Napoleon’s Russian campaign of 1812 is one of the great epics of military history. Its general outlines are familiar. The French Emperor invaded the Tsar’s domains in June with an army numbering some 450,000 to 500,000 men of all nationalities; Napoleon’s initial combinations failed, however, and he could not bring the Russian Army to fight the decisive battle of destruction that he hoped for; in September, the Grande Armée, much diminished by fatigue, sickness and straggling, finally caught up with the Russians at Borodino but the victory was only partial and the enemy retired unpursued to fight again. There followed the hollow occupation of Moscow, the hesitation in the face of an adamant foe, and the decision to withdraw. The appalling conditions of the retreat then destroyed the army despite the heroic efforts of the army’s engineers in getting what was left of it across the Berezina River. Finally, the remnants of the once-proud host, numbering perhaps 100,000, dragged themselves into Prussian and Polish towns, desperate for shelter and food.1 It was an enterprise of astonishing magnitude and a vast defeat.
The activities of the flanking forces, however, the Austrians and Saxons on Napoleon’s strategic right and the Bavarians, Prussians and French on his left, have attracted little attention from historians writing in English. Franz’s letters and diary thus offer a welcome insight into this dimension of the grand canvas of war in 1812.
A Mighty Preparation
The Franco-Russian War of 1812 was a long time brewing. As early as 16 December 1811, Napoleon had issued instructions warning the Rheinbund princes to ‘remount their cavalry and prepare their contingents’.2 As tensions between Paris and St Petersburg continued to increase, Max Joseph signed a series of directives dated between 5 and 9 February 1812 to put his army on a war footing. Furloughed soldiers were to be recalled to their units, inspections were to be held, equipment was to be prepared and all had to be placed in readiness to march at short notice. For the king, this was another painful moment. Bavarian interests were not threatened by Russia, indeed, Max and his court had often looked to the Tsar for support in the past, and it was with the greatest reluctance that he directed the mobilisation of the army.3 For many soldiers, however, particularly for the officer corps, the opportunity to participate in a new campaign under Napoleon was by no means unwelcome; the king’s orders were thus greeted with jubilation by much of the army.4
Mobilisation proceeded smoothly and, by the beginning of March, the Bavarian contingent of 863 officers, 28,000 men, 5,200 horses and 60 guns was assembled on the kingdom’s eastern borders.5 They were organised into two large formations which the Bavarians initially designated the ‘First and Second Army Corps’ under Deroy and Wrede respectively (hence Franz’s somewhat confusing use of these titles). There was apparently a political motivation behind the choice of the term ‘corps’, the Bavarian government hoping thereby to invest its army with greater stature than its numbers warranted (the army, after all, was no larger than it had been in 1809 when it was divided into three divisions).6 If that was the intent, it came to naught.
Incorporated into the Grande Armée, the two ‘corps’ were renamed the 19th and 20th Divisions of the VI Corps d’Armée and placed under the command of General de Division Laurent Gouvion St Cyr, a difficult, solitary, nearly opaque man who combined intellectual brilliance and considerable military talent with a cold, taciturn nature and a frequently vindictive self-centredness. War seemed something of a mental exercise to him, a chess game played with live figures, and, despite his skill, he never developed — or seemed interested in developing — the ability to capture the affection and devotion of his subordinates. His French troops are said to have called him ‘the owl’.7
As for Franz and the 7th Infantry, they seem to have presented a fine picture of martial spirit and bearing as they prepared for the campaign. After a 20 February inspection of the regiment, Wrede reported to King Max that
It would be impossible to find any regiment with greater order, better appearance and better condition as far as all its clothing and equipment is concerned... I wish the regiment could be so fortunate as to be reviewed by Your Majesty in its current condition. The cut of the men in the first rank is splendid without exception; in the second and third ranks somewhat small, but of manly and healthy appearance. The grenadier and Schützen companies are splendid and appropriately formed. The spirit of the men is said to be very good, even that of the Tyroleans in the ranks is much praised.8
The regiment left Neuburg on 4 March with 44 officers and 1,632 men, to join General Beckers’ 2nd Brigade of Wrede’s Division in the army’s assembly areas.
Toward Polotsk
Embarking on its trek toward Poland on 10 March, the army was in an optimistic mood. As one veteran recalled,
Well armed, well dressed, the cavalry well mounted, the artillery, especially the light batteries, provided with select horses, imbued with the best spirits, with confident trust in Napoleon’s luck and his talents as a commander - in short, physically and mentally most perfectly equipped - the Bavarian Army Corps departed the fatherland. 9
St Cyr agreed,
This corps was splendid, composed of experienced soldiers, well equipped, disciplined and in good spirits.10
Proceeding under pleasant circumstances by well-planned stages through friendly Saxony, the corps thus reached Glogau in the early part of April (the 7th Infantry arrived on the 5th of the month), Franz jokingly complained that he had gained weight on the march. Once in Silesia, however, the friendliness ceased and provisions diminished. The situation grew worse as the corps shifted into Poland itself, spending the bulk of April around Posen [Poznan] in miserable quarters. Supplies were drawn from magazines as the impoverished countryside was incapable of sustaining the vast army now making its home between the Oder and the Vistula, ‘There was not even enough straw for the troops to sleep on; they had to lie on the dirty and bare floors in the miserable, roofless huts.’11 Oppressive heat and bad water compounded the general misery. As Franz noted, therefore, no one was reluctant to leave Poland.12
It was during this stay around Posen that the royal order arrived abolishing the officers’ waist sash and replacing it with the gorget that caused Franz so much consternation. Indeed, if Franz’s reaction is indicative of the general attitude within the officer corps, this was an unwelcome and widely-ignored directive.13
April also brought an organisational change. In the middle of the month, much to the dismay of the Bavarian commanders, Napoleon withdrew the 1st and 2nd Chevauxlegers Regiments from the corps and assigned them to General de Brigade Jean-Baptiste Dommanget’s 17th Light Cavalry Brigade of III Cavalry Corps along with the Saxon Prinz Klemens Chevauxlegers.14 The corps was thus deprived of one third of its mounted arm before the war had even begun, and the other four regiments (3rd through 6th Chevauxlegers) would also be detached before the army encountered the enemy.
Toward the end of April, the corps moved farther to the east, settling in around Plock on both sides of the Vistula at the beginning of May. Here the men were pleased to learn that they were included in Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais’ command along with IV Corps and III Cavalry Corps. Eugène, widely liked and respected, observed Wrede’s Division at manoeuvres and a formal review on 20 May. He had also inspected Major General Heinrich Justus Siebein’s Brigade two days earlier, an occasion which brought the troops a double ration of bread and a round of schnapps.15 His reports to Napoleon were full of praise and the Bavarian troops recalled this event as a ‘singularly splendid day’ in otherwise rather grim circumstances.
The logistical situation grew increasingly difficult, exacerbated by a 5 June order for each unit to stock a 10- to 14-day supply of provisions. The Bavarians, like most of the army, were already receiving reduced rations for man and horse, and they quickly exhausted the readily available resources of the regions where they were quartered. This additional requirement could only be met by pitiless exactions from the local populace.16 Poland and East Prussia were stripped bare,
Departing from one’s quarters or from the estate where one had been received with complete friendliness and without the slightest mistrust, one often had to remove every head of cattle and all transportable comestibles, thus leaving the desperate owners with barely enough to get through the next week.17
The competition for resources in a region of scarcity (made worse by a drought the preceding year) also led to friction with neighbouring units, as each command sought to comply with Napoleon’s directive.18
Under these conditions, with the expectation of worse to come, the Bavarians made their way by the end of June to the borders of the Tsar’s realm through ‘an unlovely, often completely barren region that became ever more impoverished toward the Neman’.19
Their move from Bavaria had lasted more than four months, but now the war had already opened, for the main body of the army had begun its crossing of the Neman at Kovno [Kaunas] on the night of 23/24June. With some 23,500 men ‘present under arms’, the Bavarians used two pontoon bridges to pass over the river at Pilony (‘a miserable place with poor wooden houses and thatched roofs’) on 2 July.20
Though they marched across in good order, the rigours of campaigning in Russia were already becoming evident, ‘Heaps of dead horses showed us the way that IV Corps had taken, for hunger and fatigue felled them by the hundreds’.21 Another Bavarian officer recalled,
Immediately on the right [eastern] bank where the recent rain had made the road bottomless in places, we found dozens of overturned and plundered wagons; even the finest fourgons and baggage wagons of the Italian and French Guards lay in the field next to their piles of horses, so that one felt one was following a fleeing rather than an advancing army. Such a beginning was hardly cheery and provided occasion for considerable serious reflection.22
The situation, of course, did not improve in Russia,
For the French Army, the peaceful move from the Vistula to the Neman, through barren regions, was characterised by exhaustion and privation. The soldiers comforted themselves with the thought of rich compensations in enemy territory. Once there, however, they found far and wide only a wasted countryside whose inhabitants had fled. One saw hundreds of horses lying on and along the roads, killed by inadequate or absolutely nonexistent sustenance.23
Another Bavarian officer noted that, ‘A bread shortage was already evident, even though we had hardly set foot on enemy soil.’24 Over wretched roads, the painfully frustrating and exhausting marches to the Neman and beyond highlight the mobility and logistics difficulties that would nearly cripple the army’s operations throughout the summer and autumn.
‘It was truly painful to watch the marches,’ remembered one observer,
Wearily and very slowly, the infantry columns dragged themselves along the rain-softened, nearly bottomless roads... The soldiers, already often poorly nourished, felt themselves oppressed by exhaustion and the weight of their packs. The rain made their clothes and equipment doubly heavy... everything was covered with mud. When these poor men came to their bivouac site after the day’s march, the soaked earth served as their bed and the heavens, from which the rain still poured in rivers, as their tent.25
Major Ludwig Count von Seyboltstorff, commander of the II/lst Infantry in 1812, left a vivid description of the practically insurmountable logistical challenges associated with these agonising advances,
From the 13th [of June], when the corps assembled, marches were conducted in large columns, in the 19th Division, by closed columns one platoon abreast. This style of marching, difficult in itself, is in no land more tiring than in Poland, where either sand or frequent defiles and swamps present innumerable obstacles to the progress of a body of troops.
The greatest burden an army can have on the march, a large supply train, naturally contributed to increasing these obstacles. The directive to carry along ten days’ worth of rations and the grim prospect of encountering nothing but privation ahead, forced the commanders, concerned as they were with the welfare of the troops, to take every measure and even to tolerate some detrimental ones in order to sustain the men as long as possible.
The 30 four-team bread wagons, which every division was apportioned, sufficed in a pinch for the transport of 30,000 rations of bread. While in the cantonments around Lipno, General Wrede, through friendly cooperation with the local prefect, managed to arrange for his division to receive 60 additional wagons above and beyond these 30, each of which was capable of holding 800 to 1,000 rations of bread, and which, equipped with lids and locks, he distributed to the battalions. But even 90 wagons were far from sufficient to transport a ten day supply of bread, brandy, and vegetables as well as forage for the officers’ horses. As a result, a huge number of local vehicles and horses had to be requisitioned and tolerated for this purpose and the number of detached soldiers required to gather, drive and escort the provisions wagons soon ran into thousands.
It is difficult to picture the enormous train - beyond the already very numerous vehicle park, the official baggage and bread wagons - which the necessary transport of these provisions occasioned and which the cattle, which had to be taken along as meat on the hoof to the number of 20 or 30 head per battalion, certainly in no little way exacerbated.
It is hardly possible to depict the disorder, confusion and delay which such a monstrous train, composed of such dissimilar physical and material pieces, generated, all strictness and vigilance notwithstanding.26
It is no surprise, then, that two days before the declaration of hostilities (22 June), General Deroy had written to King Max expressing his concern that he could not envisage ‘how the army, given the continual marches, and, in case the war takes a favourable course, the quick pursuit of the enemy and a rapid advance, will be able to live.’27
The march proceeded regardless, the Bavarians welcoming seven days of rest (5 to 12 July) which allowed stragglers and the slow supply trains to catch up with the rest of the corps. The men, however, had already gone nine days without bread, and when the provisions wagons finally did appear, much of the bread was already in a nearly inedible condition.28 St Cyr also calculated that the corps had already lost 200 artillery horses, but noted that this figure was low in comparison to other commands, ‘doubtless’, he reasoned, ‘because of the care the Germans take with their horses’.29 Nonetheless, poor quarters, short rations, foul water and desolation remained the norm for man and beast.
