The Russians, seeing the ground covered with snow and hardened by some sharp frosts, thought that the severe weather would give the men of the North an advantage over the Southerners, little accustomed to endure great cold. Consequently they resolved to attack us, and to this end they caused the greater part of their troops, who were posted face of ours before Warsaw, to pass in rear of the vast forests which separated them from us, and marched them towards the Lower Vistula upon the cantonments of Bernadotte and Ney, hoping to surprise and crush them before the Emperor with the other corps could come to their support. But Bernadotte and Ney offered a valiant resistance, and Napoleon, warned in time, marched with a considerable force on the enemy's rear, who, threatened with being cut off from his base, retreated towards Königsberg. We had then, on February 1, to leave our comfortable cantonments, and again begin fighting and sleeping on the snow.

At the head of the centre column, commanded by the Emperor in person, marched Prince Murat's cavalry, then Soult's corps, supported by Augereau's; the Imperial Guard brought up the rear. Davout's corps marched on the right flank of the column, Ney's on the left. Such a body of troops making for the same point would soon exhaust the supplies which the country could furnish, and we suffered much from hunger; the Guard alone, having wagons, carried with it the means of providing rations. The other corps lived how they could—that is to say, they got scarcely anything.

There is little need for me to give many details of the affairs preceding the battle of Eylau, the more so that Augereau's troops, who formed the second line, took no part in them. The most important were those at Mohrungen, Bergfried, Guttstadt, and Waltersdorf. At length, on February 6, the Russians, whom we had pursued for eight days at the sword's point, resolved to halt and show firm front before the little town of Landsberg. They placed eight picked battalions in an excellent position near Hoff, their right resting on that village, their left on a thick wood, their centre covered by a deep and thick ravine, which could only be crossed by a very narrow bridge. The front of the line was defended by eight guns.

The Emperor, arriving with Murat's cavalry in front of this position, thought it better not to wait for Soult and the infantry, who were still some leagues to the rear, and ordered an attack to be made by several regiments of light cavalry. They crossed the ravine by the bridge, but were overwhelmed by volleys of musketry and grape, and driven back in disorder into the ravine, whence they made their escape with much difficulty. Seeing that the efforts of the light cavalry were useless, the Emperor ordered forward a division of dragoons. Their attack was met in the same way, and had no better success. Then Napoleon ordered forward General d'Hautpoul's formidable cuirassiers, who, crossing the bridge and the ravine under a hail of bullets, fell upon the Russian line with such swiftness that they literally laid it flat. The slaughter was fearful; the cuirassiers, furious at the losses sustained by their comrades of the hussars and dragoons, nearly exterminated the eight Russian battalions; all were killed or taken prisoners. The field of battle was a horrible sight. Never was a cavalry charge so completely successful. To testify his satisfaction with the cuirassiers, the Emperor embraced their general in presence of the whole division. D'Hautpoul exclaimed, 'The only way to show myself worthy of such an honour is to get killed in your Majesty's service.' He kept his word, for the next day he died on the battlefield of Eylau. Such were the men of that time.

The enemy's army having witnessed from the high ground behind Landsberg the destruction of its rear guard, retired promptly upon Eylau, and we took possession of Landsberg. On February 7 the Russian commander-in-chief, Bennigsen, having made up his mind to accept battle, concentrated his army round Eylau, especially on the position in rear of that town. Murat's cavalry and Soult's infantry captured the first position, but only after an obstinate fight, for the Russians thought it important to hold Ziegelhof, a point which commands Eylau, with the view of making it the centre of their line for the morrow's battle. They were, however, compelled to evacuate the town. Just as it began to seem as though night would put an end to this prelude to a general action, a brisk fusillade broke out in the streets of Eylau.

