Battle of Berezina. Postnikova A.A.

On November 22, 1812, in the second month of the retreat from Moscow, Napoleon's army found itself strategically surrounded. Russian troops blocked the only road to the west - the bridge over the Berezina River in the city of Borisov (now the regional center of the Minsk region of Belarus. - RT). “The matter is getting serious,” Bonaparte said gloomily to those close to him, apparently for the first time sensing the approach of defeat.

Of the 600,000-strong Great Army in those days, just over 70,000 people remained. Of these, only half maintained discipline and combat readiness, the rest turned into “loners” or “retards” - as the French soldiers called those who thought only about escape and salvation.

But the Emperor of France was rightfully considered a brilliant commander - after Smolensk he managed to break away from the main forces of Kutuzov, advancing from the east, and by the end of November 1812, Napoleon was opposed by only two small Russian armies: 25 thousand soldiers of Admiral Pavel Chichagov, who came from the south, with Ukraine, and 35 thousand soldiers of General Peter Wittgenstein advancing from the north, defending the path to St. Petersburg from the French.

It was Chichagov’s soldiers who destroyed the bridge that saved Napoleon in Borisov, they also captured the French warehouses in Minsk, and Wittgenstein’s soldiers - the warehouses in Vitebsk, depriving Napoleon of his last strategic reserves. We can say that November 22, 1812 was the starting point for the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire.

The missing "General Frost"

The Russian writer Thaddeus Bulgarin, also known as the Polish nobleman Tadeusz Bulgarin, is now known only to literary scholars. An acquaintance of Karamzin, Griboedov, Pushkin, Lermontov and Nekrasov, two centuries ago he was the most popular writer in Russia and after the Napoleonic wars became a loyal supporter of the Russian Tsar.

Today Bulgarin is forgotten, just as his military exploits are forgotten - at one time he not only participated in the campaign of Bagration’s army across the ice of the Baltic Sea to Sweden (1809), but also, like many Polish nobles, fought with Russia on the side of Napoleon (1812).

It was the captain of the Napoleonic army Bulgarin who found a saving ford for the French across the Berezina River near the village of Studyanka. The Emperor of France, seizing on the information provided by the Pole, again showed himself to be a brilliant tactician: having imitated preparations for a crossing south of Borisov, he rushed his forces to Studyanka.

Thaddeus Bulgarin
I. Fryderyk (1828)

After the Battle of the Berezina, the French will create a legend that they were allegedly defeated not so much by the Russians as by le général Hiver - “General Frost”. But at the end of November 1812 there were no severe colds yet. If there had been severe frosts in those days, the French would have simply crossed the river on the ice. “Unfortunately,” one of the officers of Napoleon’s army later recalled, “it was not cold enough for the river to freeze; only rare ice floes floated on it.”

To speed up the retreat, a few days before the Russians intercepted the bridge at Borisov, on the orders of Napoleon, heavy pontoon parks were burned. Without them, the construction of crossings even across the relatively narrow Berezina - no more than a hundred meters - turned into a difficult task.

The Emperor of France corrected the mistake of hastily burning the pontoon parks at the cost of the lives of his soldiers. “The sappers go down to the river, stand on the ice and plunge into the water up to their shoulders; ice floes, driven downstream by the wind, besiege the sappers from all sides, and they have to desperately fight them,” another surviving veteran of the Napoleonic army, who was lucky enough not to receive the emperor’s order to go into the icy water of the Berezina, describes those hours.

“Everything got mixed up in a desperate fight”

“Double battle on both banks of the Berezina” - this is what Carl von Clausewitz, the best military theorist in Europe of the 19th century, would call the battle. A Prussian officer, in 1812 he fought on the side of Russia. Clausewitz later critically assessed the actions of Russian commanders - Admiral Chichagov and General Wittgenstein - in the Battle of the Berezina. Indeed, during the battles that unfolded on November 27-28 on both sides of the river, the Russians failed to encircle and destroy Napoleon.

November 26 across bridges hastily put together from dismantled ones village huts, Bonaparte's troops began crossing the Berezina. Deceived by the French emperor, Admiral Chichagov walked along the western bank of the river to the crossing point only the next day. At the same time, Wittgenstein’s Russian army approached the crossings along the eastern bank.

