Right gallantly, time and again, did the Eagles on that part of the field fulfil their rôle and take their part; now heading charges, now rallying round them the men who had sworn to die in their defence.
“SOLDIERS, I STAY HERE!”
The 15th Light Infantry—a corps in the ranks of which were many young soldiers, now under fire for the first time in their lives—stormed the village of Tellnitz, which the Russians had carried in their first rush on the French outposts. The leading battalion of the 15th drove the Russians out; and, dashing on beyond the village, met a reinforcing Russian column hastening to the spot. They charged it without hesitation, but could not break through, and then they began to recoil before superior numbers. The Eagle-bearer was shot down, and fell badly wounded. He had to leave hold of his Eagle, and amid the surging throng of soldiers in disorder it was in great danger of being trampled under foot and lost. Fortunately the officer in command, Chef de Bataillon Dulong, saw what had happened, and sprang from his horse and seized the Eagle. Holding it on high with one hand, he shouted to his men to stand fast. “Soldiers, I stay here!” he called. “Let me see if you will abandon your Eagle and your commander.” The act and words checked the disorder. The battalion rallied at once, re-formed ranks, and made head against the enemy until help arrived, when the Russians were driven back.
The Eagle of another battalion in the same division of Davout’s army corps, General Friant’s, the 111th of the Line, a little time later had its part. The 111th had suffered heavily in the earlier fighting, but towards eleven o’clock were called on to lead a counter-attack beyond the line of fortified hedgerow that the regiment was holding, against a fresh Russian column which was advancing with loud shouts and bayonets at the charge to storm their position. Immediately in front was a wide, open stretch of ground, across which a Russian battery, to cover the attack, was pouring a tremendous fire of shell, the bursting projectiles tearing up the ground as if it were being ploughed. Just as the order to advance was given, the Porte-Aigle fell dead. An old sergeant, Courbet by name, took his place. He seized the Eagle and looked round, for several of the men were wavering. They were unwilling to leave cover for certain death, as it looked, on the shell-swept space of open ground before them. Courbet climbed over the hedge, and, waving the Eagle and flag with both hands, stood by himself amid the bursting shells, some twenty yards in front. “Come on, comrades!” he shouted—“come on!” Then with the words, “A moi, soldats du 111me!” brandishing the Eagle, he ran straight at the fast-nearing Russians. “The effect,” says one who saw the brave deed done, “was electric.” The men streamed over the hedge instantly, re-formed line in spite of the cannon-balls, and, led by the grenadiers of the battalion, charged the approaching enemy, broke them, drove them before them, and seized the village in front, whence the Russians had made their advance.
The Eagle of the 48th, another of Friant’s regiments, in like manner was rallied in the moment of supreme crisis by the daring of its Eagle-bearer.
SUDDENLY FIRED ON BY FRIENDS
The Eagle of the 108th, which regiment was fighting near by, all but fell into the enemy’s hands through a blunder. It was early in the morning, at the very beginning of the fight, in crossing a marshy strip under cover of the mist, to take in flank the Russian attack. In the uncertain light another French regiment, the 26th Light Infantry, one of Soult’s regiments, moving about a hundred yards on the left of Davout’s men, mistook the 108th for the enemy, and fired heavily into it. The Eagle-bearer was among those shot down, and fell with the Eagle. This sudden blow from an unexpected quarter staggered the 108th. They fell back hastily to re-form in rear, leaving their Eagle, whose fall had been unobserved in the mist, lying beside its dead bearer on the ground. The loss was discovered just as another force of Russians, who came up in front, reached the place; but before they could carry off the trophy a charge forward by some hastily rallied men of the 108th recovered the Eagle and bore it back to safety.
So far then with Davout’s corps.
Soult, meanwhile, in the centre, was striking hard. His attack, in its effect on the Allied Army, was a complete surprise. Soult’s advance began the instant that the marshal, riding at full gallop from the presence of Napoleon, could reach his men. At that moment the third of the Russian columns in the order of march, pressing ahead to overtake the first and second, and join in the attack on Davout, had not long descended the southern slope at the foot of the Pratzen heights; while the fourth Russian column, a mile or more in rear, was just about to ascend the northern slope to cross the Pratzen Hill and follow.
Up the steep western hillside face of the Pratzen clambered Soult’s regiments. Unseen by the enemy at any point, without a shot being fired at them, or by them, until just as they were nearing the crest-line of the ridge, they emerged from the mists of the valley and seized the high ground.