Orders

It is not known when the final decision was taken, but on May 13 the Emperor wrote to Marshal Davout, minister of war, demanding road reports, canal and river breadths, pontoon and wagon availabilities, and the earliest date by which the bridging trains could be concentrated between Avesnes and Laon.  Under conditions of the greatest secrecy, the preliminary orders were issued during the early days of June, and teh first carefully concealed troop movements toward the Belgian frontier began soon afterward.

~ The Campaigns of Napoleon, D. Chandler, p. 1017