The Emperor could not, however, march on to Vienna until Ratisbon was retaken, otherwise, as soon as he had moved forward, the archduke would have crossed the Danube by the bridge, and, bringing his army back to the right bank, would have attacked us in rear. We had then, at all costs, to take possession of the place. Marshal Lannes was charged with this difficult duty. The enemy had 6,000 men in Ratisbon, whom they could reinforce to any extent by help of the bridge; many guns were in position on the ramparts, and the parapet was garnished with infantry. The fortifications of Ratisbon were old and bad, the ditches were dry and used as kitchen gardens. Still, although the means of defence were not such as could have resisted a regular siege, the town was in a position—especially as the garrison could communicate with an army of more than 80,000 men—to repel a assault. To get into the place it was necessary to descend a deep ditch with the help of ladders, cross it under fire from the enemy, and scale the rampart, the angles of which were commanded by a flanking fire.

The Emperor, having dismounted, took up his position on a hillock a short cannon-shot from the town. Having noticed near the Straubing gate a house which had imprudently been built against the rampart, he sent forward some twelve-pounders and howitzers, and ordering them to concentrate their fire upon this house, so that its ruins, falling into the ditch, might partially fill it, and form at the foot of the wall an incline by which our troops might mount to the assault. While the artillery was executing this order, Lannes brought Morand's division close up to the promenade which goes round the town; and, in order to shelter his troops from the enemy's fire, up to the last moment he placed them in rear of a large stone store-house, which appeared to have been placed there on purpose to aid our undertaking. Carts laden with ladders taken from the neighbouring villages were brought up to this point, where perfect protection was obtained against the Austrian projectiles. While waiting till everything was ready, Marshal Lannes had gone back to the Emperor to receive his final orders. As they were chatting, a bullet—fired, in all probability, from one of the long-range Tyrolese rifles—struck Napoleon on the right ankle. The pain was at first so sharp that the Emperor had to lean upon Lannes, but Dr. Larrey, who quickly arrived, declared that the wound was trifling. If it had been severe enough to require an operation, the event would certainly have been considered a great misfortune for France; yet it might perhaps have spared her many calamities. However, the report that the Emperor had been wounded spread through the army. Officers and men ran up from all sides; in a moment Napoleon was surrounded by thousands of men, in spite of the fire which the enemy's guns concentrated on the vast group. The Emperor, wishing to withdraw his troops from this useless danger, and to calm the anxiety of the more distant corps, who were getting unsteady in their desire to come and see what was the matter, mounted his horse the instant his wound was dressed, and rode down the front of the whole line, amid loud cheers.

It was at this extempore review held in presence of the enemy that Napoleon first granted gratuities to private soldiers, appointing them knights of the Empire and members, at the same time, of the Legion of Honour. The regimental commanders recommended, but the Emperor also allowed soldiers who thought they had claims to come and represent them before him; then he decided upon them by himself. Now it befell that an old grenadier who had made the campaigns of Italy and Egypt, not hearing his name called, came up, and, in a calm tone of voice, asked for the Cross. 'But,' said Napoleon, 'what have you done to deserve it?' 'It was I, sir, who, in the desert of Joppa, when it was so terribly hot, gave you a water-melon.' ' I thank you for it again; but the gift of the fruit is hardly worth the Cross of the Legion of Honour.' Then the grenadier, who till then had been as cool as ice, working himself up into a frenzy, shouted, with the utmost volubility, 'Well, and don't you reckon seven wounds received at the bridge of Arcola, at Lodi and Castiglione, at the Pyramids, at Acre, Austerlitz, Friedland; eleven campaigns in Italy, Egypt, Austria, Prussia, Poland —' but the Emperor cut him short, laughing, and mimicking his excited manner, cried: "There, there—how you work yourself up when you come to the essential point! That is where you ought to have begun; it is worth much more than your melon. I make you a knight of the Empire, with a pension of 1,200 francs. Does that satisfy you?' 'But, your majesty, I prefer the Cross.' 'You have both one and the other, since I make you knight.' ' Well, I would rather have the Cross.' The worthy grenadier could not be moved from that point, and it took all manner of trouble to make him understand that the title of knight of the Empire carried with it the Legion of Honour. He was not appeased on this point until the Emperor had fastened the decoration on his breast, and he seemed to think a great deal more of this than of his annuity of 1,200 francs. It was by familiarities of this kind that the Emperor made the soldiers adore him, but it was a means that was only available to a commander whom frequent victories had made illustrious; any other general would have injured his reputation by it.

