Battle of Prenzlau

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Battle of Prenzlau
Part of the
Simeon Fort (1793–1861).
Date28 October 1806[1]
Location
Prenzlau, Brandenburg, Germany
53°19′N 13°52′E / 53.317°N 13.867°E / 53.317; 13.867
Result French victory[1]
Belligerents
France French Empire Kingdom of Prussia Prussia
Commanders and leaders
France Joachim Murat
Prince Hohenlohe  Surrendered
Strength
12,000, 12 guns 10,000[1]-12,000, 64 guns
Casualties and losses
Slight 3,500 killed or captured in battle
10,000 surrendered[1]
64 guns
War of the Fourth Coalition
Map
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200km
125miles
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⬤ current battle
⬤ Napoleon not in command
⬤ Napoleon in command

In the Battle of Prenzlau or Capitulation of Prenzlau on 28 October 1806 two divisions of

Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen. In this action from the War of the Fourth Coalition, Hohenlohe surrendered his entire force to Murat after some fighting and a parley. Prenzlau is located about 90 kilometers north of Berlin in Brandenburg
.

After their catastrophic defeat at the

Oder River
. Part of Napoleon's army thrust east to seize Berlin, while the rest followed the retreating Prussians. From Berlin, Murat moved north with his cavalry, trying to head off Hohenlohe.

After several clashes on 26 and 27 October, Murat arrived at Prenzlau on the heels of Hohenlohe's corps. Fighting occurred in which several Prussian units were captured or cut to pieces. Murat then bluffed the demoralized Hohenlohe into surrendering his entire corps by claiming that the Prussians were surrounded by overwhelming forces. In fact, apart from a brigade of infantry, only Murat's cavalry were in the vicinity. In the days afterward, the French cowed several more Prussian forces and fortresses into surrendering. Finding its way to the northeast blocked, a second corps of retreating Prussians under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher veered northwest toward Lübeck.

Background

Jena-Auerstadt

On 8 October 1806, Napoleon's 180,000-strong army invaded the Electorate of Saxony through the Franconian Forest. His troops were massed in a batallion carré (battalion square) made up of three columns of two army corps each, plus the Imperial Guard, the Cavalry Reserve, and a Bavarian contingent.[2]

Print by Richard Knötel showing Prussian stragglers and wounded after the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
The Battle of Jena-Auerstedt shattered the Prussian armies, by Richard Knötel.

Opposing the French army were three semi-independent Prussian-Saxon armies, the first led by

Eugene Frederick Henry, Duke of Württemberg's Reserve lay far to the north at Magdeburg.[4]

Marshal

Louis Davout at Auerstedt.[10] The Prussian armies were beaten and driven from both battlefields. Brunswick's army lost 13,000 casualties and 115 artillery pieces, while the casualties of Hohenlohe and Rüchel may have reached 25,000.[11]

Retreat west of the Elbe

Portrait of Gebhard von Blücher in a dark cloak with military collar showing
Blücher stepped into the command void.

In

dragoons attached.[15] On 17 October, Bernadotte inflicted heavy losses on Eugene of Württemberg's Reserve at the Battle of Halle.[16]

By 20 October, Hohenlohe and the survivors of the Reserve reached Magdeburg. Kalckreuth crossed the Elbe at Tangermünde before handing over his command in order to take up a new post in Poland.[17] Blücher was east of Brunswick marching for the Elbe with Saxe-Weimar a day's march behind him at Salzgitter[18] On the 20th, Soult and Murat arrived before Magdeburg. Murat sent his chief of staff Augustin Daniel Belliard to demand its surrender, which was refused by Hohenlohe. However, the Prussians foolishly allowed Belliard into the city without a blindfold. He reported back to Murat that Hohenlohe's main body was still in the city and that great confusion prevailed.[17] Davout seized Wittenberg on the 20th, with the local people assisting his troops in putting out a fire and preventing a powder magazine from being blown up. Consequently, 140,000 pounds of gunpowder and a valuable Elbe River crossing fell into French hands. Lannes seized a second bridgehead at Dessau.[19]

Retreat east of the Elbe

Prenzlau-Lubeck Campaign Map, October–November 1806
Prenzlau-Lubeck Campaign Map, October–November 1806

Leaving Marshal

Emmanuel Grouchy's 2nd Dragoon Division trailed behind. Bernadotte, Soult, and Sahuc's 4th Dragoon Division formed the left wing. Louis Klein's 1st Dragoon Division was split between assisting Ney and patrolling the line of communications. Smith supplied the cavalry division numbers.[21]

