BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

26/11/2006

Re-enactors dressed as 1812-era Russian soldiers fire a gun after burial of French soldiers' remains.

A ceremony has been held in Belarus to bury the remains of 224 Napoleonic soldiers killed in 1812 as the French imperial army retreated from Russia.

Their bodies were discovered last year and their regiments identified from remnants of their uniforms.

The soldiers were buried on the River Berezina, east of the capital Minsk.

The ceremony took place on the 194th anniversary of the crossing of the Berezina by Napoleon's troops, as Russian forces shelled them.

France's ambassador thanked Belarusian officials for discovering the remains of the soldiers and for helping bury them.

Re-enactors, dressed as 1812-era Russian soldiers, fired a canon.

Orthodox and Roman Catholic prayers were offered in the French, Old Slavonic and Belarussian languages.

Source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6186310.stm