AUSTERLITZ.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 214, 17 February 1915, Page 6

AUSTERLITZ.

FRANCE'S SOLDIERS. (By Pilchard Conover). S!ioui<l you ask the fighting possibih tics of tin' soldiers of Franco, look toward thf great doomed tomb of '.lit' fiivalidos i„ Paris and iiml tin' answer thereNapoloon Bonaparte. I To tlii- loftiest heights of military ac'hievoment tin' groat. Corsican led his liallic hosts clurinii two anil twenty world slirn:.;: yen's To the h.-fli.-V heights and li:i'i: b. yond, I"'' -Man »! Destinv ird tlii'i',l. Up Lito the v. ry clouds,' nearer to (he centre ui glory and renown than man had ever mounted before, the fighting French soldier followed. Patriotically consecrated, with ii sneer for death and a delirious dasn ever ri'atlv for the desperate occasion. he flung himself into the hell of battle, passionately happy boeau-e oi the chance to distinguish himself under the eye oi his demigod leader. Xobodv had ever mad" a Frcnc.i soldier do "as much before. Nobody, certainly, has made him do as much since. Hut the (loins is in llim > ( ' vc ' r n ' il '' :> ' to lu ' brought out. History warns, however, that the fighter of F™cy to insure v,et„rv must fir-t ;«rtako of the sacri,,,,;,r „f tin.' dedication. A lazy nibbi" of the bread of devotion or a trilling sip of the froth of rant from the chalice of sacrifice is instiHicloiit stimulus. Analysis of many a Trench defeat proves it." Properly 'stirred, the fighter of France is invincible. napoleon met allies. From IT!). 0 , to 1SIT) the French soldier met the fighting mun of every other nation, and was Napoleon-led to victory. During all that period he wa-j seldom, if ever, confronted by the troops | of one country. Forever it was allies. allies, and more alliis lie did all ms fiiditin" awav from his own soil, curving the battle to the enemy, never waiting for him—Bonaparte didn t know how to fight that way. In the Peninsular War, the French marshals of tne absent Emperor suffered defeat at tne hands of Wellington's English, Spanish and Portuguese troops. But they fou;rht terrifically, and had their share of victory. c And are these twenty-two years of glory all the praiseworthy lighting of which the French soldier can boast/ Far from it. He has a fighting history; that for scope of field and for range of •operations over the world is second only I to that of England, 'ind not even second in the matter of fighting. Second merely in fighting that does hot retain the fruits of battle, which, after all, is more of a diplomatist's job and not the i province of a soldier. | During the eight celebrated Crusades > of history undertakers, to re-r,i," the 5 Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem from the (anti-Christian, the French soldier did his full share of fighting and some to spare. Tn the First Crusade, 10%. Hugh, tli." brother of King Philip T. of France, led a large armv of his countrymen i'dv Constantinople, from which rallying point they advanced On Nice and Anlioch and finally took .leni-alom i" company with their allies. It was French soldiers who erected and guarded the little kingdom encircling the holy tomb. I n 1147 Louis Vll. of France led 1.10.00:1 soldiers across Europe and laid siege to Damascus. Philip Augustus, King of France, in company with Richard- the Lion Hearted of England, capf lived Acre fin the Third Crusade. 1180. The Count of Flanders led another large army in the Fourth Crusade, 1202. during which Constantino;:]!' was captured as a feat incidental of the main purpose and without Crusade value whatever. French valor lias a very decided dating point from the battle of Bouvines, fought August 27. 1214. Philip Augustus, the French King, attacked an immensely superior force of 150,001) English, Flemish and German troops and won .. complete victory. The fields of Flanders and Boulogne were forfeited to the French crown and a five year trace was bought of Philip bv the payment of (10,Saint Louis, led the Seventh and Eighth Crusades with enthusiastic French soldiers in the years 12-!!) and 1270 by way of Egypt and Tunis. He died in the latter country, the last champion of the attempt to gain and guard the Holy Sepulchre.

