Through Russian Snows (32 page)

"'You will understand, men,' he shouted from his roof, 'that our lives
depend more upon the water than upon your arms. We could defend this
place against that horde for a year; but if water fails altogether,
there will be nothing to do but to sally out and sell our lives as
dearly as we can.' Fortunately, we had still water with us, for it was
not known whether we should find any on the march, and we had been
ordered to leave our kits behind, and to carry, in addition to the
water-bottles, a skin holding about a gallon. In our hut we found eight
porous jars, each of which would hold about a couple of gallons. Six of
them were full. The empty ones we filled up from our skins, for these
jars keep the water wonderfully cool. In none of the other huts had they
found so good a supply as ours, but all had more or less water; and, on
totalling them up, it was found that there was an average of four jars
in each hut, without, of course, counting that which we had brought. As
there were a hundred and ten of us, this gave a total supply of a
hundred and eighty-two gallons; rather better than a gallon and a half a
man.

"The major ordered that the allowance was to be a pint night and morning
for the first four days. If help did not come at the end of that time,
it was to be reduced by half. We could see where the water came from.
There was a well-worn path from the village to a hollow about three
hundred yards away, and we could see that there was a great hole, and it
was down this that the women went to fill their water-jars. It was a
consolation to us that it was so close, for, if the worst came to the
worst, half of us could go down at night and refill the jars. No doubt
they would have to fight their way, but, as the rest could cover them by
their fire, we felt that we should be able to manage it. For the next
four days we held the place. We slept during the day. The Arabs did not
come near us then; but as soon as it got dusk they began to crawl up,
and flashes of fire would break out all round us.

"Unfortunately, there was no moon, and as they came up pretty nearly
naked, their bodies were so much the colour of the sand that they could
not be made out twenty yards away. They were plucky enough, for they
would come right in among the houses and fire through the doors, and
sometimes a number of them would make a rush against one; but nothing
short of bursting the doors into splinters would have given them an
entry, so firmly did the piles of earth hold them in their places. In
the middle of the fifth day a cloud of dust was seen across the plain
from the direction in which we came. No one had a doubt that it was a
party sent to our relief, and every man sprang to his feet and swarmed
up on to the roof, as soon as the man on watch above told us the news;
directly afterwards the major shouted, 'Each man can have a ration of
water.'

"In a few minutes we saw the Arabs mount and ride off, and it was not
long before five hundred of our cavalry rode into the village. We had
only lost five men; all had been shot through the head as they were
firing over the parapet. We had each night buried those who fell, and in
five minutes after the arrival of the cavalry, were ready to start on
our march back. If it had not been for that village, and for the
quickness with which the major saw what was the only thing to be done,
not a single man would ever have got back to camp to tell what had
happened. They were brave fellows, those Arabs; and, if well drilled by
our officers, would have been grand troops on such an expedition as
this, and would have taught the Cossacks a good many things at their own
game.

"The Egyptian infantry were contemptible, but the Arabs are grand
horsemen. I don't say that in a charge, however well drilled, they
could stand against one of our cuirassier regiments. Men and horses
would be rolled over; but for skirmishing, vidette duty, and foraging,
no European cavalry would be in it with them. They are tireless, both
horses and men, and will go for days on a little water and a handful of
dates; and if the horses can get nothing else, they will eat the dates
just as contentedly as their masters."

Several times as these stories had been told, the group had risen to
their feet to watch the fires that were burning in various parts of the
town, and just as the sergeant brought his story to a close, the
assembly sounded.

"I have been expecting that for some time," Brison said. "As our
division is nearest to the city, I thought they would be sure to turn us
out before long, to put out those fires. They must be the work of some
of our rascally camp-followers, or of some of the ruffians of the town,
who have been breaking into deserted houses and plundering them. Well,
the liquor is finished, and there is always interest in fighting a
fire."

Five minutes later, the Grenadiers of the Rhone and six other regiments
of their division marched into Moscow to extinguish the flames.