The corps set out again on 12 July, now removed from Eugène’s command and placed directly under Napoleon’s orders as part of the army reserve. Arriving at Vilna [Vilnius] on the 13th, the Bavarians established themselves in camps outside the city walls, having moved from their initially assigned location owing to the grim sight and foul stench provided by hundreds of dead horses (‘more than 1,600’ in the recollections of an army official).30 At noon, General Deroy dutifully reported to Napoleon’s Chief of Staff, Marshal Berthier, in the city and learned that Napoleon intended to review the Bavarian Corps the following day. On returning to his division, however, he found that Napoleon had changed his plans,
... suddenly at 6.30 p.m., General St Cyr came to my quarters and informed me that the Emperor had just ridden into the camp. While we hastily rode after him, the Emperor came to the 1st Infantry Brigade. As the men had had no time to dress properly and appear under arms, they ordered themselves in their field caps and shirts and greeted His Majesty with “Vive l’Empereur!” The Emperor then rode to the cavalry and the 2nd and 3rd Infantry Brigades and seemed very pleased with the speed with which the troops had arranged themselves and with the manner of his reception.31
At 11 a.m. the next day, Napoleon held a formal review of the corps. Still some 20,000 to 25,000 strong, the Bavarians passed before their Emperor in splendid order. He ‘seemed extremely satisfied with it, as it still had few sick and was well equipped.’32 Indeed, according to a staff officer in Wrede’s Division, ‘Many around Napoleon expressed the opinion that VI Corps looked more splendid than the Imperial Guard.’33
Our chevauxlegers regiments and light artillery battery earned his particular appreciation because they managed to present an astonishingly good appearance after the long and wearing marches, after all the exertions, and despite the considerable lack of provisions.34
Unfortunately, Napoleon’s favourable impression of the Bavarian cavalry apparently led him to detach the remaining four regiments and Captain Karl von Widnmann’s light artillery battery from VI Corps and reassign them to the main army. They performed brilliantly throughout the campaign, but their absence would be keenly felt when the Bavarians reached Polotsk [Polock or Polack].35 In St Cyr’s words, the loss of this cavalry ‘paralysed the operations’ of the corps, which was left with only a detachment of 40 chevauxlegers from the 5th Regiment for duties in the corps headquarters. Moreover, for the Bavarians, their own cavalry-men were irreplaceable, ‘they had more confidence in them than in any others’, and their departure discouraged the rest of the troops.36
That very day (14 July), the corps departed Vilna. The marches were even worse than in Poland and Franz recorded that ‘we are very often twelve hours on the road but have only covered a march of four hours.’ The contingent, which had held up very well thus far, now began to dwindle rapidly under the combined effects of forced marches, dreadful roads, hot days, cold nights, bad water, wretched quarters without wood or straw, a dearth of bread, and ‘a new evil, the complete absence of shoes... the greater part of the corps went about with bare feet or wrapped their suffering feet in cow hides.’37 Adding to the poignancy of the misery, an irresponsible official leading a resupply convoy decided to leave the wagons carrying the army’s replacement shoes and soles behind when lack of horses forced him to abandon some of his vehicles. A dramatic increase in sickness rates and a correspondingly dramatic decline in the corps’ morale was hardly surprising,
Without paying any particular attention, let alone expending any sympathy, one frequently passed groups of 10 to 15 dead men, leaning on their rucksacks, their muskets at their sides, lying around an extinguished fire.
It is not difficult to imagine the disadvantageous effect this tremendous physical exhaustion and numbness had on the morale of the troops.
The singing, otherwise so common in the Bavarian Army, had long since ceased.
Not a single syllable was heard all day long, not even curses. The officers still maintained their good spirits, but their encouragement and their example were insufficient to raise the morale of the men.38
St Cyr’s comment was simple, ‘Every day, the corps leaves behind a battalion’s worth of men.’39
Ordered to support Marshal Nicolas Charles Oudinot’s II Corps on the Dvina River, the Bavarians arrived at Polotsk on 7 August, but the splendid contingent Napoleon had reviewed four weeks earlier had dropped from 25,000 to 16,000 men during the march with hardly a shot being fired in anger. The 19th Division, for example, fell from a strength of 10,112 present on 25 July to a mere 6,571 present for duty on 3 August; detachments accounted for some of the reduction, but sickness and straggling were far greater problems (25 officers and 1,886 men were listed as in hospital or still missing from the ranks). Wrede’s division was somewhat better off, but its strength also declined, going from 11,221 on 20 July to 10,351 on the 30th.40
In a joint report to Max Joseph, Generals Deroy and Wrede described the army’s pathetic appearance and weakened condition, concluding that,
military discipline and order are much relaxed, and in their place has come such a spirit of defeatism, pettiness, contrariness and insubordination that it is impossible to see where this will lead.
Oudinot was equally pessimistic,
I cannot assert that the Bavarians are a help to me as they are in such an appalling state of debility.41
Polotsk
Polotsk in 1812 was a town of some 12,000, predominantly Jewish, inhabitants. Consisting almost completely of wooden structures, the major portion of the town lay on the east (right) bank of the River Dvina, linked to the suburb of Little Polotsk on the west (left) bank by a wooden bridge. A small, meandering stream called the Polota joined the Dvina just north of town, both watercourses flowing between high, steep banks. East of Polotsk on the right bank of the Polota was the village of Spas with a massive estate and monastery in which both St Cyr and Oudinot established their headquarters. It, and the Prismenitza estate farther north, were surrounded by fences and palisades, making them formidable defensive strongpoints. A forest darkened the horizon from the Dvina to the Polota just beyond Prismenitza, arcing in a great half circle to enclose a marshy plain, relatively flat and open but dotted with ponds and cut up by numerous small brooks. The west bank of the Dvina and the southern edge of the Polota were higher than the remainder of the plain, offering a considerable tactical advantage to the Franco-Bavarian force.
This force, in addition to VI Corps, consisted of Oudinot’s own II Corps of three infantry divisions (6th, 8th, 9th), two light cavalry brigades (5th, 6th) and a division of cuirassiers (3rd).42 Like the Bavarians, II Corps had suffered significant losses from fatigue and illness en route to Polotsk and numbered only some 21,000 men in early August (from a strength of 44,000 at the outset of the campaign). The corps was of variegated composition, with soldiers from every corner of the Empire. In addition to French infantry and cavalry regiments, its order of battle included four fine Swiss regiments, several former Dutch and German regiments now incorporated into the French Army, one regiment each of Croats and Portuguese, a mixed bag light infantry regiment of Swiss, Italian and Corsican troops (the 11th Léger), not to mention Polish lancers with the cavalry. Leadership at the division and brigade level was generally of very high quality (especially the superb Claude Legrand), but Oudinot, indisputably courageous on the battlefield, had proven himself hesitant, indecisive and ineffective as an independent commander.
Now far from his Emperor’s guidance, Oudinot was expected to guard Napoleon’s strategic left flank and clear the Dvina for French use by attacking and containing the Russian I Corps of Lieutenant General Count Ludwig von Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg43 (approximately 25,000 men with 108 guns) while the main French Army made its way to Moscow. Although Wittgenstein had been held in check, Oudinot had been unable to mount a credible offensive despite several attempts. A week before the Bavarians arrived, a poorly managed pursuit of the Russians had brought the French a costly rebuff on 31 July which a tactical success on the following day could not redress. Oudinot had retreated hastily to Polotsk, and the two sides now faced each other in a sort of uneasy equilibrium.
Napoleon hoped that the arrival of the Bavarians would give Oudinot a decisive advantage over Wittgenstein, allowing the marshal to remove this threat to the French left rear once and for all. From 7 to 14 August, therefore, the Bavarian Corps found itself involved in a series of futile marches and skirmishes north-west of Polotsk. By the afternoon of the 16th, II and VI Corps were back at Polotsk, the only result of the weeklong offensive being the further reduction of the Bavarian contingent from 16,000 to a mere 12,500 present under arms. Wittgenstein followed closely and launched a probe at the Bavarians outside Polotsk at 2 p.m. that afternoon. The Bavarians repulsed this initial effort, and a second thrust three hours later had no better success. Thus began the first contest for Polotsk.
That evening, Oudinot called a council of war and agreed on the following dispositions for the morning of the 17th. In the first line, the French 8th Division (François Valentin) was responsible for the left flank along the Dvina and for Polotsk itself; the 6th Division (Legrand) formed the army’s centre where the roads to Nevel and St Petersburg forked; Wrede’s Division was behind the Polota on the right, but held the critical village of Spas with Vincenti’s Brigade.44 The 9th Division (Pierre Merle), Jean-Pierre Doumerc’s 3rd Heavy Cavalry Division, Bertrand Castex’s light cavalry brigade and the II Corps artillery removed to the left bank of the Dvina from which the artillery could cover the army’s left across the river. Deroy’s Division stood behind Wrede’s on the heights above the southern bank of the Polota with Jean Corbineau’s light cavalry brigade (about 400 sabres) to its right rear. The Franco-Bavarian force numbered some 22,000 to 25,500 men and thus was practically equal in numbers to the 25,000 Wittgenstein brought to the affair.45
Wittgenstein attacked early on the morning of the 17th. Advancing out of the woods along the St Petersburg and Nevel roads, his men pushed the Bavarian pickets out of Prismenitza and launched an assault against Spas between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Repulsed, the Russians tried again at 11 a.m. and this time succeeded in occupying the position with the exception of the church and monastery. The struggle swung to and fro, with the village changing hands several times during the day, but Wrede, carefully feeding in his reserves, finally established uncontested control in the late afternoon. The focus of the battle shifted to Legrand’s sector around 6 p.m., but the French repelled every Russian advance and Wittgenstein withdrew his men to the wood-line at approximately 8 p.m. Of the 2,000 casualties on the allied side, the Bavarians lost 76 dead and 389 wounded. Bavarian officer casualties totalled 37 (one being Vincenti), a remarkably high number which highlights the professional dedication of these men and suggests the necessity of personal leadership example to inspire the weary troops.46
The weight of the battle on the Bavarian side was carried by the 1st and 3rd Brigades of Wrede’s division, well supported by the artillery on the left bank of the Polota. The 2nd Brigade (with the 7th Infantry), spent the day guarding the extreme right of the Bavarian line and did not become involved in the engagement.
Among the allied wounded was Marshal Oudinot, who took a ball in the shoulder and had to be evacuated to Vilna. Though himself also wounded, Gouvion St Cyr thus assumed command of the combined force and gave the second day’s struggle a much more aggressive character, ‘St Cyr seized the reigns of command with a firm and capable hand, and in a few hours the aspect of things changed entirely.’47
While Wittgenstein expected the allies to retreat on the 18th, St Cyr was determined to strike the Russians hard with a surprise offensive and thus force them away from Polotsk. At a council of war on the evening of the 17th, he announced his intention to attack the following morning. His subordinates, however, protested that the men were physically incapable of sustaining another full day’s battle, and St Cyr decided to postpone his attack until 4 p.m. to ‘reduce the duration of the affair to four hours’.48
To lull the enemy commander, St Cyr had the army’s parks and baggage moved to the left bank of the Dvina with a great deal of commotion (this was also a prudent move as it cleared the congestion and confusion in Polotsk which would have greatly hampered the army’s retreat in the event of a reverse).49 Such activity could not escape Wittgenstein’s attention and it reinforced his assumption that the French would withdraw. A temporary truce declared during part of the day allowed both sides to remove their wounded and bury their dead and probably contributed to Russian complacency.50 Wittgenstein and his officers were therefore completely surprised when the afternoon repast they were enjoying in Prismenitza was rudely broken up by the thunder of French and Bavarian artillery.
St Cyr’s plan called for Wrede, forming the army’s right wing, to cross the Polota and turn the Russian left, while Deroy debouched from Spas at the decisive moment to add his weight to the attack. Legrand’s 6th Division was to march against the enemy centre and Prismenitza with Corbineau on his right (that is, between Legrand and Deroy), while General de Brigade Nicolas Maison (replacing the wounded Valentin) advanced along the river with the 8th Division supported by Doumerc’s and Castex’s cavalry; Merle’s 9th Division would form the reserve.
