Battle of Großgörschen

Battle of Großgörschen

Part of: Wars of Liberation

Prussian Fusilier Battalion of the 1st Guard Regiment on foot in battle, painting by Carl Röchling

date	May 2, 1813
place	Großgörschen in the Kingdom of Saxony , today Saxony-Anhalt
output	French victory

Parties to the conflict
France some states of the Rhine Confederation	Prussia Russia
Commander
Napoleon Bonaparte Michel Ney Auguste Marmont	Blücher Scharnhorst Wittgenstein
Troop strength
145,000 men and 372 guns	88,000 men and 552 guns
losses
22,000 dead and wounded	11,500 dead and wounded of them: 8,500 Prussians 3,000 Russians

Map showing the course of the campaign in 1813

The Battle of Großgörschen (called bataille de Lützen in French , 'Battle of Lützen ') was the first battle of the Wars of Liberation after Napoleon's catastrophic defeat in the Russian campaign in 1812 and took place on May 2, 1813 on the plains near Lützen. This was preceded by the Russian-Prussian alliance of neutrality through the Tauroggen Convention of December 30, 1812, the Russian-Prussian declaration of war of March 27, 1813 and the battle near Möckern on April 5, 1813.

prehistory

After Prussia declared war on the French Empire on March 27, 1813 , Napoleon I had already dug around 150,000 men with 350 guns in France, while the Viceroy of Italy, Eugène Beauharnais, with another 40,000 men from the old army on the Elbe operated.

Napoleon had arrived in Mainz (at that time as the French-occupied Mayence capital of the Donnersberg department ) for the opening of the spring campaign on April 16 . The main army gathered near Hanau and from there moved to Saxony with six army corps marching in columns . On April 26th, Napoleon moved his headquarters to Erfurt . He reached Naumburg on April 29th, Weißenfels on April 30th and Lützen on May 1st, where he spent the night at the monument to the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf , who died in 1632 . This demonstrative historical reference also led to the fact that in France this battle is called la bataille de Lützen .

Troop deployment

At the end of April, the French VI. Corps in Kosen ; the IV Corps reached Dornburg ; the XII. Corps (Marshal Oudinot ) stood at Saalfeld ; the headquarters of Napoleon and the guard under the Duke of Treviso was in the Naumburg area. The army of the Viceroy of Italy with the V Corps under General Lauriston threatened the city of Leipzig , where the French were confronted by the Prussian detachment of General von Kleist . The division of General Souham , at the head of III. Corps marched, stood in front of Weissenfels on April 30th, pushed the Russian cavalry under General Lanskoi back behind the Posernbach and occupied the town. General Miloradowitsch, whose troops protected the left flank of the Allied main army at Altenburg , marched on Zeitz and picked up the retreating hussars of General Lanskoi.

On May 1, the Prussian and Russian troops united between the Elster and the Pleiße . Tsar Alexander I and the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. left Borna on May 2nd at 2 a.m. and arrived in Pegau at 4:30 a.m. to watch the advance on Lützen. The right column of the Prussian Corps Blücher advanced from Borna on jackdaws to cross the Elster; the Zieten Brigade and the Reserve Cavalry Brigade under Dolffs turned left on Pegau. The Lower Silesian Brigade crossed the river at Storkwitz , followed by the Russian infantry corps under Count von Berg. The troops of the Prussian Corps Yorck (Brigades Horn and Hünerbein ) marched from Zwenkau to Audigast in order to also cross the Elster near Pegau. The reserves under General Tormassow followed the main army from the Frohburg area .

The battle

introduction

Plan of the Battle of Großgörschen, starting position at 12 o'clock

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher

Both sides had only imprecise knowledge about the deployment and whereabouts of the opposing troops. Napoleon had scattered his troops over about ten square kilometers around Lützen. Because he had too little cavalry for the reconnaissance, he suspected the main forces of the allies at Leipzig and had the Viceroy of Italy (V, VI and XI Corps) advance even further towards Leipzig on May 2nd. Ney had placed his troops in the localities of Großgörschen , Kleingörschen , Rahna and Kaja (today districts of Lützen) to cover the right flank of the French. Flank protection was necessary because the Allies were already south on the eastern bank of the White Elster and threatened the road from Weißenfels to Leipzig. Ney's troops numbered five divisions with 45,000 men, the Kellermann cavalry brigade secured the left flank and the Marchand division initially moved as reserves towards Meuchen . Ney was instructed to hold his position at all costs. The French XII. Corps was only on the advance from Naumburg to Weissenfels on May 2nd and could therefore no longer intervene in the fighting. When Napoleon recognized the focus of the enemy troop concentration after the beginning of the battle, he turned back with the main power and intervened in the battle in good time.

