The Battle of Nations

The Battle of Leipzig

When the Allied nations of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Swedian Threatened Napoleon's line of communications through the town of Leipzig he was forced to focus his forces there. King Mde Joahim Murat, one of Napoleon's generals, said, "Leipzig is one of the most commercial and richest towns in Germany. It stands in the middle of a great plain that extends from the Elbe to the Hanz mountains, to Thuringia and to Bohemia.

Napoleon's forces   

Napoleon had about 200,000 soldiers, 151,500 infantry, 41,000 cavalry, 26,500 artillery/ engineers.

Allied Forces

150,000 Russians, 115,000 Austrians, 75,000 Prussians also 19,000 Swedes

There were also a smaller number of contigents= 12,000 Poles, 9,000 Italians, 6,000 Saxons, 5,000 Badens, 3,500 Wirtembergains, 2,500 Hessians, 2,000 Westphalians and some other Germans, Finns, Danes, Spaniards, Portugueses, a few Greeks, Brits and Kalmuks.

The battle of Liebertwolwitz

Two days Previous to the battle, on October 14th there was a major cavalry engagement at the town of Liebertwolwitz, two miles south of Leipzig. Murat's total strength of his cavalry force was between 7,000 and 10,000 horsemen, while the allies had few thousands less. The much larger French forces attacked in massive columns, but the Allies attacked the front lines and then the flanks of the French. Murat lost 1,500 cavalrymen while the allies lost only half of that. 

Deployment of troops at Leipzig

Once the cavalry battle ended, all the armies started to prepare for the onslaught that would ensue. The next day much more troops came to join the fight. The roads leading to Leipzig were crowded with moving artillery pieces and ammunition wagons. Along the roads on both sides huge columns of infantry, and across the fields the cavalry trotted. On October 16th the battle began, it was one of the most crucial battles of the Napoleonic Wars.

The battle of Leipzig was fought on all sides of the city (North, South, East, and West) for several days. Napoleon cosentrated his forces around Leipzig so he could protect his supply lines. Murat was the commander in the south, the most vonrable part of the battle field, were Napoleon spent most of his time with him. Murat had command of the II, IV and IX Army Corps, I, II, III, IV and V Cavalry Corps, Imperial Guard, and Polish VIII Corps. In the north the Ney and Marmount while Macdonald held the east. The bridges on the Pleisse and Elster river were defender by infantry and a small amount of guns. The artillery reserve, parks, ambulances and baggages stood near Leipzig. The artillery battery stood in reserve until it was needed on the Gallows Height and commanded by Drouot. In the west at Wachau and Liebertwolkwitz was defended by Poniatowski and Augereau with young French conscripts.

The First day of Battle

On the 16th of October at eight o'clock in the morning, the Allie's batteries gave the signal for the attack. There was a cannonade that targeted Murats lines and the allies closed in for them in every direction. The fighting mainly commenced on the right where the Poles were driven back by the Prussians. At the center the Russians and Austrians attacked Wachau and Liebertwolkwitz six times, but every time were repulsed with large numbers of dead and wounded. The villages of Wachua, Liebertwolkwitz and Mark-Kleeberg were taken and lost several times, but the Allies eventually took all the cities after losing many soldiers. Napoleon told his troops to bring 100 artillery pieces and deploy them on the Gallows Hill. When the heavy bombardment was going on the Allie's troops began to withdrawal and were charged by Murat's 10,000 cavalrymen. Napoleon wrote, " The King of Naples (Murat) put himself at the head of the cuirassiers and marched at the enemies cavalry to the left of Wachau, while the Polish horsemen and the dragoons and the gaurd charged to the right. The enemies cavalry was routed. Matters being reestablished on the right the enemy fell back." The Emperor told the Duke of Reggio to take Wachau with two divisions of the young guard, and at the same time to move two other divisions on Liebertwolwitz. Napoleon also pushed forward in the center with a battery of 150 artillery pieces in the command of Drouot. Meanwhile General Blucher (Allied Commander) was closing in from the north toward Lindenthal, Wahren, Mockern and Wiederitzsch and south on Leipzig. The French in the north were under Ney and his strongest force was Marmont's VI Corps. At three p.m. the first Prussian I Corps led by Von Yorck attack Mockern. In the same time period the Russians attacked the two villages of Wiederitzsch which was defended by Dabrowski's Division. The Battle in the north was bloody and all three villiges changed hands several times. French Regiments of naval infantry and Dabrowski's divisions covered themselves with glory, but lost the battle. Blucher won the battle and pushed Ney and Marmont south. Napoleon was reported this when he was in Schonefeld.

