BROTHERS OF THE BLADE: TWO LIVES AGAINST NAPOLEON (5)
INSTALMENT NO. 5 : DIARY OF EUGEN VON HIRSCHFELD 5-14 JANUARY 1811
Instalment No. 5: The death of Eugen von Hirschfeld, his brother Moritz continues the diary.
La Guardia, 5 January
After several serious attacks, they were overthrown and many were cut down. Although they rallied several times, it was in vain; we pursued them to Bellpuig and would have pursued them to Lerida had not a reinforcement of 300-400 cavalry come to their aid from the right towards Villagrafa. This gave the battle a different turn; we had to retreat, now attacked from two sides, which we did with some losses; on the other hand, the enemy had lost an incredible number of men. For an hour, the wide road was littered with dead, wounded, weapons, horses, and so forth. Our general, who instead of staying in the centre was always with the flankers, was caught close to us; we escaped with difficulty on our tired horses. Moritz was fighting two Carabiniers, big, strong fellows, and he was already at a disadvantage when I rushed to his aid at the right moment and the Carabiniers, now attacked by two, surrendered. He was then almost cut down by three dragoons from Numancia, who mistook him for a Frenchman; he received three fortunately shallow but very powerful blows in the neck; a lancer was about to plunge his lance into his body when he was saved with difficulty by some rushing officers. Speaking of us, I may say that we were the heroes of the day. We came back with torn clothes and shakos and bloody swords. Everyone looked at us in awe and talked of advancement and so on. Little brother is all smouldering and I am having a great time too. He has two light wounds in his right hand, which unfortunately won't even leave a scar; a stitch in the right hand is nothing. I looked at myself longingly from time to time to see if there was a drop of blood on my breeches, but in vain. But I have never fought like yesterday, never. I drowned all my years of suppressed, pent-up rage in blood, and yet I remained human and spared the lives of many. Against one, however, I was hard, even cruel, and I would give all my glory of the day if I could replace his skull. Such is the fate of soldiers; one cannot always keep oneself within the proper bounds, and yet, afterwards, every cruelty appears to one in every waking and dreaming moment, a terrible reminder of the senseless murder1.
We marched here yesterday afternoon, and Moritz and I moved back into our old quarters, a lovely house with a magnificent view, and extremely kind-hearted landlords who received us with obvious pleasure and, after the men had told us of our deeds, offered us comfort after comfort. The poorest! They have nothing themselves; they were looted, the father of the family murdered by the French. The old woman told us that they had immediately made arrangements to get us back and would certainly not have taken in anyone else2.
It was rumoured in the regiment that Moritz had fallen, and it caused general sorrow among the officers and enlisted men.
6 January
Today the Colonel came back from town, complimented both of us in the presence of the officers' corps on our recent conduct and told us that we had been nominated for a decoration. Then he turned to some of the others and said: "As long as I have been a soldier, I have never known a case in which the general voice was so undivided; all the chiefs, officers and soldiers exhaust themselves in your praise. The officer who deserted us has been arrested; the conduct of two others, one who sneaked away to the rear and the other who plundered the dead behind the village, has not been mentioned.
7 January
Today a company of officers was with us; we were very merry, played social games as we used to do in Altenhausen, Neugattersleben, Hohenersleben, etc., and stayed together until late. Were there tragic days ahead? I have such a dark feeling, and the increasing rumours of the capitulation of Tortosa give cause for it, but it is too improbable for me to believe it: open communication with Tarragona, the whole army of Catalonia close behind, no, it cannot be.
8 January.
Tortosa has fallen; the order of the day seems to indicate a retreat towards Tarragona. This is madness. Catalonia is falling, must fall.
