Fench Order-of-Battle at Leipzig: 16-18 October 1813
By Stephen Millar
While the Emperor and the divisions from Leipzig were halted at Markranstadt
came the disastrous news of the destruction of the Lindenau bridge.
The army had lost by this nearly all its artillery; half the troops
were left as prisoners, and thousands of our wounded comrades handed
over to the outrage of the hostile soldiery, hounded on by its infamous
officers to the slaughter…Hardly had we traversed half the distance
when we heard frequent shots, and as we drew near the suburb we could
distinguish the despairing cries of the unhappy French, who, unable
to retreat, and without cartridges, were being hunted from street to
street, and butchered in a cowardly manner by Prussians, Badeners, and
Saxons.
The fury of my two regiments was indescribable. Every man breathed
vengeance, and regretted that vengeance was almost impossible, since
the Elster, with its broken bridge, lay between us and the assassins.
Our rage increased when we met about 2,000 French, mostly without
clothing, and nearly all wounded, who had only escaped death by leaping
into the river and swimming across under the fire from the other bank.
– The Memoirs of Baron de Marbot, Vol II: 40
The Allied victory at the Battle of Leipzig (also called “the Battle
of the Nations”) saw the end of French influence in the German States.
The battle, fought on 16-19 October 1813, was the largest battle of
the Napoleonic Wars and also marked the beginning of the end of Napoleon
I’s First Empire (excluding the short-lived Hundred Days in 1815). Leipzig
– along with the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815) – ranks as one of
the most controversial battles of the entire Napoleonic Wars.
Sources disagree over the organization and strength of Napoleon’s Grande
Armee at Leipzig [see Table A]. The Grande Armee was a large, allied
army; fighting alongside French troops were regiments from Saxony, Poland,
Berg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Westphalia, Naples, Wurttemburg and the
Kingdom of Italy. Chandler gives Napoleon 170,000 men on 16 October,
rising to 195,000 on 18 October.
Another area of disagreement is the extent to which Napoleon used “provisional”
line regiments (single battalions from different regiments temporarily
grouped together). Several French infantry divisions at Leipzig were
composed of these ad hoc regiments, but order-of-battle sources vary
greatly on their organization. Several recent print sources may be useful
for answers about provisional (and marine) regimental commanders and
deployment.
As with other French Napoleonic orders-of-battle, the order-of-battle
at Leipzig can be very confusing when it comes to French surnames; it
is sometimes necessary to check service histories to determine the correct
commanding officer. For example, the “Watier/Walther/Walthier/Wathiez”
problem is not uncommon: is the correct officer GdD [cavalry] Pierre
Watier, Comte de Saint-Alphonse – often mis-spelled as “Walthier de
Saint-Alphonse” – or GdD [cavalry] Frederic-Henri, Comte Walther or
GdB [infantry] Francois-Isidore, Baron Wathiez?
The Battle of Leipzig is also famous for two incidents; the defection
of Napoleon’s Saxon ally in the afternoon of 18 October and the disastrous
episode the next day at Lindenau – where the only bridge across the
Elster River available to Napoleon’s retreating troops was prematurely
destroyed (believed to be the result of a hasty decision of an engineer
corporal coming under enemy fire, this demolition subsequently drowned
hundreds of French troops – including the recently-promoted MdE Josef-Antoni,
Prince Poniatowski – and trapped thousands more on the Allied side of
the Elster).
The Battle of Leipzig is often subdivided into subordinate battles:
the preliminary, but inconclusive, Battle of Leibertwolkwitz (a cavalry
action on 14 October), the Battle of Mockern (16 October), the Battle
of Lindenau (16 October) and the main battle and subsequent French retreat
(16-19 October). Strictly speaking, the entire battle was fought 14-19
October. Esposito and Elting list Napoleon’s losses as 38,000 killed
and wounded, with 15,000 taken prisoner.
Grande Armée
Emperor Napoleon I
1. Northern Front: 113 battalions, 44 squadrons and 27 batteries
2. Southern Front: 154 ½ battalions, 167 squadrons and 62 batteries
3. South-Eastern Front: 45 battalions, 58 squadrons and 14 batteries
4. Lindenau-Leipzig: 8 battalions,
14 squadrons and 2 batteries
Total on 16 October: 320 ½ battalions,
283 squadrons and 105 batteries
5. Reinforcements (16-18 October): 35 battalions, 47 squadrons and
8 batteries
Total on 18 October: 355 ½ battalions,
330 squadrons and 113 batteries
Chief-of-Staff: Berthier,
MdE Louis-Alexandre, Prince de Neufchatel et de Wagram
Artillery: Sorbier,
GdD Jean-Barthelemot, Comte
Artillery Park: Neigre,
GdB Gabriel, Baron
Engineers: Rogniat,
GdD Joseph, Baron
Placed on the Napoleon Series: November 2004
[ Military
Index | Battles
Index ]
|
