Napoleon: A Biography

Dvinsk

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MACDONALD
(20,000 Prussians) ,
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Mariembourg

lll NAPOLEON

(300,000 men)

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E \ Modlin

(80,000 men)

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Brest-Litovsk

Lublin

gruelling march between Vilna and Vitebsk: General Belliard, Murat's

chief of staff, reported directly to the Emperor that he would soon have

no cavalry left, since the horses were dying both from shortage of fodder

and the violent oscillations in temperature between daytime heat and

night cold. The cattle, too, lacked the stamina for such hard slogging and

perished in droves, while the drivers in the supply columns found the

going so tough they often sabotaged their wagons, thus reducing

desperately needed food supplies.

The Emperor was not on hand to boost the morale of his men, as he

remained in Vilna from 28 June to 16 July, displaying the same dithering

mentality for which he had censured Jerome. Foolishly he expected every

day to hear from Alexander with his terms for surrender. The Russians

were quite prepared to play along with this delusion, so that futile

diplomatic representations and bogus peace missions shuttled between

Vilna and Moscow. While in Vilna the Emperor came under renewed

Polish pressure to proclaim an independent Poland but still he refused,

on the ground that he had given his word to his ally Austria.

Disillusioned both with Bonaparte's duplicity and his army's exactions on

Polish soil, the patriots voted with their feet; the expected extra volunteer

corps and guerrilla fighters for the Russian front did not materialize.

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