#battleofthenations#OTD#napoleon#leipzig 1813. The Germans in French uniforms from the Rhine and Mayence (Mainz) are in the heavy fights to hold Göhren in the south. Murat arrives. “Mes enfant, il ne faut pas quitter ce village là, autrement nous sommes perdu.” They 1/4
have to hold to secure the retreat. Despite the brave defence they are overrun. All the blood from the days before was for nothing. From Liebertklolkwitz and from the 17th the wounded were placed in nearly all houses there. When they leave the town, the homes are all in 2/4
flames. The comrades are left behind and die in the fire. MacDonald’s headquarter falls. J.J. Röhrig from the Rhine comes across a house. It is full of cuirassiers. The limbs are shot off or cut off by sword strikes. “They took off the leg of an officer. He sat on a bench, 3/4
on which the sick foot was placed. The other stood on the floor and he watched exactly, without moving his mouth.” Behind the house the limbs are piled up. Ah hand salutes him. 4/4
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#battleofthenations#napoleon#leipzig 1813. The gates are still manned. The coalition forces did not await such a fast retreat of the French lines. No axe or gun is with the first units, who reach the wall. They shall take the gates, but can only press themselves 1/6
against the city walls. Rifle and musket fire from all directions. Many detachments cannot move. The defenders beat holes in the wall and use them as loop holes. At the Grimma’s gate the Königsberg Landwehr battalion from Bülows Corps breaks the thin wall and storms the 2/6
barricades behind the gate. The French units retreat, draw back and go in fire formation. They fire on the gap. The Prussians step over comrades’ dead bodies. The French cannot hold and flee through the small lanes. Before the Landwehr advances, the order comes: 3/6
#battleofthenations#OTD#napoleon#leipzig 1813. The army of the north is here. They increase the push. Napoleon resits at the tobacco mill. On all fronts the carnage goes on. 1 000 men die per hour. The northern flank withers. In south Probstheida is in flames. 1/5
Landwehr is pushing in and are thrown out again. The guns which were conquered minutes before are lost again. Without shelter, the returned French artillery squads fire one canister shot after another and rip the bodies of the Landwehr. They are wiped out. The church 2/5
and the big farmhouse, in which the French wounded found a cosy an safe place, are ablaze. In some quiet seconds the soldiers hear the dying cries. The noise of the battle is merciful for the fighters. The wounded cannot get out. They escaped the guns but died in the flames.3/5
sees only one way. One unit ist still in reserve. The reserve Cavalry. Hussars and Colonel Jurgas with the Westprussian Dragoons and Graf Henckel von Donnersmark with the Lituanian. General Yorck let them line up. His staff also joins the line. Either victory or they will 2/7
die with their men. The General rides along the line of his men. Looks in the eyes of those, who rode for a long time with him. He draws his sabre. „Now the time for Prussia has come!“ He draws the sword and rises it high. Hundreds of swords ar drawn and shine like stars.3/7
the circle closes and from hour to hour he realises, that the Coalition’s generals had coordinated their forces brilliantly. Even beyond the Elster, Austrian forces threaten the French retreat line. The Sileasian army had already shown its determination. And from Blücher,
he awaits a thunderstorm, which will push forward. But there is still Marshal Marmont and his VIth Corps, which is prepared to fight to the last. News arrive Blücher. Bernadotte and the Army of the North won’t be there in time. Yorck’s Corps stands on the right, Langeron
#battleofhanau#Hanau#Napoleon#coalitionwars In the night from the 30th to the 31th at 3 o’clock guns fired into the city. Shot after shot. Fires started. The fire continued until dawn. Then silence. Wrede drew the mass of the troops out of the city. In his report he
justified it, that he tried to save the people. It is more realistic, that he didn‘t want to be closed in. The French entered the city in double quick. The civilians, who tried to save their houses and efface the fires tried to escape. So the houses burned down.
The allied forces stood now in formation in the south of Hanau. An infantery battle started, in which the french left wing pushed forward, while the right wing and the centre stood still.
Meanwhile the battle,Hanau’s mayor had to meet the emeperor in his camp in the forest.
3 o’clock. Now Napoleon showed that he was still the strategic mastermind. Ten days after Leipzig! The french cavalry charged. Often, cavalry units start slowly, move faster an crash into the enemy with full speed. This time the imperial cavalry started suddenly in a
„breathtaking“ speed. In three closed lines onto the allied artillery straight towards and through the fire of the bavarian main battery. In a short moment the french cavalry lines swinged southwards and charged into the allied infantry. The allied cavalry
had moved to counterattack and tried to ride in the back oft he French cavalry. And then. Then behind the horses the Bavarians and Austrians now saw, what Bonaparte had hidden. Gun fire. Rolling gun fire. Grapeshots and canon balls stroke the cavalry down and in bloody pieces.