Santa Coloma de Queralt, 8 January
The loss of Tortosa has brought about a great change; it will lead to the loss of Catalonia, and this will lead to the loss of the whole of Spain. This is what I believe; am I right? I have deceived myself before about local affairs, and I can do so again; but the courage of the troops and the inhabitants has sunk to a new low; desertions are beginning to increase, etc.; so far we don't have a single cannon with us. The French are said to have entered Tortoſa through an underground passage and to have plundered there for three days. The officers, even the commanders, talk a lot about wives and children, about prospects for the future, etc. Even my Colonel seems to have something in mind that he wants me to discover, and I am afraid of it. The enemy is close to Tarragona, but our communications with that place are not yet cut off. We are here waiting for more troops to form a division volante; now we are about 7000 strong, including over 1000 cavalry. We still have four strong places: Monserrat, Cardona, Berga, Urgel. After the surrender of Tarragona, we will try to embark; what will happen then, only the gods know. In the worst case, we will return to England, but not happily, for that would be a waste of time. We can do nothing there for ourselves, for our relatives or for our country. We may go to America to grow crops. God, where else are they going to take us? So far, Colonel Sarsfield is in charge, but they say that Campo-Verdo will come and bring troops with him.
The continuation of Eugene's diary by his brother until the death of the former.
8 January 1811
Eugene's diary ends here; I have added to it on 19 January, after his death. On the 8th, Eugene took command of General Sarsfield's vanguard. As an attack was to be expected, we sent back our baggage and with it our diaries; through the stupidity of our servants we did not receive them again until the evening of the 15th. The vanguard consisted of 150 horsemen from the Alcantara regiment, 200 horsemen from the Numancia Dragoons and 40 hunters on horseback. On the 8th in the afternoon the French attacked us with superiority, and we had to leave St. Coloma after a flanker battle, after the battle had lasted until dark, and took up a bivouac half an hour from this place at Queradt.
January 9, 1811
On the 9th the Vanguard was reinforced with two battalions of infantry and two mountain guns. We attacked St. Co loma about noon and took it after a pretty severe infantry skirmish.
The 10th of January 1811
On the 10th we advanced against Cervera, and compelled the cavalry posted in front of the town to retire to Cervera after some attacks. Our infantry now attacked the town. After a two-hour battle, the French evacuated Cervera as a result of a movement made by the Spaniſche cavalry against their line of retreat.
On 11 January 1811
On the 11th we advanced against Agramunt, and after a rather stubborn engagement threw back the French, who were about to quarter in that place, against Vilagrassa.
The 12th of January 1811
On the 12th we received news of a French foraging party on the river Corps . We left immediately and threw them back on Tarraga and Villa graſa. The 13th of January. On the 13th we advanced against Villa graſa; after a light cavalry engagement the French retreated towards Bellpuig.
The continuation of Eugene's diary by his brother until the death of the former.
8 January 1811
Eugene's diary ends here; I have continued it on 19 January, after his death. On the 8th, Eugene took command of General Sarsfield's vanguard. As an attack was to be expected, we sent back our baggage and with it our diaries; through the stupidity of our servants we did not receive them again until the evening of the 15th. The vanguard consisted of 150 horsemen from the Alcantara regiment, 200 horsemen from the Numancia Dragoons and 40 hunters on horseback. On the 8th in the afternoon the French attacked us with superiority, and we had to leave St. Coloma after a flanker battle, after the battle had lasted until dark, and took up a bivouac half an hour from this place at Queradt.
January 9, 1811
On the 9th the Vanguard was reinforced with two battalions of infantry and two mountain guns. We attacked St. Coloma about noon and took it after a pretty severe infantry skirmish.
The 10th of January 1811
On the 10th we advanced against Cervera, and compelled the cavalry posted in front of the town to retire to Cervera after some attacks. Our infantry now attacked the town. After a two-hour battle, the French evacuated Cervera as a result of a movement made by the Spaniſche cavalry against their line of retreat.
On 11 January 1811
On the 11th we advanced against Agramunt, and after a rather stubborn engagement threw back the French, who were about to quarter in that place, against Vilagrassa.
The 12th of January 1811
On the 12th we received news of a French foraging party at the river. We immediately set out and threw them back on Tarrega and Vilagrassa.
The 13th of January
On the 13th we advanced against Vilagrassa; after a light cavalry skirmish the French withdrew to Bellpuig.
