#aspern-essling

[empirearchives]

This pic makes me sob

[captainknell]

Happy birthday Marshal Lannes! April 10, 1769

I got a few selections about Jean Lannes from "Napoleon's Military Career" by Montgomery B. Gibbs

The first three, from the Italian campaign 1796/1797

At Dego:

Here also, Lannes, who lives to be a marshal of the empire, first attracted the notice if Napoleon, and was promoted from lieutenant-colonel to colonel.

At Lodi:

Lannes, Napoleon, Berthier, and L'Allemand now hurried to the front, rallied and cheered the men, and as the column dashed across and over the dead bodies of the slain which covered the passageway, and in the face of a tempest of fire that thinned their ranks at every step, the leaders shouted: "Follow your generals, my brave fellows!"

At Bassano:

Lannes seized one of the standards with his own hands, and, in consequence, Bonaparte demanded for him the rank of general of brigade. "He was," he said, "the first who put the enemy to route at Dego, who the Po at Plaisance, the Adda at Lodi, and the first to enter Bassano."

At Marengo:

"The shower of balls from the Austrian musketry was at one time so intense that Lannes, speaking of it afterwards, described it's effect with a horrible, graphic homeliness. "Bones were cracking in my division," he said, "like a shower of hail upon a skylight." Lannes was subsequently created Duke of Montebello.

At Ratisbon:

Napoleon now sent an aid-de-camp to Lannes urging him to expedite the taking of Ratisbon. This intrepid marshal has directed all his artillery against a projecting house, which rose above the wall surrounding the town. The house was knocked down and the ruins fell into the ditch. Still there were two fortified positions to take. Ladders were procured and placed at the critical points by the grenadiers, but every time one of them appeared he was instantly brought down by the well-aimed balls of Austrian sharpshooters. After some men had been thus struck, the rest appeared to hang back. Thereupon Lannes advanced, covered with decorations, seized one of the ladders and cried out: "You shall see that your marshal, for all he is a marshal, has not ceased to be a grenadier!"

At Aspern-Essling:

Just as Napoleon was about to retire for a few hours' rest he was interrupted by a violent altercation between two of the chief lieutenants, Bessieres and Lannes, the former of whom complained of the language used by the latter, his inferior in rank, in giving a necessary order for a charge of cuirassiers and Chasseurs, then under the orders of Marshal Bessieres himself. Massena, who was on the spot, was obligated to interfere between these gallant men, who, after having braces for a whole day the crossfire of three hundred pieces of cannon, were ready to draw their swords for the sake of their offended pride. Napoleon allayed their quarrel, which was to be terminated the best day by the enemy in the saddest way for themselves and for the army.

[bougredane]

Death of Saint-Hilaire, Lannes takes up the mantle.

« At Essling, under the terrible hail of balls and grape shot, Marshal Lannes’ corps fell back slowly, and their resolute attitude seems to have intimidated the enemy, for they did not dare come to close quarters, but endeavored to crush our troops from a distance. The brave General Saint-Hilaire, the pride of the army, as remarkable for his wit as for his military talents, was so devoted to the Emperor, who returned his affection, that he had been fighting on for a long time in spite of a serious open wound ; and he was now one of those who fell beneath the grape-shot of the enemy. He was carried back to us in a dying state.

With the calm presence of mind which always distinguished him in danger, Marshal Lannes placed himself at the head of his troops in lieu of the friend who had just fallen, and imbuing the men with his own sang-froid, he reminded them, with a laugh, of the fact that he led their retreat at Marengo under just such a fire from the Austrians as this, but that for all that the day had ended in a brilliant victory for the French. ‘Come, come, my friends,’ he cried, ‘the Austrians are worth no more, and we are worth no less, than at Marengo !’ Marching quietly on foot amongst his men, who shared his confidence, the marshal repulsed several charges of cavalry, and finally took up his position on the undulating ground extending from Essling to Aspern. » (Lejeune)

[cuirassier]

The mortally wounded Marshal Lannes meets Napoleon after the battle of Aspern-Essling, 22 May 1809, painting by Joseph Lois Hippolyte Bellange

You can read more about the battle here.

[empirearchives]

Napoleon being pretty and majestic during the War of the 5th Coalition. I like the guy behind him looking annoyed like he just got woken up from a nap.

[cuirassier]

Austrian troops at the battle of Aspern-Essling, 21-22 May 1809, plate by Jeffrey Burn, text by David Hollins

[cuirassier]

Marshal Lannes at the battle of Aspern-Essling, 21-22 May 1809

You can read more about Napoleon’s first major defeat and Marshal Lannes’ last battle here