Finding little food or shelter as they made their way, the survivors of the Berezina crossing proceeded towards the village of Smorgoni. Scarcely 30,000 men remained of the over 420,000 who had crossed the Niemen River less than a year earlier, and of that number many were ill or wounded. Russian troops continued to harass them at intervals, making their passage towards safety more difficult. Sgt. Bourgogne writes of the journey:

"Many of them walked leaning on sticks, their beards and hair a mass of ice; others, no longer able to walk, looked vainly at the miserable men passing along the road, trying to find some part of the regiments they had commanded a fortnight before, and get help or an arm to lean on. It was all over, I fear, with those who could not walk.

The roads were like battlefields, there were so many dead bodies; but as the snow fell all the time, the horror of the sight was softened...The men who fell imploring help were not listened to. Thus we arrived at Smorgoni, on the 6th [of December]" (Bourgogne, p 159).

In Smorgoni the troops learned that Napoleon had left the night before to return to France. The Russian campaign was truly lost.

Suffering constant losses from cold, hunger, illness and attacks by trailing Russian troops, the Imperial Army made its way through the formerly conquered towns of Vilna and Kovno, finally reaching the Niemen River and relative safety on December 16, 1812.

With the Russian Campaign a disastrous loss for Napoleon, the stage was set for the undoing of the first Napoleonic Empire two years later. Sgt. Bourgogne returned to France, and achieved the rank of Second Lieutenant in the army. Twice-married, he left no heirs and died in 1867, at the ripe old age of 81.

Illustration:

The Emperor leaving for France

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Document last reviewed September 27, 1997

Comments to: Lori Eichelberger