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LVI. 1809.

43.

gains the

of the enemy were now concentrating, and that a general CHAP. retreat would take place, Napoleon conceived that the decisive moment had arrived, and therefore brought up the reserve cavalry, which hitherto had not taken a part Napoleon in the action, and sent it forward, at a rapid pace, along victory. the high-road to Ratisbon, to harass their retreat. At the same time a general advance took place along the whole line; Lannes on the right, Lefebvre and Vandamme in the centre, Davoust on the left, Massena and Oudinot in reserve. Orders to fall back were now given by the Archduke, or rather a change of front took place, the left retiring rapidly, and the whole wheeling back to a certain degree on the pivot of the right, which held firm some distance in rear of Abach, so as to present a new front oblique to the former, but still barring the great road to Ratisbon to the enemy. His troops were then disposed in echelon, from Santing to Isling, in a sort of column parallel to the highway, at the distance of a mile and a half from it; while on that chaussée he left only the grenadiers, who were still untouched, and, in the rear of all, the undaunted cuirassiers. These dispositions, though based on the abandonment of the field of battle and the victory to his antagonists, were admirably calculated to preserve the troops from disaster in the hazardous operation of retiring before a victorious enemy-the great object to which the attention of the Archduke was always directed. The movements on the part of the Imperialists were at first performed with firmness and regularity; but by degrees their infantry fell into confusion, in consequence 1 Stut. 146, of the frequent woods which interrupted their line of 148. Pel. ii. march, and the close pursuit of the enemy, which pre- ii. 174. vented the ranks, once broken, from being ever thoroughly 171. regained.1

The consequences might have been disastrous in the level and open plains which occurred when the retiring columns approached the Danube, had not the Archduke placed twelve squadrons of the Emperor's cuirassiers and

85,92. Jom.

Koch, vi.

LVI.

1809.

44.

cavalry ac

Atlas,

Plate 53.

CHAP. a large body of hussars in front of Eglofsheim, which was garrisoned by six battalions of grenadiers, and supported by several powerful batteries. As the pursuing columns Desperate approached this imposing mass of cavalry, they paused tion in front till the French horse came up in sufficient strength to of Ratisbon. hazard an engagement; a variety of charges of hussars then took place on both sides, with various success; but at length the magnificent Austrian cuirassiers bore down with apparently irresistible force upon their pursuers. The French light horse could not withstand the shock, and were quickly dispersed; but their cuirassiers came up, and then two rival bodies, heavily armed, equally brave, equally disciplined, engaged in mortal combat. So vehement was the onset, so nearly matched the strength of the combatants, so tremendous the conflict, that both parties, as if by mutual consent, 1 Stut, 144, suspended their fire to await its issue; the roar of the 85,94. Jom. musketry subsided, even the heavy booming of the artillery ceased, and from the mêlée was heard only, as from the battles of the knights of old,* the loud clang of the swords ringing on the helmets and cuirasses of the dauntless antagonists.1

148. Pel. ii.

iii. 174. Sav.

iv. 54. Koch, vi. 171, 172.

Thiers, x.

171.

45.

Austrian

horse are at length

overthrown.

The sun set while the contest was still undecided; the In which the moon rose on the deadly strife, and amidst her silvery rays, fire was struck on all sides by the steel upon the armour, and dazzling sparks flew around the combatants, as if a thousand anvils were at once ringing under the blows of the forgers. Nothing could overcome the heroic courage of the Imperialists; but their equipment was not equal to that of their opponents, and in close fight the Austrian horsemen, whose front only was covered, were

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LVI.

1809.

not an adequate match for the cuirassiers of Napoleon, CHAP. whose armour went entirely round their body. After a desperate struggle, their numbers were so reduced that they were unable any longer to make head against the enemy, and leaving two-thirds of their number on the field, they were driven in disorder along the chaussée towards Ratisbon. But their heroic stand, however fatal to themselves, proved the salvation of the army. During the engagement, the artillery and infantry withdrew in safety to the rear; and Napoleon, who perceived that the Archduke had brought up the reserve under Lichtenstein, which had not yet been engaged, dreading a reverse like that which befell the Austrians in similar circumstances Sav. iv. 54, 55. Koch, at Marengo, reluctantly, and against the earnest advice of vi. 173. Lannes, gave orders for the army to halt, and bivouac on 172, 174. the ground which they occupied.1

1

Stut, 146,

151. Pel. ii.

85, 94. Jom.

iii. 174, 175.

Thiers, x.

