Battle of Champaubert
Battle of Champaubert | |||||||
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Part of the cuirassiers at the Battle of Champaubert, by Jean-Charles Langlois (1840) | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
France | Russia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Napoleon Bonaparte Auguste de Marmont | Zakhar Olsufiev (POW) | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
5,000[1] |
4,000[1]–5,000[2] 24 guns[1] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
200[2]–600[1] |
2,400[1]–4,000[2] 9 guns lost[1] | ||||||
The Battle of Champaubert (10 February 1814) was the opening engagement of the Six Days' Campaign. It was fought between a French army led by Emperor Napoleon and a small Russian corps commanded by Lieutenant General Count Zakhar Dmitrievich Olsufiev. After putting up a good fight, the Russian formation was destroyed; the survivors escaped into the woods while Olsufiev became a French prisoner. Champaubert is located in France, 46 kilometres (29 mi) west of Châlons-en-Champagne and 69 kilometres (43 mi) east of Meaux.
After defeating
Prelude
Allied pursuit
On 1 February 1814, Prussian field marshal
On 3 February, Napoleon's army reached Troyes after completely breaking contact with the Allies the previous day. On 4 February, Schwarzenberg wrote his colleague Blücher that he was moving farther south in order to turn Napoleon's right flank.[6] The next day, Russian General Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly ordered Alexander Nikitich Seslavin's scouting force from Schwarzenberg's right flank to the left flank without notifying Blücher. Since the Prussian field marshal did not have a liaison officer with Seslavin's force he did not realize that no one was watching for French forces in the space on his left flank. Also on 5 February, Napoleon decided to abandon Troyes and fall back to Nogent-sur-Seine. He planned to contain Schwarzenberg with part of his army while attacking Blücher.[7]
Having prepared for a grand assault on Troyes, Schwarzenberg found the place empty of French troops on 7 February. He decided to let his troops rest for the next two days.
At the end of January a 10,000–11,000-man French corps under Marshal
On 8 February, Sacken's cavalry reached Viels-Maisons while his infantry was to the east at Montmirail. Olsufiev's corps was 12 miles (19 km) farther east at Étoges while Blücher established his headquarters another 9 miles (14 km) east at Vertus. Kaptzevich and Kleist were 16 miles (26 km) east of their army commander in Châlons-sur-Marne. Yorck's corps was in the Marne valley at least 12 miles (19 km) to the north, separated by bad roads. The Army of Silesia was now spread across a front of 44 miles (71 km). Blucher assumed that Seslavin would report any danger coming from the south. That night, when his Cossacks were driven out of Sézanne, Sacken did not bother to report the incident to Blücher. In fact, it was Napoleon's leading corps under Marshal Auguste de Marmont.[12]
French offensive
Napoleon left 39,000 troops to contain Schwarzenberg's Army of Bohemia. The formations were Oudinot's VII Corps, Marshal
On 9 February, MacDonald slipped across the Marne at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, just ahead of Sacken.[12] That day, Kaptzevich and Kleist rendezvoused with Blücher at Vertus, Olsufiev marched west to Champaubert, Sacken reached La Ferté-sous-Jouarre and Yorck was at Château-Thierry. According to Karl Freiherr von Müffling of Blücher's staff, the Army of Silesia counted 57,000 men, including Sacken's 20,000, Yorck's 18,000 and Kaptzevich, Olsufiev and Kleist with a combined 19,000. Marmont's cavalry advance guard appeared at Talus-Saint-Prix on the Petit Morin River. Because the horsemen soon withdrew, Blücher's chief of staff August Neidhardt von Gneisenau believed they represented no danger. When Schwarzenberg asked the Prussian field marshal to support his right flank corps under Peter Wittgenstein, Blücher ordered Kaptzevich and Kleist to march southwest to Sézanne the next day. Olsufiev was ordered to march south from Champaubert. That night, Blücher finally received news that Napoleon was at Sézanne.[15] Nevertheless, Gneisenau authorized Sacken to continue the pursuit of MacDonald to the west.[16]
