384 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



Total 103 148 

 All which amounted to 7.'), 000 men, 

 effective troops. 



Of artiller}' there were 18 bat- 

 teries of brigade, 13 of position, 

 and 11 of licrse artillery; in the 

 aggregate 288 pieces of different 

 calibres. 



The eneiny had availed himself 

 extremely well of the advantages 

 of the ground to cover his passage. 

 The extensive villages of Essling 

 and Aspern, mostly composed of 

 brick houses, and encircled all 

 round by heaps of earth, resembled 

 two bastions, between which a 

 double line of natural trenches, in- 

 tended to draw oft" the water, 

 served as the curtain, and afforded 

 every possible security to the co- 

 lumns passing from the Isle of 

 Lobau. Essling had a granary fur- 

 nished with loop-holes, and whose 

 three stories afforded room for seve- 

 ral hundred men, while Aspern was 

 provided with a strong church-yard. 

 The left side of the latter village 

 borders on an arm of the Danube. 

 Both villages had a safe communi- 

 cation with the bushy ground near 

 the Danube, from which the enemy 

 had it constantly in his power to 

 dispatch, unseen, fresh reinforce- 

 ments. The isle of Lobau served 

 at once as a place of arms and as 

 a tete-de-pont, a bridge-head forthe 

 bridge, in the rear across the main 

 arm of the river. 



The enemy, with the (divisions of 

 gens. Molitor, Boudet, Nansouty, 

 Legrand, Espagne, Lasalle and Fer- 



rand, under the marshals Massena" 

 and Lasnes, as well as marshal Bes- 

 sieres, together with the guards of 

 the Wurtemberg, Hesse-lJarmstadt 

 and Baden auxiliaries, had already 

 left this position, and was directing 

 his march towards Hirschstetten, 

 when the first Austrian advanced 

 guards met him. 



If it be at all permitted in war, 

 to indulgefavourable presentiment?, 

 it was certainlj^ excusable so to do 

 at that great moment, when, on the 

 21st of May, exactly at twelve 

 o'clock, the columns began to put 

 themselves in motion for the attack. 

 A general enthusiasm had taken 

 possession of the troops : joyful 

 war-songs, accompanied by Turkish 

 music, resounded through the air, 

 and were interrupted by shouts of 

 " Long live our Emperor, long live 

 archduke Charles !" whenever the 

 imperial general appeared, who had 

 placed himself at the heetd of the 

 second column. Every breast 

 panted with anxious desire and high 

 confidence after the decisive mo- 

 ment ; and the finest weather fa- 

 voured the awful scene. 

 Battle of the 2Ut of Ma}/.— First 

 Column. 



The advanced guard under gen. 

 Nordman, consisting of two bat- 

 talions of Gyulayand Litchtenstein 

 hussars, had formed near the de- 

 stroyed bridge of Tabor, and leav- 

 ing the villages of Kagran and 

 Hirschstetten to the left, and Stad- 

 lau to the right, marched in the 

 plain towards Aspern. It was fol- 

 lowed by the column, which, having 

 left the high road before the post- 

 office at Stammersdorf, had march- 

 ed from the right by half divisions. 

 Its right flank along the Danube 

 was covered bj' a battalion of St. 

 Georgians, by the 1st battalion of 



Vienna 



