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N0KFQ > TODAY 19.10.12 18:12l 51 Lines 2310 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Oct 19
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Sent: 121019/1648Z 29955@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.53
...
Oct 19, 1812:
Napoleon retreats from Moscow
One month after Napoleon Bonaparte's massive invading force
entered a burning and deserted Moscow, the starving French army
is forced to begin a hasty retreat out of Russia.
Following the rejection of his Continental System by Czar
Alexander I, French Emperor Napoleon I invaded Russia with his
Grande Armée on June 24, 1812. The enormous army, featuring more
than 500,000 soldiers and staff, was the largest European
military force ever assembled to that date.
During the opening months of the invasion, Napoleon was forced to
contend with a bitter Russian army in perpetual retreat. Refusing
to engage Napoleon's superior army in a full-scale confrontation,
the Russians under General Mikhail Kutuzov burned everything
behind them as they retreated deeper and deeper into Russia. On
September 7, the indecisive Battle of Borodino was fought, in
which both sides suffered terrible losses. On September 14,
Napoleon arrived in Moscow intending to find supplies but instead
found almost the entire population evacuated, and the Russian
army retreated again. Early the next morning, fires broke across
the city set by Russian patriots, and the Grande Grande Armée's
winter quarters were destroyed. After waiting a month for a
surrender that never came, Napoleon, faced with the onset of the
Russian winter, was forced to order his starving army out of
Moscow.
During the disastrous retreat, Napoleon's army suffered continual
harassment from a suddenly aggressive and merciless Russian army.
Stalked by hunger and the deadly lances of the Cossacks, the
decimated army reached the Berezina River late in November but
found its route blocked by the Russians. On November 26, Napoleon
forced a way across at Studienka, and when the bulk of his army
passed the river three days later, he was forced to burn his
makeshift bridges behind him, stranding some 10,000 stragglers on
the other side. From there, the retreat became a rout, and on
December 8 Napoleon left what remained of his army to return to
Paris with a few cohorts. Six days later, the Grande Armée
finally escaped Russia, having suffered a loss of more than
400,000 men during the disastrous invasion.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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