greatly fatigued by the passage through the rough and mountainous
passes of the Black Forest, which a coating of frost had made
even more difficult. It was therefore necessary to give them
several days of rest; during which period the Austrian cavalry
came from time to time to probe our outposts, which were
positioned two leagues from the town; but this amounted to no
more than some ineffectual fire which kept us on our toes, gave
us some exercise in skirmishing, and allowed us to learn to
recognise the various uniforms of the enemy. I saw, for the
first time, the Uhlans of Prince Charles, Rosenberg's Dragoons
and Blankenstein's Hussars.
The horses having recovered their strength, the army continued
its march, and for several weeks we had a series of engagements
which left us masters of Engen and Stockach.
Although I was very much involved in these various actions, I had
only one accident, which, however, might have been serious. The
ground was covered by snow, particularly round Stockach, where
the enemy defended their position fiercely. The marshal ordered
me to go and reconnoitre a spot to which he wanted to direct a
column; I left at the gallop; the ground looked to me to be quite
level, the snow, driven by the wind having hidden all the
hollows, but suddenly my horse and I fell into a deep gully, up
to our necks in snow. I was trying to get out, when two enemy
Hussars appeared at the edge and fired their muskets at me.
Fortunately, the snow in which my horse and I were floundering
about prevented them from taking an accurate aim, and I came to
no harm; but they were about to fire once more when some
Chasseurs, which Marshal Augereau had sent to my aid, forced them
to depart hurriedly. With some help I was able to get out of the
ravine, but we had a great deal of difficulty in extricating my
horse. As we were both unhurt, my comrades had a laugh at the
strange appearance I presented after my bath of snow.
After we had gained control of the Vorarlberg, we captured
Bregen,and drove Jellachich's Austrian corps to Lake Constance
and the Tyrol. The enemy now sought the protection of the
fortress of Feldkirch and its celebrated gorge, behind which they
could defend themselves with advantage. We expected to have to
fight a murderous battle to take this position when, to our
astonishment, the Austrians offered to capitulate, an offer which
Marshal Augereau was quick to accept.
During the meeting between the two marshals, the Austrian
officers, humiliated by the reverse which their arms had just
suffered, took malicious pleasure in giving us some very bad news
which had been concealed up till this day, but which the Russians
and Austrians had learned of from English sources. The
Franco-Spanish fleet had been defeated by Lord Nelson on October
20th not far from Cadiz, at Cape Trafalgar. Villeneuve, our
infelicitous admiral, who had failed to carry out the precise
orders of Napoleon at a time when the appearance of a combined
fleet in the Channel could have secured a safe passage for the
troops assembled at Boulogne, learning that he was about to be
replaced by Admiral Rosily, passed suddenly from an excess of
circumspection to an excess of audacity. He left Cadiz and
engaged in a battle which, had it turned out in our favour, would
have been virtually useless, since the French army, instead of
being at Boulogne to take advantage of such a success to embark
for England, was two hundred leagues from the coast, fighting in
Germany.
After a most desperate struggle, the fleets of France and Spain
had been defeated by that of England, whose admiral, the famous
Nelson, had been killed; taking to his grave a reputation as the
finest seaman of the epoch. On our side we lost Rear-admiral
Magon, a very fine officer. One of our vessels blew up;
seventeen, as many French as Spanish, were captured. A severe
storm which arose toward the end of the battle, lasted all night
and the days following, and was on the verge of overwhelming both
victors and vanquished, so that the English, concerned for their
own safety, were forced to abandon nearly all the ships which
they had captured from us; which were mostly taken back to Cadiz
by the remains of their brave but unfortunate crews, though some
were wrecked on the rock-bound coast.
It was during this battle that my excellent friend France
d'Houdetot received a wound to his thigh which has left him with
a limp. D'Houdetot, scarcely out of childhood was a naval cadet,
and attached to the staff of Admiral Magon, a friend of my
father. After the death of the admiral, the ship "The Algesiras,"
in which he served, was captured after a bloody encounter, and
the English placed on board a prize crew of sixty men. But the
storm separated the ship from the English fleet, and the prize
crew realised that it was very unlikely that they could reach
England, so they agreed to allow the French seamen to take the
ship into Cadiz, with the stipulation that they would not be held
as prisoners of war. The French flag was hoisted to identify the
ship and the badly damaged vessel managed to reach Cadiz, though
not without great difficulty. The ship which bore Admiral
Villeneuve was captured and the unlucky admiral was taken to
England, where he remained a prisoner for three years. Having
been released on exchange, he decided to go to Paris, but,
detained at Rennes, he committed suicide.
