“Reaching and capturing Airolo, they drove out the French, who retired to the mountain and kept up a galling fire.
“When the Russians attempted to carry the summit of the pass it took two successive assaults, at a loss of two thousand men, to win it.
“Rosenberg had, in the meantime, driven the French from the Oberalpsee and crossed the heights above Andermatt, then dashing down through dense fog, had captured that village, and cut off the French reinforcements.
“Flinging his cannon into the Reuss, he took his men over the Betzberg, more than two thousand two hundred meters in height, and brought them in safety into the Göschenen valley.
“The Urner Loch, a passage cut in the solid rock and just large enough to admit a single pedestrian and his pack, and the Devil’s Bridge, wide enough to allow two men to walk abreast, hanging twenty-three meters above the swift Reuss, were the only means of getting to the pass, which is about half a kilometer long.
“A promiscuous slaughter followed. A French gun swept the tunnel from end to end with grape, and mowed down all who entered. The rearmost Russians pushed those in front of them towards the hole. Its entrance was choked with human beings, and many were pushed over the edge of the chasm and perished in the boiling torrent.
“This waste of life lasted till the Russian flanking parties came in sight on the heights above. Then the defenders of the tunnel retired across the Devil’s Bridge. One can see even now where they broke down the masonry platform by which it was approached. Then followed a murderous battle. The combatants were separated only by the narrow chasm of the Reuss. At last the French, seeing the enemy working his way along the mountain above them to the right, began to waver. Their assailants streamed across the narrow arch as far as the break in the masonry platform. To cross it they pulled down a shed hard by; bound its timbers together with officers’ sashes and laid them across the chasm; Prince Meschersky was the first to cross. ‘Do not forget me in the despatches,’ he cried, as he fell mortally wounded. A Cossack followed him but fell into the torrent.
“The French retreated to Seedorf, on the left bank of the Reuss, and there waited the turn of affairs. Meantime Suvórof had reached Altorf, where he found the end of his path.
“Not knowing how conditions were around Zürich, he determined to force his way to Schwyz. To do this meant to march across the Rosstock, that rugged ridge between the Schächental and the Muotta.
“Even under favourable conditions it is a hard task; but it was now late in the season; yet in spite of all common sense reasons he decided on this plan.