east and Carteaux from the west. The two generals immediately fell foul
of their energetic young artillery officer who, with Saliceti's endorsement,
wrote to the Committee of Public Safety in Paris to denounce their
incompetence. The response from Paris was a good sign of the favourable
position Napoleon now occupied: he was promoted major with effect
from r8 October. Napoleon complained that he could not get Carteaux to
appreciate the importance of big guns and he himself lacked the clout to
force through what needed to be done. As was the case with all
Napoleon's memoranda at this time, it received the endorsement of both
political commissars and of Augustin Robespierre. The result of
Napoleon's complaint was therefore predictably favourable: Saliceti and
Gasparin appointed Brigadier du Teil. Since he was ill and elderly and
anyway a patron of Major Bonaparte, Napoleon virtually had a free hand
on artillery matters during the siege.
During his time on the island, Napoleon had made a close study of
Corsican ports and their fortifications, and had even sent a report to the
Convention. Having gone over the topography of Aj accio with a fine
tooth comb, he was immediately struck by the remarkable similarity in
the geography of Toulon and Ajaccio. This enabled him to zero in on
Toulon's weak spot: Fort Eguillette, commanding the western promon
tory between the inner and outer harbour, whose capture would make
both harbours untenable by the enemy fleet. 'Take l'Eguillette,' he wrote
to Carteaux, 'and within a week you are in Toulon.' Yet even with the
backing of the two commissars, Napoleon found it difficult to persuade
Carteaux, who believed in crude frontal attacks with the bayonet.
If given the green light, Napoleon could have taken l'Eguillette almost
instantly but Carteaux's dithering gave the British time to identify the
weak spot and fortify it. Napoleon had to settle in for a long haul. He
started by making the artillery arm as strong as possible, drawing in
cannon from as far away as Antibes and Monaco. With a battery of one
36-pounder, four 24-pounders and a 12-pound mortar he forced the
Royal Navy to keep its distance. Seeing the looming threat, the British
made several sorties and fought tenaciously. Meanwhile a political battle
developed in tandem with the military one, as Napoleon kept plugging
away to Saliceti and Gasparin on the theme of Carteaux's incompetence.
The Chinese whispers against the official commander reached the point
where Carteaux's wife is said to have advised him to give Napoleon his
head: the best thing was to distance himself, just in case the young major
failed; but if he succeeded, Carteaux himself could take the credit.
Fortunately on 23 October the commissars' negative reports finally had
their effect, and Carteaux was posted away to take command of the Army
marcin
(Marcin)
#1