Although Bonaparte had performed amazing, and, in some respects,
unparalleled, exploits in Italy, there was a general disposition among
both Frenchmen and foreigners to set up inferior commanders as his
rivals. Now it was Moreau, then Massena; then Hoche, and then the young
Archduke Charles, of Austria. The last mentioned had attained a high
reputation by a campaign in which he triumphed over Generals Moreau and
Jourdan, but his valor and skill, although great, were overrated, as
Bonaparte and Massena soon rendered evident.
The Archduke took command of the Austrian army of Italy, and on the 6th
of February, 1797, advanced his head-quarter to Innspruck. During that
month, his engineers visited the passes of the Julien and Noric Alps,
which it had been designed to fortify. Napoleon, having about
fifty-three thousand troops under his command, resolved to astonish his
enemy by a rapid and daring march upon the passes of the Alps before
they could be fortified. He formed the plan of a campaign, the great
object of which was the Austrian capital, Vienna, and the execution was
as prompt as the conception was bold. The Tagliamento was passed, and
the enemy completely defeated; the passes of the Alps were carried,
after a tremendous struggle. Joubert beat the Austrians in the Tyrol,
the Archduke’s reputation was reduced to its proper dimensions, and
Vienna trembled, having no means of resisting the all-conquering
Bonaparte. Tarwis is the loftiest pass of the Noric Alps. It is above
the clouds and is generally covered with snow and ice, which give it a
desolate and terrible aspect. It overlooks Germany and Dalmatia. At this
point the roads leading to Italy and Trieste separate; the road to Italy
running west, and that leading to Trieste running south. At this place,
Bonaparte fixed his head-quarters, shortly after the pass had been
captured by the indomitable Massena. It was the last day of March. The
weather was intensely cold, and and the body of troops accompanying the
French general suffered severely. Bonaparte and his aids were snugly
quartered in the rude chalets, which are the only habitations upon the
height of Tarwis. The soldiers were grouped amid a cordon of fires, the
fuel for which they had brought from a great distance below, with a vast
amount of labor and difficulty. Yet they shivered beside the crackling
blaze. It was a wild and startling scene. The night was cloudy—the wind,
keen and furious. The red glare of the fires was reflected by walls of
ice and blood-stained snow. As the soldiers wrapped themselves in their
blankets, crept as close to the fires as they could get, and conversed
with a French attempt at gaiety, they were surprised to see their
beloved general, accompanied by Berthier and Duroc, come out of a
chalet, to examine their condition, and speak a word of cheer.
“A freezing time, men; but it will be hot enough soon,” he remarked to a
group of veterans.
“The cold is more terrible than the Austrians, general,” said one of
them, with an attempt at a laugh.
“But it cannot conquer the conquerors of Italy,” replied Bonaparte. Thus
he went among the brave men who followed his standard, and thus he
communicated his own spirit to all with whom he came in contact. After
traversing the whole ground occupied by the troops, the French general
returned to his quarters to repose.
Beneath a kind of shed in the rear of the chalet, several of the Guides
were seated round a cheerful fire, smoking pipes and conversing of the
recent actions and their thrilling incidents. Among them were Bessieres
and Lemarois. The wall of the chalet, which formed the rear of the shed,
served to keep off the fury of the wind, so that this place was
comfortable, compared with the position of the soldiers. Besides, the
hearts of these veterans had been gladdened with abundance of good
eating at the chalet, and satisfaction was evident in their faces. The
manly face of Bessieres, wore that expression of calm circumspection,
which it never lost in the thickest of battle.
“The passage of the Tagliamento,” said this brave leader, “will take
rank with any similar exploit, recorded in history.”
“It must be acknowledged that the archduke had posted his forces in an
admirable style,” said young Lemarois. “His artillery covered the level
shingle of the river, and his fine cavalry, deployed on the wings, so as
to be brought rapidly into service, was an admirable disposition.”
