partly because of the extent and complexity of the area over
which fighting continued for several days, and partly because of
the immense number of troops of different nations which took part
in this memorable encounter. It is principally the documents
relating to the French army which are missing, because several
commanders of army corps and divisions, and some members of the
general staff, having been killed or left in enemy hands, most of
their reports have never been finished, and those which have
been, reflect the inevitable haste and disorder surrounding their
compilation. At Leipzig I was the colonel of a regiment, a part
of a division whose movements I was bound to follow, so it was
not possible for me to know what was happening elsewhere, in the
manner which it had been in previous campaigns, when as an
aide-de-camp to various marshals, I was able to acquire a general
view of operations as I carried orders to different parts of the
battlefield. I must therefore, more than ever, limit my
description to what is absolutely necessary for an understanding
of the main events of the battle of Leipzig, the outcome of which
had such a profound influence on the destinies of the Emperor, of
France and of Europe.
The iron circle within which the allies were preparing to enclose
the French army, had not yet completely surrounded Leipzig, when
the King of Wurtemburg, a man of violence but honourable, thought
it his duty to warn Napoleon that the whole of Germany, incited
by the English, was about to rise against him, and that he had
barely sufficient time to retire with the French troops behind
the Main, before all of the German Confederation abandoned him to
join his enemies. He added that he himself, King of Wurtemburg,
could not avoid doing likewise, as he was forced to accede to the
demands of his subjects, who clamoured for him to go with the
torrent of German public opinion and, breaking with Napoleon,
range himself with the enemies of France.
The Emperor, shaken by this advice from the most able and most
faithful of his allies, is said to have considered retiring
towards the mountains of Thuringia and Hesse, to get behind the
river Saale and there wait for the allies to attack him, where
they would be at a disadvantage on the difficult terrain, heavily
wooded and full of narrow passes.
This plan could have saved Napoleon; but it had to be executed
quickly, before the enemy armies were completely united and near
enough to attack us during the retreat. However, when it came to
deciding to abandon a part of his conquests, the Emperor could
not make up his mind; he was most unwilling to have it thought
that he considered himself defeated because he sought refuge
behind these inaccessible mountains. The over-boldness of this
great captain was our undoing; he did not stop to consider that
his army, weakened by numerous losses, contained in its ranks
many foreigners who were waiting only for a favourable
opportunity to betray him, and that it was liable to be
overwhelmed by superior forces in the great open plains of
Leipzig. He would have been wiser to lead it to the mountains of
Thuringia and Hesse, which offered good defensive positions, and
so nullify some of the numerical advantage of the royal
coalition. In addition, the approach of winter and the need to
feed their many troops would have soon compelled the enemies to
separate, while the French army, its front and its flanks
protected by the extreme difficulty of mounting an attack in a
country bristling with natural obstacles, would have had behind
it the fertile valleys of the Main, the Rhine, and the Necker.
Such a position would at least have given us some time and
perhaps tired the allies to the point of desiring a peace; but
the confidence which Napoleon had in himself and in the valour of
his troops overcame these considerations, and he elected to await
his enemies on the plains of Leipzig.
This fatal decision had hardly been taken, when a second letter
from the King of Wurtemburg informed the Emperor that the King of
Bavaria, having suddenly changed sides, had made a pact with the
allies, and that the two armies, the Austrian and the Bavarian,
in cantonment on the banks of the Inn, had joined into a single
unit under the command of General de Wrede and were marching to
the Rhine; and finally that, to his regret, he was compelled by
force to join his army to theirs. In consequence, the Emperor
could expect that soon 100,000 men would surround Mainz, and
threaten the frontier of France.
At this unexpected news, Napoleon thought he should return to the
project of retiring behind the Saale and the mountains of
Thuringia; but it was too late, for already the main forces of
the allies were in contact with the French army, and too close
for it to be possible to carry out a retreat without being
attacked in the course of this difficult operation. So the
Emperor decided to stand and fight!... It was a disastrous
decision, for the effective strength of the French troops and
their allies amounted to no more than 157,000 men, of whom only
29,000 were cavalry, while Prince Schwartzenberg, the enemy
generalissimo, disposed of a force of 350,000, of whom 54,000
were cavalry!...
