d by the village of San Gervasio, had reached the right
bank of the Adda without their being discovered, the soldiers defending
the castle of Trezzo abandoned it and beat a retreat. The Austrians
pursued them as far as Pozzo, but there the French suddenly halted and
faced about, for General Serrurier was at Pozzo, with the troops he
had brought from Lecco. He heard the cannonade behind him, immediately
halted, and, obeying the first law of warfare, he marched towards the
noise and smoke. It was therefore through him that the garrison of
Trezzo rallied and resumed the offensive. Serrurier sent an aide-de-Camp
to Moreau to inform him of the manoeuvre he had thought proper to
execute.

The battle between the French and Austrian troops raged with incredible
fury. Bonaparte's veterans, during their first Italian campaigns, had
adopted a custom which they could not renounce: it was to fight His
Imperial Majesty's subjects wherever they found them. Nevertheless, so
great was the numerical superiority of the allies, that our troops had
begun to retreat, when loud shouts from the rearguard announced that
reinforcements had arrived. It was General Grenier, sent by Moreau,
who arrived with his division at the moment when his presence was most
necessary.

One part of the new division reinforced the centre column, doubling its
size; another part was extended upon the left to envelop the enemy. The
drums beat afresh down the whole line, and our grenadiers began again
to reconquer this battle field already twice lost and won. But at this
moment the Austrians were reinforced by the Marquis de Chasteler and his
division, so that the numerical superiority was again with the enemy.
Grenier drew back his wing to strengthen the centre, and Serrurier,
preparing for retreat in case of disaster, fell back on Pozzo, where
he awaited the enemy. It was here that the battle raged most fiercely:
thrice the village of Pozzo was taken and re-taken, until at last,
attacked for the fourth time by a force double their own in numbers,
the French were obliged to evacuate it. In this last attack an Austrian
colonel was mortally wounded, but, on the other hand, General Beker, who
commanded the French rearguard, refused to retreat with his soldiers,
and maintained his ground with a few men, who were slain as they stood;
he was at length obliged to give up his sword to a young Russian officer
of the Semenofskoi regiment, who, handing over his prisoner to his