606 
A VISIT TO ASPERN AND WAGRAM. 
of Wagram, Bauinersdorf (now called Pabersdorf), and Neusiedel. Its 
width varies from twenty to thirty feet, and, therefore, unless its length 
had been carefully reconnoitred, it would not appear to form an obstacle 
to the passage of mounted men. When reading accounts of the battle, 
which state that cavalry, who can usually ford a greater depth than 
infantry, could only pass it at the bridges, it was not quite understood 
why infantry could do so anywhere. The difficulty was easily explained, 
however, when I came to see the ground, for to prevent the swollen 
waters from flooding the level plain on either side in wet weather the 
banks had been steeply embanked. In some places the stream even 
flowed in several artificial channels thus protected, which foot soldiers 
might climb through easily enough, but which would prove impassable 
to guns and horses. 
On the left of the Austrian position at the eastern angle of this 
plateau stands a strong stone two-storied building, with a high and 
massive round tower at one end, sometimes spoken of as a wind-mill, 
but which was once an old watch tower erected by some Warden of 
the Marches to check the inroads of hostile tribes ages ago. 
About a hundred yards in front of this tower and on the plain 
immediately below lies Margraf Neusiedel, a small village of two-storied 
houses with slated roofs. Half way between it and Wagram we come 
upon Pabersdorf, known in all accounts of the battle as Baumersdorf, 
a little straggling village stretching along the various channels of the 
Russbach, and two or three hundred yards in front of the crest of the 
plateau. The Austrian left wing was, therefore, exceptionally strongly 
placed, but no natural features protected their line elsewhere, and the 
level and unbroken surface of the plain allowed an inroad to be made 
upon them at any point. From what I have said it will be evident that 
their front was unduly extended, and that to occupy so wide a sweep 
of country with the troops at their disposal must render the line of 
resistance weak throughout. 
As the day went on the French advanced, spreading out in an arc 
concentric to the Austrian front, and their opponents fell slowly back 
before them, or advanced from their positions in rear on the Bisamberg 
to take up the ground they were now forced to fight upon. At 6 
o'clock in the evening the French left was at Aspern, the centre at 
Raasdorf, and the right round Glinzendorf. 
Napoleon having learnt that the Archduke John was still separated 
from his brother, and seeing that the extension of the Austrian line, 
placed their left beyond the reach of timely support from their right, 
determined to make a bold effort, notwithstanding the lateness of the 
hour, against their centre at Wagram. A sharp, swift blow delivered 
now might sever the Austrian army in two, and paralyse it from the 
outset. 
The Austrians had at this time about sixty thousand men between 
Wagram and Neusiedel, under Hohenzollern, Bellegarde, and Rosen¬ 
berg, while Napoleon had grouped in his centre a force greatly superior 
and numbering something like a hundred thousand men. In spite of 
the strength of the Austrian position his superiority, therefore, might 
enable him to gain the advantage, and he at once opened a heavy 