Napoleon's soldiers plodded along roads deep in mud from days of rain. The men had to suffer hunger pangs when the provision wagons failed to turn up. The bogged artillery was only brought forward when the rural inhabitants in large numbers helped haul the guns through the mud. At first the French population had resigned itself to the Allied invasion, but after suffering at the hands of the Russians and Prussians, the people were eager to assist the army.[2] On 10 February, as Blücher accompanied the column of Kaptzevich and Kleist while it marched toward Sézanne, the sound of artillery began to rumble ominously to the right near Champaubert.[16]
Battle
Forces
Action
On 10 February Napoleon moved against Blücher's over-extended army in the hope of smashing it. He caught Olsufiev's IX Corps of 5,000 Russians near the village of
Olsufiev's pickets were overrun by 10:00 am and although badly outnumbered, the Russian decided to fight rather than retreat.[2] His decision was based partly on the mistaken hope that he would get reinforcements from Blücher in time to prevent a disaster.[17] The correct decision would have been to retreat east to Étoges, but the Russian general had been criticized for the loss of the château during the Battle of Brienne on 29 January. He was also blamed for mishandling his troops at La Rothière and Sacken wanted him hauled before a court-martial.[19] In the circumstances, Olsufiev chose to battle it out in order to clear his name.[2] He did, however, send messengers to the Prussian army commander telling his superior what was occurring.[19] In the event, Blücher brushed aside Olsufiev's couriers, insisting that Napoleon was not on the scene and that the attackers were no more than 2,000 French partisans.[20]
Lagrange's division angled to the left toward Bannay, led by the 2nd Light Infantry Regiment and a marine battalion, while Ricard's division marched straight toward Baye. Olsufiev sent Evstafi Evstafievich Udom with two jäger infantry battalions to clear the French skirmishers out of Baye. As the French pressure increased, Udom was reinforced so that he had the 10th, 12th, 22nd and 38th Jäger Regiments and six guns.[18] Around 11:00 am Ricard pressed Udom's troops back into Baye and the nearby woods.[19] Olsufiev sent a brigade and six guns to hold the right flank while the bulk of his corps deployed between Baye and Bannay. The French brought 12 guns into action as more and more of their soldiers passed the bridge and arrived on the field. Pierre Pelleport's brigade led Lagrange's division as it assaulted Bannay. At 1:00 pm Olsufiev was still holding out on his forward position.[18] At that hour, the Russian commander held a council of war in which his generals voted for a retreat to Étoges. Olsufiev refused, saying that he had specific orders to hold Champaubert.[20]
Seeing that a small wood was the key to the position, Marmont organized a general attack. He sent the 113th Line Infantry forward deployed in skirmish order. Assisted by a horse artillery battery from I Cavalry Corps and a lancer squadron under Cyrille-Simon Picquet, Ricard's division captured Baye. Lagrange attacked between Baye and Bannay.[18] Ney's divisions began to arrive and his guns pounded Bannay. Bordesoulle's cavalry on the right and Jean-Pierre Doumerc's on the left began edging around the Russian flanks.[19] The 7th Battalion of the 4th Light Infantry were the first French troops to occupy Baye while Pelleport's brigade took Bannay. Olsufiev pulled back and established a new line at the Andecy Farm. As French cavalry began to envelop both flanks, the Russian withdrew again toward Champaubert.[21]
Since the terrain favored the French on the west flank, Lagrange launched an attack on that side. Without proper artillery support, the French infantry were stopped and thrown back by the concentrated fire of 24 Russian guns. Numerous French Guard field pieces, slowed by the mud, soon appeared and provided a rallying point for Lagrange's men. After taking a detour, Doumerc's horsemen appeared at Fromentières on the highway west of Champaubert. When Olsufiev received reports that the road east to Châlons was also blocked, he resolved to cut his way out in that direction. The Russian commander directed Prince Konstantin Poltoratsky with the Apsheron and Nacheburg Infantry Regiments and nine guns to hold Champaubert, while he attacked east toward Étoges with the bulk of his troops. Olsufiev's breakout attempt failed.[21]
