e., the
sacrifice of his best division, of 4 thousand men who would have been of
great value, had been unjustifiable, because after the crossing had begun
on the 26th. it was no longer possible to deceive the enemy.
The night was passed in cruel suspense, but being the prey of sorrows of so
many kinds the French could hardly pay due attention to the many new ones
which presented themselves at every moment. The silence which reigned on
the morning of the 28th. indicated the catastrophe of the division
Partouneaux.
The firing now began on the two sides of the Beresina, on the right shore
against the troops that had crossed, on the left against those covering the
passage of the rear of the army. From this moment on nothing was thought of
but fight. The cannonade and fusillade soon became extremely violent, and
Napoleon, on horseback, incessantly riding from one point to another,
assumed that Oudinot resisted Tchitchakoff while Eble continued to care for
the bridges, and that Victor, who was fighting Wittgenstein, was not thrown
into the icy floods of the Beresina together with the masses which had not
yet crossed.
Although the firing was terrible on all sides and thousands were killed on
this lugubrious field; the French resisted on both banks of the river.
For the description of this battle I desire to refer to Thiers' great work.
Taking all circumstances into consideration, it did the greatest honor to
Napoleon's guns, to the valor of his generals and of his soldiers.
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