26

CAPTURE OF A FORTRESS ON THE VISTULA. [A.D.

superiority of the Russian artillery in the late conflict, he also ordered from France all the bombardiers that could be spared, and fresh guns to be cast on the models of those he had captured from the enemy. Napoleon was tired of this distant campaign, to which he had become reduced, and sought on every side the means of bringing it to a speedy conclusion. It was, amongst other matters, brought to his serious notice, that no less a number of men than 60,000 were reported as absent from their regiments, who had fallen out of the ranks during the hardships of the winter campaign, and had established themselves in villages to the right and left of the great road behind the Vistula, where they were living in luxury at the expense of the inhabitants. Monsieur Daru brought the matter to the Emperor's notice by discovering that the number maintained in hospital was not at all equal to those reported to be there by the regimental returns, and they were immediately searched out, and restored to their divisions.

9. SIEGE OF DANTZIG.

While both armies thus rested to recover their fatigues, Prince Jerome, having General Vandamme under him, was busy besieging and occupying the fortified places of Silesia. On the 10th of January, the fortress of Schweidnitz was invested by the Würtembergers. It was gallantly defended by the Prussian governor, who employed the system of mines with good effect; but, nevertheless, it fell, after nine days of open trenches. The Prince of Anhalt Dessau covered with his corps all the approaches to Glatz; and, though driven under the walls by General LefebvreDesnouettes, he prevented the enemy from undertaking the siege of that town. With a corps of Bavarians and Würtembergers, Brieg was invested towards the end of January, and capitulated on the 8th of February. Neiss, the strongest fortress of Upper Silesia, was invested on the 24th of February, but General Kleist, from Glatz, disturbed the siege, by moving up against the besiegers, and it did not surrender till the 16th of June. From the moment that the Emperor withdrew behind the Passargo into winter quarters, he authorised Marshal Lefebvre to collect from all quarters a force amounting to 18,000 men, in order to undertake the siege of Dantzig, and on the 1st of April that place was effectually invested.

The capture of a strong fortress at the mouth of the Vistula was, not only strategically but politically, a result of the greatest moment. It was at this time garrisoned by 12,000 Prussians and three Russian battalions, commanded by Field-Marshal Kalkreuth, having the celebrated engineer, Bousmard, under him. It was at first resolved to blockade it, but it was impossible to close the harbour against the British, except by the occupation of the islands which defended the approach from the Baltic. Dantzig was a place of great importance in every point of view, but it had been regarded rather as a commercial entrepôt than as a fortress, until General

1807.] PLAN OF SIEGE DETERMINED UPON.

27

Manstein, the Governor in charge of the place at the period of the misfortunes which threatened Prussia, after the battles of Jena and Auerstädt, exerted himself with immense activity to repair the walls and the palisades, and to complete the enceinte. The besieging corps consisted of two Polish divisions under General Doubrouski, and the contingents of Baden and Saxony under General Ménaud, together with some Italians under General Teulié; but, while these troops were employed in the investment of the town, two French divisions and a brigade of French cavalry under General Kirgener formed the actual besieging force, which was directed by Generals Chasseloupe, of the engineers, and Laribrissière of the artillery. In the interval between the 1st of February and the 1st of April, the garrison had been successively driven from Dirschau and the isle of Nogath, and on the 12th of March Lefebvre established the head-quarters of the siege at Rosenberg and the grand park of siege artillery at Langenau. On the 18th, the land investment was only open on the side of the Isle of Nehrung or Holme, a vast extent of sand lying between the shores of the Baltic and the Salt lake called the Fische-Haff, and dividing the Vistula into two branches. Along these sands a communication, only closed by a ferry at Pillau, existed with the city of Königsburg, by which, at the eleventh hour, Marshal Kalkreuth had been enabled to enter the fortress, and assume the command. On the opposite side of the Vistula, the fortress of Weichselmunde required to be reduced before undertaking the siege. On the 26th, Kalkreuth tried two sorties-one directed through the suburb of Schidnitz, with a view of burning it, and the other, commanded by a distinguished outpost officer, Colonel Krakow, was to make an attempt upon the artillery park, at Langenfurth. The suburb was burned, but Krakow was intercepted in his march by the French chasseurs, and taken prisoner.