Portrait of an older Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg in Prussian uniform with decorations
Ludwig Yorck

Under orders from King Frederick William III of Prussia to march for the Oder, Hohenlohe's corps set out from Magdeburg on the morning of 21 October. He reinforced the garrison with 9,000 men, but in the confusion other units and 39 field guns stayed in the fortress so that 25,000 troops were left behind. That evening, Hohenlohe reached Burg bei Magdeburg where he gathered up Kalckreuth's column.[22] His main body arrived at Genthin on the evening of the 22nd and Rathenow at nightfall on the 23rd. In order to feed his troops better, he split his command up into several columns.[23]

On the 24th, Blücher crossed the Elbe at

Neustadt an der Dosse on the 24th. He sent out General-Major Christian Ludwig Schimmelpfennig toward Fehrbellin, between Neustadt and Oranienburg, and site of a 1675 battle. Schimmelpfennig's task was to cover his right flank and keep the French from interfering with the main body's march to Szczecin (Stettin) on the Oder. Hohenlohe gave Blücher command of his rear guard.[25]

Recent photo of Spandau Fortress showing the water-filled moat and battlements
Spandau Fortress fell on 25 October.

The dilapidated fortress of

Louis Gabriel Suchet's division of Lannes' corps. The commandant Major Benekendorf was discussing terms with the French when they rushed the gate and broke into the fortress. Altogether, 71 cannon and 920 soldiers, including the 3rd battalion of the König Infantry Regiment #18, three companies of soldiers unfit for field duty, and 65 gunners surrendered, the garrison being released on parole. In 1808, Benekendorf was hauled before a court-martial and condemned to be shot, but the king commuted his sentence to life in prison.[27]

On 25 October, Davout's corps marched through Berlin in triumph.

Antoine Lasalle's light cavalry and Grouchy's dragoons were already at Oranienburg with General of Brigade Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud's light cavalry nearby.[29]

Recent photo of opulent-looking Schloss Boitzenburg, which is an estate rather than a castle
Schloss Boitzenburg was pillaged by Milhaud's troopers.

Lasalle overtook Schimmelpfennig's 1,300 troops at Zehdenick around noon on 26 October. At first, the Prussians held back the French, but the dragoon divisions of Grouchy and Beaumont soon arrived. The Königin Dragoons # 5, four squadrons strong, charged and drove back Lasalle's hussars, but Grouchy's dragoons intervened and nearly wiped out the regiment. The Prussians lost one color and 14 officers and 250 men killed, wounded, or captured. Pursued by the French until evening, Schimmelpfennig's crippled force fled to Stettin.[27][30] Hearing of this setback, Hohenlohe changed his line of march from Gransee farther north through Lychen. On the morning of the 27th he waited at Lychen for Blücher and Bila. Since neither turned up, his column set out for Boitzenburg.[31]

As Hohenlohe neared Boitzenburg on the 27th, he met Graf von Arnim who notified him that he had collected supplies for the hungry soldiers at his manor, the Schloss Boitzenburg. Unfortunately, when the Prussians arrived around 2:00 PM they found that Milhaud's cavalrymen got there first and were pillaging the estate. It took Hohenlohe's advanced guard three hours to drive Milhaud's brigade out of the town. In the meantime, Murat heard the sound of the battle and hurried north with Grouchy's dragoons. South of Boitzenburg at Wichmannsdorf, Hohenlohe's right flank guard blundered into Grouchy's column. Three regiments of French dragoons drove the Prussian Gensdarmes Cuirassier Regiment # 10 against a marsh and forced its surrender. But without infantry, Murat was unable to halt Hohenlohe's column from hurrying past toward Prenzlau.[32]

Battle

Battle plan for the action at Prenzlau by Francis Loraine Petre
Plan for Action at Prenzlau, 28 October 1806 by Francis Loraine Petre

