Battle of Berezina

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Battle of Berezina
Part of French invasion of Russia (1812)
Napoleon I retreating through the Russian winter
Date November 26 - November 29, 1812 Location The Berezina river near Borisov (now Barysaŭ) Result Russian victory; French force a successful retreat
Combatants
First French Empire	Russian Empire
Commanders
Napoleon Bonaparte	Mikhail Kutuzov Pavel Chichagov Peter Wittgenstein
Strength
31,000-40,000 troops+ , 30,000-40,000 stragglers	61,000 present (31,000 under Chicagov; 30,000 under Wittgenstein); 54,000 under Kutusov were approaching the battle from the east but were still 40 miles away when the combat occurred.
Casualties
30,000-40,000, (largely stragglers)	13,000

Charles Minard's graph showing the losses of the Grande Armée as it marches to Moscow and back. French reinforcements can be seen arriving prior to the Battle of Berezina.

The Battle of Berezina took place November 26-29, 1812 between the French army of Napoleon, retreating after his invasion of Russia and crossing the Berezina (near Borisov Belarus), and the Russian army under Peter Wittgenstein and Admiral Pavel Chichagov. The battle ended with a victory for the Russians. The French suffered very heavy losses. Since then "Bérézinade" has been used in French as a synonym of catastrophe.

As the surviving masses of the Grande Armee struggled on for the perceived safety of the west, the Russian armies of generals Wittgenstein, Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov and Admiral Pavel Chichagov closed in on them.

The French had suffered a defeat just two weeks earlier during the Battle of Krasnoi. However, reinforcements who had been stationed near the Berezina during Napoleon's initial advance through Russia brought the numerical strength of the Grande Armée back up to some 30,000 to 40,000 French soldiers capable of fighting, as well as 40,000 non-combatants. The Russians had approximately 61,000 troops at the Berezina, with another 54,000 under Kutusov just 40 miles to the east who were approaching the river.

Napoleon Bonaparte's plan was to cross the Berezina River and head for Poland, while his enemies wanted to trap him there and destroy him. Bonaparte's original plan to cross the frozen river quickly proved to be impossible, as the usually frozen waterway had thawed and was now impassable.

The nearby bridge at Borisov had been destroyed and most of the equipment to build a pontoon bridge had been destroyed only a few days earlier. Fortunately, for the French, the commander of the bridging equipment General Jean Baptiste Eblé had kept crucial forges, charcoal and sapper tools and only needed protection from the Chichagov's force on the far west bank to span the river.

Marshal Oudinot was given the task of drawing off the admiral and made a move towards the south. The plan worked and so Eblé's engineers braved ferociously cold water to construct the vital 100-metre bridge. Cavalry quickly crossed it followed by infantry to hold the bridgehead. The rearguard infantry suffered terrible losses (of the four Swiss Regminets of Oudinots corps, only 300 soldiers survived), but managed to cover both potons and the retreat. This struggle is depicted in the Beresinalied.

A second structure opened within hours and cannons were taken across it to bolster the defensive perimeter. Their arrival was just in time as Chichagov realised his error and attacked the 11,000 French troops.

By midday of the 27th, Bonaparte and the Imperial Guard were across and the strategy now swung to saving the rearguard, which was fighting against Wittgenstein's arriving army.

One of the spans broke in the late afternoon but more feats of engineering skill had it repaired by early evening. Marshal Davout and Prince Eugene got their corps across leaving Marshal Victor's IX Corps to hold off the enemy on the east bank.

Boosting his firepower with artillery from across the river, Victor held out until after midnight when his forces were able to join their colleagues and push Chichagov aside and continue the retreat to France.

While some 15,000 French troops and a further 13,000 Russians became casualties, their losses paled next to that of the French stragglers. At least 10,000 were massacred by rampaging cossacks, while another 20,000 died in the near freezing water or were crushed to death in the panic to cross the bridges.

[edit] See also

• Beresinalied
• Polish Army During the Napoleonic Wars