march up-stream, on the right and left banks
respectively. At eight next morning Tchitchagoff attacked Oudinot and
Ney--twenty-six thousand men against seventeen thousand; two hours
later Wittgenstein, with twenty-five thousand, fell upon Victor, who
now had about seven thousand. Yet the French kept the bridges.

Throughout the day a bloody fight went on; it was rendered uncertain
and disorderly by the thousands of stragglers present, and by the
intensity of the steadily increasing cold. Behind the two heroic
combats scenes were occurring which beggar description. Incredible
numbers of stragglers cumbered the roadways and approaches; the vast
mob of camp-followers held stubbornly to their possessions, and, with
loud imprecations, lashed their tired horses while they put their own
shoulders to the wagon wheels. Hundreds were trampled under foot;
families were torn asunder amid wails and shrieks that filled the air;
the weak were pushed from the bridges into the dark flood now
thickening under the fierce cold. Toward midday a cutting wind began
to blow, and by three it was a hurricane. At that instant the heavier
bridge gave way, and all upon it were engulfed. An onlooker declared
that above storm and battle a yell of mortal agony rose which rang in
his ears for weeks.

The mob on the river-bank was momentarily sobered, and for a time
there was order in crossing the remaining bridge; but as dusk fell
both wind and battle raged more fiercely, and groups began to surge
out on right and left to pass those in front. Many dashed headlong
into the angry river; others, finding no opening, seated themselves in
dumb despair to wait the event. At nine the remnant of Victor's ranks
began to cross, and the Russians commenced cannonading the bridge.
Soon the beams were covered with corpses, laid like the transverse
logs on a corduroy road; but the frightful transit went on until all
the soldiers had passed. The heavy bridge was temporarily repaired,
but at last neither was safe; little knots gathered from the rabble at
intervals and rushed recklessly over the toppling structures, until at
eight next morning the French, not daring to wait longer, set fire to
both, leaving seven thousand of their followers in Studjenka. They
burned also the wooden track they had constructed through the swamps.
The Russian accounts of what was seen in the morning light portray
scenes unparalleled in history: a thousand or more charred corpses
were fro