Bridge over the Berezina
Wikimedia Commons

For the next two days, there was a stubborn and terrible battle to determine whether the bulk of the French would have time to cross the Berezina before the Russians made their way to the crossings, and before Kutuzov’s main forces approached from the east.

On November 28, 1812, the battle lasted from morning until night - the opponents fought even in complete darkness. “Everything got mixed up in a desperate fight. We couldn't shoot anymore. They fought only with bayonets, fought with rifle butts... A bunch of people were lying on the snow. Our ranks are thin as hell. We no longer dared to look either to the right or to the left, fearing that we would not see our comrades there... There was just carnage all around!” - this is how Jean-Marc Bussy, a soldier of the 3rd Swiss regiment of the Napoleonic army, recalled the battle on the Berezina.

Rescue of the Guard

“We must remember that the entire European coalition fought against Russia. More than half of those who fought at the Berezina on Napoleon’s side were not French. Poles, Saxons and other Germans, Portuguese, Dutch, Croats, Swiss,” Oleg Sokolov, associate professor of the Department of Modern and Contemporary History at the Institute of History of St. Petersburg State University, told RT.

According to the historian, in this battle Napoleon again proved himself to be a great commander, managing to avoid the threat of encirclement under difficult conditions and preserve the core of his troops.

“Therefore, one should not, like many Russian historians of the past, consider the battle on the Berezina a complete defeat and collapse of the emperor. But it is impossible, as some French historians do, to imagine the Berezina as almost a victory for Napoleon. No, despite all the skill and tenacity of the French troops, the strategic situation for them was approaching complete defeat,” Sokolov explained.

Reconstructions of events on the Berezina River
Reuters
Vasily Fedosenko

At the cost of heavy losses to his European allies, Napoleon saved the French Guard at the Berezina. But November 29, 1812 was a disaster for those who retreated after her. At the crossings, as Russian troops approached, panic and crush began. The exact number of soldiers crushed and drowned in the icy waters of the Berezina is unknown. Approximate losses - 30 thousand people.

“What could be more terrible than what you experience when you walk over living creatures that cling to your legs, stop you and try to get up,” German Lieutenant von Suckow later recalled. “I still remember now how I felt that day, stepping on a woman who was still alive. I felt her body and at the same time heard her screams and wheezing.”

Those who robbed Moscow paid in full for everything on the banks of the Berezina. The carts, people and horses that fell into the water turned into a whole island, dividing the river into two branches, next to which three hills of human corpses formed.

Apparently, it was Berezina who broke the brilliant Emperor of France. Less than two weeks after that battle ended, on December 5, 1812, Napoleon effectively abandoned his guard and fled to Paris.

Before this, Bonaparte dictated the next bulletin of the Grand Army - a regular propaganda sheet that outlined the French version of that war for all of Europe. “The difficulty associated with the sudden onset of frost led us to the most pitiful state” - these are the lines of Napoleon, written immediately after the Berezina, that in the future will give rise to the legend about “General Frost”.

Napoleon's retreat from Moscow
Wikimedia Commons

Further in the text of the bulletin there followed a cautious and slightly embellished description of the events on the Berezina, ending with the following words: “The army needs to restore discipline, rest, and be supplied with horses; this is nothing more than a consequence of the incidents described above... His Majesty’s health is in the best condition.”

But the cheerful lines about “health” did not deceive anyone, not only in Paris, but throughout Europe. It was after the Berezina that the French realized the depth of their defeat in Russia. But what is even more important is that it was the impressions of those who survived that radically changed the understanding of this war among other Europeans.

Crossing the Berezina.
The image is reprinted from the 1812 website.

BEREZINA, a river in Belarus, on which, near the city of Borisov, on November 14 (26) - 17 (29), 1812, a battle took place between Napoleon’s army retreating from Russia and Russian troops trying to cut off its escape route. The idea of the Russian command was that the corps of General P. X. Wittgenstein from the north and the 3rd Western Army of Admiral P. V. Chichagov from the south would take a defensive position on the line of the Ulla and Berezina rivers with a front to the east and cut off Napoleon’s escape route to the west . The main group of the Russian army under the command of Field Marshal M.I. Kutuzov pursued the French army from the east. On November 11 (23), the enemy vanguard, led by Marshal N. Oudinot, approached Borisov. On November 12 (24), Chichagov, overestimating the enemy’s strength, withdrew his troops (about 30 thousand people) from Borisov and retreated to the right bank of the Berezina from Zembin to Usha.

