Young bloods - Scarrow Simon (библиотека электронных книг txt) 📗

With the defences complete it was time for the long and even more exhausting job of hauling the artillery pieces forward to the battery. Napoleon had selected five mortars and three sixteen-pounders for the task. The mortars, with their high trajectory, would lob explosive shells deep into the fort, doing as much damage to the enemy's morale as it did to their defences and equipment. Meanwhile the sixteen-pounders would batter away at the ramparts until they created a breach wide enough to risk an infantry assault on Fort Mulgrave.

By the end of the month the battery was complete and Napoleon sent a message to headquarters informing the general and the representatives that the commander of artillery was pleased to invite them to observe the new battery in action. Lieutenant Junot suggested that they wait for their guests to arrive before commencing fire on the fort.

'Why?' asked Napoleon.

'To give it some sense of occasion, sir,' Junot explained.

'Sense of occasion?' Napoleon laughed. 'We're attacking an enemy position, not opening a bloody village fair.'

'If you let the general give the order to open fire, or better still one of the representatives, that can only improve your standing with them.'

Napoleon considered this for a moment before he shook his head. 'I'm not giving that fool Carteaux any chance to claim credit for this. As for the representatives, I think they will be more impressed if we got on with the attack, rather than wait for them.'

At first light on the morning of 28 October the ammunition had been brought forward and the battery was ready to open fire. As soon as the mortars and cannon had been loaded Napoleon applied the portfire to one of the mortars.With a deafening crash the mortar fired, the squat barrel shuddering back into its static gun carriage. The gun crews watched the faint dark streak of the shell climb up and over the fort before it dropped down behind the ramparts. An instant later a great gout of earth and shattered timbers was thrown up into the air and the men around Napoleon cheered, drowning out the rumble of the distant explosion.

Napoleon raised his hands to quiet them. 'What are you waiting for? Christmas? Let them have it!'

The bombardment began with a rolling series of thunderous detonations. The air above the fort was soon wreathed with smoke and dust, within which orange and yellow blooms revealed the explosions of the shells that Napoleon's mortars fired over the ramparts.The impact of the sixteen-pounders was less dramatic as they concentrated on smashing down one of the enemy embrasures before shifting their aim to the next. As the morning wore on, and there was no breeze, the smoke from the guns clung round the battery in a choking shroud. At length Napoleon clambered up on to a mound of earth between two of the sixteen-pounders and, raising his telescope, he watched for the fall of shot from his cannon, dictating notes to Junot, who climbed up and sat on the mound beside him. They were quickly spotted by the enemy and a few shots were fired in their direction from a single cannon of small calibre. None landed close to them and the British soon gave up and conserved their ammunition.

Late in the morning a sergeant informed Napoleon that the general was approaching, together with Saliceti, Freron and several officers.

'Shouldn't we get down to meet them, sir?' asked Junot.

'No.' Napoleon grinned. 'I don't think so. Let's have them join us.'

A few moments later the sergeant called out an order for the guns to cease fire and the crews to stand to attention as the general, the representatives and their retinue emerged from the communication trench. General Carteaux squinted through the slowly dissipating powder smoke and glanced around at the neatly ordered stocks of ammunition and the solidly constructed ramparts, pierced only by the narrow embrasures for the sixteen-pounders.

'Major Buona Parte!'

'Up here, sir.' Napoleon waved an arm to attract the general's attention.

'What the hell are you doing, man? Get under cover before the enemy shoots you.'

'We're well beyond musket range, sir. And it's impossible to observe the situation from down there. Really, sir, you'll be quite safe up here.'

General Carteaux hesistated for a brief moment before he made his way over to the rampart and climbed up to join his artillery commander. The others followed behind and soon a small crowd had gathered on the edge of the battery to gaze across the open ground towards the fort.

'Continue firing!' Napoleon called down to his gunners before turning back to his guests. 'As you can see, we're already making an impression on their defences. One embrasure destroyed and a second damaged. Of course, they will try to repair the damage as soon as it gets dark, but our mortars have the range and will make life very difficult for them.'

'Major,' Freron nodded towards the fort, 'are you quite sure that we are out of range?'

'Of the muskets, yes, citizen. Of course, they might chance a shot at us from one of their cannon now that there's a few more of us to aim at, but they would have to be very lucky to hit us with the first shot.'

'Somehow, I don't find that particularly reassuring, Major Buona Parte.'

Carteaux's staff officers laughed nervously at the remark before Napoleon continued with the briefing. He pointed out the main features of the enemy's defences and how much damage the artillery would need to do in order to make an assault viable.Then Napoleon indicated the sites for the other batteries that he planned to construct in the coming weeks. As he concluded his briefing he noticed that, as he had been speaking, some of the mortar shells did not seem to have exploded.

'Junot, note to Captain Marmont. The enemy seems to have been extinguishing the fuses on some of our shells. He is to ensure that the burn time on the fuses is reduced by, say three seconds, and that-'

He was abruptly cut off as the party of officers was suddenly showered with lumps of soil. Several fell flat and covered their heads, and others leaped back into the battery. General Carteaux stood upright, but with a shocked expression on his face. Beside him the two representatives crouched down with hunched shoulders.

'What the hell was that?' Saliceti muttered, his face spattered with loose soil. Napoleon looked round and saw the place where the enemy cannon ball had struck the rampart a few yards in front of the group of officers. He pointed the furrow out. 'There, citizen. It seems the enemy has decided to try for us after all. Junot? You all right?'

Napoleon made himself turn casually to his lieutenant, tucking a hand inside his waistcoat to conceal the excited tremor in his fingers. Junot was busy wiping a thin screen of loose soil off his notebook. He glanced up at Napoleon and spoke with exaggerated calmness. 'I'm fine, sir. At least I won't need any sand to blot the ink.'

Napoleon laughed as he turned back to his superiors. Already Saliceti and Freron were climbing back down into the safety of the battery and General Carteaux was staring anxiously towards the enemy while his hands closed into tight fists.

'A fluke shot, sir,' Napoleon commented casually.

General Carteaux glared at his artillery commander for a moment, before he nodded. 'Yes, well. Thank you for the demonstration.You've done well, Major. Now I must get back to my duties.'

They exchanged a brief salute before Carteaux walked over to the edge of the rampart with as much dignity as he could muster, and then jumped down into the battery to join the others.

Saliceti peeped over the edge. 'Buona Parte, if there's anything you need, let me know.'

'Thank you, citizen, I will.'

'And please, young man, don't get yourself killed.'

Napoleon smiled and turned back towards the enemy, just as there was a puff of smoke from an embrasure on the fort. This time the shot passed overhead, to one side, and both he and Junot winced at the deep whirr of its passage.