FLKMDCOS VAXQUISHKD. During tile reign <>f Cliarli's VI. of France a great victorv was gained over the Flemings at tin; battle of Rose'"'•i'|Ue. I;SS-2. This was a knights vie- -••. (In- Klemiii'.'s being trampled under !i~ ! liv thousands. ']: this <lav the praises of the devoted French maiden Jean d'Are are sung. She donned armor and led the French soldiers of her day to the successful siege of Orleans. May, 1421), and the cap- } ture of Troves, beating the English conclusively at Loth places. In 1-1.1:1 the ' French soldier won another victory over the Knglish on the field of Castillon, leaving Calais the only English possess-' ion in France. In the reign of Francis I. of France, another brilliant fighting epoch of the French soldier was reached. It was the day of the immortal Chevalier Bayard, the beau ideal of the courtly battler of the time, whose, every action was with- ' out fear and above reproach. At the battle of Marignano, IMS, the French army, after having been led over the Alps through narrow, chamois hunter paths, clashed with an army or Swiss in the pay of Italy. Trie Swiss were compelled to retreat with a loss of 10.01)11. Havard was knighted bv Francis I. on the battlefield for bravery. A French army gained a. decisive victory over the Herman Imperialists at Cerisolles. April 14. ir,l4. The battle of lvrv, .January 11. lr>!Xl. between Henry of Nevarre and his League enemies made Henry Kin- of France. The fight was all between Frenchmen, hut it was a notable cample of valiant battling around (he white plume that has been so often sung.

Two ;;]i'iit Frcii, li war cujitiiins made, lle-ir fiiiintry famous during the minoritv (if I.oiiU XIV. One ivas the voung li'ul.,. il'KiiL'iiii'ii. afterwards famous as tlii' Prince or Comic. Ho defeated a force ill' Spaniards am! Austrian* at loicroi. Mav 111. lii-Ki; a IJiivsirinu army :ii. Noidliii'l'eu. llil.'i, mid in K!4(i. aid«l ]>y a Dutch Hoot. c:tjitim-tl Dunkirk. Another inn' iif his noteworthy victories v.-as .trained over the Archduke Leopold at l.i us. August '"I. Hill!. Marshal Tun urn'. 111.' oiler jjr.-.i French cnimnnnd, r in" !ln> period, was equally siii'i-i's-ifiil. vviniiiiitr several minor victories in Flanders during ltiJ.-j. : !m l after caplurim; Trove,, iuliioiin- a severe defeat on Hie Herman iiniierialists near Auslim'tr. Hi-Hi. It was Cnndc vim liurled liis marshal's lialon into ill.- enemy's trendies so tliat lie ll,;.;!lt ree.iver it sWol',l ill lllllld, "in in- fin. i-eiirn „f I.:,nis XIV. tinI'lVlie'. ~,1.1;.',- also iH'lli.'Ved lirillillllt vicfonV- n.id.T "MmMial l.u'.oinlmr!.' and took Al- :ee-l.,.rrnin... At. I'leiirus. Jim.' ■'!". l'"!!H. l-e defeafed an Kmrlish. Corman "ml Patch ai'iny under Prince of Wnl- !'"■ ■■'i"e allies headed l>y Kimi William "1 I'.iivlaiid. I'LMiii at llie kalfle of Xeei'\vi.id"ii. .Inly ±l. nail, and never did th" r'lvni!' -iildier lielit. harder for (his yc <"r... linn,,- |l„. \\;,v ~,- u,,. S|,ani>l, "; ;; ;; ■ !•.---■ in nisi.-- hi (lie latler part tir.Ul 171 (. ,he French soldier for-di* and i'.nch* ; ,,„l fought ecaict tic tirc.it "(he- Irv f'.r afler ~;,-!, -,tiii-'in-' 'h'feii a' 1!- liamls of the fain 'ii- i'lc-y,-'i .'■■iivi-indcr. Ileniemlier. H •e.niii",! i '•"'■'■iieli valor („ make I!riti,h vict„iy| The AVsu- of the Austrian Succession brought fresh lustre to the arms of'