Oudinot received orders to hold Borisov and begin building a crossing north of Borisov near the village of Studenka. Napoleon's army, uniting with the troops of Marshals Oudinot and K. Victor, approached the Berezina on November 14 (26). Napoleon, with a force of 85-90 thousand people (of which up to 40 thousand were combat-ready), decided to cross the Berezina near the village of Studenka (15 km from Borisov upstream), and in order to divert the attention of the Russians from the crossing site, he took demonstrative actions downstream of the river. Chichagov, misled by the actions of the French, withdrew his forces 25 km south of Borisov, leaving a small barrier at the ford opposite Studenka. On the morning of November 14 (26), the advanced units of Oudinot's corps forded the Berezina and pushed the barrier to Stakhovo. By evening, Napoleon's main forces (about 19 thousand combat-ready) crossed over two bridges built at Studenka. On November 15 (27), on the left bank, Wittgenstein’s troops (40 thousand people) and the advanced detachments of Kutuzov’s main group (25 thousand people) surrounded the Borisov region and forced the division of General L. Partuno (about 4 thousand people) to surrender. On November 16 (28), a battle broke out on the Berezina: on the right bank, the crossed troops of Marshals M. Ney and Oudinot (about 12 thousand people) successfully repelled the advance of Chichagov’s troops, and on the left bank (near Studenka), Victor’s troops (about 7 thousand people) held out until the evening against Wittgenstein's troops, they crossed the river at night. In the morning

On November 17 (29), by order of Napoleon, the bridges at Studenka were burned. On the left bank there were convoys and about 40 thousand lagging soldiers, most of whom drowned during the crossing or were captured. In total, the enemy lost about 50 thousand people, and the Russians - 8 thousand. Due to Chichagov's mistakes and Wittgenstein's indecisive actions, Napoleon managed to avoid complete defeat and retreat to Vilna, preserving the fighting core of his army.

Materials used in the book: Military Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1986.

Berezina - battle November 14-16, 1812 between the French army and Russian troops (Patriotic War, 1812).

Berezina is a river in Belarus, on the banks of which on November 14-16, 1812 a battle took place between the French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon (75 thousand people) and Russian troops under the command of the admiral P.V. Chichagova and the general P.H. Wittgenstein (80 thousand people). After Red, the ring around Napoleonic troops began to shrink. Wittgenstein's corps (50 thousand people) was approaching from the north, and Chichagov's army (30 thousand people) had already arrived in Minsk. At the Berezina they were preparing to close ranks and cut off Napoleon’s escape route from Russia.

On November 9, the vanguard units of Chichagov approached the Berezina and took the city of Borisov. But soon they were driven out of there by the corps of Marshal N. Oudinot. The Russians retreated to the right bank and blew up the bridge behind them. The Berezina had not yet frozen, and when Napoleon’s main forces approached Borisov on November 13, they ran into the river surface. South of Borisov there was another crossing. Napoleon sent Oudinot's corps there. But this was only a deceptive maneuver. With such a demonstration, Napoleon created the appearance that he was trying to capture the crossing south of Borisov.

The admiral mistook this maneuver for Napoleon’s attempt to break through to join the corps of Field Marshal K. Schwarzenberg operating in Western Belarus. As a result, Oudinot’s corps took almost the entire Chichagov army, which already did not have a large number, to nowhere. In fact, Chichagov had 20 thousand people under arms on the Berezina, with whom he was trying to cover an almost 60-kilometer area of a possible breakthrough by French troops, the total number of which significantly exceeded the Russian forces beyond the Berezina.

While Chichagov was moving south, down the river, the main events took place 15 km north of Borisov, near the village of Studenka (the width of the river there reached 50 m), where Polish lancers found a ford, and French sappers built temporary bridges. On November 14, the French army began crossing them to the right bank. Meanwhile, Wittgenstein, fearing a clash with Napoleon's main forces, acted cautiously and hesitated in advancing to the Berezina. He reached the river only on November 15, when the crossing had already begun. By that time, on the left bank it was covered by the corps of Marshal K. Victor.

