The Memoirs of General the Baron de Marbot

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They accepted my suggestion, but made no attempt to pass it on to
the Emperor. Eventually, General Lauristan, one of his
aides-de-camp, said to me, "I suggest that you yourself undertake
the building of this footbridge, the usefulness of which you have
so well explained." I replied to this wholly unacceptable
proposition that I had at my disposal neither sappers nor
infantrymen, nor tools, nor stakes, nor rope, and that in any
case I could not leave my regiment, which being on the right
bank, could be attacked at any time. I had offered him an idea
which I thought was a good one, I could do no more and would now
go back to my normal duties. Having said this I went back into
the water and returned to the 23rd.

When the sappers and the gunners had finally completed the
trestle bridges, they were crossed by the infantry and the
artillery of Oudinot's corps, who, having reached the right bank,
went to set up their bivouacs in a large wood, where the cavalry
were ordered to join them. We could from there watch the main
road from Minsk, down which Admiral Tchitchakoff had led his
troops to the lower Beresina, and up which he would have to come
to reach us, once he heard that we had crossed the river at
Studianka.

On the evening of the 27th, the Emperor crossed the bridge with
his guard and went to settle at a hamlet named Zawniski, where
the cavalry were ordered to join him. The enemy had not appeared.

There has been much discussion about the disasters which occurred
at the Beresina; but what no one has yet said is that the greater
part of them could have been avoided if the general staff had
paid more attention to their duty and had made use of the night
27th-28th to send over the bridge not only the baggage, but the
thousands of stragglers who would be obstructing the passage the
next day. It so happened that, after seeing my regiment well
settled in their bivouac, I noticed the absence of the pack
horse, which, as it carried the strong-box and the accounts of
the regiment, could not be risked in the ford. I expected that
its leader and the troopers of its escort had waited until the
bridges were ready, but they had been so for some hours and yet
these men had not arrived. Being somewhat worried about them, and
the precious burden committed to their charge, I thought I would
go in person and expedite their crossing, for I imagined that the
bridges would be crowded. I hurried to the river where, to my
great surprise, I found the bridges completely deserted. There
was no one crossing them, although, by the bright moonlight, I
could see not a hundred paces away, more than 50,000 stragglers
or men cut off from their regiments, whom we called "rotisseurs."
These men, seated calmly before huge fires, were grilling pieces
of horseflesh, little thinking that they were beside a river, the
passage of which would, the next day, cost many of them their
lives, whereas at present they could cross it unhindered, in a
few minutes, and prepare their supper on the other side.
Furthermore, not one officer of the imperial household, not an
aide-de-camp of the army general staff, or that of a marshal was
there to warn these unfortunate men and to drive them, if need
be, to the bridges.

It was in this disorganised camp that I saw for the first time
the soldiers returning from Moscow. It was a most distressing
spectacle. All ranks were mixed together, no weapons, no military
bearing! Soldiers, officers and even generals, clad only in rags
and having on their feet strips of leather or cloth roughly bound
together with string. An immense throng in which were thrown
together thousands of men of different nationalities gabbling all
the languages of the European continent without any mutual
understanding.

However, if one had used one of the regiments from Oudinot's
corps or the Guard, which were still in good order, it would have
been easy to herd this mass of men across the bridges, for, as I
was returning to Zawniski, having with me only a few orderlies, I
was able by persuasion and a bit of force to make several
thousand of these wretched men cross to the right bank; but I had
other duties to perform, and had to return to the regiment.

When I was passing by the general staff, and that of Marshal
Oudinot, I reported the deserted state of the bridges and pointed
out how easy it would be to bring the unarmed men across while
there was no enemy opposition; all I got were evasive answers,
each one claiming that it was a colleague's responsibility to see
to such an operation.

On returning to the regimental bivouac, I was pleasantly
surprised to see the corporal and the eight troopers who during
the campaign had been in charge of our herd of cattle. These good
fellows were desolate that the crowd of "rotisseurs" had set on
their cattle, butchered and eaten them before their eyes without
their being able to stop them. It was some consolation to the
regiment that each trooper had taken from Borisoff enough food to
last for twenty-five days.

My adjutant, M. Verdier, thought it his duty to go across the
bridge to try to find the guardians of our accounts, but he got
swallowed up in the crowd and was unable to get back. He was
taken prisoner during the struggle on the next day , and I did
not see him again for two years.

