Lützen & Bautzen 1813

Napoleon marched into Russia in 1812 with over 600,000 men. Of this force, no less than 500,000 perished, along with around 150,000 horses. Besides that, he lost around 1,000 cannon and 25,000 vehicles. With substantial forces committed to the Peninsular Campaign and with part of his veterans tied down in garrisons in fortresses in Central Europe, Napoleon had to raise an entirely new army around a backbone of about 100,000 men. These men came from several sources.

Hans David Ludwig Yorck, later Graf von Wartenburg. (Print after von Gebauer)

A cadre of 20,000 men consisted of officers, NCOs, dismounted cavalry troopers, etc., who returned from Russia. In addition 2,000 men came from 20 artillery companies that had until then been on garrison duty in Prussia. The depots provided an additional 10,000 men fit for service. Around 7,000 were seconded from 98 ships’ companies and four naval artillery regiments provided a further 12,000 veterans and 4,000 recruits. France’s police forces supplied around 1,000 municipal guards from Paris, 4,000 men from the Departmental Reserve Companies and 3,000 mounted gendarmes, the latter largely former cavalry officers and NCOs. Finally 40,000 veterans were drawn from the forces in Spain.

In addition to this backbone of around 100,000, Napoleon raised new formations. The 1st Contingent of the National Guard provided 78,000 men. These had been called up in 1812 to conduct internal security duties in France and were fully clothed and equipped. In spring 1813, they had the best part of a year’s paramilitary service behind them. From this force, 22 infantry regiments were formed along with three artillery regiments. In addition the Class of 1813 had been called up in September 1812. These 137,000 men had just started training at the beginning of 1813.

Napoleon had, on paper at least, 315,000 men at his immediate disposal from France alone. This was a significant force. In March and April 1813, those men available to the field army were organised as follows:

New formations arriving from France and Germany constantly reinforced this army. Including fortress garrisons, Napoleon had, by the start of hostilities, an army of around 380,000 men in Germany. Impressive as these figures may seem Napoleon’s army was particularly lacking in cavalry. Of the above figure little more than 27,000 were mounted troops. This was a disproportionately small figure for any Napoleonic army, particularly when faced by the mounted formations available to the Russians and Prussians at this time. This lack of cavalry in 1813 was to play a significant role in Napoleon’s defeat.

The French Imperial Guard was an élite force including infantry, cavalry and artillery formations. The infantry was divided into the Old and the Young Guard. The Old Guard was formed from the most senior veterans and the Young Guard from the pick of the new recruits. The Guard Cavalry consisted of both heavy and light regiments. The light regiments included chasseurs à cheval and lancers. The heavy cavalry consisted of the gendarmes d’élite, grenadiers à cheval, and dragoons. The Guard also had its own artillery batteries.

Other than the Imperial Guard, there were two types of infantry in the French army, the line regiments and the light regiments. It is unlikely that the difference between the two was much more than a name and a uniform, although it is possible that the light infantry contained a better calibre of recruit. Each regiment theoretically consisted of four battalions, but in the conditions of spring 1813, this number varied, with some regiments consisting of a single battalion others of several. Armament was theoretically the Charleville musket, but after so many years at war and particularly after the great losses of matériel in 1812, it is quite probable that several patterns were carried. The contingents for the Confederation of the Rhine often used locally manufactured weapons or captured supplies.

The line cavalry was also divided into heavy and light regiments. The heavy cavalry consisted of armoured cuirassiers and dragoons. Their main role was to ride down wavering and broken enemy infantry on the battlefield, although it was normal for the heavy cavalry to perform other functions, including those traditionally the role of the light cavalry. The light cavalry consisted of hussars, chasseurs à cheval and lancers. The hussars and chasseurs were mounted on nimble, faster horses and were often employed in scouting and pursuit roles off the battlefield and in the skirmish role on it. The lancers were essentially light cavalrymen, but their armament leant itself to a role as battle cavalry.

The French army used two main calibres of artillery, the 8-pdr and the 12-pdr. A field battery normally consisted of six of these pieces plus two howitzers. The horse artillery used either 6- or 8-pdrs. Their gunners were mounted to facilitate rapid movement.

France’s Allies

At the beginning of 1813, both Austria and Prussia were theoretically still allies of France. The Austrian contingent to the Grande Armée of 1812 retired into the fortress town of Cracow for ‘safety’ from the Russians. From then until August 1813, the Austrians then adopted a policy of ‘wait-and-see’. As the Prussian contingent had already declared its ‘neutrality’ at Tauroggen on 30 December 1812, it would be unrealistic to expect the Franco-Prussian alliance to continue.

The Italian contingent had been decimated and scattered. It would take some time before much help would come from this quarter.