As the monastery clock struck 4 p.m., a shot from one of Wrede’s 12-pounders signalled the attack.51 Beckers’ 2nd Brigade led the way with the attached 6th Light crossing over the Polota near the Hamernia iron works on the far right, while the 3rd and 7th Infantry Regiments filed out of Spas and hustled down into the Polota ravine to close up on its left. Deroy soon gave the order to advance as well and his 2nd Brigade made its way out of Spas, assembled, and attacked up the Nevel road. By this time, however, the Russians had recovered from their initial shock and Deroy’s men got a warm greeting as they advanced. Within moments, the brigade commander and the commanders of the 10th Infantry and 3rd Light were down. Soon after, Deroy received a mortal wound in the abdomen. The 3rd Brigade, hurrying up in support, lost its commander as well. The loss of these key individuals, the heavy Russian fire and the near-simultaneous repulse of an attempt by Legrand’s division to storm Prismenitza left the 19th Division badly shaken.
The Bavarian line was already recoiling when the II/7th Infantry seemed to rise up out of the earth between Deroy’s men and the Polota. Led by Major Carl Albert von Merz, Ensign Carl Sartorius and Second Lieutenant Franz Hausmann, the battalion overthrew the surprised Russians to its front and pressed ahead toward the forest. According to Franz, the example provided by the 7th encouraged the retiring 4th Infantry, and it returned to the fight with renewed vigour. Perhaps even more important, Wrede arrived at exactly the right moment. With energy and decision, he inspired the faltering brigades, reordered them and stabilised the situation. Before long, the line began to advance once again, the 9th Infantry clinching the victory by throwing the Russians out of Prismenitza after a brutal struggle.
With the loss of Prismenitza, Wittgenstein knew he would have to break off the action and gave the order to withdraw. To cover his retreat, however, he sent the bulk of his cavalry against the centre of the French line. The Russian horsemen struck Corbineau’s weak brigade, overpowered it, overran a battery of 20 guns and pursued the fugitives toward Polotsk. St Cyr, riding in a light carriage because of his wound, hurried over from Spas with the I/lst Infantry and a Bavarian battery to investigate, was caught up in the tumult, and narrowly escaped capture.
Now, however, the Russian troopers were in trouble. Taken under deadly fire by the Bavarian gunners and the men of the 1st Infantry led by Major General von Siebein, they were simultaneously struck by the French 4th Cuirassiers. Fleeing, the Russian cavalry abandoned the prisoners and guns they had captured and disappeared into the great woods. The battle thus came to a close between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., darkness and exhaustion precluding any thought of pursuit. The Bavarians much regretted the absence of their cavalry regiments, however, opining that their troopers would have turned the disorderly Russian retreat into a complete rout. Wittgenstein’s operations journal noted that, ‘the Bavarians fought with great valour.’
Polotsk was an undeniable victory for St Cyr and his men, but the army paid a high cost for its honours during the four- or five-hour engagement. Against Russian casualties estimated to number some 5,500, the French divisions lost approximately 2,000, the Bavarians 144 dead and 1,135 wounded (14 dead, 82 wounded and 19 missing for the 7th Infantry). Casualties among the Bavarian contingent’s officers had again been high: 15 killed (including two generals and two colonels) and 103 wounded (including two generals and three colonels). Napoleon was generous in rewarding the Bavarians for their service, granting 81 crosses of the Legion of Honour to the corps (Franz, Merz and Sartorius among the recipients). As a particular sign of Imperial satisfaction, Deroy was made a count of the Empire and allotted a gratuity of 30,000 francs. Unfortunately, the ‘worthy and brave’ old hero died on the 23rd, unable to enjoy the recognition he so richly deserved.52 Acknowledging St Cyr’s skill, Napoleon elevated him to the marshalate. With St Cyr’s new status and Deroy’s mortal wound, Wrede took command of the Bavarian corps.
The corps was rapidly dwindling, however, and its official situation report for 21 August listed a mere 10,276 men ‘present under arms’ (plus 8,284 in hospital). Given the overall weakness of the corps and the lack of senior officers, Wrede disbanded the 3rd brigades of both divisions on the 19th and divided their constituent elements between the other two brigades of their respective divisions. A reconnaissance in force out of Polotsk on the 22nd cost the corps 242 more casualties, including General von Siebein.53 Non-battle losses were the greatest problem, however, and Bavarian strength continued to decline even in the absence of active combat, as shown by the following data54 for the 19th Division, now commanded by Colonel Aloys Baron von Ströhl:
The figures for the 20th Division were similar (3,687 present on 29 August), and this creeping erosion characterised the long operational pause between the first and second battles of Polotsk. St Cyr considered the Bavarian contingent ‘nothing but a moving hospital’, incapable of sustaining more than a few marches.55 Jean Baptiste Marbot, then a chef d’escadron in the 23rd Chasseurs, left a curious picture of the Bavarians in September 1812,
While the French, Croat, Swiss, and Portuguese regiments worked unceasingly at improving their position, the Bavarians alone took no steps to escape from sickness and want. In vain did General Wrede try to stimulate their energy by pointing out the activity with which the French soldiers were constructing huts, harvesting, threshing, grinding and baking; the poor Bavarians, wholly demoralised since they had ceased to receive rations, admired the intelligent work of our troops without trying to imitate them. Thus they died like flies... Yet these Germans, so slack when it was necessary to work, were brave enough before the enemy, but as soon as the danger was over they relapsed into utter apathy. Home-sickness took possession of them; they crawled to Polotsk, and making for the hospitals which the care of their chiefs had established, they asked for “the room where people die”, lay down in the straw and never got up again. In this way a great number perished, and things came to such a point that General Wrede was obliged to place in his baggage wagon the colours of several battalions which no longer had enough men to guard them. Yet we were in September and the weather was mild; the other troops were in good condition and lived merrily while awaiting further events.56
Franz, on the other hand, lamented that the ‘situation of our troops is very unhappy’, but observed that ‘the French and other allies do not fare a whit better’. In most respects, however, his depiction of circumstances is similar to Marbot’s. He, too, noted that ‘very many of our people are dying of home sickness’. His own regiment was down to 308 men by 1 October, but the proportion of officers to men was wildly skewed, there being 67 officers to manage a mere 241 soldiers! In these circumstances the arrival, on 25 September, of 320 replacements for the entire Bavarian Corps (22 only for the 7th Infantry) was utterly insignificant.57
While Bavarian manpower drained away, the Russians were growing in strength. By mid-October, Wittgenstein’s command numbered some 40,000 men with another 10,000 coming up in support. St Cyr, on the other hand, could muster only 15,572 in II Corps and a pitiful 2,600 Bavarians.58 The marshal disposed the French and other allied troops in an arc covering Polotsk to the east. Despite their weakened condition the Bavarians were scattered in three different locations. The 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Division under Major General von Ströhl (promoted in September) was on the army’s far left; the 1st Division, commanded by newly-promoted Major General Peter Delamotte, left Polotsk on 16 October for Strunja on the army’s far right; and Wrede with the remainder of the 2nd Division occupied two of the recently-constructed redoubts outside Polotsk.
Like the first engagement at Polotsk, the second was a complex series of fights lasting several days. While Wittgenstein’s main body skirmished with the French outside Polotsk on the 15th and 16th, a flanking column of approximately 12,000 under Lieutenant General Thaddeus Steingell attacked Ströhl’s position at Disna on the 16th. Through good leadership and excellent use of the terrain, Ströhl skillfully held off the vastly superior Russian force for the greater part of the day, withdrawing in the evening to the Usaci [Uschatz] River in accordance with his instructions. Bringing up French reinforcements, Corbineau joined Ströhl on the Usaci and took command of the small force.
Two days later, Wittgenstein made a serious attempt to take Polotsk but was unable to prevail against stout resistance by II Corps. The small remnant of Bavarians ‘very valiantly’ defended their redoubts. If the Bavarian role was relatively minor against the larger backdrop of the battle, Wrede’s bold and judicious employment of the Bavarian artillery was instrumental in driving a Russian assault column back from the walls of the town’s fortifications; prompting the French to cheer the Bavarian gunners. The contingent suffered few casualties.59 That night, the Russians also launched an abortive attack against Delamotte’s Bavarians at Strunja, but were repulsed with ease.
For the 19th, Wittgenstein decided to hold back his main force and let advances by the two flanking columns force St Cyr out of his strong position. Delamotte drove off another ineffective move against Strunja, but Steingell succeeded in crossing the Usaci and pushing back Corbineau and Ströhl. By 4 p.m., Russian troops were only two miles from Polotsk, and St Cyr’s command was in serious danger of being trapped on the wrong side of the river. St Cyr recognised his peril just in time and sent Wrede with a battalion of the 19th Ligne to restore the situation.
Advancing vigorously, Wrede held the Russians in check, but, with his retreat route threatened, St Cyr decided to evacuate the city that night. The remaining elements of the Bavarian 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th Regiments formed the rear-guard for a time. Passing through an infernal scene of burning buildings, incessant gunfire and surging Russian attacks (‘Never will I forget that terrible night in which I came to know all the horrors of war’ wrote Captain Joseph Maillinger), the Bavarians reached the west bank at 2.30 a.m.60 Despite the heavy Russian pressure, the withdrawal had been conducted with admirable orderliness, a testimony to the courage and professional competence of St Cyr’s multinational command. The Swiss earned St Cyr’s especial praise for their bravery and tenacity.61
The skillful extraction of the army from Polotsk was complemented by an equally fine feat of arms the following day, when Wrede led a mostly French force (the only Bavarians were Ströhl’s small detachment of several hundred) against Steingell’s numerically superior flanking column and drove it back across the Usaci with heavy losses. ‘Numbers gave way before courage’ wrote St Cyr.62 It was one of finest martial achievements of Wrede’s career and, while Wittgenstein paused and Steingell retreated in precipitate haste, the Bavarian general fell back to Rudnia, where he assembled the remains of his contingent on the 21st.
Retreat
Unfortunately for the French, having fought a stubborn defence and executed the daring and difficult night withdrawal under continuous attack, St Cyr’s two corps now fell into a debilitating tangle of confusion and recrimination. St Cyr had been painfully wounded in the foot on the 18th and, unable to stay at his post, he relinquished command to General Legrand, the next senior French general, on the 21st. Wrede, however, held a higher rank than Legrand and refused to place himself under the Frenchman’s orders. Legrand, moreover, had also been injured and was temporarily incapable of assuming responsibility for the army. The burden of command thus fell to Merle, who led II Corps off to the east toward Smolensk to help cover the retreat of Napoleon’s main body.63
Wrede, on the other hand, commandeered Corbineau’s cavalry brigade and set off on his own toward Vilna in order to take advantage of the Bavarian equipment magazines and convalescent depots that lay in that direction. He also seems to have believed he could preserve his command’s order and march discipline better if he operated independently.
Military rationale aside, such behaviour was completely in character for Wrede, an independent self-willed, ambitious man, and always a difficult subordinate. Similarly, the tenacity with which he clung to Corbineau’s Brigade despite repeated orders to return it to II Corps, while militarily reasonable (Napoleon, after all, had deprived the Bavarian contingent of its cavalry complement early in the campaign), did nothing to endear Wrede to his French counterparts.64
With the 7th Line and Corbineau’s troopers forming the rear-guard, the remains of VI Corps, now numbering approximately 2,300 Bavarians, made their way west by circuitous marches.65 The Russians pushed them continuously, and the rear-guard had several sharp fights. On the 24th, for example, the 7th and the French cavalry held off a Russian probe, and Franz’s regiment, already reduced to a mere 140 men, lost another 14 in the skirmish.
The 24th also saw the loss of most of the Bavarian regimental and battalion standards. In September, with the contingent’s strength rapidly dwindling, Wrede had ordered 22 of the army’s precious banners to be packed up and kept with the corps’ baggage train. As the retreat from Polotsk began, he sent a large convoy of ammunition caissons and artillery, including the wagon with the flags, ahead of his main body. Sadly, the wagon train was set upon by Cossacks and, after a brave but hopeless struggle, captured intact. In reporting this depressing news, Wrede, who had been advised to burn the flags, attempted to be philosophical, ‘In any event, this incident, as unfortunate as it is, is finished, and we must console ourselves as best we can.’66 Proceeding under constant battering by enemy detachments, the Bavarians halted in relative safety at Dunilovici on the 29th.