A council of war was now held, at which the plan of the siege was determined. On the side of the faubourgs of Schihlitz and Stoltzenberg there is a valley, between the enceinte and the opposing ground, which is elevated, and two forts, called Bischofsberg and Hagelsberg, connected by a line of earthworks, occupied this height, forming a double wall. This side was resolved upon for the principal attack; but strong demonstrations were to be, at the same time, addressed towards the entrenched camp of Neufahrwasser, at the actual embouchure of the river, and General Schramm, from the side of Nehrung, was to intercept all communication of this camp and the fort of Weichselmunde with the town, by way of the isle of Holm. These arrangements having been made, the trenches were opened at 800 paces, on the night of the 1st and 2nd of April, and, when the morning of the 2nd broke, the besieged were surprised to find the crest of the Zigaukenberg crowned with a long line of earthwork, and Prince Radzivill, with a division of Poles, in possession of the village of Aller, between that river and the Vistula. It was against the Hagelsberg that the most serious advance was to be made, for the redoubt of Bischofsberg was found to be more complete in its formation, and was better flanked by the

28

ATTACK UPON THE BATTERIES.

[A.D. ramparts of the place. The zigzags, therefore, from the first parallel were, accordingly, so directed as to open a flank fire upon the Hagelsberg, rather than a breaching power upon the Bischofsberg. The besieged, as soon as they were aware of this intention, worked by the sap to counteract it, and had very nearly established themselves on the height to which the second parallel was directed. However, on the night of the 10th, an attempt was made by the engineer, Roguint, at the head of 500 men, to counteract this step, and he succeeded, notwithstanding a fire of grape from the works, in getting into the sap, and began the work of its destruction; but the assailants could not live under the fire to which they were exposed, and they yielded possession to the besieged; but, at 1 in the morning of the 11th, they returned to the attack, and succeeded in destroying the whole of the work. The besieged, nevertheless, again repaired it, and succeeded in surrounding it with chevaux-de-frise, so that it was resolved to make a more resolute attempt on the 12th, and General Pacthod proceeded to attack it, in front and flank, with a battalion of Saxons. The Prussians defended it stoutly, and it was taken and retaken three times, until, at length, it remained to the besiegers. On the 13th, in the morning, however, it was again attacked and taken by the besieged, so that Marshal Lefebvre saw the necessity of putting an end to these conflicts, by taking forcible possession of the ground. On the 14th, the batteries having been armed, were in full fire. On the 16th, a sortie was directed by the besieged from the fort of Weichselmunde upon General Gardanne, who had occupied the earthwork, thrown up for the surveillance of the canal which formed the island of Holm. The attack was so serious that the Marshal was obliged to send down strong reinforcements; nevertheless, it was not till after seven hours' hard fighting that the besiegers remained masters of the ground. The second parallel was now complete, and the plateau was crowned and armed on the night of the 16th-17th. The fire from the place was, however, so severe, that sharpshooters were placed in trous de loup, to pick off the gunners at their guns on the ramparts. On the 17th, the British ship-sloop "Sally," 16, Captain Chetham, finding that the island of Holm was now cut off from the sea by the possession of the canal of Laach, resolved upon making an attempt to open it, and, on the 17th, by great exertions, and by lightening his ship of all her heavy stores, he succeeded in getting through the shallow water. At about sunset, he commenced a close action with the besiegers, in number about 2000, at the Great Hollands, in the Nehrung. Captain Chetham tried in vain, owing to the strength of the current, to bring his broadside of 24-pounder cannonades to bear upon the ruined houses occupied by the French, who had 3 guns with them, which were served so well that they succeeded in bringing down the sloop's mizen mast. At the same time, the incessant fire of musketry was such that upwards of 1000 bullets lodged in the hull of the ship, and nearly half of her crew were wounded. The "Sally," accordingly, at nightfall, hauled down the stream, and resumed her position outside the harbour.

1807.]

BOMBARDMENT OF DANTZIG.