The 14th of January
On the 14th Eugene received orders to deploy at Plaaconett against Montblanc, where we arrived in the evening. Sarsfield's division was at St Coloma. During the night of the 14th, Eugene received news of the arrival of a French division advancing via Valls towards the passes of Blaa and Lilla. He informed the general and immediately set off with the advance party, crossing the mountains on foot in terrible weather and arriving at Plaa after 10 o'clock in the morning. The patrols sent out in advance fought a flanking battle against the division of the French General Eugenio, which soon turned into a very fierce infantry battle near the village of Plaa, in which Eugenio only managed to hold the village of Plaa until 12 o'clock against a considerably superior force. The arrival of General Sarsfield's division around 12 o'clock restored the balance and the battle continued until around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when the Catalan Cuirassiers, about 280 horses, received the order to attack. In order to attack the 24th dragoon regiment, which had been deployed and was estimated to have 6-700 horses, they had to pass through a narrow terrain where they could only advance with half-squadrons. The leader of the first squadron, Major Don Pedro Galon, attacked immediately without waiting for the regiment's advance; the other squadrons followed individually and were thrown by the 24th Dragoon Regiment under Colonel Delors. Eugene seized the moment, turned to the right with the cavalry of the vanguard, trotted into the French left flank, attacked and threw the 24th Dragoon Regiment, whereupon Colonel Delors was quite seriously wounded. The dragoons were relieved by a detachment of Chasseurs, but on this occasion they interfered with each other, so that by a second attack, supported by an escadron of our Cuirassiers, we were able to drive the French back to Valls. The battle was decided by the gallant cavalry charge: the French General Eugenio retreated to Valls with considerable losses and would probably have been completely annihilated if General Palombini, who was bivouacked behind Valls, had not advanced with his division without waiting for orders, thus saving the French vanguard from total annihilation. General Eugenio was seriously wounded and died, I am told, in Valls on the 16th.
Counting the dead, wounded and prisoners who fell into our hands, the French loss must have been more than 1,000 men; in addition, about 60 horses were captured, two of which fell to me, together with a portfolio of good maps, plans, correspondence and a very good diary, which I took from a French orderly. From the moment we joined up with the Chasseurs, I never saw Eugen again, as he advanced with the Granada hussars on the right wing and I with Alcantara's 150 horses. We were so mixed up with the French in the attack that it was impossible to recognise each other. During the chase to Valls, I looked for him several times but never saw him. The battle went on until dark. I looked for Eugen in vain; I was finally told that he had been lightly wounded and had been taken back to the Pla. When the battle was over, I rode to the Pla and immediately saw that Eugen was seriously wounded. Although he was in a great deal of pain, he was fully conscious, talked a great deal with me and the officers present, and had the outcome of the battle explained to him in great detail. As I had received a blow in the head from the hilt of a French dragoon's sword, leaving my face quite black and swollen, he insisted that I should be bandaged, and when this was done I had to tell him my personal experiences. My horse, a very handsome black stallion, had one of his ears cut off close to his head, which he very much regretted as it was completely disfigured. I had to show him my sword. He was very interested in the captured horses I had received, one of which belonged to a French staff officer; but he was particularly interested in a diary that was in the portfolio that had fallen to me. It had been kept with great accuracy from the first entry of the French into Catalonia until 14 January 1811, and almost all the battles, even the smallest ones in which we took part, were described with great impartiality and mostly accompanied by croquis sketches.
Everything showed that it had come from the pen of a man experienced in war, calm and educated. It interested Eugen immensely, and since I stayed up with him and he could not sleep because of the pain and excitement, he was almost constantly occupied with it.
