Quote:
Originally Posted by Taltarzac725
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Napoleon drew up a
blank for crossing of the Danube near Vienna during the 1809 Danube campaign. The river was full from Spring run-off with no
abatement soon putting Napoleon and his troops into quite a
pickle. The bridges had been destroyed by the Austrians in a
scorched earth approach of stopping the French
Napoleon's scouts found a suitable river crossing near Schwartze-Laken Island for boats for 500 of Bonaparte's men. Once across to the island, these men were soon
aerated by musket and cannon shot. They were now stranded on the island as no more boats were available from Napoleon's side of the Danube. This plight of his men had Napoleon and his Marshall Jean Lannes
exhorting their men to hold on while Lannes stupidly tried to cross the Danube but soon stumbled on an underwater cable and was soon floating away. This
goosed Bonaparte to jump into the water up to his waist to try to rescue Marshall Lannes which he did. Both men were
drenched and felt like
weasels who had come up short in their prey. They both
adapted to these new circumstances quickly by getting a
party of his engineers to build a vast platoon bridge away from the defending Austrian troops. Of course, they also had to
vigil as to any approaching enemy soldiers.
The fighting around the finished pontoon bridge proved particularly
venomous and for a time
stalled the French advance. Bonaparte must have had some of the fiery passion of his Italian
ethnicity as he often put himself in the thick of the struggles
unjustly putting some of his command in a cowardly light when compared with the Little Corporal Napoleon.