Battle of Berezina The Battle of Berezina ( or Beresina ) took place from 26 to 29 November 1812 , between the French army of Napoleon , retreating after his invasion of Russia and crossing the Berezina ( near Borisov , Belarus ) , and the Russian armies under Mikhail Kutuzov , Peter Wittgenstein and Admiral Pavel Chichagov . The battle ended with a mixed outcome . The French suffered very heavy losses but managed to cross the river and avoid being trapped . Since then " " Bérézina " " has been used in French as a synonym for " disaster . " Background . As the surviving masses of the Grande Armée struggled on for the perceived safety of the west , the Russian armies closed in on them . The French had suffered a defeat just two weeks earlier during the Battle of Krasnoi . However , reinforcements who had been stationed near the Berezina during Napoleon ' s initial advance through Russia brought the numerical strength of the Grande Armée back up to some 30 , 000 to 40 , 000 French soldiers capable of fighting , as well as 40 , 000 non - combatants . The Russians had approximately 61 , 000 troops at the Berezina , with another 54 , 000 under Kutuzov just 40 miles to the east who were approaching the river . Battle and crossing . Napoleon ' s plan was to cross the Berezina River and head for Poland , while his enemies wanted to trap him there and destroy him . The original plan to cross the frozen river quickly proved impossible , as the usually frozen waterway had thawed and was now impassable . The nearby bridge at Borisov had been destroyed and most of the equipment to build a pontoon bridge had been destroyed only a few days earlier . Fortunately for the French , the commander of the bridging equipment General Jean Baptiste Eblé had kept crucial forges , charcoal and sapper tools and only needed protection from Chichagov ' s force on the far west bank to span the river . Marshal Oudinot was given the task of drawing off the admiral and made a move towards the south . The plan worked and so Eblé ' s Dutch engineers braved ferociously cold water to construct the vital 100 - metre bridge . Cavalry quickly crossed it followed by infantry to hold the bridgehead . The rearguard infantry suffered terrible losses ( of the four Swiss Regiments of Oudinot ' s corps , only 300 soldiers survived ) , but managed to cover both positions and the retreat . This struggle is depicted in the " Beresinalied " . A second structure opened within hours and cannons were taken across it to bolster the defensive perimeter . Their arrival was just in time as Chichagov realised his error and attacked the 11 , 000 French troops . By midday of the 27th , Napoleon and the Imperial Guard were across and the strategy now swung to saving the rearguard , which was fighting against Wittgenstein ' s arriving army . One of the spans broke in the late afternoon but more feats of engineering skill had it repaired by early evening . Marshal Davout and Prince Eugene got their corps across leaving Marshal Victor ' s IX Corps to hold off the enemy on the east bank . Boosting his firepower with artillery from across the river , Victor held out until after midnight when his forces were able to join their colleagues and push Chichagov aside and continue the retreat to France . Casualties . While some 22 , 000 French men became casualties , these included a great number of stragglers , many of them civilians . A higher estimate is provided by historian Jacques Garnier , who places French losses at 25 , 000 combatants , 25 cannon and 20 , 000 civilian stragglers , of which around 10 , 000 were massacred by Cossacks . Russian casualties were also high , and although a very moderate 19th century Russian estimate places them at 6 , 000 they probably amounted to 20 , 000 men . Historian Alain Pigeard offers more moderate figures ( combatants only ) : between 13 , 000 and 16 , 000 men ( 2000 killed , 7 , 000 - 10 , 000 wounded , plus the entire Partouneaux division killed , wounded or prisoners ) for the French , 13 , 000 men ( 10 , 000 dead or wounded , 3 , 000 prisoners on the right bank ) for the Russians . Among the French casualties were 3 generals and 4 colonels , killed during this battle . Pigeard ' s estimate reflects more recent research , with most modern historians placing French losses at around 15 , 000 combatants and 10 , 000 stragglers . Russian losses are usually placed at up to 15 , 000 combatants . According to the modern Russian encyclopedia , the Russian army lost from 8 , 000 to 15 , 000 killed , wounded and prisoners during 4 days ; French casualties were from 25 , 000 to 40 , 000 Richard K . Riehn estimated French losses at about 30 , 000 ; most of these were stragglers , actual battle losses being relatively small with about 10 , 000 French and 14 , 000 Russians actually involved . Gallery . The drama of the battle ' s story inspired many works of art centred on the crossing .