reliance
on an enemy's generosity; that we knew too well that great state-policy
considered itself identified with morality, and was regulated by no
law." "But France," said the Emperor, "what would France say?" "Oh, as
to France," continued Daru, "we are at liberty to make a thousand
conjectures more or less disagreeable, but none of us can know what will
take place there." And he then added, "that for the sake of the
Emperor's chief officers, as well as the Emperor himself, the most
fortunate thing would be, if by the air or otherwise, as the earth was
closed upon us, the Emperor could reach France, from whence he could
much more certainly provide for their safety, than by remaining among
them!" "Then I suppose I am in your way?" replied the Emperor, smiling.
"Yes, Sire." "And you have no wish to be a prisoner of state?" Daru
replied in the same tone, "that it was enough for him to be a prisoner
of war." On which the Emperor remained for some time in a profound
silence; then with a more serious air: "Are all the reports of my
ministers burnt?" "Sire, hitherto you would not allow that to be done."
"Very well, go and destroy them; for it must be confessed, we are in a
most melancholy position." This was the sole avowal which it wrested
from him, and on that idea he went to sleep, knowing, when it was
necessary, how to postpone every thing to the next day.

His orders displayed equal firmness. Oudinot had just sent to inform him
of his determination to overthrow Lambert; this he approved of, and he
also urged him to make himself master of a passage, either above or
below Borizof. He expressed his anxiety, that by the 24th this passage
should be fixed on, and the preparations begun, and that he should be
apprised of it, in order to make his march correspond. Far from thinking
of making his escape through the midst of these three hostile armies,
his only idea now was, that of beating Tchitchakof, and retaking Minsk.

It is true, that eight hours afterwards, in a second letter to the Duke
of Reggio, he resigned himself to cross the Berezina near Veselowo, and
to retreat directly upon Wilna by Vileika, avoiding the Russian admiral.

But on the 24th he learned that the passage could only be attempted near
Studzianka; that at that spot the river was only fifty-four fathoms
wide, and six feet deep; that they would land on the other side, in a
marsh, under the fire of a commanding position strongly occupied by the
enemy.




CHAP. III.


All hope of passing between the Russian armies was thus lost; driven by
the armies of Kutusoff and Wittgenstein upon the Berezina, there was no
alternative but to cross that river in the teeth of the army of
Tchitchakof, which lined its banks.

Ever since the 23d, Napoleon had been preparing for it, as for a
desperate action. And first he had the eagles of all the corps brought
to him, and burnt. He formed into two battalions, eighteen hundred
dismounted cavalry of his guard, of whom only eleven hundred and
fifty-four were armed with muskets and carbines.

The cavalry of the army of Moscow was so completely destroyed, that
Latour-Maubourg had not now remaining under his command more than one
hundred and fifty men on horseback. The Emperor collected around his
person all the officers of that arm who were still mounted; he styled
this troop, of about five hundred officers, his _sacred squadron_.
Grouchy and Sebastiani had the command of them; generals of division
served in it as captains.

Napoleon ordered further that all the useless carriages should be burnt;
that no officer should keep more than one; that half the waggons and
carriages of all the corps should also be burnt, and that the horses
should be given to the artillery of the guard. The officers of that arm
had orders to take all the draught-cattle within their reach, even the
horses of the Emperor himself, sooner than abandon a single cannon, or
ammunition waggon.

After giving these orders, he plunged into the gloomy and immense forest
of Minsk, in which a few hamlets and wretched habitations have scarcely
cleared a few open spots. The noise of Wittgenstein's artillery filled
it with its echo. That Russian general came rushing from the north upon
the right flank of our expiring column; he brought back with him the
winter which had quitted us at the same time with Kutusoff; the news of
his threatening march quickened our steps. From forty to fifty thousand
men, women, and children, glided through this forest as precipitately as
their weakness and the slipperiness of the ground, from the frost
beginning again to set in, would allow.

These forced marches, commenced before daylight, and which did not
finish at its close, dispersed all that had remained together. They lost
themselves in the darkness of these great forests and long nights. They
halted at night and resumed their march in the morning, in darkness, at
random, and without hearing the signal; the dissolution of the remains
of the corps was then completed; all were mixed and confounded together.

