Napoleon's departure from Moscow marked the beginning of one of the most grueling marches in military history. The few remaining horses were exhausted and slowly starved. Many animals had to be abandoned. Occasionally the French and Polish light cavalry glimpsed distant Cossacks but many horses were too weak to give chase.
Napoleon had taken 175,000 horses with him into Russia, and only few of them survived the campaign. The Russians reported burning the corpses of 123,382 horses as they cleaned up their countryside of the debris of war. Nine out of ten cavalrymen who survived walked much of the way home; most of those who rode did so on tiny, but tough, Russian and Polish ponies, their boots scuffing the ground (picture).
Many regiments ceased to exist. For example the 5th Regiment of Cuirassiers had 958 men present for duty on June 15th, 1812. On February 1st 1813 had only 19 ! The French cavalry never recovered from the massive loss of horses.
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