Over the course of two days, the French, repelling attacks from scattered Russian detachments, crossed to west bank. On November 15, messengers burst into Borisov M.I. Kutuzov vanguard units of the pursuit under the command of the ataman M.I. Platova and the general A.P. Ermolova . Kutuzov himself was in no hurry to the Berezina, hoping that even without him there would be enough forces there to eliminate the French army. It is worth noting that the plan for encircling Napoleon on the Berezina did not provide for a unified command. This predetermined the inconsistency in the actions of the Russian commanders, each of whom made decisions independently. When Chichagov, realizing his mistake, returned to Borisov, Napoleonic troops had already entrenched themselves on the right bank of the river.

On November 16, a fierce battle began on both sides of the Berezina, which became the culmination of the Battle of the Berezina. Chichagov tried to push back the French units covering the student crossing on the right bank. Wittgenstein attacked the corps of Marshal K. Victor, who was covering the crossing on the left bank. The wooded area impeded the actions of the cavalry, which made up almost half the number of Chichagov's troops. Until 11 o'clock at night there was a stubborn frontal shooting battle, which cost both sides heavy losses.

Due to small bandwidth built bridges, a huge accumulation of people and convoys, panic, and increased Russian pressure, only a third of Napoleon’s troops (25 thousand people) managed to break through to the west. The rest (about 50 thousand people) died in battle, froze, drowned or were captured. Fearing that the crossing would be captured by the Russians. On November 17, Napoleon ordered its destruction, abandoning his troops on the left bank. Contemporaries noted that in some places the river was filled to the brim with corpses of people and horses. The Russians lost 8 thousand people in this battle. After the Berezina, the main forces of the Napoleonic army in Russia ceased to exist (see Red II).

Book materials used: Nikolay Shefov. Battles of Russia. Military-historical library. M., 2002.

Read further:

Patriotic War of 1812 (chronological table).

Literature on the Napoleonic Wars(list of references)

Participants in the Napoleonic Wars: | AB | BA | VA | GA | YES | EA | ZHA | FOR | IA | KA | LA | MA | ON | OA | PA | RA | CA | TA | UA | FA | HA | TA | CHA | SH-SHA | EA | YA | JA |

Run. Crossing the Berezina

Lozhe. Crossing the Berezina, November 14-17 (26-29), 1812 (eyewitness testimony).

Parties Commanders Strengths of the parties Losses

Battle of the Berezina- battles on November 26-29 between the French corps and the Russian armies of Chichagov and Wittgenstein on both banks of the Berezina River during Napoleon’s crossing during the Patriotic War of 1812.

Background

This river, which some imagine to be of gigantic size, is in fact no wider than the Rue Royale in Paris in front of the Navy Ministry. As for its depth, it is enough to say that 72 hours before, 3 cavalry regiments of Corbino’s brigade forded it without any incident and crossed it again on the day in question. Their horses walked all the time along the bottom... The transition at this moment presented only slight inconveniences for the cavalry, carts and artillery. The first was that the water reached the cavalrymen and riders up to their knees, which was nevertheless tolerable, because, unfortunately, it was not even cold enough for the river to freeze; only rare ice floes floated on it... The second inconvenience was again due to the lack of cold and consisted in the fact that the swampy meadow bordering the opposite bank was so viscous that riding horses had difficulty walking along it, and the carts sank up to half the wheels.

In the evening of that day, the Veselovskaya plain, quite extensive, presented a most terrible, indescribable picture: it was covered with carriages, carts, mostly broken, piled one on top of the other, covered with the bodies of dead women and children who followed the army from Moscow, fleeing the disasters of this city or wishing to accompany his compatriots, whom death struck in various ways. The fate of these unfortunates, who were between the two fighting armies, was disastrous death; many were trampled by horses, others crushed by heavy carts, others struck by a hail of bullets and cannonballs, others drowned in the river while crossing with troops or, skinned by soldiers, thrown naked into the snow, where the cold soon stopped their torment... According to the most moderate calculation, the loss extends to ten thousand people...

The result of the Berezina operation

French crossing the Berezina

The main result of the crossing was that Napoleon, in seemingly hopeless circumstances, managed to cross and maintain combat-ready forces. Clausewitz estimates Napoleon's losses in a few days of the Berezina at 21 thousand people from among the combat-ready soldiers he had. The losses of the non-combat-ready remnants of the “Great Army” are more difficult to calculate; Clausewitz mentions that up to 10 thousand French stragglers were taken prisoner by Wittgenstein. At the crossing itself, thousands of wounded and frostbitten Frenchmen also died. Kutuzov, in his report to the Tsar, estimates the French losses at 29 thousand people.