As soon as Lannes gave notice that all was ready for the assault, we returned towards Ratisbon, the Emperor meanwhile going back to his hillock to witness the operations. The various army corps round him awaited events in silence. Our artillery had completely destroyed the house by the rampart, and its fragments falling into the ditch had made a slope practicable enough, but not reaching higher than to ten or twelve feet from the top of the wall; to reach this, therefore, ladders had to be placed on the rubbish no less than to descend into the ditch. On reaching the building, behind which Morand's division were taking shelter from the fire, Lannes called for fifty volunteers to go forward and plant the ladders. Many more than that number came forward, and the number had to be reduced. The brave fellows, led by picked officers, set out with admirable spirit; but they were hardly clear of the building when they met the hail of bullets, and were nearly all laid low. A few only continued to descend into the ditch, where the guns soon disabled them, and the remains of this first column fell back, streaming with blood, to the place where the division was sheltered. Nevertheless at the call of Lannes and Morand, fifty more volunteers appeared, and, seizing the ladders, made for the ditch. No sooner, however, did they show themselves than a still hotter fire nearly annihilated them. Cooled by these two repulses, the troops made no response to the marshal's third call for volunteers. If he had ordered one or more companies to march, they would, no doubt, have obeyed; but he knew well what a difference there is in point of effect between obedience on the soldiers' part and dash; and for the present danger volunteers were much better than troops obeying orders. Vainly, however, did the marshal renew his appeal to the bravest of a brave division; vainly did he call upon them to observe that the eyes of the Emperor and all the Grand Army were on them. A gloomy silence was the only reply, the men being convinced that to pass beyond the walls of the building into the enemy's fire was certain death. At length, Lannes exclaiming, 'Well, I will let you see that I was a grenadier before I was a marshal, and still am one,' seized a ladder, lifted it, and would have carried it towards the breach. His aides-de-camp tried to stop him; he resisted, and got angry with us. I ventured to say, 'Monsieur le Maréchal, you would not wish us to be disgraced, and that we should be if you were to receive the slightest wound in carrying that ladder to the ramparts as long as one of your aides-de-camp was left alive.' Then, in spite of his efforts, I dragged the end of the ladder from him, and put it on my shoulder, while de Viry took the other end, and our comrades by pairs took up other ladders.

At the sight of a marshal disputing with his aides-de-camp for the lead of the assault, a shout of enthusiasm went up from the whole division. Officers and soldiers wished to lead the column, and in their eagerness for this honour they pushed my comrades and me about, trying to get hold of the ladders. If however we had given them up, we should seem to have been playing a comedy to stimulate the troops. The wine had been drawn, and we had to drink it, bitter as it might be. Understanding this, the marshal let us have our way, though fully expecting to see the greater part of his staff exterminated as they marched at the head of this perilous attack.