Blucher's attack

General Souham commanded Ney's troops ( Brenier , Girard and Ricard divisions ) on behalf of him. At lunchtime they were attacked from the south by Corps Blücher (18,500 men and 5,500 horsemen) on the right flank. The Prussians were initially able to take all four places, but had to vacate them in the early afternoon after eventful battles. Colonel Klüx's brigade only wanted to retreat step by step until the right-hand attacking Brigade Zieten came to support. General Souham reinforced his division with fresh troops from Generals Brenier and Ricard and began violent counter-attacks. Blücher had to bring the Upper Silesian Brigade under General Zieten into battle. Scharnhorst and other Prussian generals took part personally in the stubborn fighting in Klein-Görschen and Rahna. Meanwhile , the reserve brigade under Colonel Dollfs tried to attack the village of Starsiedel , which was occupied by the French Girard division . In this attack, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia threw himself into the action with his Brandenburg cuirassier regiment and pushed an opposing battalion back on Starsiedel. The increasing numbers of troops of the main French power arriving changed the balance of power in favor of Napoleon, so that the Allied commander in chief General Wittgenstein lost the initiative to act. The tired opposing troops between Klein-Görschen and Kötzen waited to see how the battle for Kaja developed.

French counterattack

Napoléon with his troops - Depiction of the Battle of Großgörschen on May 2, 1813 by Andrea Johann Fleischmann (1811–1878)

At 2 p.m. the head of VI appeared on the battlefield near Starsiedel. Corps Marmont, at the same time Napoleon arrived at Kaja; where Prussian troops invaded the village. After the arrival of the main power, the counterattack on the four villages began. Before the arrival of the Marmont, Bertrand and Macdonald Corps, the Allies faced only about 45,000 French, but General Wittgenstein did not take advantage of the initial numerical superiority. Marshal Marmont thought the moment had not yet come to begin the attack on Starsiedel by his divisions under General Compans and Bonet . Meanwhile, Souham's troops succeeded in driving the Prussian-Russian troops out of the towns. It was only when General Blücher deployed his reserve troops under General Yorck that the Prussians managed to recapture the lost villages of Kleingörschen, Eisdorf and Kaja. On the right wing of the arriving French IV Corps under Bertrand , the Morand division arrived at 4 p.m. west of Muschelwitz and attacked at Söhesten against the left flank of the Russian Berg Corps, which was covered by the cavalry under General Wintzingerode .

Final phase

At around 5 p.m., the troops of the XI also met from the northeast. Corps under Marshal MacDonald on the battlefield. The Gerard and Fressinet divisions had advanced in forced marches against the right flank of the allies on Meyhen via Markranstädt and were able to wrest Eisdorf from the Russians. At 5.30 p.m. the Prussians, who had been fought off in the center, were no longer able to continue the attacks, the Russians were to intervene in the battle with fresh troops. General Wittgenstein saw himself threatened on the left flank by the Marmont Corps at Starsiedel and only released the 2nd Infantry Corps under Eugen von Württemberg with the divisions of Generals Saint-Priest and Schachowski to counterattack. The French on the right wing now faced only the 1st Infantry Corps under General von Berg and the bulk of the Russian Reserve Cavalry Corps under Prince Golitzyn .

At 6.30 p.m., further reinforcements from the Viceroy of Italy arrived on the French side. Even without Oudinot's troops , Napoleon was able to oppose the allies with around 125,000 men in the afternoon. The divisions of the Russian Grenadier Corps under General Konownitzin were brought up too late for reinforcement and were thrown back by the French at Eisdorf. The fresh Marchand division, ordered back by General Souham from Meuchen , was pulled forward in the middle and captured Kleingörschen in house-to-house combat. General Blücher, who was wounded in battle, had to leave the battlefield, and General Yorck took over the leadership of the Prussians. At the embattled village square, Napoleon finally let the guard troops under General Dumoustier advance to enforce a complete victory . About 80 guns supported the successful attack by 16 battalions of the old and young guard. By late evening the battlefield was largely in the hands of the French; only the village of Großgörschen was supposed to be maintained by the Prussians through the night.

The battle was to be continued by the allies the next morning, but Wittgenstein assembled the allied general staff on a hill in front of the village of Werben . According to the incoming reports, the French V Corps under General Lauriston had already penetrated Leipzig, there was a risk of the allied troops being surrounded and ammunition was scarce. Wittgenstein went to the monarchs in Groitzsch and received permission to retreat on May 3rd, which took place via Altenburg to Dresden .

Evaluation and consequences of the battle

Napoleon had won a "victory" that he urgently needed. However, the losses for this were very high and Napoleon did not achieve his main goal of decisively defeating the allies. On May 8th, the allies evacuated Dresden and withdrew to Silesia via the Elbe; all of Saxony fell under Napoleon's rule again.

The lack of French cavalry meant there was no pursuit. Napoleon lost around 20,000 men, while the Prussians 8,500 and the Russians 3,500 killed, wounded and missing. The losses of the allies were limited thanks to the effective artillery and cavalry . Prince Leopold von Hessen-Homburg died in the battle, and Gerhard von Scharnhorst suffered a gunshot wound in his knee, which he succumbed to eight weeks later due to insufficient treatment.

