Battle of Leipzig

Battle of Leipzig
Part of the War of the Sixth Coalition
Map of battle by 18 October 1813, from Meyers Encyclopaedia
Date 16–19 October, 1813 Location Leipzig, Saxony Result Decisive Coalition victory
Belligerents
French Empire Italy Naples Duchy of Warsaw Saxony	Russia Austria Prussia Sweden Saxony
Commanders and leaders
Napoleon I Jozef Antoni Poniatowski † Frederick Augustus	Prince of Schwarzenberg Carl Johan (Bernadotte) Gebhard von Blücher Barclay De Tolly Count Benningsen
Strength
195,000	365,000
Casualties and losses
38,000 dead or wounded 30,000 captured	54,000 dead or wounded

Napoleon and Poniatowski at Leipzig, painted by January Suchodolski

Battle of Leipzig by Vladimir Moshkov; painted in 1815

The Battle of the Nations (or Battle of Leipzig or German: Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig) on 16–19 October, 1813 was one of the most decisive defeats suffered by Napoleon Bonaparte. The Battle of Leipzig was fought on German soil and involved German troops on both sides, as a large proportion of Napoleon's troops actually came from the German Confederation of the Rhine. It is considered the largest battle in Europe before World War I, with over 500,000 troops involved.

Prelude

Following Napoleon's disastrous campaign in Russia and his defeats in the Peninsular War, the anti-French forces had cautiously regrouped as the Sixth Coalition, comprising Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, Britain, Spain, Portugal and certain smaller German states. In total, the Coalition could put into the field well over a million troops — indeed by the time of Leipzig, total Allied armies east of the Rhine probably exceeded a million. By contrast Napoleon's forces had dwindled to just a few hundred thousand.

Napoleon sought to re-establish his hold in Germany, winning two hard-fought victories, at Lützen on 2 May and Bautzen on 20–21 May, over Russo-Prussian forces. The victories led to a brief armistice. The Coalition forces, under the command of Gebhard von Blücher, Crown Prince Carl Johan of Sweden and Karl von Schwarzenberg, Count Benningsen, and Barclay De Tolly of Russia followed the strategy outlined in the Trachenburg Plan to avoid clashes with Napoleon but to seek confrontations with his marshals, which led to victories at Großbeeren, Kulm, Katzbach and at Dennewitz.

Marshal Nicolas Oudinot failed to capture Berlin with his army of 120,000 and Napoleon was forced to withdraw westwards due to the threat to the north, crossing the Elbe in late September and organizing his forces around Leipzig to protect his supply lines and meet the Allies. Napoleon arranged his army around Leipzig, but concentrated his force from Taucha through Stötteritz (where Napoleon placed his command). The Prussians advanced from Wartenburg, the Austrians and Russians from Dresden and the Swedish force from the north.

16th October

In total, the French had around 190,000 soldiers and the Allies almost 330,000 with both sides having significant artillery — in total there were over two and a half thousand pieces of ordnance on the field. The battle began on 16 October with an attack by 78,000 Allied troops from the south and 54,000 from the north, with Napoleon using the bulk of his army in the south. The allied offensives achieved little and were soon forced back, but Napoleon's outnumbered forces were unable to break the allied lines, resulting in a hard fought stalemate.

Austrian II Corps Dölitz

The Austrian II Corps (Gen. von Merveldt) advanced towards Connewitz via Gautzsch and attempted to attack the position only to find that the avenue of advance was well covered and did not permit the Austrians to deploy their artillery in support of the attack. 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 threw out the small Polish garrison and took the position. A prompt counter attack ejected the Austrians and the battle seesawed until the Austrians brought up a strong artillery battery and blew the Poles out of the position. The Poles left bodies everywhere in their furious defense and set fire to both the manor and the mill on the way out.