I have said already that my comrades, although as brave as possible, lacked experience, and more especially what is called military tact. I made, therefore, no demur about taking the command of the little column. The matter was important enough to warrant it, and no one contested my right. Behind the building I organised the detachment which was to follow us. The destruction of the two former columns I ascribed to the imprudence with which their leaders had massed together the soldiers composing them. This arrangement was unsuitable in two ways. First, it gave the enemy the advantage of firing upon a mass instead of upon isolated men, and secondly, our grenadiers, who were laden with ladders, having formed a single group and getting in each other's way, had not been able to move fast enough to get quickly clear of the Austrian fire. I settled, therefore, that de Viry and I, carrying the first ladder, should start off at a run; that the second ladder should follow at twenty paces distant, and the rest in due course; that when we reached the promenade the ladders should be placed five feet apart to avoid confusion; that when we descended into the ditch we should leave every second ladder against the wall towards the promenade so that the troops might follow without delay; that the others should be lifted and carried quickly to the breach, where we should place them only a foot apart, both on account of the want of space and in order that we might reach the top of the rampart close together and push back the besieged when they tried to throw us down. This plan having been expounded and comprehended, the marshal, who approved it, cried, 'Off with you, my boys, and Ratisbon is taken.' At the word, de Viry and I darted out, crossed the promenade at a run, and, lowering our ladder, descended into the ditch. Our comrades followed with fifty grenadiers. In vain did the cannon thunder, the musketry rattle, grape-shot and bullets strike trees and walls. It is very difficult to take aim at isolated individuals moving very fast and twenty paces apart, and we got into the ditch without one man of our little column being wounded. The ladders already indicated were lifted, we carried them to the top of the rubbish from the ruined house, and placing them against the parapet, we ran up them to the rampart. I was first up one of the first ladders, Labédoyère, who was climbing the one beside me, feeling that the lower end of it was not very steadily placed on the rubbish, asked me to give him my hand to steady him, and we both reached the top of the rampart in full view of the Emperor and the whole army, who saluted us with a mighty cheer. It was one of the finest days of my life. De Viry and d'Albuquerque joined us in a moment with the other aides-de-camp and fifty grenadiers and by this time a regiment of Morand's division was coming towards the ditch at the double.

The chances of war are often strange. The two first detachments had been annihilated before reaching the foot of the breach, and yet the third suffered no loss whatever. Only my friend de Viry had a button of his pelisse carried away by a bullet; yet if the enemy on the parapet had had the presence of mind to charge with the bayonet on Labédoyère and me, it is probable that we should have been overwhelmed by their number, and either killed or hurled back into the ditch. But Austrians lose their heads very quickly; the boldness and rapidity of our attack astonished them to such a point that when they saw us swarming over the breach they first slackened their fire and soon ceased firing altogether. Not only did none of their companies march against us, but all went off in the opposite direction to the point which we had just carried.

As I said, the attack took place close to the Straubing gate. Marshal Lannes had ordered me to get it opened or break it down, so that he could enter the town with Morand's division. Accordingly, as soon as I saw my fifty grenadiers on the ramparts, and the head of the supporting regiment already arrived in the ditch, where their passage was secured by a further supply of ladders, I went down into the town without further delay, every moment being precious. We marched steadily towards the Straubing gate, only a hundred paces from the breach, and great was my surprise to find an Austrian battalion massed under the immense archway, all the men facing towards the gate, so as to be ready to defend it if the French broke it in. The major in command, thinking only of the duty which was entrusted him and taking no heed of the noise which he heard on the ramparts close by, was so confident that the French attack would fail that he had not even placed a sentry outside the archway to let him know what was going on, so he was thunderstruck at seeing us come up in his rear.

He had taken up his position behind his men, so that having faced about on seeing us approach, he found himself fronting the little French column, the strength of which he was quite unable to judge, for I had formed it in two squads which rested on the sides of the arch and closed it completely. At their major's cry of surprise, the battalion all faced round, and the rear sections, which had become the front, presented their muskets at us. Our grenadiers also raised theirs, and as only one pace separated the two parties, you may imagine what a horrible massacre would have resulted if a shot had been fired. The situation was very dangerous for both sides, but their greater number gave the Austrians an immense advantage, for if we had opened fire muzzle to muzzle, our little column would have been destroyed as well as the enemy's company which was in front of our muskets. But the rest of the battalion would have been cleared. It was lucky that our adversaries could not tell the weakness of our force, and I hastened to tell the major that as the town had been taken by assault and occupied by our troops, nothing remained for him but to lay down his arms under pain of being put to the sword.

