According to the chronicles of the French army, in 1812, during a hasty retreat, the French threw tons of jewelry into a lake near Smolensk. To this day, it is not known what happened to these treasures, which, according to historians, were about 80 tons in weight. According to ABS, 200 years later, the time has come to admit that the treasure may be located elsewhere.
“From Gzhatsk to Mikhailovskaya, a village between Dorogobuzh and Smolensk, nothing remarkable happened in the imperial column, except for the fact that the loot taken from Moscow had to be thrown into Lake Semlevskoe: cannons, ancient weapons, Kremlin decorations and a cross from the bell tower were sunk here Ivan the Great ". Thus, in his memoirs, the French general Philippe-Paul de Segur describes how in 1812, in order to break away from its pursuers, the "Great Army" was forced to abandon everything that had been plundered during the Russian campaign. Unfortunately for the French soldiers, this did not save them from cold weather, hunger and disease. During the retreat of the French, more died than the Russians themselves.
But not only this, the French were forced to leave in Lake Semlevskoe. According to Philippe-Paul de Seguur, “trophies”, “fame” and, in general, “those benefits for which we sacrificed everything”, which soon became only a burden, were also at the bottom of the lake. “Now it was not about how to decorate your life, but about how to save it,” added the French officer. For the French, this was extremely painful, but necessary: "In this great crash, the army, like a large ship smashed by a terrible storm, did not hesitate to throw into this sea of ice and snow everything that could hinder and delay its movement!"
According to historians, the treasures sunk in Lake Semlevskoye (near Smolensk, west of Moscow) also included jewelry, diamonds and pearls. This is confirmed by the memoirs of the French General Louis-Joseph Vionne "In Russia with the Napoleonic Army: Memoirs of Major Vionne, 1812". He writes that "Napoleon's army collected all the diamonds, pearls, gold and silver from Moscow cathedrals" and mentions (like Philip-Paul de Segur) even "the cross from St. Basil's Cathedral." Thus, it is obvious that the robbery, as well as the 250,000 dead, did take place during the campaign.
It is also obvious that during the flight to France, all this wealth was packed for transportation. This is confirmed by the same Vionne in his memoirs: "It was then that he [Napoleon] ordered to rob the churches in the Kremlin and take from there everything that could serve as a trophy for his Great Army." All this was loaded onto carts. To this day, it is not known what happened to these treasures, which, according to historians, were about 80 tons in weight. Where did they stay? What happened to them? As the BBC explains, over the past 200 years, hundreds of people have searched every inch of the lake in hopes of finding treasures. They all found absolutely nothing.
At least until recently. One Russian researcher, Vyacheslav Ryzhkov, said last week that the mystery of Napoleon's lost gold had finally been solved. According to him, "the treasure hunters were looking in the wrong place." As he told the local newspaper Rabochy Put, the French were to concentrate near the town of Rudnya, near the border with Belarus, just 200 kilometers from Semlev. The historian, however, does not deny that the existing theory is also credible, since it is known that the “Great Army” left a large amount of weapons and ammunition in this region. However, he believes that two centuries later, the time has come to recognize that the treasure may be located elsewhere.
Russian campaign
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This treasure was one of the few trophies that Napoleon's soldiers were able to take from the Russian campaign. It all began in 1812, when Bonaparte sent 675,000 men from his army to the icy eastern steppes. Initially, the plan was to prevent Alexander I from attacking Poland, but in the end the campaign turned into an attack on the very heart of Russia. The fatal mistake predicted by the Russian tsar in a letter dated the beginning of the previous year: “The French are brave, but prolonged hardship and bad weather will wear them out and they will lose courage. Russian weather and winter will fight on our side. And the king was right, although Napoleon did not know about it.
After several months of battles, Bonaparte approached the capital itself. The Russians never thought that Moscow would submit to the wishes of the French. “Napoleon is like a fast flow that we cannot stop now. Moscow is a sponge that will suck it into itself,”said Prince Mikhail Kutuzov when he saw the French at the city walls. He was wrong. The city was abandoned before the overwhelming pressure of the French. Only 15 thousand people out of 250 thousand inhabitants remained in it. On September 13, the emperor was handed the keys. "Great army" shouting "Moscow! Moscow!" entered the city. Napoleon, for his part, simply grunted: "Well, finally, the same city: it's high time!"
Napoleon entered Moscow on the morning of September 15 and settled, in accordance with his status as emperor, in the Kremlin. However, only after it was established that nothing in it poses a danger. “The city is as big as Paris, it has everything,” he wrote to Josephine. Despite the fires started by the Russians, Napoleon believed that the job was done. Then the war ended for him. A gross mistake, considering that the city was not ready to accept 100 thousand of Bonaparte's soldiers. According to historian Andrew Roberts, after a few weeks, furniture flew into the fires, and the soldiers ate rotten horse meat.
