"Rest here," advised Herbette, and needing no other encouragement the remnants of Duroc's company fell off the road and crawled under a hedge.
"Where are we Sergeant?" asked Millefranc, a veteran of several campaigns, who was the only one who had eaten in three days. He was already looking over the Moravian countryside with a practiced eye looking for his next meal, but even hardened foragers such as Citizen Millefranc were finding it almost impossible to find food.
All he got for a reply was a shrug. Sergeant LaGrosse was, for once, as ignorant as any of them. For the last month, since the victory at Ulm, Napoleon had been moving his armies east. Duroc and his company, being a small part of Soult's IV Corps, stayed south of the Danube (which ran west to east at this point) and moved steadily towards Kutusov and his Russians who were reported to be west of Vienna and directly in their path.
But the expected battle never came. Kutusov avoided definitive contact between the two armies and confined his tactics to burning bridges and stripping the countryside of all food. Winter joined forces with the Russians and harsh winds, driven snow, rapidly vanishing roads and biting cold killed and disabled more French soldiers that any Russian bullets. In Duroc's company alone over a third of the officers and men dropped out, became disabled or deserted in the march from Ulm to Krems, just west of Vienna.
Francis II, last of the Holy Roman Emperors, and the fourth of the Habsurg-Lorraine Emperors of Austria bombarded Napoleon not with cannon but with requests for negotiations while bombarding Kutusov with orders to hold his ground at Enns. Ducking and weaving, Kutusov refused such a suggestion and retreated closer to Vienna, crossed the Danube at Krems and gradually moved back and north into the that part of Austria known as Moravia.
"We were lucky to be in Vandamme's Division," remarked Poulec to no one in particular. After Kutusov and the Russians had moved north of the Danube, the St. Hilaire Division of Soult's IV Corps was ordered to cross the Danube at Krems and help another French division that was in serious trouble. Duroc and his friends, in Vandamme's Division, had been ordered to cross the river at Vienna and support Murat's Corps as it chased Kutusov.
By a trick, Murat and Lannes had bluffed their way across one of the major Danube bridges in Vienna, saving valuable time, but Kutusov returned the trick when he pretended to capitulate and offered to remove his army back into Poland. Murat, Lannes and Soult halted their pursuit while they waited for orders from their Emperor, and Kutusov escaped.
But now the climax was approaching. Napoleon, violently angry with his Marshals, ordered them to attack at once, and hurried north to join the coming battle. He was too late, Kutusov had gone. When Napoleon joined his advanced guard at Znaym on November 17th the Russians were safe at Olmutz and he had a Grande Armee that was starved, exhausted, lacked clothing, was missing a third of its numbers, disoriented and had been marching since August. It was time for a rest and regrouping. That was when Herbette suggested they lie under the hedge.
During the next week their position clarified somewhat. Sergeant LaGrosse learned that they were resting near a Moravian town the locals called Brno and that three Emperors were negotiating. On the French side, Napoleon was receiving Austrian representatives and on the other side Tzar Alexander and Emperor Francis of Austria were with their armies at Olmutz deciding what to do next. Of course, no one considered it necessary to tell Captain Grandvillers company of the Joseph Bonepart Brigade of the Vandamme Division of the Soult IV Corps what was being decided.
While the Emperors talked, the men slowly recovered. Stragglers who had been left behind during the long march from Ulm finally caught up with their comrades. Food came out on carts from Brno, but the surrounding villages and farms suffered badly from the needs of three armies. Guns were cleaned, equipment repaired and the bitter cold prevented the dead from being buried. On the other side, their enemies also had problems. Kutusov did not allow any but the general staff to be billeted in the town of Olmutz so disease spread rapidly among the Russian soldiers. Austrians were incensed by their Russian "allies" who treated them with disrespect, sneered at their losses and looted their country. A decisive battle was needed, and quickly.