After the clash at Boitzenburg, Hohenlohe knew that the French were on the Berlin highway, which went northeast from Zehdenick to Prenzlau. So instead of continuing on the Lychen-Boitzenburg-Prenzlau road, which intersected with the Berlin highway, he veered northeast to Schönermark-Nordwestuckermark. At 4:00 AM on 28 October and the column reached Schönermark, only eight kilometers from Prenzlau. Hohenlohe held a council of war at which the officers argued whether to march east to Prenzlau or to go north to Pasewalk. A cavalry vedette reported that Prenzlau was clear of the French at 6:00 AM, so the march continued, though three hours were wasted before getting underway. It was very difficult to get the column moving again and angry protests were heard from the starving soldiers. Schwerin led the column with a cuirassier regiment and a battery of horse artillery. The bulk of the infantry trailed behind Schwerin's vanguard and Oberst Prince Augustus of Prussia led the rear guard, which consisted of a cavalry regiment and an infantry battalion. Two dragoon regiments protected the right flank.[33]

Portrait of Prince Hohenlohe in an old-style Prussian uniform
Prince Hohenlohe

Two roads approached the west side of Prenzlau, the Berlin highway to the southwest and the road through Schönermark to the northwest. The two roads entered the city at gates about 500 meters apart. The roads were raised above the surrounding marshland and passed through suburbs about one kilometer in length. The several kilometer long Unteruckersee (Lower Ucker Lake) lies on the south side of the city. The Uecker River flows north from the lake on the west side of Prenzlau.[34]

Marshal Murat had two divisions and two brigades of cavalry, plus 12 guns in three horse artillery batteries. Lasalle's brigade included the 5th and 7th

Chasseurs à Cheval Regiments. Grouchy's 2nd Dragoon Division had the 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th, 13th, and 22nd Dragoon Regiments, 24 squadrons. Beaumont's 3rd Dragoon Division was made up of the 5th, 8th, 12th, 16th, 19th, and 21st Dragoon Regiments, 24 squadrons. The total French strength was 12,000 men. Smith puts all the light cavalry in Lasalle's division on page 227, but on page 228 he separates them into brigades under Lasalle and Milhaud.[35] Another authority wrote that Milhaud's brigade consisted of the 13th Chasseurs and a dragoon regiment,[36] and that 3,000 of Lannes' picked infantry were at hand.[34]

Hohenlohe's command included the Rabiel, Schack, Dohna, Osten, Borcke, Losthin, and Hahn Grenadier battalions, and the 1st battalion Arnim Infantry Regiment # 13, 1st battalion Garde Infantry Regiment # 15, König Infantry Regiment # 18, Brunswick Infantry Regiment # 21, Möllendorf Infantry Regiment # 25, Grawert Infantry Regiment # 47, Cuirassier Regiment # 3, Leib Cuirassier Regiment # 5, Prittwitz Dragoon Regiment # 2, Krafft Dragoon Regiment # 11, Wobeser Dragoon Regiment # 14. The field artillery included one horse and two 12-pounder foot batteries. Altogether, the Prussians had about 10,000 soldiers, 64 guns, and 1,800 horses for the cavalry and artillery.[37]

As Hohenlohe marched along the Schönermark road, his troops kept bumping into French patrols in the morning mist. As the column passed through the marshes, the dragoon flankers returned to the main road and pushed their way into the line of march. This spread the column out over a greater distance. Lasalle tried to block the Prussian approach march in the suburb, but Schwerin's cuirassiers brushed the French hussars out of the way. Hohenlohe directed his troops to move through the city and draw rations from a wagon train parked on the other side of Prenzlau. To cover his march, Hohenlohe posted General-Major von Tschammer[b] with two grenadier battalions across the Berlin highway with their battalion guns trained on the road. Smaller detachments guarded the lake shore, the town gate, and a paper-mill.[38]

Portrait of Marshal Joachim Murat in a flashy white uniform with lots of gold braid
Marshal Murat bluffed Hohenlohe into surrendering.

At this time, French Captain Hugues appeared out of the mist with a flag of truce and was taken to Hohenlohe. Hugues spun "a wonderful tissue of lies", claiming that Murat had 30,000 troops at hand and that Lannes with 60,000 more lurked on the road to Stettin. He insisted that the Prussian general surrender, which Hohenlohe refused to do. However, he sent his chief of staff Oberst Christian Karl August Ludwig von Massenbach back with Hugues, apparently to see what he could find out.[39]

Print of two troopers of the 16th Dragoon Regiment wearing green coat with pink facings and white breeches with black riding boots.
The 16th Dragoon Regiment was in Beaumont's division.

