The subaltern

by G. R. Gleig

CHAPTER XIII.

Being loath to interrupt my narrative of the sanguinary operations of this day, I have omitted to notice an event, perhaps more important in its general consequences than even the successful resistance of one British corps to the attack of almost the whole French army. The reader will no doubt recollect that, at the period of time respecting which I am now writing, the various states of Germany, which had lain so long under the French yoke, were beginning once more to assert their independence—many, indeed, had taken up arms against the common enemy. The battle of Leipsic had been fought; the Confederation of the Rhine was dissolved; Holland and the Netherlands were in a great measure restored to their legitimate sovereign; and all in rear of the Allied line, extending from Huningen to the Low Countries, was free. Attached to the army of Marshal Soult were several brigades of German and Dutch troops, from whom the intelligence of the real state of their respective countries could not be concealed. Of these, about 4000 men, through the instrumentality of their commanding officers, had for some time back been in secret communication with Lord Wellington. All indeed that was wanting to withdraw them from the ranks of the enemy was a convenient opportunity to desert; and against this the French general appeared studiously to strive. One brigade he had already sent to the rear on suspicion, and he had thrown out various hints that the rest must speedily follow; nor can it be doubted that these hints would have been acted upon but for the events of the three last days. The extreme fatigue of his French battalions compelled him to assign the advanced station this morning to a corps of Germans, who had no sooner taken up their ground than they proposed to carry into execution a plan which their officers had long matured. Collecting their baggage, and carrying with them their arms, ammunition, and accoutrements, they marched in regular order within our lines, and were instantly shipped, as they had previously desired, for their own country. Thus, independently of his loss in killed and wounded, which, on the most moderate computation, could not amount to less, during the late operations, than four thousand men, Soult found his army weakened by the desertion of fifteen hundred or two thousand veteran soldiers.

The Germans had taken up the ground in our immediate front soon after dark on the evening of the 10th. They were not then prepared to abandon the cause of Napoleon; but messengers were sent in that night to warn our general of what was to take place on the morrow, and to guard the column of deserters from being fired on by our outposts. All was fully arranged. Just before the advance of the Portuguese brigade, which brought on the renewal of hostilities, the German corps began their march; and being welcomed with cheers by their new allies, who stood under arms to receive them, that which was to us an animating spectacle, doubtless spread dismay and bitter chagrin among the ranks of the enemy. But to return to my own personal narrative.

The night of the 11th was spent, as that of the 10th had been, round our fires, and in the open air. A supply of beef, biscuit, and rum had, however, been issued out; and the beef being broiled over the coals, a substantial supper recruited the strength of those who were really beginning to faint from inanition. Then the grog being passed round, and pipes and cigars lighted, we lay not down to sleep till many a rude joke had been bandied about and many a merry catch chanted. Not that we were altogether insensible to more grave and melancholy feelings. Our ranks were a good deal thinned; of our beloved companions many had fallen; and I speak truly when I say that we lamented their fall, even in the midst of our mirth. But a state of warfare is productive, and necessarily so, of more consummate selfishness than any other situation into which man is liable to be thrown; and hence, except some bosom friend have perished, such as Grey was to me, and I to him, it must be confessed that soldiers think less of the dead than of the living. Each man, indeed, is (shall I own it?) too happy to find himself unscathed, to waste many fruitless expressions of sorrow upon those whose fate has been different.

The dawn of the 12th found us, as the dawn of the preceding day had done, under arms. Just before day broke, the battalion, leaving two companies to act as skirmishers, fell back to the rear of a thin hedgerow, for the purpose of keeping an open stubble-field in its front, in case the enemy should attack. By this means we hoped to throw in our fire with the better effect as they moved along their coverless ground; whilst, a clear space lying before us, our charge, which must of course follow, would be the more decisive. But the enemy gave us no opportunity of carrying these plans into execution.

The French army was still before us in immense numbers; but it remained perfectly quiet. Hour after hour elapsed without any movement being made on either side, till about nine in the morning his column, which occupied the main road, began to retrograde. An English officer of artillery seeing this, as if determined that the retreat should not be altogether bloodless, fired the two guns which he commanded, I believe without orders. Whether these shots irritated the Marshal, or that he was anxious to deceive us into a belief of fresh hostilities on his side, I know not, but they were immediately answered. The column halted, faced about, and made a show of advancing. The pickets came on, and a good deal of skirmishing ensued; but no decided attack was made, though enough was done to keep our attention awake. About noon, however, even this firing ceased, and a sort of pause in hostilities ensued.

Let me take advantage of this pause to describe the relative positions of the two armies, as far at least as my circumscribed opportunities enabled me to judge of them.

The extreme left of the British, and consequently the extreme right of the French army, rested upon the sea. Between the highroad and the sea, however, lay a small lake, measuring perhaps a mile in circumference, the ground beyond which was so rugged and enclosed that only a few companies were left to guard it. On that plateau no military operations took place. Perhaps, then, I may speak more intelligibly if I say that the left of our army and the right of the enemy rested upon the lake. The main road, which was one key of our position, ran along the summit of the high bank above the lake. It was winding, but as nearly level as high roads generally are. To defend it, a battery of three guns had been thrown up a little way to the left, where an inclination of the lake permitted, and where the whole of a long sweep was commanded. On the right of the road was the mayor's house, with its out-buildings, gardens, and thick plantations, for the possession of which so much blood had been shed. So far, however, the ground was perfectly even; that is to say, neither the French nor we possessed the advantage of an acclivity, nor could either side boast of superior cover from wood But about musket-shot from the mayor's house the case was different, and the general face of the country underwent a change.

In the quarter of which I have last spoken, and where, indeed, my own corps was this morning stationed, the French and English divisions were separated from one another by a ravine. The ground occupied by the enemy was perhaps higher than that on which we stood; but then on our side we were better supplied with thickets; and had the contrary been the case, there was ascent sufficient to give a decided advantage to the defenders over the assailants. In both lines one or two farmhouses stood conveniently enough as posts of defence; and on the side of the enemy a wilderness of furze-bushes covered the face of the hill.

This ravine, after running in a straight direction about three or four hundred yards, wound inwards upon the French hill, so as to place the church of Arcanques rather in front of our station than the contrary. That building stood, however, upon a detached eminence. It was completely surrounded by ravines except in the rear, where it sloped gradually down into a woody plain. Beyond Arcanques it was not possible for me to make any accurate observations; but, as far as I could judge, the country appeared flat, with the same sort of inequalities occurring in it as those already described. There was, however, a great deal of wood scattered here and there; and several villages, some in the possession of the French, others in our possession, could be descried. On the whole, neither position could be pronounced greatly superior in natural strength to the other; nor, perhaps, would ours at least have caught an eye less accurate in these matters than his who selected it for his winter line.