ACHIEVEMENTS OP FIELD ARTILLERY. 
521 
but the Archduke was beforehand with him, and assailed his right at 
Glinzendorf ere he could move. 
The battle which now ensued is one in which the incidents succeed 
one another with bewildering rapidity, and fortune appears to favour 
both sides alternately throughout the day. While the French were 
winning at one end of their long line they were being beaten at another, 
and when victory seemed more than once within grasp of the Austrians, 
their chance appeared suddenly to melt away. As we regard the combat 
from the artillerist’s point of view alone, we can only take a very brief 
survey of its incidents, but one or two features stand out distinctly and 
must not be passed over. 
In the first place this is one of the greatest fights, measured by the 
numbers engaged, which has ever taken place. The French force has 
been differently stated by various authors, but was probably not less 
than 150,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, and 600 field guns. The 
Austrians were considerably weaker in number, and mustered perhaps 
140,000 men, but were supported by a very powerful artillery, too. 
Then, again, on this day an unexampled use was made of guns, and 
Marbot says in his Memoirs that at the commencement of the fight on 
the 6th, 1200 pieces were in action on both sides, and that such a 
tremendous artillery combat had never before been witnessed. Finally, 
the fact that these vast hosts were locked in a death struggle within 
sight of the towers and steeples of Vienna, from which the straining 
eyes of the inhabitants watched with painful interest the lines of smoke, 
gives a dramatic air to the combat, such as none other save perhaps 
Waterloo possesses. 
The Austrian attack on his right took Napoleon, who was near 
Raasdorf with the guard and reserve cavalry, by surprise, but he 
hurried up his guard and a strong force of artillery to support Davout, 
whose corps was on the threatened flank, and the Austrians were 
brought to a stand-still principally, Marbot says, by the fire of these 
guns. Hardly, however, was the danger over on his right ere Napoleon’s 
attention was rudely drawn to his centre and left. 
He had intended to commence the fight on the 6th by assailing the 
Austrian centre and left. Massena had been brought, therefore, from 
Aspern towards Aderklaa, and the corps of Oudinot, Eugene, Berna- 
dotte, and Marmont were all drawn up between Davout, on the extreme 
right, and that village. Thus the French left had been unduly 
weakened. 
While the Austrian left were pressing forward at Glinzendorf, 
Bellegarde in their centre also advanced to Aderklaa, and pushed 
Bernadotte roughly out of the village. Klenau and Kollowrath, on the 
Austrian right, likewise took the offensive towards Breitenlee and 
Aspern, and were soon threatening the French flank and rear in a very 
dangerous manner at the spot where the removal of Massena rendered 
their line particularly weak. Meanwhile that Marshal had sent one of 
his divisions, under St. Cyr, against Aderklaa, and the Frenchmen, pene¬ 
trating rashly beyond it, and getting somewhat out of hand, had come 
under a heavy artillery fire from near Wagram, had been charged in 
flank by the Austrian cavalry and, becoming demoralised, had broken 
and fallen back in confusion to the village. The Archduke eagerly 
