Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Trachenberg and Reichenbach
- 2 The Silesian Army
- 3 “The infamous conduct of the Prussians”
- 4 Löwenberg
- 5 Goldberg
- 6 The Katzbach
- 7 Blücher’s hare hunt
- 8 “Nothing more remains than to have them shot dead”
- 9 Lusatia
- 10 The Middle Elbe
- 11 The Mulde
- 12 Hide and seek
- 13 Opening round
- 14 “A battle of the most obstinate and sanguinary class”
- 15 Leipzig
- 16 Race to the Rhine
- Assessment
- Bibliography
- Index
13 - Opening round
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2015
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Maps
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Trachenberg and Reichenbach
- 2 The Silesian Army
- 3 “The infamous conduct of the Prussians”
- 4 Löwenberg
- 5 Goldberg
- 6 The Katzbach
- 7 Blücher’s hare hunt
- 8 “Nothing more remains than to have them shot dead”
- 9 Lusatia
- 10 The Middle Elbe
- 11 The Mulde
- 12 Hide and seek
- 13 Opening round
- 14 “A battle of the most obstinate and sanguinary class”
- 15 Leipzig
- 16 Race to the Rhine
- Assessment
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
At Silesian Army Headquarters, confusing information reached Blücher during the night of 12/13 October. Katzler reported that, according to deserters, the rumors circulating through the French army claimed that Napoleon planned to march on Berlin. Moreover, Rudzevich’s patrols reported the advance of considerable imperial forces from Bad Düben to Delitzsch, and therefore toward Halle. News from St.-Priest that Augereau’s IX Corps had moved from Naumburg through Weißenfels to Lützen, and probably would continue to Leipzig, did little to clarify the situation. A report from one of Katzler’s patrols, which the colonel forwarded to Blücher around 10:00 P.M., stated that a merchant coming from Leipzig estimated its garrison to be 4,000 men. Murat’s army stood one hour south of the city at Connewitz. Napoleon’s army, some 120,000 men, straddled the Mulde from Wurzen to Eilenburg to Bitterfeld; a burgher from Leipzig had spotted the emperor at Eilenburg on the 10th. Rumors circulated through Leipzig of a battle with the Bohemian Army at Borna on the 11th. Fugitives without arms drifted into the city throughout the night of the 11th and all day during the 12th. With Augereau’s corps very close to Leipzig, another imperial corps at Delitzsch, and the expectation that Murat would move across the Mulde and follow Napoleon to Wittenberg, Blücher wanted the Silesian Army ready to react. As a result, he rescinded the orders for Yorck’s operation against Leipzig on the 13th. Nevertheless, both Yorck’s and Langeron’s vanguards would conduct the general reconnaissance. At Halle, the Silesian Army remained concentrated and ready to turn toward either Leipzig or Magdeburg according to the enemy’s movements (see Map 6).
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- Napoleon and the Struggle for GermanyThe Franco-Prussian War of 1813, pp. 585 - 623Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015