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An Essay on the principles and construction of military bridges, and the passage of rivers in military operations / by Howard Douglas
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pen of General Dedon of the artillery, who con-ducted the bridge department, are very interest-ing and instructive.

Passage of the Limat*

The Archduke Charles , after having failed inan attempt to pass the Aar, recrossed the Rhine in order to march to the relief of Manheim andPhilipsbourg; leaving the defence of the Limatto the Russian corps of Korsakow, which occu-pied Zurich , and other principal points, on theright bank of the Limat, to its confluence withAar, and thence to the Rhine .

The boats, which the French had collectedupon the Aar and the Reuss, could not betransported by water to the place chosen forpassing the Limat, without descending theserivers and being dragged up the Limat, which isonly about 100 yards wide, against a rapid cur-rent, and under fire of the enemy in possessionof the right bank, which generally commandsthe left all the way up. There was no way ofavoiding this but by transporting boats overlandto the Limat, and this measure was adopted ac-cordingly. The part fixed upon for attempting

* The river bears this name below the lake of Zurich ;above, it is called the Linth .