Curiously, the French command had taken no measures to fortify the bridgehead. Neither Aspern nor Essling, both only a few hundred yards from the riverbank and a mile-and-a-half apart, were prepared for defence. The houses were not loop-holed and the approaches not barricaded. Even so, the villages were naturally strong positions. Aspern, the larger of the two villages, had 106 stone houses with a church, a solidly built vicarage with an adjoining cemetery surrounded by a chest-high stone wall (though this could not withstand cannon fire) on slightly elevated ground at the western end of the village. Two main streets ran parallel though Aspern, with narrow side streets providing cover to shift troops. To the west, north and east of Aspern ran the remains of a now abandoned flood dike. South of the village was a heavily overgrown area, the Gemeinde Au, stretching to the Danube. However, the terrain to the west of Aspern was covered by thick brushland, forest and broken by rivulets, though between Aspern and Esling the terrain was more suitable for deploying major closed formations. An earth-banked ditch along a narrow road connected the village to Essling. This was a smaller place, with only fifty-six houses, and divided in two by a public square. The eastern half provided no strong points, but in the western part an important defensive stronghold was provided by a massive three-storey stone granary, its walls several yards thick, with an iron gate, windows with iron shutters and a heavy tiled roof. Garrisoned by 300 men provided with a triple ammunition issue, rations and water, it would withstand repeated assaults during the coming battle. In all, the French frontage was little more than 3 miles wide and, to protect against an enemy breakthrough, Napoleon himself traced a final fortified bridgehead covering the bridge to the Lobau.8
DAY ONE: 21 MAY
The Austrian dispositions had been made the previous day and, marching through the night, their forces had reached their jumping-off areas along the north-west edge of the Marchfeld by the morning of 21 May. Ahead of the army and forming a screen came Klenau’s Advance Guard. The main force was deployed in five columns. From left to right, that is roughly west to east, came Hiller’s VI Corps and Bellegarde’s I Corps, both directed against Aspern. Hohenzollern’s II Corps, forming the third column, was also directed against the village. Liechtenstein’s Cavalry Reserve was stationed a short distance back between the third and the fourth column. Further to the east, Rosenberg’s IV Corps, launched against Essling, was divided into two columns. The fourth column, Dedovich’s division, was to take the village while the fifth column, Hohenlohe with Rohan’s and Hohenlohe’s divisions, was to bypass Essling, secure Gross Enzersdorf and close up to the Danube. These concentric operations, always a favourite Austrian manoeuvre, depended on concerted timing and actions by the different columns, something that with poor staff work and approach marches of different length was difficult to achieve and contributed to the favourable, but certainly not decisive, outcome of the battle which given the Austrians numerical superiority – 83,000 foot, 14,000 horse and 293 guns – should have delivered a crushing victory.
The initial Austrian deployment was poorly planned and very slow. Committing the bulk of their forces against the two villages left the Austrian centre weak, and the Cavalry Corps held in reserve was reduced in strength when each of the column commanders, worried about being caught by cavalry on flat ground, demanded and received cavalry support. During the coming battle the mounted arm did not act as a major striking force, but was primarily employed to protect infantry formations.9 Finally, the line of contact from west of Aspern to east of Essling was less than 4 miles. Assuming a battalion frontage of 200 yards each, thirty battalions should have sufficed in the fighting line, but around Aspern the Austrians initially committed three corps, with the result that troops, horses and guns got in each other’s way. Immediately, however, heavy fog rising from the Danube valley obscured the opposing armies. At 9 a.m. the archduke issued orders to cook breakfast but when the fog started to lift at around 10 a.m. the Austrians began to advance. That morning the bridge had been ruptured again, and Napoleon had considered a withdrawal but was reassured by Molitor that he could hold Aspern and Essling. Marshals Masséna, Lannes and Bessières supported this assessment though Berthier remained silent. Meanwhile Napoleon, by now able to observe the area from the Aspern church steeple, became aware that the Austrians were approaching in force and pushed all possible reinforcements across the hastily repaired and still shaky bridge. By 6.30 in the evening Saint-Cyr’s division of 4 Corps – about 9,000 men and 18 guns – Saint-Germain’s cuirassier brigade of Nansouty’s heavy division, as well as Saint-Sulpice’s heavy division, had managed to get across to the damaged and partially underwater bridge to the Mühlau.
