At first, the French were at a loss as they watched the British press on, and the terrible news reached Paris. There were only a few thousand French troops at their disposal, and their commander, Carto, was an artistic playboy. They only had six or seven field cannons to back them up. To make matters worse, when Napoleon was ordered to go to Nice, the artillery regiment passed by Marseille, and the commander of the Toulon artillery was seriously injured. During his stay in Marseille, Napoleon visited two special agents sent by Paris to confiscate the money of the royalists. One was his fellow countryman, Salicetti. Due to the escape of Napoleon, Salicetti's mission in Corsica also ended in the disaster. The other was named Gaspari. Thanks to Salicetti, Joseph was able to get a lucrative job and become a quartermaster. In fact, the reason why Napoleon stayed was to see Salicetti and ask him for one thing, which was to let his younger brother Louis become a reserve officer. At this critical moment, Salicetti was very happy to see Napoleon. In turn, he made a request to Napoleon, asking him to temporarily transfer to his artillery regiment in Toulon to replace the injured commander. A regiment with less than half a dozen field cannons had to face the British army with hundreds of cannons. Anyone sent would shrug their shoulders, but Napoleon regarded it as a rare opportunity in his life.
It was at this time that Napoleon met Gaspari and Ballas, who had also been sent by the National Convention to clean up the Provence royalists. As a professional officer, Ballas supported Salicetti's request, so Napoleon took up a challenging position for a gunner. Ballas, the renegade red viscount who had voted in favor of the execution of his king in January 1793, was now busy with the slaughter of his noble companions, especially to plunder a large amount of gold, silver, jewelry, and paintings from the wealthy aristocratic castles and mansions of Marseille. Ever since he joined the army, he had been a morally corrupt person. He had been expelled from the army for insulting the minister of the army. Ballas was cruel and scheming, but he was concealed by his quaint, noble demeanor and gentle smile. He was a match made in heaven for the rude and cruel Fréron, who had later tried unsuccessfully to become Napoleon's brother-in-law.
Napoleon didn't have a good impression of Freillon, but he hit it off with Ballas. This would be of unexpected benefit to him, for Ballas was a man in the limelight, and he would soon be a member of the five-man council replacing the Committee of Public Security. Indeed, thanks to this immoral drunkard, Napoleon's career had the possibility of rising to the top; Thanks to Ballas, Napoleon was able to meet Ballas's former mistress, Joseph.
Thus, in 1793, General Du Tell was informed that Napoleon was temporarily transferred to the French legion that besieged Toulon. Napoleon carefully surveyed the complex terrain of Toulon and spent several weeks collecting various artillery from Avignon, Nice, and Marseille. When Ballas and Salicetti saw that the 24-year-old young gunner brought in junior artillery officers, ammunition, cannons, brand-new cannon barrels, and 300 horses, mules, and oxen to carry the military supplies to the fortifications every day, they could not help but show a look of surprise and praise. A few weeks later, at the end of November, the newly promoted major brought in more than 90 cannons, including the huge 24-pound heavy artillery used to deal with the British fortresses and warships. Before the end of the week, Toulon will be back in your hands. Napoleon said to the commander-in-chief.
The recapture of Toulon was a little more complicated than what Napoleon had predicted, because not only did it require hundreds of new gunners to form 13 artillery companies, but it also required a new artillery commander. Cartone had been transferred because of his incompetence. His successor, General Dope, was originally a doctor. He was also a half-baked monk, and he was even worse than his predecessor. Dope was also removed from his post and replaced with a good professional officer, Dugomeir. He officially took over as commander on November 16th.
Dugomier was the first commander to fully appreciate the full value of Napoleon, including his purpose. Of course, at that time, it was a siege. The artillery was the king, and the infantry was secondary. Napoleon's plan was to cut off Toulon's connection with the sea and land. To this end, he carefully targeted the British and Spanish fleets and set up artillery positions, using powerful firepower to force them out of the port.
The dramatic changes that had taken place since the arrival of Napoleon, coupled with the fact that Admiral Hod found that not only was he unable to get the French spies, but more and more cannons were aiming at him and his warships, he realized that it was only a matter of time before he retreated. Therefore, he had issued an order to his officers to withdraw a few weeks ago.
In order to force the British to withdraw from the port, Napoleon planned to first destroy the powerful artillery positions on Fort Egret at the entrance of the inner port. Once the fortress was taken, he would turn the cannons of the British to attack the enemy fleet. His next step was to take down Fort Mulgrave, and then Fort Malbosqui.
At the beginning of December, the newly equipped artillery company was ready. A total of 38 cannons formed a fatal crossfire against the Mulgrave Fortress. On November 25th, General Dugomey held a formal military meeting. At the meeting, he officially adopted Napoleon's battle plan and decided to implement it, waiting for Brigade Commander Massena to bring reinforcements to the final battle. Napoleon did not leave the cannon for a moment. Despite the heavy rain, he stood beside the cannon all day and slept in the artillery company at night.
Everything was ready. On December 17th, Dugomier issued the order for a general attack. The attack was launched with the most lethal new cannons. After the bombardment, the army led by General Myulong charged into the powerful Fort Malgrave. Massena captured Fort D'Arigius, while Napoleon captured Fort Egret and another fortress.(The British army's firepower was very fierce. His horse was shot dead by the shells, and his calf was also injured.) Hod's warships, jammed in Toulon's narrow inner harbor, were hastily evacuated, leaving William Sidney Smith, whom Napoleon would meet again and again in his military career, to destroy the enormous French arsenals, warehouses, and ships. Although the arsenal and 10 French ships were destroyed, the Spanish Navy did not carry out the order, and the rest were spared.
At nine o'clock on the morning of December 19th, General Dugomier's revolutionary army finally recovered Toulon. Colonel Napoleon (promoted on October 18th), the hero of the day, turned his cannons around and aimed at the thousands of collaborators (royalists) trapped in the Grand Square of Toulon, slaughtering them. The main public buildings of the port city were razed to the ground as a warning to the royalists in the country. When Napoleon arrived in Toulon in mid-September, he was just a major responsible for transporting military supplies to Nice. Three months later, on December 22, 1793, he received an order to be promoted to brigade commander (brigadier general). During his military career, his name was widely spread in the city and countryside for the first time. It is difficult for me to express in words how worthy of praise Napoleon was. After recovering Toulon, General Tell wrote to the Minister of War that he had a solid scientific knowledge of his duties and could be said to be both wise and brave. My clumsy pen could not describe this rare brave and good at fighting officer in detail. Now, he is under your command and is contributing his talents to the glory of the Republic. At this time, Napoleon was 25 years old.
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