Napoleon therefore resolved upon a painful sacrifice in order not to expose himself to risks which prudence forbade him to brave. Having formed this resolution, in an instant he ordered the staff officer to return to Lannes as fast as possible and tell him to suspend the movement and fall back gradually on the Essling and Asperne line. He was also to recommend the marshal to be sparing of ammunition.
On receiving this order Lannes and Bessieres were compelled, to their deep regret, to halt in the midst of the vast plain of Marchfield. No sooner did the French troops commence their backward movement than the Austrians recovered their order and zeal, charged in turn, and finally made themselves masters of Asperne.
Essling, where Massena commanded, held firm, and under the protection of that village and numerous batteries erected near it, Napoleon succeeded in withdrawing his whole force during the night. The Commander had sent earlier in the day to inquire of Massena if he could rely on the possession of Asperne; for as long as it and Essling remained, the safe retreat of the army was insured. The staff officer who took the message found Massena on a heap of rubbish, harassed with fatigue, with blood-shot eyes, but with unabated energy of spirit.
On receiving the message he stood up and replied with extraordinary emphasis: "Go tell the Emperor I will hold out two hours,—twenty-four—so long as it is necessary for the safety of the army!"
It was during this exciting retreat that a dreadful calamity befell the army. Whilst Lannes was galloping in front of the line from one corps to another, encouraging the soldiers by his voice and example, an officer who was alarmed at seeing him exposed to so much danger, entreated him to dismount for greater safety. He followed the advice, though it was far from his habit to be careful of his life. At that instant he was struck by a cannon ball that shattered both his knees. Bessieres and an aide raised him up, and found him bathed in blood and almost senseless. Bessieres, with whom he had quarreled on the preceding day, pressed his weak hand. He was laid on a cuirassier's cloak and carried to a little bridge where an ambulance was stationed. The news soon spread through the army and filled it with sorrow. The surgeon declared his wounds to be mortal.
In his frenzy the brave marshal called for Napoleon, his friend. The latter observed a group advancing, supporting Lannes on a bier formed of crossed fire-locks and some branches of oak. Twelve old grenadiers, covered with blood and dust, bore this illustrious warrior along. As soon as the Emperor saw it was the Duke of Montebello he hastened to meet him. The grenadiers stopped, and Napoleon, throwing himself upon his old companion-in-arms, who had fainted from the loss of blood, in a voice scarcely articulate, said, several times, "Lannes, my friend, do you know me? It is the Emperor, it is Bonaparte, your friend."
At these words Lannes opened his eyes, till then closed, collected his spirits, and made some attempts to speak; but, being unable, he could only lift his dying arms to pass them round the neck of Napoleon. The fear of exhausting the little life still remaining in the marshal determined the Emperor to leave him.
Sometime later Napoleon visited his wounded friend and conversed with him briefly. "My noble marshal," said the Emperor, "It is all over." "What!" cried the dying man, "can't you save me?" He died in delirium some days later in the arms of his chief, who wept over him as he had done at the death of Desaix at Marengo. The French soldiery delighted to call him the "Roland of the Camp," and Napoleon said, "It was impossible to be more brave than Lannes." No man could inspire his troops with more confidence than could this brave soldier who had been the companion of the fortunes and glory of Napoleon from the very beginning of his public career.
Napoleon had charged Lannes to maintain Essling at all hazards and he valiantly fulfilled his task. At length, at nine at night, the sanguinary conflict ceased; the French preserving the position they had occupied in the morning, and the Austrians bivouacking where they were. Both sides sustained an equal loss, from fifteen to twenty thousand men having been killed, or wounded, on both sides. Among the Austrians were four field-marshals, eight generals and six hundred and sixty-three officers killed or wounded.
On the morning of the 23rd of May the French were cooped up in Lobau and the adjacent islands,—Asperne and Essling—the whole left bank of the river, remaining in the possession of the Austrians. On either side a victory was claimed. In the eyes of Europe it was a check for Napoleon, accustomed to crush his enemy, to have been unable at this time to drive the Austrians from their position.