Note 48 — Chapter V

General Jominy gives the following account of this sanguinary affair, in his Political and Military Life of Napoleon. “Hiller had abandoned the barrier of the Inn without fighting, but he resolved to defend the passage of the Traun at the formidable position of Ebersberg. A wooden bridge, thirty fathoms long, presented a more fearful obstacle than that of Lodi, it being terminated by a walled town, commanded by a castle, and crowned by heights of very difficult access. To cross this bridge, in the face of thirty thousand men and eighty pieces of cannon, was not an easy matter. Massena was not ignorant of Napoleon’s intention to turn this impregnable post by Lambach, but the impetuous valour of General Cohorn hurried him into a sanguinary enterprise. Three Austrian battalions, that had been imprudently left in front of the bridge, were overthrown, and driven, at the point of the sword, to the gates of the town, which were closed against them. Cohorn forced the gates, and penetrated into the principal street. Massena supported him first by the rest of Claparede’s division, and then by that of Legrand. A desperate conflict was kept up from street to street, and from house to house. Claparede had just possessed himself of the castle, when Hiller threw four fresh columns into the town, who opened themselves a passage with the bayonet. A horrible slaughter ensued; several houses took fire that were filled with wounded and with combatants, whom the crowded state of the streets prevented from escaping. War never presented a more cruel scene. At length, tired with carnage, the Austrians abandoned Ebersberg, and our troops debouched against the heights, where a still more unequal combat commenced. The arrival of Durosnel’s division of cavalry by the right bank, and the certainty that his position would be turned by Lannes, decided Hiller at length to fall back with all speed upon Enns.... This vigorous blow was still more honourable to the French troops, as the greater part engaged in this business was composed of soldiers who had never before seen a battle. It cost Hiller from six to seven thousand men. We had to regret the loss of from four to five thousand brave fellows, a great number of whom had fallen a prey to the flames.”—Vie Politique et Militaire de Napoléon. 8vo. Paris, 1827, tom. iii. pp. 181-3.