Part 39 (1/2)

Chap 33

The Gerarrisons were soon surrounded and in soed Al out at the end of 1813

The first of these was Ha, commanded by the intrepid Marshal Davout, who held on to this important fort until after the abdication of the Earrison to France; the second was Magdeburg, where General Le Marois, an aide-de-camp to the Emperor, also held out until the end of the war; the third was Witte, defended by the elderly General Lapoype, and which was taken by assault on the 12th of the following January; and finally Erfurt, which had to capitulate for lack of food

All the other fortresses beyond the Rhine, which the Emperor had wanted to keep, the , Stettin, Zaau and Modlin, were already in the hands of the ene over of the first two of these fortresses do not reflect , Napoleon withdreith the re at Dresden a corps of 25000 men commanded by Marshal Saint-Cyr, who tried by force of arh the enemies who blocked his way He drove theer forces and short of food he was compelled to accept the honourable capitulation which was offered to hiarrison would keep its arms, would not be made prisoners of war and would es

The Marshal wanted his troops to ether at the same place, which would allow theenerals pointed out that owing to the exhaustion of the countryside, it would be impossible to provide at any one place twenty-five thousand rations, and the French reed that his force should be divided into several small columns of 2 or 3000 men ould travel one or even two days apart

For the first few days all ell, but as soon as the last French colu handed over the fort and the enerals announced that they did not have the authority to sign the capitulation without the agree, and as he did not approve, the agreement was null and void They offered to allow our troops to return to Dresden in exactly the same state as they had been previously, that is to say with only enough food for a few days, a shortage which they had concealed fro as they occupied the place, and which, as it was non to thenant at this odious lack of good faith, but what action could be taken by isolated detachments of 2 or 3000by battalions of their own, before they could hear of the breakdown of the capitulation? Any resistance was impossible and our men were forced to lay down their arms

To the treachery practised on the field of battle, was now added that of the breaking of agreements of capitulation This did not prevent the Gerarded any measures, however despicable, as justified in order to defeat Napoleon This new

General Rapp had defended this place for a long ti run out of food he was coarrison would be allowed to return to France However, in spite of a treaty signed by the Prince of Wurtee, the conditions were violated and the garrison of 16000 men were sent as prisoners to Russia where most of thee concerns a Captain de Chambure, who asked for and obtained permission to form an independent coed on theene into their entrenche-works under the nose of their batteries, spiking their guns and going far into the country to capture or pillage their convoys Chaht with his men, surprised a Russian cantonment, set fire to an ammunition dump, destroyed several stores and killed or wounded one hundred and fifty men, for the loss of three of his own; and returned to the fort in triumph

Noever, let us return to examine the position of the French armies in December 1813

Spain, the principal cause of all the catastrophes which n, had been stripped, in the course of the year, of all its best troops, which the Emperor had sent to reinforce the arth of those who remained in the Iberian peninsula amounted to h inadequate, would have contained the enemy if Napoleon had left the command to Marshal Soult; but as he eneral who could defend the kingdoiven him, it was to this prince, an estimable man but no soldier, that the Eave him, it is true, as chief of staff and military advisor, Marshal Jourdan; but the Marshal was preed and had not been involved in active warfare since the first cans of the revolution He was so worn out, both mentally and physically, that he inspired no confidence in the troops So, in spite of the talents displayed by the generals who served under the orders of King Joseph, the Anglo-Portuguese aruerrillas, caused us irreparable losses

The French, under pressure at every point, had already been compelled to abandon Madrid, the two Castiles, and to recross the Ebro, to concentrate their main forces round the town of Vittoria

Attacked in this position by three times their number, they lost a battle; a loss which wasJoseph and Marshal Jourdan hadout of a retreat, so that it beca's suite, the artillery parks, thetaken sides with Joseph, sought to escape the vengence of their coons of the treasury, of the military administration, etc, etc, all found themselves piled up in confusion, so that the roads were obstructed and the regi However they did not lose their forreater part of the ared to reach Salvatierra and the road to Pamplona, by which the retreat was made

The battle of Vittoria dee of General Clausel, who rallied the arave it some direction It was, however, an unhappy day The French lost 6000 men killed, wounded or taken prisoner and left in the hands of the enee

Despite this set-back, the troops whose morale was excellent, could have remained in Navarre with the aid of the fortress of Pa Joseph ordered the continuation of the retreat and the crossing of the Bidassoa, where our rear-guard, coe So, from the end of June, we abandoned that part of the Spanish frontier; nevertheless, Marshal Suchet still held out in Aragon (The region of Zaragossa Ed) and Catalonia, and in the kingdom of Valencia; but the results of the battle of Vittoria had so ton sent reinforcements to central Spain Suchet found it necessary to leave the town and the kingdo place at a time when Napoleon was still triumphant in Germany As soon as he was told of the state of affairs across the Pyrenees, he hastily revoked the pohich he had given to King Joseph and Marshal Jourden, and appointed Marshal l Soult coanising the divisions, arrison left in Pamplona, but in vain They were forced to capitulate and Marshal Soult had to take his troops back across the Bidassoa The fortress of San-Sebastian, governed by General Rey, held out for a long tiuese, who, ignoring the laws of humanity, robbed, raped and massacred the unfortunate inhabitants of this Spanish town, although they were their allies The English officers made no attempt to stop these atrocities, which went on for three days, to the shalish

Marshal Soult defended the Pyrenees foot by foot and beat Wellington on several occasions; but the greater nuly to take the offensive, so that he was able eventually to cross our frontier and set up his headquarters in Saint-Jean de Luz, the first town in France and a tohich had never previously been lost, even during the defeats suffered by Francis I, or the disastrous wars of the end of the reign of Louis XIV

It was evident that after the defection of the Ger, Marshal Soult could not hope to keep in the army of the Pyrenees several thousand soldiers frole night, thus augth

However, Marshal Soult, after concentrating several divisions below the rauese On the 9th of December, at Saint-Pierre de Rube, there was a battle which lasted for five days, and was one of the bloodiest of the war, for it cost the enemy 16,000 lives and the French 10,000, but ere able to remain in position around Bayonne