Battle of Marengo

“ At the battle of Marengo, Bonaparte was surprised. Having but a small cavalry force under his immediate command, he held it in reserve in rear of his infantry in order that it might, in case of battle, be used against the Austrian cavalry, which greatly outnumbered his own. Had he ordered it to the front to seek the Austrians and to screen the movements of Victor and Lannes, doubtless he would not have remained completely [Pg 208] in the dark as to the position and intention of his enemy. It has been said that "Cavalry are the eyes of an army." ”

“ While the queen was yet undecided as to the route she was to take, news arrived of the battle of Marengo, and of the consequent surrender of Genoa. Our situation soon became very alarming, for the French army, under General Bonaparte, kept steadily advancing, and at last occupied Lucca, whence one night’s march might have brought them to Leghorn. It must be owned, to the credit of the inhabitants of that city, and especially of the common people, that they were most anxious to take up arms against the French, and repeatedly solicited the Austrian governor to allow them to do so. ”

“ Deeply affecting, though too horrible for art, is the figure of an Austrian staff-officer at the battle of Marengo, who has been shot through the belly, so that the bowels are lying on the ground. The unfortunate wretch, to escape from his insufferable torture, has entreated a French ‘gens d’arme’ to lend him his pistol, which he is putting to his mouth with a look of despair, while the owner of the weapon turns away shuddering. ”

“ Several times in his career he won a great victory by making a flank movement against his enemy. Such a movement was made at Marengo, at Ulm, and at Jena.
Between these two methods of attack there is, as a rule, this difference. By striking at the centre of the enemy's line, his army can be separated into two parts, and then be defeated in detail. In this case the aim is so to manœuvre as to out [Pg 133] number the enemy on the battle-field. But by striking at the flank, the enemy is often given the opportunity of concentrating his forces. ”

“ The medal commemorative of the battle of Marengo bears, on one side, a large bunch of keys, environed by two laurel branches; and, on the reverse, Bonaparte, as a winged genius, standing on a dismounted cannon to which four horses are attached upon the summit of Mount St. Bernard, urges their rapid speed, with a laurel branch in one hand, whilst he directs the reins with the other. ”

“ It shows that soldiers can forgive one another, however!”
“The battle of Marengo, fought between the French and the Austrians, shows us, that without good tactics a field may be lost almost in the moment of victory. The Austrians, under Melas, were full forty thousand strong, while the French, under Buonaparte, in the absence of their reserve, could hardly be more than half that number.” ”

“ Though from a lack of siege artillery, he could not completely invest them, he pushed forward past them to decide, if possible, their fate upon the open battle-field. In that campaign he invested the fortress of Mantua, containing twelve thousand combatants, with ten thousand men; and though the besieged were finally increased to twenty thousand soldiers, he continued with ten thousand or less to hold them in check for seven months, while he won the battles of Lonato, Castiglione, Roveredo, Bassano, San Georgio, Arcole, [Pg 77] and Rivoli. ”

“ The instant a favorable opening offers, by which the contest may be decided, it becomes his duty to head the nearest body of troops, and, without any regard to personal safety, to advance against the enemy's line. [By a ready conception of this sort, joined to a great courage, General Dessaix determined the issue of the battle of Marengo.] It is, however, impossible for any man to lay down rules, or to specify with accuracy all the different ways by which a victory may be obtained. ”

“ We rang the bells, and sacre dieu'd, but all in vain, we suffered great inconvenience, but who could be angry? In the course of our walks, and conversations, with the workmen, whom we met, we found that most of the masons, and gardeners of Rouen, had fought in the memorable, bloody, and decisive battle of Marengo, at which it appears that a great part of the military of France, within four or five hundred miles of the capital, were present. ”

“ From the field of Marengo many a young man returned to his home so mutilated as no longer to be recognized by friends, and passed a weary life in repulsive deformity. Mercy abandons the arena of battle. The frantic war-horse with iron hoof tramples upon the mangled face, the throbbing and inflamed wounds, the splintered bones, and heeds not the shriek of torture. Crushed into the bloody mire by the ponderous wheels of heavy artillery, the victim of barbaric war thinks of mother, and father, and sister, and home, and shrieks, and moans, and dies ”

“ There was Marengo, the classic battle of the plain, with the consummate generalship of its broad plan and the faultless retreat of the battalions by squares, silent and impassive under the enemy’s terrible fire; the battle, famous in story, lost at three o’clock and won at six, where the eight hundred grenadiers of the Consular Guard withstood the onset of the entire Austrian cavalry, where Desaix arrived to change impending defeat to glorious victory and die. ”

“ Unknown, however, to Napoleon Melas’s army was still at Alessandria, and on the morning of the 14th of June it filed out of the fortress and began its advance into the great plain of Marengo, one of the few favourable cavalry battle-grounds in north Italy. ”

“ On choisissait les officiers et les soldats parmi ceux que les braves avaient signalés comme les plus braves: tous étaient couverts de cicatrices.”— (Foy, Hist. Guerre Pénins. liv. i.) Napoléon after the battle of Marengo called them his “granite column.” At the height of his power his Imperial Guard consisted of 68 battalions, 31 squadrons, and 80 pieces of artillery—in itself a powerful army. Never will the exclamation of these devoted men on the field of Waterloo be forgotten: “La garde meurt et ne se rend pas!” ”

“ Soon afterwards he had an opportunity of manifesting those qualities which entitle him to rank among the most daring and clever tacticians of his time; his dexterous resistance to the superior forces of the Austrians with the left of Massena, when the right and centre were shut up in Genoa, not only prevented the invasion of France from this direction but powerfully contributed to the success of Napoleon's strategy of crossing the Alps, which culminated in the battle of Marengo on 14th June. ”

