Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

In Borisov, Napoleon was also busy. He was examining his current situation.

Compared to his arrogance in the past, he is now more like his normal self, and being his own Napoleon is still difficult to deal with.

But his current situation was very bad. There was only one bridge over the Berezina River for retreat, and this bridge was now threatened by the Russians.

"If this is the case, we have to build a pontoon bridge on the Berezina River, but we also have to consider that the Russians are approaching. This bridge may not be usable, but we can send some troops here to contain them and distract the Russians."

"But this will weaken our military strength here again."

"It doesn't matter. Sending a division there to guard the crossing is also for bluffing. Our army can bluff on the other side of the Berezina River. Ask Victor to bring all the troops over and make preparations for the support. As for the real bridge site, don't let the Russians find it."

"What should we do?"

"There seems to be a flat area in the south that is very suitable for building a bridge. It is also on the route that the Russians must take. We will set up a fake crossing point there, but the real action will not be here."

Napoleon planned to use a feint to the east and attack in the west, and set up a fake one here to cover up the real crossing point.

He expected that Chichakov, coming from the south, would move along the east side of the Berezina River instead of moving to the west.

If the admiral was willing to cross the river to pursue, Napoleon was not without a solution. He placed the troops led by Marshal Victor there. In addition, there were troops drawn from Augereau and Rapp who was guarding the rear of Danzig, which were enough to temporarily resist the actions of the Danube Army.

The more troublesome situation was the north. Wittgenstein himself did not have strong command capabilities, but he was a stubborn person. After receiving the mission order, he would go directly to the front line to implement the goal.

Napoleon was worried that such a general with not much brains would slow down his retreat, so he bluffed and deployed some troops in the north.

At the same time, on the Russian side, since the three armies have not yet merged, Kutuzov cannot confirm whether they have any advantages.

He believed that Napoleon might still have 8 to 10 troops, and even though the Third Army was dealt a devastating blow and a large number of combatants were captured, the commander-in-chief himself still made such cautious arrangements.

"It is easy to judge Napoleon's actions, but how much strength does he have? From the battle of Krasny, we can see that the French can still maintain a certain combat effectiveness after a huge loss, so we can probably only take action here on the Berezina River. If we can keep Napoleon on this side of the river, we may win, but it will inevitably cost a lot."

Kutuzov had a rough estimate of the number of people. After all, the Cossacks were observing the movements of Napoleon's defeated army day and night from a distance. Among them were about 40,000 combat-capable soldiers, 40,000 to 50,000 wounded and soldiers who had abandoned their weapons and lost their combat effectiveness, as well as thousands of family members and fleeing civilians, including many French expatriates.

You have to know that before the war broke out, many French people settled in Russia, so the situation here is somewhat complicated.

"If we want to pursue now, the Third Army should bite Napoleon's rear guard, but Solovyov's action was a little delayed. He was a little late and failed to catch the rear guard of the French Guards."

"But understand the situation, too, Yermolov."

In fact, Kutuzov also knew that Yermolov had a good relationship with Solovyov on weekdays, and he was just stating the facts now.

But Solovyov's action was more or less a means for Kutuzov to preserve his strength in order to preserve his elite troops, which was instructed by him.

Of course, he was not willing to fight a war of attrition at this time. The troops in front were already very tired from the pursuit. If he fought Napoleon, he would not be able to win this battle and would have to go to Europe later.

In fact, many people are aware of this matter.

As for Wittgenstein in the north, he received orders directly from the Tsar himself, so under "micro-management" he also hurriedly advanced towards the Berezina River area.

Some wanted to pursue and gain honor, while others just wanted to paddle. However, due to the natural geographical conditions of the Berezina River and the fact that the river had not yet completely frozen, there was a chance to trap Napoleon to death.

You have to know that although the 3rd Army that retreated before had hundreds of people coming over from the Dnieper River, many of them fell ill with hypothermia afterwards.

Marshal Ney himself had a serious cold. If it weren't for the strong physique he had developed from physical labor since childhood and growing up in a cooper's family, he would have been in great danger.

This good body is really useful.

He was even able to sit in and listen when Napoleon held meetings.

"In the village of Studenka, this is also the only section where we can break through. Minsk has been occupied by the Russians. We have to rely on our own strength to start from here and go to Poland."

"Just various materials needed by engineers"

"You should prepare all the necessary building materials here as much as possible, especially the wood needed to build the floating bridge. There are always many trees here."

"But."

Although several engineering officers still wanted to talk, especially due to the lack of alcohol to warm up the engineers and the lack of necessary warming conditions, the engineers, from officers to soldiers, were almost forced to fill the hole with their own lives.

But Napoleon rejected their further demands, saying that this was the only way to allow as many people as possible to evacuate.

The French army still believed in Napoleon at this time, but the main responsible for this operation were the Dutch engineers who were good at using wood.
Yes, they do have a knack for hydraulic engineering and bridges.

After the decision was made, everyone began to prepare.

The French soon obtained a large supply of wood, even finding some in nearby villages.

However, the Cossacks operating nearby also discovered the action. However, due to the covert operation at the beginning, the fake ferry set up by the French army, and some troops protecting the periphery, they could not figure out the real situation.

Therefore, the intelligence received by Wittgenstein, Chichakov and Tormasov, who were in charge of the pursuit, was problematic.

Even Soloviev, who was leading the way in front of the main force, could not possibly determine Napoleon's real crossing point, although the enemy might have used a bluff to evade the pursuit of the Russian army. If the judgment on the crossing was wrong, then there was no need to consider destroying these opponents.