With his artillery posted at the Champaubert crossroads, Poltoratsky's brigade drove off several cavalry charges. In fierce fighting with the bayonet, Ricard's soldiers captured the village, lost it to a counterattack, then clawed their way back into a few houses. After failing to cut his way out to the east, about 3:00 pm Poltoratsky began a fighting withdrawal to the north with his men in square formation. Heading for the village of La Caure, his soldiers kept the French back with regular volleys. About 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Champaubert they began to run out of ammunition and their ranks began to show unsteadiness. The French demanded that Poltoratsky capitulate and when he refused, they brought up a horse artillery battery and began blasting his troops with canister shot. Instead of being a possible refuge, the nearby woods turned out to be filled with French skirmishers. With his men being mown down by canister and riddled by musketry, Poltoratsky finally agreed to surrender his two regiments and cannons.[22]
After failing to force its way to Étoges, Olsufiev's main body veered to the north in an attempt to escape. Near La Caure, while maneuvering to enter a swampy forest, he exposed one of his flanks. Spotting the tactical error, Marmont ordered a brigade of Bordesoulle's
Aftermath
According to
When Blücher heard about Olsufiev's disaster, he ordered Kaptzevich and Kleist to turn around and make a night march back to Vertus. Sacken, who had marched west to Trilport, was ordered to return to Montmirail. Yorck was requested to meet Sacken near Montmirail while holding open an escape route over the Marne at Château-Thierry. After the battle, Napoleon found himself squarely in the middle of the overextended Army of Silesia. If he advanced to the east, he would merely push the corps of Kaptzevich and Kleist back. A move to the west held the possibility of trapping and destroying the forces under Sacken and Yorck, so he turned west. Napoleon ordered Marmont with Lagrange's division and the I Cavalry Corps to hold Étoges and keep Blücher under observation. At 7:00 pm the emperor directed Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty with two cavalry divisions to occupy Montmirail. They were to be joined there in the morning by Ricard's division and the divisions under Ney and Mortier.[26] The Battle of Montmirail was fought the next day against Sacken and Yorck.[27]
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Bodart 1908, p. 471.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Chandler 1966, p. 969.
- ^ Smith 1998, pp. 491–493.
- ^ Petre 1994, p. 37.
- ^ Petre 1994, p. 43.
- ^ Petre 1994, p. 44.
- ^ Petre 1994, p. 46.
- ^ Petre 1994, p. 47.
- ^ Petre 1994, p. 52.
- ^ Petre 1994, pp. 17–18.
- ^ Petre 1994, p. 94.
- ^ a b Petre 1994, p. 55.
- ^ a b Petre 1994, p. 53.
- ^ Chandler 1979, p. 87.
- ^ Petre 1994, pp. 56–57.
- ^ a b c Petre 1994, p. 58.
- ^ a b Pawly 2012, pp. 21–22.
- ^ a b c d Nafziger 2015, p. 140.
- ^ a b c d Petre 1994, p. 59.
- ^ a b c d Nafziger 2015, p. 143.
- ^ a b Nafziger 2015, p. 141.
- ^ a b Nafziger 2015, p. 142.
- ^ Smith 1998, p. 494.
- ^ Petre 1994, pp. 58–60.
- ^ Nafziger 2015, p. 609.
- ^ Petre 1994, pp. 60–61.
- ^ Chandler 1966, pp. 972–973.
References
- Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618–1905). Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- Chandler, David G. (1966). The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York: Macmillan.
- ISBN 0-02-523670-9.
- ISBN 978-1-909982-96-3.
- Pawly, Ronald (2012), Napoleon's Scouts of the Imperial Guard (unabridged ed.), Osprey Publishing, ]
- ISBN 1-85367-163-0.
- ISBN 1-85367-276-9.
Further reading
- Alison, Archibald (1842). History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution to the Restoration of the Bourbons. Vol. 10. Paris: Baudry's European Library. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
External links
- Media related to Battle of Champaubert at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Battle of the Mincio River (1814) |
Napoleonic Wars Battle of Champaubert |
Succeeded by Battle of Montmirail |