Russia. Kutuzov reports to Tsar Alexander that Russian losses due to food shortages, the cold winter, and disease are extremely severe: 48,000 of the 97,000 he commanded at Tarutino are in hospital, or half the number of soldiers. Only 42,000 men remain in the ranks. Chichagov’s and Wittgenstein’s armies are in somewhat better condition, but not much: they command 17,000 and 35,000 men, respectively. But the cold, hunger, and typhus are relentlessly decimating the troops. In Belarus and Lithuania, recently liberated by Napoleon, there is no trace of any civil institution, and anarchy reigns. The real risk faced by Tsar Alexander is that his army, however victorious, will completely disintegrate in the winter of 1812. This will not happen, but it was a close call.