FIGHTING FOR ASPERN AND THE CAVALRY CLASH IN THE CENTRE
Still, the Austrian fighting system was exceedingly cumbersome, and it took Hiller and the rest of the army several hours to shake themselves from march order into fighting formations. At about 1 p.m. the Advance Guard of the first column, VI Corps, commanded by GM Armand von Nordmann, came into contact with French outposts and pushed Marulaz’s cavalry, Baden and Hessian light horse, covering a French battery back on to Molitor’s left flank. This created confusion among the French defenders and, supported by the fire of three batteries, three battalions of IR 60 Gyulai managed to penetrate the western part of the village, to be halted by point-blank fire at the church-cemetery position by French reserves, the 37th and 67th Line from Viviez’s brigade. Hiller made no attempt to exploit his initial success, but positioned the remainder of his thirty battalions and squadrons in a defensive position and only renewed his assaults using eight battalions – line, Jäger and Grenzer – at 3.30 p.m. Poorly coordinated, the attack was repulsed with heavy casualties. Meanwhile, the second and third columns, I and II Corps, were finally coming to their start lines and, to support Hiller, opened a preparatory bombardment of the village, by now in flames. Realizing that the Austrians intended to converge against the two villages, Napoleon ordered his few guns into the centre, primarily to support the defence of Essling, which he believed the weaker of the two positions. Also, at around 3.30 p.m. scouts from Liechtenstein’s Cavalry Corps in the centre recognized that the French line between Aspern and Essling was only held by cavalry, d’Espagne’s cuirassier division and Piré’s light horse brigade from Lasalle’s light division. Seeing an opportunity, Liechtenstein ordered a charge, but mindful of his orders to protect the fourth and fifth columns still marching on Essling, he divided his force and shifted his left wing into the area northeast of Essling. Meanwhile, Bessières, with 7,000 sabres, charged the remaining Austrian cuirassier regiments of the right wing, but these managed to hold until hastily summoned detached cuirrassiers, uhlans and reserve hussars gave the Austrians a slight numerical edge. After a brief mêlée, the now outnumbered French fell back behind the ditch connecting the two villages. Even so, for the moment Liechtenstein’s horse was no longer capable of offensive action and the Austrian centre was thinly covered.
About one hour later the fourth column, half of IV Corps, had arrived north of Essling, while the fifth column was deploying east of the village near Gross Enzersdorf. At about 4.30 p.m. Hiller, Bellegarde and Hohenzollern were preparing for a joint attack on Aspern where intense fighting raged from house to house, from roofs to cellars and behind gravestones and walls. Ultimately, the outnumbered defenders lost their hold on the church and cemetery position. With Molitor’s division now exhausted, Napoleon ordered Legrand’s division into Aspern. First to arrive was the 26th Light, which halted the Austrian advance and, when reinforced by the 18th, drove the Austrians out of the village. With casualties near 50 per cent, Molitor’s troops were pulled back into reserve and relieved by Legrand’s troops, his two French regiments now joined by the Baden IR 3 Graf Hochberg and Saint-Cyr’s division. To ease pressure on Aspern, Marulaz’s light horse had begun to advance against the Austrian cavalry to the north, but then ran into Austrian infantry deployed in solid masses and holding firm, firing only when the enemy closed to within fifte
en paces, driving the light horse back. Even when Bessières ordered d’Espagne’s cuirassiers and two just-arrived heavy regiments to support and attack the Austrian masses, the heavies achieved nothing of moment, clashing with some reconstituted Austrian horse in another mêlée. On the Austrian side Hohenzollern’s corps, whose presence north of Aspern had merely congested the tactical situation, was now shifted to the centre.
