Onset of Winter
In late October the first severe
snows fell, accompanied by bitter frost and driving winds, covering the
landscape and the sky in an unbroken whiteness. "Snow fell in enormous
flakes; we lost sight of the sky and the men in front of us." Though
swathed in fur and wadded coats, the men had no protection for their faces.
Their lips became cracked, noses frost-bitten, eyes blinded by the glare.
The horses in weakened condition could no longer haul the guns up icy slopes,
and they began to be abandoned. As soon as anyone died, whether of wounds
or frostbite, his fellows stripped him of his boots, any food in his haversack,
and left him unburied to the wolves. "Pity was driven down to the
bottom of our hearts by the cold, like mercury in a thermometer."
Tens of thousands fell in exhaustion
and froze to death. Thousands more who wandered off in search of food and
shelter were cut down by marauding Cossacks or murdered by an enraged peasantry.
Retreat
Advance