In this last stage of weakness and confusion, as we were approaching
Borizof, we heard loud cries before us. Some ran forward fancying it was
an attack. It was Victor's army, which had been feebly driven back by
Wittgenstein to the right side of our road, where it remained waiting
for the Emperor to pass by. Still quite complete and full of animation,
it received the Emperor, as soon as he made his appearance, with the
customary but now long forgotten acclamations.

Of our disasters it knew nothing; they had been carefully concealed even
from its leaders. When therefore, instead of that grand column which had
conquered Moscow, its soldiers perceived behind Napoleon only a train of
spectres covered with rags, with female pelisses, pieces of carpet, or
dirty cloaks, half burnt and holed by the fires, and with nothing on
their feet but rags of all sorts, their consternation was extreme. They
looked terrified at the sight of those unfortunate soldiers, as they
defiled before them, with lean carcasses, faces black with dirt, and
hideous bristly beards, unarmed, shameless, marching confusedly, with
their heads bent, their eyes fixed on the ground and silent, like a
troop of captives.

But what astonished them more than all, was to see the number of
colonels and generals scattered about and isolated, who seemed only
occupied about themselves, and to think of nothing but saving the wrecks
of their property or their persons; they were marching pell-mell with
the soldiers, who did not notice them, to whom they had no longer any
commands to give, and of whom they had nothing to expect, all ties
between them being broken, and all ranks effaced by the common misery.

The soldiers of Victor and Oudinot could not believe their eyes. Moved
with compassion, their officers, with tears in their eyes, detained such
of their companions as they recognised in the crowd. They first supplied
them with clothes and provisions, and then asked them where were their
_corps d'armee_? And when the others pointed them out, seeing, instead
of so many thousand men, only a weak platoon of officers and
non-commissioned officers round a commanding officer, their eyes still
kept on the look out.

The sight of so great a disaster struck the second and the ninth corps
with discouragement, from the very first day. Disorder, the most
contagious of all evils, attacked them; for it would seem as if order
was an effort against nature. And yet the disarmed, and even the dying,
although they were now fully aware that they had to fight their way
across a river, and through a fresh enemy, never doubted of their being
victorious.

It was now merely the shadow of an army, but it was the shadow of the
grand army. It felt conscious that nature alone had vanquished it. The
sight of its Emperor revived it. It had been long accustomed not to look
to him for its means of support, but solely to lead it to victory. This
was its first unfortunate campaign, and it had had so many fortunate
ones! it only required to be able to follow him. He alone, who had
elevated his soldiers so high, and now sunk them so low, was yet able to
save them. He was still, therefore, cherished in the heart of his army,
like hope in the heart of man.

Thus, amid so many beings who might have reproached him with their
misfortunes, he marched on without the least fear, speaking to one and
all without affectation, certain of being respected as long as glory
could command our respect. Knowing perfectly that he belonged to us, as
much as we to him, his renown being a species of national property, we
should have sooner turned our arms against ourselves, (which was the
case with many,) than against him, and it was a minor suicide.

Some of them fell and died at his feet, and though in the most frightful
delirium, their sufferings never gave its wanderings the turn of
reproach, but of entreaty. And in fact did not he share the common
danger? Which of them all risked so much as he? Who suffered the
greatest loss, in this disaster?

If any imprecations were uttered, it was not in his presence; it seemed,
that of all misfortunes, that of incurring his displeasure was still the
greatest; so rooted were their confidence in, and submission to that man
who had subjected the world to them; whose genius, hitherto uniformly
victorious and infallible, had assumed the place of their free-will, and
who having so long in his hands the book of pensions, of rank, and of
history, had found wherewithal to satisfy not only covetous spirits, but
also every generous heart.




CHAP. IV.


We were now approaching the most critical moment; Victor was in the rear
with 15,000 men; Oudinot in front with 5,000, and already on the
Berezina; the Emperor, between them, with 7,000 men, 40,000 stragglers,
and an enormous quantity of baggage and artillery, the greatest part of
which belonged to the second and the ninth corps.

On the 25th, as he was about to reach the Berezina, he appeared to
linger on his march. He halted every instant on the high road, waiting
for night to conceal his arrival from the enemy, and to allow the Duke
of Reggio time to evacuate Borizof.

