plaudits: 'I would sooner have given 300 millions from my treasury than
lose such a man,' he said.
Ney's totally unlooked-for arrival temporarily lifted morale, which had
taken a battering at the Dnieper. The Grand Army reached Orsha to find
the river bridges intact and a two-day supply of fo od for 40,ooo, but there
were two pieces of devastatingly bad news. First, Minsk, with its store
of two million individual rations, had fallen to the Russians. Secondly,
and more immediately threatening, it now seemed certain that Tshitsakov
would beat them to the Beresina crossings at Boritsov. 'This is beginning
to be very serious,' Napoleon confided to Caulaincourt, before ordering
the destruction of all surplus transport and impedimenta, preparatory to
another gruelling forced march.
Beyond Orsha there was finally some relief for the beleaguered Grande
Armee. The local people here, though not friendly, were not Russian and
did not go in for massacres and atrocities. The worst of the ordeal from
fe llow-humans was over, and at first it looked as though the same might
apply to the ordeal by element, for a thaw set in, so that the troops could
sleep at night without fearing death. Ironically, the thaw also threatened
the Army with total destruction, for the change in weather had turned a
hard-frozen polar surface into a seething torrent. Normally in late
November the river was frozen to a depth of several fe et of ice, so that the
Army could have crossed the river anywhere with complete safety. The
same was the case in November r812 until the last week of the month.
Here was yet another fatal consequence of the Emperor's many
unreasonable urban delays.
By 22 November Napoleon already knew from his spies that
Tshitsagov had destroyed the Beresina bridges. This meant that the
French were now virtually surrounded, with Wittgenstein's 30,000 men
and Tshitsagov with another 34,000 ahead of them and Kutusov's 8o,ooo
in their rear. With the bridges down and without bridging equipment of
their own, the French seemed doomed as they had just 49,000 effectives
(with 250 guns) and 4o,ooo militarily useless stragglers. Fearing the
worst, Napoleon ordered all state papers and regimental tricolors burnt.
What saved the Emperor at this desperate juncture was a combination
of Russian timidity and the most amazing good luck. Mindful of
Borodino and Krasnyi, Kutusov kept at a safe distance, some thirty miles
away. Then Oudinot came in to report to Napoleon what sounded like a
miracle. General Corbineau, approaching the Beresina from Vilna and the
west, found an unmarked fo rd near Studienka village, which he had
bribed a peasant to reveal to him. Corbineau crossed the river on 23
November and reported that a traverse by the whole army was feasible.
marcin
(Marcin)
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