Battle of Kalisch (1813)
| date | February 13, 1813 |
|---|---|
| place | Kalisch |
| output | Russian victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 9600 men
6000 reserve troops |
6,000 men Saxony 2,000 men Poland 1,500 men French |
| losses | |
|
1,000 dead and wounded |
1,500 dead and wounded, and the Saxon infantry regiment Prince Anton and around 2,000 men were taken prisoner by Russia |
Mir - Mogilev - Ostrovno - Kobrin - Klyastitsy - Gorodeczno - Smolensk - Polotsk I - Walutino - Borodino - Tschirikovo - Tarutino - Maloyaroslavets - Polotsk II - Vyazma - Lyachovo - Chaschniki - Smoljany - Krasnoi - Beresina
The Battle of Kalisch was a battle on February 13, 1813 during Napoleon's Russian campaign between French , Polish and Saxon troops on the one hand and Russian troops on the other.
prehistory
Contrary to the French orders to the Austrian commander to secure Warsaw and then to withdraw in an orderly manner to the west, Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg secretly agreed with the Russians to withdraw in a south-westerly direction to Krakow and into Austrian Galicia. This agreement came about on the instructions of the Austrian government. The only remaining force worth mentioning who secured the withdrawal of the remnants of the Grande Armée in central Poland was General Reynier's 7th Army Corps .
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The battle
When the 7th Army Corps arrived in Kalisch, these troops were surprised by General Ferdinand von Wintzingerode's Russian corps , which also included 20 infantry battalions under the command of General Alexei Nikolayevich Bachmetew . General Reynier did not succeed in time to unite the scattered French, Saxon and Polish troops and deploy them for battle. Thus, the individual regiments and battalions formed on both sides of the river Prosna Carrés and defended themselves from 3 o'clock in the afternoon until dark against the repeated attacks of eight squadrons of Russian cavalry, commanded by Prince Vasily Sergejewitsch Trubetskoi.
The fiercest battles were fought around the Piskosever gate of the city of Kalish. The Saxon commander, General von Nostitz-Drzewiecky , was cut off from the rest of the corps with his regiment with 4 cannons and was taken prisoner by the Russians. The Saxon commander Steinel managed to flee across the Prosna with his regiment, Prince Clemens, with heavy losses. The remnants of the also isolated vanguard under the command of General Gablenz made their way to Pilica to the corps of Prince Poniatowski . The remaining scattered Saxon and French troops withdrew to Kobylia.
Result
With the withdrawal of the Austrians to the southwest at the end of February 1813, the entire Duchy of Warsaw , except for a few French fortresses and a narrow strip around Krakow, was in Russian hands.
literature
- Ludwig Friederich von Liebenstein: Napoleon's war against Russia in the years 1812 and 1813 , two volumes. Verlag der Hermanschen Buchhandlung, Frankfurt am Main 1819.