#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
“No time to take prisoners” At the Johannistor some companies await the Prussians and push against, push them back in the lane, which is called “Totengasse”. But from the second line of the Landwehr the skull breakers from the Hagelberg rush forward, jostle themselves in 4/6
the first lines. The musket butts are held up and hammer on the heads. Soon the lane is filled up with corpses. Johann Tiedke, a chimney sweeper batters twelve enemies. Blood and grey brain mass everywhere. From the mouths of the French 5/6
dying come German words in gory bubbles. Alsatians. Brother vs. Brother. 6/6
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