Snow, followed by bitter cold, began to fall on November 4, further impeding the French retreat. Ill-provisioned, weak from hunger and poorly dressed, the French were barely able to march, much less fight. Harried on all sides by the Russian armies, Cossack irregulars and partisan militias, the French Grand Armée was reduced to a rag-tag, disorganized mob.
When the French troops reached the supply depots in Smolensk, all discipline broke down. Mobs of hungry soldiers ransacked the depots and destroyed most of the supplies that might have lasted them all winter. Davout's rear-guard was defeated and Napoleon had no choice but to continue the retreat out of Russia and avoid encirclement by the Russians.
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Last Updated Saturday, October 4, 1997.