The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-02-05

carried the column over the 200 yards of
clear space, scarcely shot fro the Aus
TRANS taking effect except at point
where the platoons wheeled to take the
| first leap.
The suddenness of the blow and the
miracle of the passage of the bridge at all
by the French took the heart out of the
Austrian artillerists, and they abandoned
| their guns almost instantly.
AS Napoleon had calculated, the Aus
trian infantry lying behind the batteries
was too far away to go to their aid, and so,
without hating at the enemy's front line,
his charging grenadiers rushed up the hill
to attack the second This, too, gave way,
and within a few minutes after the first
ranks of the French landed on the Aus
trian bank of the river the entire army of
the allies was running to the rear.
Individuals turned now and then and
| fought on their own hook to prevent cap
ture, and in this way some of the bravest
of Napoleon's followers won honors at
Lodi. When the general asked for the
names of the heroes of the day to gazette
for bravery, the roll of the entire first bat
talon Of carbineers who headed the at
tack were handed in. Perhaps two-thirds
of them were dead, for they had received
the full force of the shower of grape hurled
at the daring column the moment the
Austrian artillerymen saw what was COM
ing. Sergeant Leon, of that battalion, was
the first across the bridge, and he had led
the attack on the batteries. One of the
grenadiers named Laforge had killed five
Austrians at the guns.
After Napoleon became famous, tradi-
Said hot bo ho
across the bridge, and while he lay in
prison at St. Helena the statement ap-
peared in history On hearing it read he
stopped the narrator abruptly and declared
that it must be corrected. ''Lannes passed
first" said he. 81 only followed him"
At the close of the battle Napoleon placed
the credit for the success where, next to
his own shoulders, it belonged His report
said that when the grenadiers presented
themselves on the bridge the fire Of the
enemy was terrible; the head of the column
seemed to hesitate; moments hesitation
and all would have been lost. The gen
erals, sensible of this, threw themselves in
front and decided the struggle while it was
yet balanced. This formidable column
overthrow everything opposed to it; the
enemy's artillery was instantly taken In
the twinllIing of an eye his army was COM
pletely dispersed"
In another account Napoleon said that
the charge was made with the rapidity Of
lightning" that the column traversed the
bridge at a running pace in few seconds
and was not exposed TO fire of the enemy.
except at the moment when it wheeled to
the left to the bridge"
The French loss given by Napoleon was
200, which doubtless represented the killed
only. Brief and easy as the struggle was
to the French, it cost the Austrians dear.
Their killed and wounded amounted to
1900, their prisoners 1000. To this the
Austrians add loss Of 235 horses. "A cannon
and so wagons. the French claiming COO
horses and % cannon.
The result OF the battle was the capture
of Milan by the French and the control of
all Lombardy. Napoleon had failed to de-
feat the junction of the Austrian armies,
but as he beat them in battle afterward,
Lodi became known as the turning point
in his brilliant Italian campaign.
GEORGE L kuMER