This huge army consisted of Russians, Austrians, Prussians, and
Swedes, whom the former French Marshal Bernadotte was leading
against his fellow countrymen and one-time brothers in arms. The
total number of those engaged amounted to 507,000 without
counting the troops left in fortresses.
The town of Leipzig is one of the most commercial and richest in
Germany. It stands in the middle of a great plain which extends
from the Elbe to the Harz mountains, to Thuringia, and to
Bohemia. Its situation has made it almost always the principal
theatre for the wars which have bloodied Germany. A little river
named the Elster, which is so small and shallow that one could
call it a stream, runs from south to north through water-meadows
in a slight valley as far as Leipzig. This water-course divides
into a great number of branches which are a real obstacle to the
usual operations of war, and require a multiplicity of bridges
for communication between the villages which edge the valley.
The Pleisse, another river of the same sort but even smaller than
the Elster, runs about a league and a half from the latter, which
it joins under the walls of Leipzig.
To the north of the town is a small stream called the Partha
which winds through a narrow valley and has at every pace fords
or little bridges across it.
Leipzig, being at the confluence of these three streams and
almost surrounded to the north and west by their multiple
branches, is the key to the terrain through which they run. The
town, which is not very large, was at this period surrounded by
an old wall in which were four large gates and three small ones.
The road to Lutzen via Lindenau and Markranstadt was the only one
by which the French army could communicate freely with its rear.
It is in the area of ground between the Pleisse and the Partha
that the heaviest fighting took place. There, a noticeable
feature is a small isolated hillock called the Kelmberg, known
also as the Swedish redoubt, because in the thirty years war,
Gustavus Adolphus built some fortifications at this spot, which
dominates the surrounding countryside.
The battle of Leipzig began on the 16th of October 1813 and
lasted three days; but the fighting on the 17th was infinitely
more savage than that on the 16th and 18th.
Without wishing to go into the details of this memorable
encounter, I think I should indicate the principal positions
occupied by the French army, which will give a general idea of
those of the enemy, since each of our army corps had facing it
one and sometimes two of the enemy.
King Murat was in control of our right wing, the extremity of
which was bounded by the Pleisse near the villages of Connewitz,
D”litz, and Mark-Kleeberg which were occupied by Prince
Poniatowski and his Poles. Next to him and behind the market-town
of Wachau was the corps of Marshal Victor. Marshal Augereau
occupied D”sen.
These various corps of infantry were flanked and supported by
several masses of Marshals Kellermann's and Michaud's cavalry.
The centre, under the direct command of the Emperor, was at
Liebert-Wolkwitz. It was made up of the infantry corps of General
Lauriston and Marshal Macdonald, having with them the cavalry of
Latour-Maubourg and Sebastiani. My regiment, which was part of
this last general's corps, was positioned facing the hillock of
Kelmberg, or the Swedish redoubt.
The left wing, commanded by Marshal Ney, comprised the infantry
Corps of Marshal Marmont, and of Generals Souham and Reynier,
supported by the cavalry of the Duc de Padoue. They occupied
Taucha.
A body of 15,000 men under the command of General Bertrand was
sent from Leipzig to guard the crossings of the Elster and the
road to Lutzen.
At Probstheyda, behind our centre, was the reserve commanded by
Marshal Oudinot and consisting of the young and the Old Guard,
and Nansouty's cavalry.
The venerable King of Saxony, who had been unwilling to desert
his friend the Emperor of France, remained in the town of Leipzig
with his guard and several French regiments who were there to
maintain order.
During the night of 15th-16th, Marshal Macdonald's troops were
moved to concentrate in Liebert-Wolkwitz, leaving the area of the
Kelmberg: but as there was no wish to abandon this position to
the enemy before dawn, I was told to keep it under surveillance
until first light. This was an operation of some delicacy, since
I had to advance with my regiment to the foot of the hillock,
while the French army retired for half a league in the opposite
direction. I ran the risk of being surrounded and perhaps
captured with all my men by the enemy advance-guard, whose scouts
would not fail to climb to the top of the hillock as soon as the
dawn light allowed them to see what was going on in the vast
plains below them, which were occupied by the French army.
