On the 8th of June, Prince Eugene, who had become the terror of Europe
and Asia by a series of triumphs, approached Belgrade with an army of a
hundred and fifty thousand men. Several French princes accompanied him,
solely for the purpose of learning the art of sieges under so great a
captain. On the 16th the army encamped on the heights of Visnitza, and
the next day all the baggage arrived, in spite of a cloud of Tartars
who scoured the country. The count de Palfi was directed to invest the
place.
Two days after, Eugene himself made a grand reconnaissance. When
scarcely at a quarter of a league from the camp, twelve hundred Turks
fell upon his escort. A Mussulman officer recognised him, drew near
to him, and followed him, pistol in hand. He had already penetrated
through two ranks, when he paid for his temerity with his life. The
Turks proving too weak to take advantage of the occasion, were soon
dispersed, and left the prince to continue his operations. Continual
discharges of artillery from the Turkish galleys and saiks which
covered the Danube, impeded the works of the besiegers, at the same
time that this flotilla prevented the complete blockade of Belgrade.
Eugene ordered it to be destroyed. A long and obstinate combat ensued
on the river; but the Ottomans were conquered, and left the Germans
masters of the navigation. The city now was completely invested. Lines
of circumvallation and countervallation completed the system of attack
and defence. To connect his operations, the prince threw bridges over
the Save and the Danube; but they lasted only a short time; being
carried away by a violent storm. The Turks endeavoured to profit by
this accident to disturb the quarters which were momentarily separated
from the main army, and attacked the redoubts of the Hessians, who
defended themselves with great courage. The first assault upon the
body of the place was not very successful; the prince had charged
Colonel De Merci to carry the advanced works on the side of the river,
where the approaches were tolerably easy and the fortifications
not very redoubtable. At the moment of obeying his instructions,
Colonel De Merci was struck with apoplexy, and was carried back to
the camp. The prince was unwilling to trust this delicate mission
to any other hands, and took it upon himself. He succeeded, but he
incurred extreme danger: three balls passed between him and the prince
of Dombes, who accompanied him: their hissing was so violent as to
startle their horses. On the 22nd of July, all the batteries directed
against the city were completed: they were unmasked all at once. The
garrison, consisting of twenty thousand men, responded to the fire
with much spirit; but their pieces were soon dismounted, and they were
constrained to remain quiet spectators of the devastation caused by the
enemy’s cannon. All at once, there appeared on the neighbouring heights
more than a hundred thousand Turks, marching in good order: this was
the army of the grand vizier. Prince Eugene was now in exactly the same
situation as Cæsar at the siege of Aliso; he blockaded Belgrade, but
he was himself blockaded by all the Ottoman forces, collected for the
defence of that place. Surrounded by land on all sides, he would have
been lost if his trenches had been forced. The Turks raised several
batteries, which began to play upon the besiegers on the 2nd of August.
In the night between the 14th and 15th, they opened a trench opposite
to the centre of the Imperialists, and pushed their works to within a
hundred paces of the lines of the Christian army. To prevent the attack
upon his intrenchments by attacking the intrenchments of the Turks, was
following the example of Cæsar. Prince Eugene decided upon doing so.
In the centre of his army he placed the infantry, under the command
of Prince Alexander of Wurtemberg; on the two wings he arrayed his
cavalry; in two lines, behind these bodies, were regiments of infantry,
to support them. The reserve remained in the trenches, under the orders
of the count de Seckendorf, and the _garde du camp_ was confided to
the valour of General Vrard. To deceive the Ottoman army, Belgrade was
bombarded vigorously during the whole evening of the 16th, the fire
only ceasing at midnight. At one o’clock, the report of three bombs was
heard: this was the signal for marching. The first line immediately
moved forward in silence, and advanced towards the _flèche_[14] of the
intrenchments by the light of the moon. Suddenly a thick fog arose, the
right of this line missed its way, and fell into one of the enemy’s
_boyaux_ (branch of a trench). But confusion had seized the Turks, and
they began to fly: the Janissaries, however, rallied them, and the
fight commenced. The error of the Germans had separated them from the
centre; and the Mussulmans threw themselves into the interval, in spite
of the efforts of Prince Eugene, whose operations were defeated by the
fog. During several hours they fought at hazard, in profound darkness.
At length, however, the cloud dispersed, and, with the return of light,
the general became aware of the danger his army was in. He flew to
its aid, and charged the Mussulmans at the head of his volunteers;
the Turks resisted bravely, and the battle was sanguinary; Eugene was
slightly wounded by a sabre-stroke: but, fighting under the eyes of
their general, his soldiers became heroes; they attacked, overthrew,
and crushed every obstacle opposed to their valour. In an instant the
Turks abandoned the centre. The Bavarian infantry now signalized their
courage: led on by a French officer, named La Colonie, they cleared the
ditches, ravines, and parapets, surmounted every obstacle, overtook the
Turks, charged and broke their battalions, pursued them from trench to
trench, and took possession of a battery of eighteen guns defended by
twenty thousand Janissaries and four thousand Turks: their intrepidity
secured the triumph of the Imperialists. By eleven o’clock in the
morning, the Turks, broken and beaten on all sides, took to flight,
leaving thirteen thousand dead upon the field of battle, five thousand
wounded, and as many prisoners. This victory cost the Germans more than
three thousand men, but it procured them an immense booty; a hundred
and thirty guns, with all the munitions and provisions of the Ottomans,
who lost fifty-two colours, nine horse-tails, and four trumpets. On
the morrow, the governor of Belgrade hoisted the white flag: he was
permitted to march out without arms or munitions. The conquerors found
in the city two hundred cannons and sixty-eight mortars.