When Field-marshal Jellachich felt obliged to capitulate before
the 7th French army corps, this decision seemed the more
surprising since, even if defeated by us, he had the option of
retiring into the Tyrol which was behind him, and whose
inhabitants have for many centuries been greatly attached to the
house of Austria. The thick snow which covered the country no
doubt made movement difficult, but the difficulties presented
would have been much greater for us, enemies of Austria, than for
the troops of Jellachich, withdrawing through an Austrian
province. However, if the old and hide-bound Field-marshal could
not bring himself to campaign in winter, in the high mountains,
his attitude was not shared by the officers under his command;
for many of them condemned his pusillanimity, and spoke of
rebelling against his authority. The most ardent of his opponents
was General the Prince de Rohan, a French officer in the service
of Austria, a bold and competent soldier. Marshal Augereau,
fearing that Jellachich might take the advice offered by the
Prince and retreat into the Tyrol where pursuit would be almost
impossible, hastened to grant him all the conditions which he
requested.
The terms of the capitulation were that the Austrian troops
should lay down their arms, hand over their flags, standards,
cannons and horses, but should not themselves be taken to France,
and could withdraw to Bohemia after swearing not to bear arms
against France for one year.
When he announced the capitulation in one of his army bulletins,
the Emperor seemed a little disappointed that the Austrian
soldiers had not been made prisoners of war; but he changed his
mind when he realised that Marshal Augereau had no means of
retaining them, as escape was so easy. In fact, during the night
preceding the day when the Austrians were to lay down their arms,
a revolt broke out in several brigades against Field-marshal
Jellachich. The Prince de Rohan, refusing to accept the
capitulation, left with his infantry division, and joined by some
regiments from other divisions, he fled into the mountains, which
he crossed, despite the rigours of the season: then by an
audacious march, he bypassed the cantonments of Marshal Ney's
troops, who occupied the towns of the Tyrol, and arriving between
Verona and Venice, he fell on the rear of the French army of
Italy, while this force, commanded by Massena was following on
the tail of Prince Charles, who was retiring towards Friuli. The
arrival of the Prince de Rohan in Venetian territory, when
Massena was already in the far distance, could have had the most
grave consequences; but fortunately a French army, coming from
Naples, under the command of General Saint-Cyr, defeated the
Prince and took him prisoner. He had, at least, submitted only to
force, and was right in saying that if Jellachich had been there
with all his troops, the Austrians might have defeated Saint-Cyr
and opened a route for themselves back into Austria.
When a force capitulates, it is customary for the victor to send
to each division a staff officer to take charge, as it were, and
to conduct it on the day and at the hour appointed to the place
where it is to lay down its arms. Those of my comrades who were
sent to the Prince de Rohan were left behind by him in the camp
which he quitted, for he carried out his retreat from an area
behind the fortress of Feldkirch, and in a direction away from
the French camp, so that he had little fear of being stopped; but
the Austrian cavalry were not in a similar situation. They were
in bivouac on a small area of open ground in front of Feldkirch,
and opposite and a short distance from our outposts. I had been
detailed to go to the Austrian cavalry and lead them to the
agreed rendezvous; this brigade did not have a general, but was
commanded by a colonel of Blankenstein's Hussars, an elderly
Hungarian, brave and crafty, whose name, I regret, I cannot
remember, for I think highly of him although he played me a most
disagreeable trick.
On my arrival at the camp, the colonel had offered me the
hospitality of his hut for the night, and we had agreed to set
off at daybreak, to reach the spot indicated on the shore of Lake
Constance, between the town of Bregenz and Lindau, at a distance
of about three leagues. I was most astonished when, at about
midnight, I heard the officers mounting their horses. I hurried
out of the hut and saw that the squadrons were formed up and
ready to move. I asked the reason for this hasty departure, and
the old colonel replied, with cool deceit, that Field-marshal
Jellachich feared that some jeering directed at the Austrian
soldiers by the French, whose camp one would have to pass if one
took the shortest route to the beach at Lindau, might lead to
fighting between the troops of the two nations. Jellachich, in
consultation with Marshal Augereau, had ordered the Austrian
troops to make a long detour to the right so that they would
avoid our camp and the town of Breganz, and would not come into
contact with our soldiers. He added that as the route was very
long and the road bad, the two commanders had advanced the time
of departure by some hours; he was surprised that I had not been
informed of this, but suggested that the written instructions had
been held up at the advance posts, owing to some
misunderstanding; he carried this deception so far as to send an
officer to look for this despatch, wherever it might be. The
explanation given by the colonel of the Blankensteins sounded so
convincing that I did not say anything, although my instinct told
me that this was a little irregular; but, alone in the midst of
three thousand enemy cavalry, what could I do? It was better to
appear confident than to seem to doubt the good faith of the
Austrian brigade. As I was unaware of the flight of the Prince de
Rohan's division, it did not enter my head that the commander of
the cavalry intended to evade the capitulation. I rode alongside
him, at the head of the column. The Austrian had made his
arrangements for the avoidance of the French camps--whose fires
could be seen--so well that we did not pass near any of them. But
what the old colonel had not anticipated, and was unable to
avoid, was an encounter with a flying patrol, which the French
cavalry usually sent out into the countryside at night, some
distance from an encampment: for suddenly there was a challenge,
and we found ourselves in the presence of a large column of
French cavalry, which was clearly visible in the moonlight. The
Hungarian colonel, without seeming the least worried, said to me
"This is work for you, as an aide-de-camp; kindly come with me
and explain the situation to the commander of this French unit."
