nder Gouvion St Cyr, who retired thither from the mountains,
leaving a garrison in Kunigstein, and had repeatedly sent reports to the
emperor as to the allied masses gathering to the southward. The battle
of the first day began late in the afternoon, for Schwarzenberg waited
as long as possible for the corps of Klenau, which formed his extreme
left wing on the Freiberg road. At last, about 6 p.m. he decided to wait
no longer, and six heavy columns of attack advanced against the suburbs
defended by St Cyr and now also by the leading troops of the main army.
Three hundred guns covered the assault, and Dresden was set on fire in
places by the cannonade, while the French columns marched unceasingly
over the bridges and through the Altstadt. On the right the Russians
under Wittgenstein advanced from Striesen, the Prussians under Kleist
through the Grosser Garten, whilst Prussians under Prince Augustus and
Austrians under Colloredo moved upon the Moczinski redoubt, which was
the scene of the most desperate fighting, and was repeatedly taken and
retaken. The attack to the westward was carried out by the other
Austrian corps; Klenau, however, was still far distant. In the end, the
French defences remained unshaken. Ney led a counter-attack against the
Allies' left, the Moczinski redoubt was definitely recaptured from
Colloredo, and the Prussians were driven out of the Grosser Garten. The
_coup_ of the Allies had failed, for every hour saw the arrival of fresh
forces on the side of Napoleon, and at length the Austrian leader drew
off his men to the heights again. He was prepared to fight another
battle on the morrow--indeed he could scarcely have avoided it had he
wished to do so, for behind him lay the mountain defiles, towards which
Vandamme was marching with all speed.

[Illustration: Emery Walker sc.]

Napoleon's plan for the 27th was, as usual, simple in its outline. As at
Friedland, a ravine separated a part of the hostile line of battle from
the rest. The villages west of the Plauen ravine and even Lubda were
occupied in the early morning by General Metzko with the leading
division of Klenau's corps from Freiberg, and upon Metzko Napoleon
intended first to throw the weight of his attack, giving to Victor's
infantry and the cavalry of Murat, king of Naples, the task of
overwhelming the isolated Austrians. The centre, aided by the defences
of the Dresden suburbs, could hold its own, as the events of the 26th
had shown, the