The prominent German military leader and theorist Schlieffen wrote: “The Berezina puts the stamp of the most terrible Cannes on the Moscow campaign,” meaning the Battle of Cannes, during which the Roman army was surrounded and completely defeated by Hannibal’s troops.

Assessment of the Berezinsky operation

Contemporaries laid the main blame for the missed chance to destroy Napoleon on the Berezina on Admiral Chichagov. The fabulist Krylov composed the fable “The Pike and the Cat” with a hint of the admiral’s failures on land. Kutuzov, in a letter addressed to Tsar Alexander I, outlined the main omissions of the incompetent commander.

... Count Chichagov ... made the following mistakes: 1) Instead of occupying the advantageous right bank of the Berezina, he transferred part of his troops to the left and located his main apartment in the mountains. Borisov, lying in a cauldron, surrounded on all sides by mountains. The inevitable consequence of this must have been, and indeed was, the sacrifice of many brave warriors. And. V. and the loss of everything at the main apartment of the convoy, for the vanguard, under the command of Count Palen, having been met 10 versts from Borisov by the entire retreating enemy army, brought it on their shoulders to Borisov at a time when the commander-in-chief was quietly having lunch there.

2) The high and narrow bridge and dam on stilts over the Zaika River, up to 300 fathoms long, was not destroyed, and the enemy took advantage of it, although the troops of Admiral Chichagov were on the Berezina 4 days before the enemy.

3) The enemy was building a bridge, began and continued his crossing for more than a day before Admiral Chichagov found out about it, although the entire distance he observed was no more than 20 miles, and having learned about this crossing, although he moved to the place of it, but, being met by enemy riflemen, did not attack them in large masses, but was content with the action all day on November 16 with two cannons and riflemen, through which he not only failed to hold back the enemy’s retreat, but also suffered very significant damage.

Everyone in the army and in Russia condemned and condemns Chichagov, blaming him alone for the miraculous salvation of Napoleon. He undoubtedly made an unforgivable mistake by moving towards the Abbot; but here he is justified: firstly, partly by the order of Kutuzov, who pointed to the Abbot as a point through which Napoleon allegedly intended to follow; secondly, even if his army did not leave the position in which Chaplitz remained, the disproportion of his forces relative to the French did not allow him to resolutely, although somewhat, delay an enemy superior in all respects, protected by the fire of strong batteries arranged on the left bank of the river; Moreover, Chichagov’s army, weakened by the separation of observation detachments along the Berezina, included seven thousand cavalry, which, due to the nature of the terrain, was completely useless to him here; thirdly, if Chaplitz, not being able to deploy all his forces, could not benefit from his artillery, then even more so Chichagov’s army could not, under these local conditions, think about serious resistance to Napoleon, whose very name, which produced a charming effect on all his contemporaries, the action cost an entire army.

Crossing the Berezina.
The image is reprinted from the 1812 website.

Materials used in the book: Military Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1986.

Berezina - battle November 14-16, 1812 between the French army and Russian troops (Patriotic War, 1812).

Over the course of two days, the French, repelling attacks from scattered Russian detachments, crossed to the west bank. On November 15, messengers burst into Borisov M.I. Kutuzov vanguard units of the pursuit under the command of the ataman M.I. Platova and the general A.P. Ermolova . Kutuzov himself was in no hurry to the Berezina, hoping that even without him there would be enough forces there to eliminate the French army. It is worth noting that the plan for encircling Napoleon on the Berezina did not provide for a unified command. This predetermined the inconsistency in the actions of the Russian commanders, each of whom made decisions independently. When Chichagov, realizing his mistake, returned to Borisov, Napoleonic troops had already entrenched themselves on the right bank of the river.

Due to the low capacity of the bridges, the huge concentration of people and convoys, panic, and the increased Russian pressure, only a third of Napoleon’s troops (25 thousand people) managed to break through to the west. The rest (about 50 thousand people) died in battle, froze, drowned or were captured. Fearing that the crossing would be captured by the Russians. On November 17, Napoleon ordered its destruction, abandoning his troops on the left bank. Contemporaries noted that in some places the river was filled to the brim with corpses of people and horses. The Russians lost 8 thousand people in this battle. After the Berezina, the main forces of the Napoleonic army in Russia ceased to exist (see Red II).

