I shall give an extensive extract in his own words:
"We arrived late at Zembin, where we found many bivouac fires. It was very
cold. Here and there around the fires were lying dead soldiers.
"After a short rest, which had given us some new strength, we continued the
march. If the stragglers arrive, we said to ourselves, we shall be lost;
therefore, let us hurry and keep ahead of them. Our little column kept well
together, but at every halt some men were missing. Toward daybreak the cold
became more severe. While it was dark yet, we met a file of gunpowder carts
carrying wounded; from a number of these vehicles we heard heart-rending
clamors of some of the wounded asking us to give them death.
"At every moment we encountered dead or dying comrades, officers and
soldiers, who were sitting on the road, exhausted from fatigue, awaiting
their end. The sun rose blood-red; the cold was frightful. We stopped near
a village where bivouac fires were burning. Around these fires were grouped
living and dead soldiers. We lodged ourselves as well as we could and took
from those who had retired from the scene of life--apparently during their
sleep--anything that could be of service to us. I for my part helped myself
to a pot in which I melted snow to make a soup from some bread crusts which
I had in my pocket. We all relished this soup.
"After an hour's rest we resumed our march and about 30 hours after our
departure we reached Plechtchenissi.
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