The weather was superb and, although it was night, one could see
reasonably well by the light of the stars; but as in these
circumstances it is much easier to see what is overhead than to
see what is below one's feet, I brought my squadrons as close as
possible to the hillock so that its shadow would conceal the
riders, and after ordering silence and immobility, I awaited
events.
The event which fortune had in store was one which could have
changed the future of France and the Emperor and made my name for
ever celebrated!
Half an hour before first light, three riders, coming from the
direction of the enemy, climbed, at walking pace, the hillock of
Kelmberg, from where they could not see us, although we could see
clearly their silhouettes and hear their conversation. They were
speaking in French, the one being Russian and the other two
Prussians. The first, who seemed to have some authority over his
companions, ordered one of them to go and inform their majesties
that there were no Frenchmen at this spot, and they could climb
up, for in a few minutes it would be possible to see the whole of
the plain; but they should do this right away, in case the French
sent sharp-shooters to the area.
The officer to whom these words were addressed observed that the
escort was still a long way off. "What does it matter?" was the
reply, "There is no one here but us." At these words my troops
and I redoubled our attention, and soon we saw on the top of the
hillock some twenty enemy officers, of whom one dismounted.
Although on setting up an ambush, I had no expectation of making
any great capture, I had, however warned my officers that if we
saw anyone on the Swedish redoubt, at a signal from me two
squadrons would go round it, one to left and one to right, in
order to encircle any enemy who had risked coming so close to our
army. I had high hopes, when the over-keenness of one of my
troopers ruined my plan. This man having accidently dropped his
sabre, immediately took his carbine, and fearing that he would be
late when I gave the order to attack, he fired into the middle of
the group, killing a Prussian major.
You may imagine how, in an instant, all the enemy officers, who
had no other guard but a few orderlies, seeing themselves on the
point of being surrounded, made off at the gallop. We dared not
follow them too far for fear of falling ourselves into the hands
of the approaching escorts. We did manage to capture two
officers, from whom we could get no information; but I learned
later from my friend, Baron de Stoch, who was a colonel in the
guard of the Grand Duke of Darmstadt, that the Emperor Alexander
of Russia and the King of Prussia had been among the group of
officers who almost fell into French hands, an event which would
have changed the destiny of Europe. However, fate having decided
otherwise, there was nothing left for me to do but to withdraw
smartly with my regiment to the French lines.
On the 16th of October at eight o'clock in the morning, the
allied batteries gave the signal for the attack. A lively
cannonade was directed at our lines and the allied army marched
towards us from every point. The fighting commenced on our right,
where the Poles, driven back by the Prussians, abandoned the
village of Mark-Kleeberg.
At our centre the Russians and the Austrians attacked Wachau and
Liebert-Wolkwitz six times and were repeatedly repulsed with
great losses. The Emperor regretting, no doubt, that he had
abandoned that morning the Swedish redoubt which the enemy had
occupied and from where their gunners rained down grape-shot,
ordered its recapture, which was promptly carried out by the 22nd
Light Infantry aided by my regiment.
Having obtained this first success, the Emperor, not being able
to outflank the enemy wings because their superior numbers
allowed them to present too long a front, decided to keep them
occupied while he attempted to break through their centre. To
this end, he sent Marshal Mortier to Wachau with two divisions of
infantry, and Marshal Oudinot with the Young Guard. General
Drout, with sixty cannons aided the attack, which was successful.
For his part, Marshal Victor overcame and routed the Russian
Corps commanded by Prince Eugene of Wurtemberg; but after
suffering considerable losses, the Prince was able to rally his
Corps at Gossa.
At this moment General Lauriston and Marshal Macdonald debouched
from Liebert-Wolkwitz and the enemy was overthrown. The French
then took possession of the wood of Grosspossnau. General Maison
was wounded in the taking of this important point.