France through the leadership of the celebrated .Maurice, Count of Saxony, .■rterwards Marshal Sa.vo. May 11, 17-i', he defeated the English and Hanoverian army under the Mike of Cumbi'i'liuii! at Fontenoy, and as fruits of the victory Tourn'av, (ilient, Binges, Omlen.■rde ai.d other cities of Flanders wen ~(;,.en.hv. il to him. rhxe then ciijrtnr el afier sice. Brussels, Antwerp and •• -"„,.•. awl.'dilating the Austria " Raccoux, near Liege, made himself, the i ,i.a.iter oi an lieigium -tnen under i.. dominion of Austria. France then lie eiared war on Holland, and Sa:;e led hi. French soldiers over the. Dutch fron tier, am! mplured the wholly line of for on {lie Scheldt, from 'Antwerp l. the s.-a. i:i h- thai, a month Tin" ho turned on the English and Hanover ie.ii forces under Cumberland; ami a ihc battle of LakfieM drove them beliim the M.i'.-o. in 17-1S he captured Mae", nicht. In-riii',' the famous Seven Years War. the l-'reiieli soldier faced Frederic! Hie Croat at Rossbach, November ii, 17-"»T Rial a';!i"Ug!i fighting hard, went dov.; to a defiat that caused ids victor to i> acclaimed tile greatest captain of Ids age NAPOLEON'S FINISHED FIGHTERS. For two years before Napoleon bccami the dominating military figure tin fighting man of France had been servin; ing a war apprenticeship. He came t.i the great conqueror a finished wurkmai in the new battling art. All he needei' was a leader. On September 20, 170' raw troops of France cannonaded sea soned iroops of Prussia and Austria \ Valmy into ignominious retreat. l):i monriez won another great victory ove the Austrian* at Je.mappes, November (' 17!!2. This was the same Dumourii" and the same army concerning which tin general said that "they marched on' like mailmen, and returned like fools' in earlier encounters.

From September, 1703, four. Frew! generals led the. .French soldier to ban' fighting :»nrl victory during the remain der of the year. Houchard drove tin' English from Dunkirk; .Tourdan crushed the Au.strians at Wattignics: Iloch" an:' Piehcgru defeated the sillies under Brunswick and Woissenborg. In 17114 Moreau defeated, the Duke of York at Turcoing and Ypres. Jourdan made himself famous) by his arcat victory at Flcurus, causing the Duke of York to retreat into Brabant. Piehcgru seized Antwerp, made a forced march over the ice, and captured the Dutch fleet in Tcxel. Thus boldly facing a foreign army at each of her frontiers, and beating them one after the other. France came to the year 1705, the year of tlie wonderful Italian campaign and .the rise of. the star of Bonaparte. YEARS OF ACHIEVEMENT. Henceforward, even French soldier felt he "carried a marshal's baton, in his knapsack" Napoleon insisted that be did, and promotions from the. ranks to generalship solely on merit in notion seemed to prove it. Five, ten and fifteen years of marvellous achievement, followed. The fighter of France proved that his great leader and eonoiicror was right when he said: —'Impossible is the adjective of fools." The list of accomplishment is too long to detail. Success in one remarkable battle was defeated in another quickly following. The French soldier performed prodigies of valor hi them all. Four principal battles of Napoleon'!; career illustrate in an epochal way what his armies did for him. These battles are Marengo, June 14, 1800, by which he gained the indisputable first' place of power in France; Austcrlitz December 2, ISOS. by which he compelled Europe to acknowledge bis ascendancy; Leipzig. October l'i-l'.l, ISI3, by which Russia. Prussia, and Austria were able to dash Napoleon from bis European pedestal, and Waterloo, June IS, ISIS, by which the great Emperor lost the confidence of France and consequently his control. Marengo is the antithesis of the battle of Waterloo, and Austcrlitz that of Loipj'.iif. At Marengo the soldier of France whipped Austria. At Austcrlitz, he whipped Paissia and Austria combined. At Leipzig, he was whipped by Russia. Prussia and Austria allied. At Waterloo he was whipped by a combined array of English. Prussian. .German. Hanoverian and Belgian troops. When beaten he was always outnumbered. These battles are aside from his unparalleled sufferings during the awful retreat from Moscow in 1812. The battle of Austcrlitz has been termed the most complete victory on land during the whole of the Revolutionary or Napoleonic wars. So that the French soldier there may be properly considered the apex of his effectiveness as a fighter. Tt. caused the death of the great English statesman. William Pitt, who said when lie beard the news: "Roll up the map of Europe; it will not be wanted these ten years.'!> In this one battle, Russia and Austria were reduced to the conditio,, of humble, suppliants. Thereafter, whenever the mighty Emperor led his soldiers to battle and wished to instill enthusiasm ho would say:—"See, the sun of Austcrlitz shines on us. We cannot fail." This because on the morning of battle the sun broke through the clouds and mists, and Bonaparte prophesied that it was an augury of victory for the French. NAPOLEON'S STRATEGY WON. At Austcrlitz the French soldier demonstrated that he had advanced to a military proficiency never before equalled. The battle was one in which the superior strategy of Napoleon won, but his operations were so delicately timed that the slightest delay or failure in thi- sudden advance and seizure of the plateau of Prat/.cn would have been fatal. The Emperor's troops at this period of French lighting history were* a consummate blend of enthusiasm, comprehension, patience, confidence, and dash.