Now some of the French troops that had previously fought on the flanks had also arrived here. In addition to Victor who was replaced later, there were even some cuirassiers from Oudinot's 2nd Army who had been transferred to him. This allowed Napoleon to retain a certain number of cavalry and not be without the ability to counterattack.

However, at the front, the battle was still going on. The Russian vanguard troops arrived quickly. Not only did they seize a large amount of supplies in Minsk, but even the main force was coming here.

Admiral Lambert was the commander of the Russian army, but he was a Frenchman.

The commander in charge of the French army was General Dombrovski, a Pole.

This is also related to the special circumstances of the two countries. Russia always recruits foreign officers, not just the Germans, and the French have long had Poles in their army.

The battle between the two families was very fierce. Even though there were only a few troops here, it looked like there were tens of thousands of people fighting.

The Russian army failed to repel the French army that was blocking here. Some reinforcements of the Polish army arrived. At nightfall, both sides had to stop fighting and camp in the nearest village.

If not, people might freeze to death.

This time, it was probably the weather that saved Napoleon again. The arrival of extreme cold weather often meant that the Russian army, which had adapted to this environment, could not survive in the wild.

Another reason is probably because the Danube Corps itself has been fighting in the south for a long time and is more adapted to the environment of Odessa and Moldavia. For a place like Belarus, it is indeed different.

Therefore, they slowed down their pursuit, and Chichakov was an admiral, so he was not very good at commanding the army.
Perhaps he also attached more importance to the hydrological and meteorological environments. After hearing about the French army's actions at the false ferry, he deployed all the artillery carried by the vanguard there, attempting to wait for the French army to arrive and then use heavy artillery to deal a devastating blow to Napoleon.

It's a good idea, but the French army did not really take action here.

As for the French troops who were collecting wood, now that they had gathered all their supplies, they were in big trouble.

General Corbino led his relatively intact cavalry brigade across the Berezina River, which seemed insignificant to the horses, not even as wide as a street in Paris.

The place found by the general was quite good. It could be said that he had found a passage for the subsequent engineers, so the engineers prepared to build a bridge here.

But the problem arose again. After many materials were actually delivered, they were found to be unqualified.

Napoleon believed that three pontoon bridges were needed to ensure the retreat of the troops that were still capable of fighting. They also had to cover the evacuation of tens of thousands of French troops who had lost their will to fight.

Compared with the past, Davout's 1st Army had lost its combat effectiveness, and Ney's army now had only a few hundred remnants left. Eugene's troops became unarmed soldiers, and everyone thought of escaping to the other side of the river.

In addition, there were also civilians. During Lambert's pursuit, he had seen many bodies stripped of their clothes on the ground. Among them were wounded soldiers, civilians, and even women and children. Such a cruel scene shocked even him, a Frenchman.

His adjutant even wrote it down in his notes, and it might even be a little exaggerated.

The French often claim to have brought civilization to Europe, but here in Belarus it seems they only brought war to what is now Russia, turning it into an open-air charnel house and ruins along the roads.

Napoleon had no way to stop this situation. Except for the Guards, the troops leaving Moscow were now only concerned with escaping.

They also needed Oudinot and Victor, who had not gained much advantage, to hold out for them for a while, while the engineers built a bridge in the waist-deep river, and the freezing water was almost fatal.

However, they still insisted on building a bridge there. Although there were not enough materials, they still pieced together two suitable floating bridges.

However, these floating bridges are now also subject to the impact of floating ice.

They didn't have an accurate way to evaluate whether the strength was sufficient, so they just had to send some carriages up there.

But the environment here is not good either. Many artillery vehicles almost collapse the bridge when passing by. This is the bridge that cannons need to pass.

But this was also a makeshift arrangement. These places on the Berezina River were not suitable for crossing the river. If it were summer now and they were operating in the swamps, it might be easier for the French to break through. After all, they had captured Russian soldiers during the battle in Poland and knew how they passed through the swamps.

The subsequent troops had a hard time crossing the bridge, and the cavalry who were able to pass tried their best to take advantage of the relatively shallow river section here and let their horses pass carefully on the water that had not yet frozen.

In this way, at most one person's trouser legs and boots will get wet and frozen, and everything will be fine once they reach the camping place.

But now it is not convenient for all cavalry to pass through here. The artillery and baggage must go first. The other bridge is used for infantry.

Napoleon's retreat began at this time.

On November 11, Chichakov circled Napoleon's fake ferry for a whole day and found no signs of further reinforcement of the French army (a calming exercise should be performed here). Only then did he realize that he had been fooled by the French.

He was a naval general and indeed knew more about hydrology and meteorology. He even thought that this place would be a good place to go if it was passable, but the French took another one.

For this reason, he knew that he had made a big mistake by not crossing the Berezina River before. Naturally, he had to find some means of remediation. Some of the cavalry that crossed the river exchanged fire with the French army, while he himself led the Danube Corps and the main force of the 3rd Army to the real crossing to intercept Napoleon.

Wittgenstein in the north also wanted to join the battle, but after they came up, they were harassed by a small French detachment. Even with a forced march, he was still a day's journey away from the crossing point.

Tormasov and Miloradovich, who were coming from behind, were also very far away. After all, a lot of prisoners were captured in Krasnoy, and they always needed to clean up the battlefield.

Solovyov is also one day away from here. As the vanguard of the main army, he will naturally join the battle. (End of this chapter)