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380 



A HISTORY OF CAVALRY. 



[period IV. 



sixteen Austrian guns was captured by a charge of 

 Bavarian horsemen. In the retreat towards Ratisbon at 

 the conclusion of the battle, tlie Austrian cuirassiers and 

 hussars were drawn up in front of Egolfsheim, to cover 

 the retreat of their infantry and artillery. The French 

 columns were obliged to halt until their cavalry came up 

 to support an engagement. The Austrians charged first, 

 and we find the practice of firing while mounted again 

 showing itself. The cuirassiers of Nansouty and St. 

 Sulpice received the enemy with a discharge of firearms, 

 followed by an attack at the gallop, which threw back 

 the Austrians upon their reserves. These charged again, 

 and the whole force mingle^l together, swayed l)ackwards 

 and forwards, in a desperate hand-to-hand struggle, in 

 which the noise of steel clashing against steel, of sword 

 blades ringing upon casque and cuirass, raised a din 

 above the other sounds of battle. The sun set and the 

 moon arose before the loud clang arising from the melee 

 had ceased. The Austrian cuirassiers, armed only with 

 breastplates, fought at a disadvantage with the French 

 horsemen, who were protected all around. After fearful 

 losses they w^ere obliged to give way, and the struggle 

 settled definitely the superiority of Napoleon's cavalry.^ 



At Wagram the cavalry made many charges on both 

 sides. The Austrian cuirassiers, charofing in flank the 

 infantry of Massena, just as they were disordered by a 

 successful attack upon the village of Aderklau, drove 

 them back, and put almost the whole of Massena's corps 

 into confusion, which the mo.st desperate efibrtfi of 

 Napoleon himself, with large reinforcements, alone cor Id 

 repair. The cuirassiers of St. Sulpice, by repealed 

 charges, checked the advance of the threatening columns 

 of the enemy's infantry, and under cover of the cavalry 

 and artillery the French lines were soon re-formed. 



Heavy cavalry fightin^<3 took place on the French right, 

 where Davoust was turning the Austrian left, but these 

 combats contain no feature of special interest. They 

 serve as a further illustration, however, of the effect of 

 fresh reserves thrown into a cavalry action. The French 



' Alison, iii. 189. 



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