Napoleon, on horseback, at daybreak, stationed himself in the cemetery to the right of Eylau, where, scarcely protected by a few trees from the cannonade which the Russians had already commenced, he surveyed the positions of the enemy. He could foresee that victory would cost him dearly, from the solid and obstinate mass which the Russian general had formed.
Owing to the position of Eylau, which stretched itself out facing the Russians, Napoleon could give the less depth to his line of battle, and consequently the less scope to the balls of the artillery. Two of Marshal Soult’s divisions were placed at Eylau, Legrand’s division in advance and a little to the left, Leval’s division, partly on the left of the town, upon an eminence topped by a mill, partly on the right, at the cemetery itself. The third division of Marshal Soult’s, St. Hilaire’s division, was established still further to the right, at a considerable distance from the cemetery, in the village of Rothenen, which formed the prolongation of the position of Eylau. In the interval between the village of Rothenen, and the town of Eylau, an interval left vacant for the purpose of making the rest of the army debouch there, was posted a little in rear, Augereau’s corps, drawn up in two lines, and formed of Desjardins’s and Heudelet’s divisions. Augereau, tormented with fever, his eyes red and swollen, but forgetting his complaints at the sound of the cannon, had mounted his horse to put himself at the head of his troops. Further in rear of that same debouche came the infantry and cavalry of the imperial guard, the divisions of cuirassiers and dragoons, both ready to present themselves to the enemy by the same outlet, and meanwhile somewhat sheltered from the cannon by a hollow of the ground. Lastly, at the extreme right of this field of battle, beyond and in advance of Rothenen, at the hamlet of Serpallen, the corps of Marshal Davoust was to enter into action in such a manner as to fall upon the flank of the Russians.
Thus Napoleon was in open order, and his line having the advantage of being covered on the left by the buildings of Eylau, on the right by those of Rothenen, the combat of artillery, by which he designed to demolish the kind of wall opposed to him by the Russians, would be much less formidable for him than for them. He had caused all the cannon of the army to be removed from the corps, and placed in order of battle. To these he had ordered the forty pieces belonging to the guard, and he was thus about to reply to the formidable artillery of the Russians by an artillery far inferior in number, but much superior in skill.
The Russians had commenced the firing. The French had answered it immediately by a violent cannonade at half cannon-shot. The earth shook under the tremendous detonation. The French artillerymen, not only more expert, but firing at a living mass, which served them for a butt, made dreadful havoc. The balls swept down whole files. Those of the Russians, on the contrary, directed with less precision, and striking against buildings, inflicted less mischief. The town of Eylau and the village of Rothenen were soon set on fire. The glare of the conflagration added its terrors to the horrors of the carnage. Though there fell far fewer French than Russians, still there fell a great many, especially in the ranks of the imperial guard, motionless in the cemetery. The projectiles, passing over the head of Napoleon, and sometimes very close to him, penetrated the walls of the church, or broke branches from the trees at the foot of which he had placed himself to direct the battle.
This cannonade lasted for a long time, and both armies bore it with heroic tranquillity, never stirring, and merely closing their ranks as fast as the cannon made breaches in them. The Russians seemed first to feel a sort of impatience. Desirous of accelerating the result by the taking of Eylau, they moved off to carry the position of the mill, situated on the left of the town.
Part of their right formed in column, and came to the attack. Leval’s division gallantly repulsed it, and by their firmness left the Russians no hope of success.
As for Napoleon, he attempted nothing decisive, for he would not endanger, by sending it forward, the corps of Marshal Soult, which had done so well to keep Eylau under such a tremendous cannonade. He waited for acting till the presence of Marshal Davoust’s corps, which was coming on the right, should begin to be felt on the flank of the Russians.
This lieutenant, punctual as he was intrepid, had actually arrived at the village of Serpallen. Friant’s division marched at the head. It debouched the first, encountered the Cossacks, whom it had soon driven back, and occupied the village of Serpallen with some companies of fight infantry. No sooner was it established in the village and in the grounds on the right, than one of the masses of cavalry posted on the wings of the Russian army detached itself, and advanced towards. General Friant, availing himself with intelligence and coolness of the advantages afforded by the accidents of the locality, drew up the three regiments of which his division was then composed behind the long and solid wooden barrier, which served for folding cattle. Sheltered behind this natural intrenchment, he kept up a fire within point-blank range upon the Russian squadrons, and forced them to retire. They fell back, but soon returned, accompanied by a column of nine or ten thousand infantry. It was one of the two close columns, which served for flying buttresses to the Russian fine of battle, and which now bore to the left of that fine, to retake Serpallen. General Friant had but five hundred men to oppose to it. Still, sheltered behind the wooden barrier with which he had covered himself, and able to deploy without apprehension of being charged by the cavalry, he saluted the Russians with a fire so continuous and so well directed, as to occasion them considerable loss. Their squadrons having shown an intention to turn him, he formed the 33d into square on his right, and stopped them by the imperturbable bearing of his foot-soldiers. As he could not make use of his cavalry, which consisted of some horse chasseurs, he made amends for it by a swarm of tirailleurs, who kept up such a fire upon the flanks of the Russians, as to oblige them to retire towards the heights in rear of Serpallen, between Serpallen and Klein-Sausgarten. On retiring to these heights, the Russians covered themselves by a numerous artillery, the downward fire of which was very destructive. Morand’s division had arrived in its turn on the field of battle. Marshal Davoust, taking the first brigade, that of General Ricard, went and placed it beyond and on the left of Serpallen; he then posted the second, composed of the 51st and the 61st, on the right of the villages, so as to support either Ricard’s brigade or Friant’s division. The latter had proceeded to the right of Serpallen, towards Klein-Sausgarten. At this very moment, Gudin’s division was accelerating its speed to get into line. Thus the Russians had been obliged by the movement of the French right to draw back their left from Serpallen towards Klein-Sausgarten.
