Capture of the Tabor Bridge
In the aftermath of the Ulm Campaign in 1805, which culminated in Napoleon’s capture of an Austrian army, the Austrians’ Russian allies retreated to the north bank of the Danube, and hoped for breathing space to regroup by putting that river between them and the pursuing French. To that end, all bridges spanning the Danube were either blown up or prepared with explosives to detonate at a word of command to prevent their capture by the French.
In the meantime, peace negotiations were underway as the French neared the Austrian capital of Vienna on the Danube. So as not to cast a pall over the negotiations, and because it might prove unnecessary should the negotiators succeed, Austrian authorities forebore from blowing up Vienna’s bridges, but rigged them up for detonation should the French attempt to seize them. One such was the Tabor Bridge, entrusted to Count Auesberg.
In that uncertain environment of hostilities that might end at any moment with an armistice and peace treaty, the French vanguard neared the Tabor Bridge on November 13, and halted. Two of Napoleon’s enterprising commanders, Joachim Murat and Jean Lannes, then casually ambled to the bridge, seemingly without a care in the world as confused Austrian guards aimed their muskets at their breasts, laughing and expressing their pleasure with the “just concluded” armistice and peace treaty. Once they reached the other side, still maintaining a carefree air, they asked to see Count Auesberg, wondering if he had already gone to attend the peace signing ceremony.
As a messenger was sent to fetch Auesberg, Lannes and Murat chatted with the guards to distract them from paying attention to French soldiers who were now casually crossing the bridge. An Austrian sergeant suspected a ruse and lit the fuse to the explosives, but Lannes extinguished it, berated the sergeant for trying to destroy public property, then sat on a cannon as he smoked a pipe. When Count Auesberg arrived, he bought the story. When the suspicious sergeant protested, Murat berated Auesberg for his soldiers’ indiscipline and for allowing an underling to mouth off and jeopardize the armistice.
Auesberg was browbeaten into arresting the sergeant, then turned control of the bridge over to the French. They used it to cross the Danube, and less than a month later crushed the combined Austro-Russian armies at Austerlitz, the masterpiece battle of Napoleon’s career. The hapless Count Auesberg was tried for incompetence and shot.