These victories led to a brief armistice. During the armistice, the monarchs of Russia and Prussia met with Crown Prince Charles John of Sweden at Trachenberg Castle in Silesia where the former French Marshal outlined a strategy for defeating Napoleon that, with added details from the Austrians following their joining of the Coalition on 12 August 1813, became known as the Trachenberg Plan.[14] In accordance with the Trachenberg Plan, three Coalition armies were formed, the Army of Silesia of 95,000 men under the command of Gebhard von Blücher, the Army of North Germany of 120,000 (including Swedish garrisons in Stralsund) under Crown Prince Charles John, and the Army of Bohemia, the primary allied army in the field with 225,000 men, under the command of Karl von Schwarzenberg. A fourth army was constituted as the Army of Poland, initially 30,000 men, but expanding to 70,000 by year's end, under the command of Count Benningsen.[15][16] As outlined by the Trachenberg Plan, the Coalition armies would avoid battle with Napoleon, retreat whenever Napoleon himself advanced, and instead target the forces under the command of his marshals. Despite the injunction to avoid battle with the Emperor, the Army of Bohemia engaged Napoleon at the Battle of Dresden on 27 August where the French won a crushing victory.
Battle Nations
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The French had around 160,000 soldiers along with 700 guns[3] plus 15,000 Poles, 10,000 Italians, and 40,000 Germans belonging to the Confederation of the Rhine, totalling 225,000 troops.[1] The Coalition had around 380,000 troops[1] along with 1,500 guns,[3] consisting of 145,000 Russians, 115,000 Austrians, 90,000 Prussians, and 30,000 Swedes. This made Leipzig the largest battle of the Napoleonic wars, surpassing Borodino, Wagram, Jena and Auerstedt, Ulm, and Dresden.[23]
The Grande Armée, under the command of Napoleon, was in a weakened state. The majority of his troops now consisted of teenagers and inexperienced men conscripted shortly after the near destruction of the Grande Armée in Russia. Napoleon conscripted these men to be readied for an even larger campaign against the newly formed Sixth Coalition and its forces stationed in Germany. While he won several preliminary battles, his army was being steadily depleted as the Allies, closely following the Trachenberg Plan, systematically defeated his marshals. The French Imperial cavalry was similarly insufficient, making it difficult for Napoleon to keep his eyes on his lines of communications or even scout enemy positions, a fact which influenced the outcome of the Battle of Großbeeren and others during the German campaign.[24]
Despite being outnumbered, Napoleon planned to take the offensive between the Pleiße and the Parthe rivers. The position at Leipzig held several advantages for his army and his battle strategy. The rivers that converged there split the surrounding terrain into four separate sectors.[25] Holding Leipzig and its bridges, Napoleon could shift troops from one sector to another far more rapidly than the Allies could, who had difficulty moving such large numbers of troops into a single sector.[25][26]
The northern front was defended by Marshals Michel Ney and Auguste de Marmont, and the eastern front by Marshal Jacques MacDonald. The artillery reserve and parks, ambulances, and baggage stood near Leipzig, which Napoleon made his supply base for the battle. The bridges on the Pleisse and White Elster rivers were defended by infantry and a few guns. The main battery stood in reserve, and during battle was to be deployed on the Gallows Height. This battery was to be commanded by the artillery expert Antoine Drouot. The western flank of the French positions at Wachau and Liebertwolkwitz was defended by Prince Józef Poniatowski and Marshal Pierre Augereau and his young French conscripts.[27]
However, not willing to plan the battle by himself as he had done during his disastrous defeat at Austerlitz almost a decade earlier, Alexander had Schwarzenberg draft another battle plan based on his thoughts and views. Schwarzenberg then drafted another plan that was largely designed to let everyone do as they pleased. The plan was as follows: Blücher's axis of advance was to be shifted northward to the Halle road, the Russian and Prussian guards and the Russian heavy cavalry was to be amassed at Rotha in general reserve.[29] The Austrian grenadiers and cuirassiers would advance between the rivers. This strategy would ensure the encirclement of the French army in Leipzig and its vicinity, or at least inflict heavy losses upon them to assure the needed decisive results. Seemingly, though somewhat reluctantly, convinced, Alexander soon agreed to his plan, and he then ordered him to tell the other commanders to follow the plan.[30]
