Andreas Hofer: An Historical NovelMühlbach, L. (Luise)
History
Andreas Hofer: An Historical Novel
Mühlbach, L. (Luise)
Hofer, Andreas, 1767-1810 -- Fiction; Tyrol (Austria) -- History -- Uprising of 1809 -- Fiction
All at once, on the height above the cannon, where there was a
clearing, and where the rocks were moss-grown and bare, the Tyrolese
were seen rushing in dense masses from the forest. They were headed
by Anthony Wallner and John Panzl. Each of them jumped on a
projection of the rocks and raised his rifle. They fired, and two
gunners fell mortally wounded near the cannon.
The Tyrolese greeted this exploit of their leaders with loud cheers;
but up from the Bavarians resounded the commands of the officers; a
whole volley crashed, the bullets whistled round the ears of Wallner
and Panzl, but none hit them; and hen the smoke cleared away, John
Panzl was seen to make a triumphant leap in the air, which he
accompanied with a shout of victory, while Anthony Wallner calmly
raised his rifle again. He fired, and the gunner at the third field-
piece fell dead.
"Now, boys, at them; we must take the cannon!" shouted Wallner,
jumping forward, and the Tyrolese followed him down the slope with
furious shouts.
"Forward, forward!" shouted the Lieutenant-Colonel in the valley to
his Bavarians; "forward! the cannon must not fall into the hands of
the peasants; we must defend them to the last man. Therefore,
forward at the double-quick!"
And the Bavarians rushed forward up the slope.
But the Tyrolese had already succeeded in shooting or knocking down
all the gunners, and taken possession of the cannon. While Anthony
Wallner, at the head of a furious detachment of his men, hastened to
meet the approaching Bavarians, and hurled death and destruction
into their ranks, John Panzl remained with the others to defend the
guns.
A furious hand-to-hand fight now arose; the Bavarians were repulsed
again and again by the Tyrolese, and the sharp-shooters, posted
behind the trees and rocks, assisted their fighting brethren with
their rifles, which, aimed steadily, never missed their man. But the
Bavarians. who were drawn up farther down in the valley, likewise
endeavored to assist their struggling comrades: but the bullets
which they fired up the hill frequently struck into the ranks of
their countrymen, and not into those of the Tyrolese. Often, on the
other hand, these bullets did not miss their aim, but carried wounds
and death into the midst of the insurgents. Whenever this occurred a
young woman was seen to rush amidst the deadliest shower of bullets
into the ranks of the fighting men, lift up the fallen brave, and
carry him in her strong arms out of the thickest of the fight to the
quiet spot on the edge of the forest, which a protruding rock
protected from the bullets of the enemy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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