Battle of Lübeck

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Battle of Lübeck
Battle of Lübeck
Battle of Lübeck
date November 6, 1806
place Lübeck
output French victory
Parties to the conflict

France 1804First empire France

Prussia KingdomKingdom of Prussia Prussia

Commander

France 1804First empire Joachim Murat

Prussia KingdomKingdom of Prussia Gebhard von Blücher

Troop strength
53,000 soldiers 21,000 soldiers
losses

Around 3,000 dead, 5,000 prisoners

In the Battle of Lübeck on November 6, 1806, during the Fourth Coalition War, troops from Prussia and France met .

Previous events

After the battle of Jena and Auerstedt , General Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher managed to break away from Brandenburg towards the north-west with a force of around 10,000 men . The units of Duke Karl August von Weimar joined them in Mecklenburg , so that Blücher's armed force finally comprised around 21,000 soldiers. However, due to the chaotic conditions, there are no precise details about the strength of Blucher's troops.

Blücher's intention was to keep strong French units in the Elbe area until reinforcements arrived from the eastern provinces of Prussia, along with the army of the Prussian ally Russia . However, this goal quickly turned out to be unattainable, as Blücher's troops were exhausted from forced marches, hardly taken care of and very inconsistently thrown together. In addition, the French pursuers were numerically far superior. Marshal Soult alone has already led 26,000 men into the field, plus Marshal Bernadotte with 18,000 and Marshal Murat with another 9,000 men.

Since it was hopeless to want to involve the superior French troops in field battles, Blücher decided to lead his army to neutral Lübeck instead , in order to requisition ships there and at least bring parts of his army to East Prussia or England . Should this plan fail, he wanted to entice the French into a time-consuming siege of Lübeck in order to bind them.

When Blucher force, closely followed by the French, moving toward from the south of Luebeck, it alarmed the Swedish military units in the electorate of Hanover related Lauenburg stationed as allies of England there. The Swedish units of 1200 to 1700 men in total withdrew from the approaching Prussians and French also in the direction of Lübeck.

On November 4, the Swedes reached Lübeck and, against the will of the Lübeck Council, forced entry into the city by force by destroying the gate wings of the mill gate and castle gate with artillery . Some of the Swedish troops requisitioned ships lying in the harbor for the passage to Sweden; the majority of Swedes moved on to Travemünde to confiscate more ships there.

Blücher's arrival in Lübeck

On November 5, at 2 p.m., an envoy from Blücher appeared in Lübeck and demanded that the city take in 8,000 Prussian soldiers. Since the Council did not have any opportunity to defend themselves - the Lübeck municipal military was only a few hundred strong and not suitable for serious acts of war - has been promised under protest, on condition that the emphasis of the continuing sovereignty of Lubeck the Rathaus also should continue to be guarded only by soldiers from Lübeck.

Blücher and his army arrived in Lübeck on the evening of November 5th. Together with his Quartermaster General Colonel Gerhard von Scharnhorst , he first inspected the city's fortifications. After the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, Lübeck had started to remove the ramparts in order to underline its own neutrality. In the autumn of 1806, however, the fortification had not progressed very far, so that the Prussians were able to make the city ready for defense at least temporarily within a few hours.

Furthermore, Blücher decided to primarily position his units in front of three of the city gates - Burgtor, Hüxtertor and Mühlentor. These rather weak gates were most at risk, while the much stronger fortifications of the Holsten Gate gave no cause for concern. The location of Lübeck, which is surrounded on all sides by watercourses, also favored the defender. It was Blücher's plan to fight especially at the three gates.

The Battle of Lübeck

Fight in front of the castle gate
Benjamin Zix : Battles on the Burgfeld
Fight in the market in front of the town hall
Memorial plaque to the battles at the Burgtor on November 6, 1806 (at the Burgtor )

In the night of November 5th to 6th, the French troops reached Lübeck and surrounded the city. The attack began in the morning of November 6th. Soult attacked the Prussians at the Mühlentor, Murat at the Hüxtertor. The focus of the fighting was on the castle field in front of the castle gate, where Bernadotte Friedrich Wilhelm, the Duke of Braunschweig-Oels , faced. Contrary to the express orders of Blücher and Scharnhorst, the Duke had positioned his infantry on a rampart to protect an artillery position, although this rampart was already protected by a river and inaccessible to attackers. The castle gate and the associated fortifications, however, were almost unprotected. In addition, a complete Prussian battalion was standing on the castle field, preventing its own artillery from firing.

Bernadotte recognized the Duke's mistakes and concentrated the fighting on the castle field. The situation became untenable for the defeated Prussians. Blücher instructed the duke not to allow the French to enter the city through the castle gate; but that didn't work either. When shortly after 12 o'clock the order to retreat came behind the city gate, a disorderly escape resulted. Together with the fleeing Prussians, the first French penetrated through the castle gate into Lübeck. At the same time, Corsican hunters managed to unexpectedly get into the city unnoticed through an unpaved section away from the castle gate.

Street fighting broke out in the city. The French were pushed back several times, but were ultimately able to stab the crews of the other two city gates in the back, so that the Soults and Murats units could also advance into the city. Blücher narrowly escaped, Scharnhorst was taken prisoner. The Duke of Braunschweig-Oels avoided taking part in the hand-to-hand fighting, instead took a boat across the Trave and joined the fugitives. Under Blücher's leadership, several thousand Prussian soldiers managed to leave Lübeck through the Holsten Gate and escape in the direction of Schwartau , while the French were already beginning to plunder the city.