We went forward. I gave the pass-word, and found myself in the
presence of the 7th mounted Chasseurs, who, knowing that the
Austrian troops were expected for the laying down of arms, and
recognising me as one of Marshal Augereau's aides, made no
difficulty about the passage of the brigade which I was
conducting. The French commander, whose troops had their sabres
drawn, even took the trouble to have them sheathed, as witness to
the good-will existing between the two columns, which went on
their way for some distance, side by side. I closely questioned
the officer in charge of the Chasseurs about the change in the
time at which the Austrians were to move; but he knew nothing at
all about it, something which did not raise any suspicion in my
mind, for I knew that an order of this kind would not be
distributed by the staff down to regimental level. So I continued
to ride with the colonel for the rest of the night, finding,
however that the detour we were making was very long, and the
going very bad.
At last, at daybreak, the old colonel, seeing a patch of level
ground, said to me, in a conversational tone of voice, that
although he would soon be obliged to hand over the horses of the
three regiments to the French, he wished to care for the poor
animals up to the last, and to deliver them in good condition; In
consequence he had ordered that they should be given a feed of
oats. The brigade halted, formed up and dismounted; and when the
horses had been tethered, the colonel, who alone remained on
horseback, gathered in a circle around him the officers and men
of the three regiments, and in a ringing voice which made the old
warrior seem quite superb, he announced that the Prince de
Rohan's division, preferring honour to a shameful safety, had
refused to subscribe to the disgraceful capitulation whereby
Field-marshal Jellachich had promised to hand over to the French,
the flags and the arms of the Austrian troops, and had fled into
the Tyrol; where he too would have led the brigade were it not
for the fact that he feared that in that barren mountain country,
there would not be enough fodder for so many horses. But now they
had open country in front of them and having, by a ruse of which
he was proud, gained a lead of six leagues over the French
troops, he invited all those who had truly Austrian hearts to
follow him across Germany to Moravia, where they could rejoin the
army of their August sovereign, Francis II. Blankenstein's
Hussars responded to this speech by their colonel with a
resounding cheer of approval; but Rosenberg's Dragoons and the
Uhlans of Prince Charles maintained a gloomy silence. As for me,
although I did not yet know enough German to follow the colonel's
words exactly, what I did understand, together with the tone of
the orator and the position in which he found himself, allowed me
to guess what was afoot, and I can promise you that I felt very
crestfallen at having, although unwittingly, furthered the plans
of this diabolical Hungarian.
A fearful tumult now arose in the immense circle by which I was
surrounded, and I was able to appreciate the inconvenience
stemming from the heterogeneous amalgamation of different peoples
which makes up the Austrian Empire, and in consequence, the
Austrian army. All the Hussars were Hungarian; the Blankensteins
therefore approved the proposal made by a leader of their own
nationality, but the Dragoons were German and the Uhlans were
Polish; the Hungarian could make no nationalistic appeal to them,
who, in this difficult situation listened only to their own
officers; these officers declared that they thought themselves
bound by the capitulation which Field-marshal Jellachich had
signed and did not wish, by their departure, to worsen his
position or that of their comrades who were already the hands of
the French, who would be within their rights to send them all
back to France as prisoners of war, if a part of the Austrian
forces violated the agreement. To this the colonel replied that
when the Commander-in-Chief of an army looses his head, fails in
his duty and delivers his troops to the enemy, his juniors have
no need to consult anything but their courage and their devotion
to their country. Then the colonel, brandishing his sabre in one
hand, while with the other he seized the regimental standard,
cried out, "Go then Dragoons! Go! Go! Yield to the French your
dishonoured standards, and the arms which the Emperor gave us for
his defence. As for us, the bold Hussars, we are off to rejoin
our sovereign, to whom we can once more show with honour our
unstained colours, and the swords of fearless soldiers!" Then,
drawing close to me, and casting a look of disdain on the Uhlans
and Dragoons, he added, "I am sure that if this young Frenchman
found himself in our position and had to choose between your
conduct and mine, he would take the more courageous course; for
the French love honour and reputation as much as their country."