Plunder of Russia
But neither cold, nor hunger, nor the dangerous fires that the Russians started in the first days, prevented the soldiers from plundering all of Moscow. Greed led to the death of hundreds of soldiers. Dozens have risked (and lost) their lives for another relic. And all because, according to Napoleon himself, they "plundered in the midst of fires." “When Muscovites cleaned the city after the French left, they found the charred remains of 12,000 people and more than 12,500 horses,” says Roberts.
Philippe-Paul de Segur mentioned this in his memoirs: “Napoleon allowed robbery. […] The soldiers were ready for anything for the Moscow trophies. " Vionne also spoke of the robberies in his memoirs: "While I was exploring the city, Napoleon's army collected all the diamonds, all the pearls, gold and silver from the cathedral." According to Roberts, the looting was so large that when the army left the city, "40 thousand carts were filled with trophies." It was decided to carry them, not provisions. But by then, the Russians had already launched a counterattack that precipitated Napoleon's retreat on October 18.
This is how, after months of fighting and advancing, this "Great Army" was forced to launch a massive retreat in which disease and cold ultimately claimed the lives of thousands of soldiers. The goal was to get to the headquarters in Smolensk, in the west of the country (and where Lake Semlevskoe is). The soldiers were promised that there they could recuperate before returning home. However, in fact, unrest and mistrust began to grow, which greatly delayed progress.
Philippe-Paul de Segur recalled it this way: “From that day on, we began to rely less on each other […]. Despair and lack of discipline quickly passed from one to the other […]. Since then, at every bivouac, with all the difficult transitions, at any moment a certain part of the organized army was separated from the organized army, which refused to maintain order. However, there were still people who fought this drop in discipline and despair […]. They are extraordinary people, they encouraged themselves by reminding themselves of Smolensk, which seemed already close to them, there they were promised help."
You can understand the soldiers' fear of the Russian advance by reading an urgent message from Napoleon Bonaparte, sent to one of his marshals shortly before arriving in Smolensk on November 9. In it, the emperor called him to a desperate attack capable of preventing a catastrophe and saving 40 thousand soldiers: “In a few days, the rear will already be captured by the Cossacks; tomorrow the army and the Emperor will be in Smolensk, however, severely exhausted after a march of 120 versts. Take the offensive, the salvation of the army depends on it; every day of delay is a disaster. The cavalry is on foot, the cold has killed all the horses. Take action! This is the order of the emperor and necessity."
According to Philippe-Paul de Segur, it was in Smolensk that Napoleon ordered his soldiers to throw all the trophies into Lake Semlevskoe.
“From Gzhatsk to Mikhailovskaya, a village between Dorogobuzh and Smolensk, nothing remarkable happened in the imperial column, except for the fact that the loot taken from Moscow had to be thrown into Lake Smelevskoye: cannons, ancient weapons, Kremlin decorations and a cross from the bell tower were sunk here Ivan the Great. Trophies, fame and those benefits for which we sacrificed everything have become a burden to us; now it was not about how to decorate your life, but how to save it. In this great crash, the army, like a large ship smashed by a terrible storm, did not hesitate to throw into this sea of ice and snow everything that could impede and delay its movement!"
New theory
Until now, treasure hunters have relied on the texts of Philippe-Paul de Segur in their search for this supposed treasure. However, there has been no luck since the search began in 1830. Therefore, Ryzhkov suggested that the officer's story was a hoax designed to divert attention from the true location of Napoleon's lost treasure. His theory, which hit the media just a week ago, claims that Napoleon sent a convoy to Lake Semlevskoe for visibility, while the trophies were heading south, to Bolshaya Rutavech.
Ryzhkov shares his theory in several local newspapers. He says that during the withdrawal of Napoleon's troops, a convoy was seen in the city, and analysis of the water from the lake, taken in 1989, shows an extraordinary amount of silver ions. Therefore, he claims that Napoleon ordered his engineers to build an “underwater treasury” in which he would leave trophies until his eventual return. “With the right specialists, we can save the treasure and raise it from the bottom of the lake,” the historian claims in local media.
But not everyone agrees with this theory. Veteran treasure hunter Vladimir Poryvaev, an expert on Napoleon's gold, told the media that this theory should be rejected. First, he disagrees with the idea that Bonaparte could split up his convoy and use one part to deceive. “It's just fiction. For two centuries, historians have documented Napoleon's movement in the Russian campaign by the day. It is very unlikely that he left his army and took some of those 400 carts with him,”he said.
Similarly, his opinion about the fact that the trophies could be delivered to Bolshaya Rutavech. “This is pure fiction. It was not possible to build a dam with a few hundred cavalry soldiers in just a few days and then build an "underwater treasury" to hide the jewels. Maybe they also had diving equipment? " he says. In this regard, Vladimir Poryvaev also noted that the water of the lake may have a high level of silver ions due to the natural conditions of the area. Therefore, he repeatedly called on Ryzhkov to support his theory with documentary evidence, and not with simple eloquence.
Manuel P. Villatoro