“Yes,” said Bessieres, “but as usual, the character of the manœuvres
which defeated the Austrians throws all their dispositions into
insignificance. Was there ever a general so fertile of stratagem as
Bonaparte? See how quickly he determined upon a plan to diminish the
vigilance of the enemy! An immense number of men might have been lost if
he had attempted the passage of the river as soon as he reached its
banks. But he valued the lives of his soldiers too much, to throw them
away, when a simple stratagem could save them. The Austrians naturally
supposed that after marching all night, he wanted rest, and when the
general ordered us to halt and begin to partake of our soup, they were
completely deceived. How the archduke must have opened his eyes, when he
saw us get suddenly in motion at noon!”
“The disposition of our forces was so admirable that it made some of our
own skilful officers open their eyes,” said Lemarois. “Look at it!
Guyeux’s division on the left, and Bernadotte’s on the right, by which
arrangement the troops of Italy and the soldiers of the Rhine were
brought into a noble rivalry. Then battalions of grenadiers were formed.
At the head of each division was placed the light infantry, ready to
disperse as sharp-shooters, then the grenadiers who were to charge, and
the dragoons who were to support them. Each demi-brigade had its first
battalions, deployed in line, and the two others arranged in close
column on the wings of the first. The cavalry hovered on the wings. A
finer disposition could not have been made.”
“Crossing the river was a glorious scene!” said Bessieres. “The light
infantry covered the bank with a cloud of sharp-shooters. Then the
grenadiers entered the water. ‘Soldiers of the Rhine!’ exclaimed
Bernadotte, ‘the army of Italy has its eyes upon you.’ Each division
displayed the utmost bravery in the charge; we can make no distinction
between them.”
“No, indeed,” observed a grim-visaged Guide, who sat next to Bessieres.
“Our soldiers called the troops of the Rhine _the contingent_, and
treated them with the greatest contempt before the battle. A number of
sabre cuts were exchanged on account of this raillery. But the
contingent proved themselves worthy of any army at Tagliamento. They
drove the Austrians before them like a flock of sheep.”
“All acted in a manner worthy of France,” said Lemarois. “The archduke
was routed and the line of the Tagliamento cleared in a remarkably short
time.”
“What is the name of that general of cavalry who was captured?” inquired
one of the Guides—a burly fellow, with a good-humored cast of
countenance.
“I forget his name,” replied Bessieres; “but I cannot forget that he is
a brave man, and that he fought with a courage and resolution which put
most of his countrymen to shame.
“To be just, however,” observed Lemarois, “there are many gallant
officers in the Austrian army. It is not their fault if they have not a
Bonaparte to bring victory to their standard. They have a large number
of hearts following their flag, as intrepid as old Wurmser. But strange
to say, they have never had a first class general.
“That’s about the truth of the matter,” commented the burly Guide.
“By the way, Jacques,” said Bessieres, “it seems to be getting colder as
the night advances. Put on a little more of that wood. Its bad enough
fuel, though, for it smokes abominably.”
Jacques was the burly Guide previously alluded to. He obeyed the order
of his commander.
“The men outside ought to have plenty of provision to console them amid
their sufferings on such a night. They will scarcely dare to sleep,”
said Lemarois.
“I saw our general out among them a short time ago,” replied Bessieres.
“A few sympathetic words from him will do more than any amount of
provision.”
“That’s a fact,” said the grim veteran who sat next to the commander of
the Guides. “They know that he feels for them, and that he would help
them if he could. See there at St. George, an outpost of Mantua, where
there was a necessity for constant vigilance, to prevent Provera from
surprising us, and relieving Wurmser. The general visiting one of the
outposts at night, found a sentinel lying at the foot of a tree, where
he had fallen fast asleep from exhaustion. He took the soldier’s musket
and walked backwards and forwards on sentry for more than half an hour.