Chap. 19.

We now come to the most terrible event in the disastrous Russian
campaign... to the crossing of the Beresina; which took place
mainly on the 28th of November.

At dawn on this ill-fated day, the position of the two
belligerents was as follows. On the left bank, Marshal Victor,
having evacuated Borisoff during the night, had arrived at
Studianka with 9th Corps, driving in front of him a mass of
stragglers. He had left, to form his rear-guard, the infantry
division of General Partouneaux, who had been told not to leave
the town until two hours after him, and who should, in
consequence, have sent out a small detachment of men, who could
follow the main body and leave guides to signpost the route. He
should also have sent an aide-de-camp to Studianka to reconnoitre
the road and return to the division: but Partouneaux neglected
all these precautions and simply marched off at the prescribed
time. He came to a fork in the road, and he did not know which
way to go. He must have been aware, since he had come from
Borisoff, that the Beresina was on his left, and he should have
concluded that to reach Studianka, at the side of this
watercourse, it was the road on the left which he should take...
but he did not do so, and following blindly some light infantry
which had been ahead of him, he took the right hand road and
landed in the middle of a large force of Wittgenstein's Russian
troops.

Soon Partouneaux's division, completely surrounded, was forced,
after a brave defence, to surrender. Meanwhile a simple battalion
commander who was in charge of the divisional rear-guard, had the
good sense to take the road to the left, by means of which he
joined Marshal Victor at Studianka. The Marshal was greatly
surprised to see the arrival of this battalion instead of the
division of which it was the rear-guard, but his astonishment
turned to dismay when he was attacked by Wittgenstein's Russians,
whom he thought had been intercepted by Partouneaux. He could not
then doubt that the General and all his regiments had been
defeated and taken prisoner.

Fresh misfortunes awaited him, for the Russian General
Koutousoff, who had been following Partouneaux from Borisoff with
a strong body of troops, once he heard of his defeat, speeded up
his march and came to join Wittgenstein in his attack on Marshal
Victor. The Marshal, whose army corps had been reduced to 10,000
men, put up a stout resistance. His troops, even the Germans who
were included among them, fought heroically though they were
attacked by two armies, had their backs to the Beresina, and had
their movements hampered by the swarm of carts driven by
undisciplined stragglers who were endeavouring, in a mob, to
reach the river. Regardless of these circumstances they held off
Koutousoff and Wittgenstein for the whole day.

While this confusion and fighting were going on at Studianka, the
enemy, who aimed to gain control of both ends of the bridges,
attacked Oudinet's Corps, which was in position before Zawniski,
on the right bank. Some thirty thousand Russians, shouting
loudly, advanced towards 2nd Corps, which was by now reduced to
no more than eight thousand combatants. However, our men had not
yet been in contact with those returning from Moscow, and had no
idea of the disorder which ruled amongst them, so that their
morale was excellent and Tchitchakoff was driven back before the
very eyes of the Emperor, who arrived at that moment with a
reserve of 3000 infantry and 1000 cavalry from the old and the
Young Guard. The Russians renewed their attack, and overran the
Poles of the Legion of the Vistula. Marshal Oudinot was seriously
wounded, and Napoleon sent Ney to replace him. General Condras,
one of our best infantry officers, was killed. The gallant
General Legrand received a dangerous wound.

The action took place in a wood of enormous pine trees. The enemy
artillery could not, therefore, see our troops clearly, so that,
although they kept up a vigourous bombardment, their cannon-balls
did not hit us, but going over our heads, they broke off
branches, some as thick as a man's body, which in their fall
killed or injured a good number of our men and horses. As the
trees were widely spaced, mounted men could move through them,
although with some difficulty, despite which, Marshal Ney, on the
approach of a strong Russian column, launched a charge against it
with what remained of our division of Cuirassiers. This charge,
carried out under such unusual conditions, was nevertheless one
of the most brilliant which I have seen. Colonel Dubois, at the
head of the 7th Cuirassiers, split the enemy column in two and
took 2000 prisoners. The Russians, thrown into disarray, were
pursued by the Light Cavalry and driven back to the village of
Stakovo with great loss.