The ‘corps’ remained in and around Dunilovici for the next three weeks, enjoying a much improved supply of victuals and attempting to recover as best it could. By incorporating small detachments and soldiers returned to duty from the hospitals, Wrede was able to bring his strength up to nearly 4,000 combatants.67 Given the weakness of the contingent, he organised each battalion into a single under-strength company, so that his command now consisted of 27 companies, 16 guns and a tiny cavalry detachment. In mid-November, he finally lost Corbineau’s brigade (ordered back to II Corps), but gained considerable reinforcement in the form of two mixed brigades from Vilna. These changes left VI Corps with a strength of approximately 10,000 French and German troops with 28 guns; of this number, however, only 3,727 were Bavarian. The 7th Infantry mustered a meagre 157 officers and men.68
From 19 November to 9 December, the corps slowly made its way to Vilna, swinging to the south from Dunilovici, but generally staying just north of the main highway where the scarecrow remnants of the Grande Armée were struggling back toward Poland. The Bavarians had their first look at this pathetic crowd of refugees on 3 December and spent most of the 6th on the main road in its fearful company.
That which Wrede wanted to avoid with the utmost care, the sight of the fleeing French Grande Armée — we had already had a tragic preview in Wileika - could no longer be prevented, as the road suddenly met with the great military highway from Oszmiana, which was covered far and wide with refugees. What a sight! For many hours, Wrede’s command had to march along next to this whirling human river, which was wrapped in every sort of costume and dress, and which seemed to be composed of every race.
No one can depict the astonishment, no one the impression, which the sight of so many thousand figures, lost to all discipline and order, unarmed, mostly wrapped in rags, given over to the most frightful misery, made on the morale of each and every common soldier. The officers of the VI Corps... saw, instead of a battle-ready, confident army, still powerful despite its great misfortunes, which, led by the greatest soldier of the age, only withdrew to seek new resources or to place itself nearer to its reinforcements and fortresses, only a defenceless mass of half-frozen, half-starved creatures staggering by in a wild jumble. Instead of offering protection to Wrede’s weak force, Wrede would have to shield the fleeing horde from the wrath of the pursuing victors...
The Bavarian commander therefore believed that he could not long allow his troops to witness the enormous, misery-laden procession, if he did not want to bring dissolution into his own ranks through the effect of the horror and the example of the widespread, cowardly desperation. Wrede thus led his little force on to a side road toward Slobodka.69
The proximity to the straggling, marauding bands destroyed much of the discipline Wrede had been at pains to instill and maintain in his corps. Of the 5,000 effectives he had under arms on the morning of the 6th, only 2,800 were still with their units by evening. During the next several days, the French infantry, denigrated by their commander as ‘much inclined to desertion’ in November, gradually evaporated, leaving some 1,000 Bavarians, Hessians and Westphalians, three guns and a few shivering horsemen as the core of VI Corps.
Directed to the highway east of Vilna on 9 December, Wrede’s men constituted the army’s rear-guard under the indomitable Marshal Michel Ney. Conducting a gallant fighting withdrawal, the tiny corps approached Vilna as the sun was setting. The city, however, was in chaos and the last bonds of discipline snapped as men slipped away to seek food, shelter, light and warmth in the deceptive haven offered by Vilna’s walls. It was at this point that Franz and Second Lieutenant Franz Xaver Loe left the ‘corps’ (‘which was already dissolving anyway’) and headed west.70
Wrede, who had ridden into the city to report and receive orders, returned to find that his force had indeed ‘dissolved’. Only late that night, and only through great exertions, was he able to collect 300 Bavarian infantry and 30 chevauxlegers. Inspired by Ney and Wrede, this last, faithful remnant of the Bavarian Army struggled west, skirmishing repeatedly with the pursuing Russians. They could not last long. The two ‘divisions’ were separated during the fighting on 12 December and at the morning muster on the 13th, Wrede discovered that his ‘corps’ now consisted of 68 men of the 2nd Division. The 1st Division had disappeared entirely, only General Delamotte and a few other officers escaping capture by Cossacks. It was the last action on Russian soil. The few remaining Bavarians crossed the Neman, united with the 1,200 men of the contingent’s depot and made for Plock, the corps’ designated assembly point. They saw their last Cossacks on 19 December and reached Plock two weeks later.
Moscow and Danzig
It remains to account for the Bavarian units that served detached from the main body of the contingent.
To the great regret of St Cyr and the entire Bavarian corps, all six of the chevauxlegers regiments marched to Moscow with the main army: the 1st and 2nd Regiments with III Cavalry Corps, the other four as a division under Major General Maximilian Count von Preysing-Moos in Viceroy Eugène’s IV Corps. They were present but not engaged at the Battle of Smolensk in mid-August and made the march toward Borodino in continual contact with the enemy. Their conduct at Borodino on 7 September earned them high praise but cost them heavily, the 1st and 2nd Chevauxlegers suffering especially serious casualties.
When the great retreat began, they were present at the Battles of Maloyaroslavets (24 October) and Vyazma (3 November). Preysing called the latter action ‘the hottest of the entire campaign... not even in the costly Battle of Borodino had the Bavarian cavalry faced such heavy and harrowing artillery fire.’71 Vyazma diminished the regiments dramatically and left Preysing with only enough troopers to form a single squadron.
At the disastrous crossing of the Vop River near Smolensk several days later (9 November), the ‘division’ finally disintegrated. All Widnmann’s guns were lost, and the Bavarian cavalry only continued on as individual officers and men, some with the ‘sacred squadron’, others entirely on their own.
As a final indignity, Preysing himself was captured by Cossacks when his horse fell through a frozen pond on 2 December. The sad, isolated remnants of the Bavarian mounted arm were cheered to see their compatriots not far from Vilna on 5 December, but weeks and months would pass before the few remaining officers and men were again fit for duty.72
The 13th Infantry Regiment and an artillery detachment also participated in the Russian campaign. Assigned to the garrison of Danzig in April 1811, the regiment became part of General de Division Charles Grandjean’s 7th Division in X Corps (Marshal MacDonald) as Napoleon began organising the Grande Armée for the great invasion.
MacDonald’s Corps, the extreme left flank of the army, established itself along the Dvina and remained there from mid-July until mid-December, but its combats were few and the 13th only had one brief engagement with the enemy.73 As X Corps withdrew towards Danzig in line with the retreat of the main French Army, however, this situation changed, and the 13th performed well in the numerous skirmishes with Cossacks during the retreat. It returned to Danzig on 17 January with flags flying, the only major Bavarian unit to escape the Russian cataclysm relatively intact.74
Observations
The Russian campaign destroyed the Bavarian Army. Even disregarding the prolonged misery and privation, the losses in human terms were appalling:
| Original contingent (not including Danzig troops) | 27,500 |
| Subsequent replacements | 5,200 |
| Subtotal | 32,700 |
| Minus Wrede’s strength on 1 Jan 1813 | 4,000 |
| Total Losses | 28,700 |
In the context of these catastrophic casualties, Franz’s survival is not a little remarkable, a testimony to his own robust constitution and the significant advantage of being a member of the officer corps. As Franz notes in several of his letters, the officers, particularly those attached to a general’s staff, enjoyed clothing, lodgings and victuals that were substantially superior to the lot of the common soldier,
Praise and thanks be to God... here, with the general, I have no real privations. I live in such a way that I am not in a position to experience the conditions in which so many thousands find themselves.
Similarly, just as the army had an ‘excess’ of officers when it fought at Polotsk in August, the number of officers who returned from Russian captivity in 1814 (some 17 per cent of 823 returned prisoners) was notably disproportionate to the number of officers in the contingent when it departed Bavaria in March (approximately 3 per cent of 29,000 officers and men). Citing these statistics does not diminish the courage and fortitude of the Bavarian officers or disregard the difficulties and horrors they experienced during the Russian campaign. It does, however, highlight the contrast between the everyday living conditions of the officer corps and those of the common soldiers, and suggests how those conditions could influence their respective chances for survival.
Beyond the price in the broken lives and bodies of Bavaria’s soldiery, however, the materiel cost of the Russian campaign was also overwhelming: 5,800 horses, 22 standards, 38 guns, 260 caissons, 300 other vehicles and all the armaments, clothing and equipment for 30,000 men disappeared in the dreadful maelstrom across the Neman.75 Fortunately for Max Joseph, and, at least temporarily for Napoleon, the cadre that remained after the debacle was sufficient to permit the formation of a small division. Furthermore, throughout the campaign, as the contingent’s overall strength had fallen, Wrede had sent small groups of excess officers back to Bavaria. These, combined with the pitiful remnants of VI Corps, would eventually provide the foundation for a resurrected Bavarian Army.
But there was a psychological or moral cost as well, particularly as far as Napoleon’s interests were concerned. For the habitual, unquestioned faith in the French Emperor’s skill, genius and luck was gone, and with it went the trust and respect simultaneously accorded to his army in previous campaigns, the confidence that had helped Bavarians and other Germans overlook the often domineering behaviour of their powerful ally in the past.76
Curiously, Franz did not comment on Bavarian disaffection in his letters. Indeed his correspondence is remarkable for the scarcity of references to the French and their great emperor. Whether from loyalty to Napoleon, fear of censorship or, more likely, worry about the reaction back home (as he hinted on 26 August), Franz almost completely avoided discussion of Napoleon and the French. For most Bavarians, however, the Russian campaign extinguished their glowing hopes of glory, leaving behind a relentless and expanding rancour. As one of Wrede’s staff officers recalled on learning that the army’s flags and some of its guns had been lost on the retreat from Polotsk through, in his opinion, the confusion and panicked behaviour of the French, ‘[the Bavarians] could hardly hide the anger that filled their hearts toward the French, whose fault it was that the Bavarian Army lost the crowns and symbols of its honour.’77
But we must exercise some caution here. If the frequent confusion, the exhausting but pointless manoeuvres, the prevailing wretchedness and the ultimate catastrophe that was Napoleon’s Russian campaign turned most Bavarians against the French, there remained no little apprehension that the Emperor just might recover with brilliant suddenness. A generation accustomed to the Austerlitz phenomenon, to the astonishing dethroning of empires in an afternoon, could not immediately discount a mighty and successful riposte from the general who had so often and so devastatingly surprised his foes over the past 15 years. Moreover, Napoleon personally retained a residual store of charisma. Much of the old fire was extinguished, but when conditions were right, the customary magic burned as brightly and fiercely as ever - albeit for rather shorter lengths of time.
Though they began to explore other options, to open channels to Austria and to husband their military resources more carefully, therefore, the Bavarians did not immediately abandon their Napoleonic alliance. The result was yet another campaign under French eagles.
Military Diary of
FRANZ JOSEPH HAUSMANN
for the
RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN
From when the 7th Bavarian Line Infantry Regiment (Fürst Löwenstein) marched out from Neuburg on the Danube on 4 March 1812.
