The Washington herald., 1914-01-18

WrOt6 ner as II MS nearC were breaking
Il quote from a series OF letters:
had left all to ses you. to press you to my
hear-you were not here For me. to love
you alone. to make you happy. to do nothing that
can annoy you, that is the lot and aim Of my
life When ask you for . love like mine.
sold! . II is my misfortune that nature has
denied me qualities that might fascinate you
I open my letter to send you a kiss, All.
Josephine, Josephinel
In the depth of the following winter
Alvinzi with another army of 1000 Aus
TRANS started down the mountain defiles
once more.
Napoleon was in doubt where to find
and meet the main column of the enemy
until l6te of a January night when he di-
vinedsthat Alvinzis own command was
headed straight for Verona along the
banks of the Adige-
Ordering re-enforcements to follow him
at full speed he raced to Rivoli. seventeen
miles north. where only 1O.Wo FRENCH
were recoiling in the presence of 5000
Austrians. Fairly flying on his horse
through a cold, white night he arrived at
the French position at 4 o'clock in She
morning. just in time to avert retreat
with his cheering assurance that 1890
men were coming to the support of the
sorely beset 10000.
The battlefield of Rivoli is a classic in
military topography. 1t is a broad, fairly
level plateau, with mountains rising be-
fore and behind IL and the Adige rushing
along one side. while range of hills on
the west runs down to Lake Garda, six
miles away.
ON that drill ground Napoleon found
the French encamped. on toward Monte
Baldo on whose SHOWS the moon glisten-
ed. he saw the wide-flung line of camp
fires of the sleeping Austrians. The air
was afame with them" he said. But the
enemy to gain a footing on the plateau
must climb up steep, crooked and Icy
roads, and those zigzag paths were to de-
termine the result of the battle.
The Battle of Rivoli.
Without waiting for the Austrians to
open the attack or for the French re-en-
forcements to arrive, Napoleon at once
took the aggressive and before daylight
he had driven the enemy from their lodg-
ment at st. Marks Chapel. the nearest
elevation. But in the earlier hours that
followed the sunrise the Austrians drove
in the French at every point OF contact
and threatened to catch them in the rear.
as well as to climb up on the plateau and
break through their front.
Napoleon sat on his horse as calmly
as at a review while his lines wavered
and with anxious eyes his generals
watched his face. He was only waiting
and show their white coats above the
edge of the plateau. for his artillery to
catch them on either side while his in
fantry dashed at the head Of their column
for the white coats in his rear they, too,
were Just where he wanted them, ready
to be caught in their own rear by the
French re-enforcements coming up from
Verona.
When he heard the gloating. shouts of
the Austrians behind him, where they
fondly believed they had him and his
army inclosed within wall of steel. he
Every man of that fianking column was
captured, while the artillery smashed
and the cevalry dashed to pieces the
columns that scrambled up the northern
sleeps of the heights of Rivoli.
Alvinzi took flight from the scene with
much less than half the men he had led
down from Trent Napoleon had van
quished the fifth army which Austria had
sent against him in less than ten months.
Mantua Falls.
Like a circus showing in one-day towns.
the main body of the French broke camp
as soon as the battle was won. Not long
after midnight they were on the march
southwark, to prevent the Austrian d.
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