Battle of Markkleeberg

General Kleist, moving along the Pleisse River, attacked Marshals Poniatowski and Augereau in the village of Markkleeberg. The Austrians repaired a bridge and took a school building and manor. The French counter attacked throwing the Austrians out of the school and back over the river. French attacks on the manor only resulted in repulse and mounting casualties for the French and Poles. The Russian 14th Division began a series of flanking attacks that forced the Poles out of Markkleeberg. Marshal Poniatowski stopped the retreat and stopped the advancing Russians. Catching four battalions of the Prussian 12th Brigade in the open Poniatowski directed attacks by artillery and cavalry until they were relieved by Russian Hussars. Marshal Poniatowski retook Markkleeberg but was thrown out by two Prussian battalions. Austrian Grenadiers then formed in front of Markkleeberg and by flank attack drove the Poles and French out of the area.

Attack on Wachau

The Russian II Infantry Corps attacked Wachau with support from the Prussian 9th Brigade. The Russians advanced unaware that French forces were in wait and took them by surprise in the flank mauling them. The Prussian engaged and entered Wachau engaging in street to street fighting. French artillery blasted the Prussians out of Wachau and the French recovered the village.

Battle of Liebertwolkwitz

Battle of Leipzig, October 16 actions

Liebertwolkwitz was a big village in a commanding position defended by Marshal MacDonald and General Lauriston with about 18,000 men. The Austrian IV Corps attacked with 24,500 backed up with Pirth's 10th Brigade (4,550) and Ziethen's 11th Brigade (5,365). The Austrians attacked first, driving the French out of Liebertwolkwitz after hard fighting only to be driven out in turn by a French counter-attack. At this point Napoleon directed General Drouot to form a grand battery on Gallows hill. This was done with 100 guns that blasted the exposed Russian II corps, forcing the Prussian battalions supporting it to take cover. Russian General Eugene Duke of Württemberg was notable in his extreme bravery directing his troops under fire. The hole had been now opened as Napoleon wished and at this point Marshal Murat was unleashed with 10,000 French, Italian, and Saxon cavalry. However, Murat's choice of massive columns for the attack formation was unfortunate for the French force, as smaller mobile formations of Russian, Prussian, and Austrian cavalry were able to successfully harass Murat's Division, driving them back to their own artillery, where they were saved by the French Guard Dragoons. The young Guard Division was sent in to drive out the allies and give Napoleon his breakthrough. They recaptured both Liebertwolkwitz and Wachau but the Allies countered with Russian Guard and Austrian Grenadiers backed by Russian Cuirassars. The units lived up to their elite reputation, forming squares that blasted French Cavalrymen from their horses and overran the French artillery batteries. On the southern front, although Napoleon gained ground, he could not break the Allied lines.

Northern Attack

The northern front opened with the attack by General Langeron's Russian Corps on the villages of Groß-Wiederitzsch and Klein-Wiederitzsch in the center of the French northern lines. This position was defended by General Dabrowski'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 attack and counter-attack. General Langeron rallied his forces and finally took both villages with heavy casualties.

Battle of Möckern

The Northern front was dominated by the battle of Möckern. This was a 4 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 river Elster being 4 meters high. Marshal Auguste Marmont brought up infantry columns behind the positions in reserve and for 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 loss to the French defenders. The battle lasted well into the night. Artillery caused the majority of the 9,000 Allies and 7,000 French casualties, and the French lost another 2,000 prisoners.

17th October

There were only two actions on the 17th: the attack by the Russian General Sacken on General Dabrowski's Polish Division at the village of Gohlis. The Polish Division continued to put up heroic resistance and was openly admired by General Sacken. In the end the numbers and determination of the Russians prevailed and the Poles retired to Pfaffendorf. Blücher, who was made a field marshal the day before, ordered General Lanskoi's 2nd Hussar Division (Russian) to attack General Arrighi's III Cavalry corps. As they had the day before the Sixth Coalition's Cavalry again proved to be superior driving the French away with great loss.

The French however received only 14,000 additional troops. Russian General von Bennigsen and Marshall Bernadotte now Prince Carl Johan of Sweden had arrived with other troops also arriving for a total of 145,000 for the Allies, greatly increasing their strength.

