the only one who kept a record of the temperature.

The cold killed a great many, and the road became covered with dead
soldiers resting under the snow.

To the eternal honor of the most glorious of all armies be it said that it
was only at the time when the misery had surpassed all boundaries, when the
soldiers had to camp on the icy ground with an empty stomach, their limbs
paralyzed in mortal rigor, that the dissolution began.

It was even after the heroic battle of Wiasma that they fought day for day.

It was not the cold which caused the proud army to disband, but hunger.

Provisions could nowhere be found; all horses perished, and with them the
possibility of transporting food and ammunition.

And it is one thing to suffer cold and hunger, traveling under ordinary
circumstances, and another to suffer thus and at the same time being
followed by the enemy.


BERESINA


In order to understand the disaster of the Beresina it is necessary to cast
a glance at the condition of Napoleon's army at that time.

After the battle at Krasnoe, Napoleon at Orscha, on November 19th., happy
to have found a place of safety at last, with well furnished magazines,