MARSHAL LOUIS N. DAVOUT AND THE ART OF COMMAND A ...

of Davout and the French ~rniy lay in his ability to convince Napoleon to move north with the remainder of the army. At 11:OO P. M. Davout sent a final, desperate message to Napoleon; I will hold my positions, I hope, but the troops aretoo overcome with exhaustion to ever dream ofattacking positions with three times the artillery andtroops that I have. 2General Henri Pire of Davout's staff carried this message to the Emperor. The combination of the note and Pire's insistence, finally convinced Napoleon that he needed to move north to support Davout. At 2:30 in the morning on 22 April Napoleon spurred into action. He responded to Davout, "1 will be at Eckmuehl and attack the enemy vigorously at threeo'clock. . I will arriye with 40,000His next-correspondence was to Berthier detailing out his plan forthe movement and subsequent attack. Napoleon followedthis with a quick order to Marshal Lannes: "The Duke ofAuerstaedt is at grips with the enemy. You are to marchon Eckmuehl and attack the enemy on all sides.!l4 Thisseries of correspondences dispatched at three o'clock inthe morning set the entire army in motion toward Eckmuehltwenty miles to the riorth.Had Davout not persisted in his communications to the Emperor he most likely would have been defeated at Eckmuehl. He had held Charles at bay for three days fighting numerous pitched engagements. His troops were 92