March 1812
| 4 March | With the entire regiment to Ingolstadt and into quarters. Crossed the Danube. |
| 5 March | To Kipfenberg and into quarters. |
| 6 March | To Beilengries and into quarters. |
| 7 March | To Neumarkt and into quarters. |
| 8 March | Paraded through Nuremberg and into quarters in Feucht. |
| 9 March | To Erlangen and into quarters. |
| 10 March | To Höchstadt on the Aisch and into quarters. |
| 11 March | To Bamberg and into quarters, and then immediately |
| 12 March | to Zeuln [Marktzeuln] near Staffelstein. |
| 13 March | To Kronach. |
| 14 March | To Unter-Rodach near Steinwiesen in Bavaria. Day of rest on the 15th. |
| 16 March | To Lobenstein. |
| 17 March | To Schleiz. |
| 18 March | To Auma in Saxony. Day of rest on the 19th. |
| 20 March | To Gera in Saxony. |
| 21 March | To Altenburg. |
| 22 March | To Rochlitz. Day of rest on the 23rd. |
| 24 March | To Nossen. |
| 25 March | To Meissen near Leipzig. Here we crossed the Elbe. |
| 26 March | To Berbisdorf near Radeberg. Day of rest on the 27th. |
| 28 March | To Bischheim near Kamenz. |
| 29 March | To Teichnitz near Bautzen. |
| 30 March | To Kupritz near Löbau. |
| 31 March | To Kieslitz near Görlitz. |
April 1812
| 1 April | To Hennersdorf near Lauban [Luban]. |
| 2 April | To Kroschwitz near Bunzlau [Bolesławiec]. In Silesia. |
| 3 April | To Modlau near Aslau. |
| 4 April | To Klein-Obisch near Gross-Glogau.78 Day of rest on the 5th. |
| 6 April | Crossed the Oder near Gross-Glogau and to Linden. |
| 7 April | To Maucha in Poland. |
| 8 April | To Zielencien. Day of rest on the 9th. |
| 10 April | To Gromblewo. Made a halt on the 11th. |
| 12 April | To Strykowo. |
| 13 April | Posen and crossed the Warta, then to Kopolipoli. |
| 14 April | To Grzibobo. |
| 15 April | To Wągrowiec and into extended cantonment. |
May 1812
| 3 May | To Rogowo. |
| 4 May | To Mogilno. |
| 5 May | To Kobylniki. |
| 6 May | To Radziejow. |
| 7 May | To Lubranice. |
| 8 May | To Kempka. Day of rest on the 9th. |
| 10 May | To Choceń near Kowal into cantonment until |
| 19 May | crossed the Vistula [Wisla] near Włocławek, then to Ostrowit. |
| 20 May | Passed in review for 2 hours before His Majesty and Imperial Highness the Viceroy of Italy near Lipno. Afterwards manoeuvred for a couple of hours and then marched into our former quarters in Ostrowit. |
| 21 May | To Dobrzyń on the Vistula. Remained here until |
| 25 May | to Sudragi. |
| 26 May | To Glinkę. |
| 27 May | To Kowalewo near Szrensk. |
| 28 May | To Spaki near Mlawa. |
| 29 May | To Bokrzywnicia. In cantonment until |
June 1812
July 1812
| l July | To Strzelze. |
| 2 July | Crossed the Neman near Pilony and into bivouac near Wizkini, in Lithuania. |
| 3 July | In bivouac near Juchnani. |
| 4 July | Bivouac near Sumieliszki. |
| 5 July | Field camp near Hanusiszky. Both corps remained here until |
| 12 July | bivouac near Novo Troki [Trakai]. |
| 13 July | Bivouac near Ponary. |
| 14 July | Passed in review before His Majesty the Emperor of the French outside of Vilna, marched around this city, and went into bivouac near Minzkoy. |
| 15 July | Bivouac near Slobodka. |
| 16 July | Bivouac near Michalischki. |
| 17 July | Crossed the Vilija before the above-named town and went into bivouac near Svir. |
| 18 July | Bivouac near Rodoscham. |
| 19 July | Bivouac near Woroniez. |
| 20 July | Bivouac near Dunilovici. |
| 21 July | Bivouac near Glubokoje. |
| 22 July | Bivouac near Svila. |
| 23 July | Bivouac near Schlo. |
| 24 July | Bivouac near Manznin. |
| 25 July | Bivouac near Usaci.79 Remained here until |
| 27 July | crossed the Usaci in the afternoon and bivouacked near Senawiene. |
| 28 July | Bivouac near Czenzako. |
| 29 July | Bivouac near Gurenka. Remained here until |
August 1812
| 1 August | field camp near Biscinkowice. The army corps remained here until |
| 5 August | downstream along the Dvina until going into bivouac near Ulla. |
| 6 August | Bivouac near Ostrokiewe. |
| 7 August | We crossed the Dvina near Polotsk, marched through this city, then over the Polota, and joined up with II Corps of the Grande Armée, which Marshal Oudinot was commanding. Both corps immediately went into battle order. The troops of II Corps, who were ahead of us, attacked the enemy one hour’s distance from Polotsk at 9.30 in the morning, thereby forcing him back, and both corps set out on the two roads leading to Riga and Petersburg. This night we bivouacked near Gamzelewo, and also followed on |
| 8 August | after the enemy along the Petersburg road for a few hours more, but since word was received that the enemy was withdrawing toward Riga, we also left this road and bivouacked for this night near Brutniki in the Polotsk woods. |
| 9 August | We crossed the Drissa and camped near it, without any town to be seen near or far. |
| 10 August | Near Walensk we again reached the road to Riga and bivouacked before the monastery of that name. On |
| 11 August | at noon an engagement took place between the French and Swiss, who formed the outposts, and the enemy; we observed while standing to arms. Since now the Petersburg road, which was only very weakly held by cavalry detachments, was threatened by the enemy, we therefore moved on the night of the 11th |
| 12 August | toward the Petersburg highway and marched the whole day until we bivouacked near Muschek. Here we remained on the 13th, 14th and 15th and were unremittingly harassed by the enemy. During this time II Corps, which had remained near Walensk, also withdrew almost as far as Gamzelewo on the 13th. On the night of the 15th |
| 16 August | both corps marched back to one hour’s distance before Polotsk, where on the 16th the outposts skirmished all day with the enemy. On the night of the 16th |
| 17 August | we marched across the Polota near Polotsk and were lined up in battle order on the left bank of this river. At 6 o’clock in the morning the enemy was engaged by the French, Dutch and Swiss on the right bank of the Polota, and on the left bank by the 1st and [unclear, either 6th or 3rd] Brigades of the 2nd Division. On this day the regiment was covering two batteries and had to stand in unremitting cannon fire until 4 o’clock in the evening. A few stray musket balls also found their mark. In the evening we relieved the 1st Brigade in the outposts on the Polota. On this day there were among the wounded Marshal Oudinot, General St Cyr, General Vincenti, Lieutenant Colonel Butler, Majors Reichlin, Bach and Mann, and many others; from our regiment we had 1 dead and 5 wounded soldiers. |
| 18 August | In the morning before it was daylight we were relieved at the outposts by the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division, and we marched back almost as far as the city into bivouac. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon we received the order to break camp, crossed the Polota, and at about 3 o’clock arrived behind the Spas monastery. Now the enemy was to be turned by the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Division advancing through defiles, while the 1st Brigade with the 3rd Brigade and II Corps attacked the enemy from the front. Four battalions of our brigade successfully crossed through the defile, which could be traversed only one by one, but we as the fifth [battalion in the sequence] were prevented from following them by Russians who had gained a nearby hill. Therefore, in order to make place for ourselves on the plain, we were forced to take this hill by storm. This was accomplished by the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Regiment, just at the moment that one regiment on our left was in full retreat. The latter was inspired by the arrival on the hill of our battalion, and we now joined forces to drive the enemy toward the woods [see also pages 154-7 for Franz’s later account of this incident]. Here we remained still for a time, until suddenly the Swiss and French positioned on our left were thrown back behind us almost to the city of Polotsk, but the 1st Brigade of the 1st Bavarian Division, which was still standing in reserve, forced the enemy back into his first position two hours’ distance from Polotsk. Thereupon we bivouacked on the battlefield, though the fusillade lasted the whole night. In this battle we lost General of the Infantry von Deroy, Colonel Wreden and Colonel Preysing; among the wounded were Colonel Comeau and Colonel Collonge, and the wounded staff officers from our regiment were Captain Leistle, who died shortly thereafter, Captain Dettenhofer, First Lieutenants Grebmer and Imhof, Sr.; wounded were Lieutenants Dufresne and Deltsch, and missing were Captain Schintling and First Lieutenant Seidel; wounded were 13 non-commissioned officers and 69 men; missing were 3 non-commissioned officers and 57 men. Thus in total 8 officers and 140 men [Franz’s arithmetic is shaky; his figures give a total of 142 NCOs and men]. On this day the provisional adjutant of General Count Beckers, First Lieutenant Proesel, was wounded, and I had to take over the adjutant duties for the general, who now commanded the division. |
| 19 August | We marched close to Polotsk into the bivouac we had left behind the day before, where the division remained until |
| 22 August | The army again broke camp and marched off along the Petersburg road, headed by the 1st Division under the command of General Siebein, which came upon the enemy near Beloe. After a stiff struggle, during which the 1st Light Infantry Battalion and the 1st Line Infantry Regiment suffered a significant loss, our troops had to withdraw to the edge of the woods. During this General Siebein, Lieutenant Colonel von Gedoni and others lost their lives. Major Gravenreuth of the General Staff was wounded. The 2nd Division bivouacked near Gamzelewo. |
| 24 August | General Count Beckers assumed command of the outposts; in the evening these were withdrawn to Gamzelewo. |
| 23 August | The division command was lodged in the church at Robni, where we remained, and daily we had to ready and inspect all the outposts of the army corps. On the 26th the army corps went into camp near the city of Polotsk, until finally on |
September 1812
| 12 September | the division quarters were moved to a house in the Polotsk suburbs. Since, during this period of rest, the enemy was threatening the areas around the Usaci and Disna Rivers, which the army had been assigned for foraging, a brigade or rather a detachment of 400 men was sent to Disna, in order to prevent the enemy from crossing the Dvina. Therefore |
October 1812
| 3 October | General Count Beckers left Polotsk with the 3rd Brigade of his division, crossed the Dvina there, and bivouacked near Brzdziadowice.80 |
| 4 October | Took Disna, and positioned the outposts outside of the city. Since the city of Disna did not offer any advantageous points for defence as a result of its location, the occupation force therefore |
| 5 October | in the evening marched back out of the city to a half hour’s distance, took up post on the heights, and held the city only with outposts. Since in the meantime |
| 6 October | General Ströhl arrived and assumed position, General Count Beckers therefore turned over command to him, and we went back to Brzdziadowice. |
| 7 October | Again across the Dvina to Polotsk and took up the brigade’s earlier position. Now the corps remained quietly in place, while the bad weather and winter intensified so much that it would have been a sheer impossibility to let the army remain any longer in this camp without any straw. |
| 14 October | Therefore on the 14th the order arrived to leave the breastworks that had been built and the bivouac, in order to enter into close cantonment on the other side of the Dvina. |
| 16 October | The 1st Division moved into the suburbs of Little Polotsk and Ekimania; of the 2nd Division, the 1st Brigade into Potcotcielczi, the 2nd Brigade Plaxi, Sieradama, Sloboda and Druczani, in which latter the division command was lodged, and another detachment was removed to Uiscie across the Usaci; all of these locations lie downstream along the Dvina. Around 4 o’clock in the afternoon the 2nd Brigade under General Ströhl was attacked near Disna. This division immediately moved during the night |
| 17 October | back to Little Polotsk, and the 3rd Brigade also held the bridge over the Usaci near Pononia. On this day the 1st Division moved three hours from Polotsk up the Dvina toward Strunja. The French outposts outside of Polotsk were fiercely attacked, and they were forced to withdraw until close to the city. In the afternoon the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Division occupied the two breastworks and the abatis connecting them, where we stood on outpost duty in a continuous cannonade throughout the afternoon and night. Except for minor annoyances, on this day the 1st Division remained calmly at the bridgehead in Strunja. |
| 18 October | Then today the Russians began their concerted attack on the right flank of the city of Polotsk, which was only weakly defended by the French; the Russian left wing gained a certain advantage over them and made a cavalry attack, which was repulsed from our side. As this firing on our right wing lessened somewhat, Marshal Count Gouvion St Cyr, who had stayed in one of our breastworks, rode out so that he could better observe the enemy’s movements, but he returned forthwith, having been wounded in the left foot. Here he had his wound dressed and looked on for a time, but then he left, since the French of the right wing had to retreat all the way back to the trenches around the city, as well as back into the city itself. The firing on the right wing slackened off, and it was believed, since it was already late in the day, that we would now have a respite, when all at once an unbelievable enemy horde rushed at us and at the Swiss and Croats who were on our left. We waited calmly for the enemy and let him come on with his terrible commotion and, when he seemed to be close enough, fired canister salvos at him from 18 artillery pieces located in the two breastworks, which seemed to fill him with a great deal of respect for these two entrenchments, because he then left us and turned with redoubled energy on the Swiss and Illyrians. The latter now also retreated to behind our batteries, and the enemy had just climbed up the second rise that lay behind one of our entrenchments when His Excellency General of the Cavalry Count Wrede had two artillery pieces there removed from their mounts and turned around, while at the same time sending a small detachment into the enemy flank, and so they brought about the desired effect, again with canister fire. The huge human horde that was pouring into the valley was astounded, it seemed, at seeing cannon behind it; the enemy quickly turned around and sought his salvation in flight, but as he retreated he was so fired upon by our two batteries, which had earlier been unable to act while the enemy was in the valley and closer to the city than they were, that he had to speed up his withdrawal considerably and was unable to avoid heavy losses. As night fell we could hear the enemy drawing up many cannon aimed at our wing. It was at this time that Major van Douve from the train acted like a dilettante and lost a leg, just as many soldiers were laid low by cannonballs. The 1st Division, which was in position at the Strunja bridgehead, was on this day only insignificantly bothered; on the other hand, the 3rd Brigade, which was standing near Pononia, was attacked around the noon hour with such force and strength that it fled back to Little Polotsk in the greatest disarray. When General Count Wrede learned of this circumstance, he placed himself at the head of two infantry regiments, two cuirassier regiments and two light cavalry regiments, in order to support the 3rd Brigade, and forced the enemy, although he was twice as strong, to withdraw with extraordinary loss back to Pononia and Druczany. The 3rd Brigade alone, though scattered and only about 200 men strong, took some 900 prisoners during this attack. The 3rd Brigade in particular lost many officers and soldiers; Major Grossgebauer was among those wounded. |
