1
The bitingly cold harsh bleakness of the barren new year accompanied the
disorganised retreat of Napoleon's bedraggled, defeated army
westward from Moscow through Eastern Europe in its desperate attempt to
reach home. What had started with the crossing of the river
Nemunas into Russian territory the previous summer, heralding invasion of
Russia, had ended in ignominious failure. The whole of the
north-western provinces, including Lithuania, was now in the grip of
one of the most furious winters in living memory, sweeping through
from the Siberian Arctic Circle borne on piercing winds which turned
Chapter 1
Cossack - 1813