The struggle in the centre was bloody and protracted and the Emperor
was again cast down by the fanatical fighting spirit of both Russians and
Prussians. By 5 p.m. Oudinot had regained the initiative on the right, but
both he and Soult were making very slow progress against a determined
resistance. The Prussians were still holding Ney easily when the centre at
last began to buckle, principally because the exhausted Russians were
running low on ammunition. Finally sensing a definite weakening in the
enemy pulse, Napoleon sent in the Guard. At this the Allies ordered a
general retreat but were able to withdraw in good order with all guns
thanks to the bungling of Ney and Lauriston. Around ro p.m. that
evening a violent thunderstorm ended the perfunctory French attempt at
pursuit.
Both sides had lost about 2o,ooo men; the difference was that the Allies
could afford to absorb these losses and the French could not. On points
Napoleon had won another clear victory, but he could not fail to be cast
down when he considered what might have been. Incompetent staffwork,
Ney's stupidity, Lauriston's slowness, a poor supply system and some
indiscipline in the ranks had contributed to the disappointing outcome,
and malcontents whispered that the Emperor had been forced to send in
his beloved Guard to win even a limited victory. But the most important
factor in Napoleon's failure to achieve another Austerlitz was his shortage
of horses, and this was a factor over which he had no control and which
remained to plague him in the fu ture. In his dejection he was not to know
that the Allied commanders were beginning to lose confidence as they
realized 'the ogre' was still a fo rce to be reckoned with.
On 22 May the Grande Armee began a slow pursuit. Their wounded
quarry showed how dangerous it still was during a violent clash at
Reichenbach, where Napoleon lost a comrade even more dear to him than
Bessieres. A cannonball ricocheted off a tree-trunk, hit Duroc in the
stomach, tore open his belly and spilled out his intestines in a gory mess
over uniform, saddle and horse. Duroc was helped into a tent, where
surgeons quickly concluded they could do nothing for him. Napoleon
came to see his favourite friend as he lay dying. Duroc apologized to the
Emperor for not being able to serve him fu rther, asked him to be a father
to his daughter, and then requested him to withdraw so that he was not
present at the moment of death. Napoleon's grief at the death of his
friend was like that of Alexander the Great for Hephaistion, or Achilles
for Patroclus, but the inference of homosexuality is unjustified. Those,
like Sir Richard Burton, who claim Napoleon as a bisexual Emperor,
make unreasonably great play of the intense friendship with Duroc; but it
is true that in some ways Napoleon never recovered from this loss.
marcin
(Marcin)
#1