The assured tone in which I spoke intimidated the officer; all the more so that he could hear the tumult produced by the successive arrival of our soldiers who had followed us over the breach, and hastened to form in front of the archway. We harangued his battalion, and, after having explained the situation to them, ordered them to lay down their arms. The companies who were close to our muzzles obeyed, but those who were at the other end of the archway, close to the gate and sheltered from our shot, fell to shouting, refused to surrender, and pushed forward the mass of the battalion till we were nearly upset. The officers, however, succeeded in quieting them, and everything seemed in a fair way to be settled, when the impetuous Labédoyère, impatient at the delay, lost his temper, and was on the point of ruining the whole thing; for, seizing the Austrian major by the throat, he was just about to run him through if the rest had not turned his sword aside. The other side then resumed their arms, and a bloody battle was about to take place, when the gate began to resound on the outside under the powerful blows which the axes of the pioneers of Morand's division, led by Marshal Lannes in person, were delivering upon it. Then the enemy, understanding that they would be between two fires, surrendered, and we made them march disarmed from under the archway towards the town. The gate thus cleared, we opened it to the marshal, whose troops rushed into the place like a torrent.

After complimenting us, the marshal gave the order to march towards the bridge, in order to cut off such of the enemy's regiments as were in Ratisbon, and prevent the Archduke from sending reinforcements. Hardly, however, had we entered the main street when we were threatened by a new danger. Our shells had set several houses on fire, and the fire was on the point of reaching some thirty wagons, which the enemy had abandoned after taking out the horses. If these had caught fire, the passage of our troops would certainly have been hindered, but we hoped to avoid the obstacle by slipping along close to the walls. Suddenly, however, the Austrian major whom I had presented to the marshal cried out in a tone of most profound despair, 'Conquerors and conquered, we are all lost; those wagons are full of powder!' We all turned pale, including the marshal, but, quickly recovering his calm in presence of imminent death, he made the French column take open order, and fire their muskets against the houses, and ordered the soldiers to push the wagons along from hand to hand until they were under the arch and out of the town. He himself set the example, and generals, officers, and men all went to work. The Austrian prisoners worked with the French, for it was a question of life and death with them also. Many pieces of burning wood were already falling on the wagons, and if one of them had taken fire, we should have been all blown up, and the town entirely destroyed. But they worked with such energy that in a few minutes all the powder-wagons were pushed outside the town, whence the prisoners were made to draw them to our main park of artillery.

The tumbrils being safely out of the way, and the danger over, the marshal, with the infantry brigade, advanced to the centre of the town. Having reached this point, and wishing to make the quarters which he had already captured secure against any renewed attack, he followed the Spanish practice and occupied all the windows in the principal streets. After this prudent arrangement, the marshal ordered that the column should continue its route towards the bridge, and ordered me to march at the head and guide it. I obeyed, though it seemed a difficult task, for I had never been in Ratisbon before, and, naturally, did not know the streets.

As the town belonged to our ally, the King of Bavaria, it might have been expected that the inhabitants would be sufficiently devoted to our cause to point out the way to the bridge; but they were too frightened to come out, and we did not see one. All the doors and windows were shut, and we were in too great a hurry to drive them in, for at every cross-road appeared groups of Austrians who retreated firing. The only retreat open to the enemy was across the bridge, and I thought that I might get there by following them, but there was so little concerted action among the Austrians that most of the squads of sharpshooters who were posted in front of us took flight at our approach in different directions. As I was thus lost in the labyrinth of unknown streets, with no idea of the direction that the column should take, suddenly a door opened, and a young woman, pale and with wild eyes, came flying towards us, crying, 'I am French, save me!' It was a Parisian milliner in business at Ratisbon, who, fearing that, as a Frenchwoman, she might be ill-treated by the Austrians, had, as soon as she heard the sound of French voices, come to throw herself headlong into the arms of her compatriots. At sight of her a bright idea flashed into my mind. 'Do you know where the bridge is?' said I. 'Certainly.' 'Show us the way, then.' 'Great Heavens! In the middle of this shooting ? I am frightened to death already, and was going to ask you to let me have some soldiers to defend my house. I am going back this moment.' 'Very sorry, but you will show us the bridge before you go back.