| 19 October | Now it was generally recognised that the Russian Army was aiming for Polotsk, but that II and VI Corps of the Grande Armée were too weak to maintain this point, so it was therefore decided to leave this place, and the decision was made to relinquish the city of Polotsk on this day. Accordingly, at nightfall the French artillery was to be moved over to the left bank of the Dvina, and after them then ours, and so both corps little by little. The French artillery park started out while it was still daylight, however, and had to pass through behind our redoubts; as naturally this withdrawing artillery was assiduously fired upon, and the enemy artillery had to shoot across our breastworks, we therefore lost very many people to this cannonade. At nightfall the French in the right wing set fire to the previously occupied bivouacs as well as to the outer houses of the suburb and withdrew,81 but the enemy noticed this withdrawal and with his left wing attacked the French right wing between the burning camps with astounding vigour, took one entrenchment after the other, and exerted every effort to hinder our withdrawal. He did not succeed in this, however, for our artillery safely reached the left bank during the night. At 12 o’clock we ourselves fought our way to the other side of the Polota bridge, where we met up with French, but through the whole city and even on the Dvina bridge we encountered very heavy artillery fire. After crossing the Dvina, we immediately took up position behind the suburb of Little Polotsk, where both corps gathered, except for the 3rd Brigade of the 20th, Division, which did not join the army corps until the |
| 20 October | coming from Strunja. With the exception of the continuous cannonading from both banks, on this day everything remained quiet. |
| 21 October | At about 3 p.m., after we had endured a terrible barrage of shell and canister shot, II Corps set out in retreat toward Usaci, and we toward Rudnia. VI Corps bivouacked near Rudnia. Several wagons and many supplies that could not be transported for lack of horses had been burned at Polotsk. Ambulances, munitions carts and other wagons were left behind on this march . |
| 22 October | We marched into bivouac near Attikoven. Here General Ströhl and the rest of the 3rd Brigade met up with the corps. Since the march lasted until late at night, many wagons, including the ambulance of the 7th Regiment, were left behind for the enemy. On this same night a band of Cossacks fell on our flank, seized a few lead horses, and was chased off. From here on the morning of |
| 23 October | we sent our lead horses ahead and bivouacked near Babienizky, after beforehand again suffering a significant loss of wagons. |
| 24 October | The rear-guard was continuously chased and harassed by the enemy up to Kuplice, where we took up a position and with artillery prevented the enemy from following us. |
| 25 October | At 1 o’clock in the morning both divisions marched through Waron to Peischna, where we bivouacked. |
| 26 October | We bivouacked at the Berezina not far from its source. |
| 27 October | Near Tolschitz. |
| 28 October | Bojare. At the source of the River Vilija. |
| 29 October | To Dunilovici. Here the Bavarian Army was about 2,500 soldiers strong. On the 31st a company was formed from each regiment; the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Division formed 2½ companies and numbers 325 soldiers. The corps remained here, until |
November 1812
| 1 November | when we again marched forward toward Glubokoje and bivouacked near Barille. Then we remained here until |
| 5 November | we marched back to Dunilovici. Here the corps (at the strength of 1,937 muskets) remained quietly in bivouac. |
| 8 November | First Lieutenant Michels again entered the service of General Beckers, and therefore on |
| 13 November | I was ordered back to the regiment and to the staff as supernumerary. |
| 14 November | To Humieniki near Kobolniki. |
| 15 November | To St Svir, where there were already officers and non-commissioned officers from our regiment. |
| 16 November | To Bolkowne near Svir. Here the staffs of all regiments remained in an area of 30 hours’ distance, until on |
December 1812
| 1 December | the command arrived to assemble, because the enemy was closing in, at Kobolniki and Svir, to which latter place we went. On this night those at Kobolniki including Captain Spizel were attacked by the Cossacks, and most of them were taken prisoner. We marched on the morning of |
| 5 December | through Michalischki; there we crossed the Vilija and went to Worone. |
| 6 December | Via Lawariszki without stopping, and then on to |
| 7 December | enter Vilna at 7 o’clock in the morning. Here the retreating Grande Armée was passing through in a constant stream, until on |
| 9 December | the rear-guard, which had the remaining best organised corps of ours, came through Vilna and had one more stiff engagement outside of the city but continued retreating down the road. The entire 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Division formed one line. We went to Novo Troki, since the whole corps was dissolving in any case. |
| 10 December | To Mustinian, where it was already every man for himself. Lieutenant Loe and I went our own way. |
| 11 December | To Koronie. |
| 12 December | Into Bokrone, after on this day having first crossed over the ice of the Neman and then through Prenn [Prenai]. |
| 13 December | To Wornopie, where I came down with a nerve infection.82 |
| 14 December | To Kalvarija.83 |
| 15 December | To Sidory. |
| 16 December | To Wulka [Suwałki]. |
| 17 December | To Kleszczewo. |
| 18 December | To Lyk. |
| 19 December | To Arys [Orzysz]. |
| 20 December | To Mikołajki. |
| 21 December | To Crawink. |
| 22 December | To Willenberg [Wielbark]. Here I made a day of rest, because we both [Franz and Lieutenant Loe] had such a bad case of nerve fever. |
| 24 December | To Mlawa. |
| 25 December | To Szrensk. |
| 26 December | To Sierpc. |
| 27 December | To Plock on the Vistula. |
| 28 December | To Biala, where all the scattered members of the 7th Regiment assembled, and from them, and also from the replacement detachment,84 a battalion was formed on 4 January 1813. The staff was at Srebno, where I arrived on the 13th. On the 12th or a day earlier all supernumerary officers returned to their peace garrisons, thus those of our regiment went to Neuburg on the Danube. |
LETTERS FROM
THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN
1812-1813
Letter No. 1
Höchstadt on the Aisch
10 March 1812
Dearest Parents,
We, the staff of the 2nd Battalion, have just arrived here safe and sound and without mishap. I shall therefore not fail to let you know this at once.
Pluto [Franz’s dog] was not able to take these marches on foot. He was hardly able to make it to Ingolstadt, because it was impossible for him to walk on the paw that had already been sore in Neuburg. The poor creature was very sick yesterday in Erlangen. Today, however, it is as if there had never been anything the matter with him.
I have met several people here who still remember you and me well. The son at the mill by the bridge has been dead for some time, and there have been many other changes. Mr Gmeiner sends his regards to you both. He has sold his house and lives all by himself. His sons and daughters all got married a long time ago.
Our cantonment here is of short duration, for tomorrow we shall surely march on. I have not yet received today’s regimental orders, but I shall be able to add in a postscript the route that we shall take to the cantonment quarters in Silesia. I do know that this cantonment goes as far as Sagan in Silesia.
Werner is also in good health, and today I had to have him transferred to the regiment, as all the staff officers are having to do without their junior fouriers.
My horse is still fine and is getting along well.
When you write, the lieutenant colonel would probably be so kind as to enclose your letter with his mail.85
There is no special news of the regiment to report. In Nuremberg I was sorry to learn from First Lieutenant Rogenhofer that First Lieutenant Widnmann is said to have died. In case it should not be true, I beg you not to mention it to anyone.
Lieutenant Deltsch will therefore probably soon be sent to join the regiment, and, since my junior fourier must now also be armed and mounted, I beg you to be good enough to send us his helmet and coat, which you presumably have, through the kindness of Lieutenant Deltsch, who, I am sure, will be so kind as to take them along.
Continued on the 11th.
Today we are already in Bamberg. Tomorrow the quarters of the 2nd Brigade will be in Staffelstein, on the 13th in Kronach, and on the 14th in Steinwiesen, where on the 15th there will be a day of rest. I shall send you the subsequent route, which we already have in the orders of the day, as soon as I can get hold of it.
It is common rumour that the Saxons have set out pickets and outposts along the Prussian border.
According to reliable letters, Napoleon passed through Frankfurt on the Main on the 8th of this month.
Please pay my respects not only to Lieutenants Loe and Predel but also to all the others, as well as to all our friends. I had promised Lieutenant Predel to write when we moved into cantonment, but since this did not take place, and besides I have really not had the time, please make my apologies to him for this and give him my best regards.
Since my time is very limited, I can only tell you in haste and until a further opportunity presents itself that I shall always remain,
My dear parents’ most grateful son,
Franz
Letter No. 2
Unter-Rodach near Kronach
15 March 1812
Dearest Father and Mother,
I still cannot let an idle half-hour pass without writing to you, because we are still not very far away.
In my last letter I promised to send you the marching route as far as Silesia:
On the 12th we marched to Zeuln, ten hours, the 13th to Kronach, four hours, and the 14th to Unter-Rodach, 1½ hours away. Here we have a day of rest today, and the brigade staff arrives. On the 16th to Lobenstein, the 17th to Schleiz, the 18th to Auma, the 19th day of rest, the 20th to Gera, the 21st to Altenburg, the 22nd to Rochlitz, the 23rd day of rest, the 24th to Nossen, the 25th to Meissen near Leipzig, the 26th to Radeberg, the 27th to Kamenz, the 28th to Hoyerswerda, the 29th to Spremberg, the 30th to Muskau, the 31st to Sorau, from where the cantonment quarters will extend through Silesia as far as Sagan.
Since I wish I had a cap like the ones our soldiers wear - to give an example of the kind I mean - I would like, if possible, to have one made out of cornflower blue cloth, cut the same way but a little more nicely finished, and the gold tassel from my dark blue hat could be used on it.86 On no account should it cost very much. It should have only one fairly wide half-galloon [braid trim] of about one and a half inches, and a second of only one inch in width, and then it should be decorated with a gold cord. Only in the event that you have some cornflower blue cloth, or can easily get it, should you send this to me with Lieutenant Deltsch. If, however, you cannot get the cornflower blue cloth or have the entire cap made cheaply, then I would like to have the lieutenant bring me only the above-mentioned tassel, since in that case it might be easier for me to get such a cap.
The fouriers and sergeants have just arrived and given me your package, together with the letter inside it. I shall therefore answer it in haste.
I already regretfully learned of the death of First Lieutenant Widnmann on the 9th, when I was in Nuremberg.
I have often thought that I could use the maps, so I thank you very much for them, as well as for the socks, and I am also grateful for the chocolate and the watch chain.
I shall give the receipt to First Lieutenant Ebner and the note to Lieutenant Hergoth. I kiss your hand for the news that you sent, and, since I must hurry to close this letter in order to make the pouch for the Reserve Battalion, I can thus say no more except farewell, and may God keep for me my dear parents and keep for you,
Your ever grateful son,
Franz
Werner and Pluto are very well, but tomorrow’s march of eight hours will be another warm one for my little horse. My respects to all who know me, especially to Mrs Wisner, Mrs Siegert, etc. - and to Captain Fortis and family.
I shall write again when I have some free time. I wrote from Bamberg by post - I trust the letter has already arrived. In greatest haste.
Please put the letter to Kempten in the mail, and if a return letter should come from there please send it to me through battalion channels or otherwise.
Letter No. 3
Kupritz near Löbau
30 March 1812
Dearest Parents,
Since Captain von Xylander is returning to the Reserve Battalion tomorrow, I shall not fail to write to you at once, in order not to neglect any opportunity.
The day before yesterday we received the orders that the sashes for staff officers and superior officers of the infantry are to be discarded and replaced by gorgets.87 For this reason I am, by courtesy of our captain, at once sending you my sash with the box that belongs to it. I ask you, however, not to get rid of the sash, since the adjutants of the commanding officers as well as others must still wear one, but also, when you have an opportunity, to buy a gorget according to regulation specifications. The latter, however, is of no great urgency.
Up to now we have still had no relaxation except for the rest days, on which we were up to our necks in work anyway. As soon as we have any free time, though, I shall allot some money to you, but I shall let you know when I do.
The imminent departure of Captain von Xylander is responsible for this letter being written so poorly and incoherently.
Except for the 20th of this month, today has been the first fine day of our entire march. Palm Sunday, the 22nd, was especially noteworthy for its bad weather.
