On 26 November 1812 the first French troops crossed the Berezina at Studianka, in today's Belarus, on a bridge built by General Jean-Baptiste Eblé's pontonniers in freezing water. With Russian armies closing in, the rest of Napoleon's Grande Armée crossed over the next three days, fighting on both banks; thousands of stragglers were left behind when the bridges burned.1
A trap on the Berezina
The Grande Armée left Moscow on 19 October 1812 and reached the Berezina in late November. Three Russian armies were closing on it: Admiral Chichagov's from the south, General Wittgenstein's from the north and Marshal Kutuzov's main army behind. Chichagov had seized the town of Borisov and its bridge, the crossing the French had counted on, and although Marshal Oudinot's corps retook the town, the Russians burned the bridge before they withdrew.2
A crossing place was found upstream at Studianka. While a feint to the south drew the Russians' attention away, Eblé's pontonniers began building bridges there on the night of 25 to 26 November.3
Into the freezing river
The Comte de Ségur, a general on Napoleon's staff saw the pontonniers work in water up to their mouths among floating ice; the Fondation Napoléon credits the army's escape to their sacrifice. They built two bridges, and Oudinot's corps crossed on 26 November.4
The bulk of the army crossed on 27 and 28 November. On 28 November Chichagov attacked on the west bank and Wittgenstein on the east, while Marshal Victor's rearguard held the crossing on the east bank and the rest of the army checked Chichagov.5
The bridges burn
On the morning of 29 November, with the Russians approaching, the bridges were set on fire. Thousands of men, women and children who had not crossed were abandoned on the eastern bank; the Fondation Napoléon puts them at nearly 10,000. Losses are uncertain. The Fondation Napoléon speaks of 25,000 combatants and 30,000 non-combatants killed; Ségur reckoned that Napoleon saved 60,000 of the 80,000 people who reached the river. The Fondation still counts the battle a tactical victory for Napoleon, who got his army out of a potentially fatal situation.6 › Napoleon Bonaparte
A week later, on 5 December, Napoleon left the army and hurried back to Paris.7
