"Prussian-Eylau - beginning of the battle" Topic

"…"Broken bodies and rubble were being cleared away from the Post-Master's house at Eylau when the Emperor galloped up in a flurry of plumed and braided horsemen to establish Headquarters there for the night. Around him, soldiers of Legrand's division were already ripping up the village for firewood against the bitter cold. They had once been ordinary men, but this winter in Poland had destroyed their humanity. There was no pity in their eyes for the few remaining families who watched in disbelief.Their homes collapsed before them and the broken timbers in the fires sent showers of sparks into the freezing black night above their heads.

The temperature dropped lower and the swirling snow silently drew covers over the corpses.The survivors were grateful for the shelter afforded by the more solid buildings, and by the ugly stone church on its little hill. The Army had thrown itself without orders at the obscure Polish village all afternoon. They had fought savagely into the dusk to win this shelter rather than face another night in the frozen wastes and icy north wind of this God forsaken country in the back of beyond. But of the hundreds that huddled in blankets and greatcoats that night on the cold floor of Eylau Church, nearly half would be dead or wounded by the following evening.

Ensconced in the Post-Master's old armchair, the Emperor Napoleon considered his situation. This storming of Eylau had upset his plans. The Russians, lighting their campfires barely a thousand yards away in the wintry gloom, were so close that battle next morning could not now be avoided. With only 45,000 tired men against perhaps 60,000 or more Russians, he would have preferred not to offer battle at all until the arrival on his right of Marshal Davout with 15,000 men. But now he had no choice but to hang on in the face of a substantially superior army until help could arrive. And with over 400 guns to oppose his 270 or so, hanging on would test both his own nerve and his soldiers' courage to the very limit…or beyond…."

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Amicalement
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Amicalement
Armand