I did inform you in my last letter of our marching route, but this was changed in that we went from Meissen to Berbisdorf near Radeberg on the 26th, to Bischheim near Kamenz on the 28th, to Teichnitz near Bautzen on the 29th, and arrived here today. Tomorrow will be a day of rest again, and on April 1st the brigade staff will go to Görlitz, and on the 2nd to Luban, where further instructions will be given to us.
Today we are a quarter of an hour from Hochheim, where old Frederick of Prussia lost the great battle on the 14 October, 1758. I have seen the grave of Field Marshal Keith, as well as the battlefield.88 You might want to read about the life and deeds of Old Fritz in the officers’ private library, which Loe has. Then you will be able to imagine yourself right here and to find all the places that I visited today. The title of the book is ‘Lives and Deeds of the Greatest Army Commanders of Modern Times’.
Not only all the various staff and other officers but also I and all your friends are still healthy and well. Werner and Pluto are fine. The latter now has a brass collar.
There is little political news to report. I have given Major von Werndle my sash and the box, which you will receive from his wife. Please pay my respects to her when you do.
I am in very good health. I hope that you are also well. Be assured that I shall always remain,
In haste, my dear parents’ ever grateful son,
Franz
Lieutenant Deltsch should bring my spurs with him.
Letter No. 689
Cantonment quarters Wągrowiec
27 April 1812
Dearest Father and Best of Mothers,
On the 24th of this month I went to the Supreme War Commissariat [Ober-Kriegskommissariat] at Murawana Goślina in order personally to pick up the package that Mr Wisner brought with him, which I indeed received on that day. I immediately turned over to Franz Lindemeyer of the 1st Fusilier Company the 5 francs, 48 kreuzer and the letter. The helmet, coat and one pair of leggings for my orderly were contained in the package.
Yesterday evening we received orders that the entire corps was immediately to resume its march toward the Vistula. We shall cross the Vistula near Plock, and it really seems that things will now become serious. We have been here in cantonment for almost two weeks. The day and hour have not yet been set, but it is practically certain that we shall have left here by the 29th.
Werner, my horse, Pluto and I are in very good health. Up to now every officer has had his orderly, as usual, so I do not need a private servant. I have now taken Betz, who was with the major, as my regular aide.
Since Major von Fortis really has come up for his pension and will leave for the Reserve Battalion the day after tomorrow, I hasten to give him this letter before we march on.
Up to now I have consistently lived very well. I have even become so fat that almost everything is too tight for me.
Two weeks ago I wrote you that I had sent you an allotment of 20 francs per month beginning April 1st. I shall go by my circumstances and on that basis decide how long I shall keep sending this and whether I shall perhaps decrease it later. I did this mainly so that, in case we no longer received our pay, I would at least find something at home. For, if money is short, then everyone will be given a reduction in pay. We have received our pay for April.
I bought a horse from Major Fortis, the small brown one. I had all the more reason to do this, since we may now soon be in a situation where I will greatly need a second horse and where my safety may depend on this. Here in the entire vicinity, as you know, there is no usable horse to be had, and even if one could be procured, it might be too late. Therefore I bought it (because I also know it is very healthy and sound) for 105 francs with saddle and harness. The saddle and bridle, etc. are worth at least 3 louis d’or, so the horse costs me but 6½ louis d’or. If I can easily obtain another one I shall take it, too, just in case.
For the moment I have paid the major 25 francs, because I could not spare any more, and I ask you to pay the remaining 80 gulden from my monthly allotments.
If we should receive supplementary pay, I shall allot some of this in addition; how much, I shall write to you later, however.
Then Major von Fortis gave me a cooking pot, which is arranged very handily with a cover that serves as a soup dish, two small plates, a cup to cook something else in and for lather, then ladles, also a coffee set, all made of tin. Since, however, he had no idea what the cost should be, I told him just to tell you in Neuburg what it costs and you would pay him. So I ask you to do this, too, and then write me soon how much it cost, so that I also may know.
According to the Order of the Day of the 19th, our First Corps is the 19th Division of the Grand Army, and the Second Corps is the 20th Division. The Cavalry Brigade of the First Corps is the 21st, and that of the Second Corps is the 22nd Light Cavalry Brigade. We all belong to the VI Corps of the Army.
I have written Major von Fortis a receipt for the 80 francs that will be coming to you and have assured him in it that you will make monthly payments on this debt, in such a way that this sum will be paid off in eight months at the latest, and that, should supplementary pay be given out, I would turn over a certain amount of it to you.
Therefore be so kind as to pay off only as much of this as you can spare, for I am convinced that the major also does not expect any more. But please, dear parents, do not be angry that I overwhelm you with so many requests. I shall certainly seek to make it up to you, at least as far as that is possible for me.
Furthermore, I hope you both remain in the best of health. For this I pray earnestly to God, and He will surely preserve for you,
Your eternally grateful and most obedient,
Franz
P. S. When I was at the War Commissariat I did not see Wisner, because he was still in Posen with the commander in chief. He and I send regards to Lieutenant Strunz and to the whole group.
Since a pouch is just leaving, I am sending this letter with it. As yet - it is now six o’clock - we still do not have a marching route.
Letter No. 7
Wągrowiec
30 April 1812
Most Precious Dearest Parents,
The arrival of Dr Knittelmeier and also the departure of Major von Fortis make it necessary that I send you in haste another little note.
As I said, Dr Knittelmeier arrived here at four o’clock this evening and gave me not only your dear letter Letter No. 5 of the 12th of this month but also a box in which were a cap and three bars of chocolate. The cap is beautiful and has turned out beyond my expectations. It arouses all sorts of attention and is admired by all. The colonel immediately put it in a piece of paper and sent it to a local tailor. He wanted to have one made for himself, but no one was able to produce a similar one (which is to be expected in Poland). As mentioned above, I cannot tell you enough how well I like it. My dearest thanks for this I would whisper daily to you, if it were possible.
You have probably received my six earlier letters as, to keep them safe, I enclosed them in the pouch to the Reserve Battalion.
I have so far received all your letters, all of which, thank God, assure me of your continued good health. For my part I can assure you that I have never known myself to be in better health than I am* now. Please God that you both are also so, and then I am consoled. Werner, my two horses and little Pluto are very well.
I also learned that Lieutenant Deltsch has been replaced at Eichstädt, so he will surely soon be here.
I would like to know why Reichmann and Pfordten left the regiment, especially whether there was any unpleasantness or not.
Please give my thanks and respectful return greetings to Mrs and Miss von Fortis, Miss von Auer, Captains von Hardungh and Fortis, also to the lieutenants, etc. (Incidentally, in connection with the belt for hanging a sword on the wall, I have often thought of Miss von Auer.)
Our colonel is not to be moved in letting Lieutenant Loe come up until von Ebner gets to be captain. I have already gone to great pains in this matter, but there is nothing to be done. At any rate, he should not have thoughts of golden days in this present war, for there is surely no one here who would not like to be in his place. In short, Major von Fortis will make him aware of the pleasantries of the present campaign.
With regard to the [...] money, I would suggest asking the lieutenant colonel to have a letter written from the battalion about it. In the same way you should turn to him also in the matter of Lieutenant Heilmann, for the latter is well aware that the payments sent every quarter are to be used for that purpose. Furthermore, in this respect I would not be too polite but would inform the lieutenant colonel of these debts (without accusing the officer) and ask him to have them paid off.
You write that you have not paid for the cornflower blue cloth for the hat. I would therefore like to know whether it should be taken from my pay or how it might otherwise be paid in the most expeditious manner. If I know, then I can allow for it, so that it is not paid for twice.
Major Werndle, Captain Wagner, etc. will soon also be coming. The lieutenants will therefore soon be able to experience the happy life of their dreams and judge for themselves. I was very upset over Reigersberg’s death, for I did not yet know of it, nor did anyone in the regiment.
Major von Fortis will tell you the marching route from here to Plock, since I do not have the time to add it here. It still does not look dangerous, because we have had our marching route since the 28th and are not leaving until May 3rd.
In my last letter I wrote you that I had bought a horse from Major von Fortis and still owed 80 francs on it. The major is leaving on 1 May at 3 a.m., so I must hasten to close and venture to sign myself as always,
My dearest parents’ eternally faithful and obedient,
Franz
Pluto has been half-shaved, but he does not like it at all, for he is always scratching.
My respects to all who know me.
Letter No. 8
Radziejow
6 May 1812
Dearest Parents,
Since Captain Wagner is leaving here tomorrow, I shall not neglect the opportunity to give him a note.
I do not doubt that you all continue to be in good health. I, at least, am quite satisfied. I have again become so accustomed to marching that I do not feel quite right when we rest!
Following Major von Werndle’s request (to be transferred to the Reserve Battalion), the Supreme Command decided that, as soon as another staff officer replaces Major von Fortis with the regiment, Major von Werndle can begin his return journey without further ado. Now we are very curious to see what sort of a staff officer will come here.
Captain Seyda will also, as I learned in confidence, receive his pension.
Our marching route was: on the 3rd from our cantonment at Wągrowiec to Rogowo, the 4th to Mogilno, the 5th to Kobylniki and today here. For tomorrow we know only that we shall spend the night near Brzesc, and the day after tomorrow we shall again go into cantonment near Kowal. How long this will last remains to be seen.
I have packed the cap into my travel bag so that it will not be ruined.
Now it is finally beginning to get warm. The sun has been burning down on us for three days, and for this reason we always break camp between 4 and 5 in the morning. Until now the weather has been dreadfully raw and cold, and we even had snow as recently as two weeks ago. But the days are already long, and one can see without a light from 3.30 in the morning until 9 in the evening. And in general, this is a beautiful, blessed stretch of country.
Our practising regimental doctor, Dr Blume, came to us today.
Now surely an army order will have come out in Neuburg. We have great hopes, for here First Lieutenants Schmeckenbecher, Saint-Sauveur and Grebmer are already in command of companies.
Since I know of no news, the only reason for writing is to tell you once again that I am, thank God, still in good health, and I hope to learn of the same from you. Your letters I have already answered.
Deltsch has probably left already, and Reichmann must be leaving soon. Therefore Predel also has hopes. Likewise the lieutenant colonel will also probably follow.
While I entrust you, dearest Parents, and myself to the protection of God, I mention that our colonel and all the rest are well, and I beg you to pay my respects to Major Fortis’ wife and all the officers, and also to Miss von Auer.
Furthermore, I shall ever remain, my dearest parents’ most loyal and obedient,
Franz.
Werner, Betz, both horses and Pluto are well and send greetings.
Letter No. 9
Choceń near Kowal, Poland
14 May 1812
Best of Parents,
Since Captain Baron Seyda now has received permission to return to the Reserve Battalion, I shall therefore not miss the opportunity to direct a note to you through him.
Captain Lahsberg is no longer here, since he departed the day before yesterday, and he left too quickly for me to be able to give him a letter. Seyda is still here, however, and I have asked him not only to take this letter along but also personally to convince you of my good health when he delivers it.
This time, as I have so often said, I find Poland much changed. Major von Werndle, I, Captain Leistle and Dr Faust are quartered here at the home of a baron who has a large estate. His favourite son among three died the day before yesterday, and the family is almost inconsolable over the loss. We are nicely situated, only we miss our daily wine. I have made up to these people a little, and I get wine quite often, as does the major.
By now you have probably received my Letter No. 8 of the 6th through Captain Wagner. Our further marching route from Radziejow is as follows: the 7th Lubranice, the 8th Kempka, the 10th here, where we have been in cantonment since then. The army orders of 15 April did not reach us until the 8th.
Major Werndle sends greetings to you and is daily expecting to return to the Reserve Battalion.
There is a strong rumour that all the guard and grenadier companies will soon march to Warsaw for the coronation of the King of Poland, and then the troops are to return to their homes. Fine, but I cannot believe the latter.
When you receive the money that I have allotted, please notify me. Stay well and happy, for that is the heartfelt wish of,
Your eternally obedient son,
Franz
P.S. Lieutenant Deltsch has not arrived yet. I have already duly acknowledged receipt of the cap.
Letter No. 10
Spaki near Mlawa
28 May 1812
The Feast of Corpus Christi
Best of Parents,
Since Major von Werndle is leaving here very early tomorrow and returning to Neuburg, I shall not miss the chance to write to you at once.
