Marshal Jean Lannes, leading his troops up ladders onto the walls, The Battle of Ratisbon, also called the Battle of Regensburg, 23 April 1809
Illustration by William Barnes Wollen (1857–1936) from a history of England published in 1906. Info from wiki: Jean Lannes, 1st Duc de Montebello, 1st Prince de Siewierz (10 April 1769 – 31 May 1809), was a Marshal of the Empire. He was one of Napoleon's most daring and talented generals. Napoleon once commented on Lannes: "I found him a pygmy and left him a giant". A personal friend of the emperor, he was allowed to address him with the familiar "tu", as opposed to the formal "vous" The Battle of Ratisbon, also called the Battle of Regensburg, was fought on the 23 April 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars, between the army of the First French Empire, led by Napoleon I, and that of the Austrian Empire, led by Archduke Charles. Scene of the last engagement of the Bavaria phase of the campaign of 1809, the brief defense of the city and installation of a pontoon bridge to the east enabled the retreating Austrian army to escape into Bohemia. During the assault, Marshal Jean Lannes led his troops up ladders onto the walls, and Napoleon was wounded in his ankle by a small artillery round. The shot had been fired at great distance and did not severely hurt the Emperor, but caused a contusion. Three small parties with siege ladders failed to scale the damaged wall.[2] Lannes' men could not bring themselves to advance into the maelstrom a fourth time and so, exasperated, Lannes grabbed a scaling ladder and renewed his appeal. Then, amid an embarrassed silence, he angrily shouted: "I will let you see that I was a grenadier before I was a marshal and still am one." He took the ladder and moved forwards, but was physically restrained by his aides. His troops, shamed into action by the despair of their leader, rushed forward. The fourth assault party carried the walls and within minutes French troops were pouring into the now-doomed Ratisbon.
Size: 3107px × 2320px
Photo credit: © Historical Images Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1769–1809, 1809, 19th, 1st, 23, action, address, allowed, ankle, april, archduke, army, assault, attack, austrian, battle, battlefield, bavaria, bohemia, bonaparte, called, campaign, carrying, century, charles, city, commented, daring, de, duc, dying, emperor, empire, engagement, engraving, era, escaped, familiar, france, french, friend, generals, georgian, giant, history, hurt, illustration, image, infantry, jean, ladder, ladders, lannes, leading, led, left, marshal, medieval, montebello, napoleon, napoleonic, napoleons, nineteenth, personal, phase, picture, prince, pygmy, ratisbon, regensburg, retreating, scaling, severely, shaming, siewierz, talented, troops, tu, victory, walls, warfare, wars, wounded