Murat then launched his attack, Lasalle's hussars leading the way, followed by Grouchy's dragoons, while Beaumont brought up the rear. The French horse artillery rapidly silenced Tschammer's cannons. In order to harass the rear of Hohenlohe's column, the French marshal detached one of Beaumont's brigades and placed it under the command of his aide-de-camp Colonel Louis Chrétien Carrière Beaumont. Murat sent it circling to the left through the hamlet of Göllmitz on the Boitzenburg road. Murat then ordered General of Brigade André Joseph Boussart's brigade from Grouchy's division to attack the Prussian column of march. After fording a small stream west of the town, Boussart's dragoons smashed into Hohenlohe's marching column from the south. The cavalrymen overran a substantial part Hohenlohe's troops and captured Tschammer. The Prussians were forced into Prenzlau, leaving eight guns and many prisoners in French hands. Cut off, the rear guard was set upon from two directions by both Beaumont's division and Beaumont's brigade and driven northward. After trapping his command against the Uecker, the two Beaumonts compelled Prince Augustus to surrender.[40] Marching to the sound of the guns, Milhaud's brigade observed the prince's capture before continuing north to Pasewalk.[36]

Grouchy's dragoons broke down the town gate and trotted through Prenzlau and out the other side to view Hohenlohe's 10,000 troops drawn up on the road to Pasewalk. Murat sent Belliard to demand Hohenlohe's surrender, which the Prussian declined again. By this time some of Lannes' infantry were on the field. Together with Grouchy and Lasalle (but not Beaumont), there were only 4,000 to 5,000 French confronting the Prussians. At this time, Massenbach was allowed to return to the Prussian lines. Completely deceived by the French, Massenbach reported to Hohenlohe that their enemies were now between them and Stettin. Murat asked for a head-to-head parley with Hohenlohe which was granted. The marshal lied to Hohenlohe on his "word of honor" that he was surrounded by 100,000 French in the corps of Lannes, Soult, and Bernadotte.[41]

When a munitions wagon blew up in the distance, a quick-witted French officer explained that it was Soult's signal gun announcing that he was now blocking the Prussians' retreat route. Hohenlohe requested terms. These were harsh, with the officers and the Royal Guards being released on parole and the rank and file being made prisoners. After consulting with his officers, the Prussian prince surrendered his entire corps.[42]

Result

Portrait of Antoine Lasalle in hussar uniform with gold braid and black fur-lined jacket
Antoine Lasalle

Historian Digby Smith stated that 10,000 Prussian troops, 1,800 cavalry horses, and 64 guns fell into French hands, while Murat's cavalry suffered few casualties.[37] Francis Loraine Petre noted that the Prussians' total losses were nearly 12,000, with Hohenlohe surrendering 10,000, Boussart's brigade killing or capturing 1,000, and Beaumont's division accounting for the 1,000-man rear guard. Between Prenzlau and the fighting at Boitzenburg and Zehdenick, the Prussians lost nearly 13,500 men. Beaumont was given responsibility for escorting the prisoners. Evidently some escaped, because Beaumont reported his captives numbered 9,534, not counting the approximately 400 paroled officers.[43]

Portrait of Nicolas Beker in military uniform with medals
Nicolas Beker

Hohenlohe's capitulation proved to be a bad precedent to a subsequent string of abject Prussian surrenders in the next few days.

Küstrin capitulated to General of Brigade Nicolas Hyacinthe Gautier's brigade of Davout's corps. A French dragoon brigade caught up with the 1,100 infantry and 1,073 cavalry of Bila at Anklam. Smith asserted that the brigade was from Sahuc's 4th Division but Petre stated on page 264 that Sahuc was at Rathenow on 1 November.[45] Bila had been joined by his older brother Karl Anton Ernst von Bila with a battalion from Hanover. On 31 October, General of Division Nicolas Léonard Beker forced them to withdraw to the north side of the Peene River and convinced them to capitulate the next day.[46]

After Prenzlau, Blücher's escape path to the northeast was blocked. At Neustrelitz he swung his columns to the northwest and raced toward Lübeck. By this time, Winning's division joined him to raise his total strength to 22,000 men.[44] The Battle of Lübeck occurred on 6 November.[47]