The Poles, loyal allies of Napoleon, were also in the process of re-forming their forces. As the Russians had occupied the Duchy of Warsaw, as the Polish state was known at that time, it was unlikely that many new recruits would be forthcoming.

The German allies of the states of the Confederation of the Rhine were however in a position to provide aid quickly, should they want to do so. At the beginning of 1813, a cadre of around 20,000 men and 4,500 horses were available in the depots. However, in Northern Germany there was every indication of a forthcoming anti-French uprising, so the Napoleonic puppet states of Westphalia and Berg needed to keep their armies at home for internal security. The King of Saxony had yet to commit himself either way, although his contingent to the Grande Armée of 1812 under Reynier did accept orders from Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais in the opening phase of the campaign.

Only the Catholic south of Germany could be relied on. However, as their contingents of 1812 had been all but wiped out, it would take some time for new formations to be raised and trained. For once, Napoleon would have to depend on France providing him with much of his manpower requirements. This would do little for his regime’s popularity.

ORDERS-OF-BATTLE

Coy = Company

GD = Général-de-division

MG = Major-General

LG = Lieutenant-General

Inf. = Infantry

Prov. = Provisional

Regt. = Regiment

Glossary

Oberst = Colonel

Oberstlt. = Lieut.-Colonel

The number in brackets after the designation of a body of troops is either the number of battalions (infantry), squadrons (cavalry) or guns (artillery) in the respective formation.

FRENCH ARMY, 2 MAY 1813

FRENCH ARMY 20–21 MAY

The remnants of the Grande Armée limped back through Germany at the beginning of 1813. Germans showed a mixture of pity and contempt for Napoleon’s soldiers. It must however have been clear to all that Napoleon’s power in Central Europe had been greatly diminished. (G. Lebrecht)

Formation	Commander	Strength
I Corps	Davoût	20,000 men, 16 guns
II Corps	Victor	12,000 men, 16 guns
III Corps	Ney	46,000 men, 74 guns
IV Corps	Bertrand	18,000 men, 42 guns
V Corps	Lauriston	16,000 men, 51 guns
VI Corps	Marmont	24,000 men, 62 guns
VII Corps	Reynier	4,000 men, 4 guns
XI Corps	Macdonald	22,000 men, 53 guns
XII Corps	Oudinot	24,000 men, 40 guns
I Cavalry Corps	Latour-Maubourg	3,500 men
II Cavalry Corps	Sébastiani	4,000 men
Total	Field Army	193,500 men, 358 guns

Formation	Commander	Strength

1^st Main Column	Wittgenstein
Vanguard and other detachments		8,500 men, 28 guns
I Corps	Steinheil	7,000 men, 4 batteries
II Corps	Berg	5,000 men, 3 batteries
Reserve Corps	Fock	5,500 men, 18 guns
Various Detachments		7,700 men, parts of 3 batteries
Total		33,700 men, 189 guns

2nd Main Column	Platov	7,500 Cossacks, 2 batteries

3^rd Main Column	Chichagov
Vanguard	Tchaplitz
I Corps	Langeron
II Corps	Voinov
Cavalry Corps	Sass
Total	9,900 infantry, 4,600 cavalry, 1,350 gunners, 9 batteries
4^th Main Column	Kutusov
Main Body	Tarmassov
III Infantry (Grenadier) Corps	Kanovnizin
V Infantry Corps (Guards) Cavalry Corps	Lavrov
Cavalry Corps	Grand Prince Constantine
Total	9,600 infantry, 4,950 cavalry, 2,550 gunners, 14 batteries
5^th Main Column	Miloradovich
Various Detachments
IV Corps	Choglikov
Infantry Corps	Prince Volchonsky
Cavalry	Baron Korff
Sub-total	6,000 infantry, 4,200 cavalry, 1,350 gunners, 9 batteries
Wintzingerode’s Corps: 4,800 infantry, 3,900 cavalry, 900 gunners, 6 batteries Sacken’s Corps: 3,200 infantry, 2,200 cavalry, 600 gunners, 4 batteries Dochterov’s Corps: 6,000 infantry, 1,250 cavalry, 600 gunners, 4 batteries Radt’s Corps: 1,600 infantry, 800 cavalry, 600 gunners, 4 batteries Total: 21,600 infantry, 12,350 cavalry, 4,050 gunners, 27 batteries


Total Russian forces: 112,500 men, 849 guns.

THE OPPOSING ARMIES

THE FRENCH ARMY

France’s Allies

ORDERS-OF-BATTLE

FRENCH ARMY, 2 MAY 1813

FRENCH ARMY 20–21 MAY

THE RUSSIAN ARMY

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY

ALLIED ARMY, 2 MAY 1813

RUSSIAN MAIN ARMY

DEFENDING LEIPZIG:

ALLIED ARMY 20–21 MAY 1813

RUSSIAN RESERVES

PRUSSIAN ARMY: