Then Bessières led Napoleon's Guard into the fray as well.
He had also brought Napoleon's banner.
Amid the chaotic battlefield, the soldiers could not find their Commander-in-Chief, but they saw that great banner fluttering in the wind at a glance.
Colonel Bonaparte had always been by our side!
The new recruits all had the same thought rise in their hearts. Their morale immediately surged, and even the bayonets they thrust out became several degrees fiercer than before.
Screams rose and fell. Driven by overwhelming terror, more Austrian Army soldiers threw down their weapons and scattered in flight.
Cervoni's defensive line swiftly collapsed like a sand embankment before a flood.
By the time Joubert arrived to join the battle, all he saw were the backs of the Wangre Regiment's recruits and more than a thousand Austrian Army soldiers kneeling on the ground in surrender.
Napoleon spotted Joubert's banner from afar, then glanced at the enemy troops who had already fled far away. He said to Lucien, "Have Major Joubert immediately launch an attack south of Marengo. Melas's command post should be there!"
"Yes, Commander!"
Several kilometers away in Castelceriolo, Junot had already been crushed by the Argentau Legion's overwhelming numerical advantage. With the three hundred-odd soldiers he had left, he retreated toward San Giuliano.
Sérurier was still entangled with the Koli Legion, but he was clearly an arrow at the end of its flight. His soldiers had begun to desert and flee.
And at that moment, the Austrian Commanders on both flanks received the same order from Melas—immediately rush to Marengo Village to reinforce them; Napoleon had broken through their Central Route Army.
Cabianca, five kilometers south of Marengo.
Melas watched the last ray of sunlight vanish beyond the horizon and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He had never