Two men take the lady's arms, and march her along at the head of the column.' This was done, in spite of the tears and cries of our fair compatriot. At every turning I asked her which direction we must take. The nearer we got to the Danube, the more skirmishers we met; the bullets whistled round the frightened milliner's ears, but, not being familiar with the sound, she was much less alarmed at the faint whistle than at the reports of the muskets. But suddenly one of the grenadiers who was supporting her got a bullet through his arm; the blood spurted on to her, her knees gave way, and we had to carry her. What had befallen her neighbour made me more cautious for her, so I put her in rear of the first section, so as to be in some measure sheltered from bullets by the men. At last we reached a little square facing the bridge. The enemy, who held the further end of it, as well as the suburb on the right bank named Stadt-am-Hof, no sooner caught sight of the column than they opened artillery fire. I thought it was useless to expose the lady from Paris any longer, and let her go free. But as the poor woman, who was more dead than alive, knew not where to take shelter, I advised her to enter a little chapel of Our Lady at the further end of the square. She agreed, the grenadiers lifted her over the little grating which closed the entry, and she hastened to get out of reach of shot, crouching down behind the statue of the Virgin, where, I can assure you, she made herself pretty small.

On hearing that we had reached the bank of the river, the marshal came to the head of the column and recognised for himself the impossibility of crossing the bridge, the suburb on the left bank being on fire. While the assault was taking place, six Austrian battalions, posted on the ramparts at some distance from the point of attack, had remained tranquilly looking out to see if anyone was coming from the country. They were roused from their stolid inaction by the sound of firing in the direction of the bridge. Hastening thither, they found their retreat cut off both by us and by the burning suburb, and had to surrender.

The same day the Emperor entered Ratisbon, and ordered the troops who had not fought to assist the inhabitants in getting the fire under; still a great many houses were burnt. After having visited and rewarded the wounded, the glorious remains of the two first columns who had failed in their attempt, Napoleon wished also to see the third column, which had carried Ratisbon under his eyes. He testified his satisfaction, and decorated several. On the marshal reminding him of my old and new claims to the rank of major, Napoleon replied, 'You may consider the thing done.' Then, turning to Berthier, 'Make me sign his commission the first time you bring up any papers.' I could only congratulate myself, I could not reasonably expect the Emperor to suspend his important work that I might have my commission a few days earlier. Indeed, I was almost beside myself at the marks of satisfaction which the Emperor and the marshal had shown towards me, and at the praises which my comrades and I received on all hands.

As you may suppose, before leaving the neighbourhood of the bridge, I had the Paris lady fetched from the chapel and taken to her house by an officer. The marshal, seeing the soldiers helping her to re-cross the grating, asked me how she got there. I told him the story, which he passed on to the Emperor, who laughed a good deal, and said that he should like to see the lady.

Among the many spectators of our attack—which, as I have said, was delivered in full view of the Grand Army—were Marshal Masséna and his staff. One of them, M. Pelet, 1now Director-General of Military Stores, has written in his excellent work on the campaign of 1809: 'Marshal Lannes seized a ladder, and was starting to fix it himself; his aides-de-camp struggled to stop him. At the sight of this generous contest, the mass of our soldiers fell on the ladders, caught them up, and crossed the intervening span, preceded by the aides-de-camp. In the twinkling of an eye the ladders were fixed, the ditch crossed. On the top the first seen to appear, holding each other's hand, were Labédoyère and Marbot; the grenadiers followed. This account of an eye-witness is quite correct; he rightly gives equal credit to my comrade and myself. But the biographer of poor Labédoyère 2has not been so fair. After copying General Pelet's account, he has thought fit to suppress my name and give Labédoyère the sole credit of having been the leader of the assault at Ratisbon. However, I saw no occasion to put him right; and, after all, General Pelet's work establishes the fact, to which 150,000 men could testify.

Ratisbon was taken April 23. The Emperor passed the next two days in the town, ordering all repairs to be done at his cost. As Napoleon, accompanied by Lannes, was going about the streets, I saw the milliner whom I had compelled to act as our guide to the bridge, and pointed her out to the marshal. He showed her to the Emperor, who spoke to her, with many jocose compliments on her courage; and subsequently sent her a handsome ring in memory of the assault. The crowd of soldiers and civilians who were about the Emperor, having made inquiries about the action of this little scene, the facts were somewhat distorted. The lady was represented as a heroine, who of her own accord had faced death to ensure the safety of her compatriots. In this form the tale was told, not only in the army, but throughout Germany. Even General Pelet was misled by the popular report. If the Parisian lady was for a time under fire from the enemy, love of glory had very little to do with it.

