The Generals

A few minutes later Napoleon glanced to either side at the men waiting in the shadows, muskets poised at the advance, then nodded to Colonel La

‘Grenadiers! . . . Forward!’

The uneven blue line rustled through the undergrowth, twigs snapping and cracking beneath their boots as they emerged from the gloom of the wood and trotted across the open ground towards Pavia. Napoleon took up position behind the centre company and hurried forward with them, his heart pounding with excitement. The men at the gate saw them almost at once and jumped up from their bench, snatching at their weapons. One turned to shout out a warning and then, realising the need for a more urgent call to arms, raised his musket into the air and fired.The shot sounded dull and flat as it carried across the fields, but it was enough to alert the defenders to the danger, and Napoleon knew there was no further need to keep his men quiet. His sword rasped from its scabbard and he thrust it forward towards the town.

‘Charge!’ he shouted. ‘Charge them!’

The officers and sergeants took up the call until the whole force surged towards the flimsy defences in a great roar of battle cries. The first shots from the defenders stabbed out from the barricades, but the grenadiers surged on heedlessly. Only one of the men on watch stood his ground, bayonet lowered and legs braced as he glared at the Frenchmen. The others simply turned and ran, fleeing back down the street into the town. Their comrade parried aside the first attacker and slammed his butt into the grenadier’s face, and then he was knocked to the ground and the point of a bayonet punched into his chest. The Frenchman tore the blade free and ran on, leaving his victim squirming on the ground, staring wide-eyed at the blood pumping from his wound in a great hot rush of crimson.

Such was the momentum of the attack that the grenadiers had scrambled over the barricades and were streaming through the streets before they encountered the first organised resistance. Napoleon was at the head of a loose company of his men when they turned a sharp corner into a small piazza. He just had time to register a line of levelled muskets and throw himself to the ground before they disappeared in a thick swirl of smoke and flame. The musket balls whipped overhead and struck several of the attackers down. At once Napoleon thrust himself up, stretched out his sword and bellowed at his men. ‘Forward! Forward! Get them!’

He rushed on, conscious of the grenadiers behind him stepping and jumping over their fallen comrades as they raced after their general. Napoleon ran into the swirl of gunpowder smoke and saw the dim grey shapes of the defenders ahead of him. The point of a bayonet pierced the gloom and stabbed forward towards his face. Napoleon let out a ragged gasp as he smashed the hilt of his sword against the bayonet and knocked the weapon away.Abruptly he was shouldered aside by one of the grenadiers who slammed his blade into the enemy’s guts and pushed him back into the ranks of his comrades. More grenadiers swept past as Napoleon stood close to the wall of the house, chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath. Ahead, the fight was already over, and when he moved on to catch up with his men he stepped over a dozen of the townspeople, cut down in the furious onslaught. Some were wounded and one was screaming as he clamped a hand tightly over the glistening guts protruding from his torn stomach.

When he reached the main square, Napoleon found Colonel La

‘Who’s this?’

‘The mayor, sir. He’s offered to surrender the town. I told him, not until I have the garrison and Captain Linois safely in our hands. He’s sent a man to order their release.’

‘Good,’ Napoleon replied in relief. ‘Then it’s over.’

He turned to the mayor. ‘You must identify the ringleaders of this revolt.’

‘I will not betray them,’ the mayor replied in French.

‘We’ll see about that,’ Napoleon said curtly. ‘Take him over to the other prisoners.’

There was a sudden shout from one side of the square and the two officers turned to see what was happening. One of the grenadier companies had broken ranks and was ru

‘Don’t just stand there!’ Colonel La

Musket fire crackled in the square and the tiles around the men on the roof exploded into fragments. They hurriedly ducked back out of sight and after a few more shots the grenadiers lowered their weapons.

‘Find those men,’ ordered Napoleon. ‘They can join the prisoners.’>

Within moments the company that La

Napoleon nodded a greeting and shook his head wearily. ‘Christ, I hate fighting civilians. Reminds me of the time we had to put down that rebellion in Lyons.’

Bourrie

He turned to a sergeant. ‘Find Colonel La

The sergeant smiled cruelly, saluted, and then turned to trot across the piazza, following the sounds of musket fire. Bourrie

‘Is that wise?’ he asked softly.

‘Wise?’ Napoleon shrugged. ‘I think so. Why? What are you thinking?’

‘I’m thinking that if we start butchering the people of Pavia then you are setting a standard for the behaviour of our men.And once word of this spreads to the other cities we’ll make enemies of all those who welcomed us as liberators.’

‘That may be so,’ Napoleon reflected. ‘On the other hand, it might be argued that I am saving lives in the long term. Once people hear of the fate of Pavia it will surely dampen any rebellious flames that burns in their hearts. It will save the lives of our men as well, Bourrie

‘If you say so, General.’

The fighting continued through the town until early in the afternoon, when flames and thick clouds of dark smoke rose into the sky and a dirty pall lay across Pavia. The bodies of those killed inside the buildings were dragged out into the streets and left in heaps to serve as a warning to others. Not a man, woman or child was spared and Napoleon hardened his heart at the sight as he made his way round the town after the fighting had ended.