Suddenly the soldier started up, and was terrified at seeing General
Bonaparte on duty; he expected nothing less than death. But the general
spoke kindly to him, told him that after his great fatigues, he wanted
sleep; but cautioned him against chosing such a time. That is the way
for a general to make heroes out of soldiers. That sentinel would have
risked his life at any time to give victory to General Bonaparte.”
“Bonaparte is every inch of a general, a soldier and a man,” said
Bessieres.
“Some miserable judges wish to set up this young Archduke Charles as a
rival to our general,” said Lemarois. “Why, this battle of Tarwis, in
which he had every thing in his favor, proves that he is not by a great
deal, up to the measure of Massena.”
“Have you heard the full particulars of the struggle at this pass?”
inquired Bessieres. “Battles come so rapidly, that it is difficult to
gain a complete knowledge of them.”
“I was present when an officer of Massena’s division who participated in
the fight communicated the intelligence,” replied Lemarois. “While we
were advancing to Gradisca, General Massena pressed forward, reached
this pass, and made himself master of it without much difficulty. The
division of Bayalitsch, proceeding across the sources of the Izonzo to
anticipate Massena at the pass, would therefore find the outlet closed.
The Archduke Charles, foreseeing this result, left the rest of his army
on the Friule and Carniola road, with orders to come and rejoin him
behind the Alps at Klagenfurt; he then himself made the utmost haste to
Villach, where numerous detachments were coming up from the Rhine, to
make a fresh attack on the pass, to drive Massena from it, and to
re-open the road for Bayalitsch’s division. Bonaparte, on his side, left
Bernadotte’s division to pursue the divisions that were retreating into
Carniola, and with Guyeux’s and Serrurier’s divisions, proceeded to
harass the Bayalitsch division in its rear, in its passage through the
valley of the Izonzo. Prince Charles, after rallying behind the Alps the
wrecks of Lusignan and Orksay, who had lost the pass, reinforced them
with six thousand grenadiers, the finest and bravest soldiers in the
imperial service, and again attacked the pass, where Massena had left
scarcely a detachment. He succeeded in recovering it, and posted himself
here with the regiments of Lusignan and Orksay, and the six thousand
grenadiers. Massena collected his whole division, in order to carry it
again. Both generals were sensible of the importance of this point.
Tarwis retaken, the French army would be masters of the Alps, and would
make prisoners of the whole of Bayalitsch’s division. Massena rushed on
headlong with his brave infantry, and suffered as usual in person.
Prince Charles was not less chary of himself than the republican
general, and several times ran the risk of being taken by the French
riflemen. Whole lines of cavalry were thrown down and broken on this
frightful field of battle. At length, after having brought forward his
last battalion, the Archduke Charles abandoned Tarwis to his
pertinacious adversary, and found himself compelled to sacrifice
Bayalitsch’s division. Massena, left master of Tarwis, fell down upon
that division which now came up, attacked it in front, while it was
pressed in the rear by the divisions of Guyeux and Serrurier. That
division had no other resource than to be made prisoners; and our army
captured all the baggage, artillery and ammunition of the enemy that had
followed this route. For my part, I think that a good general could have
maintained this pass against a greatly superior force.”
“It is a strong position, and it does not appear to me that it could be
turned,” observed Bessieres. “However,” continued he, rising, “the pass
is ours; Joubert has beaten the enemy and will soon join us; the
archduke is completely beaten, and there is scarcely an obstacle in the
way of a march to Vienna. These are the results of a march as daring and
skilful as any ever conceived by a general. So much glory for General
Bonaparte, and renown to the arms of France. Come, Lemarois, we will
enter the chalet, and strive to gain some repose. Keep up your spirits,
men, and above all keep up the fire. Good night!”
And keen and swiftly blew the Alpine wind, and redly blazed the fires of
Tarwis till the light of day arose from the ashes of the night. Then the
French general pursued his march. He united his forces; Vienna was
threatened, and the treaty of Campo Formio was extorted from Austria.
[Illustration]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration: NAPOLEON’S ARRIVAL IN EGYPT p. 89]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration]