Napoleon had a couple of plans for crossing Beresina but most of these were discarded. The plan to go south and then cross Beresina was abandoned since the river widened as it headed south. Since Beresina was burned there was not much point going there. Napoleon could have gone north but the roads were in terrible condition. What is ironic is the fact that that the increase in the temperatures around the time they were nearing Beresina actually made the crossing of Beresina a failure. If the temperatures had remained low the ground would have remained frozen and passing the river would be easier since there would not be much water from the melting ice and snow.
Napoleon later received new information from a French officer about a perfect location for crossing the river. It was not entirely shallow but building bridges over it seemed feasible.
The work on the bridges began on 25 Novermber. There was no time to cut down trees and shape them so timbers were obtained from houses at Studenka and Veselovo. two bridges were built, one for the infantry and the other for heavy loads of the cavalry, artillery and vehicles.
By the afternoon of 26 November the two bridges were ready. On November 28 the two bridgeheads came under strong Russian attack. The "grand" French Army took three days to cross the bridge. Due to the intense attack of the Russians most of the civilians did not make it since priority was given to the troops. It is uncertain how many crossed Beresina. Napoleon lost 25,000 men in the battle casualties, with the civilians probably this amounted to 30,000. He was left with 20,000 men organized enough to fight.