Croats called up reinforcements, as did the French, and a three-day
slugging battle commenced in the marshes, ditches and dykes around the
bridge.
Arcola (r5-17 November) was Lodi all over again, with the same
terrible loss of life from frontal attacks by the French on prepared
positions. But this time Napoleon did try to lead his men across the
bridge in a do-or-die effort. He describes his efforts as follows :
I determined to try a last effort in person; I seized a flag, rushed on the
bridge, and there planted it; the column I commanded had reached the
middle of the bridge, when the flashing fire and the arrival of a division
of the enemy frustrated the attack. The grenadiers at the head of the
column, finding themselves abandoned by the rear, hesitated, but being
hurried away in the flight, they persisted in keeping possession of their
general; they seized me by the arm and by my clothes and dragged me
along with them amidst the dead, dying and the smoke; I was
precipitated in a morass, in which I sank up to the middle, surrounded
by the enemy. The grenadiers perceived that their general was in
danger; a cry was heard of 'Forward, soldiers, to save the general!' the
brave men immediately turned back, ran upon the enemy, drove him
beyond the bridge, and I was saved.Such, at any rate, is the account of Napoleon the mythmaker. Louis
claimed that his brother seized the tricolour to lead the charge but fell
into a dyke as he ran along the causeway through the marshes towards the
bridge and would have drowned had not he (Louis) pulled him out. The
version of his aide, the Polish officer Sulkowski, has a more authentic
ring of truth; he described Napoleon raising the standard on the bridge
and then berating his men for cowardice. This is borne out by Napoleon's
report to the Directory on 19 November where he admits, almost in
throwaway fashion: 'We had to give up the idea of taking the village by
frontal assault.' What happened was that he threw a pontoon bridge
across the Adige farther downstream at Albaredo and was then able to
attack the Austrian rear over firm ground. Alvinzi then retreated, even
though his position in point of supplies and reinforcements was superior
to Bonaparte's. Napoleon had been lucky: his nerve held better than
Alvinzi's. A good general could have defeated the French decisively while
they were bogged down in the marshes. But the upshot was certainly
favourable to Napoleon: Alvinzi took 7,ooo casualties as against 4, 500 for
the French, and could no longer link up with Davidovitch.
Napoleon next turned his attention to Davidovitch, who had beaten
Vaubois in every encounter. But it was not until 17 November that he