Hi Donald,

Good points. One of the things that I have always disagree with is the usual picture of the Crossing of the Berezina as a French disaster and the 'huge' losses they suffered. That is a misrepresentation of what actually happened.

The Grande Armee was a wreck and was being pursued by two Russian armies (Wittgenstein and Kutusov). A third (Tshitshagov) had taken and destroyed the bridge that Napoleon had counted on across the river.

The French, reinforced by Oudinot and Victor, executed a deception operation as to their crossing site, built two bridges across the Studenka ford, and crossed, Oudinot and then Ney holding the crossing while Victor fought an excellent rear guard action against Wittgenstein, fighting from a rear slope defense. Some of the finest fighting on the French side was done by Swiss, German, and Polish units, some of the troops having been in the service for less than a year.

Both Tshitshagov and Wittgenstein were thoroughly defeated and Kutusov failed to support his comrades, probably on purpose as he had no desire to fight Napoleon again. Many of the French casualties were in the mass of stragglers that refused to cross the river. Probably 10,000 of them were caught, and that increases the French casualty totals.

Sincerely,
Kevin