culminating in a French victory at Weissenfeld on I May, in which
Marshal Bessieres was killed. This was a severe blow to the Emperor:
Bessieres had been his comrade since I796 and was one of the few
marshals who could follow orders. Bessieres was widely unpopular in the
Army for having persuaded the Emperor not to send in the Guard at
Borodino, but Napoleon felt his loss keenly: 'Bessieres lived like Bayard;
he died like Turenne.'
But Weissenfeld was simply the overture to a much more savage battle
at Lutzen next day, when Napoleon tested the mettle of his new army
against the Russian veterans under Wittgenstein. The battle was
something of a textbook Bonaparte affair. Ney was ordered to occupy the
town of Lutzen with III Corps while the rest of the army scythed through
the Russian left. Predictably, Ney neglected to send out patrols, so the
Allied commander Wittgenstein took the bait and sent the Prussians
forward to wipe out what he thought was a single infantry brigade. Fierce
combat began at around I I ·45 a.m. and Blucher nearly achieved complete
surprise against Ney, but the allies in turn had seriously underestimated
the strength of their enemy.
Nevertheless, when Napoleon reached the battlefield at about 2.30
p.m. he found things going badly. At great personal risk he rode among
the demoralized III Corps and got them back into fighting trim. He then
stiffened Ney's defences with VI Corps, set the Prince of the Moskova's
only fr iend among the marshals, MacDonald, to threaten the Russian
right with IX Corps and began probing on the left with Bertrand. Both
Wittgenstein and Yorck (who replaced a wounded Blucher in the
afternoon) behaved obtusely and fell for all the Emperor's ruses. Y orck
refused to heed advice from Czar Alexander and committed his reserves
at 4 p.m.; they gained early success but were then driven back by the
Young Guard and a revitalised III Corps. At 5.30 p.m., with the
outflanking units of MacDonald and Marmont in place, Napoleon gave
the signal for a general assault. Seventy cannon were moved up to point
blank range and both Young and Old Guards began advancing. Marmont
and Bertrand swept in from the right and MacDonald from the left; the
Allied line began to buckle.
By dusk both MacDonald and Bertrand had completed the necessary
prelude to encirclement, but night fe ll and the French lack of horses
really showed itself when shortage of cavalry prevented a decisive victory.
With sufficient horse and two more hours of daylight Napoleon might
finally have had his Cannae-style victory. The Allies were severely shaken
and spoke of retiring to the Oder or even the Vistula. In terms of
casualties honours were even at 2o,ooo apiece, but Lutzen decisively
marcin
(Marcin)
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