He talked a lot about home, about his dear old father, mother and brothers and sisters, and he seemed particularly concerned about Karoline's future. Very, very often he mentioned Gatersleben, uncles and aunts, and the happy days he had spent there; he told me that if I should write home to greet everyone for the last time, he would be unable to write for a long time because of his wound. From a letter found in the folder, it appeared that the whole of Macdonald's corps (14,000 men) was marching towards Valls and was due to arrive there on the evening of the 15th. We would therefore only have to deal with the vanguard of this corps. With this news, Eugen sent me immediately, at 2 o'clock in the morning, to General Sarsfield, for it was of great importance to us. As I later learnt from the Prince of Neuwied, General Sarsfield had the opportunity to attack Vals à tout prix before daybreak, believing that he was facing only one division. With General Macdonald's strength of 14,000 men, we would probably have done very badly with our corps, which had been reduced to just over 5,000 men by losses and withdrawals. I took the opportunity to have Eugen transported to Montserrat with the greatest possible comfort and caution, in case the French attacked and forced us to retreat. I asked for a sergeant and 12 men from the Swiss Regiment Wimpfen, made up mainly of old Prussians who had come to Spain through the Westphalian regiments, mostly people from the Duke of Brunswick's, Prince Louis and Kleist regiments, and Austrian soldiers, all men who had immediately volunteered. Strangely enough, the sergeant, a rather cautious old soldier, had served with Eugen in a company of the 'Herzog von Braunschweig', the regiment Eugen had first joined, and both were very glad to see each other again. At four o'clock the alarm sounded; I once more arranged for Eugen's comfort and removal, and rode to the regiment, which was bivouacked outside the town. We advanced with great caution towards Valls, and soon there was a skirmish with the Palombini division, in which the cavalry did not attack and suffered only slight losses. I rejoined Eugene at 1/2 4 in the afternoon. Several officers I met on the way told me that they had just seen Eugen and that he was in better condition. I found Eugen much calmer, without any particular pain, but very weak. He talked a lot with me and the officers who visited him, letting them tell him everything that had happened that day and taking a very active part in everything. I had just sat him up, given him a spoonful of medicine, put him back on the pillow and was still holding him in my arms when I felt that he was getting very pale; I took his hand, it was cold; he squeezed mine convulsively, gasped several times and was dead.
Eugene was wounded on the afternoon of the 15th of January 1811 by two sword thrusts to the left side and died on the 16th at half past three in the afternoon; he was buried on the 17th at four in the afternoon with full military honours by the Swiss Regiment of Wimpfen in the Collegiate Church of Pla, Paroquia de Pla; his sword, gloves and spurs were placed there and later hung in the Cathedral of Tarragona by order of the commanding General O'Donell. For a long time, Eugen seemed to have had a feeling or suspicion that only one of us would return to the Fatherland; I remember that on our sea voyage from Cádiz to Catalonia, when the weather was fine and we were sitting on deck in the evening talking about our dear Fatherland, relatives and friends, about the past and the future, he often said to me: "What will it be like in a few years? Will we both return together or will one of us only see the Fatherland again, perhaps richer in experiences, wounds, honours and decorations, but alone". The Prince of Neuwied joined us on the journey, and he too thought that only one of the four of us would be so fortunate. In the last part of the battle of Pla, just before our cuirassiers advanced, I was in front of the left wing of Alcantara's command, Eugen was in front of the centre of the vanguard, he rode up to me one more time, shook my hand and said: "It seems to me that something is going to change in our destiny today; it does not seem to be something pleasant, for I see a very dark future. Take care, for our horses have been very badly affected lately, and remember that one cannot make one's mark at every opportunity, but must wait calmly for the time and place, otherwise one sacrifices oneself for no purpose. What we need most of all are fresh, good horses, and yours looks like it is about to fall over". At that moment our cuirassiers advanced and our conversation was interrupted.
Later addition by Moritz von Hirschfeld:
Eugen was dead. He was lying as a corpse in a farmhouse in the village of Pla, near Tarragona, when the colonel sent for me and told me that it would probably be better to take him out of the house before nightfall, as there might be a battle the next morning and we did not know what the outcome would be, and so it would probably be better to take him to the church. So a coffin was quickly made from old planks, four boards and two small planks, Eugene was dressed in the uniform of his regiment and placed on the altar of the monastery church. Completely exhausted by the exertions and excitement of the past few days, during which I had alternately been awake with Eugen and in battle, and being only 19 years old and not yet fully developed, I had, as night was approaching, to avoid being in the death chamber, made myself some chaff in the kitchen next to the stove, on which I threw myself down. I was very sad in my heart; all the dear memories of days gone by were passing me by; alone in a strange country, my brother, whom I loved so much, dead; I was so very lonely at such a young age. Just as I was about to fall asleep, I was suddenly awakened by an orderly who had been sent by General Sarsfield to fetch a paper which he had given to Eugen at their last meeting, but which was important and he must have it. Now I remembered, too, that I had seen the General give Eugene a paper before the engagement, and that he had put it in his cavalry tunic. I therefore asked the officer to accompany me to the church, as Eugen was still wearing the same uniform; but as the matter seemed sinister to him, he pretended to have other business, and when I looked for my servant Francesco, he too had disappeared.
