390 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



By means of fire-ships sent down 

 the Danube, the archduke had 

 caused the enemy's bridge on the 

 Lobau to be broken down, and its 

 repairs would take up several hours. 

 Meanwhile Napoleon had already 

 in the evening been joined by the 

 corps of general Oudinot; and all 

 the disposable troops followed from 

 Vienna and the Upper Danube, 

 and were transported across the 

 river in vessels as fast as they ar- 

 rived. The archduke, on his part, 

 ordered the grenadier corps, which 

 had not any share in the first en- 

 gagement, to advance from its posi- 

 tion near Gerasdorf to Breitenlee ; 

 and the short night was scarcely 

 sufficient to complete the respective 

 preparations for the commence- 

 ment of a second tragedy. 

 Buttle of the '22nd of May.— Corps 

 of lieutenant-general Hiller. 

 With the morning's dawn the 

 enemy renewed his attacks, which 

 far surpassed in impetuosity those 

 of the preceding day. It was a 

 conflict of valour and mutual ex- 

 asperation. Scarcelyhad the French 

 guards compelled general Vacquant 

 to abandon Aspern, when the regi- 

 ment of Klebek again penetrated 

 into the burning village, droveback 

 the choicest troops of the enemy, 

 and engaged in a new contest in the 

 midst of the conflagration, till, at 

 the expiration of an hour, it was 

 also obliged to give way.' 

 The regiment of Benjovsky now 

 rushed in, and at the first onset 

 gained possession of the church- 

 yard, the walls of which field- 

 marshal-lieutenant Hiller imme- 

 diately ordered the first divi- 

 sion of pioneers to pull down, and 

 the church, together with the par- 

 sonage, to be set on fire. Thus 

 was this regiment, supported by 



some battalions, commandedby ge- 

 neral Bianchi, at length enabled to 

 maintain itself at the entrance of 

 the village, after overcoming the re- 

 sistance, bordering on despair, op- 

 posed by the flower of the French 

 army. — Neither could the enemy 

 produce any farther effect upon the 

 bushy meadow, after lieut.-general 

 Hiller had ordered the force there 

 to be supported by two battalions 

 of Anton Mittrowsky's and a bat- 

 tery ; on which the Jagers, St. 

 George's, and two battalions of 

 Vienna volunteers, drove him from 

 his advantageous position, which 

 he never afterwards attempted to 

 recover. — At about this time the 

 left wing of the corps was likewise 

 placed in security by three batteries 

 sent by the lieutenant-general to 

 support the general of cavalry, 

 count Bellegarde, and the latter 

 maintained his ground against the 

 most desperate attacks of the ene- 

 my. The lieutenant-general Hiller 

 kept his position on the left flank 

 of the enemy, and the victory was 

 decided in this quarter. The corps 

 was therefore again formed in two 

 lines, and thus awaited the ap- 

 proaching events. 

 Corps of the General of Cavalry, 

 Count Bellegarde. 

 Count Bellegarde having receiv- 

 ed a message from general Vac- 

 quant, that the enemy was assem- 

 bling in force before Aspern, to- 

 wards the bushy meadows, and ap- 

 parently had in view an assault 

 upon that point, was just going to 

 throw a few battalions of Argen- 

 teu's into Aspern, when the enemy, 

 in heavy columns of infantry and 

 cavalry, supported by a numerous 

 artillery, began to advance upon 

 the center of the corps in the plain. 

 —The troops stationed at Aspern, 

 > exhausted 



