Having despatched this severe reprimand he hastened on to Donauworth, where he arrived at 4 A.M. on the I 7th, hoping to find Berthier, but the latter was at Augsburg. Nevertheless, at 10 A.M. he ordered Davout and Oudi not to withdraw at once to Ingolstadt and Lefebvre and Wrede on the right to support the movement. About noon Berthier re turned and after hearing his explanation Massena received orders to move from Augsburg toward Ingolstadt. "To-morrow will be a day of preparation spent in drawing closer together, and I expect to be able by Wednesday to manoeuvre against the enemy's col umns according to circumstances." Meanwhile the Austrians had approached so near that by a single day's march it would have been possible to fall upon and crush by superior numbers either wing of the French army, but though the Austrian light cavalry successfully covered the operations of the following troops they had not yet risen to a conception of their reconnoitring mission, and the archduke, in ignorance of his opportunity and possessed, moreover, with the preconceived idea of uniting at Regensburg with the two corps coming from Bohemia, moved the bulk of his forces in that direction, leaving only a covering body against Davout altogether insufficient to retain him. Davout, however, had left a garrison of 1,800 men in Regensburg, who delayed the junction of the Austrian wings until the loth inst., and on the same day the emperor, having now reunited his whole right wing and centre, overwhelmed the covering detachments facing him in a long series of disconnected engagements lasting forty-eight hours, and the archduke now found himself in danger of being forced back into the Danube. But with the Bohemian reinforcements he had still four corps in hand, and Napoleon, whose intelligence service in the difficult and intersected country had lamentably failed him, had weakened his army by detaching a portion of his force in pursuit of the beaten right wing, and against the archduke's communica tions.
When, therefore, the latter, on the 22nd, marched southward to reopen his communications by the defeat of the enemy's army, he actually reached the neighbourhood of Eckmiihl with a sufficient numerical superority had he only been prompt enough to seize his opportunity. But the French had been be forehand with him. Napoleon, who had personally taken part in the fighting of the previous day, and followed the pursuit as far as Landshut, whence he had despatched Massena to follow the retreating Austrians along the Isar, seems to have realized about 3 A.M. in the morning that it was not the main body of the enemy he had had before him, but only its left wing, and that the main body itself must still be northward towards Regensburg. Issuing orders to Ddvout, Oudinot and his cavalry to concentrate with all speed towards Eckmiihl, he himself rode back along the Regens burg road and reached the battle-field just as the engagement be tween the advance troops had commenced. Had the Austrians pos sessed mobility equal to that of the French the latter should have been overwhelmed in detail, but whilst the French covered 17 and 19m. the Austrians only marched 1o, and, owing to their defective assimilation of the new tactical training the troops actually on the ground could not hold out long enough for their reserves to arrive. The retreat of the front lines involved the following ones in confusion, and presently the whole mass was driven back in considerable disorder. It seemed as if nothing could save the Austrians from complete disaster, but at the critical moment the emperor, yielding to the protestations of his corps com manders, who represented the excessive fatigue of their troops, stopped the pursuit, and the archduke made the most of his oppor tunity to restore order amongst his demoralized men and crossed to the north bank of the Danube during the night.
On the following morning the French reached Regensburg and at once proceeded to assault its mediaeval walls, but the Austrian garrison bravely defended it till the last of the stragglers was safely across on the north bank. It was here that, for the only
time in his career, Napoleon was slightly wounded. Then, leaving Davout to observe the archduke's retreat, the emperor himself rode after Massena, who with the major portion of the French army was following the Austrian weaker wing under Hiller. The latter was not so shaken as Napoleon believed, and turning at bay at Ebelsberg inflicted a severe check on its pursuers. Thus covered by his rearguard Hiller gained space and time to pass his troops over to the north bank of the Danube and remove all boats on the river. This left the direct road to Vienna open, and Napoleon, hoping to find peace in the enemy's capital, pushed the whole of his army down the right bank, and with Murat's cavalry entered the city on May 12, after somewhat severe resistance last ing three days. Meanwhile the archduke and Hiller, both now un molested, effected their junction in the vicinity of Wagram, picketing the whole line of the Danube with their outposts and collecting all the boats.
The reconnaissance of the river was at once taken in hand by the French upon their arrival in Vienna, and a point opposite the island of Lobau selected for the crossing.
Thanks to the Austrian precautions it took four days to collect the necessary material to span the main branch of the river, here some 2,000yd. across, and though Napoleon personally spurred on all to activity nearly four days more were required for its construction. It was not till the night of May 19 that orders for the passage were finally issued, and during the night the troops commenced to occupy the island of Lobau. Surprise, of course, was out of the question, but the Austrians did not attempt to dispute the passage, their object being to allow as many French as they felt they could deal with to pass over and then to fall on them. Thus on May 21 the battle of Aspern (q.v.) or Essling began. It ended on the night of the 22nd with the defeat of Napoleon, the first ever inflicted upon him. The French retreated into the island of Lobau. By nightfall upwards of i oo,000 men, encumbered with at least 20,000 wounded, were crowded together on the little island scarcely a mile square, short of provisions and entirely destitute of course of all hospital accessories. The question then arose whether the retreat was to be continued across the main stream or not, and for the second time in his career Napoleon assembled his generals to take their opinion. They counselled retreat, but having heard them all he replied, in sub stance : "If we leave here at all we may as well retire to Strass burg, for unless the enemy is held by the threat of further opera tions he will be free to strike at our communications and has a shorter distance to go. We must remain here and renew operations as soon as possible." Immediate orders were despatched to summon every available body of troops to concentrate for the decisive stroke. Practically the lines of communication along the Danube were denuded of combatants, even Bernadotte being called up from Passau, and the viceroy of Italy, who driving the archduke Johann before him (action of Raab) had brought up 56,00o men through Tirol, was disposed towards Pressburg within easy call. The arsenal of Vienna was ransacked for guns, stores and appliances, and prep arations in the island pushed on as fast as possible. By the end of June 200,000 troops were stationed within call, and on July 4 the French began to cross over to the left bank of the Danube. The events which followed are described under WAGRAM. The great battle at this place, fought on July 5 and 6, ended in the retire ment of the Austrians. The only other event which occurred be fore peace was made was an unimportant action at Znaym on July