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Authors: Adam Zamoyski
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than themselves.
This forty-five-year-old retired officer who had returned to service in order to defend the fatherland was characteristic of a class of patriots, and was dubbed ‘ Le nouveau Donquichotte ’ by Chicherin, who drew this picture of him in his diary. He would spend whole days dreaming of vanquishing the French, but when his favourite horse, ‘Mavr’, was stolen, he went into a decline and fell behind.
When the temperature dropped on 6 November, Napoleon exchanged his characteristic Chasseur uniform, greatcoat and tricorn hat for a Polish-style fur-lined coat and hat. He was sketched by Faber du Faur as he warmed himself by the roadside at a fire made of the limbers and wheels of an abandoned gun near Pneva on 8 November. Behind him stand Berthier and, in plumed hat, Murat.
The French were now assailed by hordes of irregular cossacks, more feral and vicious than their brothers in regular regiments, who preyed mercilessly on the stragglers. This drawing, by Aleksander Orłowski, captures the character of these fearsome, if not fearless, horsemen.
When Faber du Faur caught up with his fellow Württembergers on the morning of 7 November, after the first heavy snowfall and frost, he was surprised to find them still apparently asleep in their makeshift shelters. As he tried to rouse them he discovered that they had frozen to death. (See p.391.)
As can be seen from this watercolour by an unknown participant, the retreating column was in places little more than a procession of stragglers.
This lithograph by Faber du Faur depicts a group of men cooking up at Krasny on 16 November. The soldier on the left has donned a lady’s pelisse, originally booty destined for sale or for his beloved in Paris. The pair on the right have acquired a small pan, a life-saving implement which permitted men to make an improvised pancake out of whatever was available.
Marshal Ney, known as ‘the bravest of the brave’, whose exploits at Borodino and during the retreat earned him the title of Prince de la Moskowa, from a miniature on porcelain by Jean-Baptiste Isabey.
Artillerymen of the 25th Württemberg Division, part of Ney’s 3rd Corps, spiking the guns they no longer have the horses to draw and throwing them into the river Dnieper before moving out of Smolensk. The spike was driven into the firing-breach, making the guns unusable even if recovered. A lithograph by Faber du Faur.
The river Berezina near Studzienka on the night of 25 November. The French pontoneers have just begun building the struts for the bridge. In the bottom right-hand corner their commander, General Eblé, can be seen directing the work. Across the river, a cossack picket is keeping an eye on the proceedings, and, beyond the woods in the top left-hand corner, the sky reflects the campfires of the Russian force which was supposed to prevent the French from crossing. The scene was drawn from life by François Pils, a grenadier in Oudinot’s corps. (See p.464.)
In the early hours of 26 November, Napoleon reached Studzienka. He is pictured here by Pils talking to Oudinot in front of the bridge-struts, which are ready to be hauled down to the river. The tallest struts, at about three metres, were nearly twice as tall as Napoleon.
LEFT This sketch by Pils shows Oudinot’s corps crossing the river on the first bridge, as Napoleon watches, flanked by Berthier and a plumed Murat.On the left of the picture, sappers are at work on struts for the second bridge.
RIGHT General Eblé sketched by Pils on 28 November as he exhorts stragglers to cross the river before he must burn the bridges.Note the soldier in the foreground cutting open a horse’s stomach with his sabre to get at its heart and liver, the most prized nourishment.
The Grande Armée bivouacking on the right bank of the Berezina on 27 November, by Faber du Faur.In the background, some generals who have taken over a hut are trying to prevent their shelter being dismantled from outside
This forty-five-year-old retired officer who had returned to service in order to defend the fatherland was characteristic of a class of patriots, and was dubbed ‘ Le nouveau Donquichotte ’ by Chicherin, who drew this picture of him in his diary. He would spend whole days dreaming of vanquishing the French, but when his favourite horse, ‘Mavr’, was stolen, he went into a decline and fell behind.
When the temperature dropped on 6 November, Napoleon exchanged his characteristic Chasseur uniform, greatcoat and tricorn hat for a Polish-style fur-lined coat and hat. He was sketched by Faber du Faur as he warmed himself by the roadside at a fire made of the limbers and wheels of an abandoned gun near Pneva on 8 November. Behind him stand Berthier and, in plumed hat, Murat.
The French were now assailed by hordes of irregular cossacks, more feral and vicious than their brothers in regular regiments, who preyed mercilessly on the stragglers. This drawing, by Aleksander Orłowski, captures the character of these fearsome, if not fearless, horsemen.
When Faber du Faur caught up with his fellow Württembergers on the morning of 7 November, after the first heavy snowfall and frost, he was surprised to find them still apparently asleep in their makeshift shelters. As he tried to rouse them he discovered that they had frozen to death. (See p.391.)
As can be seen from this watercolour by an unknown participant, the retreating column was in places little more than a procession of stragglers.
This lithograph by Faber du Faur depicts a group of men cooking up at Krasny on 16 November. The soldier on the left has donned a lady’s pelisse, originally booty destined for sale or for his beloved in Paris. The pair on the right have acquired a small pan, a life-saving implement which permitted men to make an improvised pancake out of whatever was available.
Marshal Ney, known as ‘the bravest of the brave’, whose exploits at Borodino and during the retreat earned him the title of Prince de la Moskowa, from a miniature on porcelain by Jean-Baptiste Isabey.
Artillerymen of the 25th Württemberg Division, part of Ney’s 3rd Corps, spiking the guns they no longer have the horses to draw and throwing them into the river Dnieper before moving out of Smolensk. The spike was driven into the firing-breach, making the guns unusable even if recovered. A lithograph by Faber du Faur.
The river Berezina near Studzienka on the night of 25 November. The French pontoneers have just begun building the struts for the bridge. In the bottom right-hand corner their commander, General Eblé, can be seen directing the work. Across the river, a cossack picket is keeping an eye on the proceedings, and, beyond the woods in the top left-hand corner, the sky reflects the campfires of the Russian force which was supposed to prevent the French from crossing. The scene was drawn from life by François Pils, a grenadier in Oudinot’s corps. (See p.464.)
In the early hours of 26 November, Napoleon reached Studzienka. He is pictured here by Pils talking to Oudinot in front of the bridge-struts, which are ready to be hauled down to the river. The tallest struts, at about three metres, were nearly twice as tall as Napoleon.
LEFT This sketch by Pils shows Oudinot’s corps crossing the river on the first bridge, as Napoleon watches, flanked by Berthier and a plumed Murat.On the left of the picture, sappers are at work on struts for the second bridge.
RIGHT General Eblé sketched by Pils on 28 November as he exhorts stragglers to cross the river before he must burn the bridges.Note the soldier in the foreground cutting open a horse’s stomach with his sabre to get at its heart and liver, the most prized nourishment.
The Grande Armée bivouacking on the right bank of the Berezina on 27 November, by Faber du Faur.In the background, some generals who have taken over a hut are trying to prevent their shelter being dismantled from outside
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