Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow: Maloyaroslavets to the Berezina

The French army left Moscow on 19 October 1812, after five weeks of occupation. Napoleon, retreating, ordered the whole Kremlin to be blown up. Explosions rolled on for three days, from 21 to 23 October, and destroyed the Arsenal, parts of the wall and several towers. But rain had soaked the fuses, and the damage was less severe than intended. Restoration ran from 1816 to 1819 under the architect Osip Bove.

Visitor guidance: The Kremlin walls and towers are in central Moscow.

Napoleon marched south-west towards Kaluga, hoping to avoid the ruined road he came by. On 24 October his army met the Russians at Maloyaroslavets. The town changed hands no fewer than eight times in a single day, and General Delzons was killed trying to rally his men. The French and Italians won the day tactically, but the Kaluga road was closed. Napoleon had to turn north, through Mozhaisk and Smolensk. A cathedral at the town's Black Island Convent, finished by 1843, commemorates the battle.

Location precision: The fighting was in and around the town; the pin marks the town centre, not a single battlefield spot.

Visitor guidance: The commemorative cathedral stands at the Black Island Convent in Maloyaroslavets.

By 3 November the retreating army was stretched over a column 100 km long, with Cossacks harassing it at every turn. General Miloradovich spotted a gap between Davout's I Corps and the troops west of Vyazma, and attacked. The French set large parts of the town on fire to cover their retreat, and Marshal Ney's rearguard was the last out, after a bayonet fight with Russian grenadiers. Caulaincourt, who rode with Napoleon, wrote that the army's disorganization and misfortunes dated from this incident.

Location precision: The fighting spread across fields east of Vyazma and into the town; the pin marks the town itself.

Smolensk, about 360 km west of Moscow, was the nearest French supply depot. When the army reached it on 8 or 9 November, only 37,000 men, some 40 percent of what remained, were still fit to fight. The city was ringed by the Smolensk Kremlin, a fortress wall with 38 towers. Napoleon did not stay: from 13 November he sent his corps west on four successive days, and left himself at five in the morning on the 14th. Sections of the old wall, with some of its towers, still stand.

Location precision: The army camped in and around the city; the pin marks the fortress wall, not a specific camp.

Visitor guidance: Surviving stretches of the fortress wall, with their towers, are in the centre of Smolensk.

A blizzard struck on 14 November and left snow about 1.5 metres deep. On the afternoon of 15 November Napoleon reached Krasny with his 12,000-strong Imperial Guard. Just outside the village, Davout's rearguard fell into a Russian ambush. On a road as smooth as a mirror and too slippery for the horses, Napoleon dismounted, formed the Old Guard into a square and told them: "Grenadiers of my Guard, you bear witness to the disarray of my army."

Location precision: The fighting covered ground around the village; the pin marks the village of Krasny, not a battlefield point.

The bridge at Borisov was gone, but French cavalry found a crossing at the hamlet of Studienka, eight miles to the north. A thaw had made the ice unsafe, so bridges had to be built. General Eblé had kept the tools against orders, and work began on 25 November. The river was 20–30 metres wide, full of drifting ice, with swampy banks. By midday on the 27th Napoleon and the Guard were across. Eblé delayed burning the bridges until 8:30 in the morning of 29 November, leaving tens of thousands of stragglers behind.

Location precision: The crossing happened along the river near Studienka; the pin marks the village, not the exact bridge sites.