Captain Seyda must have already brought you my last letter. Our continued marching route was as follows. We broke camp on the 19th, crossed the Vistula near Włocławek and marched to Ostrowit. On the 20th the entire corps had to pass in review near Lipno before His Imperial Majesty the Viceroy of Italy [Eugène de Beauharnais], who is the supreme commander of all the troops stationed here. After that we manoeuvred for a few hours and then moved back into our old quarters. The 21st we marched to Dobrzyń, where we stayed until the 24th. The 25th to Sudragi, the 26th to Glinkę, the 27th to Kowalewo, and today here. Tomorrow we shall camp near Janowiec, and so it now appears that we are headed for Königsberg [Kaliningrad]. I am well satisfied, especially since the day after tomorrow we shall be in Prussia, where we can again talk to the people, as Janowiec lies on the Polish border.
I have no doubts that you are both in good health. Major von Werndle will tell you himself how I am.
Up to now no one here has any other news either.
I send my greetings not only to Major von Fortis but also to Lieutenant Loe and the other gentlemen.
Since I had to snatch a half hour from the night and the major is departing immediately, I must close, and I entrust both of you and myself to God’s care. For the rest, I am in greatest haste, and I remain,
My dear parents’ most obedient,
Franz
P S. Major von Werndle will tell you how we are doing. The last letter I received from you was No. 5.
Letter No. 11
Kowalewo near Szrensk in the
District of Mlawa and Department of Plock
4 June 1812
Most Precious Parents,
Now surely, I believe, you will soon be receiving letters from me often enough, for every other moment there is an opportunity to have letters taken home, only it is lamentable that one must always hurry so much in writing, for, in the first place, we of the 2nd Battalion staff are far away from the 1st Battalion, and, secondly, he who has permission to return sees to it that he gets out of Poland quickly, as one can readily imagine. On the 28th of last month I wrote to you through Major von Werndle, and tomorrow First Lieutenant Rainprechter is also returning to the Reserve Battalion, so I shall give him this letter.
I hope and pray earnestly that you both may be in as good health as I am, only I still cannot comprehend how it is that since your fifth letter of the 12th of April, which 1 received on the 30th of the same month through Knittelmeier, I have not received any more.
Major von Werndle left Spaki on the 29th of last month, so I shall add only the following marching route: the 29th to Bokrzywnicia near Janowiec on the Prussian border. There we camped until the 3rd of this month, and then we returned here covering two days’ march in one, and we shall stay in cantonment here for a while. I saw Wisner once recently, but only on the march. Fie is very well and sends greetings to you both and to his mother.
There is no news here at all. Many things are mentioned, but one may not and cannot repeat them. This much is a fact, that at the Polish border a few hundred Cossacks came into Polish territory to forage, and when this was perceived by the Poles, they chased the intruders back across the border and made prisoners of about 200 of them. Shortly thereafter, the Russians withdrew entirely from the border and retreated about ten miles into their country. However, they devastated and ruined this stretch along the border completely and took their subjects with them into the interior of the land, where, it is said, they will be recompensed for their losses. Such is the common talk here, but actually I have not seen it.
Up to now no officer has yet come from the Reserve Battalion, but Lieutenant Deltsch has been appointed to the 6th Fusilier Company, Reichmann to the 7th and Predel to the 2nd. Lieutenant Lutz will therefore have to follow for First Lieutenant Rainprechter. At present we have Major von Rogeville of the 3rd Regiment assigned to us. I suspect, however, that the lieutenant colonel and Major Merz will soon show up, so that once again we shall have some of our own men in the 2nd Battalion.
Our colonel and all the rest of the regiment are still in good health. At first we had very few sick, but the poor drinking water and the raging heat, which has been prevalent for some days, are causing a number of cases of sickness again.
Now we shall soon be at the point, as six years ago at Pułtusk, where there is no more night, for it is light now until after 11 o’clock. At Spaki we were not far from Lisno and Przaznitz, where we were encamped in 1807. You were at that time with the Leibkompanie on a hill in a village where Maier deserted with that woman.90 I visited this village again.
We have already received the Army Order No. 4 of 18 May, which turned out miserably for our regiment, but this does not satisfy me, for I believe that by the time this letter reaches you another will have come out that will serve us better.
Please let me know what the kettle and mess kit from Major Fortis cost.
Please pay my respects to Miss von Auer as well as to all the officers and Mrs and Miss von Fortis.
May you be healthy, well and happy. Do not be concerned about me, for I am lacking nothing but the presence of my dearest parents, and be assured that 1 shall always remain,
My dearest parents’ most obedient son,
Franz
Letter No. 12
Kowalewo
9 June 1812
Dearest Father and Mother,
Lieutenant Deltsch arrived here on the 7th and immediately sent me everything from Kowalewko, where he and Captain Schmitz are in cantonment and which is a quarter of an hour away from here. This was all correct as stated in the letter, for which I am very indebted, and I mention only that I have not used up the coffee, sugar and chocolate that I already had, since there has not been need so far. I do, however, thank you very much for all this. The ham and mustard will serve me especially well. I would only wish that I could keep it for when I will need it. Now to answer your letter No. 7 of the 11th of last month.
It is certainly amazing that Major von Fortis covered this trip in ten days, but Lieutenant Deltsch likewise made good time, because he was only on the road 21 days to here, and it is considerably more difficult to come in this direction, because the constant troop movements cause very great delay.
I still have not received Letter No. 6, which dates, as you write, from the 4th of last month. I would like to know whether it was to come by itself in the mail or was included in a pouch to the regiment.
We received the French decree the day before yesterday, sent to the regiment via the brigade. As our colonel insists, however, and as I myself realise, it can have no reference to those who were born to servicemen.
I have sold Lieutenant Predel my sword for 5 francs, 30 kreuzer or, rather, for a ducat. Therefore, in case he does not agree to the 5½ francs, then he will surely remember the ducat, which is the same to me, if he pays the latter in gold. At present, thank God, I still do not need money, for I have always got along on the balance of my pay, and my 5 louis d’or are still a nest-egg, and so I have need of nothing.
We have now been authorised the two bonus payments but have not yet been paid in cash. I shall allot you a round sum, which will amount to about one and a half times my regular pay, and keep a half payment here. Only I am not yet positive what I shall receive, and therefore I cannot make a definite decision. We have also been put on a wartime pay scale since 1 April, but there will hardly be any pay increase for me, because an adjutant even in peacetime draws an additional allowance for his horse, while a company officer receives only six francs for that. Besides, there is no longer any allowance for the junior fouriers. My two lads, Werner and Betz, my two horses and my little Pluto are in fine health.
Lieutenant Deltsch tells me that the colonel has received a cap like mine from Major von Fortis, only the tassel of his is much more elegant. These are therefore the only two of this kind that exist. In your letter you write the following: ‘Upon receipt of it (the money from Heilmann)
I shall pay in cash for the cornflower blue cloth, which comes to only f. 44 kr.’ Since I cannot work out how many gulden this amounts to, please mention this in a letter.
N.B. The following is not to be broadcast around: I can readily believe that the wife of M[ajor] v. W. was not happy that her husband returned to the Reserve Battalion, for he had not announced his intention to her beforehand and received her permission. The good man is to be pitied.
In my humble opinion you should not procure too much for me, unless it is something that you happen to get very cheaply, and send me very little or even nothing at all, for the situation could now develop that we might be very far away, and that very soon, and then something that does not keep well might spoil and could moreover get lost because of the great distance. I thank you very kindly, furthermore, that you have paid off Major von Forits and others so promptly, and I therefore ask you to cover the debts with the money that is gradually to be paid to you in allotments and to keep any balance for yourself as recompense. The more so, because I shall get money from the colonel if I should need it for any reason, and this then can be repaid upon my return.
The mustard container probably became somewhat soft from the heat, but all it did was to spot the three enclosed letters a little. Nothing leaked out of it, however, and the can itself was still tightly closed.
What an infamous lie that Corporal Fink is dead! He is now just as lively and healthy as before. He became sick in Wągrowiec and had a serious haemorrhage, but he has long since been back with the company, for I just recently saw him lying sick along the road, when we marched from 5 in the morning until 10 at night on the way here. So it is a lie, as many another thing.
When we get to eat the ham, etc., which can only take place in bivouac, then Deltsch will certainly not be forgotten. Anyway, I am greatly looking forward to our first day in camp.
The room that you have moved into sounds very pleasant, and I presume that you are living in it by yourselves. Should, contrary to expectation, the request be made that you take in others, of course nothing could be done about it then, but I beg you to inform me of this at once, so that I might see the commander about possibly making other arrangements.
I have never doubted that you of the Reserve Battalion would have plenty to do, but I ask only that you yourself not do too much.
It is indeed strange that we are so unlucky with canaries. Surely Isabel and the males that were hanging in my room are still alive.
You wrote that by the time Lieutenant Deltsch arrived here I would know more. Today I told Lieutenant Deltsch: Ha! More? On the contrary, we know less. Back there you at least know a ‘perhaps’ that might be reasonable, but we, we know nothing at all now, except that we are lying here and shall soon have nothing more to eat. For the first time in more than three weeks it rained today, but this will do little good unless more rain follows, for in this constantly dry, sandy soil it could rain every day. If the weather had been good we should have had hay long ago, but now the grass has dried up. In addition, many a man has the misfortune that his horses do not eat grass, but mine like it. I let them graze for three hours every day. At first there was a good stand of grain and all crops, but because of the continuous heat, which increased so in one day, nearly all the seeds dried up. We were anticipating a long-deferred harvest as last year, but if today’s rain keeps up, things may still turn out all right. On the 24th of last month we still had snow in Dobrzyń, but on the 25th the march to Sudragi was scarcely bearable because of the heat; thus on the night of the 24th to the 25th winter departed into summer, without thought of any spring, and since then we have been living with the heat.
There is much talk here, but much of it is not true. I therefore sell you the rumours as I have purchased them, as follows:
His Majesty Emperor Napoleon is said to have toured all the borders of Poland incognito; however, it is not known if this is true. He takes along a few hundred windmills, an equal number of wagons with soup or bouillon tablets, fire fighting equipment, several hundred labourers of all sorts.91 From this it is concluded that he will march through Russia to India [‘Ostindien’, ‘East India’ in original]. Russia may or may not satisfy his desires; he will go through quietly or by force. The trip from here to India would take at least a year. The reason for taking possession of India can reportedly be guessed by taking England into account. But enough of this.92
According to all appearances we are waiting here until all the French have passed, for they frequently march ahead. It could probably be true that we and the Poles will form a reserve corps.
Incidentally, thank you for the good advice in regard to my health and my deportment. I assure you that I will follow it.
Sergeant Höblinger is going to the Reserve Battalion, and therefore I am sending this letter to the regimental staff at Szrensk, so that he can take it with him. By the way, I am going to stop writing by the ordinary mail because of security.
I have the rank list of the officers in my possession, because I intend to keep it up to date and will make a note of all promotions and other items.
I am happy that all payments are still coming in regularly to you. With us, at least, such is not the case, for we have not yet received our pay for May.
The major’s assurance that we have so far suffered no need is true. But I fear that we might soon feel the pinch.
We are very comfortably situated at the home of a pensioned Polish colonel, but the men are no longer getting all the necessities. For example, the bad drinking water is notorious. Brandy is now also lacking, and, as I said before, there has been a dearth of straw for a considerable time, and most of the buildings have been stripped of their thatch.
Now I have answered your 11-page letter, and I only regret that it was not longer, for you know that I much prefer reading letters to writing them. Therefore I beg you to forgive me for stopping now, but time - since I do not know whether Sergeant Höblinger might not leave early tomorrow - and the uncertainty of several items of news cause me to close and to beg of you to keep him in constant memory who dares to call himself,
My dear parents’ eternally obedient son,
Franz
Please do not forget to give my regards to Majors von Fortis and von Werndle, to the lieutenant colonel, and to all other friends.
The latest news that is making the rounds is that at the first cannon shot the Austrians will rush to our support from Galicia with 160,000 men.
The day before yesterday the following order allegedly appeared here: His Imperial Majesty the King of Italy has commanded that in future no proclamations or appeals shall any longer be printed. Moreover, everyone is to continue talking about peace; nevertheless, no one may pass the outposts without a pass from the minister of foreign affairs, von Posso (or whatever his name is),93 except for couriers and liaison officers, who must legitimise themselves by means of their dispatches. All foreigners entering at these outposts are to be taken to the nearest corps commander. It is correct that this was in an order of the day, but I ask you not to let it be spread around that I told you about it.