Action of EbersdorfArdour of the
troopsOrder of battle of our armyBattle of EsslingThe bridge
on the Danube is broken downGallant conduct of General
MoutonMarshal Lannes mortally woundedAffliction and regret of
NapoleonDeath of General Saint-HilaireRetreatNapoleon holds a
council with Massena and Berthier on the river side.
THE corps of Marshal Massena had already passed over, as
well as two divisions of cuirassiers, when the Austrians, who occupied a
position at no great distance, marched down to attack us. Ever since the 19th,
or at least since the 20th, which was the preceding day, they must have been
aware of the point at which we should effect a passage; accordingly, they had
found time to collect their army and to advance upon us: they did not, however,
evince much ardour in the charge ; and I am of opinion that if we had not
attempted to extend ourselves too far that night, they would not have attacked
us, and we should have avoided an unsatisfactory encounter, which was attended
with a loss, the effect of which was severely felt on the following day.
The sun was setting when the army debouched from the space
between the villages of Essling and Aspern. It had not advanced one hundred
toises on that immense plain when a furrowing fire of cannon was opened upon it
in all directions. An attempt was made to silence that tremendous cannonade by
a desperate charge of cavalry. This had the effect of clearing the way for us
on the right, but our left was thrown back upon the village of Aspern, one half
of which was occupied by the enemy, who baffled all our attempts to dislodge
them. Night put an end to the action, which occasioned us a very severe loss,
not less than five or six thousand men in killed and wounded, besides the
immense quantity of ammunition consumed. We passed the night within musket-shot
of the Austrians, and the sentinels were on some points at no more than thirty
paces from each other. In such a position it was almost impossible for either
army to make a movement without the other being immediately apprised of it, the
rather so as there was no obstruction intervening between them, and they both
stood upon the same ground.
The Emperor came to bivouac that night on the sand, close to
the Danube, which he did not again recross; he was thus within three hundred
toises of the Austrian army. The whole night was taken up in passing the troops
from the right to the left bank: this movement was going on at a slow rate,
owing to the accidents which were constantly happening to the bridge ; and it
was only by unremitting care and labour that the whole corps of Marshals
Oudinot and Lannes, together with the foot-guards and some reserves, could
reach the left bank. The army was all night in motion, in order to be prepared
against an attack, which it was apprehended the enemy would make at daybreak on
the following morning, the 22nd of May. It was then daylight at two or three
o'clock, at which hour the Emperor was already on horseback, and going through
the ranks of his army. As often as he appeared, his presence was hailed with
deafening cries of "Long live the Emperor!" and as we were at pistol-shot
distance from the hostile army, the latter took up arms, and commenced firing a
few shot through the fog which concealed us from each other, and which prevails
at all seasons along the borders of the Danube. One of those shot killed the
horse of General Monthion, in the group about the Emperor's person.
The general officers urged the Emperor to allow them to
commence the attack, in order, as they said, to take advantage of the first
ardour of the soldiers. He was rather averse to the proposal, as he expected
the corps of Marshal Davout, which was still on the other side of the Danube,
as well as General Nansouty's division of cuirassiers, with the major part of
the horse-guards, and many of the allied troops; but he was so warmly urged by
his officers that he gave way, and permitted the movements of attack to
commence at the hour of half past three in the morning. Marshal Massena
debouched on the left by the village of Aspern: he had under his orders the
divisions of Generals Molitor, Le Grand, and Carra-Saint-Cyr, and a reserve
division commanded by General Démont. Marshal Lannes debouched on the
right of Marshal Massena, between Aspern and Essling, having with him the
division of Generals Saint-Hilaire and Oudinot, and General Boudet's division
as a reserve. Behind these troops, and in second line, were the foot-guards,
consisting of two regiments of fusileers, two regiments of riflemen, and two
regiments of the old guard ; that is to say, one of grenadiers and another of
chasseurs. Our cavalry consisted of a brigade of light-horse, under the orders
of General Marulaz, two others under General Lasalle, the division of
cuirassiers hitherto commanded by General d'Espagne (who was killed on the
preceding day), and General Saint-Sulpice's division, with some squadrons of
the guard, composed of Poles, chasseurs, and dragoons. Marshal Davout was on
the right bank, ready to cross over with the division of General Friant, and
those of Generals Morand and Gudin, which again formed part of his corps of
troops : he had also under his orders General Vandamme and the Wirtemburgers,
Nansouty's division, and the remainder of the horse-guards. The Bavarians had
been sent into the Tyrol to attack the insurgents, and to protect the city of
Munich ; General Wrede's division, if I recollect rightly, was in the direction
of Lintz. The Emperor had a great partiality for that officer, and never parted
from him but in a case of absolute necessity.