Forj.'l'ttiiia tlic importance of tin- platcau. tlii' allies doludedly planned to use their forces to out Napoleon out from Vienna by turning his Tin* rest of the Fmperur's iirmv was in quarters near the capital. ,Thcy attempted this move in full sijrht of the Kmpcror, who floated over their fatal foolishness •!* he watched their columns inarehin;,' across his front to rake up position. Napoleon hail one small cavalry corps retire purposely as though intimidated at the approach of the enemy's armies. The humblest French soldier was soon aware of tile mistake. beinjr made by the iiussians, and when Napoleon visited the bivouacs that nijrht b> was evervwero huzzaed. On trrizzlod grenadier is reporteil to have stepped forward from i his line to Uonaparto's horse, anil said: "1 promise thee that to-morrow ue will briny 1 thee t.li<■ colors nnd the cannon .of the Uu-siau army to fele (lie aniiivo,sary of the coronation." The story is vouched for as indicating tlie survival of the Revolutionary republican spirit in the arinv despite the trappings of empire. For that matin- Napoleon's soldiers e„iiMdoiv,l his titles 'and honor* as a secondary matter of course appendages to his ability and renown as a war captain. In the inornin.'i when the fo.tr lifted Napoleon jrave the signal to liis impatient commanders and arinv. SoultV divUi.m rumed up the heights of lYai--7.011, driving the unnnticipatim: Russians down the slopes. That settled the hatle. Incidentals there was a. terrific hand to hand encounter later hetween the cavalry, in which the "Russian horse guards were cut to pieces. Thousands of liussians lied over the pond of 'lViilitz. Napoleon ordered his arliMen- to plav on the ice. which broke be-. ; --th tin: soldiers. This detail of the victorv was a. massacre. The liussians and Anstrinns lost, 27.000 dead and wounded and the French 8,500. The triumph placed Napoleon and the French soldier at the zenith of their glory.

FRANCE'S FIGHTING MEN. . Several characteristics of the fighting man of France stand out during these, vimdirffll two and twenty years. The chief of these may be called the almost fanatical consecration to the task of beating in battle every king or commander of a king or soldier of a king hat came before him. No Mohammedan ,\as ever more reckless of life or, wiling to sacrifice that life to principle. The guillotine period of Revolutionary '."ranee was responsible for a callousness :o death. Childhood had witnessed be'eadings ami gore until boys and girls isked to be taken to executions as an iinnsement similar to going to a circus. ■Soys wiio became Napoleonic, soldiers later became accustomed to the sight of fathers and mothers and relatives seized .'.'. simper and executed within fortyeight hours. Death had snatched somenie in every household.'' So certain, was it to come that children heard it. joked about. The' pall of death imminent",' hung over thenS They were taught that, the kings and armies menacing France were responsible for the guillotine. They became the most redoubtable, soldiers of Europe, for they'fought for years to force an acquiescence »n their views. It is related that Frederick William of Prussia, in an engagement near Frankfort in 1701, saw a young French grenadier bidding a slope alone against; a score of enemies. He had him taken relive, and when he was brought before, him, said:— ,

