In the morning, on November 27th., Napoleon crossed the Beresina, together
with all who were attached to his headquarters, and selected for his new
headquarters the little village Zawnicky, on the other side of the
Beresina. In front of him was the corps of Oudinot. All day long he was on
horseback personally to hasten the passage of detachments of the army,
somewhat over 5 thousand men under arms. Toward the end of the day the
first corps arrived, under Davout, who since Krasnoe had again commanded
the rear guard. This was the only corps which still had some military
appearance.
The day of November 27th. was occupied to cross the Beresina and to prepare
for a desperate resistance, for the Russians could no longer be deceived as
to the location of the bridges. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon a third
accident happened, again on the bridge to the left. It was soon repaired,
but the vehicles arrived in great numbers, and all were pressing forward in
such a way that the gendarmes had extraordinary difficulties to enforce
some order.
The 9th. corps, that of Marshal Victor, had taken a position between
Borisow and Studianka, in order to protect the army at the latter place. It
had been foreseen that the crossing would be little interfered with during
the first two days, the 26th. and 27th., because Tchitchakoff was as yet
ignorant of the real points elected for the bridges, expecting to find the
French army below Borisow on the other side of the Beresina.
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