“ The nature of the ground will not allow him to avail himself of his superiority in artillery and cavalry; he can only attack you with his infantry, and yours is infinitely superior to his; and, favored by the nature of the place, it may make up for the deficiency in number. In that broken country, if you manœuvre well, with 30,000 men you may give battle to 60,000. In order to carry 60,000 light-armed troops into Liguria, Melas must have 90,000, which supposes a total army of 120,000 at least. ”

“ Desaix fell at the first volley, but the line never faltered, and as the smoke cleared away the gamin was seen in front of his line marching right on, and still beating the furious charge.
6. Over the dead and wounded, over breastworks and fallen foe, over cannon belching forth their fire of death, he led the way to victory, and the fifteen days in Italy were ended. To-day men point to Marengo in wonder. They admire the power and foresight that so skillfully handled the battle but they forget that a General only thirty years of age made a victory of a defeat. ”

“ The whole theatre of war was an open book to him. He saw just where the battle should be fought in order to produce the greatest results. Though the Austrians in this campaign numbered nearly a quarter-million of men, and stretched from the Gulf of Genoa to the Main River, yet Bonaparte was able, while still at Paris, to picture in his mind the whole strategical situation, and to indicate Stokach in Germany and the Stradella Pass in Italy, as being the two most important points within this immense theatre of operations. ”

“ It cannot be too often repeated that numbers go for little on the battle-field. It is possible that Jackson had in his mind, when he declared that the victory might yet have been won, the decisive counterstroke at Marengo, where 20,000 Austrians, pressing forward in pursuit of a defeated enemy, were utterly overthrown by a fresh division of 6,000 men supported by four squadrons. ”

“ By this means he struck terror into the heart of Melas even before a battle had been fought. No sooner had French troops reached the valley of [Pg 220] the Po than Melas was compelled to change his whole plan of campaign. He had then to defend himself against Bonaparte. He could no longer think of invading France. By this bold movement Bonaparte snatched the initiative from his adversary and compelled him to fight on the defensive. In war, the boldest course is often the safest. "The greatest soldiers have always been the most daring." ”

“ His object was to prevent the escape of the Austrians, to preserve his communications with Switzerland, and, in case of an Austrian attack, to make a quick concentration for battle. The skill with which he solved this complex problem will become apparent, if we turn to the map and study the positions of the French forces immediately after the arrival of Moncey's corps. These forces numbered fifty-five thousand men. Thirty-two thousand were stationed along the Po from Placentia to the Stradella Pass on the great highway leading from Alessandria to Mantua ”

“ Had Melas kept this cavalry force on the battle-field, and thrown it vigorously against the French as they fell back towards San Giuliano, he would undoubtedly have won the battle. It was the failure of the Austrians to pursue the French promptly that enabled Bonaparte to rally the scattered remnants of his defeated forces near San Giuliano. Says Colonel Hart:—
"When a great battle is imminent, it is unwise for a commander to detach any part of the force available, unless he is very confident of victory. ”

“ Several regiments of the line, which formed part of the review, have been highly distinguished during the war, particularly the celebrated demi-brigade, which at Marengo is said to have saved the life of Bonaparte, when in the ardour of battle he had exposed himself to almost certain destruction. These regiments were ill dressed, the men were little, and their whole appearance was, [85] when compared with the consular guard, far from favourable. ”

“ It is a tissue of heroism, and to attempt shores so guarded would seem frenzy, had one not to recollect apparent impossibilities conquered by Buonaparte: particularly his passing Mount St. Gothard in winter, never relaxed; which however did yield (God only knows how) to the French Artillery, suffer'd to cross that Mountain for the sake of gaining a decisive battle at Marengo. We must have more sense, if they do land, than fight any battle at all with such troops; our business is to harrass them and thin their numbers, not easily repair'd ”

“ By the terms of surrender Melas was allowed to march out of Alessandria with the honors of war, and to proceed thence to Mantua; in return, he was to evacuate the whole of northern Italy as far as the Mincio, to surrender the fortresses of Coni, Alessandria, Genoa, and Tortona, and the fortified cities of Milan, Turin, Pizzighettone, Placentia, Ceva, Savona, and Arona.
In proportion to the number of combatants at Marengo the losses on both sides were large. Seven thousand Austrians were killed or wounded, and three thousand were captured. ”

“ The French, too, fought like demons. Their victory at Montebello had encouraged them; and now, having sought and found their enemy, they expected to be again triumphant. With determination they resisted the onsets of Melas. Before the furious attacks of superior numbers, in the face of cannon, sabre, and steel, they stood to their work like men. But all their efforts were unavailing. Against so fierce an attack Victor could not long hold his position. He was compelled to fall back to Marengo, where he again made a desperate effort to stop the advance of the Austrians. ”

“ Though fortune favored him in many ways, nevertheless his success was due to his genius and to his mastery of his profession. Strategically these operations were almost perfect, yet they were faulty in execution. "The campaign of Marengo," says William O'Connor Morris, "at least in design, was one of the most dazzling of Napoleon's exploits in war. The plan of issuing from Switzerland by a double movement in the rear of the enemy in Swabia and Italy was perhaps equal to any formed by Hannibal; but the execution of it was far from perfect. Moreau completely failed to cut off Kray. ”

“ The great events of the campaign of Marengo are matters of European history. The British fleet’s blockade of the coast was clearly a determining factor in the choice of the St. Bernard route by the First Consul, inasmuch as the Riviera road was commanded from the sea. It must remain a question whether Bonaparte deliberately left Massena’s army to risks of starvation and capture, in order that the destruction of the Austrian forces in Piedmont might be complete. ”