But those five leagues tested the utmost powers of the army and of its chiefs.

Marmont, who commanded the artillery, had devised the ingenious plan of taking the cannon from their carriages and placing them in the hollowed-out trunks of pine, so that the trunnions fitting into large notches kept them steady during the ascent over the snow and the still more difficult descent.[140] The labour of dragging the guns wore out the peasants; then the troops were invited--a hundred at a time--to take a turn at the ropes, and were exhilarated by martial airs played by the bands, or by bugles and drums sounding the charge at the worst places of the ascent.
The track sometimes ran along narrow ledges where a false step meant death, or where avalanches were to be feared.

The elements, however, were propitious, and the losses insignificant.

This was due to many causes: the ardour of the troops in an enterprise which appealed to French imagination and roused all their activities; the friendliness of the mountaineers; and the organizing powers of Bonaparte and of his staff; all these may be cited as elements of success.

They present a striking contrast to the march of Hannibal's army over one of the western passes of the Alps.