Meanwhile, fighting continued to rage in and around Aspern, seen by both commanders – Napoleon as well as Archduke Charles – as the most important, even decisive, position. Charles ordered Bellegarde to take and hold the location, now a smoking ruin, at all costs. Six battalions of GM Wacquant’s brigade from Dedovich’s division led the attack, supported by the rest of the corps. Again the fighting was especially fierce around the church-cemetery position. The Austrians captured it but were ejected, but with Archduke Charles appearing to encourage his troops and artillery moving to fire canister at close range, at around 6.30 p.m. Legrand’s troops were driven out. Napoleon at once ordered the newly arrived Hesse-Darmstadt Leibgarde Brigade of Saint-Cyr division to recapture the village, but the Austrians were too strong. By now both sides were exhausted. Legrand’s battered battalions and the Hessians held on to the south-east of Aspern and to the Gemeinde Au leading to the Danube. Fighting died down with only sporadic firing during the night.10
Even though the French had not been completely ejected from Aspern, Charles was satisfied and attempted to storm Essling before darkness fell. Because he intended to break the French centre the next morning, he needed to occupy the village flanking his planned advance. But Lannes, his defences anchored on the granary, had few problems holding his positions. Charles, who had moved his command post to Breitenlee, now issued orders for a concentric attack. But poorly coordinated, his columns attacking in sequence instead of together, the attack failed, and Lannes ordered Bessières to pursue the retreating Austrian infantry. When the French cavalry, led by Saint-Germain’s cuirassiers, just arrived from the Lobau, failed to make much of an impression, Lannes sent a second message to Bessières repeating his order in terms the marshal considered offensive. As the fighting died down, Bessières confronted Lannes, claiming he had been insulted. For many years there had been bad blood between the two marshals and a heated discussion ensued during which both officers made as if to draw their swords. A duel between the two marshals was only avoided when Masséna, senior to both of them, intervened. ‘I am your senior,’ Masséna shouted, ‘you are in my camp and I shall not permit to give my troops the scandalous spectacle of seeing two marshals draw on each other, and that in the presence of the enemy.’11
At about 7 p.m. an Austrian ram-boat again disrupted the bridge, but French engineers had it back in operation three hours later. During the night, despite repeated breaks in the bridge that were always repaired, Napoleon received substantial reinforcements. They included the Saint-Sulpice cuirassier division, the bulk of Lannes’s strong 2 Corps, commanded temporarily by Oudinot, eight battalions of the Young and four of the Old Guard, a total of 7,800 men, as well as eighty-six artillery pieces. Napoleon had also sent urgent orders for Davout to bring up his corps, but by the time it arrived at mid morning on 22 May the bridge had collapsed. Even so, by dawn on 22 May, Napoleon had some 56,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry and 144 guns against Austrian effectives remaining at about 80,000 foot, 14,000 horse and 150 guns. The numerical odds had improved considerably, but still were weighted heavily in favour of the Austrians.
THE SECOND DAY: 22 MAY
Both commanders were reasonably satisfied with the course of events and both intended to attack at dawn the next day. For once optimistic, Archduke Charles, unaware that he had only fought a portion of Napoleon’s troops and that the enemy had been reinforced, assumed that the French were preparing to evacuate the Mühlau. At about 10.30 p.m. on 21 May he issued orders for the coming day, ordering all commanders to be ready to advance by dawn to resume their methodical attacks against the wings of the French position and eliminate their rearguard. For his part, Napoleon had decided to use 2 Corps to break through the Austrian centre. When this had been achieved, the corps was to turn left and, in conjunction with Masséna, drive the Austrian right wing upstream along the Danube. At the same time Lannes was to drive the Austrian left wing back. Aspern was the key point of this plan and Masséna was told that his primary task was to retake and hold the entire village.
Before dawn Masséna had formed two attack columns from the 18th and 4th Line, reinforced by detachments from the 26th Light and the 46th Line. Their charge managed to penetrate the Austrian positions but ultimately they were forced to withdraw. Despite this success, GM Waquant, the local commander, asked Hiller for reinforcements and retired his troops from the village. Aware that the troops still had ample ammunition, a livid Hiller ordered them to take up new positions to the rear and use their artillery pieces to prevent the French emerging from the village.