46.

duke retreats across

and Ratis

by the

The situation of the Archduke was now very criticalwith a victorious army, headed by Napoleon, in his front, The Archand the broad Danube, traversed only by the single bridge of Ratisbon, in his rear. By bringing up his the Danube, whole forces from the opposite side of the river, and bon is taken concentrating his troops from Abach and the right, he French. was still in a situation to compensate the losses of the day, and give battle with eighty thousand admirable troops in front of Ratisbon." But that field was eminently hazardous, for a serious disaster sustained there might lead to total ruin; and his army was not only extremely fatigued by the constant combats and marches of five successive days, but considerably affected in its spirit by the reverses it had experienced, and seriously weakened by the loss of the reserve parks and ammunition train at Landshut. Five thousand men had been killed and wounded, and seven thousand made prisoners in the battle which had just terminated, besides twelve

* He had sixty thousand men around the walls of Ratisbon the night after the battle: including Bellegarde's corps, which was still on the other side of the Danube, the total force was about eighty thousand.-STUTTERHEIM, 159; and GRUNE'S MS. Correspondence.

1809.

CHAP. standards and sixteen pieces of cannon, taken by the LVI. enemy. Though Lichtenstein's and Kollowrath's corps much more than supplied these losses, yet the French Guards had just arrived on the field from Spain, and Massena's corps, and Oudinot's grenadiers, which had not been engaged at all, were certain to bear the brunt of the next battle which might ensue. Influenced by these considerations, the Archduke resolved to retire during the night, and restore the spirit and recruit the losses of his army in Bohemia, before again engaging in active operations. A bridge of boats was immediately thrown over the Danube, some miles above Ratisbon, and over it and the bridge at that town the army defiled without intermission the whole night. With such expedition and order was this critical operation conducted, that before nine o'clock on the following morning, not only were almost all the soldiers, but nearly all the guns, chariots, and ammunition waggons, safely on the other side. When the French, who, from the large watch-fires kept up on the enemy's lines during the night, supposed a decisive 1Stut, 160 battle was intended for the ensuing day, stood to their ii. 174, 175, arms in the morning, they beheld with astonishment the whole plain of Ratisbon deserted, except by a few broken waggons or gun-carriages, and saw only in the distance dense masses of cavalry protecting the retreat of the last trains within the walls of Ratisbon.1*

164. Pel. ii.

93, 99. Jom.

Thib. vii. 234, 235. Koch, vi. 176. Thiers, x. 175.

No sooner did Napoleon discover that the Archduke had withdrawn the bulk of his forces during the night, than he moved forward the whole cavalry to attack the rearguard, drawn up in front of Ratisbon. Notwithstand

* The French lost in the battle of Eckmuhl about six thousand men. The bulletin stated the general loss from the opening of the campaign, at twelve hundred killed, and four thousand wounded; which, according to their usual proportion of admitting only a fourth part of its real amount, would make it about twenty thousand men, which was probably very near the mark. The Austrians, in the whole five days, lost in killed, wounded, and prisoners, about thirty thousand, and one hundred pieces of cannon.-See First Bulletin, 24th April 1809; PELET, ii. 99; KOCH, vi. 174; and GRUNE's Correspondence, a copy of which the author obtained from the Imperial archives at Vienna, through the kindness of his valued friend, Captain Basil Hall.

LVI.

1809.

47.

against Ra

the French, and wound

of Napo

leon.

ing all their efforts, they could not prevent great confusion CHAP. occurring as the last of the carriages withdrew into the town; and nearly a thousand brave horsemen there sacrificed themselves for the safety of the rest of the army. Operations The screen of cavalry which was drawn up round the tisbon by bridge of boats happily concealed its existence from the enemy till the troops were all over; but the pontoons o themselves were burned, or fell into the hands of the victors. At length the rearguard was all withdrawn within the walls of Ratisbon, the gates closed, and the ramparts lined with infantry. Napoleon at noon arrived on the spot, and in his anxiety to press the assault, approached so near the walls that a musket-ball struck him on the right foot, and occasioned a considerable contusion. The pain obliged him to dismount from his horse; the report spread that the Emperor was wounded; and instantly the soldiers broke from their ranks, and leaving their muskets, their guns, their horses, crowded round their beloved chief. Regardless of the cannon-balls, which fell among the dense group, fifteen thousand men of all arms hastened to the spot, every one forgetting his own danger in intense anxiety concerning their general's welfare. After a few minutes, the Emperor again mounted his horse; a rapturous cheer from the warlike multitude announced the joyful event to the army; and soon the rolling of the drums and clang of the trumpets 57. Pel. ii. recalled the soldiers in all directions to their arms. the pain was so great that after he retired to his tent, i 192. Koch, vi. notwithstanding all his fortitude, Napoleon swooned 177. away. The wound, however, was not attended with any 176, 178. serious consequences.1 1*

1 Sav. iv. 56,

But 103, 105.
Memorial,

i.

Thiers, x.

This perilous incident retarded only for a few minutes 48. the progress of the attack. Lannes, who directed the Assault of operations, perceiving a large house which rested against

"Ut

* A parallel incident happened to Hannibal at the siege of Saguntum. vero Hannibal ipse, dum murum incautius subit, adversum femur tragula graviter ictus cecidit: tanta circa fuga ac trepidatio fuit, ut non multum abesset, quin opera ac vineæ desererentur."-LIVY, xxi. 7.

Ratisbon.

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