Note 451 — SECTION XXXIII: CHAPTER IV

In this dispatch and that of July 6 following, Marmont seems to understate his own force at the moment, saying that he can dispose of only 30,000 infantry, and 2,000 cavalry or a trifle over. Allowing for the artillery, engineers and sappers, gendarmerie and train, which the monthly returns show, this would give an army of some 35,000 or 36,000 in all. But the returns (see Appendix) indicate a higher figure for the infantry; after all deductions for detachments, garrisons, and sick have been made, it looks as if there must have been 33,000 or even 34,000 available. Generals with a ‘point to prove’ are always a little easy with their figures.