It was in vain that the numerous Austrian cavalry commanded by
General Klenau and aided by a host of Cossacks tried to restore
the situation, they were defeated by General Sebastian's cavalry
corps. This was a very fierce encounter; my regiment took part;
I lost several men and my senior Major was wounded in the chest
by a lance, having failed to protect himself by carrying his
rolled cape.
Prince Schwartzenberg, seeing his line badly shaken, advanced his
reserves to support it, which decided the Emperor to order a
massive cavalry charge which involved the two corps of Kellermann
and Latour-Maubourg as well as the Dragoons of the Guard.
Kellermann overcame a division of Russian Cuirassiers, but taken
on the flank by another division he had to fall back to the
heights of Wachau after taking several enemy flags.
King Murat then advanced the French infantry and the fighting was
renewed. The Russian Corps of the Prince of Wurtemberg was once
more overwhelmed and lost twenty-six guns. This treatment
resulted in the enemy centre yielding and it was about to give
way when the Emperor of Russia, who had witnessed the disaster,
rapidly advanced the numerous cavalry of his guard which,
encountering the squadrons of Latour-Maubourg in the state of
confusion which always follows an all-out charge, repelled them
in their turn and took back twenty-four of the guns which they
had just captured. It was during this charge that General
Latour-Maubourg had his leg carried away by a cannon-ball.
So far neither side had secured a marked advantage and Napoleon,
to achieve a victory, had just launched against the enemy centre
the reserve consisting of the infantry and cavalry of the Old
Guard and a corps of fresh troops newly arrived from Leipzig,
when a regiment of enemy cavalry which had either deliberately or
accidently got behind French lines created some alarm amongst the
moving troops, who halted and formed a square so as not to be
taken by surprise, and before it was possible to find out the
cause of this alert, night had everywhere suspended military
operations.
There had been other events on our extreme right. For the whole
day General Merfeld had tried fruitlessly to secure a passage
across the Pleisse, defended by Poniatowski's Corps and his
Poles; however, towards the end of the day, he managed to take
the village of D”litz, which compromised our right wing; but the
infantry Chasseurs of the Old Guard, having come from the reserve
at the Pas de Charge chased the Austrians back across the river
and took some hundreds of prisoners, among whom was General
Merfeld, who found himself for the third time, in French hands.
Although the Poles had allowed the capture of D”litz, the
Emperor, to boost their morale, thought he should give the baton
of a marshal of France to their leader, Prince Poniatowski, who
did not enjoy the honour of bearing it for very long.
On the other side of the river Elster, the Austrian General
Giulay had taken the village of Lindenau after seven hours of
fierce fighting. When the Emperor was told of this serious event,
which compromised the way of retreat for the major part of his
troops, he ordered an attack by General Bertrand, who re-took the
position by a vigourous bayonet charge.
On our left, the impatience of Ney nearly led to a major
catastrophe. The Marshal, who commanded the left wing which had
been placed in position by the Emperor, seeing that by ten
o'clock in the morning no enemy troops had appeared, sent, on his
own authority, one of his army corps, commanded by General
Souham, to Wachau, where there seemed to be an active engagement;
but while this ill-considered movement was being carried out, the
Prussian Marshal Blucher, who had been delayed, arrived with the
Silesian army and captured the village of M”ckern. Then Ney,
deprived of a part of his force, and having at his disposal only
Marmont's division, was compelled to withdraw to the walls of
Leipzig and do no more than defend the suburb of Halle.
The French lost many men in this engagement, which also had a
very disturbing effect on those of our soldiers who were in
positions in front of or to one side of Leipzig, for they heard
the sound of cannon and small-arms fire coming from behind them.
However, at about eight in the evening, the fighting ceased in
all parts and the night was peaceful.
Chap. 29.
This first day led to no decisive victory; but the French had the
advantage, since with very much smaller numbers, they had not
only held their own against the coalition, but had driven them
off some of the ground they had occupied the day before.
