the day of passage itself. Thus a large battery may keep up a heavy fire at a distant point, the heads of pretended columns may be shown in different places, &c. In war a good Dodge or Artifice is never to be despised, according to the Maxim XV.

In illustration of the preceding, the instructive history of the passage of the Limmat under Massena in 1799 will be now given; it must be read with a map of Switzerland : any good map will suffice. Without a map, this narrative, as, indeed, all military history, is best left alone.

Passage of the Limmat under Massena in 1799.

Massena occupied the left bank of the Aar from Klignau to the junction of the Aar and Limmat, the left bank of the Limmat, and the western shore of the Lake of Zurich. The general Knochemmoff, at the head of a Russian army, had a no less extended strategical front, occupying the right bank of the Aar from Klignau to the junction of the Aar and Limmat, the right bank of the Limmat, and the eastern shore of the Lake of Zurich. A second Russian army, under Souwarrow, was descending from the Alps to join Knochemmoff. According to the Principle of Strategy which states that one of the great objects to be uniformly looked after in all military operations, is "To bring the mass of one's forces successively into collision with fractions of the enemy," Massena determined to effect the passage of the Limmat, and, if possible, engage and defeat Knochemmoff, before his junction with Souwarrow, and afterwards in turn engage the latter, thus engaging the two successively in application of the Principle. Massena having decided on this, the Principle IV., q.v., next indicates, that the point of attack of Knochemmoff's strategical front is towards the centre, and hence that the point of passage of the Limmat should be in the neighbourhood of Schlieren, or on the centre of the Russian strategical front. Then the conditions which the point of passage of a river must satisfy in order that it may be as favourable as possible, determine the particular point out of the neighbourhood already assigned.

On looking at the map it will be seen that the river, forming a considerable bend at a point in the neighbourhood of Schlieren, with its convexity the right way,

i.e.

1

towards Massena, (which point is near the village of Dietikon,) that point satisfies the condition 2.

This point also satisfies condition 1, for the left bank does command the right.

And the condition 5.

And the condition 6 as well as any other point does. And the condition 7.

Hence the conditions 3 and 4 remain alone unsatisfied, there being no Affluent or protecting Isle. But it is very important that one of these unsatisfied conditions should be satisfied. It will be seen how that of these two which requires an Affluent to serve for the collection of barges, boats, machines, materials, &c., by furnishing water carriage, &c., was supplied as far as possible under the circum stances. And here, at the risk of discursiveness, as the subject has incidentally arisen, the great advantages which water carriage frequently possesses in war over land carriage may be remarked. In a despatch from Napoleon to his brother Joseph, the following words occur,-"From Saragossa to Tudela the land carriage is 3 days" (i.e. 72 hours); "the water carriage is only 14 hours, wherefore to have the besieging artillery and stores at Tudela is the same as to have them at Saragossa." Nor does it appear at all likely that Railroads will affect the question, for, admitting they will serve for the strategical concentration of armies entirely out of the sphere of the enemy's activity, yet their operation appears so easily deranged by pulling up very short pieces of the rail, or putting pieces of iron across, &c. &c., especially if done on the tops of bridges, viaducts, &c., or by mines, that it does not appear probable they will be of any use in or near the sphere of the enemy's activity. The effect of a battery opening on a railway train remains to be seen.

To continue the narrative. On looking at the map, it will be seen that the town of Bremgarten on the Reuss is distant about 5 miles from the point decided on for the point of passage, and that there is a road, though not a very good one, nearly the whole way. The river Reuss, then, must supply the purposes of the Affluent for the supply and collection of barges, boats, and the collection of machines and materials by water, and these all must be

carried across to the Limmat by land from Bremgarten, a distance which, it has been said, is 5 miles.

There is, it will be seen from the map, a point also in the neighbourhood of the centre of the Russian strategical front which has an Affluent, but this point of confluence satisfies no other of the required conditions, and the Affluent is very small and unimportant compared with the Reuss for the purpose of collecting barges and boats, &c., by means of which latter it will be seen barges, &c., could be collected from even the Lake of Neuchatel 90 miles distant.;

Though the Reuss could neither answer the purpose of an Affluent in conveying the barges, boats, materials, &c., quite to the very point of passage, nor shelter the embarkation of the Infantry destined to cross in boats, yet it had the advantage of awakening less the suspicions of the enemy.

