The Battle of the Berezina by Alexander Mikaberidze

Author:Alexander Mikaberidze
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Modern / 19th Century
ISBN: 9781848849440
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2010-08-18T16:00:00+00:00

Meantime, the Grand Army continued its passage. The Vistula Legion, which arrived at daybreak, was the first to cross around 10 a.m. The wounded Brandt, from the Vistula Legion, described ‘battalions drawing up alongside one another in battalion columns’. Nearby, he could see Napoleon surrounded by a group of generals and

deep in discussion with one of them who stood before the Emperor with his hat in his hand. It was the heroic General Eblé. Napoleon’s face was as unreadable as ever. He was wearing a great fur coat which was unbuttoned and revealed his habitual uniform beneath. Murat never allowed circumstances to prevent the wearing of the most outlandish costumes and was today attired in a fur cup surrounded by a huge plume […] A scar on his face from a sabre wound he had received at Aboukir and which was not normally visible, had been accentuated by the cold and was now rather obvious […] Berthier and the Viceroy [Eugène] were wearing fur coats. Ney, easily recognizable by his reddish features and lively manner, wore a dark green overcoat. I also recognized Mortier, who stood out from the rest because of his height, Narbonne, with his hair powdered and in a queue just as it would have been at Versailles, Duroc, one of the Emperor’s most faithful companions …505

The Young Guard was to follow the Vistula Legion, but Napoleon gave instructions to ‘delay this movement to allow the Viceroy’s [Eugène] troops to arrive and out of concern of Wittgenstein’s sudden appearance on this bank’.506

Early that morning Victor led his troops out of Borisov, where Colonel Griois witnessed ‘unimaginable disorder’. He described ‘stragglers, carriages, horses jamming the streets. Victor’s troops had to fight their way through crowds. People were shoving each other, curses and expletives could be heard from all directions.’507 By noon, Victor arrived with two divisions (Girard’s 28th and Daendels’ 26th) at Studyanka, while Partouneaux’s division, with Delaitre’s cavalry, remained near Borisov. Alexander Bellot de Kergorre, a young commissaire des guerres, admired Victor’s ‘guns and ammunition wagons drawn by fine horses, their harness in good condition. It was a long time since we had seen anything of the kind. Our own few caissons and baggage wagons were drawn by wretched little horses with their ragged rope harness’.

At various moments throughout the morning, Napoleon personally directed the crossing. Thus, Louise Fusil, an actress travelling in a marshal’s carriage, was able to

examine him closely standing at the entrance to the bridge. To me he seemed as calm as at a review at the Tuileries. The bridge was so narrow our carriage almost touched the Emperor. ‘Do not be afraid,’ Napoleon said. ‘Go on, go on. Do not be afraid.’

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.