After the Battle of Großgörschen, the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. together with the Russian Tsar Alexander I. the Russian camp in the evening. Here he experienced how the soldiers - as was customary in the Russian army - sang a chorale after the tattoo . Impressed and moved, he issued a cabinet order of August 10, 1813, introducing a prayer for the Prussian troops after the tattoo. This gave the tattoo - albeit initially only in Prussia - its first ceremonial significance.

Battle memorials

• Scharnhorst monument: The monument in Großgörschen was erected to mark the centenary of the battle. The sculptor was Paul Juckoff from Schkopau . Two stone benches on the monument square show Scharnhorst's motto: "Target recognized - forces tense".
• Schinkel Tabernacle von Großgörschen The cast iron monumentdesignedby Karl Friedrich Schinkel for those who fell in the battle is one of seven similar ones at battle sites from 1813 and 1815. The inscription reads “The fallen heroes gratefully honor the king and fatherland. You rest in peace. Großgörschen, May 2, 1813 ”. The dilapidated original stood on the monarch's hill near Großgörschen about three kilometers south of Großgörschen, where only the base with an inscription is now. The current replica was set up in 1985 near the Scharnhorst monument.
• Monument to Prince Leopold von Hessen-Homburg : The monument erected by his sister Marianne two years after the death of the man who died in the battle was also designed by Schinkel. It had to be removed from the inside in 1974 because it was dilapidated and rusted through. The new copy was inaugurated on May 2, 1999.
• Berger grave: In the district of Rahna there is a memorial stone on the grave of the Prussian volunteer hunter Christian Gottlieb Berger from Breslau. At the age of 26 he was hit by a bullet in the forehead.
• Marschall-Ney-Haus: Marshal Ney stayed in this house in the Großgörschen district of Kaja from May 1st to 2nd, 1813. In the house, which was also the headquarters, there is a small museum.
• Liebknecht grave: The grave of the second lieutenant in the Grand Ducal Hessian body regiment Franz Wilhelm Liebknecht, who fell on the Napoleonic side at the age of 18, is located in the cemetery in Kleingörschen.

"Lutzen" on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

• Memorial in Starsiedel : On the road between Grossgörschen and Starsiedel with the inscription "In gratitude to remember the fallen heroes of the allied Prussian-Russian army in the battle of Großgörschen on May 1st and 2nd, 1813".
• Under the inscriptions on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris there is a row of thirty shields in the uppermost part, one of them with the inscription "LUTZEN" (third from the right in the picture).
• The resting lion in the city park of Gleiwitz . The inscription “In memory of Prussia's brave sons, who in the years 1813 a. 14 died in the field hospital at Gleiwitz of their wounds received in the battles at Gross-Görschen and Bautzen and found this sacred resting place here, far from the scene of their heroic struggle for independence and justice. Gliwice 15 T October 1849. ”was removed in 1945. Soon after, the memorial was dismantled.

Monuments to the battle

The Schinkel pyramid

The Hessen-Homburg monument

The Berger stone

The Scharnhorst monument

Monument in Starsiedel

additional

The Prussian military musician Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt wrote the march The German Imperial Guard in 1883 in memory of the Battle of Großgörschen . It is his opus 66 and was listed in the Prussian army march collection as AM II, 208 or AM III, 67 .

In the Wehrmacht , an infantry division was named after the location of the battle.

literature

• Emile Erckmann / Alexandre Chatrian : Histoire d'un conscrit de 1813 . Hetzel, Paris 1864; German under the title: Long live the Kaiser. Story of a recruit from the Napoleonic Wars . Diogenes, Zurich 1991, ISBN 978-3-257-21199-3 (novel about the battle from the perspective of a common French soldier.)
• Gustav Freytag : Pictures from the German Past , Volume 4, "The Elevation", Leipzig 1867 ( online )
• Hartmut Bücker, Dieter Härtig: The battle near Rippach on May 1st, 1813, the battle of Großgörschen on May 2nd, 1813 and the attack on the Lützow Freikorps near Kitzen on June 17th, 1813 , Bücker-Verlag, 2nd edition, Schwäbisch Hall 2004, ISBN 3-00-013903-6
• Theodor Rehtwisch : Großgörschen: May 2, 1813 , Preussisches Bücherkabinett, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-938447-02-8
• Frank Bauer: Großgörschen May 2, 1813. Consolidation of the Prussian-Russian alliance in the spring campaign , small series History of the Wars of Liberation 1813-1815, Potsdam 2005.

Web links

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

• Memorial event for the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig
• Private side to the battle
• Ordre de Bataille on www.scharnhorstkomitee.

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b} Christopher Clark: Prussia - rise and fall 1600-1947 . Phanteon Verlag, 1st edition, 2008, p. 423
2. ↑ It was a “victory on points”. The Prussians stayed overnight on their part of the battlefield. “Assertion of the battlefield” was usually considered the criterion for victory. Scharnhorst instructed Clausewitz for political reasons to communicate the outcome of the battle as a "victory".
3. ^ March of the German Imperial Guard - audio sample