Thread by @2econd_crossing

#OTD 26 December, 1812, the advanced guard of Macdonald's corps carried out a forward flanking march, unintentionally making complete the final wedge between the French and Prussians of the X Corps. They, in turn, forged an ideal moment for Yorck's defection.
#Voicesfrom1812

The X Corps, owing to the abundance of fur in Latvia and the commander’s unforgettable experiences in “the winter campaigns of 1794-95 in Holland, and more especially of that of 1800 in the Grisons, and when crossing the Alps,” looked remarkably well-clad. (Macdonald)

Macdonald had personally requisitioned “30,000 sheepskin pelisses from the Polish and Russian peasants” in exchange for “the skins of the sheep consumed” by his men. He attested that “[t]his wise precaution saved them from hunger and cold” of -27°C. (Ibid)

The few fallen en route, according to the marshal, were drunkards:
“I lost only a few men who, in spite of the penalty of death with which I had threatened both sellers and consumers of spirits, got drunk and perished, removed by the cold into eternal sleep.”
(Ibid)

But since the 25th, Macdonald was becoming “very uneasy as to his position” near Tauroggen. He no longer received regular dispatches from Yorck’s Prussuans, while rumors began to spread that the Russians had already seized Tilsit and Piktupöhnen. (Clausewitz)

According to Macdonald’s memoir, the situation made Grandjean so insecure that he, at his own discretion, went ahead of the marshal’s central column toward Coadjuten.
At the forefront, Bachelu’s vanguard pressed two miles forward toward Piktupöhnen. (Clau., Berth.)

The diary of Hartwich, a Prussian lieutenant moving with the French columns, showed an abrupt change of mood. After spending Christmas in “very comfortable quarters with a Polish depot commissar,” he “left Tauroggen and crossed the Prussian frontier at Meldiglauken.”

This initially incited “loud cheers of the troops.” Hartwich, too, was overwhelmed with nostalgia for his homeland:
“Tears came to my eyes when I thought of all that I had survived. We marched on Piktupöhnen.”
(Julian Hartwich, Digby Smith)

There, they encountered Laskow's division, the vanguard of Wittgenstein’s army sent to occupy Tilsit. Bachelu, supported by a regiment of Prussian dragoons who “conducted themselves in a brilliant manner,” attacked the Russians without hesitation.
(Berthezene)

Macdonald assessed his generals' impatience as appropriate for the strategic situation:
"The enemy had posted troops on either side of the Neman to dispute my passage. They were vigorously attacked by the generals of my advance-guard, Grandjean and Bachelu,

who did well in not waiting for me. I had made a detour in order to flank and turn the enemy. The affair had terminated, after great slaughter, to the glory of the two generals by the time I came up; they had made some thousands of prisoners, and taken several pieces of cannon."

Two Russian regiments laid down their arms, with their prisoners all escorted to Konigsberg, where they would be set free after an anti-French uprising by the local populace. (Berthezene)
The swift feat of action proved how relatively undamanged the X Corps was.

However, Clausewitz appraised the abrupt maneuver in a different light, as the catalyst for Yorck's timely defection.
The first conference at Koltiniany had ended with a less than lukewarm result, primarily due to bilaterally shared misceptions of another's intentions.

On the one hand, Yorck desisted from making a definitive commitment in order not to compromise his honor. A veteran of rigid discipline, he judged "at this moment as a soldier he could hardly be justifed in accepting any."
(Clausewitz)

Desiring at least to stage the eventuality of his exit from the Grande Armée, he had secured Diebitsch’s promise to let him carry out a ‘reconnaissance’ at Lawskovo in the morning. Still suspicious of the Russians' object, Yorck avidly avoided letting down his guard.

On the other hand, Yorck's strategic ambivalence posed a heavy liability to the Russians, especially Diebitsch himself. The modicum of mobility afforded to Yorck could enable him to “maneuver him back on Tilsit, and master that place by a coup de main.” (Ibid)

In this context, Yorck’s movement in the morning made Diebitsch extremely apprehensive about his own position and reputation.
Citing “badness of the roads,” Yorck marched on Schelel on the Tilsit road, instead of Lawskovo as initially discussed with Diebitsch. (Ibid)

Diebitsch was, in Clausewitz’ description, all but “unavoidably suspicious." But Yorck, although not wholly entrusting his army to the Russians, was rather concealing his intentions from the French via more tolerable road for his horses.

Desperate for an immediate deal closure, lest he becomes branded as a traitor, Diebitsch again sent Dohna to reconfirm Yorck’s motives. After a “lively exchange of flags of truce” between compatriots, Dohna came back with reticent explanations from Yorck. (Ibid)

According to Dohna, Yorck “had an interest in postponing the transaction for a couple of days,” during which he would march incrementally toward Tilsit until he could “assume the appearance of having been deserted by Macdonald.” (Ibid)

In this regard, Grandjean’s forward maneuver on the 26th reaped the unintended consequence. By widening the distance between the French and the Prussians, Macdonald’s vanguard provided Yorck a convenient, less dishonorable pretext to untangle himself from the Grande Armée.

The rest of the French, at last, were plodding on toward friendly territory. Maison’s II Corps arrived at Marienburg via Danzig on the 25th. They were followed by the III Corps, commanded by Fezensac, who arrived at the same town on the next day. (Samuel Duma, Fezensac)

At Marienburg, all the generals hitherto scattered-Ledru, Joubert, and d’Henin-reunited, with “that frightened air that bespoke the dangers they had run,” although they had, according to Fezensac, “abandoned us long before in order to leave those dangers all the sooner.”

Fezensac thence “prepared to use this repose to reassemble the human debris of the great tragedy and to repair as soon as possible the damage that been done.”
The Oudinots, meanwhile, “took a very affectionate leave of General Rapp” in Danzig. (Eugenie Oudinot)

Napoleon anticipated all of their arrival. Replying to Count Narbonne’s letter from Berlin, dated 21 December, he ordered him to pass through Magdeburg and Cassel, where he should contemplate “reorganizing the Westphalian army” with Jerome in the vanguard (!)
(More)

Was the Emperor already on his way to unlearn all the lessons from the passing year?
At the same time, he frankly admitted to Clarke that “of all the horse artillery, that of the I, II, III, IV, and IV Corps” should be considered “lost.”
(Correspondences)

He aimed to make Danzig the new pivot of his army, where he would garner the remnants of his artillery-gleaned from divisions of Heudelet, Loison, Durette, Lagrange, and Grenier.
The most imminent goal became to assemble 120 pieces of guns for the Imperial Guard.

“The main thing, therefore, is that you do not waste a moment ordering all the arsenals to the making of caissons and the repair of all the existing vehicles,” he wrote to Clarke. Even the arsenals belonging to the navy would serve the same purpose.
(Correspondences)

-The End-

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