Book materials used: Nikolay Shefov. Battles of Russia. Military-historical library. M., 2002.

Read further:

Patriotic War of 1812 (chronological table).

Literature on the Napoleonic Wars(list of references)

Participants in the Napoleonic Wars: | AB | BA | VA | GA | YES | EA | ZHA | FOR | IA | KA | LA | MA | ON | OA | PA | RA | CA | TA | UA | FA | HA | TA | CHA | SH-SHA | EA | YA | JA |

Run. Crossing the Berezina

Lozhe. Crossing the Berezina, November 14-17 (26-29), 1812 (eyewitness testimony).

In November 1812, near the village of Krasny, heavy battles broke out between the retreating Napoleonic troops and the army of M. I. Kutuzov. Despite the fact that the French suffered heavy losses, they still managed to avoid complete defeat and continued on their way to the borders of Russia. However, an even more crushing defeat awaited them, which went down in history as the Battle of the Berezina.

Inglorious retreat

After the tragic events near Krasnoye, Napoleon had only one task: to get him out of the attack and save him from death. larger number soldiers and officers had no time great army. In this regard, it was extremely important to reach the border and, at all costs, cross to the opposite bank.

The difficulty was that his troops, demoralized and largely lost their combat effectiveness, were pursued by the units of General Miloradovich and the Cossacks of Platov, and for a decisive battle the armies of P.V. Chichagov and P.Kh. Wittgenstein.

No less formidable opponents The French were affected by the Russian frosts, which raged that year with extraordinary force, as well as the famine that devastated their ranks with the ruthlessness of shrapnel. Unaccustomed to the harsh climate and weakened by malnutrition, people from the warm Mediterranean lands died in the hundreds on the sides of endless Russian roads. The snow densely covered their frozen bodies, and only in the spring did local peasants interred the remains of the “conquerors of Europe.”

Plan developed by the sovereign

After the victory won near the village of Krasnoye, Kutuzov gave his troops the opportunity to rest and put their equipment in order. The main role in the proposed battle on the river. The Berezina, according to the plan of Alexander I, was assigned to two other armies. One of them, under the command of Admiral Pavel Vasilyevich Chichagov, was supposed to approach the river and take positions in such a way as to cut off the French’s path to retreat, even if they successfully crossed.

At the same time, the corps, led by General Pyotr Christianovich Wittgenstein, were to strike from the flanks. The army of M.I. Kutuzov, approaching from the eastern side, had to complete the defeat of the enemy and thereby ensure victory in the battle on the Berezina.

On the eve of the battle

There were all objective prerequisites for the implementation of the planned plan. In particular, Chichagov’s army, which had previously fought on the territory of Austria, an ally of Napoleon, was given the opportunity to leave the theater of operations due to the passivity of the enemy. At the same time, General Wittgenstein, who had previously blocked the possible advance of the French towards St. Petersburg, after their retreat from Moscow was given the opportunity to leave their previous positions and begin to carry out new operational tasks. As for the army of M.I. Kutuzov, it was ready for the battle on the Berezina, as it took advantage of the respite provided to it.

The complexity of the situation in which the French troops found themselves became significantly worse after General Chichagov’s units captured Smolensk, where Napoleon concentrated large number provisions vital in conditions of retreat. In addition, his main hospital was located there, where about 2 thousand wounded were then treated. All of them were captured. The Russian army also received large food supplies.

The tragedy that preceded victory

However, the battle of Berezina was preceded by an episode that became a tragic page in the history of the Patriotic War of 1812. The fact is that, according to a previously developed disposition, on November 21, the advanced units of the Russian army under the command of General K. O. Lambert captured the city of Borisov, in the area of which, according to intelligence data, Napoleon intended to cross the Berezina River for his troops.

During this operation many prisoners and several enemy cannons were also captured. However, due to a number of objective reasons, the armies of Wittgenstein and Kutuzov were unable to join him in time, and the units led by Lambert were left alone with the approaching corps of the French Marshal Oudinot. The forces turned out to be unequal, and the Russian troops were forced to retreat from the city, while suffering huge losses. According to historians, at least 2 thousand of them died that day.

