Wittgenstein left Steingell at Borisov to disarm the prisoners; the rest of his army was directed upon Studianka. Vlastov drove back the Berg troops into the main line of the 9th Corps; but was then checked, though a battery established by Diebich made terrible havoc among the wild crowd which was surging around the entrance to the bridges. All the non-combatants, when the balls began to fall among them, crowded to the river marge in utter confusion and there remained, huddled in a mass more than 200 yards deep and extending for three-quarters of a mile. The panic was fearful, and the horrors that took place in the crowd will never be known. Men fought their way ahead by any and every means, and drove their vehicles remorselessly through the press. Men, women, and children were murdered, trodden down, and forced helplessly into the river, while all the while the Russian cannon-balls were falling with the snow. Many of those who reached the bridges were thrust off them and drowned or crushed beneath the wheels of vehicles. Many committed suicide to avoid a worse fate: there is at least one well-authenticated case of a mother who, herself mortally wounded, killed her child before she died. Yet carriages of Napoleon’s staff and of the Generals of the Guard were laden with helpless women and children whom their protectors made every effort to save. Marshal Bessières and General Laborde in particular earned by their humanity laurels fairer than any which they had gained upon the field of battle. [Illustration: CROSSING THE BEREZINA The Baden Brigade crossing the upper bridge during the night of the 28-29th of November, 1812 From the painting by J.A. Nikutowski at Carlsruhe] General Berg’s first division quickly supported Vlastov. The Badeners on the right were driven back; but Napoleon at once took the Russians in flank by establishing a battery on the other side of the river. The Badeners reoccupied their position and held it all day against incessant assaults--at grievous cost to themselves. Further to the left Victor’s Polish troops executed a fierce counter-attack, and were on the point of piercing the Russian centre when Fock arrived with his division and restored the conflict. Victor’s men were now hopelessly outnumbered, but they fought on with magnificent tenacity until nightfall. An attempt to turn the left was checked by a gallant charge of Fournier’s troopers and repulsed by the Saxons and a Polish regiment. Berg’s second division, owing to some misunderstanding, did not arrive until the action was over. Victor’s left was thrown back, but he still covered the bridges.