This marshal, when he entered that town upon the 23d, found the bridge,
which was 300 fathoms in length, destroyed at three different points,
and that the vicinity of the enemy rendered it impossible to repair it.
He had ascertained, that on his left, two miles lower down the river,
there was, near Oukoholda, a deep and unsafe ford; that at the distance
of a mile above Borizof, namely, at Stadhof, there was another, but of
difficult approach. Finally, he had learned within the last two days,
that at Studzianka, two leagues above Stadhof, there was a third
passage;--for the knowledge of this he was indebted to Corbineau's
brigade.

This was the same brigade which the Bavarian general, De Wrede, had
taken from the second corps, in his march to Smoliantzy. He had retained
it until he reached Dokszitzi, from whence he sent it back to the second
corps by way of Borizof. When Corbineau arrived there, he found
Tchitchakof already in possession of it, and was compelled to make his
retreat by ascending the Berezina, and concealing his force in the
forests which border that river. Not knowing at what point to cross it,
he accidentally saw a Lithuanian peasant, whose horse seemed to be quite
wet, as if he had just come through it. He laid hold of this man, and
made him his guide; he got up behind him, and crossed the river at a
ford opposite to Studzianka. He immediately rejoined Oudinot, and
informed him of the discovery he had made.

As Napoleon's intention was to retreat directly upon Wilna, the marshal
saw at once that this passage was the most direct, as well as the least
dangerous. It was also observed, that even if our infantry and artillery
should be too closely pressed by Wittgenstein and Kutusoff, and
prevented from crossing the river on bridges, there was at least a
certainty, from the ford having been tried, that the Emperor and the
cavalry would be able to pass; that all would not then be lost, both
peace and war, as if Napoleon himself remained in the enemy's hands. The
marshal therefore did not hesitate. In the night of the 23d, the general
of artillery, a company of pontonniers, a regiment of infantry, and the
brigade Corbineau, took possession of Studzianka.

At the same time the other two passages were reconnoitred, and both
found to be strongly observed. The object therefore was to deceive and
displace the enemy. As force could do nothing, recourse was had to
stratagem; in furtherance of which, on the 24th, three hundred men and
several hundred stragglers were sent towards Oukoholda, with
instructions to collect there, with as much noise as possible, all the
necessary materials for the construction of a bridge; the whole division
of the cuirassiers was also made to promenade on that side within view
of the enemy.

In addition to this, Major General Lorence had several Jews sought out
and brought to him; he interrogated them with great apparent minuteness
relative to that ford, and the roads leading from it to Minsk. Then,
affecting to be mightily pleased with their answers, and to be satisfied
that there was no better passage to be found, he retained some of these
rascals as guides, and had the others conveyed beyond our out-posts. But
to make still more sure of the latter _not_ keeping their word with him,
he made them swear that they would return to meet us, in the direction
of lower Berezina, in order to inform us of the enemy's movements.

While these attempts were making to draw Tchitchakof's attention
entirely to the left, the means of effecting a passage were secretly
preparing at Studzianka. It was only on the 25th, at five in the
evening, that Eble arrived there, followed only by two field forges, two
waggons of coal, six covered waggons of utensils and nails, and some
companies of pontonniers. At Smolensk he had made each workman provide
himself with a tool and some cramp-irons.

But the tressels, which had been made the day before, out of the beams
of the Polish cabins, were found to be too weak. The work was all to do
over again. It was found to be quite impossible to finish the bridge
during the night; it could only be fixed during the following day, the
26th, in full daylight, and under the enemy's fire; but there was no
room for hesitation.

On the first approach of that decisive night, Oudinot ceded to Napoleon
the occupation of Borizof, and went to take position with the rest of
his corps at Studzianka. They marched in the most profound obscurity,
without making the least noise, and mutually recommending to each other
the deepest silence.

By eight o'clock at night Oudinot and Dombrowski had taken possession of
the heights commanding the passage, while General Eble descended from
them. That general placed himself on the borders of the river, with his
pontonniers and a waggon-load of the irons of abandoned wheels, which at
all hazards he had made into cramp-irons. He had sacrificed every thing
to preserve that feeble resource, and it saved the army.

