Austerlitz

Chapter One

Chapter One

Months had passed since he had been given his position as a Voltigeur but now training was over, Alain stood proud with his chest thrust out, his coat tails fluttered along with the plume on his shako hat. All around was a sea of white and blue, they were finally ready. The Allied armies of the Austrians, Swedes and Russians had begun to make their move by attacking the French allies Denmark and Bavaria. The Emperor had decided that enough was enough and the Grande Armée was to be employed to crush this coalition. The Austrian General Mack had seized Ulm, or so he had been told, the march down to Bavaria had been arduous and Alain had failed to bandage his feet on the first few days and had suffered severely for it. From what he’d heard from the grapevine was that they were to trick the Austrians into thinking that the bulk of the Grande Armée was still at the English Channel. From what he had heard from some of the other men they had to strike the Austrians quickly as a Russian army was fast approaching from the east.

But whatever the plan truly was it definitely involved a lot of marching and most of the men’s boots were covered in mud from the mulch churned up by the thousands of feet before them. It wasn’t long before boredom set in and Alain melted into the monotonous routine of marching as his eyes scanned around the bleak winter countryside of Bavaria. He could see gloomy forests away in the distance shrouded in mist and veil of mystery. Abandoned villages danced on the horizon as people had fled from the advancing armies.

About halfway through the day the man in front of Alain collapsed, a Sergeant sprinted over and pulled the man out of line and onto the side of the track, ordinarily the Sergeant would have screamed at the man but he was clearly a veteran and was instead carried back to waiting orderlies who put him on the back of one of the ambulance carts. The line quickly closed up and the march continued.

After a few hours the trap was set, Alain’s unit had been bait for the Austrians which allowed the rest of the army to surround the enemy without their realisation, but to Alain’s disappointment the only fighting that had taken place was mainly cavalry skirmishes and little else. They had surrounded the city of Ulm and General Mack was cowering inside along with much of his army, the rest had been chased off before the city was surrounded.

“What now sir?” a soldier near to him called out to Sergeant Guillaume.

“Now we wait and that’s all there is to it, and to be quite frank we usually spend a long time waiting” the Sergeant replied.

And so they went on waiting whilst the rest of the army formed up around the city. Whilst Guillaume stood in front of the assembled men he noticed a cavalry force approaching from the north, he couldn’t remember any units being sent further north in the battle plans, he couldn’t quite see the uniforms yet and began squinting and straining his eyes to try and pick out the colours. He turned to his adjutant “What uniforms are they wearing Moreau I can’t quite tell”

“Them sir? Well I don’t think they’re ours sir or they’d have blue sleeves those men have white”

A sudden realistion dawned across Guillaume’s face; if they weren’t French then they could only be...”Austrians!” He roared and thrust his finger in the direction of the oncoming cavalry, the soldiers nearest to him turned suddenly to see the mass of horses charging at them.

Alain faintly heard the call to fix bayonets and with slightly fumbling hands did so, he was in the fourth row from the back so he began so load his rifle with powder and then of course the shot, he took aim along with those around him over the shoulder of the man in front, and waited for the signal.   The call for ‘Fire!’ echoed across the battle field but was quickly swallowed up by the sudden roar of gunfire.  Alain didn’t see where his shot hit as it was lost among the smoke and flying dust, now they turned their bayonets on the charging cuirassiers.

Time seemed to stop as the first horses hit the barely assembled ranks horses and men screamed alike as the beasts came pounding down on to the men before them, Alain was sprayed with blood as a man near him was half decapitated by an Austrian sabre. He wiped his eyes of the crimson liquid before plunging his bayonet into the nearest cavalryman. The man yelled in agony as the steel blade pierced his abdomen; giving his weapon a vicious twist he stood back as the man slid forward. The rider less horse panicked and bucked catching the soldier in front with it’s hooves utterly destroying the man’s face and covering the men nearby with blood. Alain looked forwards once again to get the horrific image from his mind, he scanned around and saw that the cavalry were breaking through and without support the unit would surely be destroyed. He saw something move out of the corner of his eye but before he could turn there was a sickening smack and the world fell into darkness. His eyes opened suddenly and he felt hands around his neck, a de-horsed Austrian was forcing all his weight onto the young Frenchman’s neck. Alain began to see white flashes in his vision and the world was a distant blur, he tried to strike the man on him with his fists but his strength had deserted him.

Suddenly the pressure was released and the Austrian’s face was a mixture of surprise and pain as he looked down at the sword protruding from his stomach, the man was thrown off him and Alain was helped to his feet.

“You need to pay more attention lad! If Moreau hadn’t seen you we’d have another body to clear up” Guillaume exclaimed.

Alain didn’t reply but nodded his head in thanks which sent the world spinning again; two sharp smacks across the face brought him back to reality. The soldiers were bravely fighting back ag ainst the cavalry but without assistance the skirmish could go either way.

By now word must have got back to the other units, no sooner had he though this he heard horns sounding over from the west. French cavalry cut into the flank of the Austrians, panic-stricken they turned in flight and those that acted too slowly were cut down by the unstoppable mass of French cavalry.  The ground was littered with the bodies of French and Austrians alike, there must have been hundreds of dead but a few bodies still moved and screamed amongst the carnage, several soldiers wandered through the killing ground carrying away injured comrades and dispatching any moving Austrians.

“Today we have lost brothers, men who will be avenged, but they have not died in vain, remember that” Sergeant Guillaume roared “This has been the first taste of battle many of you will have experienced, but let me tell you that this is just the tip of the iceberg”

A few men cheered at this but others looked forlorn as they looked down at faces they knew and those that they didn’t. Alain thought it was astounding that only a few minutes before these men had been fighting viciously but as soon as they achieved peace, they were overcome by sadness. Alain knew this wasn’t the end, with the Russian army still approaching from the east. This was just the beginning.