"Von aie a brave lad, and it is a pity you fight for a bad cause." - 1 * "Citizen. William." replied the young soldier, ''we should never agree on that pob't. We'd better change the subject." Thus the strong anti-king belief made i the French soldier invincible. He be-' lieved, he ws ordained to unlift the worhl. This belief had the force of a religion with him, the same as Chrisiianiiv r"er»innp Rome and Mohammedanism subdued great peoples of Asia and Africa. Because of this a levy of 750,000 men was raised quickly to face the nations battering at the frontiers of I France. All were inoculated with the I revolutionary principle .and felt them- j so'ves a'nostles ready to !<afrifice them-1 selves. They had a hardihood and her-1 oism that could lever bo shaken and I which never failed them in the direct, misfortune. . • j Their lenders helped to make the French soldier irresistible. All were young men. and men who achieved their rank by deeds o n the field and not through, influence!. Napoleon was but twenty-seven when he »>egan his memorable Italian campaign. Hoehe. a. corporal in 178!), was a general of division, and commander of an army at twentyfive. The extreme youth of these leaders naturally brought with it the accompaniment of youth, a dash, an im- | petuosity anil ah unusual way of fighting j which •bewildered the older' generals of the allies. *

MASS FORMATION. \ Many of the victories of the French soldier of the period were gained through an attack comparable i„ its element?, to the French temperament. The column or mass system was in vogue. The troops wore 'formed in battalions in column arid hurled at the \ enemy's line. Nine times out of .ten the enemy had to give way. But much was risked on the one charge. The French enthusiasm Mas at the boiling point when the attack was ordered. It was like his nature' to ieap en masse, shouting bis human bat-' toring ram o„ to victory. When , the mighty catapult of the French' soldier landed on the enemy's van/ experience showed'that something had to give way. The young French generals altered,tlie fighting system of formation, and until Wellington had . schooled European troops not to be frightened beforehand at the advance of great masses of glistening bayonets thev won their battle by it. Between 171)2 and' 1800 nearly 700,000 troops out of 2,500,000 sent, to battle perished on jthe field. Nothing daunted, the F ench soldier fought terrifically fifteen years longer. Another striking, characteristic of the French soldier was his idolatrous loyalty to Napoleon. This devotion 'was incomprehensible even to the great emperor, wdio made use of it so often. Men were proud to be cut *o pieces under his eye. His marshals sharc<! in the worship, although they had.fought with.liim when he did not seem anything but ordinary clay like themselves. On the retreat from Moscow it is related i n a large number of memoirs and accounts' that th c thousands dying along the snowy road roused up to give a dying, "Vive l'Empereur!" Young soldiers especially -thought,.him -a god. His marshal, Desaix. at Marengo insisted that a final trial be made because "I am ready to die for you.' 1 ' And so he. did die. When Npoieon waxed impatient at.the critical point in a battle becausp-his plans halted, he had only to say something sarcastic about "wavering devotion," and his soldiers cried with shame and mortification and begged to be ordered to their death. '""' ,'

NO FRENCH DECADENCE. While the French soldier attained the crowning point of his glory in the Napoleonic era, the/ years since then have found him valiantly fighting when his country called him to' arms. In the Crimean War, forty years after Waterloo, he acquitted himself, admirably. In the attack on Sebastapol, September S, Ifioo. lie seized Malakoll', his part of the battle programme, while the British soldier was forced to retire before he could perform his share by taking the Redan. In Algiers the French soldier lias battled often and well i n the conflict covering nearly half a century necessary, to. the establishment of French dominion in Africa. He fought hard in Tndia before England was able to clinch lier hold beyond all rivalry in the Far East. Those, acknowledged to be most conversant with the fighting spirit of France'! and the fighting ability of the French soldier have always denied that the firman triumph of 1870 and JH7I was conclusive proof of German superiority or French decadence. They maintain 'that the French soldier was impregnated with I republican principles and nut up only a half-hearted tight, lie did Jiot rise to battling his hardest for an emperor who was not a soldier and for a cause that had its origin in the differences of diplomats rather than abridgements of elemental rights or lil'vrties.' Even in this humiliating defeat and without competent leaders' the French soldier in the Franco-Prussian War fought better than is generally credited. The chronological details disclose this fact.