During our short stay at Ratisbon, the marshal appointed on his staff Lieutenant de la Bourdonnaye, an intelligent and brave young officer, who had been recommended to him by his father-in-law, M. de Gluéhéneuc. La Bourdonnaye was distressed at missing the assault, but he had plenty more opportunities of showing his courage. A comical adventure befell him in this connection. The dandies in the army had taken to trousers of inordinate width, which looked very well on horseback, but were a great hindrance to walking. During the action at Wels, La Bourdonnaye had been ordered by the marshal to dismount, and run across the bridge with an order for the troops. His spurs caught in his trousers, he fell, and we thought he was killed. But he picked himself up nimbly, and as he started off again, he heard the marshal call out, 'Is it not absurd to go to fight with six yards of cloth about your legs?' La Bourdonnaye wishing, in his first battle under Lannes' eyes, to show his zeal, drew his sword, hacked and tore his trousers off at mid-thigh, and being thus released, set off running bare-kneed. Although we were under fire, the marshal and the staff laughed at the new-fashioned costume till they cried; and when La Bourdonnaye came back, he was complimented on his ready ingenuity.

Leaving a strong garrison in Ratisbon, the Emperor marched on Vienna by the right bank of the Danube, while the enemy followed the left bank in the same direction. I need not relate all the engagements which we had with Austrian forces trying to bar our road. I will only mention that Masséna, whose division had hitherto been held by circumstances aloof from all the fighting, was imprudent enough on May 3 to attack the bridge of Ebersberg over the Traun, which was defended by 40,000 men with a fortress in their rear. The attack was utterly useless, since before it began Lannes' division had crossed the Traun five leagues higher up, and was marching to take the Austrians in rear. They would certainly have retired at our approach without Masséna's losing a single man. His attack, made in order to pass a river already passed, succeeded, but with a loss of more than 1,000 killed and 2,000 wounded. The Emperor blamed 3this waste of human life, and, doubtless to give Masséna a lesson, he sent from Wels a brigade of light cavalry under the command of General Durosnel, who descended the left bank of the Traun, and reached Ebersberg without firing a shot, at the same time as Masséna's troops entered after considerable loss. Napoleon went from Wels to Ebersberg by the right bank, which showed that the road was perfectly clear. On reaching the field of battle, he was deeply grieved at the sight of so many men uselessly killed, and would see no one for the whole evening. If any other than Masséna had ventured without orders to deliver an attack so imprudently, he would probably have been sent to the rear, but Masséna was the spoilt child of victory, and the Emperor limited himself to some severe remarks. The army was less indulgent, and criticised Masséna's conduct loudly. In excuse he said that as the Austrians who were defending the place under General Hiller had the bridge across the Danube at Mauth-hausen, there was reason to fear that if they were not promptly attacked without awaiting the returning force from Wels, General Hiller might cross the Danube and join the Archduke on the other side. But this would have involved no inconvenience for us: it would have been to our advantage, for we should have found the right bank of the river entirely undefended. Furthermore, the object that Masséna had in view was not attained, for General Hiller actually did cross the Danube at Stein, and made all haste to reach Vienna.

After crossing the Traun, burning the bridge at Mauth-hausen, and passing the Enns, the army advanced to Mölk, without knowing what had become of General Hiller. Some spies assured us that the Archduke had crossed the Danube and joined him, and that we should on the morrow meet the whole Austrian army, strongly posted in front of Saint-Pölten. In that case, we must make ready to fight a great battle; but if it were otherwise, we had to march quickly on Vienna in order to get there before the enemy could reach it by the other bank. For want of positive information the Emperor was very undecided. The question to be solved was, Had General Hiller crossed the Danube, or was he still in front of us, masked by a swarm of light cavalry, which, always flying, never let us get near enough to take a prisoner from whom one might get some enlightentent?