The remains of Russian and French soldiers, who fell during the terrible retreat from Russia, will be buried on Saturday, February 13, near the battlefield of Viazma, a moment of Franco-Russian unity in the year of the bicentenary of the death of Napoleon.

Divided into eight coffins, 126 remains discovered in a mass grave between Smolensk and Moscow must be buried with honors, in the presence of descendants of the great Russian and French military leaders of the time.

These 120 soldiers, three probable vivandières and three teenagers - probably drums - fell, on the sidelines or during the Battle of Viazma on November 3, 1812, two weeks after the start of the retreat which will culminate shortly after in horror with the murderous crossing of the Bérézina.

"Death puts everyone on an equal footing"

At a time when Russia is at daggers drawn with the West on many issues, the ceremony expected on Saturday marks a moment of symbolic unity.

Russians or French will be buried together with honors to the sound of cannon salutes and under the watchful eye of a hundred extras dressed in period uniforms.  

"Death puts everyone on an equal footing: they are all in the same grave," notes Yulia Khitrovo, 74, great-great-granddaughter of the tsar's general-in-chief, Mikhail Koutouzov.

"It is for me an immense emotion to be present at this ceremony, symbol of the mutual respect of the parties", told AFP Prince Joachim Murat, great-great-grandson of the famous Marshal of Napoleon, who will be at the funeral.

Aged 30 to 39

Pierre Malinowski, president of the Foundation for the Development of Franco-Russian Historical Initiatives, at the origin of the event, welcomes the presence of these "direct descendants of the major actors in the conflict" who together commemorate these soldiers "that their ancestors commanded ".

The remains were unearthed in 2019 by a team of Russian and French archaeologists, south-west of Viazma, a town of 52,000 inhabitants.

About ten years earlier, they had been discovered for the first time by an excavator on a construction site.

Local history buffs first believed that it was one of the many WWII mass graves that dot western Russia.

Finally, an expert report from the Russian Academy of Sciences established that they were victims of Napoleon's campaign, mainly aged 30 to 39, anthropologist Tatiana Chvedchikova told AFP.

The discovery of metal buttons on uniforms made it possible to establish that some of the deceased "belonged to the 30th and 55th line infantry regiments and to the 24th light infantry regiment of Napoleon's Army", explains Alexandre Khokhlov, chief. of the team of archaeologists on site.

Found by chance, this collective burial is undoubtedly far from the last to be discovered along the road in the Russian countryside, which killed several hundred thousand people.

With AFP

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