In February 1812, at the head of two spare battalions and a miner company, Lieutenant Colonel M. G. Sazonov arrived in Borisov to establish defensive works. It was decided to build two redoubts near the village of  Dymki, and on the left side of the Berezina it was decided to build a fortification, or in the French manner “tet-de-Pont”. It was a fortification in the form of two redoubts, connected by an internal defensive line (retranshement).  The front of the tet-de-pont  was turned to the Western side of the Moscow tract.

So it turned out that during Napoleon's attack on Russia, this strengthening was the only one in the Borisov district. On June 25, when Napoleon's attack  had already expanded, the Borisov fortifications were not yet ready, there were not enough people or artillery support to defend the city successfully. When on June, 30 French troops approached Borisov and surrounded the defenders of Borisov's tet-de-PON, Colonel A. Gresser gave the order to retreat. Before that, the cannons attached to the defensive structures had been removed, forage and provisions had been destroyed, gunpowder had been drowned in the river, the main bridge over Berezina had been burned.

After Borisov was occupied by the French, Napoleon ordered to destroy the unfinished fortifications, but the unexpected appearance of Russian cavalry stopped this work. Later, they never returned to it. In the spring of 1813 M. G. Sazonov with his soldiers wanted to restore the Borisov fortifications with the involvement of French prisoners of war. However, they lost their strategic importance forever. Since 1926, according to the resolution of the SNK BSSR, these earthworks are considered a historical monument, as evidenced by the information stele, delivered here in 1985. In 2002, two war `guns were erected.

Belarusian researcher of the events of 1812 Andrei Lukashevich notes that today Borisov tet-de-PON is the most preserved monument of the fortification of the beginning of the 19th  century in Belarus.

The war of 1812 is a significant event in the history of the town. The town still lives in the memories of the French. Those who were able to overcome the Berezina, were considered the heroes at home. The French word “Berezina” means “disaster, desperate situation”, for the Germans-the Swiss it means unexpected trouble, sharp pain.