Posted on 04/10/2002 12:31:59 PM PDT by Korth
VILNIUS: Researchers are rushing to remove hundreds of skeletons from a mass grave of Napoleonic soldiers discovered on a Vilnius construction site in a find that promises to offer fresh insights into the disastrous 1812 campaign to Moscow.
The remains of an estimated 1,000 soldiers of Napoleon Bonaparte's Grand Army were buried here as they retreated from the ill-fated campaign to Moscow, dumped in a ditch they had built when advancing on the Russian Empire.
It is the largest mass grave of Napoleonic soldiers ever found, according to Olivier Dutour, an anthropological biologist at the University of Marseille's school of medicine, who heads a five-man team from France's National Center for Scientific Research.
The remains may help anthropologists and historians learn more about the physical condition of soldiers of the Grand Army as it retreated from Moscow in 1812.
"Thanks to methods from molecular biology, we can test whether typhus, which existed in the period, was widespread in the region" and contributed to the large numbers of deaths of soldiers, he told AFP.
"What we can learn from this find is the age of the soldiers in the Grand Army and their state of health on the march back from Moscow," said Rimantas Jankuaskas, chair of the anthropology department at Vilnius University, who is leading the excavation work.
The Russians pursued a scorched-earth policy, even setting light to Moscow, leaving Napoleon's troops to freeze in the unusually harsh winter reducing the Grand Army to just one-fifth of the 700,000 men from 20 nations that it initially contained.
So far the grave site is testimony to the severe cold which claimed many lives.
"Looking at the skeletons, we can say that the bodies were buried frozen," said Dutour.
He points to a skeletal finger, the only bones recovered from one man, bent in an "abnormal" curled position.
"This man died from exposure at a temperature of around minus 30 degrees centigrade (minus 22 Fahrenheit) in a crouched position," said Dutour.
The grave was found last October as preparations were made to begin building a residential complex on land that has been used for military purposes by Czarist Russian, Polish, Nazi and Soviet troops since the end of 19th century.
Work had to quickly be suspended because of the winter, and was resumed only in mid-March after the snow melted.
Investigators originally believed the remains may have been those of Polish soldiers killed by the Soviets, but based on buttons and other articles of clothing identified them as belonging to the Grand Army.
Work is pursuing at a rapid pace because the construction company only gave researchers one month, or until April 11, to complete their work.
The scientists don't have adequate time to record in detail the position of each of the skeletons found.
"We've been forced to focus on just several individuals," said Michel Signolis, the deputy director of the French team.
The team was dispatched to Vilnius with such haste that they did not even receive a formal budget for the trip, and are sleeping at the site in an old camper made available to them by a French citizen who lives in Lithuania.
"We must keep watch over and protect our treasures from the curious" who can easily gain access to the open site, said Signolis.
The remains are being removed to Vilnius University's Anthropology Institute while a decision is taken on their final burial.
The city is "in contact with French officials to determine a dignified burial site for these soldiers," Vilnius Mayor Arturas Zuokas told AFP.
More experts from the French defense ministry were expected in Vilnius to help the Lithuanians examine the remains and review information on trenches where others soldiers may have been buried.
According to historians, the remains of some 40,000 soldiers were either buried or burned when the Grand Army fled from Vilnius in 1812.
Leni
Napoleon was a megalomaniacal tyrant, the product of a bloody, mindless revolution, a twisted sister to our own. Compare and contrast Napoleon and George Washington as the respective progenitors to see how poorly the "Emperor" stacks up.
France is a detestable land with a history of cowardice unmatched on this globe.
More Neanderthals?
George Washington, along with all our Founding Fathers, would disagree with you. But you don't really care about the opinions of Washington or any other Founding Father, the history of the Republic of the United States of America, the history of Western Civilization or any of that other dead white male European jazz--do you?
Logic like that goes a long ways towards explaining why they think Jerry Lewis is so funny.
How else would it be portrayed? That's the way it happened. The Russians did the same thing when the Germans invaded in WW-2.
Au contaire, mam'zell, but have you ever heard of the XYZ Affair? Of "Citizen" Genet France's First Minister to the United States, a man with all the malicious cunning of a monkey? Of Talleyrand and The Directory's not-so vague threats against President Washington and the Congress? Of the French supported/established/funded "Jacobin Clubs" in America?
Oh, no, mam'zell, the truth is that more than a few Founding Fathers had, or quickly developed, a very leary eye towards the apres revolutionaire French.
(sigh) Except of course Thomas Jefferson but that, as they say,is another story.
It says that even a blind squirrel can find an acorn every now and then.
Except of course Thomas Jefferson but that, as they say,is another story.Sure is. It's called the Louisiana Purchase.
Not true. During the great arab conquests, the moslems were only defeated 3 times--one of those times by the Franks in 732, led by Charles Martel after the arabs pushed into central france as far as tours. The battle of tours marked the furthest penetration into the west, and for centuries afterwards the moslem word for westerners was "franks" in tribute to the enemy they could not defeat.
Besides, even though the french have become a shadow of their former selves, I still hold a special place in my heart for France because it is the first nation founded upon Christianty--born in 496, and known thereafter as the "eldest daughter" of the church.
Also, many of my favorite saints are French. =)
It actually was a victory. Napolean took Moscow and waited for Tsar Alexander to agree to peace terms. Alexander (in St Petersburg, I believe) upon hearing that Napolean was awaiting his surrender, issued the famous challenge, "I will make peace in Paris." He did.
The old boy's best days were behind him. The Russians were determined to wear the Grand Armee down with brutal assaults, and Napoleon obliged. The younger Napoleon would have at least TRIED a flanking movement or a diversion.
BTW, This is a pretty cool site if you are interested in Napoleon.
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