I know that some military writers on this campaign assert that the Emperor, not wishing to leave the town in possession of the Russians, gave orders to attack it. I am sure that this is a very great mistake, and I base my assertion on the following facts. At the moment when the head of Marshal Augereau's column, coming up by the road from Landsberg, was approaching Ziegelhof, the marshal reached the summit of the plateau, where the Emperor already was, and I heard Napoleon say to him, 'They wanted me to carry Eylau this evening, but I do not like night fighting; and besides, I do not wish to push my centre too far forward before Davout has come up with the right wing and Ney with the left. I shall await them therefore till to-morrow on this high ground, which can be defended by artillery, and offers an excellent position for our infantry; and when Ney and Davout are in line we can march simultaneously on the enemy.' After saying this Napoleon gave orders for his bivouac to be arranged below Ziegelhof, and made his Guard encamp all round. But while the Emperor was thus explaining his plans to Marshal Augereau, who highly approved his prudence, the following events were taking place. The Imperial quartermasters, coming from Landsberg with their baggage and servants, had reached our advanced posts at the entrance of Eylau without anyone having told them to halt near Ziegelhof. These officials, who were accustomed to see the Imperial quarters always well guarded, and had not been warned that they were within a few paces of the Russians, thought only of choosing a good lodging for their master, and established themselves in the post-house, where they unpacked their apparatus, and set to work cooking, and stabling their horses. But in the midst of their preparations they were attacked by an enemy's patrol, and would have been captured but for the aid of the detachment of the Guard which always accompanied the Emperor's outfit. At the sound of the firing the troops of Marshal Soult, who were posted at the gates of the town, ran up to the rescue of Napoleon's baggage, and found the Russian troops already plundering it. The enemy's generals, thinking that the French wished to take possession of Eylau, sent up reinforcements on their side, so that a bloody engagement took place in the streets of the town, which finally remained in our hands.

Though the attack had not been made by the Emperor' s orders, he did not refuse to profit by it, and established himself accordingly in the posting-house at Eylau. His Guard and Soult's corps occupied the town, while Murat's cavalry was stationed round it. Augereau's troops were quartered in the little hamlet of Zehen. We had hoped to find some supplies there; but the Russians had plundered everything in their retreat, and our unlucky regiments, who had received no rations for a week, found no better comfort than potatoes and water. The store-wagons of the staff having been left at Landsberg, our supper was even less satisfactory than that of the men, for we could not get any potatoes. At eight in the morning, just as we were about to mount and advance, a servant brought a loaf to the marshal, who, with his usual kindness, shared it with his aides-de-camp. After this frugal meal—the last, as it turned out, which many of us ate—the corps proceeded to take up the position which the Emperor had assigned it.

In conformity with the plan of these Memoirs, I shall not give a detailed account of the battle of Eylau, but confine myself to relating the chief incidents. On the morning of February 8 the position of the armies was as follows. The Russian left was at Serpallen, their centre in front of Auklapen, their right at Schmoditten. They awaited 8,000 Prussians who were to debouch by Althoff, and form the extreme right. The front of the enemy's line was covered by 500 guns, a third at least of large calibre. The French were far less favourably situated, since the wings had not come up, and the Emperor had therefore to go into action with only a portion of the troops on which he had reckoned. Soult's corps was placed at right and left of Eylau, the Guard in the town, and Augereau's corps between Rothenen and Eylau, fronting towards Serpallen. The enemy thus formed a semicircle, outflanking us, and the two forces occupied ground in which were numerous ponds, which, however, were covered by the snow. Neither side, therefore, noticed them, nor fired ricochet shots to break the ice. If they had, there would have been a second Satschan disaster. 1

Marshal Davout, who was expected on our right, towards Molwitten, and Marshal Ney, who was to form our left, on the side of Althoff, had not appeared when, soon after sunrise, about eight o'clock, the Russians began the attack by a violent cannonade. Our artillery, though inferior in numbers, replied; and all the more successfully that our gunners, who were by far the better trained, had masses of unsheltered men to aim at, while most of the Russian shot struck the walls of Rothenen and Eylau. Soon the enemy sent forward a strong column to carry the latter place; but it was smartly repulsed by the Guard and Soult's division. At the same moment the Emperor heard with joy that from the top of the church tower Davout's corps could be seen advancing. He came by Molwitten, and marching on Serpallen, drove in the Russian left, pushing them back to Klein Sausgarten.