The false strategical point, at as great a distance as possible from the true one, decided on in this case for the purpose of turning on it the attention of the enemy, was Brugg, on the Aar. At that place ostensible preparations were made; two of the largest barges from the Lake of Lucerne were formed into a moveable bridge, rafts were constructed, requisitions of tackling, oars, &c. made, and in fact the attention of the enemy was directed successfully towards this point, 12 miles distant from the true one. The real preparations were made by collecting barges and boats on the Reuss itself, and by it from the Lake of Zug, and even from that of Neuchatel, 90 miles distant by water from the true point of passage. The barges and boats from the Lake of Neuchatel were brought down the Aar with the current, as will be seen by map, and up the Reuss. In this way twenty-seven barges destined to the transportation of the Infantry were collected one by one at Bremgarten, and carried to the point, where they were hidden behind and in a little wood. The barges destined to the construction of the bridge were taken from the bridge of boats at Rottenshwyl on the Reuss, where, to prevent suspicion, they were left till the last moment, viz. till the evening before the day on which the passage was to be effected, when, the bridge being taken to pieces, the barges were brought down to Bremgarten.

One thing is to be remarked;-the great distance of river and lake over which boats and barges were collected for the passage.

During the night before the passage, the barges and boats destined to the transport of the Infantry were carried silently to the bank of the river, and the artillery placed so as to cross the fire and protect effectually the disembarkation of the Infantry.

There was, in particular, a body of 2,000 Russian Grenadiers in the immediate proximity of the point, and a portion of the artillery was so placed as to cut these as far as possible from the point of passage, and throw howitzer shells into their encampment. A battery was also placed opposite the village of Otwill, to play across and intercept the communication by the road from Wurenlos to Zurich on the other side of the river, and prevent assistance coming to the 2,000 grenadiers. A strong Division was placed in position across the road from Dietikon to Schlieren, to oppose any offensive movement the garrison of Zurich might attempt during the operation of the passage. The artillery made its disposition during the night with extraordinary order and silence. The infantry destined for the passage was arranged in order at fifty paces distance from the bank. As early dawn began to break, notwithstanding the height of the bank above the water, the barges and boats were launched into the stream, and the Infantry, to the number of 600 men, mounting readily the opposite bank, chased away 200 Cossacks, who formed an advanced post. Now the waters of the Limmat rippled and vibrated beneath the atmosphere shaken by the French Artillery, and howitzer shells searched after the Russians in their encampment.

As soon as the success of the Infantry on the opposite bank was certain, and the battalions having, on finding themselves decidedly superior, charged, and driving back the enemy made good their tête-de-pont, the barges, machines, and materials, which had till then remained in the village of Dietikon, advanced at a fast trot. In two hours and a half the bridge, with rampe and road which led down to it, were finished. By this time 8,000 Infantry

were on the opposite bank, because, according to the Rule, the boats continued crossing Infantry during the construction of the bridge. The Artillery, Cavalry, and remains of the Infantry, defiled over the bridge, four hours after the commencement of which the French army was united in the position of Fahr.

Companies of Swimmers are of use in crossing a river. They may draw their arms after them in very small light boats constructed expressly for the purpose, each of which two, or even one man, might readily carry. Where silence is required, such companies might be of great use, and, of course, the more rapidly an army can cross a river, the greater the probability of the success of the undertaking, for the less time the enemy will have to concentrate and oppose the passage, and the more means an army has of crossing, the greater will necessarily be the rapidity with which it will pass. There can be no difficulty in forming companies of swimmers, as it is only to collect together men who can swim. All soldiers ought, of course, to be able to swim well, for if the opportunity or occasion for swimming rarely occurs, the consciousness of the power of doing so in case of need gives confidence where a man has anything to do with the water.

In the passage of a river, as in all the operations of war, according to the Maxim XV. a good dodge, artifice, or trick is an excellent thing; decidedly it is of importance that a soldier should possess a very ready invention, a natural turn for mechanism and mechanics of all kinds, and a great power of adapting himself to all circumstances, and all circumstances to himself.

The two circumstances which form the only points of interest in the passage of the Dwina by Charles XII. will here be mentioned in illustration of the preceding remark, and of the subject of this Chapter generally, which are

1. That before he ordered his barges to cross he waited for a favourable wind, and lighted great masses of wet straw and underwood, &c. which he had collected, and thus made a great smoke, which the wind drove across the river, by which means he greatly obscured the view of the