Again: it must be remembered that the really great soldier is not he who never makes a mistake, but he who in the aggregate makes the fewest mistakes. In war the conditions are such that a commander cannot by any possibility always know the truth. He must often decide momentous questions on the spur of the moment, basing his decisions on unreliable information obtained mostly from reports and rumors. "Speak to me of a general who has made no mistakes in war," says Turenne, "and you speak of one who has seldom made war." "In the profession of war," says Napoleon, "the game is always to the one who makes the fewest mistakes." If Bonaparte had withdrawn all his forces to the south side of the Po, Melas might have made his escape by way of Pavia and Milan, but even then Bonaparte would have won northern Italy without a battle. Had Melas taken this course, it is evident that he would have severed the communications of Bonaparte with Switzerland. Though the loss of the French communications would doubtless have inconvenienced Bonaparte, it would not have put a stop to his active operations, nor have proved fatal to his army; for he could then have united his forces with those of Suchet, and have at once established another line of communication with France by way of Nice. On this point General Hamley, one of the greatest of military critics, comments as follows:-- "There was a special circumstance in this campaign which should have induced Napoleon to bring his whole army to the south bank. For if Melas moved through Milan he would leave the country south of the Po clear for Napoleon to establish another and better communication with France by the south of the Apennines, and, moreover, a junction with Suchet would be effected, and the territory which was to be the prize of the campaign would be lost to the Austrians. But Napoleon could not be satisfied to let the enemy escape, even at such a sacrifice of territory, and therefore it was that he left the Ticino guarded."