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 own
soldiers, returned immediately to the combat.

The two French generals had fixed on the village of Vaprio as a
rallying-place, but at the moment when our troops were thrown into
disorder through the evacuation of Pozzo, the Austrian cavalry charged
heavily, and Serrurier, finding himself separated from his colleague, was
obliged to retire with two thousand five hundred men to Verderio, whilst
Grenier, having reached the appointed place, Vaprio, halted to face the
enemy afresh.

During this time a terrible fight was taking place in the centre. Melas
with eighteen to twenty thousand men had attacked the fortified posts at
the head of the bridge of Cassano and the Ritorto Canal. About seven
o'clock in the morning, when Moreau had weakened himself by despatching
Grenier and his division, Melas, leading three battalions of Austrian
grenadiers, had attacked the fortifications, and for two hours there was
terrible carnage; thrice repulsed, and leaving more than fifteen hundred
men at the base of the fortifications, the Austrians had thrice returned