29

The rain and snow came down in such abundance on the 19th, 20th, and 21st, that the works of the besiegers made little progress; but, on the night of the 22nd-23rd, the trenches were again opened, and it was resolved to commence the bombardment of the town from 56 pieces of heavy cannon. The besiegers had now in battery 18 24-pounders and 28 12-pounders, besides mortars and howitzers. They had also batteries of light guns, 6-pounders and 3-pounders, sufficient to play upon the head of the sap, which was the more difficult to work in from the brightness of the moonlight. The bombardment continued during the 23rd and 24th, when, as the fire of the besieged had attained a marked superiority over that of the besiegers, the Marshal summoned the Governor, but, of course, with no result. Kalkreuth, nevertheless, found the effect of this cannonade so insupportable, that he determined upon a sortie at 10 in the evening of the 26th, but the French were prepared for it, and, under General Ménard, made such a resistance as cost the garrison 150 killed, a great number wounded, and 700 prisoners. On the 28th, another sortie of 2000 men reached the third parallel, but was driven back, after much hard fighting, by General Michaud. An attempt to relieve the city was made by a British sloop of war, under Captain Strachey, who, having, as he thought, a favourable wind, ran up the river, carrying 600 barrels of gunpowder for the garrison; but the breeze fell, and he ran on shore in the Holm, when the "Dauntless," with her valuable cargo, became a prize to the besiegers, in sight of the mortified and disappointed garrison. On the 2nd of May, the sap had reached the saillant of the demilune, and another sortie was made on that night, and one again on the 4th. The veteran Marshal, impatient at the length of the siege, and of these continual and harassing petty engagements, was desirous of ending it by an assault, and sent to the Emperor to demand his permission; but, seeing there was yet no breach of any kind, the reply was a reprimand: "La poitrine de vos grenadiers, que vous voulez mettre partout ne renversera pas des murailles. Il faut laisser faire vos ingénieurs et écouter les avis du Général Chanteloup, qui est un savant homme, et auquel vous ne devez pas ôter votre confiance, sur le dire du premier petit critiqueur se mêlant de juger ce qu'il est incapable de comprendre. Reservez le courage de vos grenadiers pour le moment où le science dira qu'on peut l'employer utilement, et en attendant, sachez avoir de la patience. Quelques jours perdus ne méritent pas que vous fassiez tuer quelque mille hommes, dont il est possible d'économiser la vie. Montrez le calme, la suite, l'aplomb qui conviennent à votre âge. Votre gloire est dans la prise de Dantzig; prenez cette place, et vous serez content de moi." Napoleon has been charged with recklessness of the lives of his soldiers; this reply, at least, may be adduced in his favour. The isle of Holm, occupied by the besieged, was a continual trouble to the left flank of the trenches, which were annoyed by the fire from a redoubt upon it, called Kalke-Schanze. Marshal Lefebvre thought it now high time to take possession of it, and, on the night of the 6-7th, combined a double attack, one from

30

AN ATTEMPT TO RAISE THE SIEGE.

[A.D.

the side of the Vistula, by General Drouet, and the other from that of the Canal de Laach, by General Gardanne. Both attacks succeeded, the isle was completely cleared, and the Kalke-Schanze taken by assault with a garrison of 180 men. On the 8th, the besiegers were established on the crest of the covered way, but, on the following day, found out that it was mined, under which circumstances, the descent into the ditch could not be, for the present, attempted.

The Sovereigns of Russia and Prussia, satisfied with the bold defence of Dantzig by Kalkreuth, wished to take some measures for its relief. Benningsen, however, could not venture to attempt to force back Napoleon from his camp on the Passargo and, therefore, an expedition from the sea was determined on. This was confided to General Kamenskoi, who collected a fleet of 66 transports and 3 frigates, in which he embarked at the port of Pillau from 12,000 to 15,000 men, who arrived, on the 12th, at the fort of Weichselmunde, under the guns of which the disembarkation was safely effected. The co-operation of a corps of Prussians, under Colonel Bulow, was also planned to move at the same time along the sandy isle of Nehrung, while the grand army was to be disquieted and hindered from sending up succour to the garrison by a feigned attack upon the corps of Marshal Massena on its farthest flank, between the Bug and the Narew.

Napoleon was in no uneasiness about Massena's ability to defend himself, and did not think him in want of any succours from the army under his immediate command, in this emergency, and Marshal Mortier, having concluded an armistice with the Swedes, was moreover now at liberty, and already on his march from Pomerania. Oudinot was only distant two or three marches from Dantzig, on the side of Marienberg, and was forthwith ordered to march up to Fürstenwerden, and to throw a bridge across the branch of the Vistula which separated the isles of the Nogat and Nehrung, while Marshal Lannes, now sufficiently recovered, was to bring up his renowned grenadiers to this flank. Early on the morning of the 15th, Kamenskoi commenced his march to the attack of the besiegers, in 4 columns. He was ignorant, until the moment of his advance, that the isle of Holm was in the hands of the enemy; nevertheless, at 5 in the morning, he fell upon the column of General Schram, composed of Poles and Saxons, whom he speedily overthrew; Lefebvre, from his post on the side of the Hagelsberg, saw this discomfiture, and hastened down reinforcements, but Kamenskoi brought up his reserve, and would have carried the day, when Lannes came up, at the head of Oudinot's grenadiers; and, although both French Generals were unhorsed in the action, the Russians were forced to give way before the energy of the attack, and fell back under the protection of the guns of Weichselmunde. A detachment, also, which had been sent along the Nehrung, to stop Bulow's column, came up with it, at break of day, upon the Nehrung, and effectually dispersed it, with the loss of 1100 men and 4 guns. Though the Russians lost 2500 men in this encounter, it was so bloody that all