Marengo and Hohenlinden by James R. Arnold

Author:James R. Arnold
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2005-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

Frimont’s men marched across a series of ditches and advanced against the Pietrabuona farm. The startled French fired a shaky volley and withdrew. This served as a signal for the Austrian artillery to open fire. The bombardment caught the soldiers of the 101st Demi-brigade still in their bivouacs. As the French scrambled into battle formation, Frimont’s men pressed forward along the highway until staggered by battalion volleys delivered from Gardanne’s infantry. They fell back and spent the next thirty minutes deploying into line. This gave Gardanne invaluable time to organize a defense. Meanwhile, O’Reilly – who, recall, had responsibility to protect the Austrian right flank and was not charged with capturing Marengo – deployed his men (2,228 infantry; 769 cavalry) so that their rightmost files touched the willows that bordered the Bormida River. During his deployment, his two batteries continued to savage the French position some 500 paces northwest of Marengo. Austrian batteries positioned across the Bormida added their fire whenever a target became unmasked. It was a killing bombardment to which the French had no answer. Because of the delay at Fort Bard, the army had never received sufficient artillery. Gardanne’s division possessed only two artillery pieces. The only reasons the Austrians did not immediately bowl over Gardanne’s men were the difficulty of moving out from the bridgehead – it took until 8:30 a.m. for the entire Austrian force simply to cross the Bormida River – and the constricted, half-mile long front that prevented Melas from using his overwhelming numerical advantage.

Displaying admirable battlefield judgement, Victor reacted quickly to the surprise Austrian assault. He ordered Gardanne to stand fast to absorb the initial shock. By delaying the enemy onslaught, Gardanne would buy time to allow Chambarlhac’s division (6,564 infantry) to move forward and deploy behind Marengo. Duvigneau’s cavalry brigade, which was without the 6th Dragoon Regiment, was the closest mounted support. Unbeknownst to Victor, the brigade was also without its leader. Eight years earlier, Bernard Duvigneau had received a grievous wound at Valmy. Although this earned him a battlefield promotion, it also gave him a shocking introduction to the perils of combat. The next time he was under fire he was wounded again. Marengo was his third battle and the memory of what had happened twice before unmanned him. Pleading illness – in fact he had suffered a severe fall from his horse the previous evening while inspecting his picket line – Duvigneau fled the field. Victor personally took charge and ordered Duvigneau’s 8th Dragoons to move to protect Gardanne’s left flank. Then Victor scrawled a hasty note reporting the Habsburg attack and dispatched a cavalry captain to convey it to Bonaparte. It was 8 a.m.

Obeying Victor’s orders, Gardanne spread his division’s men from near the Pietrabuona farm to a convenient bend in the Bormida River. This was such a narrow front that the Austrians could attack with a deployed line of only some 4,300 men. Around 9 a.m. came the first serious assault. The French line fired platoon volleys that repelled the initial Austrian charges.

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