Worlds Best Histories - France, vol 7 | Page 9

Masséna
to reserve it for them. The last food was used up; on the 3rd of June the
general consented to receive the flag of truce. He asked for, and
obtained, the honors of war; the army was authorized to depart from
Genoa with arms and baggage, flags displayed, and free to direct its
course towards the corps of General Suchet. "Without that I should
issue arms in hand, and it should be seen what eight thousand famished
men could do." War and famine had reduced to this number the soldiers
in condition to carry arms. After their cure, the sick, who filled the
hospitals, were to be sent to the quarters of General Suchet. Masséna
defended the interests of the Genoese, and asked in their favor for a
free government. The Austrian generals refused to make any
engagement. "In less than a fortnight I shall be back again in Genoa,"
declared the French general. "You will find there the men whom you
have taught how to defend it," replied St. Julien, one of the
plenipotentiaries. General Soult remained in the place, seriously
wounded. Masséna brought his exhausted troops to the Var. In the
depths of their souls, generals and soldiers cherished a bitter resentment
for the manner in which they had been abandoned. When the Austrian
troops, beaten by Suchet, had retired towards Alessandria, Masséna did
not allow him to pursue them; he contented himself with guarding the
gates of France.
Bonaparte had just quitted Stradella, which he had occupied after
leaving Milan. He had been obliged to disperse his forces, in order to
cut off all the passages open to the enemy. When he entered, on June
13th, the plain that extends between the Scrivia and the Bormida, near
the little village of Marengo, he was badly instructed as regards the

movements of the enemy, as well as the resources of the country. On
the morning of the 14th, General Mélas, constrained by necessity,
evacuated Alessandria, and, passing the Bormida upon three bridges,
attacked General Victor before Marengo. Lannes was at the same time
surrounded on every side, and obliged to retreat in spite of prodigies of
courage. Marengo had been destroyed by the artillery of the enemy,
when Bonaparte arrived upon the field of battle with his guard and his
staff officers, at once drawing upon himself the brunt of the fight.
Meanwhile the retreat continued; the army seemed about to be cut in
two; the Austrian general, old and fatigued, believing himself assured
of victory, re-entered Alessandria. It was now three o'clock, and
Bonaparte still hoped and kept on fighting. He despatched an
aide-de-camp to Desaix, returned from Egypt two days before, and
whom he had detached in the direction of Novi; upon his return
depended the fortune of the day. Desaix had divined this, and
forestalled the message of Bonaparte; before he could be expected he
was beside the general, who questioned him as to the aspect of affairs.
"Well," said Desaix, after having rapidly examined the situation of the
different corps, "it is a lost battle; but it is not late; we have time to gain
another." His regiments were forming whilst he spoke, stopping the
march of the Austrians. "My friends," said the First Consul to the
reanimated soldiers, "remember that it is my custom to sleep upon the
field of battle."
At the same moment Desaix advanced at the heads of his troops. "Go
and tell the First Consul that I am about to charge," said he to his
aide-de- camp, Savary; "I need to be supported by cavalry." He was
crossing an undulation in the ground when a ball struck him in the
breast; from daybreak he had been oppressed by gloomy presentiments.
"I have been too long making war in Africa," said he; "the bullets of
Europe know me no longer." On falling he said to General Boudet,
"Conceal my death; it might unsettle the troops." The soldiers had
perceived it and rushed forward to avenge him. Kellermann arrived at
the same instant, urged forward by one of those sudden inspirations
which mark great generals; hurling his dragoons upon the Austrian
cavalry, which he broke through, he attacked the column of grenadiers
which arduously sustained the assault of the division of Desaix. Their

ranks fell into disorder; one entire corps threw down its arms. General
Zach, entrusted with the command in the absence of Mélas, was forced
to give up his sword. When the old general hurried up in agitation, the
battle was lost. The Austrian troops, repulsed and routed, and crowded
against the banks of the Bormida, blocked up all the bridges, or cast
themselves into the river, everywhere pursued by the victorious French.
The cannon, which stuck fast in the Bormida, fell into the hands of the
conquerors. The staff