A VISIT TO AS PERN AND WAGRAM. 
607 
cannonade all along tlie front of the plateau. Under cover of this fire 
Oudinofc's corps was brought up and directed to attack Baumersdorf, 
while Eugene advanced on the east of Wagram, and Bernadotte with 
the Saxons supported him between Aderklaa and the other side of that 
village. Davoufc's corps on the right threatened the Austrian left at 
Neusiedel. The slightly elevated ground on which the Austrians were 
placed forms almost an ideal artillery position, and gave the fullest effect 
to the fire the/ poured on the French batteries and columns in their 
front. The Russbach, as I have explained, forms, and doubtless then 
formed, a far more serious obstacle than might have been expected, and 
detained the attack under fire at precisely the range most calulated to 
give effect to the artillery fire of that period. Oudinot found it 
impossible to make any way in the face of the obstinate resistance he 
encountered, and led his troops several times to the attack of Baumers¬ 
dorf without success. 
Near Wagram, what are often called “the heights” 1 in descriptions 
of this battle, have really diminished to a gentle rise, and the passage 
of the Russbach is by no means so difficult as lower down. Eugene, 
therefore, found his task less arduous, did succeed in forcing his way 
through the Austrian line, and, in spite of being unable to get his guns 
across the stream to support his infantry, he did drive the enemy's first 
line in some confusion from the crest of their position. But his advance 
occurring at the moment when Oudinot, who should have covered his 
right flank, was driven back, was exposed dangerously to a counter¬ 
stroke from the enemy, and the Archduke was not slow to seize the 
happy moment. Hohenzollern's cavalry was launched at Eugene's 
right, while Bellegarde's corps, which formed the second line, held them 
firmly back in front. The French at first checked, soon began to waver, 
and finally retreated with a haste that eventually became confusion 
down the slope they had so proudly mounted just before, and scrambled 
across the Russbach in a hurried rout. But the disaster did not end 
here. Bernadotte's troops, who had succeeded in partially occupying 
Wagram, and were advancing to the support of their comrades, mistook 
the fugitives for enemies, fired upon them, and then, borne down by 
the rush of friend and foe which was surging on them from the front, 
broke and fled panic-stricken to the rear. Meanwhile, the shades of 
night rapidly closing in, if they added to the French discomfiture, con¬ 
tributed not a little to their salvation. The growing darkness prevented 
the Archduke from following up his success, hid its true extent from 
him, and the Austrians were recalled to their previous positions, while 
the French lay down to rest on the fields round Raasdorf. 
Both sides passed the night in preparation for the decisive battle 
which must be fought on the morrow, and in Vienna, only a few miles 
distant, the events of the next few hours must have been awaited with 
feverish anxiety. From the tower of the Stephan's Kirche in that city 
1 Similarly we read of “ the heights” of St. Privat and Tronville to describe comparatively slight 
eminences on the fields of Gravelotte and Vionville. It seems as though a tendency towards 
inflation characterises the language of war. Squadrons ai’e frequently “hurled,” battalions are 
“ overset,” armies are “rolled up,” bullets “hail,” and lead in future is to be even “pumped.” The 
enemy often fights for several hours with “ desperate courage,” yet succeeds in injuring but a 
very few.— E.S.M. 