The Austrian II Corps, commanded by Merveldt, advanced towards Connewitz via Gautzsch and attempted to attack the position. By the time Napoleon arrived on the battlefield along with the Young Guard and some Chasseurs, Merveldt found that the avenue of advance was well covered by the French battery and some skirmishers who had occupied the houses there and did not permit the Austrians to deploy their artillery in support of the attack. Merveldt himself in an unlucky turn was wounded and captured by the French after he went straight into the Saxon-Polish lines at the Pleiße River. Repulsed, the Austrians then moved to attack nearby Dölitz, down a road crossed by two bridges and leading to a manor house and a mill. Two companies of the 24th Regiment ousted the small Polish garrison and took the position. A prompt counterattack by the Saxons and Poles ejected the Austrian troops and the battle seesawed until the Austrians brought up a strong artillery battery and blew the Poles out of the position. The Poles suffered heavy casualties during their furious defense and set fire to both the manor and the mill during their retreat.[33]
The northern front opened with the attack by General Langeron's Russian corps on the villages of Groß-Wiederitzsch and Klein-Wiederitzsch in the centre of the French northern lines.[38] This position was defended by General Dąbrowski's Polish division of four infantry battalions and two cavalry battalions. At first sign of the attack, the Polish division attacked. The battle wavered back and forth with attacks and counterattacks.[38] General Langeron rallied his forces and finally took both villages with heavy casualties.[38]
The northern front was dominated by the Battle of Möckern. This was a four phase battle and saw hard fighting from both sides. A manor, palace, walled gardens, and low walls dominated the village. Each position was turned into a fortress with the walls being loopholed for covered fire by the French. The ground to the west of the position was too wooded and swampy for emplacement of artillery. A dike ran east along the Elster River being four metres high. Marshal Marmont brought up infantry columns behind the positions in reserve and for a quick counter-attack against any fallen position. Blücher commanded Langeron's Russian and Yorck's Prussian corps against Marmont's VI Corps. When the battle hung in the balance, Marmont ordered a cavalry charge, but his commander refused to attack. Later, an attack by Prussian hussars caused serious losses to the French defenders. The battle lasted well into the night. Artillery caused the majority of the 9,000 Allied and 7,000 French casualties, and the French lost another 2,000 prisoners.[33]
It was soon evident that the Allies would encircle Napoleon and his army, and he knew that not retreating from the battle would mean capitulation for his entire army, which by this time were starting to run out of supplies and ammunition.[41] So Napoleon began to examine whether the roads and bridges of Lindenau could be used to withdraw his troops, or at the very least to secure a bridgehead crossing on the Pleiße River.[41] However, he was not yet in the mood for withdrawing as he thought to achieve one more great victory for France.[42] He also thought that a strong, formidable rear guard in Leipzig itself could repulse any Allied assault, which could buy him and his forces more time to withdraw from the battle.[41]
The bloodiest fighting of the battle occurred in Probstheida, a village just southeast of Leipzig. Here, about 60,000 soldiers under Barclay were marching and advancing towards the village in two columns, one under von Kleist advancing through Wachau, and one under General Wittgenstein advancing through Liebertwolkwitz. Barclay was pressured by the monarchs, especially Alexander I, to take the village since it was the key to the positions of Napoleon's troops, and although von Kleist opposed this, the monarchs' orders were paramount, so Barclay had to follow their orders anyway.[41]
The French dispositions at the village, however, were heavily fortified, thanks to the high and thick garden walls that gave excellent protection for the French infantry. The defense was also strengthened with artillery and strong infantry reserves behind the village. A day earlier, the Russians had taken most of the losses incurred during the battle, so it was the Prussians who took the initiative.[41]
During that morning, Bernadotte and Blücher held a conference in Breitenfeld. It was agreed that Bernadotte's Army of the North would pass the Parthe River at Taucha with a reinforcement of 30,000 men drawn from Blücher's Army of Silesia. Blücher agreed to dispatch Langeron's army corps, and to renounce his rank and his rights as army commander, putting himself at the head of his Prussians.[45] The advance of the Army of the North towards Leipzig had been slow, purportedly because Bernadotte had received word that Napoleon planned a renewed attack towards Berlin after his marshals' failure to take the city in the battles of Großbeeren and Dennewitz.[46]
In the meantime, at the behest of his officers, who felt embarrassed that they had not participated in the battle, Bernadotte gave the order for his light infantry to participate in the final assault on Leipzig itself. The Swedish jägers performed very well,[44] losing only 35 men dead and 173 wounded while capturing 647 French prisoners.[50][51] 2ff7e9595c
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