“The campaign is not yet decided. We must fight at least one great battle, and the prospect is not favorable to our getting near the Austrians in time to take them by surprise,” said Lannes.
“I think not,” replied Duroc. “The First Consul will either take or turn this fort within a few days at the farthest. I have no doubt of it—and the Austrians will be as much astonished as if we had dropped from the clouds. The campaign will cover us with glory.”
Here Bourrienne entered the tent, and communicated to the generals the plan which the First Consul had formed, which was as follows:
He resolved to make his infantry, cavalry, and the four-pounders, proceed by the path of Albaredo, which would be possible, after repairs. All the troops should be sent to take possession of the outlets of the mountains before Ivrea; and the First Consul, meanwhile, would attempt an attack on the fort, or find some means of avoiding its obstruction, by sending his artillery through one of the neighboring defiles. He ordered General Lecchi, commanding the Italians, to proceed on the left, advancing by the road to Grassoney in the valley[valley] of the Sesia, which extended to the Simplon and the Lago Maggiore. This movement was intended to clear the road of the Simplon, to form a junction with the detachment which was coming down it, and lastly to examine all the paths practicable to wheeled carriages.
After some further conversation, the generals separated for the night.
The next day, it was apparent that the conqueror of Italy was present, and among the French. All was activity and resolution. The First Consul directed his mind to the fort of Bard.
The single street, which composed this town, was in possession of the French, but only passable, if passable at all, under such a storm of fire as would make it impossible to move artillery that way, even if the distance had been only five or six hundred yards. The commandant was summoned; but replied, with the firmness of a man who appreciated fully the importance of the post intrusted to his courage. Force, therefore, alone, could make them masters of the passage. The artillery, which had been placed in battery on the heights of Albaredo, produced no great effect; an escalade was attempted on the outer ramparts of the fort; but some brave grenadiers and an excellent officer, Dufour, were killed or wounded to no purpose. At this time the troops were defiling by the path of Albaredo; for fifteen hundred workmen had wrought the necessary repairs on it. Places that were too narrow they had enlarged by mounds of the earth; declivities too sudden they had eased, by cutting steps for the feet; trunks of trees they had thrown across other places, to form bridges over ravines, which were too broad to be leaped.
The army defiled man by man in succession, the cavaliers leading their horses by the bridles. The Austrian officer commanding in the fort of Bard, seeing the columns thus march past, was in despair that he could not stop their progress; he, therefore, sent a message to M. de Melas, informing him that he had seen the passage of a whole army of infantry and cavalry, without having any means to prevent it; but pledged his head that they should arrive without a single piece of cannon. During this time, the artillerymen made one of the boldest of attempts. This was, under the cloud of night, to carry a piece of cannon under the very fire of the fort. Unfortunately, the enemy, aroused by the noise, threw down fire-pots, which made the whole road light as day, enabling him by that means to sweep it with a hail-storm of deadly missiles. Out of thirteen gunners who had run the risk of taking this piece forward, seven were killed or wounded. There was in that enough to discourage hardy spirits; yet it was not long ere another way, ingenious, but still very perilous, was devised. The street was strewn with straw and litter; tow was fastened around all the cannon, to prevent the slightest resonance of those huge metallic masses on their carriages; the horses were taken out, and the bold artillerists, dragging them with their own hands, were so daring as to carry them under the batteries of the fort, along the street of Bard. These means succeeded to perfection. The enemy, who occasionally fired as a precaution, wounded a few of the gunners; but soon, in spite of this fire, all the heavy artillery was transported through the defile; and this formidable obstruction, which had given the First Consul more anxiety than the St. Bernard itself, was now entirely overcome.
The Alps were passed, and victory already hovered over the banner of Bonaparte.