At the close of the night of the 25th he made them sink the first
tressel in the muddy bed of the river. But to crown our misfortunes, the
rising of the waters had made the traces of the ford entirely disappear.
It required the most incredible efforts on the part of our unfortunate
sappers, who were plunged in the water up to their mouths, and had to
contend with the floating pieces of ice which were carried along by the
stream. Many of them perished from the cold, or were drowned by the ice
flakes, which a violent wind drove against them.

They had every thing to conquer but the enemy. The rigour of the
atmosphere was just at the degree necessary to render the passage of the
river more difficult, without suspending its course, or sufficiently
consolidating the moving ground upon which we were about to venture. On
this occasion the winter showed itself more Russian than even the
Russians themselves. The latter were wanting to their season, which
never failed them.

The French laboured during the whole night by the light of the enemy's
fires, which shone on the heights of the opposite bank, and within reach
of the artillery and musketry of the division Tchaplitz. The latter,
having no longer any doubt of our intentions, sent to apprise his
commander-in-chief.




CHAP. V.


The presence of a hostile division deprived us of all hope of deceiving
the Russian admiral. We were expecting every instant to hear the whole
fire of his artillery directed upon our workmen; and even if he did not
discover them until daylight, their labours would not then be
sufficiently advanced; and the opposite bank, being low and marshy, was
too much commanded by Tchaplitz's positions to make it at all possible
for us to force a passage.

When he quitted Borizof, therefore, at ten o'clock at night, Napoleon
imagined that he was setting out for a most desperate contest. He
settled himself for the night, with the 6,400 guards which still
remained to him, at Staroi-Borizof, a chateau belonging to Prince
Radzivil, situated on the right of the road from Borizof to Studzianka,
and equidistant from these two points.

He passed the remainder of that night on his feet, going out every
moment, either to listen, or to repair to the passage where his destiny
was accomplishing; for the magnitude of his anxieties so completely
filled his hours, that as each revolved, he fancied that it was morning.
Several times he was reminded of his mistake by his attendants.

Darkness had scarcely disappeared when he joined Oudinot. The sight of
danger tranquillized him, as it always did; but on seeing the Russian
fires and their position, his most determined generals, such as Rapp,
Mortier, and Ney, exclaimed, "that if the Emperor escaped this danger,
they must absolutely believe in the influence of his star!" Murat
himself thought it was now time to think of nothing but saving Napoleon.
Some of the Poles proposed it to him.

The Emperor was waiting for the approach of daylight in one of the
houses on the borders of the river, on a steep bank which was crowned
with Oudinot's artillery. Murat obtained access to him; he declared to
his brother-in-law, "that he looked upon the passage as impracticable;
he urged him to save his person while it was yet time. He informed him
that he might, without any danger, cross the Berezina a few leagues
above Studzianka; that in five days he would reach Wilna; that some
brave and determined Poles, perfectly acquainted with all the roads, had
offered themselves for his guards, and to be responsible for his
safety."

But Napoleon rejected this proposition as an infamous plan, as a
cowardly flight, and was indignant that any one should dare to think for
a moment that he would abandon his army, so long as it was in danger. He
was not, however, at all displeased with Murat, probably because that
prince had afforded him an opportunity of showing his firmness, or
rather because he saw nothing in his proposal but a mark of devotion,
and because the first quality in the eyes of sovereigns is attachment to
their persons.

At that moment the appearance of daylight made the Russian fires grow
pale and disappear. Our troops stood to their arms, the artillerymen
placed themselves by their pieces, the generals were observing, and the
looks of all were steadily directed to the opposite bank, preserving
that silence which betokens great expectation, and is the forerunner of
great danger.

Since the day before, every blow struck by our pontonniers, echoing
among the woody heights, must, we concluded, have attracted the whole
attention of the enemy. The first dawn of the 26th was therefore
expected to display to us his battalions and artillery, drawn up, in
front of the weak scaffolding, to the construction of which Eble had yet
to devote eight hours more. Doubtless they were only waiting for
daylight to enable them to point their cannon with better aim. When day
appeared, we saw their fires abandoned, the bank deserted, and upon the
heights, thirty pieces of artillery in full retreat. A single bullet of
theirs would have been sufficient to annihilate the only plank of
safety, which we were about to fix, in order to unite the two banks; but
that artillery retreated exactly as ours was placed in battery.

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