The troops on both sides were preparing to renew the fighting on
the following morning; but contrary to their expectations, the
17th passed without any hostile movement on the part of either
side. The coalition was awaiting the arrival of the Russian
Polish army, and the troops which were being brought by the
Prince Royal of Sweden, Bernadotte, which would greatly increase
their strength.
For his part, Napoleon, now regretting his rejection of the peace
offers which had been made to him two months previously during
the armistice, hoped to have some result from a peace mission
which he had sent the previous evening to the allied sovereigns
through the Austrian General Comte de Merfeld, who had recently
been taken prisoner.
Here could be seen a strange sequence of events. It was the Comte
de Merfeld who sixteen years previously had come to ask General
Bonaparte, then the commander of the army in Italy, for the
armistice of Leoben. It was he who had brought back to Vienna the
peace treaty concluded between the Austrian government and the
directory, represented by General Bonaparte. It was he who had
carried to the French emperor, on the night following the Battle
of Austerlitz, the proposal for an armistice made by the Austrian
Emperor; now, as a remarkable turn of fate had brought General
Merfeld once more into the Emperor's presence at a moment when he
in his turn was in need of an armistice and peace, he had high
hopes that this intermediary would return with the result he
desired. However things had gone too far for the allied
sovereigns to treat with Napoleon, from whom such a plea denoted
the weakness of his position. So, although unable to conquer us
on the 16th, they hoped to overcome us by a renewed effort with
their superior numbers, and relied heavily on the defection of
the German units which were still with us, and whose leaders, all
members of the secret society, the Tugenbund, took advantage of
the lull in hostilities of the 17th to agree on the manner in
which they would execute their treacherous designs. The Comte de
Merfeld's mission did not even receive a reply.
On the morning of the 18th, the coalition began its attack. The
2nd Cavalry Corps, of which my regiment was a part, was placed as
it had been on the 16th, between Liebert-Wolkwitz and the
Kelmberg. The fighting, which broke out everywhere was fiercest
towards our centre at the village of Probstheyda which was
attacked simultaneously by a Russian and a Prussian Corps, who
were driven off with tremendous losses. The Russians vigourously
attacked Holzhausen, which Macdonald defended successfully.
About eleven o'clock, a cannonade was heard from behind Leipzig,
in the direction of Lindenau, and we learned that at this point
our troops had broken through the ring within which the enemy
believed they could contain the French army, and that General
Bertrand's corps was marching towards Weissenfeld in the
direction of the Rhine, without the enemy being able to stop him.
The Emperor then ordered to evacuation of the equipment to
Lutzen.
Meanwhile, the Leipzig plateau around Connewitz and L”ssnig was
the scene of a massive engagement; the earth shook with the noise
of a thousand cannon, and the enemy tried to force a passage
across the Pleisse. They were driven back, although the Poles
managed to ruin some of the bayonet charges made by our infantry.
Then the 1st French Cavalry Corps, seeing the Austrian and
Prussian squadrons going to the aid of their allies, emerged from
behind the village of Probstheyda and hurled themselves at the
enemy, whom they overwhelmed and drove back to their reserves
which were led by Prince Constantine of Russia. Defeated again at
this spot the allies built up an immense force in order to
capture Probstheyda, but this formidable mass had such a hot
reception from some divisions of our infantry and the infantry
Chasseurs of the Old Guard that they promptly withdrew. We lost
there Generals Vial and Rochambeau. The latter had just been made
a Marshal of France by the Emperor.
Bernadotte had not yet attacked the French and seemed, it was
said, to waver; but at last urged on or even threatened by the
Prussian Marshal Blucher, he decided to cross the Partha above
the village of Mockau, at the head of his troops and a Russian
corps which had been placed under his command. When a brigade of
Saxon Hussars and Lancers which was positioned at this point saw
approaching the Cossacks who preceded Bernadotte, they marched
towards them as if to give battle; but then, turning round
suddenly and forgetting about their aged King, our ally who was
in the midst of Napoleon's troops, the infamous Saxons aimed
their muskets and cannons at the French!