I was re-forming the ranks of my regiment, which had taken part
in this engagement, when M. Alfred de Noailles, with whom I was
friendly, arrived. He was returning from carrying an order from
Prince Berthier, whose aide-de-camp he was; but instead of going
back to the Marshal, he said as he left me, that he was going as
far as the first houses of Stakovo to see what the enemy was
doing. This curiosity proved fatal, for as he approached the
village, he was surrounded by a group of Cossacks who, having
knocked him off his horse, dragged him away by his collar while
raining blows on him. I immediately sent a squadron to his aid,
but this effort at rescue did not succeed, because a volley of
fire from the houses prevented the troopers from getting into the
village. Since that day nothing has been heard of M. de Noailles.
It is likely that his superb furs and his uniform covered in gold
braid having roused the cupidity of the Cossacks, he was murdered
by these barbarians. M. de Noailles' family, knowing that I was
the last person to speak to him, asked me for news about his
disappearance, but I could tell them no more than what I have
described. Alfred de Noailles was an excellent officer and a good
friend.

This digression has diverted me from Tchitchakoff, who, after his
defeat by Ney, did not dare to attack us again nor to leave the
village of Stakovo for the rest of the day.

Having described briefly the position of the armies on the two
banks of the Beresina, I shall tell you, in a few words what
happened at the river itself during the fighting. The mass of
unattached men who had had two nights and two days in which to
cross the bridges, and who had, apathetically, failed to do so
because they were not compelled, when Wittgenstein's cannon-balls
began to fall among them, rushed in a body to get across. This
huge multitude of men, horses, and carts piled up at the entrance
to the bridges, trying to force their way on to them.... Many of
those who missed the entrance were pushed by the crowd into the
Beresina where most of them were drowned.

To add to the disaster, one of the bridges broke under the weight
of the guns and the heavy ammunition wagons which followed them!
Everyone then headed for the second bridge, where the crowd was
so thick that strong men were unable to withstand the pressure
and a large number were stifled to death. When they saw that it
was impossible to cross the overcrowded bridges, many of the cart
drivers urged their horses into the river, but this method of
crossing, which would have been very successful if it had been
carried out in an orderly manner on the two preceding days,
failed in the great majority of instances, because driving their
carts in a tumultuous mob, they crashed into one another and
turned over! Some, however reached the opposite side, but as no
one had prepared an exit by smoothing the slope of the river
bank, which the general staff should have seen to, few vehicles
could climb out, and many more people perished there.

During the night of 28th 29th November, the Russian cannons added
to these scenes of horror by bombarding the wretched men who were
trying to cross the river, and finally at about nine in the
evening there was a crowning disaster, when Marshal Victor began
his withdrawal, and when his divisions, in battle order, arrived
at the bridge, which they could cross only by dispersing the
crowds which blocked their way! ...We should perhaps draw a veil
over these dreadful events.

At dawn on the 29th, all the vehicles remaining on the left bank
were set on fire, and when finally General Eble saw the Russians
nearing the bridge, he set that on fire also! Several thousand
unfortunates left at Studianka fell into the hands of
Wittgenstein.

So ended the most terrible episode of the Russian campaign, an
episode which would have been a great deal less terrible if we
had made proper use of the time which the Russians allowed us
after we had reached the Beresina. The army lost in this crossing
20 to 25,000 men.

Once this major obstacle had been crossed, the disorganised mass
of men who had escaped from the disaster was still huge. They
were directed to go along the road to Zembin. The Emperor and the
Guard followed. Then came the remains of several regiments, and
finally 2nd Corps, for whom Castex's brigade formed the last
rear-guard.

I have already explained that the Zembin road, the only way left
open for us, goes through an immense marsh by means of a great
number of bridges which Tchitchakoff neglected to burn when he
occupied this position a few days previously. We did not make the
same mistake, for after the army had passed, the 24th Chasseurs
and my regiment easily set them on fire by means of the stacks of
dry reeds heaped up in the neighbourhood.

By ordering the burning of the bridges, the Emperor had hoped to
rid himself for a long time of pursuit by the Russians, but fate
was against us. The cold which at this time of year could have
frozen the waters of the Beresina to give us a pathway across,
had left the river running; but we had scarcely crossed over when
there was sharp frost which froze it to the point where it would
bear the weight of a cannon... and as it did the same to the
marsh of Zembin, the burning of the bridges was of no value to
us. The three Russian armies which we had left behind, could now
pursue us without meeting any obstacle; but fortunately the
pursuit was not very energetic, and Marshal Ney, who commanded
the rear-guard and who had gathered together all the troops still
capable of fighting, made frequent sallies against the enemy if
they dared to approach too near.

