In The Washington Post:
"The confusion and horror of the French retreat through the Russian winter are well described. 'The air itself,' wrote a French colonel, 'was thick with tiny icicles which sparkled in the sun but cut one's face drawing blood.' Another Frenchman recalled that 'it frequently happened that the ice would seal my eyelids shut.' Prince Wilhelm of Baden, one of Napoleon's commanders, gave the order to march on the morning of Dec. 7, only to discover that 'the last drummer boy had frozen to death.' Soldiers had resorted to looting, stripping corpses and even to cannibalism by the time the march was over."