Our left and centre marched forward in the order already
mentioned, always keeping an eye to our right, where our cavalry was stationed.
I accompanied Marshal Lannes, who remained with General Saint-Hilaire's
division. As we were traversing an immense plain, all the troops advanced in
close order, partly formed in squares, and partly in columns.
The cannonade began almost at the very moment of our
advance, and it made the greater havoc amongst us, as, besides our proximity to
the enemy, we presented heavy masses to their artillery. The Austrians were
also formed in squares checkerwise, and opened a fire of musketry upon us; but
we suffered less from it than if some of their battalions had deployed. In like
manner we should have done them much greater injury if, instead of troops
consisting of raw levies, we had opposed to them such soldiers as those of the
camp of Boulogne, which we might easily have moved in any direction, and made
to deploy under the enemy's fire without any danger of their being thrown into
disorder. We were still persisting in our attempts to penetrate through that
checkered line when the fire of grape-shot and of musketry threw our columns
into confusion, and compelled us to stop and open a fire of cannon and
musketry, with the disadvantage of numbers against us. This disadvantage
increased the longer we remained in our present position ; it was, therefore,
natural to conclude that the engagement, so far from ending in our favour,
would in all probability terminate fatally for us. We attempted to counteract
the difficulties we had to contend with by ordering the cuirassiers to charge
successively in several directions ; but they had scarcely penetrated the
Austrian line of infantry when they were driven back and closely pursued by
their cavalry, which was three times more numerous than our own. To add to our
distress, the want of ammunition was generally felt about half past eight in
the morning. Officers were seen crossing the field of battle in every direction
at that hour, in search of the park of stores, which was still on the other
side of the Danube. We were also in want of fresh troops, and were expecting,
with the utmost impatience, the corps of Marshal Davout, when some officers,
who had been sent to accelerate his advance, brought back the information that
the great bridge of the Danube had been broken down.
The enemy, after driving us back on the preceding day, had
taken up, on the bank of the river, a position from whence they had a complete
view of our bridge in its whole extent ; and contriving to fill with stones the
largest boats they could find, they sent them down the current. This
contrivance proved but too successful ; since, of the two bridges we had
constructed, the one was wholly carried away, and the other half destroyed. The
scanty supply of boats and pontoniers had prevented our raising a stoccade to
protect the bridge, an omission which proved fatal to us. This disaster soon
became known to the troops that were engaged, made them lose all hope of
assistance, and the several corps withdrew in succession from the contest. It
could not, in fact, be expected that, in the absence of all ammunition, they
should remain in a position where certain destruction awaited them.
The Emperor commanded a retreat, and superintended it
himself, by remaining exposed to a cannonade which we no longer answered. It
became more and more harassing as we approached the bridge that communicated
with the island of Lobau, and formed the centre of a circle, the circumference
of which was occupied by the artillery. Our left and centre disputed every inch
of ground in their retreat, and had not yet returned to the position between
the villages of Essling and Aspern, from whence they had debouched in the
morning, when the enemy made a desperate attack upon our right, and carried the
village of Essling, which was defended by Boudet's division. The retreat could
only be secured by our quickly regaining that position, from whence the enemy
would have reached the bridge long before the arrival of Marshals Massena and
Lannes to cover it. Our situation was most critical ; and we were about to be
thrown into complete disorder, when the Emperor directed General Mouton, his
aide-de-camp, to attack immediately with the fusileer brigade belonging to the
guards. General Mouton, who had correctly estimated the importance of
succeeding in this movement, lost not a moment in placing himself at the head
of the fusileers, and entering the village of Essling in charging time,
regardless of the numbers opposed to him, carried and retained possession of
that village until he received orders to evacuate it. This bold and successful
charge afforded us the means of executing our retreat ; but the gallant General
Mouton was severely wounded, and compelled to quit the field of battle.
Marshal Lannes having returned to the position he had
quitted in the morning for the purpose of attacking the enemy, used his utmost
endeavours to preserve it, and dismounted, owing to the proximity of the fire
of the enemy's artillery, which made it hazardous to remain on horseback: the
cavalry had crossed over long before, and was stationed in the island of Lobau.
