Wittgenstein
and Kutusoff had not yet had time to unite and did not sufficiently press
the French.
Napoleon had good reasons to expect that the 28th. would be the decisive
day. He was resolved to save the army or to perish with it. Taking the
greatest pains to deceive Tchitchakoff as long as possible he ordered
Marchal Victor to leave the division Partouneaux, which had been reduced by
marches and fights from 12 thousand to 4 thousand combatants, at Borisow.
Victor with 9 thousand men and 700 to 800 horses was to cover Studianka.
These 9 thousand were the survivors of 24 thousand with whom Victor had
left Smolensk to join Oudinot on the Oula. During one month's marching and
in various engagements 10 thousand to 11 thousand had been lost. The
bearing, however, of those who survived was excellent, and seeing what was
left of the grand army, the glory of which had, not long ago, been the
object of their jealousy, in its present condition, they were stricken with
pity and asked their oppressed comrades who had almost lost their pride as
a result of the misery, what calamity could have befallen them? You will
soon be the same as we are, sadly answered the victors of Smolensk and
Borodino.
The hour of the supreme crisis had come. The enemy, having now learned the
truth, came to attack the French when many of them had not yet crossed the
Beresina and were divided between the two sides of the river. Wittgenstein,
who with 3 thousand men had followed the corps of Victor, was behind the
latter between Borisow and Studianka, and ready with all his might to throw
Victor into the Beresina.
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