At about the same time Lannes had successfully repelled Rosenberg’s IV Corps, once again attacking Essling piecemeal. After some bitter fighting the Austrians were evicted and by 7 a.m. were driven back east to Gross Enzersdorf. The prerequisites for Napoleon’s attempt to assault the Austrian centre had been achieved. Since 6 a.m Lannes’s three assault divisions – from left to right, Tharreau, Claparède and Saint-Hilaire – had been assembled along the Aspern–Essling Road. Although dense fog once again hampered visibility, the Austrian artillery, using area fire, was inflicting substantial losses. Unwilling to keep his troops taking unnecessary casualties, at 7 a.m. Napoleon ordered the advance. Moving in echelon, with the Saint-Hilaire division spearheaded by the ‘terrible’ 57th Line leading the assault, backed by the light horse from Marulaz and Lasalle, and the heavies from Nansouty and Arrighi who had replaced the mortally wounded d’Espagne, the attack went in, though suffering substantial losses from the Austrian artillery. Smashing into the Austrian front in heavy battalion columns, the 57th captured a battalion of IR 54 Froon and a 6-pounder battery. Some front-line Austrian battalions were wavering, but rallied in the rear and were repositioned to lengthen the left of the centre. Meanwhile, Austrian artillery slowed Saint-Hilaire’s advance while the conscripts of Tharreau’s and Claparède’s divisions were unable to change formations under fire and lost heavily. ‘The fire of grape-shot and musketry’, General Savary wrote, ‘threw our columns into confusion and compelled us to stop and open a fire of cannon and muskets, with the disadvantage of numbers against us.’12
As the French infantry stalled, the white-coated Austrian infantry retired into the shelter of Liechtenstein’s cavalry. Bessières now threw in his supporting cavalry, formed up in two massive blocks of 4,000 and 5,000 troopers. Penetrating the first lines of Liechtenstein’s cavalry, the French breakthrough panicked and broke two regiments of insurrectio hussars while the nearby IR 15 Zach began to waver. This was the crisis of the battle for the Austrians. Never lacking in personal courage, at this moment Archduke Charles galloped forward to steady the regiment. According to legend, memorialized in many pictures and the famous equestrian statue outside the imperial palace in Vienna, the archduke seized the regimental colours as he led the unit forward. However, he later told an inquirer: ‘You know how heavy the colours are. Do you really believe that a little chap like me could have gone off with them?’ Whatever the exact circumstances, his personal intervention stabilized the line and gave time for the Grenadier Corps from the Reserve to intervene.13
THE FRENCH RETIRE
By about 9 a.m. the French were running low on ammunition and, with casualties mounting, including Saint-Hilaire killed, could not advance any further. Lannes had asked for reinforcements, but there was none. Napoleon had just been informed that a major part of the bridge had been carried away, eliminating any prospect of Davout’s entering the battle. Hoping for a favourable report from his engineers, the emperor kept Lannes in his advanced positions for another hour. At about 10 a.m. another floating object, a large water mill
, slammed into the bridge resulting in an irreparable breach and Charles emplaced a grand battery, about 200 guns, against the French centre. Napoleon now ordered a gradual retirement to the Aspern–Essling road and, in fact, realized that a general retreat had become inevitable, though it could only be carried out under the cover of darkness. Until then the perimeter around the bridgehead had to be held. By now many French guns had been put out of action and ammunition was running short. At 12.30 the emperor, who had taken up position ahead of the Imperial Guard, stationed parallel in unshakeable lines behind Lannes, sent an urgent dispatch to Davout. ‘The enemy is employing two hundred cannon against us, to which, low on ammunition since ten, we cannot reply … send ammunition and rations.’14
Napoleon realized that both Aspern and Essling were vital bastions for holding the defensive perimeter and both were under heavy attack. For his part, the archduke had seen that Napoleon’s advance in the centre had left him exposed to a thrust from the flank and already at 7 a.m. he had issued orders to Hiller to take Aspern whatever the cost. A bombardment by the combined artillery of the first and second column razed still standing buildings, especially the church, and an assault by IR 51 Splényi briefly regained control of the village. Masséna now ordered in his last reserve, a battalion of the Hessian Leibgarde, which retook much of the location, but the heavy smoke forced an evacuation of the village by both sides. At round 11 a.m. the Hessians re-entered the smoking ruins already reoccupied by the Austrians, retook it briefly only to lose it again to an assault by volunteers from IR 31 Benjowsky and IR 14 Klebek. Napoleon now committed three battalions of the Young Guard and, inspired by the example of Masséna’s fighting sword in hand among his troops, regained control. An Austrian counter-attack changed the situation and after continued fighting, by late afternoon Hiller’s seventh attack had taken the village and environs, except for the ditch and dike leading to Aspern and some grazing land between the houses and the river. When FML Vogelsang hesitated to push the attack further, Charles, who had meanwhile arrived at the spot, ordered that this last position be taken at once. ‘Shoot down all who do not obey, cashier officers on the spot, but take that ditch.’15
The Emperor's Last Victory Page 11