BEREZINA  , a

river of Russia, in the government of Minsk, forming a tributary of the Dnieper . It rises in the marshes of Borizov and flows south, inclining to east, for 350 M . (250 M. navigable), for the most part through low-lying but well-wooded country . As a navigable river, and forming a portion of the canal system which unites the Black Sea with the Baltic, it is of importance for commerce, but is subject to severe floods . It was just above Borizov that Napoleon's army forced the passage of the Berezina, with enormous losses, on the 26th–28th of November 1812, during the retreat from Moscow .