APPENDIX

THE TRACHENBERG CONVENTION

Convention signed at Trachenberg on July 12, 1813, as a basis for the operations of the campaign.

The following general principles have been decided: the Allied forces will always mass on the side of the larger enemy forces. As a consequence:

1. The corps which have to conduct operations on the enemy flanks or rear will always cut as direct as possible the enemy line of operations.
2. The larger Allied force must select a position which enables it to face the enemy wherever he advances. The salient of Bohemia seems to be proper to enable it. According to this principle, the combined armies will have to occupy the following positions before the end of the armistice.

A part of the Allied army in Silesia (98,000 to 100,000 troops) will join as soon as possible, by the routes between Landshut and Gratz, the Austrian Army in order to form with it a 200,000 to 220,000 strength [army group] in Bohemia.

The army of the Crown Prince of Sweden [Bernadotte], while leaving a 15,000- to 20,000-strength [sic] corps screening the Danish and French from Lübeck to Hamburg, will mass approximately 70,000 troops near Trauenbrutzen. As soon as the armistice comes to an end, this army will cross the Elbe River between Torgau and Magdeburg, then move toward Leipzig.

The rest of the Allied army in Silesia, with 50,000 soldiers, will follow the enemy toward the Elbe River. This army will avoid committing itself except in the case of an extremely favorable situation. Once on the Elbe River, this force will try to cross the river between Torgau and Dresden in order to join the Crown Prince of Sweden’s army. The strength will be therefore 120,000 troops. If however, there is a need, to reinforce the Allied army in Bohemia, this army instead of joining the Swedish army, will move quickly to Bohemia.

The Austrian part of the Allied force will advance either by Eger of by Hoff, or in Saxony, Silesia, or along the Danube.

If Emperor Napoleon decides to march to fight the Bohemian army, the Crown Prince of Sweden’s army will try as quickly as possible to reach the enemy’s rear. If, on the contrary, Napoleon moves toward the Swedish army, the Allied army will conduct a vigorous offensive operation through the enemy communications to join battle. All armies will make the enemy camp the point of rendezvous.

The Russian army (reserve) led by General Bennigsen will move from the Vistula River to the Oder by Kalisch in the direction of Glogau in order to be capable of moving toward the enemy if he stays in Silesia, or denying him the ability to invade Poland.

Note: Translation of the Trachenberg Convention from the original French courtesy of Major Jean Parlanti, Army of the Republic of France. Charles William Vane, Marquess of Londonderry, Narrative of the War in German and France in 1813 and 1814 (London: Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1830), 373–73.