Petre believed that Hohenlohe's surrender was unnecessary and his chief of staff Massenbach was partly responsible. He thought that the Prussians could have fought their way into Stettin, and probably would have if a strong-willed general like Blücher had been in command. The brigades of Hagen and Bila were not far away at the time and these forces might have helped prevent Murat from encircling Hohenlohe.[48] Petre listed several criticisms of Hohenlohe. First, he marched too slowly from Burg and took too many detours to the north at the incompetent Massenbach's advice. It might have been possible for him to reach Prenzlau a day earlier, in which case he would have escaped Murat. Second, he kept too much cavalry and Hagen's infantry brigade on his left flank, where there were no enemies. Only Schimmelpfennig's weak brigade of 1,300 men was in the critical sector on the right flank. Third, his best troops marched in the rear guard with Blücher, while the major threat was on the right flank.[49]

Portraits

  • Portrait of Duke Charles of Brunswick
    Duke of Brunswick
  • Portrait of Emmanuel Grouchy
    Emmanuel Grouchy
  • Portrait of Friedrich Adolf von Kalckreuth
    Friedrich Kalckreuth
  • Portrait of Augustin Daniel Belliard
    Augustin Belliard
  • Portrait of Duke Karl of Saxe-Weimar
    Duke of Saxe-Weimar
  • Portrait of Édouard Milhaud
    Édouard Milhaud
  • Portrait of King Frederick William III
    Frederick William III

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ According to the Lexicon, there are three Schwerin candidates, Philipp Adolf (1738–1815), Friedrich Wilhelm Felix (1740–1809), and Friedrich August Leopold Karl (1750–1836).
  2. ^ According to the Lexicon. there are two Tschammer candidates, Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander (1737–1809) and Ernst Adolf Ferdinand (1739–1812).

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Bodart 1908, p. 374.
  2. ^ Chandler 1966, pp. 467–468.
  3. ^ Chandler 1966, p. 456.
  4. ^ Chandler 1966, p. 459.
  5. ^ Petre 1993, pp. 84–85.
  6. ^ Chandler 1966, pp. 470–471.
  7. ^ Chandler 1966, pp. 472–473.
  8. ^ Petre 1993, p. 139.
  9. ^ Petre 1993, p. 147.
  10. ^ Petre 1993, p. 150.
  11. ^ Chandler 1979, pp. 214–216.
  12. ^ Petre 1993, p. 195.
  13. ^ Petre 1993, p. 159.
  14. ^ Petre 1993, p. 197.
  15. ^ Petre 1993, pp. 199–200.
  16. ^ Smith 1998, pp. 226–227.
  17. ^ a b Petre 1993, p. 218.
  18. ^ a b Petre 1993, p. 231.
  19. ^ Petre 1993, pp. 219–220.
  20. ^ Chandler 1966, p. 499.
  21. ^ Petre 1993, pp. 224–229.
  22. ^ Petre 1993, p. 226.
  23. ^ Petre 1993, p. 234.
  24. ^ Petre 1993, pp. 232–233.
  25. ^ Petre 1993, pp. 236–237.
  26. ^ Petre 1993, p. 237.
  27. ^ a b Smith 1998, p. 227.
  28. ^ Chandler 1966, p. 500.
  29. ^ Petre 1993, p. 238.
  30. ^ Petre 1993, p. 239.
  31. ^ Petre 1993, p. 240.
  32. ^ Petre 1993, p. 242.
  33. ^ Petre 1993, pp. 242–243.
  34. ^ a b Petre 1993, p. 243.
  35. ^ Smith 1998, pp. 227–228.
  36. ^ a b Petre 1993, p. 252.
  37. ^ a b Smith 1998, p. 228.
  38. ^ Petre 1993, p. 244.
  39. ^ Petre 1993, p. 245.
  40. ^ Petre 1993, pp. 245–246.
  41. ^ Petre 1993, pp. 246–247.
  42. ^ Petre 1993, pp. 248–249.
  43. ^ a b Petre 1993, p. 250.
  44. ^ a b Chandler 1966, p. 501.
  45. ^ Smith 1998, p. 229.
  46. ^ Smith 1998, p. 254.
  47. ^ Smith 1998, p. 231.
  48. ^ Petre 1993, p. 251.
  49. ^ Petre 1993, pp. 304–306.

References

  • Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905) (in German). Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  • Chandler, David (1966). The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York: Macmillan.
  • ISBN 0-02-523670-9
    .
  • ISBN 1-85367-145-2
    .
  • ISBN 1-85367-276-9
    .

Further reading

External links

The following websites are excellent sources for the full names of French and Prussian generals.

Preceded by
Siege of Magdeburg (1806) 		Napoleonic Wars
Battle of Prenzlau 		Succeeded by
Capitulation of Pasewalk
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