WITH THE REAR-GUARD

Napoleon had as yet no idea that the fires were other than accidental,
and the next morning removed his headquarters to the Imperial Palace,
the Kremlin, from which he fondly hoped to dictate terms of peace to
Russia. But it was not long before the truth became evident. Every hour
fresh fires broke out, and, spreading rapidly, by nightfall the whole
city was in flames. On the following day the Kremlin itself became so
uninhabitable from the heat, that the Emperor was forced to withdraw
from it, and could not return till the 20th, when heavy rain
extinguished the flames, which had already consumed nine-tenths of the
city. Of 48,000 houses only 700 escaped; of 1600 churches 800 were
destroyed and 700 damaged; of 24,000 wounded French and Russians in the
hospitals more than 20,000 perished in the flames. In the meantime
Kutusow had tardily adopted the advice he had before rejected, had moved
round with his army and taken up his position on the Oka river, near
Kulouga, where he menaced the French line of communication. Already the
Cossack cavalry were hovering round Moscow, intercepting convoys and
cutting up small detachments, while the horses of the French cavalry
were so worn out by fatigue and famine that in several affairs with the
Russian cavalry the latter gained decisive advantages.

"You are right again, comrade," the old sergeant said to Julian, who had
been promoted to the rank of sergeant after the battle of Borodino, as
they stood together on the night of the 15th gazing at the terrible
spectacle of the city enveloped in flames. "
Peste!
these Russians are
terrible fellows. Who could have thought of such a thing? It is a bad
look-out for us."

"A terrible look-out, there is no denying it," Julian agreed. "It is
impossible for the army to stay here without food, without forage,
without shelter, with our communications threatened, and the Russian
army on our flank. I see nothing for it but to retreat, and the sooner
we are out of it the better. Were I the Emperor I would issue orders for
the march to begin at daylight. In another month winter will be on us,
and none can say what disasters may befall the army."

Had the order been given that day the French army might have made its
way back to the frontier, with heavy loss doubtless, but without
disaster. But Napoleon could not bring himself to believe that the
Russians would refuse to enter into negotiations. He tried through
various sources to send proposals to Alexander, and even opened secret
negotiations with Kutusow, and had arranged for a private meeting with
him, when the matter was stopped by Sir Robert Wilson, who had received
specific instructions from the Emperor Alexander to interpose in his
name to prevent any negotiations whatever being carried on. Thus week
after week of precious time passed, and then a portion of the army moved
against the Russians. Several engagements took place, the advantage
generally resting with the Russians, especially in an engagement with
Murat, who suffered a decisive repulse.

Julian had, as soon as the fire in Moscow burnt itself out, employed
himself in endeavouring to buy some warm garments. Money was plentiful,
for there had been no means of spending it since they entered Russia,
and he was fortunate in being able to buy some very warm tinder-garments
that had been looted by the plunderers on the night of their first
arrival before Moscow. He also purchased a peasant's sheep-skin caftan
with a hood, and sewed this into his military cloak so as to form a
lining, the hood being for the time turned inside. From another
sheep-skin he manufactured a couple of bags to be used as mittens,
without fingers or thumbs. Many of his comrades laughed at him as he did
his work, but as the days grew colder most of them endeavoured to follow
his example, and the skins of sheep brought in occasionally by the
cavalry were eagerly bought up. Encouraged by his success, Julian next
manufactured a pair of sheep-skin leggings, with the wool inside. They
were sewn up at the bottom, so that they could be worn over his boots.
The shape left much to be desired, but by cutting up a blanket he made
two long bands, each three inches wide and some twenty feet long. These
he intended to wrap tightly round the leggings when in use.

The leggings, gloves, and bands were stowed away in his knapsack, almost
everything else being discarded to make room for them; for he felt sure
that there would be no inspection of kits until the frontier had been
crossed.

