Great Kingjoseph wan and pale
Stayed behind to save us all
But if this plan of his should fail
Rest assured he’ll save himself!
Marshals Marmont and Mortier arrived on the outskirts of the capital and immediately positioned their twelve thousand men to protect the city.
The Allies, on their side, were organising their multitudes of combatants. Troops were dispatched to occupy various strategic points, others were held back to support the troops in front or to await Napoleon’s arrival. The attack on Paris was to be led by thirty-five thousand men split into three giant columns, which would descend on Paris like three Titans. The Allies expected little resistance, but they were nevertheless going to throw all their available resources into the battle. They wanted to conquer Paris as quickly as possible.
The Allied regiments rejoiced as they arrived in sight of the capital. Thousands of voices could be heard crying, ‘Paris! Paris!’ as the soldiers brandished rifles and sabres.
CHAPTER 43
On the morning of 30 March the call to arms went out across the faubourgs of Paris. The semi-circular French front extended across ten miles, constituting the external line of defence on the outskirts of the capital. It was organised in two sections with Marshal Mortier commanding the left flank to the west and Marshal Marmont the right flank to the east. Joseph Bonaparte positioned himself in the centre.
They had rallied as many troops as humanly possible: regular soldiers, trainee soldiers, National Guardsmen, policemen, students, firemen from Paris, firemen from the Imperial Guard, volunteers in civilian clothes, invalided soldiers, old veterans ... There were forty-five thousand combatants in all. But a great number of them had never fought. Only twenty-one thousand were deployed on the defensive exterior line. The others were garrisoned in Paris.
Their only chance of winning was to hold firm until Napoleon exploded behind the Allies, sowing chaos and horror. When that
happened the monumental coalition would find itself trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea and would hopefully suffer a cataclysmic defeat.
The Allies had fully understood that and had decided to launch their assault even before they were properly deployed.
At six in the morning, from the heights of la Villette, Marshal Mortier gave the order to fire the first cannon shot. The Battle of Paris was launched.
Joseph Bonaparte had established his headquarters at the top of Montmartre. He was confident simply because he was not aware of the enormity of their situation. He had been told on the 26th that Napoleon had won a victory at Saint-Dizier and so had deduced that the Allies’ act of daring was nothing but a flash in the pan. He believed that his brother was forcing the enemy to retreat and that only a few isolated army corps would appear at the gates of Paris. He could hear cannon fire from the right, where Marmont was stationed. But no one was threatening Montmartre for the
moment.
The hill had been well fortified with ditches, palisades and earth bulwarks, and was equipped with seven cannons operated by sixty artillerymen. The infantry force defending these entrenchments was made up of two hundred and fifty firemen of the Imperial Guard.
Some troops had been positioned in front of them, including some of the 2nd Legion of the National Guard. Saber was there in his grand ‘commanding colonel of the legion’ uniform. He was furious because he had only been able to bring with him some of his troops. Only six thousand soldiers of the National Guard had been allocated to the exterior defence of Paris. The others had stayed inside Paris, to maintain order there and to bolster the interior defence at the barriers (which were just palisades in front of the gates of Paris, used to prevent people from evading the payment of border taxes). Saber deployed his soldiers as skirmishers in the vineyards, the meadows and the gardens.
‘We’re protecting a key position!’ he repeated. ‘No one can seize
Paris without first taking Montmartre. If you retreat, Paris will be lost! If you stand firm until the Emperor gets here, Paris will be saved! It’s quite simple - Paris is depending on you!’
He assumed an air of great assurance. ‘Make each tree, each hole, a bastion!’
He marched past his own positions, and began to inspect the line next to his. Margont, embarrassed, covered his face with his hand. How like Irenee! He had been a colonel for less than three months and here he was behaving like the general in charge of the whole battlefield. But there were so few experienced officers about that even soldiers not under his command listened to him, saluted him and exclaimed, ‘Long live Colonel Saber!’
Lefine and Piquebois organised their own entrenchment. They had felled a poplar and pruned its branches. Their men imitated them and trees were falling all around them.
This should have been done two weeks ago!’ fumed Lefine. Margont looked to the right. The din of the fighting over there was getting louder and louder...
On the right flank, an hour before sunrise, Marshal Marmont launched an audacious attack on the enemy. He wanted to take back the plateau of Romainville, which had been evacuated the night before. To this end he had led part of his troops to assault the plain. He had grossly underestimated the number of enemy forces but fortunately the enemy had also grossly overestimated the strength of his and had withdrawn into the village. So paradoxically, in this sector the fighting began with a spectacular French victory.
But the Allies had continued with their deployment and, having mobilised reinforcements, now attacked the French right flank from all sides.
On the left flank, the Allies were already a little behind with their battle plan, since it was incredibly complex to organise such a vast quantity of troops. But they now prepared to launch a blistering attack on the heights of la Villette.
By ten o’clock the battle was intensifying everywhere. From the top of Montmartre the enemy troops could be seen arriving from the north, still quite far away, level with Bourget. The mass of soldiers swelled bigger and bigger as they drew nearer. It looked like one division - no, it was a few divisions ... One army corps. No, perhaps it was two ... No, it wasn’t, it was several corps ...
Joseph finally grasped the appalling reality. Wherever he pointed his telescope, he saw the enemy. The town of Saint-Denis was surrounded and thousands of skirmishers were invading the plain in front of him like swarms of grasshoppers. Joseph became increasingly anxious. A messenger brought him a note from the Tsar inviting him, somewhat menacingly, to negotiate. He decided to return to Paris with some of his closest advisers.
‘Where’s he going?’ asked Margont.
‘Perhaps where the situation is critical?’ hazarded Piquebois.
Saber snorted. ‘There’s only one place Joseph should be and that’s at the top of Montmartre, which is the cornerstone of our centre. And that’s why he’s fled. So there we have it. The defence of Paris has just been made leaderless right in front of our eyes.
Now well all have to manage as best we can.’
At Chateau des Brouillards Joseph had a brief consultation with his defence council, which included General Clarke, Minister for War, and General Hulin, Governor of Paris. He showed them the Tsar’s letter. The council decided to call a halt to the fighting. Joseph sent a message to Marshal Marmont to inform him that he was authorised to enter into talks with the Allies.
Marmont received the missive. But it did not order him to cease battle, it merely allowed him to do so should he and Mortier no longer be able to hold their positions. So Marmont, who was managing to contain the enemy attacks, felt he could continue to fight and possibly hold out until Napoleon came. He immediately sent Colonel Fabvier to inform Joseph of his point of view, in the hope of changing his mind.