Marshal Bennigsen, seeing his left beaten and his rear threatened by the bold Davout, resolved to crush him by superior force. Then Napoleon, in order to hinder this movement by a diversion against the enemy's centre, ordered Augereau to attack, though foreseeing that the operation would be difficult. But circumstances arise in battle in which some troops must be sacrificed to secure the safety and victory of the greater part. General Corbineau, the Emperor's aide-de-camp, was killed at our side by a cannon-ball, when bringing Augereau the order to advance. The marshal, passing with his two divisions between Eylau and Rothenen, proceeded boldly against the enemy's centre; and the 14th, our leading regiment, had already captured the position which the Emperor had given orders to carry and hold at all costs, when the heavy guns which were in a semicircle round Augereau belched forth such a hail of grape and canister as had never been seen within human memory. In one instant our two divisions were rent to pieces by the storm of iron. General Desjardins was killed, General Heudelet dangerously wounded. Still they held their ground, until the army corps being almost entirely destroyed, its fragments had perforce to be recalled to the neighbourhood of the cemetery of Eylau; always excepting the 14th, who, wholly surrounded by the enemy, remained on the little hill which it had occupied. Our position was all the more grievous since a violent wind dashed the thickly-falling snow into our faces. It was impossible to see more than fifteen paces off, so that several French batteries fired upon us as well as those of the enemy. Marshal Augereau was wounded by a grape-shot.

Still the devotion of the 7th corps had produced a good effect, for not only had Davout, relieved by our attack, been able to hold his positions, but, further, he had captured Klein Sausgarten, and even pushed his advance-guard as far as Kuschitten, in rear of the enemy. At this moment the Emperor, wishing to strike the final blow, ordered Murat with ninety squadrons to advance between Eylau and Rothenen. The terrible weight of this mass broke the Russian centre, upon which it charged with the sabre, and threw it into complete disorder. The brave General d'Hautpoul was killed at the head of his cuirassiers, so also was General Dahlmann, who had succeeded General Morland in the command of the chasseurs of the guard.

The success of our cavalry made victory certain. In vain did 8,000 Prussians, who had escaped Ney's pursuit, advancing by way of Althoff, attempt a new attack. They bore (it is hard to say why) on Kuschitten, instead of marching on Eylau. Davout beat them back, and the arrival of Ney's corps, which appeared towards evening at Schmoditten, making Bennigsen fear that his communications might be cut, he gave orders for a retreat on Königsberg, leaving the French masters of that frightful battlefield covered with dying men and corpses. Never since the invention of gunpowder had its effects been so terrible. Of all battles, ancient or modern, Eylau was that in which the proportion of loss to combatants was greatest. The Russians had 25,000 men disabled, and although the number of French who were touched by steel or lead was reported at 10,000 only, I estimate them as at least 20,000. The total for the two armies was thus 45,000 men, of whom more than half died. Augereau's corps was almost entirely destroyed, since of 15,000 combatants present under arms when the action began, there remained in the evening only 3,000, commanded by Lieutenant-colonel Massy, the Marshal, all the generals, and all the colonels having being killed or wounded.

It is difficult to understand why Bennigsen, knowing that Davout and Ney had not yet come up, did not profit by their absence to attack the town of Eylau at daybreak with his powerful centre, instead of wasting precious time in a cannonade. For his superior force would certainly have made him master of the town before Davout could come up, and then the Emperor would have been sorry that he advanced so far, instead of entrenching himself on the plateau of Ziegelhof, and there awaiting his wings as he had originally intended. The day after the battle he gave orders for a pursuit as far as the gates of Königsberg, but as the town was fortified it was not thought prudent to attack it with weakened forces, the more so that almost all the Russian army was in and about the place. Napoleon passed several days at Eylau to restore the wounded and reorganise the armies. Augereau's corps having been almost destroyed, what was left of it was distributed among the other corps, and the marshal obtained leave to return to France to get cured of his wound. The Emperor, seeing that the main Russian army was at a distance, 2cantoned his troops in the towns and villages on the east side of the Lower Vistula. The only thing that happened during the rest of the winter was the capture of Dantzig by the French. 3Hostilities in the open did not recommence till the month of June, as we shall see in due course.