18th October

Battle of Leipzig, 18th October actions

On the 18th the Allies launched a huge assault from all sides. In over nine hours of fighting, in which both sides suffered heavy casualties, the French troops prevented a breakthrough but were slowly forced back towards Leipzig. The Sixth Coalition was arranged as with Field Marshal Blücher (Prussian) and Crown Prince Carl Johan of Sweden to the north, the Generals Barclay De Tolly, Bennigsen (both Russian) and Prince von Hessen-Homburg (Austrian) to the south, and General Gyulay (Austrian) to the west.

The Prussian 9th brigade occupied the abandoned village of Wachau while the Austrians with General Bianchi's Hungarians threw the French out of Lößnig. The Austrians proceeded to give a demonstration of combined arms cooperation as Austrian Cavalry attacked French infantry to give Austrian infantry time to arrive and deploy in the attack on Dölitz. The Young Guard Division arrived and threw them out. At this point three Austrian Grenadier battalions arrived and began to contest for the village with artillery support.

In the meantime, at the behest of his Swedish 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, losing about 121 men in the attack.

During the fighting, 5,400 Saxons of Jean Reynier's VII Corps defected to the Allies. Napoleon saw that the battle was a lost cause and on the night of the 18th–19th he began to withdraw the majority of his army across the river Elster. The allies didn't learn of the evacuation until 7 p.m, and were then held up by Oudinot's ferocious street-to-street rearguard action fought in Leipzig. The retreat went smoothly until early afternoon when the general tasked with destroying the only bridge over the river Elster handed the task of doing this to a Colonel Montfort. The colonel in turn passed this responsibility on to corporal, who, unaware of the carefully planned time schedule, ignited the fuses at 1 p.m, when the bridge was still crowded with French troops, and Oudinot's rearguard was still in Leipzig. The explosion and subsequent panic and rout resulted in the deaths of thousands of French troops, and the capture of many thousands more. It was during that unfortunate event that Poniatowski, the gallant Polish leader, drowned while crossing the river.

Results

Völkerschlachtdenkmal: Memorial to the Battle of the Nations, Leipzig

Total casualties are uncertain; estimates range from 80,000 to 110,000 killed or wounded from both sides.

French casualties were staggering. Napoleon lost about 38,000 killed and wounded. The Allies captured 15,000 able-bodied Frenchmen, 21,000 wounded or sick, 325 cannon and 28 eagles, standards or colors, and had received the men of the deserting Saxony divisions. Among the dead was Marshal Józef Antoni Poniatowski, a nephew to the last king of Poland, Stanislaw August Poniatowski. The Pole, who had only received his marshal's baton the previous day, drowned trying to guard the French retreat. Corps commanders Lauriston and Reynier were captured. Fifteen French generals were killed and 51 wounded.

Out of a total force of 362,000, the Allies suffered approximately 54,000 casualties. Schwarzenberg's Bohemian Army lost 34,000, Blucher's Silesian Army lost 12,000, while Bernadotte's Army of North and Bennigsen's Army of Poland lost about 4,000 each.

The battle ended the First French Empire's presence east of the Rhine and brought the liberated German states over to the Coalition.

In addition to the 91 m high Völkerschlachtdenkmal, the course of the battle in the city of Leipzig is marked by numerous monuments and the 45 Apel-stones that mark important lines of the French and allied troops.

References

• Chandler, David G. (1966), The Campaigns of Napoleon, The MacMillan Company;
• Smith, Digby, The Napoleonic Wars Data Book Greenhill, 1998.

See also

• Timeline of the Napoleonic era

External links

• “Easily ranking as one of the largest battles in History”
• Leipzig 1813 – "The Battle of the Nations" was the biggest battle of Napoleonic Wars
• French order of battle: II–XI Army Corps
• French order of battle: Cavalry Reserve and the Imperial Guard
• Template:De icon http://www.voelkerschlacht1813.de/
• Template:De icon http://www.voelkerschlacht-bei-leipzig.de/
• Template:De icon http://www.leipzig1813.com

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