Still, Napoleon could not bring himself to issue a general order for a
retreat, but corps after corps was moved along the western road.
Mortier's division remained last in Moscow, and marched on the 23rd of
October, after having, by Napoleon's orders, blown up the Kremlin, the
Church of St. Nicholas, and the adjoining buildings. The safest line of
retreat would have been through Witebsk, but Napoleon took the more
southern road, and the army believed that it was intended to fight
another great battle with the Russians.

The weather at first was fine. On the 24th the vanguard, under the
Viceroy, came in contact with Doctorow's division, and a fierce fight
took place near Malo Jaroslavets. The French were checked, and Kutusow,
coming up with the main army, it was apparent to all, that the French
vanguard could be overwhelmed and Napoleon's retreat brought to a
standstill. But, just as the generals were all expecting the order to
attack, Kutusow, whose previous conduct in entering into secret
negotiations with Napoleon had excited strong suspicions of his good
faith, announced that he had changed his mind, and ordered the Russian
army to draw off, thus for a time saving the French from complete
disaster.

The battle, however, had been a sanguinary one, no less than ten
thousand being killed on each side. After the retirement of the Russians
the retreat was continued. Davoust commanded the advance; Ney's division
was to cover the rear. The French army at first moved very slowly, for
it was not until the 29th that Napoleon reached Borodino. He himself had
long been in ill-health; bodily pain had sapped his energy. He had for a
long time been unable to sit on a horse, and had travelled in a close
carriage. Consequently he seemed to have lost for a time all his energy
and quickness of decision, and after five weeks thrown away at Moscow,
another was wasted in slow movements when haste was of the greatest
importance. The French suffered, too, from the disadvantage that, while
their every movement was discovered and reported by the ubiquitous
Cossacks, they themselves were in absolute ignorance of the strength and
movements of the enemy.

On the 6th of November a bitter frost set in, and the soldiers awoke
chilled to the bone, and with gloomy anticipations of what would happen
when the full rigour of a Russian winter was upon them. In some respects
the frost was an advantage, for it hardened the roads, that were before
often almost impassable from the amount of heavy traffic that had passed
over them. But, upon the other hand, floating masses of ice speedily
covered the rivers, rendering the work of fording them painful and
difficult in the extreme. A Russian division had, on the 3rd, pressed
hotly on the retreating column just as they reached the Wiazma river. A
sanguinary conflict took place, the corps of the Viceroy passed through
the town on its banks, and crossed the river in fair order, but that of
Davoust broke and crossed in great confusion, covered by Ney's division,
which retreated steadily, facing about from time to time, and repulsing
the infantry attacks, but suffering heavily from the artillery. Ney set
the town on fire to cover his retreat, crossed the bridges, and there
stemmed the further advance of the Russians.

The French loss in the engagement was 6000 killed and wounded, and 2000
prisoners. The Viceroy was directed to march on Witebsk, but he was
overtaken by the enemy when endeavouring to throw a bridge over the
half-frozen little river called the Vop. The bridge, hastily made, gave
way. The banks were extremely steep. The Grenadiers waded through the
river, though the water, full of floating ice, came up to their breasts;
but the artillery following were unable to climb the bank, and the guns
were soon frozen fast in the river, and they and the whole of the
baggage had to be left behind. A similar misfortune befell another of
the Viceroy's divisions, which had remained behind to cover the retreat,
and of the 14,000 soldiers who commenced the march but 6000 remained
with their colours, and but 12 of the 92 guns that had accompanied them.

The condition of the French army rapidly deteriorated. The cold had
already become intense, and the soldiers being weak with hunger were the
less able to support it. The horses died in great numbers, and their
flesh was the principal food upon which the troops had to rely. No one
dared straggle to forage, for the Cossacks were ever hovering round, and
the peasants, emerging from their hiding-places in the forests,
murdered, for the most part with atrocious tortures, everyone who fell
out of the ranks from wounds, exhaustion, or frost-bite.