Blücher's escape was hopeless, however, as there were no more ships available in Travemünde after the Swedes had fled. In Stockelsdorf, strong Danish associations prevented him from entering neutral Danish territory. The remnants of his troops were no longer capable of further fighting. On November 7th he surrendered at Ratekau with the remaining 8,000 men of his armed forces.

The deed of surrender

This document has two distinctive features. First, Blücher wanted to mention in the first paragraph why he had to surrender: Since General von Blücher lacks ammunition, bread and forage ... With this, Blücher wanted to document that he did not surrender because of a defeat in battle, but because of a lack of supplies. Murat rejected this initial formula. However, Blücher was left to mention this at the end, which he did (in addition to his signature). Second, the French refused to admit that the officers would go home on their word of honor . The surrender document, which Karl von Müffling was involved in negotiating on the Prussian side , was thus given the following wording:

Since Se. Excellency the General v. Blücher wanted to enter into a capitulation, and since he sees the situation in which he finds himself compelled to do so, he accepts the conditions which have been made in the name of the three corps of the great French army, namely:

1.) the Sr. Kaiserl. Your Highness, the Grand Duke of Berg
2.) to Sr. Your Highness, the Marshal Prince of Ponte-Corvo
3.) to Sr. Excellenz, Marshal Soult ,
which capitulation is signed on behalf of the 3 Army Corps by the Division Generals Tilly and Rivaud, each of whom was a division of the First Army Corps under Marshal Prince v. Ponte-Corvo commanded because they were closest to the capitulating army.
Art. I. The troops under the orders of Sr. Excellency of Mr. General v. Blücher, both cavalry, infantry and artillery, and all detachments belonging to his command, will be prisoners of war.
Art. II. The weapons, horses, cannons and ammunition of all kinds will be handed over to the French Army.
Art. III. The officers of all degrees, along with the squires, will keep their weapons, horses and baggage, the non-commissioned officers and soldiers will keep their knapsacks and coat bags.
Art. IV. The officers will surrender on their word of honor as prisoners of war and promise to go to the place that is assigned to them.
Art. V. The war chest and all funds belonging to Sr. Majesty the King of Prussia and at the disposal of General v. Blucher will be handed over to the French Army.
Art. VI. The Mr. General v. Blücher will have his Chief d'Etat-Major submit the budget of all corps and detachments under his command.
Art. VII. The Army Corps of Sr. Excellenz, Mr. General v. Blücher, with full war honors, armed, with flying flags and burning fuses, will parade before the French army at 12 o'clock, and when it has passed the left wing, lay down his arms.
Done in duplicate at Ratkau on November 7th, 1806
v. Blücher      I capitulate because I have neither ammunition nor bread and forage.
Divisional Generals Tilly , Rivaud

Information on the prisoners of war

In contemporary sources, the information on the number of Prussian soldiers who were taken prisoners varies:

  • At the surrender in Ratekau, Blücher's army corps still consisted of 5 grenadier and 8 infantry battalions with a total of about 3750 men. In Lübeck itself 8 grenadier, 4 fusilier, 2 infantry battalions and 6 hunter companies with approx. 4,800 men were captured. Accordingly, a total of around 8,550 Prussian soldiers were taken prisoner by the French.
  • According to Karl von Müffling, 5 grenadier and 4 infantry battalions as well as remnants of hunter and fusilier units with a total of 4050 men were taken prisoner near Ratekau. There were also 55 squadrons with 3760 soldiers - a total of 7810 men.
  • In his letter of justification to the Prussian king, Blücher himself speaks of 9,400 captive soldiers.

The challenge of dealing with the 3,000 dead and innumerable injuries led to the Lübeck doctors moving closer together and ultimately to the establishment of the Lübeck Medical Association in 1809 .

Looting of Lübeck

After the battle, there were several days of looting, mistreatment of the civilian population and mass rapes by the French occupation forces. The attacks could only be ended with some difficulty by the army command. These events are described in detail by Charles de Villers in a letter to Fanny de Beauharnais , a French salonnière close to Napoleon . The letter was published and the sack of Lübeck became known throughout Europe and aroused sympathy.

literature

Web links

Commons : Battle of Lübeck  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Marcel Dupont: Murat ; Wilh. Gottl. Korn Verlag, Breslau, p. 267.
  2. ^ Friedrich Carl Ferdinand Baron von Müffling : Plan of operations of the Prussian-Saxon Army in 1806, Battle of Auerstädt, and retreat to Lübeck . Landes-Industrie-Comptoir, Weimar 1807, p. 115.
  3. ^ Friedrich Carl Ferdinand Baron von Müffling: Operation plan of the Prussian-Saxon Army in 1806 . Weimar 1807, p. 131.
  4. ^ Friedrich Carl Ferdinand Baron von Müffling: Operation plan of the Prussian-Saxon Army in 1806 . Weimar 1807, Supplement H, pp. 145–147.
  5. ↑ Joachim Murat had had the title of Grand Duke von Berg since August 1806.
  6. ↑ From 1806 to 1810 Marshal Bernadotte was also Prince of Ponte Corvo.
  7. ↑ Political journal with advertisement of learned and other things , published by a society of learned, year 1806, 1st volume.
  8. ^ Friedrich Carl Ferdinand Baron von Müffling: Operation plan of the Prussian-Saxon Army in 1806 . Weimar 1807, Appendix I, p. 148.