On October 17th in the early morning Schwarzenberg's "army of Bohemia" formed for battle while the French army began to execute Napoleon's orders. The French opened fire on the Austrians and there general Klenau's infantry but the Austrians did not advance and the guns fell silent. Allied monarchs ordered thier troops not to advance in order to allow Bennigsen's army time to arrive on the battle field. The whole morning passed with only a skirmish fight. Around 10 a.m. cannons were heard on the north of Leipzig, the Allied troops stooding south of Leipzig thought that Napoloen moved against Blucher. The sound of cannonade soon fell silent. Many generals expected that Napoleon would withdraw, but he didn't. The noise in the north was actually made by Blucher's Russian infantry and guns as he attacked the Poles (Dabrowski) and French (Delmas) near Gohlish and Eutritzch. Blutcher also unleashed Lanskoi's 2nd Hussar Division (Russian) against Arrighi's III Cavalry Corps. The French broke apart almost immediately and was pursued. The Russians camtured half a thousand men and five artillery guns. The French fled to the Parthe river, It was the most major fight of the day. In the afternoon Schwarzenberg was reported that Bennigsen reached Naunhof. Schwarzenberg issued orders to attack Napoleon only when Bennigsen arrived to meet Schwarzenberg. Around 2 p.m. the attack wound comence by attacking the enemies left flank, but Bennigsen said that his troops were fatigued and the monarchs delayed the attack to the next day. The Allies wanted to put a combined assault from the north and south against Napoleon. The news on the whereabouts of Bernadotte's "army of the north" were unknown to Ney. Blucher reseved a letter of congradulations for his victoy against Ney from Bernadotte, but Blucher was angry because he thought Bernadotte wanted to take the least hazardous position and leave all the fighting to Blucher and his Russian and Prussian soldiers. In the evening the Tzar of Russia nad Schwarzenberg met up with the Emperor of Austria. Barclay was with his troops in Stormthal. The news of the defeats coled the mood in Napoleon's headquarters. Marmount was defeated by Blucher, Poniatowski held his guard but lost 1/3 of his soldiers. Murat was unable to break through enemy lines, Prisoners taken by the French and Poles said that the Allies were waiting for Bennigsen's and Bernadotte's armies. Napoleon did nothing and allowed the Allies to get 100,000 fresh troops because he was waiting for the VII Corps, Rayniers 12,500 French and Saxon troops, to strengthen his force, which Napoleon got around 7 p.m. In the cover night the French, Polish and Wirtembergian troops left the north to go to Leipzig. Marmont's Arrighi's and Souham's corps retreated toward Leipzig near the Gohlis and Parthe river.

On October 18th the next day the Allies launched a massive assault from all directions in nine hours and pushed the French back to Leipzig, but both sides suffered heavy amounts of casulties and only the bravest of the French troops prevented a breakthrough. Thje II Cavalry Corps was placed were it was on the 16th of October, between Liebertwolkwitz and the Kelberg. The Fighting there was fiercest in the center, all the villages of Probsthaida, whicj was attacked by a Russian and Prussian Corps were driven off with tremendous loses. The Russians violently attacked Holzhausen, which Macdonald won successfully. The monarchs stood a hill that they used to study the enemies movements. There was a village called Schonefeld the was lost and held by the Russians and French eight times. The village was defended by general Lagrange's 21st Infantry Division. The marine infantry held off four Prussian attacks on the village of Mockern. In Schonefeld they held their ground against seven to eight Russian attacks. The Allies' repeated attacks on Mockern and Schonefeld and the French were being fatiuged by it extremely. The fench though had a advantage, the villages had stone walls which helped to defend it, and all the buildings were two stories tall and made of stone so when the Allied skirmishers came to attack, the French would pelt them with bullets. General Kapzevich ordered to put 12 heavy guns to take a position in front of the village with the left flank next to the river and fire on the villages and burn them to the ground. He also ordered six guns to take a position at the range of musket shot on the road facing the villages with Russian infantry. The cannons fired on the cities and the Russian infantry charged and climed the walls, but were repulsed by the the French and there fresh new troops. Napoleon was happy with his troops fighting that day and siad, "It is impossible to praise too highly the conduct of Count Lauriston and Prince Poniatowski in this battle. As a proof of his satisfaction the Emperor promoted the latter on the battlefield to be a Mashal of France." Also meanwhile the Saxon troops held off the Allies. The saxons though took their entire army and sixty artillery guns and went off over to the enemy at a vital part of the battle field and turned them on the French!

On the night of the 18th-19th Napoleon began to pull his troops across the Elester and one of Napoleon's corporals blew up the bridge in fear and 30,000 French troops were trapped in Leipzig to be later taken prisoner. Napoleon departed the city after visiting the king of Saxony. He detoured through the Peters Gate and across the bridge. The bridge was later blow up and the last bridge was destroied by the weight of traffic going over it. The Remaining troops tried to escape by swimming across the the rivers but most of them were shot by Allied skirmishers and drowned including Poniatowski. Marmont was busy directing troops to the last position.    

Yup!

Saxon infantry.

Worst infantry in the French Army cut and run at the first opportunity possible and fought on the allies side in the war of liberation.

The Saxon cavalry

The best cavalry in the French army, stayed loyal to Napoleon to the end, even after the king had changed sides. Then rallied to Nappy in 1815 and made up much of the guard cavalry.

What difference a horse seems to make to the mind of a Saxon.....

in fact some Saxon infantry was forced into Prussian service after 1814 when the north was ceded to Prussia. the Saxons mutinied against Bl�cher after Ligny just the night before Waterloo and almost managed to storm Bl�chers headquarter shouting Vive l'Empereur.

They destroyed with powder.

Napoleon didn't want the crossing of the Allieds on the Elster. But one of his officers detonated the bridge earlier, and thousands of French soldiers were captured because of this act.