Since Marshal Oudinot and General Legrand had been wounded,
General Maison commanded 2nd Corps, which being, in spite of many
losses, now numerically the strongest in the army, was always
given the task of holding off the Russians. We kept them at a
distance during the 30th of November and the 1st of December; but
on the 2nd of December they pressed us so hard, in considerable
numbers, that a serious engagement took place in which I received
a wound, made even more dangerous because the temperature on that
day registered 25 degrees of frost. I should perhaps limit myself
to telling you that I was injured by a lance without going into
further details, for they are so unpleasant that I still do not
like to remember them. However, I said I would tell the story of
my life, and so this is what happened at Plechtchenitsoui.

It so happened that a Dutch banker named Van Berchem, with whom I
had been a close friend at the college of Soreze, had sent to me,
at the start of the campaign, his only son, who having become
French by the incorporation of his country into the Empire, had
enlisted in the 23rd, although he was barely sixteen years
old!... He was a fine and intelligent young man, and I made him
my secretary, so that he went everywhere fifteen paces behind me
with my orderlies. That is where he was on the day in question,
when 2nd Corps, for whom my regiment was acting as rear-guard
while crossing a vast open plain, saw coming towards them a mass
of Russian cavalry, who quickly surrounded them and attacked them
on all sides. General Maison deployed his troops with such skill
that our squares repelled all the charges made by the enemy
regular cavalry.

The Russians then sent in a swarm of Cossacks, who came
impudently to attack with their lances the French officers who
stood before their troops. Seeing this, Marshal Ney ordered
General Maison to chase them off, using what remained of the
division of Cuirassiers and also Corbineau's and Castex's
brigades. My regiment, which was still numerically strong, was
confronted by a tribe of Cossacks from the Black Sea, wearing
tall astrakhan hats, and much better clad and mounted than the
usual run of Cossacks. We engaged them, but as it is not their
custom to stand and fight in line, they turned round and made off
at the gallop; but not knowing the locality, they headed for an
obstacle which is very unusual in these enormous plains, and that
is a large, deep gully, which owing to the perfect flatness of
the surrounding country could not be distinguished from any
distance. This pulled them up short, and seeing that they could
not get across with their horses, they bunched together and
turned to present to us their lances.

The ground, covered by frost, was very slippery, and our
over-tired horses could not gallop without falling. There was,
therefore, no question of a charge, and my line advanced at a
trot towards the massed enemy, who remained motionless. Our
sabres could touch their lances, but as they are thirteen or
fourteen feet long, we could not reach our foes, who could not
retreat for fear of falling into the gulch, and could not advance
without encountering our swords. We were thus face to face,
regarding one another when, in less time than it takes to tell,
this is what happened.

Anxious to get to grips with the enemy, I shouted to my troops to
grab some of the lances with their left hands and pushing them to
one sided, get into the middle of this crowd of men, where our
short weapons would give us an enormous advantage over their long
spears. To encourage them to obey, I wanted to set an example,
so dodging several lances, I managed to reach the front rank of
the enemy!... My warrant officers and my orderlies followed me,
and soon the whole regiment. There then ensued a general mˆlee;
but at the moment when it started, an old white-bearded Cossack,
who was in the rear rank and separated from me by some of his
comrades, lent forward and thrusting his lance skillfully between
the horses he drove the sharp steel into my right knee, which it
pierced, passing through beneath the kneecap.

Enraged by the pain of this injury, I was pushing my way towards
the man to take my revenge, when I was confronted by two handsome
youths of about eighteen to twenty, wearing a brilliant costume,
covered with rich embroidery, who were the sons of the chieftain
of this clan. They were accompanied by an elderly man who was
some sort of tutor, but who was unarmed. The younger of his two
pupils did not draw his sword, but elder did and attacked me
furiously!... I found him so immature and lacking strength that I
did no more than disarm him, and taking his arm pushed him behind
me, telling Van Berchem to look after him. I had hardly done this
when a double explosion rang in my ears and the collar of my cape
was torn by a ball. I turned round quickly, to see the young
Cossack officer holding a pair of double-barrelled pistols with
which he had treacherously tried to shoot me in the back and had
blown out the brains of the unfortunate Van Berchem!