So I had no choice but to go alone. I took a small lantern with only one glass and went to the monastery. A serving brother opened the door for me and I asked him to unlock the church door for me. "Now at night," he cried, "no one will bring me in, it is not safe". I tried in vain to persuade him; all he did was to give me the key, with the instruction that when I turned it twice in the lock, I should knock several times on the door, for it was swollen and difficult to open. When I arrived at the church, I put the key in the lock, and after I had knocked several times, the door opened slowly, with a dull thud. I took off my cloak, as it could only be a hindrance now, took the sword in one hand, the lantern in the other, and with a dagger in my belt, I set off. To get to the church, I first had to pass through two long cloisters; the day before, a battle had taken place there and people had been fighting all day. The corpses had been carried away, but the floor was still covered with blood in most places; the statues, which had been torn down from the walls, lay half broken and mutilated on the floor; in short, everything showed the greatest confusion and gloom; even the air was dull and stale with the smell of blood. But I noticed all this only on my way out, for on the way in I was thinking only of the purpose of my intrusion. The church I entered had a high vault; an eerie, death-like silence reigned in it, making each of my footsteps echo loudly. Now I approached the altar. On its steps stood a coffin covered with a board: I lifted it up, and Eugene's open, glassy eyes stared at me. As there was no other place, I placed the lantern at his feet and slowly began to unbutton his uniform, which clung to him so tightly, avoiding looking at him as much as possible; but I could look wherever I wanted, I always met those staring, open eyes. Finally I found the paper and, not wanting to leave it there, I buttoned up his uniform again. Then I began my retreat.
INSTALMENT NO. 6 COMING SOON
Comment by Moritz von Hirschfeld: When we were greeted by our reserve and the rest of the regiment on our return and had our hundred dragoons enrolled in the regiment, everyone looked at us because we were really quite splattered with blood. The officers surrounded us and welcomed us. Eugen stopped diagonally opposite me and now also looked at me more closely, but quite discreetly. To my great pleasure, I really did look quite martial; my very long three-edged Spanish sword was bloody to the hilt and full of dents and nicks. My coat, which I wore rolled over both shoulders like all the others, was hanging down in tatters; in my right glove, in the area of the wrist, I had two cuts, which had not done me much harm because Eugen and I always used to wrap a silk cloth around our wrist; To make matters worse, my black horse had received a not insignificant blow on the nose, and, as it was always swinging its head, had thrown its blood all over me. I pretended not to notice Eugen's observations and inspection of my person, but I could see his brotherly tenderness, his pleasure, I would say his pride; I noticed that he liked me that way, and that he was very pleased with my whole appearance. This reassurance made me very happy. Eugen himself, however, was even more torn up than I was; we had both been in it, in honour of the Prussian arms.
Moritz von Hirschfeld: When we returned to our old quarters in the evening, and the regiment dispersed to look for their quarters again, Eugen stayed behind at the assembly point to talk to the Colonel, but told me to ride ahead and take possession of our old quarters again. When I arrived there, I found the whole household, the lady of the house, a very good-natured, somewhat fat tenant woman, her rather pretty daughter Tekla, three maids and two farmhands gathered outside the house to receive Eugen. They thought I was dead, so they were very happy to see me again. When I jumped down from my horse to shake the good woman's hand, she was so moved that she took me in her arms, and when she let me go again, the pretty Tekla, quite moved and in tears, held out her pretty little mouth, which I then kissed properly.