B009YBU18W EBOK (85 page)

As the French cavalry’s horses perished, they were replaced by the little local ponies, with ludicrous results in the case of cuirassiers and carabiniers such as these, who were specially selected for their height and were supposed to be mounted on large horses. Pen, ink and wash by Faber du Faur.

Armand de Caulaincourt, drawn here by Jacques Louis David, was a wise and devoted friend to Napoleon, whom he had consistently discouraged from invading Russia, foreseeing the worst.

As this lithograph from a drawing by Faber du Faur shows, even the bridges over the Kolocha at Borodino in the Grande Armée’s rear had not been cleared of the dead and debris of battle.

Three irregular cossacks enjoying a meal, by Jean-Pierre Norblin de la Gourdaine.

Lieutenant Aleksandr Chicherin of the Russian artillery made this sketch of himself writing his diary on 2 October while his comrade S.P. Trubetskoi looks on. Although they were in despair at the abandonment of Moscow, the Russians were beginning to realise that the French were in worse condition than themselves.

This forty-five-year-old retired officer who had returned to service in order to defend the fatherland was characteristic of a class of patriots, and was dubbed ‘
Le nouveau Donquichotte
’ by Chicherin, who drew this picture of him in his diary. He would spend whole days dreaming of vanquishing the French, but when his favourite horse, ‘Mavr’, was stolen, he went into a decline and fell behind.

When the temperature dropped on 6 November, Napoleon exchanged his characteristic Chasseur uniform, greatcoat and tricorn hat for a Polish-style fur-lined coat and hat. He was sketched by Faber du Faur as he warmed himself by the roadside at a fire made of the limbers and wheels of an abandoned gun near Pneva on 8 November. Behind him stand Berthier and, in plumed hat, Murat.

The French were now assailed by hordes of irregular cossacks, more feral and vicious than their brothers in regular regiments, who preyed mercilessly on the stragglers. This drawing, by Aleksander Orłowski, captures the character of these fearsome, if not fearless, horsemen.

When Faber du Faur caught up with his fellow Württembergers on the morning of 7 November, after the first heavy snowfall and frost, he was surprised to find them still apparently asleep in their makeshift shelters. As he tried to rouse them he discovered that they had frozen to death. (See p.391.)

As can be seen from this watercolour by an unknown participant, the retreating column was in places little more than a procession of stragglers.

This lithograph by Faber du Faur depicts a group of men cooking up at Krasny on 16 November. The soldier on the left has donned a lady’s pelisse, originally booty destined for sale or for his beloved in Paris. The pair on the right have acquired a small pan, a life-saving implement which permitted men to make an improvised pancake out of whatever was available.

Marshal Ney, known as ‘the bravest of the brave’, whose exploits at Borodino and during the retreat earned him the title of Prince de la Moskowa, from a miniature on porcelain by Jean-Baptiste Isabey.