522 
ACHIEVEMENTS OF FIELD ARTILLERY. 
availed himself of the opportunity thus offered him, headed his troops 
in person, and so vigorously followed up the success that he drove his 
assailants, not only out of the village, but some distance beyond it. 
Napoleon marked what had happened from a distance, and with 
quick decision hastened to retrieve the disaster. He hurried Druot 
forward with four Horse Artillery batteries of the guard to check the 
forward rush of the enemy, the remainiug six Field Batteries followed 
as fast as they could, and soon a great line of about 100 guns was 
drawn across the breech in the French line and held the enemy at bay. 1 
The part played here by these guns was of the first importance, and 
affords an excellent illustration of the power of the arm on the defensive, 
although later on, as we shall see, how they were to be thrown into the 
scale again with even more marked effect in the attack. 
Perceiving that the moment was not yet ripe for his great blow, 
Napoleon sent Massena to stem the Austrian inroad on his left, while 
Davout was ordered to turn the enemy’s flank at Neusiedel. The 
Austrian right meanwhile had also, however, to experience the power 
of artillery, for in their brilliant advance near the river they had 
exposed their right to the fire of the heavy artillery which, as has 
already been stated, Napoleon had placed in the Lobau. The flanking 
fire of these guns materially checked the enemy’s progress, and, combined 
with the efforts of Massena, brought him to a stand-still Meanwhile 
Napoleon rode up and down the fire-swept angle of his line near Ader- 
klaa, and ever and again cast an anxious eye at the tower of 
Neusiedel which juts out from the plateau of Wagram away to the east. 
He had determined to wait for the success of Davout’s turning move¬ 
ment ere he delivered his great attack on the enemy’s centre, and all 
now depended on the hero of Auerstadt. 
The various accounts all agree in praising the coolness and presence 
of mind displayed by Napoleon at this juncture. The sound of the 
cannon in their rear near the Danube, had disquieted the minds of 
soldiers and staff officers alike, and, unable to fathom the Emperor’s 
intentions, they kept drawing his notice to what appeared to them a 
most critical situation. He rode up and down in silence, and paid but 
little attention to the murmurs and remarks that began to be heard 
about him. Massena, having gained an advantage over the Austrian 
right with the help of the artillery from the Lobau, sent Marbot, as he 
tells us in his Memoirs, to beg the Emperor to let him make a counter¬ 
attack. But the Emperor, intent on watching for a sign of Davout’s 
progress, paid no attention to the message. 
Suddenly he was all animation. The smoke of Davout’s guns had 
clearly rolled beyond the tower of Neusiedel. He turned to Marbot. 
“ Go, tell Massena to fall on everything before him, and the battle is 
won!” Then he called to Lauriston, “Take 100 guns, 60 of which 
will be from my guard, and go and crush the enemy!” The great 
1 Jomini, in his “Precis de Part de la guerre,” says “ Cependant on a vu, a "Wagram, Napoleon 
jeter une batterie de 100 pieces dans la trouee occasionnee a sa ligne pars le depart du corps de 
Mass6na, et contenir ainsi tout Peffort du centre des Autrichiens; mais il serait bien difficile 
d’eriger en maxime un pared emploi de Partillerie.” In spite of the dictum of the great strategist, 
however, we shall, in the campaign of 1870, find the example set at Wagram successfully repeated 
on more than one occassion, 
