Germany from the Earliest Period, Volume 4Menzel, Wolfgang
History
Germany from the Earliest Period, Volume 4
Menzel, Wolfgang
Germany -- History
moment of Suwarow's expected arrival he allowed the important passes
of the St. Gothard to be again carried by a coup de main by the French
under General Lecourbe, who drove the Austrians from the Simplon, the
Furca, the Grimsel, and the Devil's bridge. The archduke, after an
unsuccessful attempt to push across the Aar at Dettingen, suddenly
quitted the scene of war and advanced down the Rhine for the purpose
of supporting the English expedition under the Duke of York against
Holland. This unexpected turn in affairs proceeded from Vienna. The
Viennese cabinet was jealous of Russia. Suwarow played the master in
Italy, favored Sardinia at the expense of the house of Habsburg, and
deprived the Austrians of the laurels and of the advantages they had
won. The archduke, accordingly, received orders to remain inactive, to
abandon the Russians, and finally to withdraw to the north; by this
movement Suwarow's triumphant progress was checked, he was compelled
to cross the Alps to the aid of Korsakow, and to involve himself in a
mountain warfare ill-suited to the habits of his soldiery.[3]
Korsakow, whom Bavaria had been bribed with Russian gold to furnish
with a corps one thousand strong, was solely supported by Kray and
Hotze with twenty thousand men. Massena, taking advantage of the
departure of the archduke and the non-arrival of Suwarow, crossed the
Limmat at Dietikon and shut Korsakow, who had imprudently stationed
himself with his whole army in Zurich, so closely in, that, after an
engagement that lasted two days, from the 15th to the 17th of
September, the Russian general was compelled to abandon his artillery
and to force his way through the enemy. Ten thousand men were all that
escaped.[4] Hotze, who had advanced from the Grisons to Schwyz to
Suwarow's rencounter, was, at the same time, defeated and killed at
Schannis. Suwarow, although aware that the road across the St. Gothard
was blocked by the lake of the four cantons, on which there were no
boats, had the folly to attempt the passage. In Airolo, he was
obstinately opposed by the French under Lecourbe, and, although
Schweikowski contrived to turn this strong position by scaling the
pathless rocks, numbers of the men were, owing to Suwarow's
impatience, sacrificed before it. On the 24th of September, 1799, he
at length climbed the St. Gothard, and a bloody engagement, in which
the French were worsted, took place on the Oberalpsee. Lecourbe blew
up the Devil's bridge, but, leaving the Urnerloch open, the Russians
pushed through that rocky gorge, and, dashing through the foaming
Reuss, scaled the opposite rocks and drove the French from their
position behind the Devil's bridge. Altorf on the lake was reached in
safety by the Russian general, who was compelled, owing to the want of
boats, to seek his way through the valleys of Shachen and Muotta,
across the almost impassable rocks, to Schwyz. The heavy rains
rendered the undertaking still more arduous; the Russians, owing to
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