Arrival of Napoleon

Two days before the start of the battle near the Berezina River, which took place on November 26, 1812, Napoleon and with him a 40,000-strong corps, which included his personal guard, consisting of 8 thousand selected warriors, arrived at the site of the proposed crossing. In addition, the still fully combat-ready contingent was accompanied by the same number of wounded, sick and simply unarmed soldiers. Following them was an endless line of civilians.

Building bridges

Preparations for the crossing, which became truly disastrous for the French, began on November 25. Under the cover of artillery batteries installed on the shore, soldiers from engineering units began building two pontoon bridges in the area of the village of Studenka, located just north of Borisov. Despite the fact that the width of the river in this place was about 100 meters, it was considered the most convenient for carrying out the plan. One of the bridges was intended for the passage of manpower, and the second for the transportation of carts and artillery.

Eyewitnesses of those events later recalled that in order to build bridges, several hundred pontooners (soldiers whose duties included establishing pontoon crossings) were forced to stand for several hours up to their chests in water, while ice floes floated past them, which appeared unusually early that year. As a result, they all died from hypothermia, unable to withstand loads that exceeded the capabilities of human nature.

The beginning of the crossing of troops

The main events preceding the Battle of Berezina (1812) began on November 26, when Napoleon gave the order to the troops to immediately begin the crossing, the defense of which he personally led. For this purpose, he sent a detachment of cavalrymen to the opposite bank, occupied by the Cossacks of General Kornilov, who forded the river and were the first to enter the battle. Their actions were covered from the eastern side of the river by the fire of several artillery batteries.

At about one o'clock in the afternoon, the crossing of troops began, of which the regiments of Marshals Oudinot and Ney were the first to set foot on the western bank. Following them across the pontoon bridges was the division of the French General Partuno. On this day, Russian troops were unable to stop them, since they were pushed back by units specially allocated for this.

Active fighting began on November 27, after Napoleon himself and a unit of his personal guard crossed to the west bank of the river. At about two o'clock in the afternoon, the corps under the command of Wittgenstein successfully attacked the French division of Marshal Partuno, which was covering the withdrawal of the main enemy forces, and captured about one and a half thousand soldiers and officers.

Collapsed bridge

The next day, fighting broke out on both banks of the Berezina. Due to the nature of the swampy and swampy terrain, cavalry actions were extremely limited, and the main burden fell on the shoulders of the infantry. The French were in a hurry to leave the eastern bank, but the bridges they had built could not provide passage for a huge number of people.

As a result, a huge crowd gathered on the eastern bank near the crossing. When several nuclei hit her, panic began. Everyone rushed randomly onto the bridge, and it collapsed, unable to bear the weight. Hundreds of people drowned in the water, and those who had not yet set foot on the pontoons died from unimaginable crush and suffocation.

Exploded crossing

Other military operations were no less tragic that day for the French. Suffice it to say that among the killed and wounded there were 13 generals; as for the losses of personnel, they are measured in several thousand. These should also include a significant number civilians, who followed the Napoleonic army, and also found themselves victims of the unfolding tragedy.

To ensure that the units that crossed the river could quickly and easily break away from pursuit, on the morning of November 29, the French blew up the bridge that was still intact. As a result, the huge number of their soldiers and officers remaining on the eastern bank became easy prey for Wittgenstein's troops and Platov's Cossacks.

Bitter statistics

Summing up the results of the battle on the Berezina, researchers indicate that salvation own life, as well as the withdrawal from fire of several of the most significant regiments for him, came at a high price for Napoleon. In those days, more than 21 thousand of the combat-ready soldiers at his disposal alone died.

The losses suffered among the wounded, sick, as well as civilians who tried to leave Russia with his army are incalculable. It is not surprising that even today the word Berezina is a common noun for the French, and means a complete failure that ended in disaster.

Coin "Battle of the Berezina"

Nowadays, all materials telling about the expulsion of Napoleonic troops cause hot interest in people of all ages. In this regard, it is carried out active work according to their propaganda, aimed at patriotic education citizens of Russia.

For example, in honor of a significant event, which was the 200th anniversary of the victory in Patriotic War In 1812, a commemorative coin of 5 rubles was issued - “The Battle of the Berezina” (a photo of its reverse is presented in the article). Much has been written about this episode of the expulsion of Napoleonic troops from Russian territory, but its significance is so great that it makes us return to it again and again.