The expected effect on the flank of the enemy’s army was therefore produced. Napoleon, from the position which he occupied, had distinctly seen the Russian reserves directed towards the corps of Marshal Davoust. The hour for acting had arrived; for, unless he interfered, the Russians might fall in mass upon Marshal Davoust and crush him. Napoleon immediately gave his orders. He directed St. Hilaire’s division, which was at Rothenen, to push forward and to give a hand to Morand’s division about Serpallen. He commanded the two divisions of Augereau’s corps, to debouch by the interval between Rothenen and Eylau, to connect themselves with St. Hilaire’s division, and to form all together an oblong line from the cemetery of Eylau to Serpallen. The result expected from this movement was to overturn the Russians, by throwing their right upon their centre, and thus break down, beginning at its extremity, the long wall which he had before him.
It was ten in the morning. General St. Hilaire moved off, left Rothenen, and deployed obliquely in the plain, under a terrible fire of artillery, his right at Serpallen, his left towards the cemetery. Augereau moved nearly at the same time, not without a melancholy foreboding of the fate reserved for his corps d’armee, which he saw exposed to the danger of being dashed to pieces against the centre of the Russians, solidly appuyed upon several hillocks. While General Corbineau was delivering the orders of the Emperor to him, a ball pierced the side of that gallant officer. Marshal Augereau marched immediately. The two divisions of Desjardins and Heudelet debouched between Rothenen and the cemetery, in close columns; then, having cleared the defile, formed in order of battle, the first brigade of each division deployed, the second in square. While they were advancing, a squall of wind and snow, beating all at once into the faces of the soldiers, prevented them from seeing the field of battle. The two divisions, enveloped in this kind of cloud, mistook their direction, and bore a little to the left, leaving on their right a considerable space between them and St. Hilaire’s division. The Russians, but little incommoded by the snow, which they had at their backs, seeing Augereau’s two divisions advancing towards the hillocks on which they appuyed their centre, suddenly unmasked a battery of seventy-two pieces, which they kept in reserve. So thick was the grape poured forth by this formidable battery, that in a quarter of an hour half of Augereau’s corps was swept down. General Desjardins, commanding the first division, was killed; General Heudelet, commanding the second, received a wound that was nearly mortal. The staff of the two divisions was soon hors de combat. While they were sustaining this tremendous fire, being obliged to re-form while marching, so much were their ranks thinned, the Russian cavalry, throwing itself into the space which separated it from Morand’s division, rushed upon them en masse. Those brave divisions, however, resisted—but they were obliged to fall back towards the cemetery of Eylau, giving ground without breaking, under the repeated assaults of numerous squadrons. The snow having suddenly ceased, they could then perceive the melancholy spectacle. Out of six or seven thousand combatants, about four thousand killed or wounded strewed the ground. Augereau, wounded, himself, but more affected by the disaster of his corps d’armee than by his personal danger, was carried into the cemetery of Eylau to the feet of Napoleon, to whom he complained, not without bitterness, of not having been timely succored. Silent grief pervaded every face in the imperial staff. Napoleon, calm and firm, imposing on others the impassibility which he imposed on himself, addressed a few soothing words to Augereau, then sent him to the rear, and took his measures for repairing the mischief. Dispatching, in the first place, the chasseurs of his guard and some squadrons of dragoons which were at hand, to drive back the enemy’s cavalry, he sent for Murat, and ordered him to make a decisive effort on the line of infantry which formed the centre of the Russian army, and which, taking advantage of Augereau’s disaster, began to press forward. At the first summons, Murat came up at a gallop. “Well,” said Napoleon, “are you going to let those fellows eat us up?” He then ordered that heroic chief of his cavalry to collect the chasseurs, the dragoons, the cuirassiers, and to fall upon the Russians with eighty squadrons, to try what effect the shock of such a mass of horse, charging furiously, would have on an infantry reported not to be shaken. The cavalry of the guard was brought forward, ready to add its shock to the cavalry of the army. The moment was critical, for, if the Russian infantry were not stopped, it would go and attack the cemetery, the centre of the position, and Napoleon had only six foot battalions of the imperial guard to defend it.