In a transport of rage I hurled myself at this rash stripling,
who was already aiming his second pistol at me. Seeing death in
my face, he seemed momentarily paralysed. He cried out some words
in French. But I killed him.

Blood calls for blood! The sight of young Van Berchem lying dead
at my feet, the act I had just carried out, the excitement of
battle and the pain of my wound, combined to induce a sort of
frenzy. I rushed at the younger of the Cossack officers and
grabbing him by the throat I had already raised my sabre when his
elderly mentor, to protect his charge, laid the length of his
body on my horses neck in a manner which prevented me from
striking a blow and called out, "Mercy! In the name of your
mother, have mercy! He has done nothing!"

On hearing this appeal, in spite of the scenes around me, I
seemed to see the white hand I knew so well, laid on the young
man's breast and to hear my mother's gentle voice saying,"Be
merciful!" I lowered my sabre and sent the youth and his guardian
to the rear.

I was so disturbed by what had happened that I would have been
unable to give any further orders to the regiment if the fighting
had continued for any length of time, but it was soon finished.
Many of the Cossacks had been killed and the remainder,
abandoning their horses, slid into the depths of the ravine,
where a number died in the huge snow-drift which the wind had
created.

In the evening following this affair, I questioned my prisoner
and his guardian. I learned that the two youngsters were the sons
of a powerful chieftain, who, having lost a leg at Austerlitz,
hated the French so much that being unable to fight them himself,
he had sent his two sons to do so. I thought it likely that, as a
prisoner, the cold and misery would be fatal to the one survivor.
I took pity on him and set both him and his venerable mentor at
liberty. On taking his leave of me the latter said, "When she
thinks of her eldest son, the mother of my two pupils will curse
you, but when she sees the return of her youngest she will bless
you, and the mother in whose name you spared him."

The vigour with which the Russian troops had been repulsed in
this last contact having cooled their ardour, we did not see them
again for two days, which allowed us to reach Molodechno; but if
the enemy allowed us a momentary truce the cold increased its
attack. The temperature fell to 27 degrees of frost. Men and
horses were falling at every stride, frequently not to rise
again. Notwithstanding, I remained with the debris of my
regiment, in the midst of which I made my nightly bivouac in the
snow. There was nowhere I could go to be better off. My gallant
officers and men regarded their commanding officer as a living
flag. They endeavoured to preserve me and offered me all the care
which our appalling situation permitted. The wound to my knee
prevented me from sitting astride my horse, and I had to rest my
leg on my horse's neck to keep it straight, which made me get
even colder. I was in great pain but there was nothing that could
be done.

The road was lined with the dead and dying, our march was slow
and silent. What remained of the guard formed a little square, in
which travelled the Emperor's carriage, in which was also King
Murat.

On the fifth of December, after dictating his twenty-ninth
bulletin, which created stupefaction throughout all of France,
the Emperor left the army at Smorgoni to return to Paris. He was
nearly captured at Ochmiana by some Cossacks. The Emperor's
departure greatly affected the morale of the troops. Some blamed
him and accused him of abandoning them. Others approved, saying
that it was the only way to preserve France from civil war, and
invasion by our so-called allies, the majority of whom were
waiting only for a favourable opportunity to turn against us, but
who would not dare to make a move if they heard that Napoleon had
returned to France, and was organising fresh military forces.

Chap. 20.

On his departure, the Emperor handed the command of the remains
of the army to Murat, who in the circumstances proved unequal to
the task, which it must be admitted was extremely difficult. The
cold paralysed the mental and physical activity of everyone; all
organisation had broken down. Marshal Victor refused to relieve
2nd Corps, who had formed the rear-guard since the Beresina, and
Marshal Ney had, unwillingly, to keep it there. Each morning a
multitude of dead were left in the bivouac where we had spent the
night. I congratulated myself on having, in September, made my
men equip themselves with sheepskin coats, a precaution which
saved the lives of many of them. The same applied to the supplies
of food which we had taken from Borisoff, for without these it
would have been necessary to dispute with the starving hordes
over the dead bodies of horses.