Having said this, the old Hungarian sheathed his sabre, dug in
his spurs, and leading his regiment at the gallop, he careered
into the distance, where he soon disappeared. There was some
truth in both the arguments which I had heard, but that of the
old Hungarian seemed the more valid because it was in conformity
with the interests of his country; I then secretly approved of
his behaviour, but I could not, of course advise the Dragoons and
Uhlans to follow his example; that would have been to step out of
my role and fail in my duty. I maintained a strict neutrality in
this discussion, and when the Hussars had left, I asked the
colonels of the other two regiments to follow me, and we took the
road for Lindau.
On the beach beside the lake, we found Marshals Augereau and
Jellachich, as well as the French forces and the Austrian
infantry regiments which had not followed the Prince de Rohan. On
learning from me that the Blankenstein Hussars, having refused to
recognise the capitulation, were heading for Moravia both
marshals flew into a rage: Marshal Augereau because he feared
that these Hussars might cause havoc in the rear of the French
army, since the route which they would follow would take them
through areas where the Emperor, in the course of his march on
Vienna, had left many dressing stations full of wounded;
artillery parks, etc. But the Hungarian colonel did not think it
was part of his duty to advertise his presence by any surprise
attack, as he was only too anxious to get out of a country
bristling with French arms. By avoiding all our positions, moving
always on minor roads, hiding by day in the woods and marching
rapidly at night, he managed to reach the frontier of Moravia
without trouble, and joined an Austrian army corps which occupied
the area. As for the troops who remained with Field-marshal
Jellachich, having laid down their arms, surrendered their flags
and standards and handed over their horses, they became prisoners
on parole for one year, and made off in dismal silence for the
interior of Germany, to make their way sadly to Bohemia. I
remembered, when I saw them, the valiant words of the old
colonel, and I think I saw on the faces of many of these Uhlans
and Dragoons a regret that they had not followed the old warrior,
and an unhappiness when they compared the heroic position of the
Blankensteins with their own humiliation.
Among the trophies which Jellachich's corps was forced to hand
over were seventeen flags and two standards, which Marshal
Augereau, as was usual, hastened to send to the Emperor, in the
care of two aides-de-camp. Major Massy and I were detailed for
this task, and we left the same evening in a fine carriage with,
in front of us, a wagon containing the flags and standards, in
the charge of an N.C.O. We headed for Vienna via Kempten,
Brauneau, Munich, Lenz and Saint-Poelten. Some leagues before
this last town, following the banks of the Danube, we admired the
superb Abbey of M”lk, one of the richest in the world. It was
here, four years later that I ran the greatest danger, and earned
the praise of the Emperor, for having performed before his eyes
the finest feat of arms of my military career; as you will see
when we come to the campaign of 1809.
Chap. 24
In September 1805, the seven corps which made up the Grande Armee
were on the march from their positions on the coast to the banks
of the Danube. They were already in the countries of Baden and
Wurtemberg when, on the 1st October, Napoleon, in person, crossed
the Rhine at Strasburg. A part of the large force which the
Russians were sending to the aid of Austria had at that moment
arrived in Moravia, and the cabinet at Vienna should, with
prudence, have waited until this powerful reinforcement had
joined the Austrian army; but, carried away by an enthusiasm
which they did not usually display, and which was inspired by
Field-marshal Mack, it had despatched him, at the head of eighty
thousand men, to attack Bavaria; the possession of which had been
coveted by Austria for several centuries, and which French policy
had always protected from invasion. The Elector of Bavaria,
forced to abandon his state, took refuge with his family and his
troops in Wurtzburg, from where he begged Napoleon for
assistance. Napoleon entered into an alliance with him and with
the rulers of Baden and Wurtzburg.
The Austrian army, under Mack, had already occupied Ulm, when
Napoleon, having crossed the Danube at Donauwerth seized Augsburg
and Munich. The French were now in the rear of Mack's force and
had cut his communication with the Russians, who having reached
Vienna, were advancing towards him by forced marches. The
Field-marshal realised then, but too late, the error he had made
in allowing himself to be encircled by French troops. He tried to
break out, but was defeated successively in the battles of
Wertingen, Gunzberg, and Elchingen, where Marshal Ney won fame.
Under increasing pressure, Mack was forced to shut himself up in
Ulm with all his army, less the corps of the Archduke Ferdinand
and Jellachich who escaped, the former into Bohemia, and the
latter to the region round Lake Constance. Ulm was then besieged
by the Emperor. It was a place which, though not heavily
fortified, could nevertheless have held out for a long time
thanks to its position and its large garrison, and so given the
Russians time to come to its relief. But Field-marshal Mack,
passing from exalted over-confidence to a profound
disheartenment, surrendered to Napoleon, who had now, in three
weeks, scattered, captured, or destroyed eighty thousand
Austrians and freed Bavaria, where he reinstalled the Elector. We
shall see, in 1813, this favour repaid by the most odious
treachery.