The Emperor himself had quitted the field of battle, after issuing his final
orders in respect to recrossing the bridge ; and he was engaged in pointing
some artillery in the island of Lobau, for the purpose of protecting the
retreat of our columns, when intelligence was brought to him that Marshal
Lannes had just had his legs carried off by a cannon-shot. He was affected to
tears at the news ; and at the moment he was listening to the particulars of
that sad event, he perceived a litter coming from the field of battle with
Marshal Lannes stretched upon it. He ordered him to be carried to a retired
spot, where they might be alone and uninterrupted. With his face bathed in
tears, he approached and embraced his dying friend. Exhausted by the great loss
of blood, Marshal Lannes said to him in broken accents, " Farewell, Sire: spare
a life dear to all; and bestow a passing thought upon the memory of one of your
best friends, who in two hours will be no more !', This deeply affecting scene
created in the Emperor a powerful emotion. General Saint-Hilaire had a short
time before been brought back- wounded in the foot by a cannon ball; he died of
the wound a fortnight afterwards. The loss-of Marshal Lannes was felt by the
whole army, and completed the disasters of that fatal day.
The enemy did not take advantage of our retreat, but left us
unmolested the whole evening in our position between Aspern and Essling. It was
five o'clock before we retired to the wood bordering the river, which we
recrossed in the night without further annoyance. The bridge of boats on the
arm of the river was taken to pieces, and the pontoons which had formed it were
placed upon carts, as well as the anchors, cordage, beams, and thick planks,
all which were sent to the bridge on the broad arm of the Danube, where they
were made to replace the boats carried away by the current. The whole army,
infantry, cavalry, artillery, the staff, the wounded, every thing without
exception, was removed to the island of Lobau on the morning of the 24th. The
Emperor was still there in person on the 22nd at nightfall ; he came close up
to the great arm, the bridge of which had been destroyed: the waters of the
Danube had greatly increased, this being the season of the melting of the snow
coming from the Tyrol : so that even the two arms which traversed the island,
and had hitherto been found dry, or at least fordable, had become dangerous
torrents, requiring hanging bridges to be thrown over them.
The Emperor crossed them in a skiff, having the Prince of
Neufchatel and myself in his company. We were unable to bring our horses over,
and were under the necessity of continuing our journey on foot. When arrived on
the bank of the Danube, the Emperor sat down under a tree, and there waited for
Marshal Massena, to whom he had sent orders to join him. He soon came up to us,
and the Emperor formed a small council, in order to collect the opinions of
those about him as to what had best be done under existing circumstances.
Let the reader picture to himself the Emperor sitting
between Massena and Berthier on the bank of the Danube, with the bridge in
front, of which there scarcely remained any vestige, Marshal Davout's corps on
the other side of the broad river and behind in the island of Lobau itself, the
whole army separated from the enemy by a mere arm of the Danube, thirty or
forty toises broad, and deprived of all means of extricating itself from this
position, and he will admit that the lofty and powerful mind of the Emperor
could alone be proof against discouragement. He was fully prepared for the
suggestion about to be offered to him of recrossing the Danube in the best
manner possible, and of leaving behind what could not be removed, such as the
whole of the artillery, the horses, &c &c.
The Emperor quietly listened to all the arguments urged upon
his attention ; and then said: " You might as well, gentlemen, advise me to
retreat to Strasburg. If I recross the Danube, I must evacuate Vienna, because
the enemy will cross over immediately after me: may they not then drive me back
to Strasburg? In my present condition I have no means of resisting their attack
except by endeavouring to cross to the left bank of the river if they should
cross over to its right bank, and thus to manuvre round Vienna, which is
really my capital, and the centre of my resources. If I recross the Danube, and
the Archduke should also cross it at Lintz, for example, I shall have to march
upon Lintz ; whereas, by remaining in the position I now occupy, if he attempts
that movement, I shall cross over and follow him until he turns round upon me.
It is impossible I should remove to any distance from Vienna without leaving
behind me twenty thousand men, one half of whom will otherwise have returned to
their ranks before the expiration of a month from the present time."
He brought every one back to his opinion ; and although the
prospect of reposing from our fatigues on the other side of the Danube would
have been cheering to every one, we resigned ourselves to the necessity of
remaining in the island. Marshal Massena assumed the command of all the troops
which were concentrated there : and the Emperor gave him written instructions
regarding the mode of defence he was to adopt, if, as there was reason to
apprehend, he should have to resist an attack. |